This frequency of English localization issues is unacceptable

[Lauront]

Koji Fox is not working on XIV at the moment. He is working on XVI. He has been replaced by someone else called Kate, who has been the subject of some previous discussions here.

[ArslanMalqir]

Koji Fox is not working on XIV at the moment. He is working on XVI. He has been replaced by someone else called Kate, who has been the subject of some previous discussions here.

Sure, but Kate would have been selected by Koji Fox and Yoshi-P to take over, and she's been working on the game for years at this point. That would imply some sense of trust in her abilities and decision-making, and that she would be taking the same role Koji did, meaning working directly with the script-writers.

I do not find the argument that Kate is just a bad translator who tricks the original writers into letting her push her beliefs and ideas about the story by lying to them about what she's doing to be very convincing. That would require a complete lack of oversight and a complete misjudgement of her by the people at the very top of the game's team that she's been working with for years, as well as implying that the team have somehow not been aware of the differences in the script for months and months after the release where people have been pointing them out for ages.

The absolute most simple explanation, and thus the likeliest, is that the JP team and writers are in fact happy with the EN script, and don't consider any alterations made to be as meaningful as the critics consider them to be—remember again that they did, in fact, step in for Haurchefant as far as I can recall.

[KageTokage]

They do have to approve all versions of the script...but then again, these are the people who thought the long established FF spell naming schemes would somehow be too confusing to western audiences so making weird choices isn't beyond them.

[KariTheFox]

I'm not a huge fan of the English localization either - I don't really like the stylistic choice of the kind of faux old english being used, and think the tone and nuances of some of the characters get lost in translation.

But even so, I understand that localization is difficult and imperfect work, and that the localization team will always make decisions not everyone agrees with. It's a little ridiculous to posit a conspiracy theory where the English localizers have a secret agenda and are trying to pull a fast one, it's just silly.

What you're seeing is the result of the inherent difficulties translating art from one language to another, not Kate's master plan to... idk, mess up the script on purpose?

[Atelier-Bagur]

I'm not a huge fan of the English localization either - I don't really like the stylistic choice of the kind of faux old english being used, and think the tone and nuances of some of the characters get lost in translation.

But even so, I understand that localization is difficult and imperfect work, and that the localization team will always make decisions not everyone agrees with. It's a little ridiculous to posit a conspiracy theory where the English localizers have a secret agenda and are trying to pull a fast one, it's just silly.

What you're seeing is the result of the inherent difficulties translating art from one language to another, not Kate's master plan to... idk, mess up the script on purpose?

when people see something they feel is wrong. They purposefully go out of the way to believe that the whole universe has conspired against them and that there's always a nefarious purpose behind everything.

[ArslanMalqir]

I'd also definitely like some kind of source on the idea that Ishikawa was under the impression that translation was a 1:1 thing, because as far back as 2018 there's an interview with her and one of the localizers on the team where the localizer specifically points out that he sits close to her in the same office and they're constantly revising and going back and forth between each other as the scripts are being written, and if there's any confusion at all they go directly to the scenario team for information. They even pointed out that absolutely everything is sent to Yoshi-P for direct review before it's allowed to go out.

Even if it's no longer the case that she literally sits in the same office as them, I'd be absolutely shocked if Ishikawa somehow forgot the process in the years between then and now, or if the localization team just lied about it in a public interview.

[GrizzlyTank]

Could you not witch-hunt the translators over petty details.

[Necrotica]

I'd also definitely like some kind of source on the idea that Ishikawa was under the impression that translation was a 1:1 thing, because as far back as 2018 there's an interview with her and one of the localizers on the team where the localizer specifically points out that he sits close to her in the same office and they're constantly revising and going back and forth between each other as the scripts are being written, and if there's any confusion at all they go directly to the scenario team for information. They even pointed out that absolutely everything is sent to Yoshi-P for direct review before it's allowed to go out.

Even if it's no longer the case that she literally sits in the same office as them, I'd be absolutely shocked if Ishikawa somehow forgot the process in the years between then and now, or if the localization team just lied about it in a public interview.

Is Yoshi given a direct translation of the changes? Or is it localized back to him?

[Rulakir]

It's a death by a thousand cuts situation when every piece of dialog is treated this way. I haven't even been posting every example I've come across due to the frequency in which it occurs.

Regardless, I have to wonder whose interest it's in to not get the story presented accurately? Also, like I said, this goes back to ShB missing what I'd consider crucial context, but EW is so exponentially worse I don't consider it an issue that can be ignored anymore.

[Graeham]

I agree. Real racism is against the Garlemald people.

Look I have read the official story for Endwalker from the lackluster story writers guild so I know. Garlemald wins, the Loporrit dies and the God Hydelyn is defeated by the God Meteo. The problem is in translation. Let me give you an example:

世の中はどれも、泥のような……
退屈で……醜く……くだらないものだ……。
だが……時折……こうして火が……
愉しみがもたらされる……。
まったく……憎いものよ……。
お前は、どうだった……
この世界に生み落とされ、名を与えられ、生きてきて……。
歩いてきて……何を思った……。
存分に、愉しかったか……？
……俺は…………

Like everyone else in the thread I do not speak any Japanese at all. But I found a trick and can use the translator:

Everything in the world is like mud... It's boring... Ugly...... It's bad... But...... Sometimes...... And so the fire is... Bringing pleasure.... Exactly...... I hate it... How were you... I have been born into this world, given a name, and have lived... Walking in... What did you think.... Was it fun to the fullest...?...... As for me............

It is confusing and does not make sense. This is terrible! I went to the feedback section and I found the problem. Every other language has a section called Localization. But Japanese forum does not. So they do not have place that they can be told about errors in story translation from official German version to Japanese. This is why they do not know the real story. I am sad about this.

We must write a letter and explain that the story is wrong so we can fix it to the one where Garlemald and Ascians win. I like the god Meteo as well from Abeyond's story so they should win as well. If you give me more quote of the story in Japanese I can use the translator to find the errors so we can make official petition about it.