Localizers are still trash, as expected

[retsa2b]

As usual, they're discarding the original dialogue so they can make up new lines. Didn't take long at all to spot examples.

Like when Kasuga is talking to the punk after he got his money back for him, the subs say, "Well, that all depends on you." Whereas what he spoke in Japanese was, "I will of course do my very utmost (to help)."

Looking forward to another RGG game filled with moments where the only defense against their localizing team's penchant for reinventing dialogue is for the player to understand enough Japanese to muscle through that bull----.

[mingyjongo]

The fact is Japanese sentence structure can read very stilted when directly translated to English. Part of the localization team's job is to interpret the scene and convey it naturally in the target language.

[Kraxen]

Can’t wait for AI to replace these localizers

[xHans]

Sega takes feedback from these woke western localizers seriously. If you all keep giving sega money they won't learn. vote with your wallet.

[Panther]

Publicado originalmente por mimizukari:

it's localization, not direct translation. in localizations thing's change to fit the western meaning, it's an option for people who don't want to or can't play the game in its original language in order to make it understandable for another audience. If you can understand JP then why are you playing it in EN? Mainstream/normies need localization so they don't get confused by tons of random japanese cultural things and need to search things up every few minutes of dialog.

Publicado originalmente por Eleveneleven:

Localization does not always mean 1:1 translation. A good localization includes changing phrases that are obscure or never really uttered in the language you're translation and change the words to convey the same message but how it would more likely be expressed for someone who speaks that other language fluently.

Exactly arigatou is an obscure phrase so it's understandable if the localization team has to come up with a whole new sentence that depended on the context of the scene, or maybe a meme, or just whatever the localizer felt like typing in that day. After all those darn Japanese are too subtle for western audiences. /s

[mimizukari]

Publicado originalmente por Panther:

Publicado originalmente por mimizukari:

it's localization, not direct translation. in localizations thing's change to fit the western meaning, it's an option for people who don't want to or can't play the game in its original language in order to make it understandable for another audience. If you can understand JP then why are you playing it in EN? Mainstream/normies need localization so they don't get confused by tons of random japanese cultural things and need to search things up every few minutes of dialog.

Publicado originalmente por Eleveneleven:

Localization does not always mean 1:1 translation. A good localization includes changing phrases that are obscure or never really uttered in the language you're translation and change the words to convey the same message but how it would more likely be expressed for someone who speaks that other language fluently.

Exactly arigatou is an obscure phrase so it's understandable if the localization team has to come up with a whole new sentence that depended on the context of the scene, or maybe a meme, or just whatever the localizer felt like typing in that day. After all those darn Japanese are too subtle for western audiences. /s

Exactly, think of how many ways that Japanese has to thank someone, domo, arigatou, kansha, etc. The problem is that you also have to convey the meaning, which is why they have to rewrite and/or make entire sentences to explain a sentiment. There's no direct translation from JP to EN, and that's why MTL never works.

[Shodingus]

Why have the localizers chosen to use 'they' instead of 'it' when interacting with the animals. When you interact with an animal to befriend it it's 'they're looking up at you like they want something'

It's an animal just use it what is this pants on head idiocy do they not remember the word it is used when referring to things?

[diego473747]

Publicado originalmente por retsa2b:

As usual, they're discarding the original dialogue so they can make up new lines. Didn't take long at all to spot examples.

Like when Kasuga is talking to the punk after he got his money back for him, the subs say, "Well, that all depends on you." Whereas what he spoke in Japanese was, "I will of course do my very utmost (to help)."

Looking forward to another RGG game filled with moments where the only defense against their localizing team's penchant for reinventing dialogue is for the player to understand enough Japanese to muscle through that bull----.

Well having read all of this thread we can do something: Don't expect SEGA to give a s- about the translation/localization issue or in fact any game studio to do that; what we can do is a re-translation patch or mod that solves this issue, atcually we could give a more proper translation to the other rgg games as well.

I could do a proper translation to spanish without all the Spain phrases.

Think about it, you, splinter, the demifiend pfp guy and me.

TL,DR keep making threads like this but also provide a solution for the issue as well (just hope that it is possible at best)

[retsa2b]

Publicado originalmente por the ghost of waseda bear:

Publicado originalmente por retsa2b:

Spoken: 親っさんが愛したっていう茜さんの所へ。
Rough localization: To the home of Akane, whom you loved.

The given subtitles: Really, it's more about paying my respects to the woman the boss loved.

My face still has a bruise from where my hand reflexively and violently facepalmed it.

This just looks like standard rewording for length and context.

Huh. I gave a link so that you and anyone else could observe the context. Is it time for a quick grammar lesson?

Ichiban is talking to his late boss. We call this a "second person sentence."

SEGA's official localization is talking to somebody BESIDES the speaker or his boss. We call this a "third person sentence."

And keep in mind: This sentence is THE ONLY TIME DURING THIS CONVERSATION when he does this—the rest of the time, he is indeed properly in second person. By all means... keep trying to hand-wave this as some kind of hopeless nitpick.

Christ, bro. Because of you, my facepalm bruise is back.

[retsa2b]

Publicado originalmente por archonsod:

I don't think Frieren sounds as young as she looks though; she looks like an adolescent

She looks like a classical teenager, even if you limit this scrutiny to that anime's world—it is otherwise tricky to accommodate moments such as when the ~9 to 10 year old boy flipped her skirt.

And while you are obviously eager to disagree, she sounds like a classical teenager as well. She speaks in a low, disinterested voice, but the timbre of her voice is a dead giveaway. Compare her voice to the inflections and timbre of the average anime teenager—an extraordinarily painless task nowadays—and you will find that if anything, Frieren's timbre is a touch higher than average.

Meanwhile, there is zero controversy in suggesting that English Frieren sounds somewhere between 35 and 45. And the important point, which I will again underscore so as not to allow it to be dismissed, is that she sounds no different in age from her mentor. Incontrovertibly, the English casting failed to represent the blatant disparity between those two voices that was achieved in the Japanese original.

[Delirious Biznasty]

I also thought this was very strange when I heard Ichiban say “abayo!” in Japanese, which translates pretty directly to “see you!” or “farewell!”, but the translators changed it to “suck on that!”. In the context of the scene “farewell” or “so long” would’ve been fine, but they decided to get quirky with it for some reason.
It’s things like these that are jarring and what make me upset on what more they’ve changed that I don’t know.

[Dovah]

Just another reminder that you think you hate localizers enough, but it’s never enough when it comes to these scumbags.

[eqalidan]

Publicado originalmente por Splinter of Chaos:

Do you have a source for this? Localization is a really interesting topic for me so I'd like to see the two lines back to back, or at least if someone has transcribed what the original Japanese text said, not just some translation by an unknown author.

Though considering the discussions I've been involved in where translators completely rewrote dialogue... I'm not sure this is even in the ballpark. If someone said "I will do my best to help," then to follow with "the rest depends on you" is a very natural flow; the one kind of implies the other, thus the two statements have fairly similar meanings in my mind.

without reading the rest of this, look into anime and manga for a better example where there are FAR more stark "I get the final say on what this says and ♥♥♥♥ you for wanting it accurate" attitude. where they will proudly discuss purposefully ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ up translations (note this is different then then inserting agenda) and telling everyone who will listen, I can't read or speak japanese but I know what they meant.

it got to a point that the relatively insulated japanese public id finding out what the west is doing to their media, and some are opting to bring it all in house with ai, which honestly speaking, I prefer the ai over someone who gets paid, hates me, hates what I like, and ♥♥♥♥♥ it up just because they are effectively unfireable in the west.

[xHans]

The funny thing about localizers being creative is that pirate fansubs does it better. In the captain tsubasa anime the japanese team were playing against Argentina and the spanish sub were throwing insults and speaking in argentinian slang which was absolutely hilarious. These are the kind of changes that I welcome but the SEGA wokelizers not only do they undermine our intelligence they bastardize the product and insert their bad jokes that just makes us cringe.

[Evangela]

The game was localized by Katrina Leonoudakis. What do people expected?

That troll has been vandalizing Persona, Like A Dragon, and Judge Eye for years.

Unless you start boycotting these games she worked on for real, nothing will change.

[Splinter of Chaos]

Publicado originalmente por Evangela:

The game was localized by Katrina Leonoudakis. What do people expected?

This is the first I've heard of Leonudakis being involved in this game. Apparently her resume claims she was a "Localization Engineer" on "Like a Dragon: Ishin", but doesn't have this game listed [1]. I checked her Twitter and the only reference to "Like a Dragon" I found was her retweeting the lead translator [2]. Everything else was on Persona 3 Reload or random twitter crap.

Is there any evidence that Leonudakis is involved in this game because it's interesting if true, but I can't find any information to confirm such a claim.

[1] https://katrina-l-translation.online/about/published-works/
[2] https://twitter.com/kiwamiarms55/status/1750969368970993735