Please Provide Englsh TRANSLATION For The Japanese

[Striker44]

What a low bar. If you still can't see the problem even with examples people have provided, that's your problem.

Translation: How dare you actually like something that I don't like! I think it's bad, therefore any who disagrees with me must be pathetic. (Or was that localization on my part )

My main beef is the naming scheme of spells not using the proper -aga, -aja, etc, suffixes.

I like them the way they are. Of course, I grew up playing the "original" versions of the games (FF1/4/6 as FF1/2/3) where spells levels were always denoted by numbers. Maybe it's because of that familiarity, but when the series in English switched to the whole -ara -aga thing, it felt very off and I've never particularly liked it.

[Shipp]

The exact text is as follows:


The first two lines are pretty much as-is (except Curagura is Curagyo), but in short the council took a vote, with Curaja barely winning over Curagyo.

YoshiP also noted during EW that they went with High to go above the -ja suffix for BLM in EW mostly because he didn't want to do the weirder suffixes like -gyo.

Fascinating. Thank you for that!

[Lukha]

Adding my +1 to this since it's something I've wanted and asked for repeatedly over the years.

With the Japanese government actually taking an interest in stopping the censorship and butchering of Japanese media when it's translated into other languages, I even have hope that SE will finally have some motivation to go back over their work and actually fix some of their mistakes. At least the ones they ADMITTED were mistakes, like the butchering of Haurchefant back in ARR that caused people to think he'd been tempered when he shows up again, and the ridiculous summarizing of Midgardsormr's lines that resulted in people being confused about his role in the plot.

There's also quite a few places where the existing localization goes out of its way to make Alphinaud more annoying, or insult him where the original Japanese does no such thing; apparently someone on the EN side of things hated him and let it get in the way of doing their job correctly.

[Jeeqbit]

Having voiced dialogue be so divergent or straight up wrong in comparison to the Japanese is not localization.

Actually, it is. Localization does not mean translation. It means making it make sense to the local audience of that region. So, it may be completely different due to the cultural differences of that region, but the spirit of it will be intact because the localization team talk directly to the writers to make sure the "spirit" and "intention" of the story is conveyed still. And it's conveyed better when it uses history and references that you actually understand. You're not going to understand lots of references to Japanese history and culture if you aren't from Japan, unless you are a rare one that studies Japanese history and culture.

What you seem to mean here is that it is "not translation". And in that case you're correct, it's not translation.

I really hope the new person in charge considers some changes.

I am sure that they won't. Because again, localization is not the same as translation. If you want just translation you can throw it into Google Translate.

[Lukha]

Actually, it is. Localization does not mean translation. It means making it make sense to the local audience of that region. So, it may be completely different due to the cultural differences of that region, but the spirit of it will be intact because the localization team talk directly to the writers to make sure the "spirit" and "intention" of the story is conveyed still. And it's conveyed better when it uses history and references that you actually understand. You're not going to understand lots of references to Japanese history and culture if you aren't from Japan, unless you are a rare one that studies Japanese history and culture.

What you seem to mean here is that it is "not translation". And in that case you're correct, it's not translation.
I am sure that they won't. Because again, localization is not the same as translation. If you want just translation you can throw it into Google Translate.

This argument always confuses me, because it makes it seem like you think Japan is some alien planet rather than another country. You don't need to drastically change the words being said in order to 'convey' the '''meaning''' into another language. 99% of the time any given sentance is gonna make perfect sense if you just translate it directly.

There are cases where it may be more appropriate to make minor alterations to a joke so that it lands, such as in the case of wordplay, but outright replacing concepts or information is a major no-go, and that's where the problems with modern attitudes towards localization come in. Modern localizers have convinced themselves and their fawning public that they aren't translators - no! they are writers, as important if not more so than the original writers, and certainly they know better than the original creators of the projects they've been hired to translate, so their job must not be to merely convey the meaning of the words in one language fluently in another, nay, it is their job to improve the original creator's work, or even to fix it, if they decide in their almighty wisdom that there's something wrong with that original work.

It's honestly sickening, and more than a little racist to think that another culture is simply so alien that no one could possibly understand a story from said culture without drastic revisions. It's not that freaking complex, just translate what's being said faithfully into grammatically and idiomatically correct English (this is what translation is. To hear you lot talk, it sounds like you think translation just means translating all the words 1:1 with no regards to proper grammar so it comes out in a jumbled mess, which just tells me none of you took even a basic language class in school).

[Clover_Blake]

The English localization of this game jeopardizes the integrity of the game and it gets worse the more Japanese I learn.

Having voiced dialogue be so divergent or straight up wrong in comparison to the Japanese is not localization.

If I am not playing in the English dub, I should not get the subtitles for the English dub. It should be subtitles for the actual Japanese.

I also have to assume the rest of the game's text also takes additional liberties for no reason.

I really hope the new person in charge considers some changes.

I'm with you, OP. This has been an annoyance since the beginning, and I'll never understand the need to change the original writers' intent.

Edit: Basically, this. This player put my thoughts into words:

This argument always confuses me, because it makes it seem like you think Japan is some alien planet rather than another country. You don't need to drastically change the words being said in order to 'convey' the '''meaning''' into another language. 99% of the time any given sentance is gonna make perfect sense if you just translate it directly.

[RedLolly]

I was never too worried about the weird quirks of the English version until recently when I learned about a few of the aforementioned details about Midgardsormr, Estinien is supposed to refers to us as something like "bro" or "buddy," most of the cast have dropped the proper "G" and call him Raha, Zenos' subtext of being in love with us is just overt text, and that Urianger apparently does not talk like that in other language versions. There is no unique, not quite "ye olde" style writing either.

This is the first instance I can think with a localization having issues that aren't the writers censoring everything they can, making it too meme-y or topical, or injecting politics that don't exist. Not layering a whole new dialect of English for world-building. I can respect that, but now that I know it's not how the Japanese version is written and isn't applied to other languages, I'm kind of weirded out. (When I think of a bad localization, I think of what Treehouse did to the English version of Fire Emblem Fates. That was genuinely baffling.)

I have almost no complaints on the voice actor's performances, the main cast are excellent.

But also, Koji Fox was/is also one of the main lore creators in FFXIV, isn't he? He was the one that made most of the decisions that resulted in the English version being like this. It isn't exactly overreach when he's also designing the base of so much of the original Japanese stuff, too.

[Jeeqbit]

This argument always confuses me, because it makes it seem like you think Japan is some alien planet rather than another country.

It isn't necessarily me that thinks this. All people in the localization field, whose job it is to do localization, believe this.

You don't need to drastically change the words being said in order to 'convey' the '''meaning''' into another language. 99% of the time any given sentance is gonna make perfect sense if you just translate it directly.

I have seen things translated that just talk about dragons and all sorts of Japanese references that I don't get. It depends a lot on what is being translated, but it can get pretty bad if just directly translated. There is also Japanese humor that doesn't come across in English, and English humor or swearing that doesn't come across in Japanese.

It's not just about that though. It's also about if it makes you "feel" the way that it makes people in Japan feel. Sometimes, the direct translation may not evoke the "feeling" that the writers intended to create, when translated into English. In order to evoke these "feelings", they need to reference something you are familiar with that has an emotional impact, and that requires referencing culture and historical events you are actually familiar with.

[Ajisaii]

If you have it on Japanese audio then why don't you just use Japanese subtitles?

[Voidmage]

If you have it on Japanese audio then why don't you just use Japanese subtitles?

I have no real opinion in this topic whatsoever but as someone who just learns Japanese now I have an answer.

Understanding and being fluent are two different things.
Even if you can read Japanese it is not easy to read subtitles with how fast they go.
Hiragana and Katakana are two entirely different things from the monstrosity that Kanji is for example and often you have mixes of the three.
The first two you can learn in two weekends while the later I still can't wrap my head around.
You also don't just have Hiragana for example but also it's versions like Dakuten Kana and combination Kana which can sound entirely different.
Just look at the topic of Miqo'te names on this forum as to how weird it is to read it all.
Listening is sometimes way easier.

I kinda understand OP because too big of a difference can have a big impact on lore.
I actually agree with them to a certain point in that integrity is important.
That said, localization is hard and as someone here posted already, the interview with Koji Fox is really interesting in that aspect and in the case of FFXVI actually also shows that it's a difficult thing in both directions.
Like he says there, it starts with simple things already like conversation being different between east and west in the "how" people talk with each other.
I really can't suggest that video enough.