Yay or Nay.
Personally I like them and would rather read them as I hear them, and it’s just seems more authentic to me.
To me it’s based on the game,
If it feels like a cultural game then i believe they should be used.
But for games that feel like they are in another dimension or feel like they aren’t in Japan, i don’t think they should have them.
For example,
Based on what iv read on Family project, I’d like them to be used their, because the game is based on Japanese culture.
While a game like Brave Soul is set in another word which has different cultures so i wouldn’t like them used there.
That’s how i feel on the issue.
it depends on the setting to me
a game set in japan should use them but a game set in another world or country wouldn’t need them
I agree with the 2 posts above me. Inclusion of honorifics is a stylistic choice. Thus, the game setting is important.
Looking pretty lopsided so far.
Well, this is a place where hardcore fans tend to gather (particularly people who are likely to watch fansubbed anime and have a lot of exposure to the fan culture). If you could poll every person that bought a game I think you’d see very different results.
As I’ve already said in a similar poll in the Mangagamer board, I find honorifics in English pretty awkward. That said, I have no problem understanding them, and I don’t mind them, so it’s a minor issue for me.
Let’s put it this way… When honorifics are translated literally, it sounds even more awkward to someone who doesn’t understand them. An example is seeing “Teacher” all the time rather then being called Ms./Mr. so-n-so, or the whole “bro”, “sis”, “Brother”, “Sister” bits. Now if a game is DUBBED in English, honorifics should be an absolute no, and the translation of them shouldn’t be kept so literal. Nii-san, Onii-chan, Onii-sama, all have very different interpretations and signify the relationship between the two characters. However, when it’s translated literally they all come out as “brother” or the sad cousin “bro”, hence they’ve lost a lot of their original meaning.
So obviously my vote is keep them, or don’t translate them literally if not. (Unless of course it’s dubbed, that was by far one of my bigger complaints with Persona 3.)
You’re right. The poll -would- have very different results, however I’m almost certain honorifics would still win out in the end. The biggest chunk of this market is either already familiar with the culture, or are receptive enough that they’re willing to learn more about it. Let’s face it, those who only buy it under the context of it being ‘porn’ aren’t really going to care one way or the other so long as the H-content is uncensored.
I’m with Dalburnan on this. They are used to convey a level of meaning and context to relationships that is very hard to do in English. Sure, plenty of people won’t care about that kind of thing because they’re here for the h-scenes; but they don’t care and most of the people who do care, I believe, would prefer the honorifics.
I voted Yes!
as one who understands honorifics i like to see them left in their original context or with the original meaning kept intact.
In dubs I like having them left out except for when there is a suitable English equivalent but a lot of times it sounds awkward or forced because in English we don’t use a lot of Japanese honorific as much.
However I don’t watch dubs except for when something I like comes on t.v and it’s dubbed, but dubs sound too weird to me after watching so much of my anime in Japanese.
most of the games I’ve boughten so far make good use of Japanese honorifics in the English subtitles, and even if they leave them out I still catch them anyways so I’m not picky in that respect. Dubs I tend to be far more picky with which as a result is why I don’t watch many of them.
I too think that Dalburnan has summed it up pretty succinctly. I stated my opinion on this in another thread (which I’m too lazy to look up right now, especially since I’m closing in on 500 posts), but it is basically along the same lines as Dalburnan and Nandemonai.
I’d prefer that honorifics be expunged entirely from English translations of Japanese works (edit: as well as for translations from any other languages into English). For me, they don’t really sound natural when left in, but as Dalburnan and several others have mentioned, literal translations of honorifics like ‘big brother’ sound rather odd too. When I’m reading something in English, I prefer that it fits within the framework of the English language (there’s a big difference between leaving loan words like okonomiyaki untranslated, and introducing terms for a hierarchical system of relationships that doesn’t exist to nearly the same extent in English) - if I want to experience the original, I’ll read it in Japanese. (edit: If it’s in a language that I can’t understand, I’d still prefer the translation to be an English translation with as few hybrid elements as possible)
My general feeling is that honorifics should not be a technical aspect of a translation, but should rather be a stylistic/artistic aspect. Basically, ask yourself why you are putting honorifics in some piece of prose…
If it’s because the original material had it, then that would be a bad reason in my opinion. Can you really imagine people in medieval Europe adding “-chan” and “-san” to names? Think about how the original author would’ve written the story if they were originally writing it in your target language.
However, if you are adding honorifics because you want to emphasize the idea that they are in Japan, then I think it is acceptable. For example, in English prose, you would use the word ‘monsieur’ sometimes to emphasize that the story is taking place in France. This falls along the same lines as creating terms to create atmosphere, like many fantasy/sci-fi novels.
^This^
There is also the possibility to replace in many instances where context might be important and if it’s lost, would dilute the meaning too much. That’s how we’re handling it with our fan translation project. FE: when one of the characters refers to himself as -sama showing his arrogance we have replaced that with English honorific “Lord”.
I like honorifics in BGames. They help to understand the kind of connection between characters in a single word - respectful, friendly, affective, noble, etc.
It’s something you can’t understand just by listening names or surnames. 
I had to change my choice from Yay to indifferent, as zalas and Jinnai pointed out, honorifics shouldn’t be blindly kept-in for the sake of it. Heck, we should be getting mixed honorifics. Example, if an elder boy corners a girl and say “want to hang out with oniichan?”, I’d expect the translator to translate oniichan to big brother (or dad/uncle :mrgreen: ) even if the game is keeping honorifics.
that aside, what do you guys think of translating … errr… mouth sound(?) (sounds that someone makes). Example, in Testy Shafts, at the beginning, when the 2 boys are talking to the girl, she keep making some sound (instead of talking) like “huhh”, which might (but unnecessarily) indicate that she is a simply minded or slow girl. Yet those sounds were translated into proper words in the English translation, indicating, IMHO, that she was keeping up with them. Unlike “ara, ara”, “huhh” shouldn’t be translated to “ok” or “what?” but should be kept as it is in English, just a sound made by the person (although I have no idea how is this going to be accomplished).
so what do you guys think about translating sounds to actual words?
No… just no. That’s one part of translations that really irk me. Pretty much NOBODY ever uses “(big) brother/sister” to address someone when speaking in English. It sounds so unnatural. If the translator’s goal is to make it natural English, using that equals a failure.
Honorifics for the win, I don’t know why but I do prefer them, mainly because after so much anime and games I know what they all mean. So it’s not a problem. It’d just be strange to not use them at this point.
If i recall, didn’t ‘Hitomi my stepsister’ change ‘Oniichan’ to ‘Bro’?
Yep, except that as far as I can tell (by starting up the game and playing a few minutes) she calls you oniisan, not oniichan.