Translation Corner

[Kaedan]

Hey everyone.

The few threads that have popped up about translation and 'what the Japanese players think' gave me a good idea. I'm sure many people are curious about what goes on behind the language barrier and would like to know if the official translators are making any glaring mistakes... So I present you the Translation Corner (lame name, I know, but if you can come up with a good FF sounding one, I'm open for suggestions).

I will make myself available to translate things for people, and people can ask questions about what is being said on topics in the Japanese forums.

I know I'm not the only bi-lingual person here either, so anyone else with Japanese and English skills is free and welcome to help pitch in.

To start us off, I'll just repost a small post I made regarding Death penalty. Dreamer had asked me what the Japanese seem to think about it, so here's just a short summary of reading about 10 pages of the Japanese thread:

I'm gonna try and make some translation notes as I go here:

-There are a lot of people on both sides.
-A few people suggest having a "death bonus" instead of a death penalty. The whole "positive reinforcement" thing.
-People have concerns over the "zombie attacking" (just keep throwing bodies at mobs until you kill them)
-A couple people say that SE shouldn't do everything the players say, and should make their own decisions (one of these guys was replying to a poster who was for the death penalty and specifically brought up the lack of "risk" and how that trivializes the game).
-Many players mention losing Anima upon death as an option.
-One guy says they should make a poll regarding death penalty.

Ok, so I went over about 10 pages of the 65 page thread (few at the beginning, few in middle, few at end). They seem to be just as polarized as us. There are players that want no Death penalty, some that are fine with Yoshi's idea (this group is the smallest it seems though, which I found interesting), players that want SP penalties, players that want Anima penalties.

They bring up the same reasons too: lack of "fun" of Death penalty, lack of "risk" without a penalty, the merits of having it be losing a bonus rather than losing something you already have, etc.

So yeah, that subject seems to be just as sore over there as here.

[Dreamer]

I'm very happy to see this. I feel that Yoshi will consider Japanese feedback with more weight (for obvious reasons), so it's interesting to see where they stand on the same issues we're debating here.

Have the Anima penalties approach to death penalties been brought up on this side.? I can't recall seeing that idea on our thread. That strikes me as a REALLY good idea.

+1 cookie for Kaedan.

[Zkieve]

I only see two viable options.
-Make a poll about it.
-Do whatever they want to do.

Undecided devs is not helping the game . Not one bit.

[Jinko]

Losing anima on death, are you crazy !

Only a casual would be willing to put up with that.

[Akumu]

I'm very happy to see this. I feel that Yoshi will consider Japanese feedback with more weight (for obvious reasons), so it's interesting to see where they stand on the same issues we're debating here.

Have the Anima penalties approach to death penalties been brought up on this side.? I can't recall seeing that idea on our thread. That strikes me as a REALLY good idea.

+1 cookie for Kaedan.

Everything they discuss was also brought here the same way. Even with the anima approach. It's amazing how our takes on the game isn't broken up by region. I can imagine it takes a lot of pressure off of SE.

[Randis]

I hope there will be some interaction on the english forums.
At times it feels like you talk to yourself. SE should give us some indications that they read what we post at all. Other than some generic notes and the couple translations it does not feel like an official forum.

I wonder if all the ideas and suggestions are really translated and reviewed or if just some forum mod picks out some impressions or specific posts to be forwarded to the developers.
People here, despite all the complaints spend a lot of man-hours contributing ideas and feedback.
It would be good to know if that time is not wasted and it would be good to see some developers posting here.

[Paksenarrion]

Thanks for this. The letters are sometimes hard to understand. Unsure if it's because I misunderstand them or it's bad translation. This thread will be a great help when a new letter from the producer comes out. Thanks to anyone else that speaks Japanese and English and is willing to lend a helping hand to the English only speaking community.
I'll check this thread often. *subscribed*

[Krausus]

Thanks Kaedan, this will be a lot of work. You could call it LOL Horsebird =P

[Betelgeuzah]

I hope there will be some interaction on the english forums.

Since the forums stabilized after the launch and the earthquake, our community reps have had quite a bit to say and I don't think we're being left to dark or not listened to. We do not talk to the developers, we talk to the community reps who gather our feedback and talk to the developers (who are probably not even aware of the English slang for different game-terms). That's just how it is going to be, and I doubt the Japanese forums are much different, most of the threads are being read by the representatives, not the developers.

We just got a comment from the reps saying they have asked the devs about various things we talk about. The developers won't talk in English, and that is for the better (because their English skills seem to be rather lackluster, and much would be lost in the context if they tried to go into specifics outside their native language).

Yoshi may come around and say "I listen, no problem, just wait please " in his J-English and that is fine. At least he is trying despite being well aware he's not very good at it. But if he tried to talk about something like Death Penalty things would go downhill very fast.

This is a very good thread, thank you for contributing Kaedan. I'd like to ask what do the JP's feel about Matsui's auto-attack response?

[Abriael]

It's unfortunate when someone uses the knowledge of a language to try and further his personal agenda.

The thread about death penalty is not even nearly split 50/50. The ones arguing for harsh death penalties like xp/sp ones are a very small minority compared to the bulk of the thread.

Personally, I would not advise to trust the "translation" from someone that has expressed a very adamant position for one side of the argument, as this thread clearly shows. And as I did the same, I would not advise blindly trusting me as well.
I will advise instead to read the Japanese forum for yourself. Unfortunately it's not as effective if you don't know the language, but there are workarounds.
Google translator isn't nearly perfect, but it makes it quite easier to at least understand the meaning behind posts for non-japanese speakers.

Here's the translation of the death penalty thread accessible directly: Link

And if you're interested in other threads, you can access the whole autotranslated forum here: link

You can browse the forum normally as you would browse the english one. The only restricted part is that you won't be able to post (as you can't login).

The translation isn't perfect, but it will sure be more precise and complete than an extremely brief summary given by someone that may use it to further his arguments.