[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by Traum

Shogun is waaaay awesome. From the actors to the set, there is a very strong sense of authenticity to almost everything about the episodes.

Except for the way language is handled in the series. The Japanese actors are obviously speaking Japanese throughout, and I have no problem with that. (In fact, that only adds to the feeling of authenticity.) But the problem comes with the Pilot dude. He is supposed to be an English-speaking Englishman who is also fluent in Portuguese. The foreign traders and missionaries in Japan were also supposed to be Portuguese, with the occasional Español here and there, who should also be speaking Portuguese. But then all the foreigners are speaking English! And not only do they speak English, there are recurring lines where the foreigners would be saying (in English) that they know how to speak Portuguese, and they are obviously speaking to Portuguese people / translators, but they are saying all that in English!

I thought that part was really poorly handled because my mind would keep second guessing what language the person should actually be speaking -- should it be English? Portuguese? or maybe Spanish?

I would rather have seen whatever language being spoken in the proper language, and just get the understanding from reading the caption.

I think having multiple languages other than Japanese subtitles would have been too much. It took a little getting used to but I think they way they did it was probably the best for the viewer