Various english titles..

[DoctaruRavenbe]

I believe that and the quest its related to are referencing a song.

[LineageRazor]

While I appreciate and support localized translations over literal translations (even if there are the occasional speed bumps along the way), I didn't know (though have, at times, suspected) that so much of this game was English FIRST, and then localized into Japanese! That's very interesting.

Makes me wonder if there's a clique of Japanese translation snobs overseas heckling THEIR localization team over every percived slight?

Japanese translation snob: "Why would you translate Meadowcaster to La Noscean Angler? Meadowcaster is just COOLER! Screw all those uneducated plebians who don't know what a meadow is, and cater to ME, plzkthxbye!"

[StarDrake]

Man, this gets right back to that awful thread about Midgardsormr. I greatly dislike how people fixate on some mythical and pure "non-localized" version of the game, as if every new patch is equal parts Ted Woolsey and 4Kids.

People who complain about how "bad" the localization team is should go and try do what they do, even for a day, and then come here and qq.
Seriously, even when you don't get "fancy" with it translation is tough.

This is an old, old problem though; forget "puritan" translation arguments going back to anime fansubs all the way back in the 70s and 80s, there's a long history of claiming that "only one translation of a work from one language to another is pure and good, and all others are trash" for centuries, at the very least. Hell, the concept of localization really caught on from discussion about Bible translation, and those discussions often get heated even today.

At the risk of sounding like far too much of an elitist snob, it stems from laymen not quite understanding how the craft of language works - that is, it's very very rare for words to map 1:1 between any language. Even a "literal" translation, especially from languages with entirely different root-families like Japanese and English, is going to be full of linguistic best-fits. And I'm not even talking about grammar changes, I'm talking about things like what いただきます, そうか or even はい and いいえ actually mean. (Hint: they don't actually mean yes and no, and the structure of Japanese and the use of the words and their variants reflects this.) Many people who are only familiar with their native language or have perhaps only surface-studied another language in compulsory K-12 don't really have a grasp of this best-fitting, though, and often continue to think that in most cases, there is a single "correct" translation for any given sentence or passage, when language and the process of human expression are actually far more complicated.

(And this isn't limited to just English-speakers; as even one other example, a lot of Japanese run into this problem going JP->EN as well, because of the way English is taught in their version of K-12. I'm sure Ferne or some of the other localization staff have their own stories about running into this.)

Now, has the FFXIV team made a few choices I wouldn't have in their shoes? Of course. That's inevitable. But posts like Ferne's make it abundantly clear that nothing goes into the game thoughtlessly; a lot of consideration goes into everything we see, straight down to silly things like cosmetic titles, and I can appreciate that. And that's really the very best you can ask of any translator/localizer; consideration towards the craft of language and the ways of expression are the real core of any translation project. Chasing after some kind of perceived "pure" translation reflects a misunderstanding of how language works.

While I appreciate and support localized translations over literal translations (even if there are the occasional speed bumps along the way), I didn't know (though have, at times, suspected) that so much of this game was English FIRST, and then localized into Japanese! That's very interesting.

Makes me wonder if there's a clique of Japanese translation snobs overseas heckling THEIR localization team over every percived slight?

You joke, but there actually has been a decent bit of complaining over the 2.x cycle from the Japanese fanbase about parts of the English script having significantly more "flavor" than Japanese counterparts. It's gotten better, in parts because the JP writing team has stepped up, but there's a segment of the JP community that has been somewhat discontented with how their version turned out linguistically.

[ShinryuReishiki]

Maybe I'm just one of few who find these to be done way too liberally when it comes to translations but a fair amount (by a fair I mean a lot) of the achievement titles feel really misleading or outright wrong in their english interpretations compared to JP/FR/DE.

One that annoys me a little is the title "Green Eyes," and by extension, "The Veil of Wiyu" weapon. In Japanese, the title is "the Oeilvert" and the weapon shares the name as well, which does mean "Green Eyes," but it feels like the connection is a bit lost between the book and title in English without knowledge of the relic quest's story to support it.

I suppose precedence (FFT's translation?) could be a reason in this case, though, and I can't really say I dislike the the veil -> Apocalypse connection...

[BrielleBeaudonet]

Koji, just... Wow. I mean, seriously. There's nothing more heartening to me than hearing this in-depth explanation straight from the source. Your honesty, transparency, and genuine desire to do right by the community is nothing short of astonishing.

[Ghastly]

I like Stormlady 10000 times more than Limsa Heroine. I like most of the EN titles

[Yasminou]

One that annoys me a little is the title "Green Eyes," and by extension, "The Veil of Wiyu" weapon. In Japanese, the title is "the Oeilvert" and the weapon shares the name as well, which does mean "Green Eyes," but it feels like the connection is a bit lost between the book and title in English without knowledge of the relic quest's story to support it.

I suppose precedence (FFT's translation?) could be a reason in this case, though, and I can't really say I dislike the the veil -> Apocalypse connection...

For me, the Veil of Wiyu is a reference to all those mistranslated names in past FF's: Atma Weapon in FFVI, Allemagne in FFVII, etc. You know, although Œilvert is French, in the FR version of FFIX, the place was renamed as Euyevair! This sounds alike in French but it makes everyone's eyes bleed (no pun intended).

According to the Lodestone and Google traduction, the DE title also means Green Eyes, while Œilvert really is singular: Green Eye. So, I really think the title is a reference to the green-eyed previous owner of the book (even though the story was built on the name of the book).

[Adrian74]

Nee...

Speaking about tittles, please, please, pleaaaaase!

Can we have one for those crazy relic users that have a lot of relics in advanced steps? We have "The Insatiable" for those who have all relics, but... In my case, I already have all atmas, well, only 2 in atma remaining, but the rest are over animus, etc... What I'd like to see is... A tittle for having all the relics of that step or over it, for example, all atmas could be... "The passion of FATE" or "Tired of FATEs" ? Animus tittle could be... "The Madafaka king of the animus"? Couldn't avoid reference to a funny Assassins Creed rap there.

And I don't have any more ideas for tittles... Maybe I should open a thread someday with more tittle ideas for that?

Regards.

[braithgwirod]

Koji, just... Wow. I mean, seriously. There's nothing more heartening to me than hearing this in-depth explanation straight from the source. Your honesty, transparency, and genuine desire to do right by the community is nothing short of astonishing.

Said 1000 times better than I could.

Koji, you rock.

[Zophar]

The only titles I really wish we had from the Japanese client are White Knight and Bloody Warrior in place of Meat Shield and Meat Axe. Yeah, I know that meat shield has been around forever as a term and has a lot of presence in MMORPGs, but White Knight/Bloody Warrior are just cooler. Meat Shield/Axe are goofy.

Meat Shield I kind of get, as it's a very classic NA term for a tank in MMO's, going back, Oh, I don't even know how long. First time I heard it was almost 20 years ago back in Everquest. Meat Axe though... That one has always really bothered me. It just sounds so off. I always felt it should have been, like, Meat Cleaver. THAT at least is an actual term. Though I do kinda like White Knight And Bloody Warrior :x