In translation, it is all about context

I noticed a weird translation of an anime scene recently.

 

ヤバい、これ捕まるやつだ！

-> Oh, wow! These make great hand rests!

(捕まりはしません。)

-> (That's not what those are for.)

The problem is, that's not what that scene meant. The actual meaning:

ヤバい、これ捕まるやつだ！

-> Oh no! This is what gets people arrested!

(捕まりはしません。)

-> (They won't arrest him.)

捕まる means to hold, to catch, to grasp. So I can understand the wrong translation, most likely because the translator was only given the text/script without actually seeing the actual video. But in this case, the scene is of the protagonist hugging his new wife from behind as she was sleeping, and he was grabbing on her breasts. Without context, the original translation might have been acceptable. But given the context of the scene, he thought he was doing something wrong (well, yes, you can get arrested for grabbing breasts like that). The text in brackets is to tell people the protagonist won't get arrested since they are married. (Okay, there are countries in the world where, married or not, such behaviour on a sleeping woman will get any person arrested... but Japan is not one of those countries...)

This is why context is always so important when translating something. In my work as a translator, I always try to understand the context so that I can fully convey the meaning of whatever text I am translating. For anime translation, I think the issue is that anime translators are unlikely to be given prior access to the episodes. So they end up with a script in Japanese, and have to imagine what they are trying to translate. This is why we end up with such weird translations sometimes.

Personally, I have done such video subtitling before too, but it is usually with the source video, or at least a storyboard, so that I can understand the context. Those who contract out subtitling work need to realise that they need to provide us translators with the context: either the source video, or at least a storyboard. Otherwise, we may end up translating something totally out of context. So if you notice weird subtitles in the future, remember, it may not be the fault of the translator. And if you are the one contracting out such work, do everyone a favour, provide the source video or a storyboard. 😉