Why is the NA team so loose with dialogue?

[Alahra]

I started playing with the Japanese audio on due to not liking some of the new voice actors.

If I have to hear a character clearly say a character's name one more time and not have that name (or even a pronoun that could be understood of them) appear anywhere in the dialogue, I'm going to Mountain Buster a table.

Just as one example, in the closing line of the cutscene I just watched, Alphinaud says "Minfillia" loud and clear. The English text, though, is just "No, this is all wrong..." How do I even know that's the rest of what he said at this point?

I get the need to localize, and that things aren't going to be exact, but I no longer trust that I'm actually receiving the text and story in its original form in any sense.

[Positive_Touch]

because people don't say the same thing in the exact same way across languages. square Enix has some of the best localizers in the business; trust that you're getting an accurate translation.

[EnoraTaqa]

because people don't say the same thing in the exact same way across languages. square Enix has some of the best localizers in the business; trust that you're getting an accurate translation.

Really? I'm Bilingual English/French and I've got the subs in English while they talk in French. To my surprise, they talk about what's written in English, but they add more so I won't change that setting anytime soon.

So nope, they are not accurate.

[Alahra]

because people don't say the same thing in the exact same way across languages. square Enix has some of the best localizers in the business; trust that you're getting an accurate translation.

But by definition, if a line of dialogue has a character reference another character by name in the voice track, and that line of dialogue, in translation, doesn't reference another character at all, it's inaccurate.

There are numerous instances of the Localization team taking liberties that are rather different from the original intent, such as with Haurchefaunt's entire character, and even with things like Achievement titles (White Knight vs. Meat Shield, for instance). That's not accurate by any definition of the word.

Much of my education was in the field of comparative literature and I'm well aware of the need for translations to not always be literal, as not all words translate properly from one language into another. But the meaning should be captured, and when the meaning is clear while being literal, the translation should, in general, be literal where ever possible.

[Asheloux]

One thing that REALLY pissed me off in 3.2 is that the Maid says something along the lines of "Everything is your fault" in Japanese but in english it's like "Not now, not ever," and then you pass out...
It was really glaring.
As someone who is bi-lingual, the changes are REALLY obvious (and annoying).

Also, fun changes:
Scions of the Seventh Dawn--> Akatsuki (Dawn)
United Eorzea (Crystal Braves)--> Grand Company Eorzea (Japanese version)
Haurchefant's entire personality (couldn't figure out why my english playing friends didn't get why I thought he was so funny/cool)

...The english dialogue is so weird for me >.<

[Lukha]

This has come up time and again, and I've even asked if it would be possible to offer a second English text option, which would be closer to a literal translation, but as far as I'm aware not a single one of those topics has ever received any sort of acknowledgement or response. There WAS a formal appology made for the gross mistakes made with Haurchefant's localization, along with a promise that they'd be 'more careful' about doing that in the future (only because they apparently got in trouble for doing it without permission, though), but there's not much chance they really meant that, especially considering some of the lines I picked out from the initial Heavensward storyline.

The localization and especially the high-handedness of the people doing it has really soured me on the story, to the point I haven't even touched the 3.1MSQ yet and get a little angry everytime certain people post or feature in one of the livestreams. I love the overall tone of the localization, so it's a real shame that some of it is so shoddily done; do the people responsible have no professional pride? Or do they just not care enough about their job or the story to even try for accuracy?

The only positive is that I'm more motivated than ever to study hard in my Japanese classes; I'm planning to give it another semester and then start a new character on a Japanese server, with the game totally in Japanese, so I'll be able to practice my reading and writing skills and experience the game properly at last.