Localization Criticism

[Valorak]

Couldn't disagree more. Yeah sure. Some humor may fall flat. But if the scene was intended to be humoristic in the original Japanese, then translating that joke word for word sure isn't gonna have the intended effect in English.


Completely unsurprising that this sentiment comes from a server where you can assume the user is monolingual and be right 9/10 times.




Translations often fall flat if they're as close as possible to the original text.

Translate the intended meaning and feeling of the text, not the literal words, or you're gonna end up with just straight-up weird sounding sentences like: "There's no cow on the ice" (a Danish idiom, translated literally). And overall, most localizers actually tend to get this right.

I'm sorry, but you cannot take that work and compare them literally. The issue you're complaining about is solveable with more communication between author and translator, though. Something that's thankfully, from what I'm gleaning, starting to become more common.



How is it that everytime I see this argument, it's made by someone I can assume doesn't speak any other language than English? Genuinely learn a second language or watch some basic ass Tom Scott language files if the Duolingo owl doesn't cut it.

Yeah, this.

I used to be a translator that also kind of dabbled in interpreting. There are phrases, figures of speech, jokes, words, and feelings that just do not translate well at all. Whether it's a concept that we just don't have a specific word for, a reference that relies on understanding the culture/history of the original text/speaker, or a clever play on words that doesn't line up well when it's translated. Sometimes "as close as possible" needs to be doctored up pretty heavily in order for a non-native to actually understand the entirety of what's being conveyed. Especially when it comes to things like humor and creative writing which are so often heavily colored by language, culture, and upbringing.

[Chasingstars]

"Thank you for calling 911, what is your emergency?"