More than occasionally in a dubbed anime, a character who’s completely shocked and taken aback by something will exclaim “What’s that?”
It’s always in the same context where an English speaker would say “What!?”, so I’m guessing that the original dialogue uses some Japanese expression that’s used in much the same way as the English “What!?”, but has an additional syllable, requiring the dubbers to throw the extra “'s that?” to keep up lip-synch.
So, anyway, my question is…what are they saying in Japanese that translates to a shocked-sounding “What’s that?”
I know just enough Japanese to be perpetually confused, so don’t consider me an authority. But whenever I watch anime, I’ve always heard three experessions used for “What?!?”: nani, nan da? (I think), and nan desu ka?
ryoushi has it, I think. “Nani” is what I usually hear real Japanese people exclaim in situations where English-speakers would say “what”, so that’s probably what it is most times.