FullMetal*Panic!

Hi,

I've just got into the FMP fandom for like a year or so and I'm enjoying every bit of it. Anime is popular in the Middle East, however FMP anime has yet to recieve an Arabic dub but I'm sure the DVDs, the novels and the manga are available in areas like Dubai.

Hello and welcome.

I never knew anime was popular in the Middle East, that's awesome.
But I do see Arabic fansubs out there.

Circle wrote:Hello and welcome.

I never knew anime was popular in the Middle East, that's awesome.
But I do see Arabic fansubs out there.

It was always huge over here especially in the late 80s and early 90's, Go Nagai's UFO Robot Grendizer is considered one of the most popular cartoon shows to be dubbed in Arabic, I've read sources saying the dub was closer to the Japanese version than the European and American dubs. Grendizer is more popular than Mazinger Z over here since they showed Grendizer first before they showed Mazinger however while Grendizer's dub had the Japanese names, Mazinger's dub gave them Arabic names.

Unfortunatly most of the arabic dubs done today are horrobily edited with edits that either are done for cultural/religious reasons (no matter how absurd it is i.e Slam Dunk's dub removing any mention of Hanamichi's love for Haruko despite how obvious it is) or edits that absolutly make no sense whatsoever.

LOL, that sucks about the Slam Dunk dubs. I used to watch the Chinese dubs when I was young in Taiwan... but I guess when you're 6 years old, you can't tell the difference between good and bad acting.

Godaiger wrote: I've read sources saying the dub was closer to the
Japanese version than the European and American dubs.

Yes and no.

Hungarian, Estonian, Finnish, Samoyedic, Turkic , Mongolic , and Tungusic languages are Altaic languages, as is Korean and Japanese.

English, Spanish, Italian, and French (aka the Roman-tic Languages) are among the Indo-European Languages which are completely different in structure.

Arabic is a Semitic language from the Afro-Asiatic family. Which would make it as close to Japanese as an Indo-European language.

However, because of the expansion of Ottoman Empire, There was an Altaic influence on the Semitic languages. Because of this influence, some structures and loan words were integrated into Arabic. Thus, because of the Altaic influence, some Japanese can be rendered into Arabic more accurately.

But keep in mind Japanese is a language which is Topic-prominent and is Pro-Drop. Indo-Euorpean and Semitic languages are not topic-prominent. Indo-European languages have limited Pro-Drop (some, like English, are considered non-pro-drop) and Semetic languages are not pro-drop.

The Topic-prominent difference is the major obstical in translation as many statements simply do not translate at all or translate very poorly. Pro-drop is less of a hinderence, but if the translator is not careful, this can lead to tagetting the statement to the wrong subject.

Hope this was helpful.

Please don't quote the post immediately above yours - K

I meant as keeping the characters' names....etc because from what I read the French and US versions changed the names while the arabic dub kept the names intact.

Only certain translators (i.e. Harmony Gold which released the bastardization of Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada, as Robotech) in the US change names, and they can be avoided for the most part.

Western ordering of names (i.e. given-name surname instead of surname given-name) are due to the publisher/translator wanting to make "the show more accessible", or to turn it into a show that it wasn't (i.e. Ghost Stories was completely re-targeted from being a children's show in Japan, to a more mature show in the use by introducing US cultural references and rampant naughtiness).

Dubs also have more of a tendency to have rewritten dialog simply to better match the mouth flaps, you can avoid them by watching subs.

So it really depends on what show, who translated it, and what the intentions of the publisher are (which is not the same as the intentions of the studio that created it).

FMP's subs are pretty spot on, except where cultural references or linguistic "lost in translation" is concerened. But the dubs are another story.

Godaiger wrote:Hi,

I've just got into the FMP fandom for like a year or so and I'm enjoying every bit of it. Anime is popular in the Middle East, however FMP anime has yet to recieve an Arabic dub but I'm sure the DVDs, the novels and the manga are available in areas like Dubai.

If a Dutch production studio ever creates a NL dub .... I will dance naked on a rooftop....and personally burn down that studio.


Welcome to the forum ....

A fellow fan, stay awhile... stay forever! And it's nice to know that the
appreciation of FMP goes out to the Middle East, and that English dub / sub
jobs aren't the only ones known for their 'regionalization' of sensitive issues.



Regards