Al-Quds University

Faculty of Graduate Studies

Translation and interpretation department

Strategies in Translation the Animated

Programs into Arabic in the Arab World
Detective Conan as a Study Case

By
Ayah Mohammad Maki

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 Table of Contents
Content Page number
Abstract 3

Introduction 3

Aim of the study 3

Significance of the Study 3

Questions of the study 3

literature review 4

Data of the Study 4

Methodology 4

Analysis and discussion 4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11

Conclusion 11

References 11

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 Abstract
This paper focuses on translating animated cartoons from Japanese into Arabic with regard to
the problems that the Arabian translator face in such programs such as the ideological and
cultural gaps, the strategies used to convey the message but with respect to the Arab culture and
finally the way that translator follow to adapt the whole text and scenes to make the animated
cartoons acquire the Arabian flavor so as to produce animated program that will be suitable for
the Arabian children.
The researcher chose the Detective Conan that is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated
by Gosho Aoyama. The series is serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday since
January 19, 1994, and has been collected into 84 tankōbon volumes. Due to legal considerations
with the name Detective Conan, the English language release was renamed to Case Closed. The
story follows Jimmy Kudo, an amateur detective who transformed into a child while
investigating the Black Organization, this cartoon is translated and dubbed by Al-Zahra center in
Syria and shown at Space toon and Space power channels.
Key words: Conan Detective, translation, dubbing, Al-Zahra center, adapting.

I. Introduction

Burgess (1984) defines translation "not only as a matter of word transfer but as the ability to
create intelligible culture material”, and according to Newmark (1988:5) translation is rendering
the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text.
Audience age, culture and sex play an important role in the translation of animated programs
into Arabic. So when it comes to the Arabian child who grows up in an Arabian conservative
culture ,that should make the translator more careful ,since the translator should take into
consideration the regards of morals,traditions,culture,ideas and pragmatics not only the linguistic
features.

II. Aim of the study

My main goal of this study is to examine the translation of animated cartoons into Arabic in
relation to culture, morals and religion, the problems of translation such works into Arabic,
the solutions for these problems and finally the strategies carried out by the translators who
translated and dubbed these animated programs in Al-Zahra center.

III. Significance of the Study:

This paper is one of a few papers that talks about the subject of translating animated cartoons
from Japanese into Arabic for children in the Arab world.

IV. Questions of the study

The present paper seeks answers to these questions: what are the problems of translation for
children? What are the solutions for these problems? What are the strategies used by the
translator in translation for children?

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V. literature review

Zitawi (2003) writes about the translation of idiomatic expressions in texts written for children's
cartoons and dubbed in the Arab World. She considers "translating children's animated series as
a complex task with additional technical linguistic factors and constraints." she states that "it is
not a mere "linguistic exercise but rather an act of intercultural communication motivated by the
rewards of making comprehensible a new foreign culture."
Tortoriello (2006 according to what is published in Masa Rishah theses) clarifies that "those
obstacles, which the translator of cartoon encounters, depend on the creative nature of the
language utilized in the original cartoon or animated production; and the importance of songs
and their own structure." Hellgren (2007) also believes
That "one of the challenges that faces cartoon translators is the allusions incorporated when
rendering the original texts." He points out that translators have often chosen to omit allusions
from subtitles. He also attempts to define the specific challenges and opportunities that subtitling
Presents when translating allusions.
Oittinen (2000) states, is the translation for children and the child image. She states
That the child image is a very complex issue and when translators translate For children, they
have a child image that they are aiming their work at They usually want to know whether the
resulting work is actually Acceptable by children of a certain age or not.

VI. Data of the Study:

The researcher conducted the data by analyzing the original text, episodes and movies of the
animated program (Conan Detective) and comparing it with the dubbed into Arabic version
shown on Spacetoon channel, a number of examples from several episodes and movies translated
and dubbed by Al-Zahra center are used, then the researcher summarized the strategies used by
the center to produce adopted series and movies of Detective Conan suitable for Arabian
children.

VII .methodology:

The researcher uses the descriptive method, presenting how the Arab translators deal with
problems in translating animated cartoons; the analytic method is used to explain the strategies
with examples about how the translators solve the problems of cultural gaps, the researcher also
used the comparative method to compare the original version and the Arabian dubbed version.

VIII. Analysis and discussion

Due to the distinctions among languages and cultures, translators encounter problems in
transferring children's texts from one language into another since "translation is no longer
considered a purely linguistic matter. Rather, it is affected by social, cultural, economic and
political factors"(Fornalczyk, 2007: 94; Yamazaki, 2002: 53). Such problems are more
challenging than the linguistic ones because they are generally related to what is appropriate
And acceptable in terms of content for the target child reader, especially if the text is originally
intended for adults and then adapted to children's literature Thus, in translating animated

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programs, more attention should be paid to the target recipients who grows up in conservative
culture .

1. Problems in translating and dubbing animated programs from Japanese to Arabic:

1.1: Names of Characters, Movies and Series:

Names of characters play an important role in the episodes or movies of any animated program,
in the past years, the names of characters were changed completely into Arab names to facilitate
memorizing or understanding the role of every character since the children don’t have the mental
abilities that the adults have, in present days, names of characters aren’t changed rather they are
adapted to fit the Arab children perspective and culture too.

In Conan Detective, the names of the members of black ban were adapted by Al-Zahra center as
their names are kinds of bear which is forbidden in the Islamic religion, for example: the name of
the character (Vodka) was adapted to become (Foka).

Other characters name were adapted because the original names are difficult to be pronounced
by the children, for example: the name of the inspector (Shertori )was adapted to
become(Shera),the name of the character (Sonoko)was adapted to be (Soko),the name of the
character (Metsohiko)was adapted to become(Metso).

In fact ,Al-Zahra center committed many mistakes in this regard ,particularly , the arrangement
of the names in Arabic is different from this in Japanese ,in Arabic ,we put the name of the
person first then his/her family, on the contrary in Japanese ,they put the family name then the
person s name ,Al-Zahra center kept some characters name as they are in Japanese and changed
others which is completely wrong, for example ,the name of the character (Haibara Ai)in
Japanese stays as it is in Arabic ,she should be (Ai )not (Haibara)since in the Arabian culture we
call the person with his first name, some characters name were adapted into Arabic at the
beginning of the episodes then returned as they are in Japanese in coming episodes or movies
,other characters name were adapted two times which created confusion to the children along the
episodes and movies ,for example: the character name was adapted into (Sharon),then
(Nena)and finally (Sheroun).

The names of movies were adapted too, for example: the fourth movie name (captured in her
eyes) was adapted to become (the only witness) because (captured in her eyes) holds the
meaning of love which is taboo in the Arabian culture and especially to be presented for
children.

The episode name (sheratory first love) was adapted to become (the unexpected killer) for the
reason mentioned above.

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1.2: clothes of the characters:

As the Arabian community is conservative, it pays attention to people’s clothes, unlike the
Japanese community, and since the animated programs are shown for sensitive segment of this
community, the translators, dubbers and the editors should be careful to this point

Al-Zahra center did the job, and all the scenes of naked or nude clothes were adapted and
sometimes deleted, the center also did the trick by putting on clothes on the characters to cover
their bodies as shown in figure 1.

Many episodes that include a lot of naked characters weren’t dubbed by Al-Zahra center, for
examples, the episodes 73,102,103,114 and 115.

Figure (1): the characters clothes are adapted by putting off clothes on naked areas of
(Ran) body.

1.3: scenes of alcohol and smoking:

Alcohol scenes is one of the problematic subject in the children programs because alcohol
drinking is forbidden in the Islamic culture that we live in ,generally speaking ,when the scenes
of alcohol are important to be shown ,they are adapted to become juice instead of alcohol ,but

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when they are not important ,they are completely deleted. As shown in figure 2, this scene in
Detective Conan movie 4 was completely deleted in the Arabic version.

Figure (2) deleted scene from Conan Detective movie 4.

Al-Zahra center also calls the drunken person as sleepy or has a headache; Smoking scenes are
completely deleted too.

1.4: love and illegal relationships:

Love and relationship is critical subject in the Arab culture ,and especially when its oriented to
the children, Arab society doesn’t permit the friendship between the man and woman so the
word(girlfriend or boyfriend )is considered taboo ,having children out of marriage is taboo also
unlike the Japanese community which allows the previous subjects. Thus, the love scenes were
completely deleted, whereas words such as (girlfriend or boyfriend) were adapted to be (fiancé,
husband, wife) so as all of these are allows in the Islamic cultural and don’t embarrass the
children. See figure 3.

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Figure (3) deleted scene from Conan Detective.

1.5: morals:

As Ernest Hemingway says about morals, “I know only that what is moral is what you feel
good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after”. (Ernest Hemingway, Death in the
Afternoon).

morals are the mirrors of any nation,nowadays,morals are taught through cartoons as many
children spent most of their time watching these programs ,Al-Zahra center paid attention to
morals ,for example :in the end of the original episodes in Japanese, the murderer doesn’t feel
sorrow or regret about killing ,but in the Arabian version ,the center changed the ending
completely and added alternative ending that’s the murderer feels sorrow and regret about killing
to convey the message for children to be away from violence and killing.

1.6: Myths and sorcery:

The Japanese society believes in myths and sorcery, while the Arab society doesn’t, these myths
are present richly in the animated cartoons especially in Conan Detective, Al-Zahra center
deleted everything related to myths and sorcery since these are forbidden in the Islam and they
aren’t proper to be conveyed to the children as the children believe in everything they hear or
see.

1.7: religion and beliefs:

There completely variations in the beliefs of the characters in Conan Detective and what the
Arabian children believe in since the producers of Conan are Buddhist, it’s natural to find their

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ideas and beliefs in their work (Conan Detective), these ideas and beliefs contradicts the Islam,
so Al-Zahra center deleted all the utterances and the scenes related to their god Buddha and their
religious rites and rituals, in figure 4 such scenes are completely deleted.

Figure (4) deleted scene from Conan Detective.

1.8: humors

Humor plays an important role in our life. One of the means for exporting humor across cultures is
televised programs ,as any other programs, cartoons are surely have sense of comedy to add entertainment
to this animated cartoon, in Conan Detective ,there are many examples in this area ,Al-Zahra center
dubbed these faithfully as they are in the original text since they are understood by both the Japanese and
the Arabian children ,for example, in the movie 4,when Ran and her friend (Sonoku)asked her mother to
tell them how she and her husband (Mgori)got married, her mother answered :he was telling me love
words ,then (Sonuku)said “I don’t believe this annoying stupid man can tell love words”. This humor is
understood by the Arabian and the Japanese that (Sunuku) is making fun of (Megori).

1.9: blood scenes

Blood scenes were deleted in some cases and adapted in others by Al-Zahra center; the center
deleted these scenes when they are not important in the context especially when the murdered
burned with fire since these are painful and horrible scenes to be watched by the children;
however the center adapted the blood scenes by covering the corpse with blanket. See figure 5

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Figure (5) deleted scene from Conan Detective.

1.10: Japanese dialects:

In Conan Detective, the subject of dialects is very clear in the source text as the dialects in
many cases were helpful in crime detection, yet, in the Arabian dubbed text, Al-Zahra center
kept the names of the dialects as they are but without any clarification, which creates
misunderstanding or even ambiguity in the episodes and movies.

2. Strategies used by the Arabian translators and dubbers in Al-Zahra center:

1.1: faithful translation: that is to keep on the source or the original text as it is without any
changing since it doesn’t contradict the Arabian culture or religion. Such as keeping on the
instructions given to Conan and his friends, such as: not to dalay to return back to home ,to hear
the elders words, not to lie, to hide secrets ,to respect the law ,not to kill, and not to steal .

1.2:paraphrasing: as its name suggest ,to paraphrase the source text to be easier to be understood
by the Arabian children ,for example ,Al-Zahra center used euphemistic sentences and words
especially in describing the crimes in order to avoid horror in children’s souls .

1.3:addition :to add more information on the source text to fit the Arabian culture and to be
easier for the children ,for example:Al-Zahra center added more information and notes to
introduce the audience to the places and ceremonies in Japan ,like (Fuji )mountain and other
places ,not only linguistically ,but also the addition extends to the scenes in the cartoon ,such as
covering the corpse with blanket and putting on clothes on the naked body of the female
characters .

1.4: Deletion: to remove scences and utterances completely from the source text, such as alcohol
scenes, love and relationship scenes, Buddha god, smoking scenes, and unimportant scenes of
blood and dead body.

Linguistically: many utterances were deleted, those related to damn or bad words which are
considered taboo words in our Arabian and Islamic culture.

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1.5: adaptation :the most common strategy in Conan Detective cartoon ,generally speaking ,in all
the cartoons dubbed by Al-Zahra center ,for example ,the girlfriend (Ran) changed to be (Sinche
s) fiancé to be acceptable in the Arabian culture , in the Japanese version, when the murderer in
the end of the episode or movie admits committing the crime ,he or she laughs, but Al-Zahra
adapted these admits by making the murderer feels sorrow and regret to convey the message for
the children that killing others is forbidden and to be away from violence and its kinds.

The names of the characters were adapted as I mentioned before, alcohol sometimes adapted to
be juice and the humors were also adapted to be understood easily.

IX. Conclusion

Translation animated programs isn’t an easy task, it is kind of translation that requires Arab
Translators to be more careful of the original text, since the source or the original text is written
in another environment and carries special ideas, beliefs, traditions and customs contradict those
in the Arabian and Islamic culture.
In the present days, televised cartoon programs are among the most common entertainment
and educational sources for the children, many channels are now specialized in cartoons only
,such as Spacetoon Arabic and English versions that our children spent much of their time
watching these channels, so we as parents overall before as translators ,should pay attention to
the quality of the material our children watch ,depending on the analysis ,the Arabian translators
and dubbers used various strategies to produce animated cartoon fit the Arab and Islamic culture
and tried to render the message of the source text with adapting ,they used deletion, addition
,paraphrasing ,adaptation and faithful translation, they tried to fill the gaps between the Japanese
and Arab culture in order to produce animated cartoons suitable for the Arab children .

X. References
1. http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:627720/FULLTEXT01.pdf
2. http://www.trigonaltranslator.com/2013/03/the-definitions-of-translation.html
3.http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/6/0/3/2/pages260324/p26032
4-14.php
4. http://scholar.najah.edu/sites/default/files/Masa%20Rishah.pdf
5. https://www.questia.com/library/104164246/translating-for-children

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