Translation Team: Please stop doing this...

[dice137]

I'm pretty sure the head of translating team is Japanese, so it's not like the original intent is getting greatly lost or anything... Get mad at the Japanese writers, not the translators. That's likely how the lore team WANTS those characters to sound.

[Gramul]

I quite like it.
wot wot.

[Gralna]

I'm pretty sure the head of translating team is Japanese, so it's not like the original intent is getting greatly lost or anything... Get mad at the Japanese writers, not the translators. That's likely how the lore team WANTS those characters to sound.

Michael Koji Fox, Head of Localization Department



Doesn't look japanese to me :P

[myahele]

We all must needs to get used to the fact that is how some Eorzean speak

[dice137]

Michael Koji Fox, Head of Localization Department

I got him confused with someone who did a segment at the Tokyo Fan Fest about translating the Manderville song, or something like that. So that's my mistake.

Regardless, the translation team DOES have native Japanese people on it. The whole team isn't just a bunch of Americans who just know some Japanese. No one there is entirely ignorant to the desires of the original writers. If a character speaks in an extremely overwrought nature, it's not because they're being LOLXDSORANDOM, and it's not simple pandering to heavy high fantasy heads. Every character speaks a certain way for a reason.

[greyfurr]

nnnggggg... /flails

It's not ancient English, it's definitely not Old English. It's an easy to read version of Middle English. Closer to what Shakespeare and the English the Puritans spoke (Early Modern period, just before they finally got rid of the -eths for the good of us all >< ).

[/I]

Thank you for that ^_^. It's a little pet peeve of mine when people refer to thee and thou as Old English when it's classified as Early Modern.

For those that have problems understanding the usage this page has a nice break down on it.

[Conradus]

I don't mind the middle English that gets used, as both it is a fantasy world and it gives my English lit skills a workout. (Yes I said middle English, old would be nigh unreadable to anyone outside those trained to.)

It's not even Middle English. It's simply somewhat archaic Modern English. Here's some Middle English (and late Middle English, at that, courtesy of Chaucer):

Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
(so priketh hem nature in hir corages);
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And specially from every shires ende
Of engelond to caunterbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.

[kyuven]

We all must needs to get used to the fact that is how some Eorzean speak

It'd be fine if it weren't so inconsistent.
During the final 2.55 cutscenes, the phrase akin to "Should be here soon" is used, when at other times in the same situation the phrase "should be here anon" is used.
I could go into great detail on how they keep making little flubs like that.
Especially when you consider that the Japanese script is in more or less plain Japanese (except characters that we kinda all agree get a free linguistic pass) that, aside from some more complex terms like the three or four variations of "hero" and "knight" they throw around, is perfectly in line with modern Japanese speakers.
To reiterate, Midgardsormr is more comprehensible to me in Japanese than he is in English.
I'm not asking to have the script completely "dudebro!" only to make it something that people actually say. You can't write towards the same level of shakespeare and expect your actors who voice cartoon animals to give an excellent performance.
There are some fun decisions in the script, like "anyroad" instead of "anyway." That works, the meaning can be grasped easily based on context and it gives some flavor. The overuse of "mayhap" and "anon" and the like, though, is awkward.
The weird thing is they seem to be slowly toning it down, as the 2.55 cutscenes seem to use less of the "squeenixisms" than any other chain of cutscenes to this point. Maybe we're seeing them phased out because they're realizing that it's taking too many takes to get the voice acting content done.
And since they're going to be using a whole host of new voice actors in the coming expansion, it's the perfect opportunity to slowly tone it down as we enter a new area.

[Viridiana]

It'd be fine if it weren't so inconsistent.
During the final 2.55 cutscenes, the phrase akin to "Should be here soon" is used, when at other times in the same situation the phrase "should be here anon" is used.

Because phases of transition aren't a thing. >_>

[Xenosan]

Gods forfend..

After ff12 woulda thought they'd start using these ten commandments-esque dialogue a bit more sparingly. I'm fine with it but I understand the eyeroll it gets.