Evangelion dub and sub Question

[diwo]

Hey everyone!

Yesterday I finally finished with download of the Blu Ray version of Neon Genesis Evangelion and The End of Evangelion and wanted to rewatch episode 25 of NGE. I watched it with ger dub and eng sub (both activated at the same time because of the white-black text frame) and it seems that some parts are translated differently but has the overall same meaning and some part contadrict itself. I give you an example;

It starts on 20:37 where Makoto Hyuga says the following sentence

"It's your own world where you coexist with time, space, and other people." (the sub)

"Eine Welt für dich allein, ohne Zeit und Raum und ohne andere Menschen" (the dub)

Translated it would mean "A world for only for you, without time and space and without other humans"


So which one is right? Is the ger dub not reliable?

I always watched NGE and EoE in ger dub because the first I watched it, I watched it in ger dub and so it has grown on me



edit: After watching episode 26, it seems for me like the ger dub makes more sense

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

EoTV "makes sense." Heh.

The funny part is that exact same discrepancy is there between the English subs and dubs as well. Dub says "where no one is there," sub says "where you coexist." You wouldn't think a discrepancy like this would remain pertinent between two languages in the exact same way.

I say it's both. Half way into Ep 25 Shinji says it's as though his physical form is disappearing. This happens to everyone within Instrumentality. Their bodies disappear and their consciousnesses are combines into a super-conciousness. Their physical forms are disappearing > literally no bodies to be around > no one is there. However everyone is experiences this sense of nothingness together. So they're not alone, they just can't tell one another part from each other.


...if that "makes sense." Maybe someone who understands some Japanese could translate it for us?

[Reichu]

「時間と、空間と、他人と共にある君自身の世界ことさ」
"Jikan to, kuukan to, tanin to tomo ni aru kimi jishin no sekai koto sa"

If I were to tackle this from scratch, my initial rough translation would be, "It's a world of you yourself existing together / being one with time, space, and other people." The subtitles are correct.

That such a specific error exists in both English and German dubs suggests that the German dub is just a translation of the English one, which would make it two degrees removed from the source.

[diwo]

EoTV "makes sense." Heh.

It makes sense for me hehe

「時間と、空間と、他人と共にある君自身の世界ことさ」
"Jikan to, kuukan to, tanin to tomo ni aru kimi jishin no sekai koto sa"

If I were to tackle this from scratch, my initial rough translation would be, "It's a world of you yourself existing together / being one with time, space, and other people." The subtitles are correct.

That such a specific error exists in both English and German dubs suggests that the German dub is just a translation of the English one, which would make it two degrees removed from the source.

Ah thanks for translating!

Seems like the subs may be correct everywhere. Huh too bad, I liked the dub translation somehow way more.


I have another examples:
Episode 26, 14:05, Shinji says the following sentence;

"Right, I´m me" "But it´s also certain that the other people shape my mind as well!"

"Sie ist Sie, und Ich bin Ich und nur weil mir irgendwann auffällt das Sie nicht Ich ist wird mir überhaupt klar das es mich gibt."

translated:
"She is herself and I am myself and because at some point I notice that herself is not myself it becomes clear to me that I exist."
(I do not know how to translate this sentence, maybe you can switch "herself" with "She" and "myself" to "me"


another series example would be this from episode 25 at 14:25 to 14:35:

Misato says the following sentences;

"You´re so kind, Kaji." "Please take that kindness..." "...and tarnish me with it"

"Ja, du warst gut zu mir, Kaji" "Du hast getan was ich wollte...""...hast meinen Wunsch erfüllt..und" "..mir die Unschuld genommen"

translated:
"Yes, you were good to me, Kaji" "You did what I wanted..." "..fulfilled my wish..and" "..took my virginity"



After watching both episodes I think this was maybe intended. Some parts are like 100% what the subs says but other parts are said more clearer then the subs. Maybe the just wanted that the audience knows what they are talking about

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

I'm not saying that EoTV can't be understood. I'm just saying that the answers always tend to be about 2 steps further from the audience than they think. The fact that linguistic translations are all over the map don't help much either, say nothing about the sheer amount of different artistic interpretations that different people tend to take away from EoTV.