quote:
Originally posted by Peter Payne:
Hmm, you're talking to a pertty biased person when it comes to SOS, personally. I think it's a great game, my all-time favorite in fact.Oh Reiko, don't quit university for me...
I'll take Ruri, She's rich, a babe and a psychic. You can't go wrong.
I tend to not even remember the engrish after the fact (although I’ll complain while I’m playing it) unless there’s something where I honestly couldn’t figure out what they were trying to say.
ISTR Maid’s Story having a couple of those. “What on earth was that supposed to be?”
quote:
Originally posted by Mike Thomas:
Hey Made-in-DNA,If you don't mind some constructive feedback, I actually understand Japanese and Latin fairly well. I understand Latin more, so I'll focus on that.
Basically, I consider Latin to be translated poorly when the meaning of a phrase or idea isn't accurately represented or is misrepresented.
For example, Augustus' title can be translated as "Prince", or "First Citizen", or "First Consul". He wasn't an Emperor. Sure, he had all the power an Emperor has; however, he never gave himself, nor accepted the title of Emperor.
Augustus knew that the Roman populace hated the idea of King or Emperor. As such, the title he gave himself was not King or Emperor. In fact, part of his entire gain of power was to say to the Roman people, "Look, I've reinstated the Senate. I'm First Senator, but it is the Senate that runs Rome."
Therefore, his title of "Princeps" should not be translated as "Emperor." It is misleading, and false. It is correctly translated as "First Consul", "First Citizen", or "Prince."
Anyway, I hope that helps explain where I'm coming from.
Then you and I are in total agreement.
Best regards,
Brent
quote:There are some things that you can tell with only a little working knowledge of Japanese, when there are spoken lines. It's pretty obvious when a double-mouthful is translated to a one-word answer, or when you hear common words that in no way appear in the line in text. (One that bugs me a lot is when people's names are changed in dialog -- dammit, if someone calls someone by their family name, the family name should be what's in the translated line. Same with honorifics. I freely admit that's pretty picky, but important for some things, like, say, Kimagure Orange Road.)
Originally posted by atholbrose:
[quote] Originally posted by Made in DNA:
[b]As a translator (fortunately of none of the above games) I have to play devil's advocate here. Unless you can speak and understand Japanese REALLY WELL, how can you tell that the translation is wrong/bad?
Also, for bishoujo games, it's pretty obvious when "Ah! Ah! Ah!" is translated in a very vulgar way. (See Divi-Dead for the most extreme examples of this.)
US fans of Japanese gaming also tend to use 'translation' to mean 'script'. I try to keep the two seperate when I'm writing about localized games, but it is hard sometimes, especially when you doubt that the game would have had such a poor script if it hadn't been translated/localized poorly (see Final Fantasy Tactics).[/b] [/quote]
--
But are you sure the translation isn't correct?
I think since we are talking only vagueries here, without specific examples (I have never played any of these games with the exception of editing XC2), it's hard to really say. As a translator, I have often left out common words for the sake of better dialogue and more natural sounding English translations. And I'd do it every time.
Made in DNA
[This message has been edited by Made in DNA (edited 06-15-2003).]
I think as a translator and then a publisher you have to consider the real issue. How many people is this Game/movie/anime/book do I want to. Second is the demographic. Usually, I do mean usually, the more the better. However, that usually mean the demographic is the general public. And you have no idea how much honorifics and surname been first confuses westerners. I am a living example since my government always think I am two person. Grrr. Yeah like I really want to pay my taxes twice.
So back to the point. I think it is a correct decision, from a company’s point of view, to translate to the masses. This does mean, in theory, that more release in english. Since I am not a complete moron I know when something is funny. Besides I do actually enjoy seeing how things get translated. Japanese → English is getting better as time goes by. But Chinese → English, I haven’t seen any improvement and I also laugh my silly. So look at it this way. You get to enjoy your favourite show/game twice.