Pokémon eller Fickmonster? En översättningsanalys av TV-serien Pokémon

Abstract

This paper will analyze and discuss the differences and problems between the Swedish and Japanese edition of the Pokémon TV-series from 1996(Jap)/1999(Swe). The focus will be on the use and translation of Yakuwarigo, nouns, names and also parts that have gone missing as a result of the localization. To do this the manuscript in both languages have been compared in order to see what differs and in what way it have been changed. This will be achieved with help of Skopos Theory and Venuti’s concept of localization as a framework for analyzing the manuscript of the series. With Pokémon being one of the first major Japanese TV-shows being translated to Swedish it isn’t hard to not only find flaws in the translation, but also missing parts of the plot. Not only does the translator in the case of Pokémon have to translate the conversations between the characters and make it understandable for a young audience. They will also have to translate and replace all the names used both by humans and Pokémon to make them sound more familiar, something that still has to be done while keeping the original meanings of the names intact. The results will show that this is not as simple as it sounds and some of the names have lost all their original meaning and that some of the characters sounds strange and have a somewhat forced “accent” speech. In conclusion, the paper shows that translation and localization to a young audience is much harder than normal translation in some cases and that some parts might be better completely changed or left untouched.