Great translation in this game!

[Nathmathics]

just wanted to say thanks for actually good translation for once, so rare these days!

[Shrinkshooter]

And if anyone wants to see really bad translation, look at Granblue Fantasy ReLink. I've never been so sad to see such a fun game tainted so badly by such maliciously amateur translation.

I think when you don't even stop to think about the translation, it's probably fairly good.

[「 Ｎｏｉｒｅ 」]

I was playing Trails through Daybreak II before playing this, so yeah. The bar's not high with NISA's localizer but I'm never taking good and accurate translation on Japanese games for granted these days. If you're looking for another game with accurate translation, check out
WitchSpring R.

[Shrinkshooter]

Originally posted by 「 Ｎｏｉｒｅ 」:

If you're looking for another game with accurate translation, check out
WitchSpring R.

Not even the translation, the game as a whole is extremely well done. Despite the cutesy moe presentation it's got going on, it was one of the greatest experiences I ever had with a JRPG, which is saying a lot because I'm not super easy to please and a lot of JRPGs leave much to be desired. I was really impressed with how well it was put together, the storytelling and narrative meshing with the gameplay was top notch.

Still crazy to me that something that seems like a small, short, throwaway-looking almost girly-anime game was so competently constructed.

[Abyss]

Onii chan gets translated as "Viktor" but other than that everything is pretty great. Especially considering the crimes against humanity that other localisations do... looking at you fata morgana

[DVN]

I was also pleasantly surprised at how good relatively speaking the translation was. Anyone knows whether it was AI translated or something?

Originally posted by Shrinkshooter:

And if anyone wants to see really bad translation, look at Granblue Fantasy ReLink. I've never been so sad to see such a fun game tainted so badly by such maliciously amateur translation.

I think when you don't even stop to think about the translation, it's probably fairly good.

Got PTSD from GBR translation lol

[Ryuukaze]

Originally posted by Abyss:

Onii chan gets translated as "Viktor" but other than that everything is pretty great. Especially considering the crimes against humanity that other localisations do... looking at you fata morgana

Consider that he's *not* her big brother, how would you have translated that? I think that's a great localization of that, despite how jarring it is if you know enough Japanese to recognize it while you're reading the English subs.

[DVN]

Originally posted by Ryuukaze:

Originally posted by Abyss:

Onii chan gets translated as "Viktor" but other than that everything is pretty great. Especially considering the crimes against humanity that other localisations do... looking at you fata morgana

Consider that he's *not* her big brother, how would you have translated that? I think that's a great localization of that, despite how jarring it is if you know enough Japanese to recognize it while you're reading the English subs.

I'd still translate it as "Big Bro" instead of "big brother", to account for the oni-chan vs niisan, onisama, or aniue.

She is literally calling him Big Bro regardless of he is or not. So translate it as such imo.
If need be, do it like the old fansubs, where there are notes to explain the cultural difference. They did it in the game 13 sentinels aegis rim for example, in the mystery files.

[Kana]

the fact we are praising the most bog standard localisation job is telling how much damage LOLcalisers did

[DVN]

Originally posted by Kana:

the fact we are praising the most bog standard localisation job is telling how much damage LOLcalisers did

I'm curious about what you would consider stellar translation.

To me, the translation needs to be mostly 1:1. For things that cannot be 1:1, I would still do it as close to literal as possible with notes to explain the cultural context like what was being done in the old fansubs of yore. Like chuuni for example.

But I agree that the "localizers" are bad. They want so much to inject their own personalities and quirks in their translations.

[NisseDood]

Originally posted by DVN:

Originally posted by Kana:

the fact we are praising the most bog standard localisation job is telling how much damage LOLcalisers did

I'm curious about what you would consider stellar translation.

To me, the translation needs to be mostly 1:1. For things that cannot be 1:1, I would still do it as close to literal as possible with notes to explain the cultural context like what was being done in the old fansubs of yore. Like chuuni for example.

But I agree that the "localizers" are bad. They want so much to inject their own personalities and quirks in their translations.

Cultural context only matters depending on the setting.
If it takes place in some european style setting there is no reason to keep words that are strictly used in japan in a translation.
Like When I played fuga melodies of steel I sure wouldnt have wanted to see random japanese words because they couldnt be 1:1 translated in a setting that was obviously fictional france vs germany.
same with valkyria cronicles.

[DVN]

Originally posted by NisseDood:

Originally posted by DVN:

I'm curious about what you would consider stellar translation.

To me, the translation needs to be mostly 1:1. For things that cannot be 1:1, I would still do it as close to literal as possible with notes to explain the cultural context like what was being done in the old fansubs of yore. Like chuuni for example.

But I agree that the "localizers" are bad. They want so much to inject their own personalities and quirks in their translations.

Cultural context only matters depending on the setting.
If it takes place in some european style setting there is no reason to keep words that are strictly used in japan in a translation.
Like When I played fuga melodies of steel I sure wouldnt have wanted to see random japanese words because they couldnt be 1:1 translated in a setting that was obviously fictional france vs germany.
same with valkyria cronicles.

I think it's deeper than that and reinforces my stance. I would say there is a distinct difference between Japanese made European fantasy and Western made European fantasy and vice-versa because the roots do affect the tone.

Some examples are Ghost of Tsushima (western) vs Rise of Ronin (Japanese) which even though try to depict Japanese inspired setting, had nuances because of the cultural differences. For example, the samurai code was not that uptight (no ambush or poison) according to japanese critics of Ghost of Tsushima. Look at Way of Samurai 4 for how japanese think foreigners behave. Or Yakuza 3 CIA agent Anderson. Ninja gaiden 3 attempt at a GI Joe movie.

Valkyria Chronicles, even though was in a European setting, clearly had the Japanese cultural influences. Some soldiers followed the typical idol stereotype, the onee-san akogare stereotype, and the baker ambition of Alicia felt like a Japanese view of a european aspiration. Also soldier with skirts is so japanese high school inspired. I don't recall on top of my head, but I think there were some cultural references that don't have a 1:1 translation without losing the original context. Incidentally, that's why I have a certain disconnect with Chinese dev trying to emulate anime and soul-like games like AI Limit. It looks animesque but didnt' "feel" animesque.

Things like chuuni, tsukkomi, tsundere, ishikitakai hito, onisan, etc, imo, cannot be translated in anything equivalent but needs a literal translation with context notes. Steins gate anime atrocious translation also comes to mind.

Ty for coming to my tedtalk :D

[NisseDood]

Jokes that only make sense in 1 language shouldnt be 1:1 translated because having to explain the joke just ruins everything.
Sacrifices has to be made to not make the script to much of a mix between english and japanese becase that looks and reads horrible.

[DVN]

Originally posted by NisseDood:

Jokes that only make sense in 1 language shouldnt be 1:1 translated because having to explain the joke just ruins everything.
Sacrifices has to be made to not make the script to much of a mix between english and japanese becase that looks and reads horrible.

You'd be losing out on a whole genre of joke that are puns among other issues.

Again the poster child "chuuni" can't be translated in any other form to me than as a literal loanword with contextual explanation notes. Fansubs often rightfully touted as superior were doing that since the start. I'd argue anyone who grew with fansubs and translator's notes understand the cultural context more. It might kill the joke for that one instance and prep you for the future to understand the cultural context. Otherwise, u are just experiencing the western take on a Japanese game rather than the Japanese game itself.

I would also argue ur missing out on nuanced situations.
Take the grammar issue. English is Subject-Verb-Object whereas Japanese is Subject-Object-Verb or sometimes just Object.

Take a common line like: "watashi... omae no koto..." translated as "I ... like..." is adding context than wasn't present in the original. A better translation to me would be... " I... about u... " which even though is more awkward, translates the original intent.

But I'm open to examples that show actual sacrifices making it better. Imo, it's hard to find one.

I think we will cordially agreed to disagree on that.

[Hikouma]

Originally posted by 「 Ｎｏｉｒｅ 」:

I was playing Trails through Daybreak II before playing this, so yeah. The bar's not high with NISA's localizer but I'm never taking good and accurate translation on Japanese games for granted these days. If you're looking for another game with accurate translation, check out
WitchSpring R.

The trails series in general has a horrible translation.

[Selias]

Xenoblade is pretty awful, too.