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How do you feel about the quality of translation so far?


Timlugia
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I can read in English and Chinese, with a little bit Japanese,  I constantly compared the texts from three versions.

So far, I feel this is the best translated FE game, with fewer censorship or change than previous ones

Some translation in English IMO are even better than original form in Japanese, Petra being an example. In Japanese she constantly brakes her sentences, in English they changed it to grammatical errors. I feel English version is far more natural for language learners and easier to read for players.

 

On the other hand, there are a few complains, mostly minor, but one I found really major change on the worse side is Byleth's title in Silver Snow ending:

English version simply was "Wandering Flame", I had no idea what it really means until I read Japanese title, which is much longer, roughly translated into "Fate Seeking Wandering Flame"

It makes much more sense than just Wandering Flame, as original title clearly made reference to Rhea's dialogue about fates, especially her S-Support with Byleth, and fit into theme of Silver Snow in destiny. I am not sure why they cut the text short, maybe there was length limits? But I feel it really did dirty to Silver Snow ending as current translation completely lost it's meaning.

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I'm not the most well-informed on translation stuff, so I can't give too much input here.  It's good enough for me.  The only thing I find irritating is Edelgard's "my teacher" thing.  It might sound better in Japanese (perhaps endearing), but it's awkward and a little annoying in English.

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I don't know Japanese, but in general I found the english version good, and they paid attention to keep it coherent (Edelgard always say reach for my hand like the song, and other things). The only thing that I found strange and that made me worry, was in the s support with Edelgard

Spoiler

When she calls Byleth "My friend". From what I get, in the Japanese version she says Anata, that could be translated as "My dear/darling". I feared that they censored the support or it was platonic like that of the 2 gay male options. Then I read and it was clearly romantic, but that "My friend" part felt really strange. 

 

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Honestly I was less than impressed with the English localization. Either that or the voice direction, one of these departments did something terribly wrong, because they don't mesh well at all. A lot of these characters talk way more verbosely than their voices suggest. It's really, really jarring hearing people who are clearly talking like American teenagers, but who say lines that just do not sound right coming out of American teenagers' mouths. Too verbose and clinical and devoid of character and attitude. Claude especially, bless his voice actor, but the script he was given to work with is just... bad. He constantly gives off the air of someone who should speak way more casually than he actually does, what with all the "hey there teach" and such, but then he says shit like:

  • Claude: Hey! You are coming with us to the monastery, right? Of course you are. I’d love to bend your ear as we travel. Oh, I should mention that the three of us are students of the Officers Academy at Garreg Mach Monastery. We were doing some training exercises when those bandits attacked. I definitely got the worst of it.
  • Edelgard: That would be because you ran off.
  • Claude: Too true! I was the first to make a strategic retreat. Everything would have worked out if these two hadn’t followed me and ruined everything. Because of them, every single one of those bandits chased after us. Utterly ridiculous.
  • Dimitri: Ah, so that’s what you were thinking, Claude. And here I thought you were acting as a decoy for the sake of us all.
  • Edelgard: His intentions were as clear as day. You will prove a lacking ruler if you cannot see the truth behind a person's words.
  • Dimitri: Hm. You will prove a lacking ruler if you look for deceit behind every word and fail to trust those whom you rely on.
  • Claude: Oh, joy. A royal debate between Their Highnesses. I wonder how being completely predictable affects one’s ability to wield power. Personally, as the embodiment of distrust, I’d say your little exchange smacks of naiveté.
  • Edelgard: Me? Naïve? Tell me, are you actually incapable of keeping quiet, or is your lack of self-awareness a condition of some sort?

That line I bolded and italicized is just... why? That is just way too verbose and awkward for someone who talks like him. And seriously, who the fuck says they're "the embodiment of distrust"?

Edited by Alastor15243
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There's the awkward phrasing here and there but the only conversation that really weirded me out was the support between Shamir and Cyril where she's talking about curved shots. Now I don't know much about archery (save that the horizontal bow firing in this game is idiotic) but it feels really stilted. Yes, I know "Curved Shot" is a combat art, but it feels really unnatural when it's used in conversation rather than just as a game mechanic. It's also probably historically inaccurate as apparently even in the famed battle of Agincourt the English Longbowmen were said to have simply taken straight shots.

Oh, there was also that one time where Rhea called our deeds "versatile". I mean, it can probably be seen as legitimate wording, but again, feels super awkward.

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1 hour ago, charcoalswift said:

Sylvain hitting on a scarecrow in English translation when it's supposed to be a crossdresser in Japanese

Treehouse is at it again

I caught this one too, clearly censored.

It's better than Fates but not stellar. Thankfully it has dual audio.

Edited by De Geso
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47 minutes ago, Hauke said:

I think that was just cencored because it had a very homo/transphobic touch in Japanese and they didn't wanted to bring this meaning into the English version?

"You hit on a guy that you thought was a girl, you'll really go to any lengths to flirt" makes much more sense for a human being to do than hit on a scarecrow he mistakes for a person. I don't see how "I didn't know he was crossdressing or I wouldn't have hit on him" is hateful.

Edited by De Geso
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8 minutes ago, De Geso said:

"You hit on a guy that you thought was a girl, you'll really go to any lengths to flirt" makes much more sense for a human being to do than hit on a scarecrow he mistakes for a person. I don't see how "I didn't know he was crossdressing or I wouldn't have hit on him" is hateful.

I don't really think it is either but in today's world you can never be too careful. 

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27 minutes ago, De Geso said:

"You hit on a guy that you thought was a girl, you'll really go to any lengths to flirt" makes much more sense for a human being to do than hit on a scarecrow he mistakes for a person. I don't see how "I didn't know he was crossdressing or I wouldn't have hit on him" is hateful.

It's more about the context and the reactions of the other people. And the japanese term which is used. I think it was Otokonoko? Which is quiet controverse. In Japanese it has a different meaning behind it and not a harmless "he mistake that guy for a girl".

The reaction from Ingrid and the audience would be "You hit with a guy? YOu are sick! That's not normal!" In the localization Ingrid just says "You dated a Scarcraw? That's not normal!'

Edited by Hauke
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6 minutes ago, Hauke said:

It's more about the context and the reactions of the other people. And the japanese term which is used. I think it was Otokonoko? Which is quiet controverse. In Japanese it has a different meaning behind it and not a harmless "he mistake that guy for a girl".

The reaction from Ingrid and the audience would be "You hit with a guy? YOu are sick! That's not normal!" In the localization Ingrid just says "You dated a Scarcraw? That's not normal!'

I think it was Otonoko, or perhaps just Otoko. I can't remember certainly. In either case, I am familiar with the meaning behind either word...and, more importantly, that doesn't excuse changing the translation to suit delicate sensibilities. One should be able to see a character say, "If you hit on a man you mistook for a woman there is something wrong with you" and go on living without getting up-in-arms about it. It's nonsense and shouldn't have been changed.

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5 minutes ago, De Geso said:

I think it was Otonoko, or perhaps just Otoko. I can't remember certainly. In either case, I am familiar with the meaning behind either word...and, more importantly, that doesn't excuse changing the translation to suit delicate sensibilities. One should be able to see a character say, "If you hit on a man you mistook for a woman there is something wrong with you" and go on living without getting up-in-arms about it. It's nonsense and shouldn't have been changed. 

So it's okay for media to portray homosexuality and transsexuality as something negative and bad? Okay. I totally can understand why they changed it, I have some gay and transsexual friends and they don't like stuff like that, because it doesn't help them to get respected in the society if they are allways downplayed as something negative in media.

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3 minutes ago, Hauke said:

So it's okay for media to portray homosexuality and transsexuality as something negative and bad? Okay. I totally can understand why they changed it, I have some gay and transsexual friends and they don't like stuff like that, because it doesn't help them to get respected in the society if they are allways downplayed as something negative in media.

It's okay for media to portray characters acting however the author wishes. If they do not like stuff like that they can ignore it and not buy the game, or not unlock the support, or not read it and skip it, or even go so far as to get Ingrid killed if she says something they really hate.

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10 minutes ago, Hauke said:

So it's okay for media to portray homosexuality and transsexuality as something negative and bad? Okay. I totally can understand why they changed it, I have some gay and transsexual friends and they don't like stuff like that, because it doesn't help them to get respected in the society if they are allways downplayed as something negative in media.

You don't seem to be understanding the joke. I doubt the joke is at all meant to be homophobic or least of all transphobic. To say it's transphobic would be like saying the phrase "forrest is a trap" is transphobic when no it's not. The butt of the joke is Sylvain, a straight guy, hitting on someone he thought was a girl but in fact has a dick not a vagina. It's supposed to be "oh look at how stupid Sylvain was because he hit on a guy when he's clearly not into that" or something along those lines. It's not to suggest that being gay is bad but rather to poke fun at Sylvain's stupidity. Let me put it this way. Replace Sylvain with say I dunno Soleil(problematic aspects about her character aside) or any other lesbian character. The joke remains the same and can still function the same way.

Edited by Ottservia
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1 hour ago, Ottservia said:

You don't seem to be understanding the joke. I doubt the joke is at all meant to be homophobic or least of all transphobic. To say it's transphobic would be like saying the phrase "forrest is a trap" is transphobic when no it's not. The butt of the joke is Sylvain, a straight guy, hitting on someone he thought was a girl but in fact has a dick not a vagina. It's supposed to be "oh look at how stupid Sylvain was because he hit on a guy when he's clearly not into that" or something along those lines. It's not to suggest that being gay is bad but rather to poke fun at Sylvain's stupidity. Let me put it this way. Replace Sylvain with say I dunno Soleil(problematic aspects about her character aside) or any other lesbian character. The joke remains the same and can still function the same way.

Actually I'm gonna have to disagree, having just seen it. It's Ingrid listing off how outrageously out of control his flirting is and angrily listing the times he's crossed hilariously screwed up lines, like hitting on her grandmother when he was eight, or flirting with lord Gwendal's daughter. It isn't a scene where we see Sylvain try to flirt with what he thinks is a girl and get into an incredibly awkward and embarrassing situation for his trouble, it's a scene where he has his various infuriating exploits listed off to him by somebody who thinks he's completely out of control, so I can imagine the original Japanese implying something transphobic or homophobic. Obviously I'd have to see it of course.

Though given that Ingrid is apparently also a racist, honestly they still probably could have made it work having her be homophobic or transphobic too, even if that was what was going on.

Edited by Alastor15243
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5 hours ago, De Geso said:

It's okay for media to portray characters acting however the author wishes. If they do not like stuff like that they can ignore it and not buy the game, or not unlock the support, or not read it and skip it, or even go so far as to get Ingrid killed if she says something they really hate.

Many writers/localizers try to avoid hurting their fans for no good reason besides a bad joke, which is what you are proposing doing here.

I suspect a non-negligible portion of the game's LGBT player base would find the translation you proposed to be hurtful. Their feelings are a lot more important than the feelings of people who like to whine censorship whenever a piece of dialog is reframed for a different audience.

 

Anyway, on-topic, I don't have a strong opinion the game's script (it seems fine), but the voice direction? Top-notch. The delivery of many of the voice actors in this game (special shout-outs to the VAs of Dimitri and Dorothea) are amazing and convey so many emotions in this game, and when so many VA jobs seem this good I tend to think the direction has a good hand in things.

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on the topic of LGBT stuff, I've seen folks point out some translations underplaying some of the homoerotic dialogue between Catherine and Shamir's support where Shamir talking about marriage is a little more emphasized with a closer Japanese translation. I've seen a more literal translation of Sylvain and Felix's paired ending, which was also more homoerotic in tone than the official English translation we got.

I saw this all on twitter some time ago, so trying to find the tweets as proof would be difficult to track down again.

The thing about translating anything from Japanese to English with any romantic wording though, is that there are so many nuances with Japanese words like like/love. I good example was the new sub for Evangelion released on Netflix that caused some fan outcry. Although typically fan translations tend to be a little more literal it seems? So whether its the translation team trying to tamp down on the homoerotic overtones to not offend Western audiences? Or just the liberties they decided to make with the translation. non-Japanese reading players are basically at the mercy of the translation/localization team and can only hope they do the translation justice. We'll never know.

At least it's a big improvement from Fates. I remember there was a lot of controversy surrounding the translation of that game wasn't there? My memory isn't good enough to remember other than how some folks treated the localization of of Fates like it was a complete dumpster fire.

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1 hour ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

Many writers/localizers try to avoid hurting their fans for no good reason besides a bad joke, which is what you are proposing doing here.

I suspect a non-negligible portion of the game's LGBT player base would find the translation you proposed to be hurtful. Their feelings are a lot more important than the feelings of people who like to whine censorship whenever a piece of dialog is reframed for a different audience.

@De Geso's stance on translation is "literal, and nothing else". Any localization changes are inherently wrong and bad.

Whilst I disagree with such a stance and believe there is absolutely a place for localization (but nothing like the j2e FFIV fan translation), there are reasonable grounds for their stance. I say this, because from I recall seeing elsewhere they wrote a bit more educated in their belief about it literal translation than most internet whiners who complain "They CHANGED THINGS **** THEM!". If they were one of those people, I'd discredit their opinion entirely.

Although I do hope that at the very least they make an exception on being literal for the Pokemon Jolteon and Zapdos, whose Japanese names are the English words "Thunders" and "Thunder" respectively. Or that they'd make an exception for another fringe case like the NPC foreigner who thinks all in English in the Japanese version of The World Ends With You (which would be largely unintelligible to Japanese people, and in the North American version the guy was made to think in Japanese, whilst everyone else because of translation into English, thinks in English).

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I do agree that localization teams fixing stuff that's blatantly stupid has its place. I mean if it weren't for that, the Black Knight still would have survived Path of Radiance because Ike only fought his ghost. And that would be just unacceptably stupid compared to the much better explanation we got.

Also, I can't say I would have complained if Inigo x Nah had been fixed the same way Forrest x Soleil had been.

But there are limits, and things can go too far. Honestly I can't judge which instance this is without knowing what the original Japanese actually said. It may not actually have been all that bad for all I know.

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7 minutes ago, Jingle Jangle said:

Apparently the update changed Bernadetta's support with the professor.

From, 

 To:

I'm not sure why the explicit details got removed. With the new version, Bernadetta's abuse has less of an impact now.

I have to say, I prefer the first version.

I am completely OK with the game toeing the line with some pretty dark shit because this has always been a series that revolved around war and death.

Also, I do kinda wish the producers didn't care about not offending the LGBQ community since they don't care much for the religious. Be equal opportunity offenders, I say. No sacred cows.

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