Differences between English and Japanese MSQ Dialogue (bit of a rant)

To those who play in English with Japanese voice and can understand Japanese, has anyone else noticed the major differences between the English and Japanese dialogues in Shadowbringers? There has always been some differences but this time around, as I'm playing through the MSQ, it just feels very strange as what the Japanese voice is saying and the English dialogue is completely different.

While there are many instances of this throughout the MSQ, one is when the Exarch meets Vauthry; In the Japanese version, the Exarch says something along the lines of, you've gotten really big since I last saw you. Where as the English version is something like your as "enormous as ever". Differences like this are all over the MSQ this time, especially during CS of past events or when a character is explaining something deep, it feels like they are saying/implying two completely different things.

This doesn't really matter unless you are someone who plays the English Version with Japanese voice and can understand Japanese but just think for a game where the story is so deep and hints in dialogues play a important role in foreshadowing, they should make the dialogues more similar.

End of Rant.

It cannot be any worse than dual-audio releases of anime on Blu-Ray.

They only need to get so much of the point across in order for the plot to still make sense. As long as they don't go into "butcher territory" *cough* 4Kids Entertainment *cough* then we're good.

Be very, very alarmed if you ever see a rice ball replaced with a jelly doughnut.

Some things cannot be directly translated, and in some other cases the translation will be tailored to their intended audience. A Japanese (native) speaker playing the game with English voices would be very surprised by the use of the language, mostly because it's something they may not be used to hearing (i.e Shakespearean type words), and there may not be a direct equivalent in their own tongue. It does specifically state in the settings that having audio different to your client may not always match so it's to be expected that is not entirely the same in all languages (because it's just not always possible to do that).

There are also issues with vocal timings. Things said in Japanese tend to be longer or shorter based on the phrase being said, and the dialogue needs to be able to fit within the same timeframe or talking animation windows. If you're interested, you should look up The Logistics of Voice Acting.

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Originally Posted by Kurando

Some things cannot be directly translated, and in some other cases the translation will be tailored to their intended audience. A Japanese (native) speaker playing the game with English voices would be very surprised by the use of the language, mostly because it's something they may not be used to hearing (i.e Shakespearean type words), and there may not be a direct equivalent in their own tongue. It does specifically state in the settings that having audio different to your client may not always match so it's to be expected that is not entirely the same in all languages (because it's just not always possible to do that).

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I pity a non-English speaker listening to Urianger say just about anything. Good f'ing luck.

Yeah, I think we've had more of these... cant even say mistranslations? They seem intentional. Anyways, after I noticed it, I made it a point to listen to the audio first, then read the english text just so I dont miss any small details relevant to the lore. I don't think there was anything major, but I do recall some peculiar wording differences that muddies the waters for some lore speculations.

One that did stick in my mind particularly was a Feo Ul conversation after Il Mehg, before the last area (being vague for spoilers). While mostly inconsiquantual it changed the intent behind her words a lot.

You're ranting over words that are said differently but mean the same thing, in a way, that several people can understand.
They mean the same thing but are just said differently. The outcome is still the same and it's said with understanding and spoken in a way
that would have been said. You hear two phrases, one in Japanese, one in English, those two will be said differently
but mean exactly the same thing. "You've gotten bigger, since the last I saw you!" still means the same as "You've blown up since I saw you last!" stuff like that.

Localization is more than just directly translating things word for word. You need to take into consideration culture, dialects, history and more. As someone else also mentioned there is only so much animation done, it has to fit within those animated frames so sometimes it gets abbreviated or changed so people aren't talking when nobody's mouth is moving.

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Originally Posted by Krotoan

Localization is more than just directly translating things word for word. You need to take into consideration culture, dialects, history and more.

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This.

A lot of cultural features of the Japanese language just do not make sense in English. It would be a grave error to translate things literally.

Those still mean the same thing essentially though? One just has more of a flourish that an English speaker would add as opposed to a direct translation of the Japanese, which is often /very/ stilted when translated into English directly. When one translate any medium they have to consider a few things and the biggest of those issues is how the text will translate into the second language. If it sounds fine in Japanese but doesn't flow at all in English, the lines need to be altered to sound better for the English audience the dub is being made for. Small alterations that keep the spirit of the text are common place in dub work, and FF14 has been pretty good about that with a few notable exceptions. (Seriously I contend people to go track down early 90's anime subs and try to sit through their attempts at literal translation... It could get bad... Really bad...)

It isn't like with what happened with Haurchefant where a good chunk of his character was changed between the Japanese and English audio tracks - and frankly for the better in my opinion as the trope that was being played in Japanese did /NOT/ come off well in English. To my knowledge that was the only /major/ change between the different dub tracks though I do remember a few others that frankly escape me at the moment, none that stand out in ShB however.