That sort of pedophilia just has much less cultural acceptance in English speaking world
Which is why it’s not always the most accurate translation. Part of the job of a translator is to translate cultural nuance, which would be lost here.
It’s a bit like how in English, Epstein wouldn’t call Trump a pedophile, he’d say he “likes them young”. In Japanese he could call him a lolicon and get the same tone.
Yes, and part of the job of a translator is to make sure that this fact is clear to the reader of the translation. “Pedophile” is virtually never a socially acceptable moniker in English whereas sometimes in Japanese “lolicon” is. Therefore it cannot be translated directly. This isn’t particularly unusual; Japanese is a very contextual language, so even beyond cultural differences there are lots of words that require a different translation in different contexts.
For this specific scene the translation could well be fine (I imagine it’s probably a gag scene where the other character gets flustered and rejects the accusation), but there are circumstances where a different translation is required.
Except the context is just that pedophilia is much less stigmatized. It still means pedophile it just doesn’t carry the social consequences because it’s more socially acceptable. It doesn’t mean something that can’t be expressed in english. It’s not complicated. Saying someone is perving on little girls would be less impactful than calling them a pedophile but it means the same thing.
Yeah, and to someone who doesn’t know that context, using the word “pedophile” is going to make the line sound very different from what it does in the original language and culture.
I mean, not really? It means the same thing, it’s just not as stigmatized. That doesn’t make it suddenly not pedophilia. It’s still pedophilia, just nobody cares.
“Pedophile” is a very loaded word in English, arguably one of the most loaded words in the language. Calling someone a pedophile in English is tantamount to saying that they should be shunned and behind bars or at least on a list. Doing so without evidence can get you charged for defamation (and acquitted, but only if you’re rich enough—but I digress).
ロリコン in Japanese is substantially less loaded. Therefore “pedophile” is not universally the accurate translation; in some circumstances it’s more accurate to use an euphemism, or the loanword “lolicon” which is pretty well established in English at this point.
This has nothing to do with condoning or condemning pedophilia, by the way. And even if it did, then I’d argue that, if anything, using “pedophile” in a mild and casual context, like how “lolicon” is sometimes used, serves to reduce the stigma rather than maintain it. Though that’s a discussion I have no interest in getting into right now.
I get it but the distinction is not particularly meaningful when you’re discussing sexual attraction to children. There aren’t degrees of severity here.
If the term isn’t meant to be so “heavy” in the original usage, and there isn’t an equivalent “light” term here, I wonder if it would’ve been better to just translate it as “I didn’t realize you were a creep” or something else that misses the nuance, but gets the intended feeling and tone across.
I don’t know, I haven’t seen the scene or heard the vocal delivery, I’m not sure what kind of anime it is, or what kind of tone it’s trying to strike. If the mood is “she has discovered a dark secret and is scared” then yeah, “I didn’t realize you were a pedophile” would work great.
But if instead she’s found some porn that isn’t necessarily naked children, and it’s played off as deadpan funny or awkward or misunderstanding, then I think “I didn’t realize you were a pedophile” might not come across light heartedly in the way “I didn’t realize you were a creep” or something similar would. Even if it’s an accurate “word for word” translation, it might not sound right in the scene or match the character’s delivery.
But I don’t know this anime or what it’s about, so I don’t know what the tone should be. It just sounds like there’s disagreement with the line as chosen.
Which is why it’s not always the most accurate translation. Part of the job of a translator is to translate cultural nuance, which would be lost here.
It’s a bit like how in English, Epstein wouldn’t call Trump a pedophile, he’d say he “likes them young”. In Japanese he could call him a lolicon and get the same tone.
The lack of stigma against pedophilia does not make it not pedophilia, it just makes it socially acceptable to be a pedophile.
Yes, and part of the job of a translator is to make sure that this fact is clear to the reader of the translation. “Pedophile” is virtually never a socially acceptable moniker in English whereas sometimes in Japanese “lolicon” is. Therefore it cannot be translated directly. This isn’t particularly unusual; Japanese is a very contextual language, so even beyond cultural differences there are lots of words that require a different translation in different contexts.
For this specific scene the translation could well be fine (I imagine it’s probably a gag scene where the other character gets flustered and rejects the accusation), but there are circumstances where a different translation is required.
Except the context is just that pedophilia is much less stigmatized. It still means pedophile it just doesn’t carry the social consequences because it’s more socially acceptable. It doesn’t mean something that can’t be expressed in english. It’s not complicated. Saying someone is perving on little girls would be less impactful than calling them a pedophile but it means the same thing.
Yeah, and to someone who doesn’t know that context, using the word “pedophile” is going to make the line sound very different from what it does in the original language and culture.
Part of the job of a translator is to…
I mean, not really? It means the same thing, it’s just not as stigmatized. That doesn’t make it suddenly not pedophilia. It’s still pedophilia, just nobody cares.
Damn, you really don’t get it.
“Pedophile” is a very loaded word in English, arguably one of the most loaded words in the language. Calling someone a pedophile in English is tantamount to saying that they should be shunned and behind bars or at least on a list. Doing so without evidence can get you charged for defamation (and acquitted, but only if you’re rich enough—but I digress).
ロリコン in Japanese is substantially less loaded. Therefore “pedophile” is not universally the accurate translation; in some circumstances it’s more accurate to use an euphemism, or the loanword “lolicon” which is pretty well established in English at this point.
This has nothing to do with condoning or condemning pedophilia, by the way. And even if it did, then I’d argue that, if anything, using “pedophile” in a mild and casual context, like how “lolicon” is sometimes used, serves to reduce the stigma rather than maintain it. Though that’s a discussion I have no interest in getting into right now.
I get it but the distinction is not particularly meaningful when you’re discussing sexual attraction to children. There aren’t degrees of severity here.
There are in Japanese. That is the entire point.
How would you translate the word to best fit the meaning?
They already basically answered that.
Though in this context, maybe the best thing to do is to not translate it. Most of the audience is likely to know the word already.
Did the character mean to say that they’re a pedophile but without the bad implication of it?
If the term isn’t meant to be so “heavy” in the original usage, and there isn’t an equivalent “light” term here, I wonder if it would’ve been better to just translate it as “I didn’t realize you were a creep” or something else that misses the nuance, but gets the intended feeling and tone across.
Does “pedophile” not work in the scene in question?
I don’t know, I haven’t seen the scene or heard the vocal delivery, I’m not sure what kind of anime it is, or what kind of tone it’s trying to strike. If the mood is “she has discovered a dark secret and is scared” then yeah, “I didn’t realize you were a pedophile” would work great.
But if instead she’s found some porn that isn’t necessarily naked children, and it’s played off as deadpan funny or awkward or misunderstanding, then I think “I didn’t realize you were a pedophile” might not come across light heartedly in the way “I didn’t realize you were a creep” or something similar would. Even if it’s an accurate “word for word” translation, it might not sound right in the scene or match the character’s delivery.
But I don’t know this anime or what it’s about, so I don’t know what the tone should be. It just sounds like there’s disagreement with the line as chosen.
I don’t know, I haven’t watched the show so I don’t know what the meaning is here.