40 years as a subtitle translator … Natsuko Toda talks about “The Lovable Faces of Hollywood Stars That Only I Know
Natsuko Toda, the charismatic "interpreter" who worked on "Mission: Impossible," "Titanic," and "Star Wars," may be retired, but she is still at the forefront of her field!
Work is my reason for living. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be many people who would work until they were 87.”
The movie “Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One” is a smash hit, grossing over 5 billion yen at the box office. Natsuko Toda, 87, a subtitle translator, has been involved in the translation of subtitles since the first film in the series in 1996.
In a movie like “Mission: Impossible” (MI), the action is the main attraction, so the dialogue is just a statement of fact. We need to translate the dialogue so that the facts are easily understood.
For example, the word “Entity” appears frequently in the latest film. For example, the word “Entity” appears frequently in his latest work, referring to “something unidentified” that destroys digital systems and runs amok.
Not many Japanese can understand the meaning of “Entity. In the dubbed version, it is “Entity″ as it is, but in the subtitled version, it uses six letters, which is more than the number of characters! I translated it as ″it″ to shorten and simplify the meaning of “unidentified mysterious entity.
For more than 40 years, Mr. Toda has worked as an interpreter for interviews with Hollywood actors and actresses, in addition to being a subtitle translator. Last year, however, he announced his retirement from interpreting. He explained what led him to make this difficult decision.
Unlike subtitle translation, which you can do at home at your own pace, interpreting requires instantaneous, on-the-spot response. But at my age, I sometimes find myself at a loss for words. Tom Cruise (61) always puts his best foot forward in his stage appearances, but it would be a shame if the interpreter was at a loss for words and couldn’t convey his thoughts properly, wouldn’t it? So I thought it was time to move on.
