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all 28 comments

[–]t-o-k-u-m-e-i 11 points12 points ago

It's a commercial for Jalan, a travel company whose mascot is a cat named Nyalan. Their commercials generally feature him booking trips. Here's one where he's going on a business trip to sell paw print shaped pastries.

The one in the gif says

pack! pack! jalan pack!
unrestricted and cheap! Jalan pack! [red letters on screen= "Reservation Complete"]
Great thing with a normal name!

No idea why he gets the orange boots, but it looks like the Jalan pack is an all inclusive deal with air/ground transportation and a hotel.

EDIT: Heres the video for the gif. It looks like the gif is missing the best part, where booking a pack has somehow transformed him into a travel booking superhero cat, making the whole thing a bit of a spoof on Japanese superhero shows

...And here's an official repository of internet-only Nyalan commercials.

[–]OswaldBoelcke 1 point2 points ago

Thank you

[–]HarlequinNight 0 points1 point ago

Came here to post the business trip gif. Thanks!

[–]AmbiguousStatement 1 point2 points ago

I see English words...but I do not understand them. "Great thing with a normal name"? Does it sound that weird in Japanese and it just doesn't translate well, or is Japan that weird?

[–]onlyalevel2druid 2 points3 points ago

What about that doesn't translate well? There's the sub place in the US "Schlotzsky's" whose slogan is "funny name, serious sandwich."

[–]AmbiguousStatement 1 point2 points ago

"Funny name, serious sandwich" has a purpose, though. It's catchy, memorable, and relates to both their product and brand. What are they hoping to convey with "great thing with a normal name"? "Thing" is an odd word to pick and "with a normal name" doesn't leave me with a strong sense of what it's trying to communicate. Yes, it's along the same lines as Schlotzsky's but doesn't have a clear, positive purpose.

I dunno, it just struck me as strange, I'm wondering if it's some cultural thing I'm missing or just something that doesn't translate properly.

[–]t-o-k-u-m-e-i 2 points3 points ago

My translation was lazy.

Japanese is often a little unclear on what it's talking about (this is why machine translations of Japanese are full of random instances of "it" that make no sense. The machine is trying to specify something that's not explicitly specified in the sentence but is clear from context). In this case I left a vague "thing/guy" as thing, but a good translator would think about making it flow.

The sentence in question is:

namae ha futsū no sugoi yatsu

It breaks down as:

"Name" (topic marker) "normal" (posessive/linking particle) "great" "thing"

As you can see, Japanese grammar is far enough from English that a word for word translation makes little sense. "great thing with a normal name" is a pretty literal translation. You could also go full retard and try to represent the meaning of the topic marker: "Great thing that, as for the name, is normal"

Now I'll try and be a good translator. I'm pretty sure that "yatsu," (which usually refers to a guy in a slangy way, but can also be used for things (yatsu = "one" in this sentence)) in this case is referring to the Jalan Pack, and not the cat. Since I know from context I could call it a "deal" in English, and I wouldn't be stepping too far outside the meaning to change "great" to "uncommon(ly good)" a better translation that sounds more like a comercial would be "common name, uncommon deal"

Edit: More grammar explanation

[–]AmbiguousStatement 0 points1 point ago

Thanks! That makes far, far more sense, now I can move on with my life.

Funny how language is so finicky, your original translation and this one are very similar overall but they're just far apart enough to make a huge difference.

[–]onlyalevel2druid 0 points1 point ago

Well, as a speaker of English and Japanese, I'd be willing to say that when the commercial is about 1 product, "thing" works pretty well to describe it without ambiguity.

[–]Tezca_Law 8 points9 points ago

Is this what the Priceline commercial looks like in Japan?

[–]kbb5508 3 points4 points ago

[–]MkfShard 2 points3 points ago

This is a parody of Kamen Rider, a japanese show that is sort of a sister-show to Super Sentai/Power Ranger. Not that it's not hilarious and ridiculous, but just showing that it's not completely random.

[–]Bruneti12 3 points4 points ago

I love Japan.

[–]SilentWolfjh 1 point2 points ago

I don't understand how they get the point across to the public for what the company actually does.

[–]Mrdanke 1 point2 points ago

Japan is really just Reddit, in country form. You got your cats, your wtf, your porn (both sane and otherwise), and boatloads of stupid nerd shit to blow entire paychecks on.

The only real catch is that it's not Sweden, Norway, or Denmark. On the other hand, though, it's not America, either.

[–]97bluelights 1 point2 points ago

I don't get it, USA has some things just as weird or unusual as Japan does. Example, those prank shows that "go too far" with things like people getting shot in front of you, have you ever seen Scare Tactics? It's worse. That Aflac duck is also similar ot his commercial in it's own ways. Can't think of everything right now, but we aren't THAT different

[–]Jota769 0 points1 point ago

did they throw that cat in the air for that middle shot?

[–]UndeadMause 1 point2 points ago

hold up for a sec. that mother fucking cat just did a backflip and slapped on some fucking boots!

[–]sharkpotatoe 0 points1 point ago

that poor little cat is gonna be cunpow chicken

[–]Crownowa 0 points1 point ago

Did that cat just transform? Like a magical girl or sentai?

[–]MrWaffleTurtle 0 points1 point ago

I was very confused when it wasn't tagged as NSFW.

[–]czoey11 1 point2 points ago

THIS IS AMAZING

[–]Mitoni 0 points1 point ago

Travelocity cat goes to Holland?

[–]Cahlice 0 points1 point ago

when it gets to the part where the background is yellow with the hotel and other crap, all i can hear is the cat saying "white power"

[–]MistakenGenius10 0 points1 point ago

How is this /r/WTF?

[–]braised_diaper_shit 2 points3 points ago

Because you watch it and think or say "what the fuck?". What else did you think this sub was about?

[–]trees_at_school -1 points0 points ago

This should not be on /r/WTF