I don't think recently finishing Year One Japanese at your local college gives you the understanding of the processes and philosophies behind translations.
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Who gives a crap if the translation is literal?
English, as a language, permits a lot more flavor than Japanese does, so it's a credit to the EN localization team that they can keep the intent of the story while adding more variety and flavor to the game.
I can't say I've yet been annoyed by differences between JP audio and EN subtitles, even if they're not a literal translation. It keeps the spirit of the dialogue, gets the point across, and is entertaining for English speakers.
Win/win/win.
The game would be a lot more boring in English if they just focused on translating literally.
If the JP version is so superior, just play that...unless of course you're a weeb that just finds little things to nitpick. Lol
That sig is appropriate for people like this OP that complain about these translations. lol
It's still not a translation though. :P The English subtitles are pulled directly from the English script while the Japanese dialogue is pulled directly from the Japanese script. The scripts are different because the languages are different. Fansubbers normally just translate to keep true to the source material. With this game there really is no "source material" as Square Enix has committed to officially support all four languages they offer. Each script is localized for each language to make the most sense in said language.
We can argue about the quality of said localizations (Emphasis on quality, not personal preference), but we should not treat them as mere translations.
Where's Ted Woolsey when you need him!?
I personally HATE the old-english dialogue. It sounds corny and just WAY over done.
The Japanese is quite different than the English (Living in Tokyo 5 years. I have more than 1 year college level Japanese so I can tell :-P ) Though in the japanese version they do occasionally throw in some archaic verb conjugations and things so they are making an effort to make it sound old-ish in Japanese as well. The difference in what they say really is not at all what bothers me. I think the translation is well done and they certainly capture the same spirit in both versions. So the OP is kinda going way over the top. I just wanna know... does anyone else think "is ought amiss?" is as dumb sounding as I do? I think they're trying to create more of a fantasy vibe with this old English but for me personally it just ruins it and takes me out of the game. The English is just too artificial sounding, and the voice acting is even more stiff.
It is artificial yes, but I believe that is sort of the intent..this is fantasy, and the setting is pre-modern, so using a form of English that is not common in today's time is ideal. "Is ought amiss" sounds clunky to some, but for me (being a literature nerd ><) it didn't really strike me as such.