Lost in translation - Yuri!!! on Ice

Hha sure, that’s probably one of my favourite scenes so I get what you’re saying.

「おはよう、勇利。海にでも行こうか。」

(ohayou yuuri. umi ni demo ikouka)

“Good morning, Yuuri. Let’s go to the beach.”

Awe hell yes! Thank you so much for this. :) how bout I say something back in a different language too? :) It’s “Ingat ka palagi, at maraming salamat!” That means, take care always, and thank you very much in Filipino! :)

Hey, nice, you have some good ears there, I didn’t pick that up in the numerous times I watched through.

But yeah, you’re right it seems. In episode 2, Minako definitely says

「雷のようなイマジネーションを受けた」

(kaminari no you na imajine-shon wo uketa)

“He received a lightning bolt of imagination”

while Yuuri definitely says (in his head)

「僕のこの間滑ったヴィクトルのプログラムの動画を見て、イマジネーションが湧いたってどう言う事？」

(boku no kono aida subetta vikutoru no puroguramu no douga wo mite, imajine-shon ga waitatte douiu koto)

“How is it that imagination sprang forth when you watched the video of me recently skating to your (Victor’s) program?”

Well the only reason I can give is that イマジネーション (imajine-shon) “imagination” just seems to flow off the tongue smoother than インスピレーション (insupire-shon) “inspiration” does. In the first scenario, the two are pretty much interchangeable, in the end they’re basically synonymous with each other anyway. But in the second situation, the right word would be “imagination” simply because of the wording, however the meaning still ends up being conveyed in English as “inspiration”.

Something important to remember is that being selfish does not only mean doing what's best for yourself without considering others, it can also be thinking you know what is best for another person, and then acting upon your own assumptions and thoughts without consulting the other party. I think this is what Victor means when he specifically says that Yuuri is being selfish about this decision.

Yuuri's version of him being "selfish" is very strongly tied to his personality, and more specifically, his anxiety and low self-esteem. While in reality, Yuuri brings up this idea for Victor's sake, so that Victor may continue his career, in his mind, he may have twisted it so that he thought that it was in fact himself who wanted to see Victor skating competetively again. It's his anxiety working against his thoughts, and his low sense of self that makes Yuuri believe he is being selfish in this situation, hence why he too says that he's being selfish. Also being the more sensitive and emotional person in this pair, Yuuri may be more easily emotionally swayed, and can empathise with others easily when in these types of highly emotional confrontations.

When you get down to it, essentially, Yuuri has decided to come to this conclusion, and discuss the options with Victor because he cares about him. Yuuri knows that by keeping Victor as his coach, he is "killing" his skating career, even Yakov commented on this at the very beginning of the anime. So, Yuuri comes to the conclusion that the only way Victor can continue his competitive skating career is to have him resign as his coach (for now at least), and he brings up this discussion with Victor, providing his own reasons, while also listening to Victor's own reasoning.

I said earlier that Yuuri wants himself and Victor to come to a conclusion to this situation together, and that he doesn't want to, or at least isn't intentionally, forcing the idea of resigning upon Victor, and this can be seen in how Yuuri still doesn't push for an agreement right there on the spot, he allows them both to further think about the idea of resigning and their future, and they decide to come to their own conclusions about their own respective futures.

「フリーが終わったら、それぞれ自分で答えを出すと決めた」

(furi- ga owattara, sorezore jibun de kotae wo dasu to kimeta)

"It was decided that after the Free, we would give our own respective answers"

As in:

Victor decides whether he resigns as Yuuri's coach or not, and whether he makes a comeback or not.

Yuuri decides on whether he retires as a competetive figure skater or not.

Neither will make a decision for the other, that's what this line infers.

It’s not that I am able to transcribe well. There aren’t any techniques I follow when transcribing and translating anything oral, it’s really just listen, pause, type it out, rinse & repeat. There’s the occasional cross-check with a dictionary when the speech is mumbled or too fast. For example in the post where I talked about how Michele called Yuuri a 「むっつり助平」(muttsurisukebei)  “lecher with a quiet exterior” I didn’t even know that word existed until I heard Michele say it like 20 times, wrote down every single possible syllable combination of the word down, and then typed in all the choices into the dictionary until I found one that made sense.

It kind of looked like this in the end.

(please don’t judge my other note titles)

Along with your actual Japanese skill, there are things about anime that can effect how well you’re able to transcribe and transcript. The thing about Yuri!!! on Ice is that the language used in it sticks very closely to the general rules of speech in Japan. Because of this, transcribing YoI is quite easy compared to other animes. The only times it gets difficult is when Yuuri’s parents speak in their dialect, and when Yuuri slips into his dialect while drunk, but even then, there isn’t much you can do but guess, or learn the dialect. (I was reading Ao no Exorcist earlier and hhHOOOOOH BOI every single time Bon’s dad spoke I just had to take a minute and stare at the book because… wha t)

If you’re finding transcribing an anime too difficult, it’s most likely either got something to do with the dialect/accent, manner of speech of the characters, or terminology. Terminology and genre specifically makes a big difference when transcribing and translating. On a scale of 1 to 10 for difficulty of transcribing and translating, YoI is probably a 2. Slice-of-life, school, and sports animes all range at around 1-3 because the terminology used is very casual and conversational, and any sport specific term is just an English word turned Japanese through THE POWER OF KATAKANA 90% of the time. Fantasy and RPG animes are probably at a 4-7 because of all the made up terminology. Sometimes they delve into scientific terms which pushes it up another level. The most difficult genre to transcribe and translate for non-Japanese heritage people is probably historic due to all the old and traditional terms and themes.

So if you’re having troubel transcribing something, perhaps pick something with more casual terminology. Maybe slow the video down and pause frequently. It’s important to have a good dictionary, preferably on your phone because it’s easier to use two separate devices rather than switch between windows. Don’t use Google Translate please. Even if it’s just a word or two, don’t trust it please, and especially not for phrases or whole sentences. I like using Takoboto (Android link) they have an online website too, but it doesn’t seem like they have an app for IOS. If you do decide to use a dictionary on your phone, make sure you get a Japanese keyboard, preferably not the default one that comes on your phone. (I use Simeji because it’s cute・Android・IOS).

Other than that there isn’t much I can tell you that’ll help you when transcribing and translating, because most of the time it depends on what anime you pick, but I hope it helped a bit at least. (((The dictionary I use is also good for people who are learning Japanese at any stage, I recommend using it. not endorsed or sponsored by anyone to say any of this but god damn do I wish I were because I nEED MONE Y GOD DAMNIT)))

Somehow im not buying this Bc later on Yuri himself says that its a really selfish decission And viktor also says that he didnt think that yuri katsuki would act so selfishly :/

Pff well, thanks for waiting for a whole month and a bit. I don’t even know if you’re still interested in this, but there is one small part of the vocabulary and grammar which wasn’t, and can’t easily, be translated into English, and I’d like to explain it a little.

「ところでゆうり、話って、、、何」

(tokoro de yuuri, hanashi tte … nani)

“By the way Yuuri, what was it you wanted to talk about?”

「うん。ファイナルで終わりにしよう」

(un. Fainaru de owari ni shiyou)

“Yeah. At the final, let’s end this.”

This was the short exchange between Victor and Yuuri at the end of episode 11, and the basic anwer is, the translation conveys most of what is said, but loses what has been inferred. What’s important here is the form 「にします・にする」(ni shimasu/ni suru) or in this case「にしよう」(ni shiyou) which means “to come to a decision”. For example, if you’re ordering food at a restaurant, and you say「かつ丼にします。」(katsudon ni shimasu), you’re saying “I decide to have the katsudon” but it will be more naturally translated to “I’ll have the katsudon”. This is important because Yuuri could’ve said

「ファイナルで終わろう。」(fainaru de owarou)

which would be correctly translated to what we have in the subtitles “At the final, let’s end this”.

Pfff hhaha

He’s 25 though, I’m pretty sure.

The script during Morooka’s verbal introduction for Georgi did actually say that he was 27 years old, but I’m pretty sure that was a mistake. It was pretty fast, if I weren’t listening specifically for it I probably wouldn’t have noticed.

Gathering from other evidence, we can conclude with confidence that Georgi is 25 years old.

Yakov said Georgi was in Victor’s shadow previously thus he wasn’t able to shine - while this most likely refers to how Victor was way more popular and successful than Georgi, this is most likely because he is older and has more experience, paired with the fact that he just seems to be more talented than Georgi

We have to remember that 27 is already quite old in figure skating, and that many people thought Victor was going to retire at the beginning of the series, hell Yuuri is (kind of not really) ready to retire at 23 which is still prime figure skating time. So to have someone who isn’t as, what we can assume to be, naturally talented as Victor be at the same age (one day younger actually) as him, and not be retired isn’t very convincing.

There isn’t really a reason why, that’s just how Japanese works. When you want to directly address someone you say their name even if they’re the only one you’re talking to.

Usually in anime, the general laws of speech aren’t followed, and we tend to get used to characters directly addressing others with

「おまえ」(omae)「あなた」(anata)「あんた」(anta)and the like.

The first and last are quite rude in conversations if you don’t know the person you’re talking to personally. They have a rough tone to them, and in anime they’re just thrown all around the place and are used when they wouldn’t be in reality. You wouldn’t address your boss with 「おまえ」(omae), that’d get you fired (probably not, I’m just trying to say you just don’t say omae)

Fun fact: 「おまえ」(omae) used to be an honorific “you”, however I think people started using it ironically and it slowly became a derogatory term for “you”.

On the other hand, the second term 「あなた」(anata) has a loving and gentle tone to it, and is a little strange to use in general conversation as it’s usually reserved for family and close friends, people you care about. If a spouse said it to their significant other it is usually translated as “my dear”.

So when Victor addresses Yuuri using his name in

「ゆうりがずっと引退しなきゃいいのにな」

(yuuri ga zutto intai shinakya ii noni na)

“It’d be nice if you/Yuuri never retire/s”

He’s just using correct grammar and language.

Not related at all but once you’ve seen this post, I’ll be on holiday, no wifi or internet or anything until the 10th ish of January, except for maybe the day after the season finale if I can get my international roaming to work. This is the first of the scheduled posts, and if you’re just looking for a yoi blog to follow, I’ve queued up a lot of reblogs on my main blog.

Glad u like it!!! (I might write a fic like this...maybe)

If you do, I’ll cry honestly. It’d be so cheesy like.. I can already imagine them in their white suits with untouched glasses of champagne ;)) and they’d occasionally glance at the other or lightly slap them on the arm when they retell an embarrassing unnecessary detail of their life awW MAN I CAN’T

Hha I have left this ask for sooo long and there are still 2 more from before this, I’m sorry. But it’s kind of good that I left it for so long, because the latest episode explains it all.

So Michele says this line. We shouldn’t forget that he and Sara were both at last year’s GPF too, and therefore, saw Yuuri’s drunken dance battle in which he stripped down to his boxers.

But even then “closet pervert” is a little strong yeah? Well… I actually didn’t translate that word correctly  (´-﹏-`；) because there wasn’t really an explanation I could give that was concise enough to fit in a dialogue translation without making it seem strange, and if we look at the original word and it’s dictionary meaning, it’s all explained.

The original word was 「むっつり助平」(muttsurisukebei)

Dictionary meaning “lecher with a quiet exterior”, or “lecher who doesn’t seem it and doesn’t talk about it” (which fits Yuuri better I think)

Lecherous meaning “having or showing excessive or offensive sexual desire” thank you google which, honestly, is what Yuuri displays during his drunk pole dancing and dry humping later on. The “quiet exterior/doesn’t seem it” part is self-explanatory.

So there we go I guess. Michele doesn’t actually call Yuuri a “closet pervert”, that was just me being lazy not being able to fit it into a dialogue sentence naturally. What he said actually fits quite well now that the banquet and it’s details have been shown.