Most avid watchers of Anime will tell you they prefer to play games and watch anime in the original Japanese language. The reality is that even if no changes have intentionally been made, the English translations usually have a very different atmosphere from the Japanese. Though localizations can vary between the two languages, the fact is that in many ways, Japanese just isn’t directly translatable into English.

Recently, this has been a problem for fans of the series  Neon Genesis Evangelion, following its debut on Netflix on June 21. According to Sora News 24,  Netflix begin streaming Neon Genesis Evangelion’s original 1995 anime TV series, as well as the compilation Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth movies. Though the series has been out for some time, this gave many their first chance to experience the shock, suspense, and psychological twists of creator Hideaki Anno’s anime masterpiece. 

The drama surrounds the new translation that is features in Netflix’s streaming version of Evangelion, in both dubbed and subtitled formats. The new translation differs from that used in previous versions in a number of ways. The most controversial has been one line said between the character Kaworu to the protagonist, Shinji. As short as the line is, it is a difficult one to translate. ADV Films originally translated the line as “I like you,” before switching to “I love you” in later versions of its home video release. For the Netflix version, though, it’s back to being “I like you.”

The confusion is based around the Japanese word “suki” can be translated to mean both “like” and “love” depending on its context.  

At Transtrust, we are fully aware of the similar difficulties with English to Vietnamese translations. Our experts are trained to spot these differences right away, and make the best judgement to convey the same meaning. Although variances in meaning are always likely to occur, our team ensures that your content will be translated as closely as possible to the original meaning.