Codename Shrimp

Man The wait for unicorn overlord is annoying I shouldn't have played the demo *sigh* Curiosity killed the cat indeed

oh hell nah never You guys need some labour protection laws, good luck getting them

It needs quite a bit more than mild nowadays to keep going. Heck, i am even jumping on the german translation for some manga because the official english one is even slower and i really hate reading Manga in german.

Not always.

And thus shouldn't be immune to criticism same honestly - and the community around fangroups is always a vibe - and good ones do research and increase cultural knowledge without removing/changing stuff, and interact with the community. That helps aloooooooooooooooooot. Like, often in manga spaces, fan translation are accompanied by notes explaining why they translated stuff that way, or how stuff is perceived in different cultures the story might be referring to, or trying to get the og charm as close as possbile, instead of just americanizing it. Or in one of the groups i am in atm, a group is translating a novel, and we have people from all over the worlds, including jp. Fun interactions, you learn about other people/cultures, fandom communities in other countries, you don't have to worry about changes/censorship/whatever because we're all here out of love of the product, and not to hate on fans or to "change stuff for the better" ™️ , or to "fix inferior jp culture". Questions aren't met with hostility, etc. Or a few years back i proofread and playtested a fantranslation of a game - wasn't high quality, and infact, we told people to wait for a better translations (which we weren't even sure at the time was in the works - only quite a bit later), but we all did our best and out of love more than anything.

Eh you need to Ys, especially since there are fan efforts to fix Falcom's musical disaster there - i know for a fact a music fan patch is being worked on for Ys x to coincide with the english release

you do. I am with you here But Trails has been a sinking ship for a while When they only pick up stuff that has been popular due to fantranslation and then kill it with their slow AND low quality releases, it is their fault. What some publishers have been doing is trying to catch up faster to jp releases while trying to maintain high quality - and surprise surprise, it works. There're still issues, and americanization is still a problem sometimes (and quite a few non-burgers go ??? due to that and it's annoying), but it works. However such translations are not the standard, and infact, a rarity. Yes Still, issues shouldn't be dismissed. Idiotic complaints of the "Hello" To "Hello there" kind should be rightfully ignored and laughed at, but there're alot of legit complaints that tends to be ignored due to a few idiotic examples

should've jumped ship earlier.

Hi wraith

You are kinda implying we should ignore the bad tl because good ones exist. NISA is not the only who does bad localizations. Responding to a complaint with "but a few others do it good" seems like just wanting to bury the issue. They are one of the super low quality ones, but they aren't the only bad ones. They are not exactly the exception Neither should good ones be used as a representation of the localization industry.

yes, Just consume, no complaints (obvs /s) Good translation no need to complain (again obvs s/) Some were and still met with hostility. Quite a few were. And people discuss games on gaming forums/social media - part of the environment am i putting where i work at and talking about my personal work experience? There's quite a few different levels between "Imma complain about work in general here" and "I will talk about all details of work here and hate on anyone who asks questions". If i post here where i work at and my real name and complain about work specific stuff and hate on all the clients openly like these people do you are free to call me out (and most likely i would be rightfully fired by then) Or maybe call me out when i respond to your work related questions by swearing at you 🙂 No, it's the norm, and honestly, and after how many examples i post - which i did quite plenty in the different talks of loc issues we had - it's beyond "cherry picking". I didn't even talk about Trails and Cosmo brought it up. It's an Industry wide issue. so have i - and yet official translations are hardly better. In gaming it might be a bit different, but dear good, in animanga official translations are usually pretty much the death of the series in fandom spaces outside big names - because they are awful, low quality, ignore community standards, push in their own terms/ideas/politics, americanizing stuff and are quite late and a few months to few years behind compared to JP release. And that's still the case in 2024. Gaming got a bit better during early 2010s, but it has been getting worse again in the last few years - and some names are just red flags. Not that good ones don't exist, but people taking a second look and translations due to the history of localizations of the medium/jp stuff is very legit and shouldn't be dismissed as "just nerds". And i do find your view also massively skewed towards official localizations - and in fact almost everyone's here. I still follow fan translation groups in alot of niche media - there's alot of drama, but also alot of community input and love. yet without them the series wouldn't be even known here nor would there be an official localization. And if there's one, fan groups need to fix it anyway as it ends up being subpar. And without the era of fan translations, most of us wouldn't be even here.

What Edit: it only took 10 years

Sshhh don't complain or you are a bad nerd. Didn't someone with legit complaints (although more on the technical side rather than localization side) get their issues dismissed and ouright was called a liar? Fun The localizers still have aloot of freedom, and hence, the biggest part of the blame. Maybe Just like you assume bad faith in every question from the fans i had to assume the same here 😛 Fyi, i decided to dip into one of the worst places on the net to check on the UO complaints and even there there was pushback against the complaints (and that place is an absolute shithousery that complains about everything) - it's a nothingburger, unlike some of the other real/legit complaints that actually have merit. You owe me mind bleach. Some more jp peeps were chiming in tho, including some big names, but the voices were more natural - most likely to maintain professionalism. Yeah

Yes They have more power than some think, especially on smaller stuff, and only after outeage reaches jp side stuff get's fixed. If we take every cultural sensitivity into practice might as well ban everything. I also find it very hypocritical from western companies to let their stuff gen censored in china or ME. Some localizer, a jp one who works on translating stuff into english, talked about the topic at large and how that does actually happen. So yes, it happens. I will assume every question my clients ask me from now is in bad faith, let's see how fast i get fired. Oh wait the most i can do is complain private because that's what being a professional means. Not to mention not everything is in bad faith, and considering the shitshows the fans faced since back in the days that still goes on today, even if in a different way, most grievances are pretty damn legit. Ayy

Yeah no i am not. I never said it's ok to do that. But putting the blame solely on the fans when they get backlash and attacked for asking simple question is ignoring what's happening. I didn't say death threats are ok, don't put words in my mouth. No They started by attacking anyone who dare question their work (which is a normal thing in any work environment). It even happens outside twitter and in more spaces actually relevant for such questions. Even real life events a simple question got met by name calling and humilation by localizers instead of responding. And if they involve their personal twitter in work stuff, it ain't personal twitter anymore. Anyone who acts like that in any other job would be rightfully fired. If they wantvto be treated like professionals they should act like ones. Dear god, don't you think i don't deal with annoying af clients? I don't tell them "you fucking idiots" to their faces - i either respond with a polite message or escalate to the appropiate channels. FE is filled with bad loc Gunvolt was a mess before a relicalization All of NIS' library Sci;Adv stuff And that's just 3 seconds of thinking without me even searching or really thinking about it. And don't let me start on animanga I've seen just as much garbo from official localization - including the "first" thing, yes it happened - and in fangroups there're efforts to fix bad translations quite often - not to mention i have to pay for the first, but not the second And you're understimating how fangroups are the ones who made everything we talk about here even available and popular - without them jp stuff wouldn't have become as popular (especially the more niche stuff) nor would we even be talking about it here right now. Then we should be pushing for it i stead of bullshit changes and justifying a bad job/reason/etc. You're understimating localizers and overstimating laws That's actually one of the few good faith ones lol, since they were given free reign and it reached meme status lol

Yes But the localizers have the power here and they started the whole mess Massively disagree. Not only because we're all not the same culture (in am not american don't americanize stuff for me), but also because it's a slippery slope as what's offensive changes over time and can be used to remove things from older stuff. Or even outright censor, which happens all the time. Not to mention people should face things that make them uncomfortable (and better in fiction/media than irl) and learn what's considered normal/offensive elsewhere. It's a very stupid reason, and can be used to censor anything, especially since the world is not a monolith. No one should police fiction/media that comes from somewhere else. Nty. Lmao I think it's pretty funny ngl. Would've made for great memes. There should be no-nos when it comes writing, only the appropiate rating/tagging. Anything else is a slippery slope. "Anime makes you trans" was a sentiment back then, along with "makes you a devil worshipper" and "games make you a murderer". We already dealt with this bullshit before, having to deal with the same thing again but with a progressive coat of paint is just as bad. And doesn't speak for a change in mindset, but just replacing the x with y. The wrong lessons were learned.

Yes Like Most of the time localizers react in very bad faith - that's the root of the Problem Then the response should be professional and well reason'd and not "fuck the fans' Yes Did we forget Soleil Yeah i agree the og was bad. Real bad - and the change is most likely for the better Still would've rather had the original and them getting rightfully blasted over it Especially since even localized Soleil is still creepy One Manga should be enough, but you brought up Fates yourself 😛 - there're some other cases i encountered including one particular can of worms i am not willing to open right now. Point being - wether back then removing what was considered "sexual deviance" (usually to the detriment of lgbtq) or the modern "adapting to western (usually american) sensibilities" i am always against these changes. Not the localizers job. And not just sexual stuff either, but ideological, political, bloody, edgy, whatever. Don't insert something that wasn't there, don't remove something that was there.

Ok but imagine the memespace without all according to Keikaku

Yh they change sexuality instead Happened 30 years ago, still happens nowadays - just the other way around That's why it's one of the less wild cases Alot of trash stuff get's released to the wild And those some still retain their jobs despite being, at best, incompetent, and at worst, outright malicious And it's not one sided, but one side actually holds power here and they answer legit criticism with hate and political virtue signaling. They aren't on equal grounds. Maybe if fan criticism was met with legit responses and desire to improve instead of showing fans the metaphorical middle finger it would've never gotten that bad. Yeah fans aren't angels but the blame mostly lies on how localizations have been handled since like.. forever Yes And i think i made it pretty clear which ones i am talking about - and not something even most of those who complain about locs will laugh at (like UO). Like, you can't for example suddenly say Fates loc complaints are invalid because some idiots are complaining about UO.

Only those ignoring it still happening are kidding themselves Only because he was unprofessional and admitted what many others have been doing - heck, his case is one of the less wild ones - much worse people deserve to be fired over what they do in that industry.

Men are corrupted by darkness Similar stuff still happens nowadays I prefer that over completely changing their names And fan-tl's don't just do that - they actually engage with the community and receive feedback - unlike some localizers that only seem intent on pissing off fans. You massively undervalue'ing the work fantranslator do and did. Most of the jp games you play and animanga you read/watch wouldn't be here without the fan translation era - and the decensoring of the bullshit we faced back then. Oh yeah, localization discourse isn't a new thing - has always been a thing and an official translation was more than often not - bad. Really bad. Especially in animanga (less so in games - infact some of the limitations translators faced back then (like memory limits) and how they dealt with is worth a read - unlike some of the bs we get today). Not really. Also case by case as you said and you're cherry picking the worst examples Like UO's ain't the first discourse to spill over to jp but it's one of the rare ones where jp diagrees with the complaints...and so far it seems most UO complaints are complete and utter bs (except the Gammel one - jury still out of that) The last few cases jp side reaction was very different. Nice burn tho i admit We really returned to the days wherw nerd is being used as an insult again...by fellow nerds Only the minority complaints when that's the case - and that's why for example UO's ain't making waves like other loc did - i didn't even know there was a discourse until you pointed it out and i run in much deeper circles than you do - nobody truly cares about "hello" to "hello there", but we do care when meaning is changed or something is inserted. No it's actually quite rare. Not many products are that lucky - especially the more niche you go You'd be surprised by how small the teams can be - and how much one person can affect it. Look at what happened recently with Jelloapocalypse - stuff like that happens way too often - and what most of us actually care about - and if we dare ask about it or voice concerns we not only get attacked - but they go all political virtue signally on us.

It's a meme on the fact that many of the choices are basically this. It's not a legit option xD