Woolseyism / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

Japanese dub

The Japanese dub is positively bursting with them. It turns out that the show translates extremely well to Japanese anime conventions:

• "Friendship Is Magic":
  • In the English version, Spike has trouble writing the letter because he can't spell some of the words. In the Japanese dub, this is changed to him misinterpreting Twilight's "kiki wo semaru (a crisis draws near)" as "mimi ga tsumaru (my ears are clogged)".
  • In the first episode, Rarity was complaining about Twilight Sparkle's mane being messy after meeting Rainbow Dash. In the Japanese version, this was changed into Rarity congratulating Twilight for her mane instead (albeit in a very sarcastic way), due to Rarity using Tatemae on Twilight.
  • In the Japanese dub, Applejack's Element is named "Element of Trust" rather than "Element of Honesty". "Trust" is actually more applicable to the theme of friendship while still being connected to the trait of "honesty".
• "Applebuck Season"
  • Much of the dialogue in the episode is of Applejack misinterpreting what others have said due to mishearing things. Naturally, a few things have been changed around: Applejack mishears hanashigashitai ("needing to talk") as hawomigashitai ("needing to brush your teeth" ) and tasuke (help) as shiitake (as in the mushroom). During the baking scene, Applejack mishears komugiko no ichikappu ("one cup of flour") as kiiroi no ichikappu ("one cup of yellow") and the confusion between "wheat germ" and "wheat worms" became one between bakuga ("malt powder") and ga ("moths"). The "baked bads" joke was also changed to a pun on keeki (cake) and higeki (tragedy).
• "Dragonshy":
  • Rarity's "talk about getting your beauty sleep" remark is changed to one complaining that 100 years of smoky skies over Equestria can't be good for the skin.
• "Look Before You Sleep"
  • Twilight's original Tempting Fate line ("Is there anything else that could possibly go wrong?!") is replaced by her saying she'd rather be struck by lightning than have her friends fighting. Then the aforementioned lightning strikes.
• "Bridle Gossip":
  • A lot of the wordplay in the episode had to be changed. The exchange "She's a zebra"/"A what?" becomes a play on shimauma (Japanese for "zebra") and umashima ("meaningless"). Spike's new nicknames for the cursed ponies include "Mojarity" (from mojamoja, meaning "hairy"), "Tsubaki Pie" (Japanese for "spit"), "Garagara Shy" (Japanese for "raspy-voiced"), and "Twilight Funyafunya" (Japanese for "limp").
• "Fall Weather Friends":
  • They also had to change Pinkie Pie's wordplay during the Running of the Leaves. Her joke on the phrase "What's up?" becomes a play on genki, which literally means "cheery" but can also be used to ask "How are you doing?" The "grudge/fudge" banter becomes a play on "marathon" and "maracas", and the "catch up/ketchup" joke becomes a play on kecchaku ("to settle") and kecchappu ("ketchup").
• "Feeling Pinkie Keen":
  • When Spike opens the door to the library, a sound effect plays of a truck backing up as he backs out of the door. The Japanese dub, however, adds a bit of Cultural Translation by having Spike say the voice clip that plays when trucks back up in Japan: "Bakkushimasu, gochuui kudasai (Backing up, please be careful)."
• "Sonic Rainboom":
  • The Japanese dub inserts an added joke where Twilight notes that Rainbow's face is turning blue, to which she points out that she's always been blue.
• "Stare Master":
  • The pun on Rarity "biting off more than [she] can chew" ("But you're not eating anything.") becomes a play on mucha ("excessive") and ocha ("tea"). The Title Drop near the end of the original episode is turned into a Call-Back to Fluttershy claiming to be "champion" of the "Ssh" game.
• "The Return of Harmony":
  • In the original version, part 1 ended with a standard "To Be Continued" title card. The Japanese version, however, spices it up a little by having Discord straight up break the fourth wall by saying "To Be Continued" in Japanese ("Tsuzuku").
  • Discord's line mocking Princess Celestia turning him into stone is made to sound more menacing in the Japanese dub. In the original version, he says "I don't turn ponies into stone", but in the Japanese version, he says "Shall I turn these ponies into stone?" as if he were threatening to do the same to Twilight and the others. It works especially well now, not to mention doubling as a case of unintentional Foreshadowing in Season 9 when the Legion of Doom is turned to stone on Discord's suggestion.
• "The Cutie Pox":
  • Apple Bloom speaks formal Japanese instead of French in the Japanese dub, which fits better with Applejack's line "My sister's speaking in fancy!", to which Twilight snarks in the Japanese version, "It doesn't suit her."
• "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well":
  • The Japanese version changes Mare-Do-Well's name to Dark Mare, which fits better as a homage to Batman, the Dark Knight.
• "Family Appreciation Day":
  • In the Japanese version, the Zap Apples are known as "Biribiringo", a portmanteau of biribiri (an onomatopoeia representing electricity) and ringo (the Japanese word for "apple").
• "The Last Roundup":
  • The Japanese version manages to replicate Pinkie mistaking Rainbow Dash's line of getting Applejack to "spill the beans" line for Applejack hogging snacks by having Rainbow say that she's "talking as if something is stuck in her back teeth", which Pinkie interprets as Applejack hogging candy.
• "Read It and Weep":
  • The joke that Rainbow tries to tell her roommate in the Japanese version is changed from "Why did the chicken cross the road?" to "Bread (pan in Japanese) is delicious, but what pan can't you eat?", with the answer being "frying pan".
• "Putting Your Hoof Down":
  • The old pony that cuts in front of Fluttershy mishears Fluttershy's "warakomi" (cutting) as "waraboshi" (wooden chopsticks) in the Japanese dub.
• "MMMMystery on the Friendship Express":
  • The English version parodies the James Bond franchise by referring to Donut Joe as "Mane. Con Mane". The Japanese dub does something similar by referring to him as "00-Pony", a play on "007", James Bond's code number.
  • In the English version, Pinkie says "who did it" instead of "whodunit". In the Japanese version, she says "annin" (apricot) instead of "hannin" (culprit).
  • The play on "donuts" and "do-nots" is changed to a play on "donuts" and "dou natten" (what's going on).
• "A Canterlot Wedding":
  • Twilight refers to Shining Armor with the abbreviation "anieshin", which is short for "aniki eien shinyuu" (Big Brother Best Friend Forever). It does help it sounds a lot like aniue ^note  elder brother, used in more polite terms, especially between royal members of a family.
  • Much like the ending of Part 1 of "The Return of Harmony", Princess Cadance (AKA Queen Chrysalis) says the Japanese for "To Be Continued" in a sinister tone at the end of the episode.

French dub

• The French dub cleverly changes a lot of the puns and sometimes adds French cultural references as well.
  • Pinkie's "What's up?" joke in "Fall Weather Friends" turns into "Hé, Spike, ça plane pour toi? Oh, mais c'est moi qui plane!" (Literally, "Hey, Spike, are things flying for you? Oh, I'm the one who's flying!") "Ça plane pour toi?" means "How's it going?" in a colloquial sense, and was made famous in the Anglophone as well as the Francophone world with the song Ça plane pour moi by Plastic Bertrand.
  • Spike's falling asleep in the punch bowl in "Owl's Well That Ends Well," accompanied by the line "Looks like the punch has been...Spiked!" in the English version, is replaced with a string of fruit-related puns in the French dub: "Et à cause du jus de fruit, il n'a plus la pêche et il est tombé dans les pommes!" (Literally "And because of the punch (fruit juice), he no longer has the peach and has fallen in the apples!", figuratively "And because of the punch (fruit juice), he's run out of energy and has passed out!")
  • In the French translation of "Power Ponies", Applejack's superhero alter-ego "Mistress Mare-Velous" is known as "Wonder Jument", a play on Wonder Woman and jument, the French word for "mare".
  • Manehattan originally went untranslated in the French dub. Starting in Season 4 it was called Jumanhattan, using the French word for mare, "jument" which flows neatly into Manhattan.
  • Breezies have been translated as "Ponillons", a portmanteau of "Poney" and "Papillon" (The French word for "butterfly").
  • During Rainbow Dash's "I'll Fly" song, instead of saying "And the winter will never come", she sings "Et l'hiver peut aller se rhabiller" (Literally "Winter can go get dressed (again)"). The expression "aller se rhabiller" (to go dress yourself (again)" means "to fail thoroughly, not be up to the task" but also works on another level because in winter, people get clothed (get it?).

Other dubs

• The Italian dub of "Inspiration Manifestation" has Spike, when he's pissed off at Owloysious, saying "Hey you! Stop being such an owl and help me!", with "Being an owl" being Italian slang for "bringing bad luck". An amazing thing to hear, since the Italian dub of the show usually translates puns literally and turns some gags into ponies saying nonsense stuff.
• A big part of the show is the exposition heavy songs. Dubbing the songs to maintain their meaning while keeping them in time with the music is no easy feat. Now, most of the songs can take some liberties without really affecting the outcome, but what happens when you have to translate a song that drops the title and have no way to translate it? Do what the Latin American team did with My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks and alter the meaning. The title song lyrics are originally "As we learn how the rainbow, Rainbow Rocks" but in Spanish it would be too difficult to dub in "El arcoiris es genial" (literal translation), so they changed the lyrics to "Y escuchamos a Rainbow, Rockear" which means "And we heard Rainbow, rocking out". It fits, but the meaning changes drastically, as now it seems that Rainbow is the focus of the movie, taking all the glory for herself..
  • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games has a scene were Rainbow jumps off a ramp and shouts "Awesome!". What did the Latin American team do with that? Have her shout "20% Cooler!" obviously.
• The Croatian HRT dub makes a few changes like these.
  • In "Applebuck Season", when Pinkie Pie is asking a tired Applejack to get the ingredients, they're translated as "čokoladne mrvice" (chocolate chips), "prašak za pecivo" (baking powder), "šalica brašna" (a cup of flour), and "šalica šarenih mrva" (a cup of colorful sprinkles). Respectively, Applejack mishears as "grickalice" (snacks), "pivo" (beer), "limuna strašna" (lemon juice), and "vrtni crvi" (garden worms). Applejack's "fancy talk for earthworms" remark also became "Oh, this will be one strange cake!"
  • Also in "Applebuck Season", the help/kelp joke is translated as Twilight telling Applejack that the latter needs help (pomoć), which Applejack mishears as "midnight" (ponoć), leading her to protest that it's the middle of the day.
• The Croatian RTL dub:
  • In "Sonic Rainboom", the short bit of dialogue with Rainbow Dash misunderstanding Fluttershy when the latter spots a winged Rarity is changed. In the original Rainbow Dash thinks Fluttershy said "rare" (replying with "The sonic rainboom is way more than rare!"), but in the Croatian RTL dub, most character names are untranslated including Rarity's name and the word that Rainbow Dash hears doesn't even mean anything - as a result, it was changed so that Rainbow Dash thinks Fluttershy was trying to say "rerna" (a synonym for "pećnica" which means "oven" in Croatian), prompting her to go "'Rerna'? You mean, 'oven'? What are you even talking about?!".
  • In "Applebuck Season":
    • The things Applejack mishears from Twilight trying to talk to her are altered, such as her mishearing "Možemo razgovarati?" ("Can we talk?") as "Noževima rasparati" ("Rip seams with knives"). Twilight telling Applejack that she needs help is also translated very similarly to the Croatian HRT dub, where Applejack confuses the word "pomoć" ("help") for "ponoć" ("midnight").
    • When Pinkie Pie asks Applejack to get baking soda (which in Croatian is "soda bikarbona") and Applejack thinks she was told to add a soda drink, "soda" is translated to "a bottle of Coca Cola".
• In "Slice of Life", Dr. Whooves encounters a pony version of Jeff Lebowski who keeps saying the word "man", much to Dr. Whooves' confusion. In the German dub, the word is changed to "dude", leaving Dr. Whooves to ask: "Was ist das für ein Wort, dass du dauernd benutzt? 'Dude'?" (What is that word you keep using? "Dude"?) This changes it from a joke about human terminology to a joke about English slang.

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