Why is the english translation so bad?

[Nathmathics]

as someone who can understand japanese whoever translated this into what the VA's were told to say and subtitles must be someone pretending to know japanese, please dont hire them ever again. There is so much lost info and motivations that just gets dumbed down and it really sucks.

[Pnume]

It has been an issue with every sort of medium translated from Japanese from as far as I can remember.

Maybe our salvation will come from AI translation

Actually it's an issue with all translators. It would seem that they think their job isn't just to translate the meaning but also the culture, basically rewriting stuffs.

[Minneyar]

Please, tell us exactly which "motivations" got "dumbed down." I'm curious about your comparison of the two texts. Remind me, what are your credentials? How many scripts have you translated?

[zebulous_newt]

Do you mean the voiced lines that are in broken English when you are talking to the fake Norse, the fake Irish, the fake Italians, the fake Spaniards, the fake Russians, or the fake Persians? Those folks are supposedly trying to speak the hero's language as a second language. They are meant to have poor grammar.

[The Ultimate Despair]

Originally posted by zebulous_newt:

Do you mean the voiced lines that are in broken English when you are talking to the fake Norse, the fake Irish, the fake Italians, the fake Spaniards, the fake Russians, or the fake Persians? Those folks are supposedly trying to speak the hero's language as a second language. They are meant to have poor grammar.

And it's all amazing lmao

[Mendax]

Square should use AI next time.

[Call Sign: Raven]

Makes me wish we had translators with the type of skill we saw in Earthbound!

My favorite for DQ was the original 1 and 2. I liked the use of old English.

[the_randomizer1889]

Yeah, that's subjective

[MrCrankyShadow]

Originally posted by The Ultimate Despair:

Originally posted by zebulous_newt:

Do you mean the voiced lines that are in broken English when you are talking to the fake Norse, the fake Irish, the fake Italians, the fake Spaniards, the fake Russians, or the fake Persians? Those folks are supposedly trying to speak the hero's language as a second language. They are meant to have poor grammar.

And it's all amazing lmao

Indeed!

[Gamerdude535]

The translations are fine idk what y'all have a problem with

[Lucas the Thief]

Can you give examples or are you talking about the English with the regional accents that has been in most Dragon Quests since they started being voiced. Cor’ Blimey comes to mind.

[the_randomizer1889]

Oh what, you'd rather have the 90s Working Designs level of translation? Lol okay bud.

[Harriet Tubman]

Originally posted by Pnume:

Actually it's an issue with all translators. It would seem that they think their job isn't just to translate the meaning but also the culture, basically rewriting stuffs.

Yeah, that's normal. You don't translate things literally because languages are full of euphemisms and idioms that sound really dumb if you just take them at face-value and make them English. Half the challenge is translating in such a way that it conveys a close enough meaning without sounding unnatural to the target audience.

[alex010300]

Because the translation most probably done by DEI activists.

[Lucas the Thief]

Originally posted by alex010300:

Because the translation most probably done by DEI activists.

Is DEI in the room with you right now?

[Xanikk]

Originally posted by Call Sign: Raven:

Makes me wish we had translators with the type of skill we saw in Earthbound!

My favorite for DQ was the original 1 and 2. I liked the use of old English.

I prefer the post dq8 translations with the goofy humour and regional dialects. It's a subjective thing.