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

[Ilyrian]

I still find it fascinating that they use actual British English voice actors. As a UK native it just blows my mind - not that I'd have any issue with NA actors doing it but yeah, still a bit out of the ordinary for a AAA game.

Some of the dialogue, however, does seem a bit stilted but I kind of see the style they're going for - but some of it does read as 'took a Shakespeare class in school 20 years ago and I'm pretty sure this is how they still speak in the Old Country.'

Thancred is best (British posh) boy though.

[Nestama]

I still find it fascinating that they use actual British English voice actors. As a UK native it just blows my mind - not that I'd have any issue with NA actors doing it but yeah, still a bit out of the ordinary for a AAA game.

Some of the dialogue, however, does seem a bit stilted but I kind of see the style they're going for - but some of it does read as 'took a Shakespeare class in school 20 years ago and I'm pretty sure this is how they still speak in the Old Country.'

Thancred is best (British posh) boy though.

At least it's not to the point of H'aanit in Octopath and it's not as bad as some seem to make it. There are some words you normally wouldn't hear in every day life, but they're used sparingly. Especially when Urianger is not around.

True, they are mostly inconsequential nitpicks, but they are annoying and hard to explain when the change is clearly (?) not a localization decision, and only changes the tone / painted personality of a character.

Those two examples are good ones. Sure some might think its better this way, but why even change them?

Why not? What Lyna says in EN perfectly matches her body language. I may need you to specify what you mean by "clearly not localisation decisions," as everything localised is a localisation decision and has been given the okay by the higher ups (as mentioned in the link I posted in the previous page).

Also gotta remember that Koji Fox is co-leader of the world/lore developing team, as well as the English translation and localisation director.

[Lersayil]

Why not? What Lyna says in EN perfectly matches her body language. I may need you to specify what you mean by "clearly not localisation decisions," as everything localised is a localisation decision and has been given the okay by the higher ups (as mentioned in the link I posted in the previous page).

Also gotta remember that Koji Fox is co-leader of the world/lore developing team, as well as the English translation and localisation director.

Ehr lets see... decisions made due to cultural differences, or incompatible terms that cannot be directly translated.

Personally I believe that the the cultural part is bollocks, but at least I can see their reason there.

What would be a reason to make a change like that Lyna line? It doesn't seem to serve a purpose other than changing it for changes sake.

[Nestama]

Ehr lets see... decisions made due to cultural differences, or incompatible terms that cannot be directly translated.

Personally I believe that the the cultural part is bollocks, but at least I can see their reason there.

What would be a reason to make a change like that Lyna line? It doesn't seem to serve a purpose other than changing it for changes sake.

For every example given so far, I think it's less cultural differences and more "what will make more sense for X language?" From what I've heard how FFXIV's story is handled and translated, it first starts off with an author. Once the author is done writing, all four localisation teams write their own scripts. What I imply here is that even the Japanese text may also be different to what was originally written by the author (this is all hearsay, though. Unsure if true). So while everyone follows the exact same plot, there are some small differences here and there.

So in Lyna's case, the JP localisers likely had her be a little more emotional in her scene (which matches her voice), whereas the English localisation team instead chose to have her stay strong... but eventually have her break down as she laments about being alive while those she tried to protect/save were lost (which also matches her voice. Fun fact, Lyna is voiced by Salóme Gunnarsdóttir, an actress from Iceland).

In Estiniens case... I dunno. I'll need to know what he says exactly in Japanese so I can find a way to explain why it's one way for us and another way for JP players. It's possible his "hmph" could somehow mean exactly the same thing as he says in Japanese (they are meant to be sneaking about. Talking at all could potentially alert any nearby soldiers. This is ignoring the fact they were sprinting, of course. Let's pretend that didn't happen).

[Cidel]

In Estiniens case... I dunno. I'll need to know what he says exactly in Japanese so I can find a way to explain why it's one way for us and another way for JP players. It's possible his "hmph" could somehow mean exactly the same thing as he says in Japanese (they are meant to be sneaking about. Talking at all could potentially alert any nearby soldiers. This is ignoring the fact they were sprinting, of course. Let's pretend that didn't happen).

A few of us were having this discussion earlier and someone kindly provided the translation of the JP version:

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

It's minor, yes, but I still just find it odd that a phrase telling people to be alert since there's more corpses up ahead is omitted simply for "Hmph."

Without more information I can only guess, but perhaps the localization team found it redundant to have Estinien remark on the status of the guards they'd run into twice in two consecutive lines.

In light of his next spoken line, I've considered this possibility. Again, the whole thing is fairly minor in the grand scheme of things. At best you could say the Japanese version makes it apparent slightly sooner that this isn't the first set of corpses they've ran into. In English, after Gaius sends his sidekicks off elsewhere, Estinien then mentions how they were killed, "same as the others." But playing with Japanese voices and reading the English lines just makes it baffling how a curt utterance is a stand-in for actual commentary. I personally wouldn't find it redundant for him to say "Be alert, more dead guards" and then mention in his next line that they've all been killed the same way as the rest. I dunno, maybe their voice actors are paid per word; so the less the better.

[Waliel]

Why not? What Lyna says in EN perfectly matches her body language. I may need you to specify what you mean by "clearly not localisation decisions," as everything localised is a localisation decision and has been given the okay by the higher ups (as mentioned in the link I posted in the previous page).

I think the issue here might be that if you take that one single line out of context the translation is kinda weird, but when you consider her whole rant it fits... just fine.

And as somewhat related on the topic, I as a non-native English speaker prefer a more literal translation. Another thing as a non-native that I've noticed is that in almost all of the examples of bad and too literal translations that don't flow well and what have you, I find myself thinking: "I don't understand what the problem here is." I have to wonder how much of that is the fault of early fansubs, which could be, for the lack of a better word, quite wild at times. Clearly the solution here is to go the way of Judgement and how Sega basically translated the whole game twice. Dubs are your usual full localisation like FFXIV with dubtitles, but if you want, you can choose to use JP voices with subtitles that retain some of the Japanese flair while still being of excellent quality you've come to expect from the Yakuza series.