#Pocketmonsters Subs Style Bible

This style manual is a handy guide to those of you who are new to the group and also a great resource for seasoned staff veterans. It is split up into sections depending on the particular job you are undertaking at the moment. Staff members should be familiar with some or all of these jobs so they are able to correct any of the errors that might appear during the quality checking. Please see below for links to those sections.

Requirements for Sub Staff regardless of main positions:

1. All sub staff should be quality checking our releases in a timely manner before they are released. Quality checking is the main responsibility of all sub staff members and edits/revisions can be reported on projects page on the website. Just because staff reported some errors, doesn't mean another staff member might not find a different error or an alternative way to correct an error. All sub staff members are considered quality checkers regardless of what they worked on for the release or what their subbing specialty is. All staff members should be checking the majority of releases for errors and reporting any errors.
2. Know basic timing. A knowledge of basic timing helps during quality checking to know if a line is late or early or if a syllable is miss timed.
3. Have a fair amount of knowledge about the Japanese version of the anime.
4. Help add and edit information and other content that was discovered from subbing to the website databases for future reference and for viewers of the website. Translation/Culture Notes at minimum should be added before release but other reference content derived from the subbing process can be added as staff has time to add it.
5. Continue learning about fansubbing and other positions. Whether you're just a dedicated quality checker or just a timer, learning about other parts of subbing can benefit you to get a better understanding of how things are done and then you can apply that knowledge and skill to new positions and other projects you might do.
6. Sub staff members have different responsibilities than normal staff members and as such more is expected. Be proactive in helping out with the necessary tasks that need to be completed.
7. All staff members must communicate and interact with the other members of PM staff to keep them informed of the current and aware of projects and content being worked on. This primarily occurs on our Discord staff channel where a discussion log is automatically kept and where screenshots and videos can be easily posted for discussion during quality check or other subbing procedures. The subs project page also lists the current status of projects on the go and their current statuses should be updated only when that phase of the project is completed.

Subbing Procedure

The procedure for releasing our subs is as follows:

Capture Raw .TS -> Strip Closed Captions -> Work Raw -> Timing -> Typesetting -> Translation -> Raw Encoded with Karaoke/Credits Hard Subbed -> Editing/TLC/QC -> Remux -> Translation/Culture Notes -> Release

Unlike most anime released in Japan these days, Pocket Monsters does not have officially released subs on a service like Crunchyroll. Most current anime releases from fan groups rip subs from services like Crunchyroll and re-edit these, allowing them to easily rerelease a few hours after they air. Since this isn't the case with Pocket Monsters, we do all the work from scratch and therefore takes longer than working off official subs.

Pocket Monsters airs Over-the-Air on TV Tokyo with Japanese Closed Captions. We pretime the closed captions to our work raw making it easier for the translators to fill in the dialogue while having easy access to both caption and audio for any given line at any time. This is a slightly different process than the one most other fansubs groups use, but it makes the process significantly easier for the translator.

Once the initial translation has been completed, the episode gets encoded, and the editor, translation checker and quality checkers review and edit the script, while also looking for things like line timing errors, line style errors, typesetting errors, karaoke errors, grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, encoding glitches, audio in-sync, consistency errors, and any other errors that would reduce the overall quality of the release.

Translation/Culture Notes:

PocketMonsters.net is our separate reference site which we use for legal content which the entire public Internet can view and access. As part of the subbing process and to reduce the need for translation and cultural notes in the subbed episodes, we created an episode guide where these notes can be added as reference for viewers to reduce on-screen line clutter. One of the whole points for creating Pocketmonsters.net was to post these notes as well as translated episode titles on a website where fans could trust the quality of translation.

Any translation note or cultural reference that would normally not be picked up by the viewer who is watching the sub, should be added to the reference site. A time index of where the note takes place in the episode is required and screenshots or accompanying pictures are also needed to add the note. Notes should be added to the reference site before a sub release. Segments only available in the Japanese version also fall under this notes portion of the subbing process.

If time permits, information from subbing the episode can also be used to update character bios, voice actors, news articles, opinion articles, reference pages, database work and TCG database on the reference website.

Information For Timers

#PocketMonsters pretimes most of it's releases to make it easier for the translators to fill in the dialog. A timer inserts the lines of dialogue into a script by listening to the audio and choosing where lines begin and end. Don't forget to add enough time to make sure the viewer is able to read the entire subtitled line before it disappears. Timed lines should be at least a one second long, no matter how short the sentence is. Timing should be done from work raws and not any old raw to reduce the need to resync and reframetime to the working raw.

Aegisub is the fansubbing tool of choice to time episodes. Timers can use the work raw provided by the encoder to pre-time the episode for the translator. This method of timing, reduces the time required by the translator to work on an episodes and allows them to quickly fill in the required lines. It also allows them to play selected lines easily.

We will often time from the closed captions, so some knowledge of Japanese written and verbal is required to do pre-timing to match the written dialog to the audio.

Information For Translators

The second step is for the translator to watch the anime a few times, get a feel of what the studio is trying to say with it, and then translate the dialogue and signs into understandable English. The translated dialogue is inputted into the pretimed file, with character names and timestamp included. To make the typesetter's job easier, use some marks to indicate the lines are thoughts, radio-conversation or such can be added by the translator. While translating, please do not adjust the wave form timing guidelines. Only use the play button on the line because if you move the timed line start and end times to listen to different parts of the line and then commit those changes, that means we have to retime the lines again and its hard to know which lines would need to be retimed or not. If there is an actual timing mistake and you know how to correct it, then that change can be made.

Information For Typesetters

After the script has been finalized, the typesetter sets to work with choosing what fonts should be used for dialogue lines, thought lines, radio communication, phone conversation, out-of-picture lines, etc. It is common to use different styles (bold, italics, different colours) to separate the different kinds of lines, making it easier for the viewer to know who says what. The typesetter also devises the signs used when explaining written Japanese characters on the screen (school signs, newspaper headlines, street names), and by using "style override commands" these can magically be made to move around the screen, following the animation. Since this is done by hand, using a text-editor, this can be quite time consuming. Most importantly is the use of readable fonts of a size that one doesn't need microscopes to see. Don't pick the coolest font; pick the coolest font you can easily read! #PocketMonsters has already selected the fonts and styles to be used and only new characters require any typesetting. Generally copying a current style and modifying the colour is the easiest way.

When selecting fonts and colours, it is customary for the typesetter to consult with other staff members and show examples of what they are working on to get advice and style suggestions as this is actually one of the more subjectional areas of subbing.

Information For Quality Check Editors

Once all the work on an episode has been completed, it is the job of the quality check editors to look for errors in the episode. The job of a proofreader is to check the quality of the Japanese-to-English translations that are used in our subbed episodes. Quality Check Editors should also be looking for: Line timing errors, line style errors, typesetting errors, karaoke errors, grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, encoding glitches, audio in-sync, consistency errors, and any other errors that would reduce the overall quality of the release.

An extensive knowledge of Pokémon and Pocket Monsters and the English language is required. Knowledge of the Japanese language & culture, fansubbing and our house style is also required.

We have created an Sub Projects page where proofreaders can submit their edits. This allows all editors to see the current edits by other staff members and enter their own.

Information For Encoders

After the script has become truly FINAL, it is time to have the encoder make a video file with the subtitles applied, and any changes in file size deemed necessary. A quality check encode is usually preformed and sub staff members can review it for various errors before a final release encode is performed. Generally one (1) Work raw encode and one (1) Release encode are to be preformed by the encoder for a total of two (2) encodes per release. We would like to stay away from encoding files numerous times, so before the final encode is started, all quality checkers must review and submit corrections. Filters can also be used at this point, to polish up the video or audio to be as nice as possible. The encoder determines the settings on an episode to episode basis. Make sure the encoder looks through the produced video afterwards, to see if there have been any encoding artifacts or audio errors.

Information For Translators

House Style

#PocketMonsters subs have a basic style that we used for our releases. This style is constantly evolving as new subjects appears, but are referenced here so we stay consistent throughout our releases. Attack names and names of specific in-game terms (like Ability) are replaced with their English-language counterparts for convenience, while proper names of other things are left in Japanese.

When the episode has English on screen in the original video and it matches what the character is saying, to limit the need for redundant information on screen, lines are skipped and are not required to be translated. This is more common in Diamond&Pearl, but the most common occurrence of this is the "To be continued..." (Mada mada tsuzuku - まだまだつづく) at the end of each episode.

Pokémon/Pokémon vs Pokémon

The term "Pokémon", in addition to referring to the Pokémon franchise itself, also collectively refers to the species. #PocketMonsters subbing staff has decided that we will "Pokémon" as it is the trademarked name. Be sure to include the acute accent for all instances of the word "Pokémon".

Closed Captions vs Subtitles

Unlike closed captions for the hearing impaired, we do not sub sound effects or noises. We release subtitles, not closed captions, so it is assumed that the viewers can hear and realize that the sounds they are hearing are not dialog. While Pocket Monsters has standard sound effects they use for most situations, it would be quite pointless to sub things like [Music Playing] or [Hiding in the Bushes].

'nyaa' - Nyarth's Cat Noise

Nyarth usually finishes all his lines with 'nyaa'. This is just a cat noise that he makes and does not have any significant meaning. Since we do not subtitle noises or sound effects, we do not add it to any of his dialog. Same goes for his use of "Nya" as a first-person pronoun, which should just be translated as "I/me/my". Note that this only applies to the standard "noises" he peppers his speech with, intentional puns like "nyagotiator" and "itadakinyarth" and are kept/adapted into English if possible.

'kamo' - Haruka's Verbal Idiosyncrasy

Haruka often finishes some of her lines with 'kamo', similar to the way Nyarth ends many of it lines with 'nya'. With Haruka's 'kamo', we decided it was best to construct the sentences to give the feel of her using 'kamo' rather than specifically using a designated term. 'Kamo' can have different meanings depending on the context, which would make it harder to translate if we had a specifically designated term for it. Harley often brings up the term 'kamo' or 'kamo-chan' when referring to Haruka. In cases where 'kamo' is used to describe Haruka or is used in a pun or a joke, rather than Haruka using it as part of her sentence, we have included 'kamo' specifically so that viewers realize the specific importance it plays in that instance.

Speech patterns in general

Certain characters in the series might speak in a non-standard manner for effect, which should be represented in the subtitles as best as possible. Faux-archaic Japanese should be rendered as faux-archaic English (see Kyo in PM32 for a good example), overly polite word forms should be rendered in a similar over-polite manner, children speaking in simplified and grammatically incorrect ways should have this represented, and so on. Kansai-ben should likewise be represented by the presence of a thick accent in the character's subtitled dialogue.

Pokémon Type Classifications:

Whenever possible we try to avoid using the name of a type of Pokémon when a non-type classification is used in the Japanese version. If people read "Psychic Pokémon", they'll think "Pokémon of the type "Psychic"", and that's not what the script calls for. For instance, "psionics" (chounouryoku) where as the actual Pokémon type itself is called "Esper" in Japanese. Another example is "Pokémon ghost" instead of "Ghost Pokémon" which are used in PM7 and PM20.

Background Music Karaokes:

Quite often lyrical music is played in the background during the show. Whenever possible we sub these but reduce the font size to approximately 70% the normal size so that it does not detract from the actual shows subtitles.

Team Rocket and Team Galactic:

Team Rocket (Japanese: ロケット団 Rocketto-dan lit. Rocket Gang) & Team Galactic (Japanese: ギンガ団 Ginga-dan lit. Galaxy Gang) are the different names for these teams. For #PM's subs, we have decided to use the translated versions Rocket Gang and Galaxy Gang.

Senryū vs Haiku:

A senryū is a Japanese form of short poetry similar to haiku in construction: three lines with 17 or fewer onji (sound symbol) in total. A senryū tend to be about human foibles while a haiku tends to be about nature, and senryū are often cynical or darkly humorous while haiku's are more serious. Contrary to what many people believe, Professor Okido's poems at the end of many of the episodes are senryū's and not haiku's. When Professor Okido says "senryu" we keep it as "senryu". If he refers to the poem as "ikku" we translate it as "poem".

Get/Capture/GET/Getto/ゲット:

Whenever possible we use the term 'get' to describe the process of capturing a Pokémon. The Japanese version uses the term "GET", all capitalized. We do not use the capitalized form of "GET" in any subtitles. While its not always possible to use the word 'get' in an English sentence and be grammatically correct, we avoid using 'gets'. Catch/capture/got are the terms used by the English dub. 'Getting' is what a trainer does when they throw a monster ball and have the Pokémon join their party. 'Capturing' is when a Pokémon Ranger uses a capture styler to temporarily control a wild Pokémon. Try to word the sentence to use 'get' or 'getting'. The most commonly heard 'get' is at the end of each episode by either Satoshi or Okido.

Pokémon Gender:

Due to the fact that it is almost impossible to know for certain the gender of some Pokémon, they are referred to by genderless pronouns unless there is specific reason not to. This reduces the ability for gender specific subtitle complains when referring to Pokémon.

Full Name Order:

When the full name of a character is known and said during an episode, we use the western order romanized without any double vowels. IE: Shigeru Okido (オーキド・シゲル) or Yuto Seiyo (優藤 聖代).

Grammar

'All right' vs 'Alright':

Scholars and grammarians are constantly debating the question of alright vs. all right. In common usage, all right is a synonym for okay or satisfactory, as in “Are you all right?” However, it can also mean “all correct”, as in, “My answers on the test were all right.”

In some circles, alright has become an accepted usage interchangeable with most uses of all right, particularly in dialogue. Generally, most editors and teachers don’t think “alright” is all right.

The one-word spelling alright appeared some 75 years after all right itself had reappeared from a 400-year-long absence. Since the early 20th century some critics have insisted alright is wrong, but it has its defenders and its users. It is less frequent than all right but remains in common use especially in journalistic and business publications. It is quite common in fictional dialogue, and is used occasionally in other writing.

After much debate on this subject, the staff agreed that for our subs, we would use 'All right' as it is the more accepted version.

Gotten:

The past participle gotten is rarely used in modern British English, which generally uses got, except in old expressions such as ill-gotten gains. According to the Compact Oxford English Dictionary, "The form gotten is not used in British English but is very common in North American English, though even there it is often regarded as non-standard."

In American English, gotten emphasizes the action of acquiring and got tends to indicate simple possession (for example, Have you gotten it? versus Have you got it?). Gotten is also typically used in American English as the past participle for phrasal verbs using get, such as get off, get on, get into, get up, and get around: If you hadn't gotten up so late, you might not have gotten into this mess.

#PocketMonsters subbing staff has decided that we will not use the word 'gotten' in of our releases. Please look for alternative words, phrases or sentences to replace lines that have 'gotten' in them.

It's vs Its:

The confusion between it's and its occurs because on virtually every other word 's indicates possession, so English speakers naturally want to use it's to mean "something belonging to it." But it's is only used when it's a contraction of it is or it has.

The ironclad rule, no exceptions is that you replace "it is" or "it has," with "it's", otherwise it is always its.

French Words and Accents

The English dub as well as the Japanese original often use French words to describe things. Despite people not realizing, more than a third of all English words are derived directly or indirectly from French, and it's estimated that English speakers who have never studied French already know 15,000 French words.

When we use actual French words in the subs that were actually said in the Japanese original, be sure to add the proper accents for the words to keep them in French and not a more English looking form.

"Bon appetit" without the accent acute (é) is very common in Canada and the United States and is the version we've used most consistently. "Naïve" for instance is one of the most common French words we've used in the subs to describe a character but the actual French word was not originally used in the Japanese original but it is the translated meaning that we were looking for. In this case we've always made sure to use the accent umlaut (ï).

Comma:

A comma is normally used to separate two main clauses in a compound sentence when they are joined by a co-ordinating conjunction.

It is a common error to confuse a simple sentence having a compound predicate with a compound sentence requiring a comma between clauses. If the clauses are short or closely related, the commas may be omitted before and, but, or or nor. Co-ordinate clauses not joined by a co-ordinating conjunction are usually separated by a heavier mark of punctuation than the comma.

A comma will suffice, however, if the writer wishes to emphasize a contrast. The translation may also need a comma to lead the reader on to the following clause as quickly as possible.

Please do not over use comma's as many times Pocket Monsters dialog clauses are short or closely related and do not require a comma.

Japanese Honorifics

Japanese, like other languages, uses a broad array of honorifics for addressing or referring to people with respect. In Japanese, these forms of address follow a person's name in the manner of a suffix. The most common—and well-known outside Japan—is san, which semantically coincides roughly with the courtesy titles "Mr.", "Mrs.", and "Ms." in English. Unlike in English, in Japanese honorifics may be attached to surnames, first names, and even professional titles. Other common ones include sama, sensei, kun, and chan.

Senpai (先輩) and kōhai (後輩) are an essential element of Japanese age-based status relationships, similar to the way that family and other relationships are decided based on age, with even twins being divided into older and younger sibling. Senpai is roughly equivalent to the western concept of "senior", while kōhai are roughly equivalent to "junior". For #PocketMonsters subs we generally use "senior" and "junior" where appropriate.

Senshu is generally used when people are involve sports. Senshu (athlete/contestant/competitor) is used as a replacement for any other suffixes. We left senshu untranslated/skipped as there is no good English equivalent.

Correct use of titles is considered very important in Japan, as it is just about everywhere else in the world. Omitting a title when addressing or referring to someone is called yobisute (呼び捨て, yobisute?). Although yobisute is generally considered bad manners, in Japanese conversations, many non-Japanese (particularly in Japan) experience yobisute when a Japanese person would probably be addressed more politely.

Although titles are usually added to names, there are some exceptions. They are not usually used when talking about a family member or another member of one's "in-group" to someone from outside the group.

For our subs, we generally only use honorifics when the main group of characters encounters someone they haven't met before. Joy-san and Junsa-san are the most common characters they meet in which we use honorifics for as they are often meeting new Joy-san's and Junsa-san. Even though they know their names, because they had not met that specific person (clones or some weird genetic abnomality), it would be considered polite to address them with their appropriate honorific.

We also drop the 'hakase' and replace it with "Professor". (Examples: Professor Okido & Professor Nanakamado)

Character Names

Character names are transliterated straightforwardly from Japanese, using whichever particular method of Romanization you personally prefer as a translator. However, take note that when names have a clear "English" equivalent, it should be used as opposed to cryptic romanizations of said name.

Pokémon Names

In some cases, the trademarked romaji is similar to the English name with the exception of one or two letters. For example, Plusle's trademarked romaji is Prasle. Obviously, "Prasle" does not make sense, but this is due to an error on the part of GameFreak. The name is still considered official as it is used on merchandise and promotional material.

In the case of English-speaking fans using the Japanese names, either the exact transliteration or trademarked romaji is correct; however, the exact transilteration is never used officially by Nintendo or its affiliates.

More often than not, the trademarked Romanized name is used, however, regular romanizations are also included for reference (and are occasionally used, depending on staff preference). Please note that the trademarked names often differ quite noticeably from their true, romanized counterparts. A full listing of all the Pokémon names is found in Dex section of our site.

English: The official English name as dictated by Nintendo of America and used in all English-language games and merchandise.

Japanese: The official Japanese name as dictated by Nintendo of Japan and written in katakana. In most cases, this is the spelling found in all Japanese video games and most other official material. It is transliterated into (Hepburn) romaji for informational purposes only.

Trademarked Romaji: The official romaji name as given on the trademark filings. This spelling is used internally by Game Freak and is frequently used on official merchandise and other promotional material. Names based on English words often should be read as if they are English words, as opposed to Japanese. For example, Habunake, being the Romaji translation of ハブネーク, should be pronounced "Ha-bu-nake" as opposed to "Ha-bu-na-ke" if it were a Japanese name. Some are just exact transliterations of the name into romaji.

Attack Names:

Attack names represent a rather large departure from previously established norms. Here, we use the English trademarked attack names as seen in the English versions of the video games as opposed to using either the romanized Japanese name or its literal translation. This is done to facilitate easier understanding for those that have had experience playing the games. (Indeed, there is a much larger set of attacks than there are Pokémon, making memorization for the "average" fan of the large amounts of data a bit overwhelming). All the attack names can be found in the Attack Dex section on our website.