Language and Translation in Isle of Dogs
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
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Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs in unique in how it uses language and act of translation to help create the perspective of the story. This breaks down the techniques used and discusses some of the problems they create for foreign audiences.
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Hey everyone, thanks for watching! What did you think of Isle of Dogs? Do you think director's should try to reduce the impact of cultural context has on a film?
As always, thank you to my patrons for their support, and if you'd like to become on yourself check out: patreon.com/thomasflight
I do not agree. The cultural context is super important to create a particular sensibility on the audience.
BTW you're doing an amazing job with this fantastic Chanel. You deserve more than 1000,000 subscribers.
Greetings from México.
Loved this movie
Isle of Dogs is brilliant on many levels. It is infused with culture; an homage to Japan.
i think we should all learn at least one other language not native to our home country. it makes for a more interesting way of seeing anything, not just films.
The cultural aspect is important therefore it should never be watered down. Film is not made for everyone. I hate the Transformers franchise and The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. They are films, but not made for me. One reason I hate The Pirates of the Caribbean is because it disrespects its theme: the Caribbean. I've lived in the Caribbean my entire life and they fail to emulate this. A beach? A pirate ship? In Isle of Dogs there are things english-speakers/westerners understand (Atari,Yoko Ono, Arizona Ice Tea etc.) that will not receive the same reaction from other languages and cultures. There is nothing IN The Pirates of the Caribbean for me to understand as an "inside joke" which is why I respect Isle of Dogs for doing their homework. Japanese people understand somethings, and so do westerners
I’m bilingual and can speak both Japanese and English fluently, and I agree with your points. Wes outdid himself in this film, but understanding both languages did take away a lot from it.
same here; I really enjoyed the movie and watched it twice in theatres, thinking maybe i could watch it a second time and not get distracted by the japanese text and talking, but its really impossible. I haven't seen the japanese releases (sub or dub) and i actually kind of want to just for the experience, to see how my view of the film might change
english isn't my native language and i'm currently trying to learn the japanese language, so for someone like me, i can appreciate the original intent of the film maker while understanding a little bit of the spoken japanese since neither languages are my mother tongue.
i'm able to see the intentional obfuscation of the japanese language to serve the english-speaking audience and also see how this purpose is somewhat defeated when you understand even a little bit of japanese.
it's probably just me, but the way the english title is stylistically written over the japanese title in the poster is a bit weird, how the word "isle" is written over the character for dog (犬) and the same for the word "dogs" written over the japanese character for isle/island (島). i get that grammar and syntax is completely different when translating english to japanese and vice versa, but i'm not sure if the way the english title is juxtaposed with the japanese is intentional or an accident that can't be avoided.
what did the boy say when he first met spots and why was spots crying?
If I'm not mistaken from the video clip, he said: "You're going to be my guard-dog for life, aren't you?"
As for crying part, IMO, Spot was getting emotional after he can understand exactly what master is saying to him because normally he wouldn't understand all the human language being spoken around. Much like how you can get excited when you learn the new language and can understand what others saying better than before, even more so when it's coming from someone you care (or going to) like Atari.
tenderwolf I think that’s pretty much it. You can barely hear it, but he also says「足が骨折してるから……治ったら…」which translates to “ My leg is broken....... but when it heals...”
So maybe he’s telling spots that they would play?
Isle of dogs is truly a delight to watch, if you're an English speaker of course.
I think Anderson made the right call to keep it this way, sadly not every movie is for everyone, but that's ok.
Most translations worked brilliantly as well. Here in portugal we don't tend to dub films since it was a decree from the dictatorship regime we endured that everything had to be subtitled, since about 70% of the population at the time was illiterate. Oddly enough, we still subtitle everything, but that allows us to have a huge access to english speaking films and tv shows, which allows us to be much more fluent in english than other non english speaking european countries such as spain or germany.
But back to the film's translation. Here in Portugal, only the English lines were subtitled, and everything spoken in Japanese gets lost to the audience, as intended by Wes Anderson. Still, some expressions (you chewed my hear off) get literal translation as the figurative meaning of the expression cannot be translated as such. Still, since most people in Portugal are fluent in English, the line's double meaning doesn't get lost all that much.
dror negbi It weirded me out because I’m probably the person with the least knowledge of Japanese culture. The way the characters were portrayed, the setting, and other things pulled my attention, and I loved it.
apparently this movie was really well received in Japan. a lot of inside jokes done in Japanese not understood by English audiences
honestly I don't really think its possible to have this idea and have it work for everybody. still a very good movie that makes a good attempt at this metaphor and language barrier.
I would argue you that the brazillian version was the best one by far, the voice-acting was top notch and the va's were born for each of their roles
I've recently been wondering how Japanese version handles translation and how audience in Japan received "Isle of Dogs', and you've answered all my questions. Thank you for your work, your essays are great.
I live in Germany and there are a lot of movies that simply do not work in the translated versions. I exclusively watch movies in English, but people that don't understand English and have to rely on the German translation always face a lot of downsides.
One of the prime examples would be Inglourious Basterds.
In the original version, The American and British soldiers speak English, the Germans speak German, and the French speak French. That makes a lot of sense.
In the German version though The British, the Americans and the Germans all speak German while the French still speak French.
So every scene where the Basterds try to communicate with the Germans or their recruitment of former german citizens are totally nonsensical in the translated version.
And in addition to that, you oftentimes cannot translate word plays, jokes, or equivocal phrases into another language.
Yeah, I feel you. I live in Germany as well, and I'm so annoyed by everything just being dubbed in the cinema. As I don't live in the biggest city, I rarely get the chance to see films in their original version in theatres.
Well i live in Germany as well and i'm all for dubs despite understanding english well enough. Make of that what you will.
Same problem in French with this movie, only Germans speak German and the others speak French...
i think dubs rarely work at all. i'd rather read subtitles and hear the original language being spoken. the only movie dubbed in english that i find to be watchable is the swedish horror film let the right one in. i don't mean the terrible american remake let me in. i watched the swedish film both in swedish with english subtitles and in english dub and i thoroughly enjoyed it both.
but apart from that one film, i always find dubbed movies to be strangely unwatchable. even if i can't understand the original language i'd rather read english subtitles.
Most countries will prioritize dubbing films into their languages. However that was not the case in my country, Portugal. For years now, all of the movies we get here are translated into subtitles, be that at the cinema or tv. Only cartoons aimed at children will get dubbed. And most of us will feel a strong displeasure about dubbing as it never got to be embedded in our culture, stating it ruins movies. And I believe that played a huge part in the reason why people of my generation have high proficiency in English.
I believe that watching a movie in its pure original form is essential to truly understand it.
I totally agree. In a sort of opposite side to isle of dogs anime is very popular in my circles and less of people watch it with sometimes very bad dubs, I always choose (where I can) to watch it subtitles because it's just better and more authentic to what the filmmakers actually made!
i dunno.... i didn't understand the plot of FLCL till i finally watched the dubbed version. the problem with subtitles is i both miss a lot of what's being said because i can't read them fast enough and i also miss a lot of the animation because i'm focused on the subtitles.
film and media are collaborative creations built on compromise between competing visions and a business considerations. just look at all the versions of bladerunner or the original starwars trilogy. authenticity is in the eye of the beholder.
So true. Subtitles would have ruined the movie.
@@sophiathekitty underrated comment
But there dogs
Why didn't they just swap the Japanese and English for the Japanese Dub? Might have been a little more work but it seems like it would have been better
I think the reason they didn't was because they'd have to reanimate, so that the mouth flaps matched with each language still- once you switched them. (Because you could sort of get away with the dogs in terms of mouth flaps with different languages, there's less attention needed to lip movement there, but you couldn't with the humans, where lip movement is much more apparent). But doing so with post production or in production with the stop motion, would have been a lot of work. Wes's group had already animated the humans to speak in Japanese, have them suddenly speaking in English while everything visually about the film is saturated with art and imagery inspired by their own culture, would probably have been jarring too. Ultimately, for the same themes of language barriers and foreign entities to fully work for a Japanese native viewer- the settings and characters for the humans had to be non Japanese instead.
Yeah, seems kind of disrespectful to the movie to be honest. Like they just shoved the movie to some dubbing company without consulting the director.
Characters in Clockwork Orange for example use Russian words as slang. In the Russian translation, they use English words instead.
that's not something you can "just" do
K E B A B I was going to comment the exact same thing. This would’ve been an elegant way of extending the experience the English speaking audiences had to a Japanese one. What a missed opportunity.
@@nortenero is it not too many layers of meta to have non-diegetic English representing diegetic Japanese in order to make Japanese audiences not understand the speech of Japanese characters, while at the same time non-diegetic Japanese represents diegetic bark dog language, which is rendered in English in the original version for the purpose of being not mutually intelligible with the diegetic Japanese, which is now English, and also Diegetic English is now represented as Japanese, and there are translators all over the movie translating japanese/English into English/japanese. All the while, the movie still explicitly and conspicuously takes place in Japan, which is the homeland of the audience of this theoretical version of the movie, who are now watching a Japanese-speaking American overthrow the English-speaking japanese government to save the Japanese-speaking dogs who live in Japan but don't speak the same language as the japanese people, and I can't believe I have to explain to you why this is a terrible idea and it's neither elegant, better, just "a little" more work, or even possible. What the fuck are you even thinking.
Great essay. I think it's totally fine what he did. He made a movie for western audiences, while still respecting the culture used throughout the film. I don't see a problem with having an audience in mind and I think it would ultimately lead to bigger problems if we had to make films that appealed and worked on a global scale.
I think it's very interesting that there are movies that DO work on a global scale. The reception in the rest of the world is something that big-budget movies generally keep in mind.
I have read about the modifications and decisions big-name studios like Disney did with their movies in order to make them appealing to a global audience. It seems like a real hassle, so it's nice if you're a smaller studio that doesn't expect to sell much overseas anyway. One example is with the casting of Tilda Swinton in Dr. Strange. Marvel is very popular in China as well, but I suppose the Ancient One being cast by a real Asian actor would have brought up the Chinese tension with Tibet (if I remember correctly). But as a consequence, over here they were accused of white-washing, so I guess you can't please everyone.
I do think that Wes ultimately had to make a different movie all together for the the themes of isle of dogs to really work for a Japanese audience ( as the Japanese characters in story are almost treated like foreign entities- not just on the language scale- but in the visuals as well [main kid's suit looks like a space suit, main villain is often depicted in distant authoritarian fashion, most human characters follow black and aesthetics instead of the colourful coats the main dogs are, heck many of them don't make an effort to really show emotion and act more like part of the background e.t.c.] and that just doesn't work if you want to appeal to a Japanese audience- anymore then you'd try to appeal to an English audience by treating western characters as foreign). But I do think the point of the video essay is that a while a lot of work was put in to the film, enough to show that there is appreciation of Japan's culture, the writing makes it so that the film really isn't meant for a Japanese audience. Which must be weird on some level for them
The boy has strange accent, like the person speaking is maybe Asian but not actually Japanese.
I still liked understanding both languages, it actually expands the story for me, but the narrative is focused on the dogs; understanding the people shifts the focus a lot.
Culture is always present in media, from the way people speak to their reactions and the story style; if it is not obvious, then it is subtle, but never absent.
Small thing: thumbnail for Inugashima 犬ヶ島 is misleading, 犬 is dog and 島 is Island; it is reversed because English word order is different
Mr マックラ The actor is Japanese-Canadian, so Japanese is his native language, but English may be more his dominant language.
I wish they had dubbed the humans in English for the Japanese release, would have sounded odd, but would have insured the survival of the language barrier. With the exception of the text on screen.
As for the idea of someone 'not' doing something because a specific set won't be able to fully understand it. I say make it. But if you have the money, do the above.
Problem with that is they would most likely be keeping the original cast and switching the characters they play along with changes due to not needing actors for certain characters for both languages.
Japanese people speak english, they aren't as stupid as us
@@wolfuck Sure but you obviously still get the aspect of the two groups peaking different languages.
@@wolfuck after reading some articles, only around 13-30% speak any level of english, and only around 8% of people are fluent in it. speaking different languages is a good skill to have, but acting as if people are "stupid" for not knowing more than one is silly
I think the Japanese translation should’ve been a complete swap of voice actors. They should’ve had the main humans talk English while the Dogs speak Japanese.
that's the best idea
I think it’s fine with the dogs speaking English since the main focus is on the dogs and they speak the most and since this was released in the US ... I feel like Wes did a great idea for putting the dogs in English and the humans in Japanese but I do believe he should’ve put more subtitles but the in movie translation is an unique touch
Dallis Von Oh I meant for the Japanese version of the movie. I agree with your statement though.
Ben Link that’s what I was thinking, kinda stupid for them to leave it all in Japanese. The problem would still probably be the same, though, with Japanese people who know English saying it’s “awkward” because they understand what both the humans and dogs say
It'd kind of ruin the point of having it in set in Japan and choosing a language only people living on a single island in the world speak. Japanese people also study English from elementary school until university (and sometimes in uni as well) and so can understand a bit. Most Americans don't understand Japanese at all. To have Japanese characters from Japan and following Japanese mannarisms all speak English, it'd be really strange and maybe even irritating. Maybe having it only available subtitled would be better since that's the point, or possibly give the dogs an Osaka or some other accent to show that they "speak differently".
I'm a native English speaker, but I live in Japan and speak Japanese. It was certainly interesting to watch "Isle of Dogs" knowing the Japanese language. I definitely felt like I wasn't supposed to understand the Japanese in the film, but I did enjoy it nonetheless. I think it both took some things away, and added other things to it while I watched.
I may not have missed out on the dialogue that I was supposed to miss out on. But I really appreciated the attention to cultural and linguistic detail in the film. From the sushi cutting scene, to the student activist group, to the simple way that the scientists "kanpai" and clap after drinking, it really felt like a lot of effort and research went into this.
I do agree that the film comes from an Anglo-centric point of view and that is part of the point of the film, and as you say, you can't tell a story outside of a cultural bubble. But I think it is possible to appreciate the film from different angles. Everyone who watches, reads, or hears a story will have their own cultural or personal background and will take away something different from the story.
I will say that I felt like the film was a breath of fresh air in the sense that many films on other countries or cultures, told from an Anglo-centric perspective often show the "other" culture as strange or is played for laughs. Everything I saw in "Isle of Dogs" felt like the "other" culture was just is how it is. The POV characters (the dogs) were still technically a part of that world; their perspective on it was just different and had a different relationship to it than your average foreigner-goes-to-other-country perspective. And as a result, there was a sense of integrity to the use of another culture in an Anglo-centric film.
So in the end, yes, to appreciate the film in the way Wes Anderson intended, one should be an English-speaker who does not understand Japanese. But just as no story can be told in a cultural bubble, it also cannot be viewed in one. Differing viewing experiences are to be expected, and in a way that's one of the interesting parts of experiencing a story.
Quick note: interpreting is a completely different occupation from translating
Totally correct. I wrongly refer to interpreters as translators throughout the video.
No kidding! Do they require different training?
Yes they do, translator translate written words, whereas interpreters do so with spoken words, conveying message, undertone and cultural differences... It's a whole different animal, I work in medical interpretation btw! :D Cheers
@@ZholGoliath I didn't know that there was a distinction, thanks for teaching me this.
@@TV-8-301 Yeah. Pretty significantly different.
A translator... well, _translates._ He can listen to a recording or look at words written in another language and, quickly or eventually (depending on the length and linguistic complexity of the original work), present the same work in another language, with correct grammar.
An interpreter _also_ translates, yes, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of them did translation work on the side to make some extra money, but translation is only part of the job. While a translator works with finished products and can flip back or rewind to the same line over and over again for minutes or hours or _days_ until he can settle on the best interpretation, an _interpreter_ does it all _live._ She listens to a speaker speaking one language, translates in her head, and _while_ the speaker is still talking, speaks the translation for the benefit of whoever's on the other end of her microphone, taking into account grammatical differences, slang, jokes, idioms that don't translate properly, and then some. She 100% _must_ be fluent in both (or occasionally _all)_ of the languages she interprets in, too, because pausing too long can cause confusion for both herself and the people depending on her, and a tongue-tied interpreter is no good to anyone.
TL;DR: Hug an interpreter.
I went to go see this movie with my mum (who is Japanese and her English isn't very good), and I'm fluent in both English and Japanese. We both understood and enjoyed the movie in almost a similar way simply because we watched it with the full expectation that there are certain ambiguities that neither of us could understand regardless of what language that was in.
My mum was able to understand the gist of the English dialogue, and was able to interpret all of the references to the cultural context that was shown visually in the film. I was able to understand the English and Japanese dialogue, but wasn't able to understand certain cultural aspects as clearly as my mum would have.
In my opinion it's perfectly fine to create a film geared towards a specific viewing experience for a specific audience. Granted, it's probably ideal if you're seeking to make the box office overflow, especially since foreign markets are such a huge factor nowadays. However, West Anderson movies were never really about that mass appeal other studios try for. I can sympathize with not being able to have the "true" viewing experience if you fall outside of unique cultural perspective this film relies on, but at the same time I feel more culturally neutral options would've made this film come off as more generic in its presentation.
With all the reboots and complete lack of originality in Hollywood these days, I'd much rather have a film take risks even at the risk of somewhat excluding certain audiences rather than having artistic integrity watered down trying to please everyone.
Hi! I loved this video essay! I agree on your points on both pros and cons of the film. I am a Filipino and can understand English and Japanese well enough.
I think Wes and the whole crew did a great job all in all and that this style we see, his thematic use of different languages to convey the story, is something that is both creative and brave. Setting an audience in mind while creating something is not really "bad," that's just how things go. I am excited to see more of this style and how it will evolve.
This is honestly Wes Anderson's best film. It works on so many levels
I have got the power of god and anime on my side, so I understood most of what was said in japanese. Being a weeb pays off.
@@syddoku who hurt you?
Ishita wapanese people
*eyeroll
@@syddoku anime should be illegal in the west
So I am an inferior lifeform... harsh
I think all those issues has been fixed during The French Dispatch : adding subtitles is maybe less immersive but it helps both English and French audience to understand ( as a French boy, I must say this was well done )
Another solution would be to set the movie in the fictional country that looks and sounds like Japan but it actually isn't. So the language spoken would be Japanese-like but actually gibberish, therefore untranslatable which would render all audiences equal. (like Charlie Chaplin's fake German speech )The dogs would be speaking the language of the audiences. Simple, really, Wes actually did something like that in Grand Budapest Hotel where the country is fictional but looks and feels like a Switzerland or Austria. But I believe he really wanted the real Japan and Japanese language.
Great video. As a non-native English speaker, I think the issue of language and translation in media should be brought up more because English speakers have no idea how the rest of the world has to cope with the language barrier to consume pretty much any media of bigger importance. English speakers and their opposition to watch movies with subtitles disgust me, to me it's the only way I've ever known to watch movies (except dubs for animation). As a child of 7, the only cartoon channel available was the English Cartoon Network. I didn't understand it, but so what, I knew what was going on. Not to mention games, when I literally had to get up the check the dictionary to fetch the thing I didn't know a word for, if an NPC wanted it from me. I also had few GameBoy games in German, I just asked mom, she spreche Deutsch.
So, seeing a movie where the characters in Japan speak not-translated Japanese in the American movie is a phenomenon for me. You guys have everything explained and spelt out for you, in every movie, I swear, you have English speaking French, Italians, Spanish guys... Just visit hem, they don't speak English! At. All. it's great if you don't understand something sometimes. It's eye-opening. Just like you said Thomas, you start to look at people like dogs do, gestures, poses, body language. And this builds empathy.
When I was watching Isle of Dogs in the theater I looked around and saw a theater full of Americans that probably all wouldn’t watch a movie with subtitles watching a movie where half the movie isn’t even translated and I was happy that Wes was bringing this kind of experience to and audience that otherwise wouldn’t experience this kind of thing.
Totally get the frustration. English speaking audience don’t realize the privilege they have in having most media available in an easy to consume format.
Yey for the Wes! He also brings a totally different style of filmmaking which looks weird for general audiences, especially American. I still don't know how he persuaded the producers and the studio to fund his films! Truth be told, when I first saw his movies I thought he's half-French or something =D
Thanks for the heart. I like it.
At this time, he would be slammed for cultural appropriation if he did that. As it is there are people upset that the dogs didn't have japans accents. I do like your idea though, and I think it would work. Just like the charlie brown examples.
Thomas Flight ist that because most bug entertainment is made by engilsh speakers
If you wanted more of that expect should you make content not in English
@@heinzerbrew At this time? This movie only came out a year or so ago and people still love it. Keep your toxic bullshit for yourself.
I quite liked Isle of Dogs, it was one of my favourite Wes Anderson movies, and the first one I could see in theatres. One of the first things I wondered about after leaving the movie was how Japanese audiences would be able to experience the film. I like how you've addressed that here. Even though some of the Japanese audience found the way Ilse of Dogs was presented a bit jarring, I don't think it suggests that this or any other film should try to avoid the impact of their director's cultural context. Whether it's obvious or not, the cultural context of the filmmaker can be a personal part of their vision that uniquely helps them to tell their own stories. Everyone should be able to enjoy a movie, but if the director feels they can speak more so to a specific group, they might get more out of the movie than anyone would if the director (or writer, etc..) hadn't leaned into what they know. Foreign media like film can also use their cultural context to help foreigners begin to understand that context which they may have otherwise been ignorant to.
I don't end the video with my opinion on the matter (although it's definitely biases in a certain direction), because I want to present people with the issue and let them form their own opinions, instead of being told what to think.
But I pretty much totally agree with you here. While the fact that the film might be jarring to some Japanese audiences or other foreign audiences is a little sad, I don't want that possibility to stop a filmmaker from exploring a new idea or technique. Part of what I love personally about watching foreign films is the experience of seeing the film's cultural perspective, even if I find it confusing sometimes, I think (like travelling), it's an experience that can be very expanding and allow you to see new perspectives. And if I wouldn't want foreign director's to stop making films from their cultural perspective, why would I expect western directors to do the same. That said, I think it's great that some director's are trying to make films for a global audience, more power to them.
Loved Isle of Dogs! Really enjoyed this, I found the humour in the subtitles great, just a little extra wink to the audience.
Why wasn't the japanese dub language reversed - like the dogs spoke japanese and the humans spoke english
Why did Americans speak English during WW2 instead of Japanese and the Japanese vice versa?
@@firepower7017 what?
@@firepower7017 Because the americans communicated with americans, not japanese people.
@@firepower7017 Why did you comment in English?
@@emperorfaiz Well I pretty much have to speak it since Khmer is really unknown to a point even the Internet doesn't know.
But my first comment is regarding that reverse dubbing is pretty much stupid since it would need a huge rework to a point which you'll need to change the movie entirely.
Kind of flabbergasted you have to ask if it's okay to create a movie within a cultural context. Not everything has to be for everyone, there's nothing wrong with making something for a particular audience.
Eric Smith you’re right that there is nothing inherently wrong about creating a movie within a certain cultural context or for a specific audience- however, i think it can still be asked whether isle of dogs, in relying so heavily on being viewed within a certain linguistic and cultural paradigm to be coherent, might be limiting itself or confusing its message. to rephrase the question: who is isle of dogs FOR? was it conscious directorial intent to center english-language audiences while alienating, to varying extents, japanese- and other non-english-language audiences? was this merely a tradeoff that had to be made, or was this effect simply not taken into account? i would think these are pretty fair questions, especially considering that the film’s thesis seems to be about language barriers and what is lost and gained in translation.
on a more general level, to what extent does translation and thus removal from original cultural context dilute meaning in any film? can translation be executed more effectively if it is not considered as a process of merely converting language a to language b, but additionally of making the unique sociolinguistic paradigm shaping media in language a more comprehensible or visible for viewers operating in a different sociolinguistic paradigm? how can a good translation that both preserves and makes comprehensible the original sociolinguistic paradigm foster further understanding of and appreciation for other cultures? and so on. this line of inquiry is crucial to the process of cultural exchange for the sake of globalization and human unity. there’s nothing at all new or strange in this line of inquiry; all effective translators throughout history have necessarily been aware of and have sought to address in one way or another the problems and limits of their art in order to realize its vast potential.
I mean the reviewer says “this is a huge problem, the film-maker has made the film Anglo-centric.”
Then he continues to speak in English, relate his struggle to find Japanese reviews translated to English, and altogether creates an “Anglo-centric” video essay, for chrissake.
English is the third most-natively-spoken language in the world (360 million native speakers) , and the language spoken by the most people overall (1.121 billion speakers total).
I don't think making something that can only really be appreciated in English is a problem or a bad thing.
Ikr
The humans should be barking.
Wes Anderson encountered the old James Joyce problem, and decided to use the same answer. It really is truly impossible to create universal art rendered in langauge, which makes all high art essentially classist. Thats not to say that the upperclass have bad taste, just that you can't blame the lower class for misunderstanding it. So James Joyce just decided to elevate the irish perspective into the english language, instead of trying to reconcile it with his personal identity, atleast until before Finegan's Wake.
There is nothing inherently wrong with this form of story telling. It just becomes limiting when you try to bring it into other languages. Movies like the STAR WARS Trilogy made up many of their languages. So, just translating the English wasn’t that much of an issue. The one time I remember them using a real language was with Lando’s co-pilot, Nien Numb, in Return of the Jedi. I think he spoke Ched or some other African language.
I watched the movie in German and I THINK I remember Tracy being from Germany. Makes sense and is kinda cool that they changed that fact.
(I could be wrong though.)
The scene when Atari speaks with Spot for the first time brought me to tears - I put this movie on for fun and was not expecting to have my heart touched so strongly - the way Anderson employed empathy through a lack of communication was brilliant
This was really fascinating, probably the most interesting and fresh video essay I’ve seen in a while
I think having the Japanese and English language cohabit in the same movie, though it makes the movie anglo-centric, actually points out the fact that it's a romanced vision of Japan. In the same way the dogs can't understand the humans but are in utter admiration for them, Wes Anderson shows that he loves Japan, even though he'll never be able to be fully Japanese. This is especially critical in the scene where Atari reads out a haiku : the reaction of the interpret is the one we're supposed to have, even though it's terribly cliché to resolve a crisis like this.
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To me it represented a whole new experience altogether. I hadn't really thought about everything you said in your video, but my complete lack of understanding of the japanese language did not take away from the experience at all. I felt like, even though the movie isn't centered on one specific main character, the fact that I was forced to a specific perspective enabled me to connect on a deeper level to the whole context and "message" (if you can call it that) that it tried to convey.
After watching this movie several times, I thought to myself how someone like Wes Anderson could make such a clever idea for a movie. This movie is my most favorite movie of all time because of this.
Shocked me when I heard Kira's voice coming out of spots
You actually addressed a very interesting topic. I think this would be an interesting topic for scholars in translation studies. As for your question on whether movies can be made w/o elements of the culture itself, there are some very interesting movies out there that play with that concept in order to film a movie that can be appreciated worldwide. For example, they avoid specifying locations. But also notice how popular Hollywood movies have managed to become despite being situated in an American context and spoken in English.
I must confess, this is a great video! Although I had similar feelings about Isle of Dogs, I would not be able to put my feelings in words as you do in this video. It's nice to see some alternation from all the boring and standardized video essays here on UA-cam!
3:05 I took a big oof when you wrote "Charles Brown"
No one can get everything right, it's fine
Damn that i can hear you seen gets me teary eyed everytime :’)
I’m a student learning Japanese currently and I recognized a lot of the basic stuff that was spoken. I found that being able to decipher Japanese graffiti/decor, etc. or certain characters actually deepened the story for me. For example on Trash Island there’s wall graffiti that translates to “how are you going to kill us”. It really makes the struggle for the dogs and the hatred and misunderstanding much more clear when you can notice the film’s plentiful detail.
5 minutes in i had to subscribe. thanks for making this, makes me appreciate the movie even more. i didn't even realize i hadn't watched a single video essay about isle of dogs, and i'm so glad this one was recommended to me.
In some small part I find this equivalent to reading translated manga. Often there are explainations in page of innuendo or word play that is garbled or lost in translation, cultural references that are vague for English speakers or more accutely americans. It's an interesting feeling to have that sort of change described from the other side, though I'm sure this an extreme instance because of how the movie is written.
They could’ve simply used an unintelligible dialect in the Japanese translation (e.g. Okinawan)
In the Japanese dub I would've inverted the roles, have the dogs speak Japanese and the humans English/other language.
Thanks for posting this video! I am native English speaker and thoroughly enjoyed this movie, but wondered how the language thing would be perceived in Japan.
Great vid! Just something I am curious about, I don't think it was ever implied that the device allows Spots and Atari to understand each other, just hear each other.
I'm not entirely sure what more we can expect from an english-speaking director making a movie for an english-speaking audience. We don't seem to ask that Japanese, French, Spanish ect... movies be completely accessible to a english-speaking audience, and that the historical and cultural elements be watered down to accommodate an audience whom the film was not created for. In fact, if any serious critic or writer challenged a foreign film that way he would be castigated for being arrogant and "eurocentric" as well.
I really liked this video. IT improved myappreciation for this movie even more.
Ive said this forever, the way the movie translates and uses language is genius
I clicked on this thinking you were going to add English subs to the Japanese speech parts. WHAT A FOOL I WAS!!!
Dang. I stoped the video 2/3 in and watched the whole movie. It's a good watch and definitely holds a lot of the points of the analysis true. good work!
I honestly loved the movie, the lack of subtitles just made the world more natural.
This is really awesome! I liked that the movie didn't have subtitles, it made it more realistic, although thanks to you I can understand how Japanese audiences might not care for it. However, I loved this movie!!
The background music was so soothing
Initially I watched the movie in a theatre dubbed in Ukrainian, since no original version screenings were available at the time. It was brilliantly done and they kept true to Wes' idea. Where necessary English lines delivered by Japanese speakers were dubbed in Ukrainian with a Japanese accent. If I recall correctly, all or most of the English subtitles were somehow replaced by similarly stylised Ukrainian ones, while signage in the frame and the like was subtitled at the bottom.
Of course, I later re-watched it in English at it was even better, especially hearing the familiar voices of actors involved in the film. But the dubbing in Ukraine was executed as well as it can be done for any movie. So I suppose, other than for Japanese audiences (ごめんなさい!), dubbed versions were fine.
I guess I'm going to have another kind of special experience viewing this film, different from many of you. When I first watched it I could only understand the English, and a little bit of the Japanese writing since I'm from China I could read most of the kanji, and some simple sentences of the Japanese the human characters say. Now I'm starting to learn Japanese, and I hope that I can understand most of the human speech in this film by 2020, which is when I'm going to watch this film again, looking forward to having a totally different experience.
It's interesting. I've only read it as a unique perspective and stylistic touch to the film but now that you mentioned it, it's probably purposeful that the language barrier also represents the space and awkwardness between the dogs (English) and humans who don't understand each other
this is literally my favorite animation movie that i watched the animation is giving me goosebumps how good it is
and i am happy that i founded this movie
I'm not a native English speaker nor Japanese but I really enjoyed this movie because I understand some spoken Japanese .. I have noticed the same thing with Korean movies and Dramas, I don't speak fluent Korean either but I have been watching their works from tv series to reality shows, news to movies and such for over 10 years now and I consider myself to have a cultural and historical background and I don't face issues that will ruin the work experience, but when I recommend the magnificent works I watched to someone with no experience with Korean culture or history they will not enjoy it fully and take the notes I had for the same line or scene.
I think language in some works is crucial especially when it comes to comedy and it's inseparable part of the work..
Thank you so much for this video! Keep it up ✨
Damn! Watching this video and reading the comments makes me realize how much of a genius Wes Anderson really is!
I am native English speaker with Japanese as a second language and I feel like this movie was made just for me. I didn't feel like it was distracting at all :) I felt privileged because I was able to understand a lot of the cultural cues on both sides. Plus, since I'm always having to translate things for others, I felt like the translators being plot-significant characters made it a really awesome nod to the amount of work that these people do and often don't get credit for.
As a translator in training who speaks English and Korean who just happened to have a fledgling grasp on Japanese language, this movie, both as of itself and its depiction of translators (or rather, interpreters -- we do different things.) was wildly interesting to me. While I can't provide any deeper musings of my own, I just gotta say i find your essay on the cultural boundaries and their effects on cinema very candid and just as interesting, if not even more engrossing than Wes' film. Wes kept most of the intended audience in the dark on purpose, and I believe it was a brilliant stroke of genius. Nice to see I'm not the only one who thinks so.
Also, as to answer your question: no, I don't think directors should limit the cultural context of any film they produce. It'd be as pointless as removing any other cinematographic values of any given kinds cinema.
Really good vid! I love this film and all of Wes Andersons films! This vid is a really good analysis on the language of this film, which I find is a really original idea.
This is extremely well explained
I heard of that movie but didn't know about the language aspect of it. I find it very interesting and have no problems with not having subtitles. I like to watch a movie as it were supposed to me viewed, and in this case I believe it's focused in only English or Japanese speakers. I still didn't watch the movie so I could be wrong, but I find the idea brilliant and wish it could be done more often. It's good to feel "lost" in the movie some time, because in real life that's how it is.
I wish in situations like this the movie will just switch the character who's language you aren't supposed to understand into some other language so that way the language barrier still exists
This is my favorite movie! I loved seeing it in theaters!
I feel that artist should make their craft for the place of origin and if it takes off world wide, it is just a bonus. I just feel that people who are making art for the world are just after money and not the craft. Plus, what a great way to see culture around the world than through their own art.
I downloaded a sub version and only had subtitles on the English parts and I thank that because in other way it would a big part of the film essence
I live Wes Anderson's style it's goddamn brilliant
Damn this was interesting Tom.
This is my favourite stop motion film.
I hadn’t seen it this way.
Fantastic.
Question: Do you think it is a coincidence that if you say the title fast it sounds out to "I love dogs"?
I love that idea.
Knowing Wes Anderson, No.
@Aesthetic Crap what makes you think that?
wow, more substance-less surface level observations about popular movies! thanks, youtube recommendations!
It's such a great device, especially in a movie that's basically about communication
I was perfectly fine with no subtitles for the japanese charecters, left it more ominous
Why didn't they just swap the languages so Japanese citizens could understand it? The dogs could speak Japanese and the humans speak english, the translators speaking japanese.
It's not that hard to figure something like that out.
Why would you make a movie and not market it to a single certain country, especially the one that the movie is literally set in? Exclusion like that could lead to some serious backlash. The marketing team failed their jobs.
Cerridwen Dragon
Or they can just change the dog’s language. Pretty simple.
It's absolutely insane that there are really people out there who are offended that some fictional Japanese people spoke Japanese.
When you see the similar *_and unpaid_* work done time and time over by fansub groups in the past, It seems little difficult to believe 'it couldn't be done' period.
super late but it costs a lot of money to do that because you have to lip sync the clay to english instead of japanese. it's entirely doable but expensive and will extend production time greatly. also the dogs got away with other languages just fine because most of those languages were european (thus having a similar grammatical and phonetical structure) and the fact that the dogs don't have lips. the jaws just flap for the most part to create the allusion of speaking so it was super easy to translate into other languages
Great Great, Great MOVIE, STORY, ANIMATION, IDEA........tank you 💓🤘
I forgot about this movie, I saw a trailer a few years ago but never got the chance to watch it because it wasn't in theatres nor on the internet anywhere so I kinda just forgot about it.
I thought it was hilarious when people were complaining there wasn't;tt subtitles for the Japanese parts. They totally missed the whole point
As I'm sure you're well aware, in the early days of voiced film, Paramount set up a French division to do something that to us would seem ridiculous: make a different version of hit American films for each and every major European demographic. One German version, one Spanish version, one Polish version, etcetera.
Theoretically, this would overcome the major hurdle of voiced film, in that global appeal is lost.
However, audience reaction was tepid at best. To make scripts that could be translated into 12 languages concurrently, the resulting films were "culturally faceless" so to speak. The films had famous actors from their regions playing the roles, but it couldn't overcome how lifeless and fake they seemed.
An opposite problem was reached with some scripts, where without the cultural contexts that the original films were marinaded in, they simply did not work narratively and the resulting films were goofy at best and insulting at worst.
What I'm attempting to get across is that the above scenarios are obviously not only not ideal, but should be avoided at all costs. One should not expect an artist to try to appeal to every other potential audience outside of one's own, robbing the art of any individual unique character that can be dubbed over to create "the same thing", but in another language. I, having been raised primarily as a speaker of English, do not and should not expect to be completely able to understand the contexts of Les Quatre Cents Coups, or Germania anno zero, or even stuff like Potemkin - to me, that is the height of egocentrism...and so not understanding them perfectly is just fine by me. It is a natural consequence of art being personal, and it is regrettable, but c'est la vie. As such, I would argue against the notion that the rest of the world is so deprived of art that they need big moneybags America to curate tasteless art for sanitized global consumption.
But that's just my two cents. A good dub (there are good dubs) can be a truly excellent experience carried by inspired translation (an art form in itself) and passionate, committed acting - but it will never be quite the same thing. And I don't think removing uniqueness to make something more palatable for outside approval does anyone any favors.
lol but my years in anime watching trained me for this, and was surprised and happy to find I understood 85% of the Japanese dialougue.
Watching isle of dogs with or without subtitles. It’s optional.
Amazing.
This video was uploaded on my birthday
Great movie and great product referral. Thanks!!
This is delightful
I've always thought about a movie that would have 2 people put together in circumstances without translation tools. So over a long period of time you could see the eventual learning and sharing of both languages. And have the movie use either little to no subtitles or have both languages represented in the subtitles. It would be interesting to see how body language would replace spoken language at first and then have them create a sorta of shared language like Spanglish. I can just never get the right setting in mind.
I thought I recognized Spots' Japanese voice so I did some digging and apparently he's got the same voice actor as Kira Yoshikage from JJBA
i friggin loved this movie!!!!!!
Very well explained. That's all I can say really.
I think "A Taxi Driver" is a good example of this technique working flawlessly.
i needed this so much thank you
I can’t wait to watch this film!
I think for Japanese speaking audience, who don’t get to experience the unknown language on this movie, it is similar to a film “Lost in translation”.
I love this movie so much!
I loved this concept so much! I was able to finally watch the movie a month back, but it was really amazing. Luckily I was able read the text quickly (or keep up for the lost part) from watching so many subs ^^’
Thomas I adore your essays. Keep doin it son.
ありがと
This reminded me of the movie Spanglish. The plot goes around a Mexican woman learning to speak english, so she may communicate with the American family she works for. However, they actually tried to dub the whole movie to spanish, and for the english-speaking characters, they used a "gringo speaking spanish" accent which pretty much blows the sense of the movie, as it also changed the dialogues and meaning of some scenes.
In Portugal, only the English was translated and subtitled (we don't tend to dub films). It worked brilliantly as the original intended.
i came here to learn what the boy was saying. this is not what i thought it was loved it
Isle of Dogs is beautiful and brings to the table the power of language. The only thing that does bug me is that Isle of Dogs feels less structured on plot than, say, Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Needed this
It's significant when the cultural context / audience a director is catering to is globally dominant. Japanese people are marginalized in the west, and using their language as a purposefully unintelligible aesthetic while standard English (with American accents, no less!) is used to generate empathy and encourage identification with the dogs plays into that racial othering. Isle of Dogs is a beautiful movie and Wes Anderson is a brilliant director, absolutely. There isn't a clear, elegant solution to this problem. But it IS a problem worth being critical of.