MovieChat Forums > Kiraware Matsuko no isshô (2006) Discussion > 2 questions about subtitles

2 questions about subtitles

posted 14 years ago by AlienBlade
3 replies | jump to latest

1. I saw it on Film 4 and on the part where money has been stolen it said the amount in ¥ (I think it was something like ¥12,000). But I got it on DVD and the amount is in $ (it said $100). Why did they do this?

2. On the song Love Is Bubble (when Matsuko first becomes a hostess (that's what the subtitles call it) why does the subtitles say "Love's a bubble, Nothing but trouble"? I ask this because they are saying either "I want bubble, I want trouble" - or - "I love bubble, I love trouble".

[–] thaixstyle 14 years ago

I know that this reply is a bit late, but hopefully I can help to answer you questions.

Although the actual exchange rate varies, the amount of ¥12,000 is roughly equal to $100 USD (actually as of today it's closer to $130). I'm assuming that they are using the USD currency because it may be a North American DVD release (or the translation is originally from it) and the translators may have assumed that viewers may have a better understanding of the value than if they were to just use the ¥ amount.

The actual lyrics, if I heard correctly, are "Ai wa bubble, Ai wa trouble" which translates to "Love is bubble. Love is trouble." I know...I heard "I want bubble, I want trouble" at first too.

My Japanese is very, very rusty, but you should get the gist of it.

[–] AlienBlade 14 years ago

Better late than never. Thanks for answering.

It is a Third Window Films UK PAL Region 2 DVD that says "printed in the UK" on the back so as you said probably a copy of the US DVD. But are Americans so stupid they don't know what a ¥ is (sorry if you're American and this offends you but then again this shouldn't offend you because you're clearly not one of the stupid ones if you are American)? As I said I'm sorry if this offended you but I hate it when they change stuff to make it more accessable to the people of America. For example in La Haine they say Asterix but to make it more accessable the subtitles say Snoopy.

As for the lyrics, thanks for clearing that up. That makes a lot more sense.

[–] Ronny_the_effin_bear 13 years ago

The average American probably does know what a ¥ is.

Actually, scratch that. The average American who would be watching a subtitled film from Japan probably knows what a ¥ is.

However, the average American probably does not know what the value of ¥12,000 is. The change was most likely made so that the viewer could have a better understanding of how much money was stolen. Not everyone can (or wants to) do the math on currency exchange in their head.