Japanese Subtitles in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'

To:  Japanese Distributers of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'

Japanese translation of petition - (Scroll down for English)
この嘆願書は「ロード・オブ・ザ・リング　旅の仲間」日本公開版に関するものです。

私達(署名者)は、『ロード・オブ・ザ・リング　旅の仲間』における日本語字幕の重要な箇所が、映画本来の台本及びオリジナルの英語版で表現されている意図に忠実ではないと確信しています。

「旅の仲間」の日本語字幕翻訳者は、「二つの塔」「王の帰還」(ロード・オブ・ザ・リング　第二部　第三部)の字幕担当として、適任ではないと思います。代わりに、日本語吹替版の台本を作成したスタッフを次作の字幕担当として提案いたします。字幕版と吹替版の両方を見た人は、吹替版の方がより正確だと断言しているからです。

監督ピーター・ジャクソンは、「原作者トールキンが重んじていた物語のテーマに敬意をはらうべく努力した」と宣言しています。したがって、日本において字幕翻訳者の手によって、登場人物とテーマの両方が明確な理由もなく捻じ曲げられてしまってる現状は残念でなりません。字幕を作成する上で少々の表現の変化は必要でしょうし許容できますが、映画のシーンへの理解の差が発生してしまうような改変は容認できません。重大なミスのいくつかをリストアップして添付しています。

日本語字幕中のこれらのミスは、結果としてプロットと登場人物を映画そのままにではなく不正確に観客に伝え、この映画の質を貶めるものになっており、トールキンとピーター・ジャクソンが苦労して創り上げた作品を歪めてしまうものです。

「ロード・オブ・ザ・リング　旅の仲間」のＤＶＤ、ビデオ発売時には、日本語字幕が改訂され、次作「二つの塔」「王の帰還」の翻訳に、より努力と注意を払って欲しいと切に願います。

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This petition relates to the Japanese version of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring."

We the undersigned strongly believe that significant portions of the subtitles used for "The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" in Japan are not true to the original script, nor to the ideas conveyed by the original English release of the movie.

As a result, we believe that the Japanese translator hired for "The Fellowship of the Ring" would be unsuitable for writing the subtitles for the forthcoming "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King", and suggest that those who wrote the script for dubbing into Japanese are hired to write the subtitles instead. Those who watched the movie, both dubbed and with subtitles, found that the dubbed version was more accurate.

Peter Jackson, the director, has declared that he "tried to honour the themes that were important to Tolkien". It is therefore disappointing to find that a Japanese translator has been allowed to distort both characters and themes, for no apparent reason. Slight wording variations are obviously necessary, and are acceptable, but changes that lead to a different interpretation of events by the viewer are not. A list of some of the more serious errors is attached.

These errors in the Japanese subtitles, overall, serve to misrepresent and undermine the integrity of the film's plot and characters, and distort what JRR Tolkien and Peter Jackson have worked so hard to create.

We therefore request that in the DVD and video releases of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", the subtitles are revised and that greater effort and care are put into future film productions of Tolkien's work (i.e. "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King").

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Japanese Subtitles in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' Petition to Japanese Distributers of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' was created by All those who have seen 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' with Japanese subtitles and written by Rachel Lee.  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no express or implied endorsement of this petition by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. The petition scripts are created by Mike Wheeler at Artifice, Inc.  For Technical Support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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