/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Due to the way that the Japanese language works, the only way to truly enjoy Japanese media as intended by the creators is to become fluent in Japanese and enjoy it raw. Japanese is NEVER translated in a way that preserves the original thoughts and intentions, and is always localized.
>Some simple examples:
>日本語がわかる
This would be translated as "I understand Japanese", but that's not what this sentence means.
The English translation is ego-centric, as English tends to be. In fact, the Japanese sentence doesn't mention self at all. The topic of this sentence is Japanese, which is understood. The topic of this sentence is NOT I, who understands Japanese. If the subject were self, then the sentence would have 私 (watashi) which would be marked by が to indicate it as the topic.
In fact, if you translated the English version to Japanese it would be 私が日本語をわかる which is an entirely different statement and is incredibly unnatural Japanese.

It's impossible to truly enjoy Japanese media unless you become fluent in Japanese.