海外大学字幕プロジェクト

During the final class students made subtitles for the climax scene, and had a discussion about some problematic subtitles and the English title of the film.

The original Japanese title of this film sounds like a bizarrely long sentence. Should it be translated literally, or be drastically changed based on the interpretation of the film? If translated literally, the title in English would sound something like “She tottered to the vending machines, and said ‘I’m sorry’ to them.” Students discussed the English title before this class as their assignment and brought forward some ideas. At the beginning of the discussion in class, instructors mentioned two important points to consider.

“How many vending machines were there in the scene?”
“How many times did Kyoko say ‘I’m sorry’ to the vending machines?”

The number of vending machines and how many times Kyoko said “I’m sorry” relate to the main character’s drive and the climax of this film. Students understood these nuances and created an English title which conveys the literal meaning of the original one, but also contains the interpretation of the whole story.

In the previous class students checked and rewrote their subtitles again to make them even better. In the beginning of the course they had difficulties translating some phrases and went through a process of putting forward and reconsidering their ideas again and again. However, the subtitles they have presented this time surprised the instructors. “You did a good job applying what you have learned so far. Your new subtitles are beyond our expectations,“ instructors said.

Before they started working on the subtitles for the second half of the movie, students had a discussion about which scene was the climax of the film. “Climax” is when the main character’s drive is achieved or ultimately fails. During the second class they said it seemed as if Kyoko didn’t have any drive, but this time they had to reconsider that opinion. In the process of making subtitles, they gradually came to understand that Kyoko is a character who can’t express her emotions well, which made it difficult to understand her drive.

But what is her drive? Is it achieved or does it fail? Answers to these questions are necessary to make subtitles for the climax scene, and fully translate the whole film.

In the third lesson, students checked each other’s subtitles and learned how to improve them.

After watching the short film with the subtitles they made, one of the students said he found it difficult to produce naturally-sounding subtitles in English by translating the Japanese literally. The class started a discussion on how to make the problematic subtitles better.

Some students had difficulties in translating Japanese greetings like “Irasshaimase,” “Sumimasen,” “Otsukaresama,” “Arigatogozaimasu.” Instructors advised them that “These phrases can have many meanings depending on the situation, so let’s focus on each character’s role in the story and behavior of the actors to find out what the character really wants to express.” After watching the film again, students realized that since Kyoko runs over to the customer when she says ‘Irasshaimase,’ ‘Welcome’ is not the best word choice. It was the moment they discovered a clue how to make their subtitles better.

After the first lesson, students saw the whole short film to get a grasp of the story and translated some dialogue in several scenes as their assignment.

Students said they enjoyed the film, but had some problems understanding the story and its message. Topics for the class discussion were “Who is the main character?” and “What is the drive, or the purpose of that character?” Answering these questions are crucial to understanding the story of a film.

One of the students said that, in her opinion, the main character is Kyoko, but she doesn’t appear to have any drive, explaining “She doesn’t want to do any particular thing. She only reacts to what others do”. But the teachers urged the students to see the film again and, no matter how difficult it might seem, carefully consider its whole structure. They pointed out that “every story has its main character, and he or she must have a drive to move the story forward.”

The students watched the film again, paying more attention to Kyoko’s actions and motivations to understand what kind of a person she is. Students made new observations like “She seems to always be looking forlornly at her colleague Takayuki” or “Her father and the shop owner have known each other” and little by little, they begun collecting clues to Kyoko’s drive.

The discussion radically altered the students’ perception of the film, preparing them for their first serious attempt at subtitling in the next class.

Students from Heinrich-Heine-University Dusseldorf in Germany began their first steps toward sharing Japanese short films with the world with the Global Universities Subtitling Project. About 20 enthusiastic students take on the challenge of subtitling a short film which will be screened at "Nippon Connection," one of the world’s largest Japanese film festivals held annually in Frankfurt, Germany.

Kiyotake Ishii started off the class by introducing the basic concepts, target, and purposes in visual media translation.

Jeremy Kuhles then took over and moved on to the workshop part.where the students worked in groups on subtitling of a clip taken from a Japanese TV drama series. The instructor gave them feedback about their subtitles, and actively involved them in a further discussion regarding the cultural context of the scenes.