something that always puzzles me

[rocklobster]

Why is it on anime DVD's, they alternate between Japanese and English for the lyrics to opening and closing songs? The Japanese makes it hard to learn the song, and I try to do that.

[Atria35]

You mean, like one will be in English and the other in Japanese? Well, that's because they're two different songs- they try to capture the mood through them.

If you mean why they sprinkle English in with the Japanese, well, we Americans do that a lot with our songs, too, like that Moulan Rouge song that was really popular, and songs that are in shows like Hakuna Matata and the song sung in the beginning of Lion King.

Hakuna Matata is actually a great example. It might be a song inside the show, but it is mainly English with some foriegn words thrown in. It's just like those OP and ED songs, but with different languages. Those songs really shouldn't be any more difficult to learn.

[Popyman]

I think he's talking about how sometimes the openings are subbed in English and other times in romaji. In which case, the first gives you the meaning of the song and the latter the pronunciation of the Japanese lyrics.

[Atria35]

Ah! xD To give variation, I suppose? I like having the Japanese because it gives me practice on reading it, and before I had taken any Japanese classes I had picked up on the sounds/meanings of certain symbols.

If it gives difficulty, then why not print yourself out a songsheet with the lyrics in English, though? That way, if it happens to be in Japanese, then you can just look at the sheet and sing along.

[rocklobster]

Popyman had it. I might start trying that. I'm glad Internet anime doesn't do this. The subtitles sometimes move too quickly as it is, especially during songs.

[DaughterOfZion]

It also depends on the dubbing company. ADV always alternated songs. I know there were some out there that didn't but without my DVD's I can't think of any.

[blkmage]

Basically because fansubs.

For whatever reason, fansubbers karaoke'd up OPs and EDs. I guess you could argue that someone might want to know the meaning of the song, so that's why English is there.

But then people also wanted to sing along. Since people can't read Japanese, they also threw in some romanji subs.

And then people needed to know where the song was so they did karaoke effects.

And then karaoke effects turned into this crazy arms race and before some groups started paring down on this nonsense, we had English and romanji and kanji subs on screen with more particle effects than Crysis. Why? Why would you need kanji subs when no one who's reading subs can read them? It's crazy. I remember Menclave's subs for the first season of Gundam 00 and during the OP, three out of the four edges of the screen were covered in subs and accompanying effects.

Somewhere along the line, someone must've complained about official releases sucking compared to fansubs because they didn't have karaoke. Except that DVD subtitle technology can't do karaoke unless you hardsubbed it into the video, which would've been a waste of time. And of course, having two sets of subs is also dumb. And so, like subbing honourifics, they must've caved and the alternating between episodes is probably the workable compromise they came up with.

[Rocketshipper]

personally, I preffer it when the DVD companies present BOTH the translation and the romanji lyrics at the same time, rather than alternating them.

[Kaori]

I think blkmage sufficiently answered the original question, but I do just want to point one thing out:

Why? Why would you need kanji subs when no one who's reading subs can read them?

For quite a few people, it isn’t totally pointless to have subs in kana (hiragana, katakana, and kanji). I’ve been living in Japan for over four years and am conversational in Japanese, but even now if I watch untranslated anime, I will typically only understand about 50% of what is being said (partly because the vocabulary used in anime often differs substantially from what I use in everyday conversation). So, even though I know some Japanese, it’s not superfluous for me to watch English subs, and having subs in kana is extremely helpful for learning Japanese. Even if I am watching an untranslated region-2 DVD, I will always turn on the Japanese subtitles when available for this very reason. Also, romaji are a hindrance to one’s progress in Japanese and are obnoxious to those who have already learned kana.

And although I use myself as an example, I think the same principle applies to pretty much anyone who has studied enough to have learned some kana but who has not yet attained native-level fluency. I do realize that having three different subs at the same time during an OP or ED is messy and excessive (I’ve seen some like that myself), but subs in kana actually are very helpful for people who are learning Japanese. There’s quite a bit of gray area in between people who don’t read any kana at all and people who have attained native-level Japanese fluency, and kana subs benefit everyone who falls into that category.

[rocklobster]

Thanks, everyone. I think this is a reasonable-seeming compromise. Besides, I've seen some fansubs and I never liked the so-called quality. I think the subs on fansubs tend to go overboard and make it really difficult to see what is going on, especially in openings. I like to watch openings and those pesky subs distort what's happening. The professional method is much better.

[A_Yellow_Dress]

Personally, I like the openings and endings better with no lyrics, no translations, and preferably no credits. I like to be able to drink in the opening music and animation with being distracted by the lyrics on screen.

Of course, I still like subs when watching it in a different language.... But you get what I mean, right?

When I want to know the lyrics, I just look them up.