Differences between English and Japanese MSQ Dialogue (bit of a rant)

[Alleo]

Which is good because even if certain character are a trope, it was still how the writer saw them. Changing it, is also changing the purpose of these characters in my eyes.

I remember also the story of some NPCs (speech bubble only) that left Ishgard behind to start a new life at another place. She had a baby with him at the end and the JP version had her be hopeful, while the english version made her question her decision to come with him..This has really nothing to do with having to change the dialogue a bit, this is straight making another ending to someones character. And I honestly dont understand why.

[Krotoan]

That's the whole point - we don't know. That's not up to you, me, or the localization team to decide. That's the author's job.

Anyway, I'm going to bed. Good night. We're done here.

.. I'm not done though.
It is up to the localization team to do their research on what might be confusing for the people watching a CARTOON who don't want to go google stuff to understand it. It's a TV show and I'm relatively sure everyone doesn't want to have to research stuff in the middle of it or even after it. I cannot imagine how much more stressful authors jobs would be if they had to consider every single possible audience when writing a story.

It was a hyperbole. Hyperbole means to stretch the truth for purposes of demonstrating a point.

Yes, it was a stretch. However, that is the direction your logic is heading. We shouldn't be changing the target audience.

That is not the direction my logic was heading you made an incorrect assumption and a false comparison. Broadening the target audience ,as in making it accessible to people not from the specific region it was from can only help a show/game/story. It doesn't delete the original, it doesn't lessen it's message, it just lets more people get involved in it. To what degree they wish to explore it is up to them. If you believe in purity of message and story then watch the originals and learn the language and culture.

[AlliciaCapulet]

To be honnest, I also find problems in the english version. I'm native french, also speaking english and I understand japanese quite well too (been studying it for the last 6 years). And, I've tested the french translation and the english translation, and I find that the french translation is better. I agree it's sometime hard to make things exactly the same between 2 languages, but sometime I just feel the translation is not right in english. That's why I switched the game in french here since I feel that the translation japanese->french is better.

[TheGrimace]

The English localization is fantastic and I can confidently say that we have the best version of the game, even if it's not originally written in English. Koji Fox, John Crow, and the rest of the staff really pour their hearts into the game and it shows.

[Kaedan]

To be frank, OP, it sounds like your Japanese isn't very high level. I'm not saying that to be offensive, just perhaps you don't have enough experience with it.

Localization is an art form in itself. As someone who is fluent in Japanese myself (been here 10 years and married), and I'm sure to others who are as well, if you try to translate verbatim, you end up with really convoluted and unnatural sounding English. While translating verbatim would certainly convey the exact words of the Japanese, it will usually come out odd, dry and boring.

So good localizers will communicate the meaning of what's being said, but using familiar language and idioms to make it sound natural.

I have to say, SE's localization team for FF14 are PHENOMENAL. They do a superb job of exactly that: communicating the meaning in a culturally accurate way.

So yeah, there's going to be a lot of words that aren't exactly translated and some words that won't even be translated at all, but that's okay. It's a sign of a very good localization.

[Cidel]

Okay since the relevant topic came up again, I have to ask anyone particularly fluent in Japanese (Spoilers, but that should be obvious at this point for a MSQ thread):

In the last series of cutscenes where Estinien is in the Garlean imperial palace with Gaius, what exactly is his comment in Japanese that simply gets turned into "Hmph" in English? I imagine it's nothing "story-changing," but this has been bothering me.

Aside from that, I don't think there ever needs to be/can be a literal translation on a lot of things if they more or less say the same thing, but turning something like a short sentence into "Hmph" may lend some credence to the discrepancies about the translation.

[Sigiria]

While some rephrasing always need to be done when translating, I think the example provided is actually a good one that changes the feeling of the scene.

In the japanese one the exarch say it like Vauthry used to be different and has been sinking deeper and deeper in his own self indulgence. It also establish that the exarch propably knew him for a long time, before he started to completly lose it.

The other one feel like he's telling him "well aren't you the same old fatty" like a petty provocation.

Another example that used to irk me was a line during the fight with Zenos in the french translation. When he's doing his big attacks in japanese he say something like "Don't die from that" which is in line with the personality of the character that just want to enjoy the fight. While in french it's translated as "Won't you just die already?" which is pretty much the opposite and don't match Zenos' personality.

Smalls things like that can really alter your perception of the story or the characters. Personally I'm not interested in the translation team caring about my cultural comfort, I want to know what the original author wanted to convey. Which is why I prefer to get every media in it's original language if I can understand it. Lot's of things are lost in translation.

[Halivel]

Okay since the relevant topic came up again, I have to ask anyone particularly fluent in Japanese (Spoilers, but that should be obvious at this point for a MSQ thread):

In the last series of cutscenes where Estinien is in the Garlean imperial palace with Gaius, what exactly is his comment in Japanese that simply gets turned into "Hmph" in English? I imagine it's nothing "story-changing," but this has been bothering me.

Aside from that, I don't think there ever needs to be/can be a literal translation on a lot of things if they more or less say the same thing, but turning something like a short sentence into "Hmph" may lend some credence to the discrepancies about the translation.

I can't say I'm fluent, but he speaks about lookout people being dead again (suppose they saw few dead groups on their way). And yes, seeing it like "Hmph" in English was weird. XD

[Cidel]

I can't say I'm fluent, but he speaks about lookout people being dead again (suppose they saw few dead groups on their way). And yes, seeing it like "Hmph" in English was weird. XD

Thanks. I had a suspicion it was probably a comment about the bodies, but that only makes me wonder why it was decided to have him simply utter "Hmph" rather than something like "-and yet more slain soldiers."

[IttyBitty]

That's the whole point - we don't know. That's not up to you, me, or the localization team to decide. That's the author's job.

Anyway, I'm going to bed. Good night. We're done here.



It was a hyperbole. Hyperbole means to stretch the truth for purposes of demonstrating a point.

Yes, it was a stretch. However, that is the direction your logic is heading. We shouldn't be changing the target audience.

Remember that you are arguing over the narrative significance of a bloody rice ball being changed into a doughnut. Does it actually *change* anything? Does it really impact the artist's "vision"? I'd argue that it really doesn't.

FF4 and FF6 wouldn't be anywhere near as beloved if not for their localisations.