English translations on the MGM release
I'm posting here only a few days before the June 15 2010 scheduled release date for the Criterion DVD, but for anyone frustrated by the earlier MGM release, the following should be helpful.
As mentioned in a couple of other threads, Hernal03's post of Apr 17 2005 was correct, that both the French and the Spanish "forced captions" options (as opposed to either the French or Spanish subtitles options) actually translate the Japanese dialog into English rather than French or Spanish.
The problem is that many DVD players or their remotes, or computer media players, have no way to access these "forced captions". If you can access either of these channels, then you should find the Japanese dialog (only) translated as English subtitles on your screen. The term "forced captions" is something of a misnomer, because these are actually displayed just like "subtitles".
An alternative, and probably easier option, is to activate the true "Closed Captions" that also come embedded in the MGM release. Closed Captions are completely different from subtitles - these are white, in all-caps, on a black bar that displays at the bottom of the screen, just like you have probably seen occasionally when watching TV. The Closed Captions on this disc provide a text display for all of the dialog, as well as for sounds such as the train whistle. Some viewers may find this obtrusive and annoying.
Closed Captions are accessed not though your DVD player or remote, but instead through the TV and its remote - there should be a button on your TV remote that says "CAPTION" or "CAPTIONS". If you're watching on a computer, access to either the "forced captions" or the Closed Captions will depend entirely on the media player program you are using.
Note that Closed Captions are not only accessed differently from subtitles, but are written by different people, and not infrequently will differ in how much dialog is rendered into text, or how exactly, when the movie is wordy. Translations from other languages may also be somewhat different.
Most but not all DVDs include Closed Captions - you can always tell by looking for the [CC] symbol on the back of the DVD box, if you have it available.