Eight | 八ツ尾半 Profile picture
Aug 31, 2022 20 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Got curious and looked up the Pulp Fiction scene in Japanese, and I have to marvel at the simplicity of 「許さんぞ、ファック野郎」
This clip includes both the dub and the sub, and there are subtle differences, like dub Jules says 「女がヴェジタリアンなんで」 as the reason he doesn't get to eat meat, while sub Jules says 「ガールフレンドが菜食主義」, almost like there was a quota of one katakana word per line
In general the dub feels a lot more flavorful:
English: "Check out the big brain on Brett!"
Sub: "Wow! Aren't you smart!"
Dub: 「こいつ脳みそいっぱい詰まってるじゃねぇか!」 (This guy's stuffed with brains!)
Once again the sub insists on translating every instance of "motherfucker" to ファック野郎
English: "You're a smart muthafucker."
Sub: "You're a smart fuck-bastard."
Dub: 「悪党のくせに頭はいいんだなぁ」(You're pretty clever for a scoundrel)
EN: "You mind if I...have some of your tasty beverage to wash this down?"
Sub: "Can I wash the burger down with this?"
Dub: 「こいつで…今食ったバーガーを胃に流し込んでも構わねぇかな?」(You don't mind if I use this to wash down the burger I just ate, do you?)
EN: "Hey, you. Flock of Seagulls."
Dub: 「おい、お前。前髪の長いの。」 (Hey, you with the long fringe.)
Sub: <Doesn't even try.>
EN: "I don't remember askin' you a goddamn thing."
Sub: "When did I ask you?" (kisama)
Dub: 「いつてめぇに質問した?余計な口出すんじゃねぇぞ、あほ。」(When did I ask you (temee)? Don't speak unless spoken to, dumbass.)
The dub clearly has some space to fill but it does it well
EN: "...It's in the cupboard."
Sub: "The cupboard"
Dub: 「カップボードだ」
Nothing really to say here I just like hearing "cupboard" pronounced like "cup + board"
I like that both dub and sub decided the best way to translate "We happy?" "Yeah, we happy." was 「ハッピーか?」「ああ、ハッピーだよ」
EN: "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I break your concentration?"
Sub: "Sorry. Did I scatter your focus?"
Dub: 「悪い悪い。話の腰を折っちまたな」(I'm sorry. I interrupted your story.)
EN: "What ain't no country I ever heard of. They speak English in what?"
Sub: "Some country that doesn't speak English?"
Dub: 「何」なんて国どこにもねぇだろうが!てめぇアメリカ人だろう! (There's no such country as "What"! You're American, aren't you?)
The subs try real hard to keep the stuff about "What" in but the dub drops it in favour of making Jules swear a whole lot.
(For the "Say What again" line)
Dub: いちいち聞き返すんじゃねぇよ、耳障るの野郎が、このブタ!今度聞き返してみろ、てめぇはその場で穴をあけだぞコラァ! (Stop asking me questions, you earsore. You pig! Next time you talk back, I'll put a hole in you!)
Colourful imagery from the dub as always
EN: Does he look like a bitch?
Sub: "Does he look like a prostitute?"
Dub: 「メスブタみてぇなヤツか?」(Does he look like a female pig?)
I do like the attempt to match the slow delivery of "Does. He. Look. Like a bitch?" by spacing out the subtitles
EN: "You tried to fuck him like a bitch."
Sub: "Fuck" is an untranslatable word unique to the marvellous English language with a long and storied history...
EN: Marcellus Wallace doesn't like to be fucked by anybody except Mrs. Wallace.
Sub: The only one who can fuck Marcellus is his wife.
Dub: 「マーセルス・ワレスのケツにぶっ込んでいいのはマーセルスの女房だけなんだ」(The only one who can stick anything up Marcellus' ass is his wife)
I'm not going to go too far into the translation of the Bible, but I do like how the last line is reversed, so that instead of "You will know my name is the LORD when..." it becomes "And once I lay my vengeance upon you, you will realize that I am the LORD."
Here's the clip I was watching by the way

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