English translation of Yoshida-san's letters is irritating

After translating the latest letter myself, I am quite bothered by the fact that the posted English translation of it is decidedly more obscure that what Yoshia himself wrote.

Some differences:

1) The term Easter isn't censored out of the Japanese letter (political correctness run amok?)
2) The Easter-themed event is called "Egg Hunt" - This is an interesting detail, why is it not in the English letter??
3) The "Japanese National Holiday" he references is Children's Day [こどもの日] - Not a big deal, but it's good to know.

I don't know about you, but I would prefer that the translator not obfuscate elements in Yoshida's letters in the future.

they still not mention any combat system fixing or another core system fix

The Twelve frown upon silly heathen holidays.

I think its to provide the impression that Yoshi is writing specifically to his audience. Also to cut down on the idea that the jp crowd get all the attention (you know, cause japanese people from japanese companies should never address things to the nation that speaks their language first... /sarcasm)

Thanks for pointing this out though, I'll gladly take giving the news to me over "feeling the news at me".

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Originally Posted by Zantetsuken

After translating the latest letter myself, I am quite bothered by the fact that the posted English translation of it is decidedly more obscure that what Yoshia himself wrote.

Some differences:

1) Easter isn't quasi-censored out of his letter (political correctness run amok?)
2) The Easter-themed event is called "Egg Hunt" - no surprise there, but why is it not in the English letter??
3) The Japanese National Holiday he references is Children's Day [こどもの日] - I'll assume they will have an event for this next year.

I don't know about you, but I would prefer that the translator not obfuscate elements in Yoshida's letters in the future.

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I am mildly concerned by this development, do you know if this has been happening in other letters?

Think you are blowing things out of proportion here, but then there's no surprise when that happens on these forums.

I think we should be grateful we are getting letters from the producer at all.

I actually did note that, but the translator is also paid to bridge the gap with culture issues. He was being both politically correct, and acknowledging that not everyone is going to know what Children's day is.

/shrug

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Originally Posted by Jinko

I think we should be grateful we are getting letters from the producer at all.

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I fail to see how asking for a letter that isn't selectively edited by an English translator is somehow being ungrateful to the Producer himself. Rather, it shows that we want to read what he actually wrote.

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Originally Posted by Chezen

I actually did note that, but the translator is also paid to bridge the gap with culture issues. He/She/It was being both politically correct, and acknowledging that not everyone is going to know what Children's day is.

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^ fixed

My point is that we don't need someone shielding us from the dangers of the word 'Easter', or 'Egg Hunt' either for that matter. I just want the facts, and I believe it is unfair to the English readers to be treated condescendingly.

I'm just letting the English readers know that they aren't getting the full picture with this letter, and possibly others. For my part, I'll be reading the Japanese version from now on.

Is knowing that Children's Day is coming up going to fix the game for you?

Chill out dude.

more nhk conspiracies run amok.

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Originally Posted by Kilta_Firelotus

more nhk conspiracies run amok.

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Its the bells man!!

But seriously, even without the puns, there are thing getting lost in the translation, that should be addressed. We can let the puns be if we get our info.

I agree that this is kinda blowing things out of proportion.

As a translator myself, I try to check and compare Japanese versions of important posts with English, looking for bad mistakes. For the most part, any mistakes are very minor, and the small changes they make tend to be to bridge the cultural gap. So it's not really an issue.

That being said, I personally don't try to "westernize" translation. It's something that has always urked me about localization, so I can see how the OP might be bothered by it. But as much as I may not like it, it hasn't effected the quality of our information, so I just let it go.

In most cases it may be a minor issue, but I think in this case it would have been nice to hear the words "Egg hunt". In what we got, all we knew was that an event was on the way. Using the words "egg hunt" tells so much more about the event content, and personally, sounds like a ton more fun than any of the previous events.

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Originally Posted by BlaiseLallaise

In most cases it may be a minor issue, but I think in this case it would have been nice to hear the words "Egg hunt". In what we got, all we knew was that an event was on the way. Using the words "egg hunt" tells so much more about the event content, and personally, sounds like a ton more fun than any of the previous events.

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That's true, the translator should have thought about that. Though, since Yoshi did say there wouldn't be bells, it was pretty easy to assume it would be an Egg hunt like in FFXI.

I usually read the French translation, it's usually closer to the original Japanese letter.

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Originally Posted by Kaedan

That's true, the translator should have thought about that. Though, since Yoshi did say there wouldn't be bells, it was pretty easy to assume it would be an Egg hunt like in FFXI.

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That's what I'm worried about. FFXI didn't have an 'egg hunt' as much as it had an 'ask a moogle for an egg'. Or at least that's all I remember from it. I want to actually hunt eggs. Put in points all around town and outside town for me to run around aimlessly and gather eggs for some reward, no matter how pointless, and I think I'd have a lot of fun with it.

Back on topic, though the implication was there, it wasn't a strong implication, so it's possible to miss it. Specifically mentioning that there are no bells was the only hint we had to say that it would be a more interactive event. That is a plus.

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Originally Posted by BlaiseLallaise

That's what I'm worried about. FFXI didn't have an 'egg hunt' as much as it had an 'ask a moogle for an egg'. Or at least that's all I remember from it. I want to actually hunt eggs. Put in points all around town and outside town for me to run around aimlessly and gather eggs for some reward, no matter how pointless, and I think I'd have a lot of fun with it.

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That would be pretty cool. Like add a bunch of ??? marks that you can search to find Eggs. It would be much more interesting than talking to an NPC.

Well I too would rather he not censored out easter lol. Maybe just call it Egg hunt like he did in the Japanese letter. I wouldn't mind.

And you know how sensitive NA players are.... Who knows who would have snapped and raged if he said easter or childrens day?

Hmmm political correctness seriously? I figured they were just trying to be funny by inferring that they are slipping info they shouldn't. People left their sense of humor in their closet today?

As for Children's Day not being translated, well that's nice to know but not exactly a disaster.

Ya I guess it would be nice if the letters were a little more of a translation and a little less of an interpretation.

If the original content dealt mainly with japanocentric content, the original content needed to be more globally-oriented. It's a chronic lesson that Square Enix is slow as molasses to learn. The translators are like w...this is going to make no sense to anyone but Japanese people. At all. And they have to cover it up because the producer didn't think about that.

This is obviously a multicultural spring event. Christians stole eggs from pagans as a symbol of spring rebirth and said eggs were now about Jesus just like instead of companies this patch is now about eggs. That has NA and EU written all over it, so it's perfectly fine to reference OUR insanity in THEIR letter. I don't see eggs as being a part of children's day celebrations in Japan. Are they wondering where the sam hill the egg thing is coming from, or is it even discussed? It sounds nothing like a children's day celebration, so why was it originally spun like one? If you want to have a children's day we'll have a children's day. Something about plum flowers and dolls and alcoholid beverages.

We just can't be doing it freaking twice in two months we have enough holidays.

The Easter thing wasn't censorship, it was a silly joke. If it was actually being censored, it wouldn't have been visible at all. Not to mention, Easter implies rabbits and egg hunting, so even though it wasn't said, that's what I assumed we would be seeing.

You silly people are making much fuss over nothing.

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Originally Posted by Dreamer

You silly people are making much fuss over nothing.

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Just another day on these forums, they have to find something to moan about.

I would also prefer if there wasn't unnecessary editing to the letters. I think I'll be taking a look at the Japanese ones from now on too. I wanna see what Yoshida-san says! :3

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Originally Posted by Dreamer

The Easter thing wasn't censorship, it was a silly joke. If it was actually being censored, it wouldn't have been visible at all. Not to mention, Easter implies rabbits and egg hunting, so even though it wasn't said, that's what I assumed we would be seeing.

You silly people are making much fuss over nothing.

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The thing is he is saying things differently in both of the letters. I don't think he should talk to us differently, but nothing wrong with a good joke every now and then.

In all due honesty I would prefer a direct, straight translation of the letters, as opposed to trying to bridge cultural gaps. While culture is a major issue, we don't broach those things when dealing with game development itself.

I would rather have children's day than Easter =/

I would rather have a fixed battle system than children's day.

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Originally Posted by Sonic_the_Hedgehog

I usually read the French translation, it's usually closer to the original Japanese letter.

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Never thought of that before, but looking at it, I certainly think the French is better than the English version.

Well, that's why I usually double check the letter. Search around the forumns, look it up on google, talk to people, etc. To make sure I understood it correctly.

Easter is the name of the holiday and not a demand that you believe in it or partake in all the practices found in it... so I don't see why then name was censored.

Plus eggs have been around for millions of years, and are a part of the reproductive process. So just because two different groups made a natural association of their values with them doesn't mean anyone stole anything. It's not like the pagans farted and out came an egg (or a chicken) and that there were no eggs or chickens before said fart.

There's all kinds of things you could have complained about and you chose THIS? It's not a big deal. The letters are to give us information on whats to come and that's exactly what it does. The fact that everything isn't phrased the same in every language doesn't mean jack. You're going to complain about them putting in a little joke? Well, they better apologize for having a sense of humor!

This thread is utter nonsense.

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Originally Posted by Zantetsuken

My point is that we don't need someone shielding us from the dangers of the word 'Easter', or 'Egg Hunt' either for that matter.

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I think they were trying to infuse a little bit of light-hearted humour with the Easter comment. They said half the word...the joke is that it's not actually 'Easter' in Eorzea. I chuckled. I'm sorry that you didn't.

...but you do bring some interesting light to the situation. I don't think this will change though because really...our languages communicate in such different styles that a direct translation would probably be incorrectly received by the audience and not convey the same style of message that was intended.

It's quite obvious that a 'Holiday event' at this time of year isn't likely to be Channukah with candles. Maybe this calls for more work on our deductive powers!

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Originally Posted by EdenT

I think they were trying to infuse a little bit of light-hearted humour with the Easter comment. They said half the word...the joke is that it's not actually 'Easter' in Eorzea. I chuckled. I'm sorry that you didn't.

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I thought this exact same thing. They are talking about Eorzean holidays so OBVIOUSLY our holidays don't correspond... hence the "slip". And not like 95% of English speakers know what the hell Children's Day is. Chill out.

These are very minor embellishments to what you claim his original statement was. (/shrug)

Feel free to ring the alarm when they start telling bald-faced lies. :rolleyes:

hmmm what translation is irritating?

the so called "Eas—errr"? I thought that he's trying to cover up the event name or something :|

I think it's charming :c