Jump to content

Pqube localizing Steins;Gate 0, 2016, PS4/Vita, Preorders Up


Funyarinpa

Recommended Posts

6 hours ago, Deep Blue said:

saying that the quality of the translation is good... I don't even...
they "Americanized" every single name in the game, changed the order of the names, changed surnames with first names with no patter.., rip off honorifics, ruined and added retarded american speech slang to many characters, replaced the senpai honorific with plain names and then at some point started using it again explaining the meaning of senpai in 1 sentence... so why didnt they used it from the beginning? xD Oh yeah I know, if they use senspai the readers would get lost, who is senpai? you can only see kurisu and maho in the scene, there is on one named senpai there, I'm lost! please Americanize everything for me, please!

They should have also added some dank memes randomly to some scenes just to not to confuse some readers and make them uncomfortable with the weird japanese terms : (, ahh is that an american flag waving in the background? oh and uncle sam? Now i can understand the plot , yokatta I mean thank you God almighty!

There are some bad translated parts (which points out of a translation not being QC or TLC), for example at one point 

  Reveal hidden contents

moeka is working for you gathering info and okabe says "I should keep investigating things out on the matter" and she answers "ok, I will keep working on it" (im paraphrasing since i cant recall exactly what they said but clearly he was referring to her and not to himself) this happens a few times

changing the meanings of どうして to why from how or vise-versa when the characters meant something else, changing the meanings of 寂しい and 寒い

not using the word 萌え for some reason because people that read vns dont know what the hell moe is, right? :rolleyes: again bring me something american im getting triggered here with all this weeb BS : (

and I can go on and on....

The translation problems if you don't understand what they are saying is not that bad since you will still get the plot but adding that stupid american slang here and there... that's just bad taste and when they actually change some words (that are in the dictionary of the game) to the "equivalent" of the English ones and then some others they dont... it just doesnt make any sense AT ALL.

At least they kept the childish way that Mayuri uses, but overall they lied or at some point changed how they were translating everything (I remember reading a blog and one of the translator explaining that they were going to leave the honorifics and many other things untouched and stay as true as they could to the jap ver and the previous translation which was way better than this one, so this lead me to believe again that at some point someone changed everything and in the process they ruined some parts of the translation too, that or they didnt QC/TLC)

But then again, how can I complain when I'm being lazy not reading it in japanese and im also using a "free translation":vinty:

 

38314644.jpg

OH yeah I forgot using the word "Lintahlo" (リンターロ) because let's be racist, it's fun! Even though the professor speaks English he doesn't say it with a fucking L like mocking a Chinese speaker, in fact you can clearly hear him saying "rintarou" in a really poorly and badly acted American accent but that's another issue not related to the translation... (and he is a japanese VA so even if he wanted to pronounce it with an L that's something really difficult for him)

what was I saying? Oh yeah:

 

You are listing what makes a localisation great like a list of heinous crimes, which is kinda funny, I must say. Seeing your full post, what you wish for is a "by fans for fans" but, sadly, this is no such thing, and we are lucky for it. The idea is to bring the product to the West for people to buy and enjoy it, not to cater to the tastes of those who would directly read it in Japanese and do it in English for ease, not taste.

They Americanised names and changed their order? Good choice on the first, thanks god for the second. The localisation is Jp - Eng, not Jp - translated Jp. They killed honorifics? Why not? They don't exist. It's a matter of taste or even flavour, not faithfulness.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What kind of Americanized name?

They kept every name the same, the name of the characters, of the towns, of the universities, of the societies, they didn't change the name of anything.

And the Lintahlo thing is also a joke in the original VN, since, if he was japanese, he would say rintarou with Kanjis, and not Katakana...

Just people being picky with a good translation. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You probably should have expected it. TBH, most of your post is complaining about trivialities like removing honorifics and reversing name order. Also the word 'moe', not important to keep. Most of the rest of your complaints are devoid of context. For example there are situations where you can switch 'why' and 'how' and come out with an equivalent. And at some points you go off on rants that are hard to understand. 

While I haven't read Steins Gate 0, and I don't really intend to, I can't get an understanding of the nature of the problems from your post. Sorry :( 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, Deep Blue said:

why do I bother :notlikemiya:

I'm sorry I was dismissive but complaining about "American slang" when there's absolutely nothing of the sort being described is absurd. There is very little to no Americanization happening with the S;G0 translation, and literally everything you mentioned as being Americanization is actually related to the English language worldwide and not anything specific to America. What you're complaining about isn't that the localization is steeped too heavily in American culture (an especially unlikely scenario considering the translation company responsible is British), what you're complaining about is simply that it's not Japanese enough for you. Your post could have possibly been taken more seriously if you didn't focus on a nonexistent issue.

Edited by Decay
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can kind of understand where Deep Blue is coming from. As of late more 'translations' are localiszed as they would a dubbed version. And it is kinda annoying for those that notice the differences and changes in more subtle stuff like honorifics as a means of social hierachy etc.

24 minutes ago, Decay said:

I'm sorry I was dismissive but complaining about "American slang" when there's absolutely nothing of the sort being described is absurd. There is very little to no Americanization happening with the S;G0 translation, and literally everything you mentioned as being Americanization is actually related to the English language worldwide and not anything specific to America.

To be fair there are more americans than there are english. And "British slang" isn't something you see in any kind of media outside of britain itself. For my part, I've seen a few FTW, FTWs and some other stuff I'd count more on the american side of english.

24 minutes ago, Decay said:

an especially unlikely scenario considering the translation company responsible is British

Which means nothing as the translation company is just the company that hires the translators. For all we know they might be Murricans, Brits or even Japs themselves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Prinny said:

I can kind of understand where Deep Blue is coming from. As of late more 'translations' are localiszed as they would a dubbed version. And it is kinda annoying for those that notice the differences and changes in more subtle stuff like honorifics as a means of social hierachy etc.

To be fair there are more americans than there are english. And "British slang" isn't something you see in any kind of media outside of britain itself. For my part, I've seen a few FTW, FTWs and some other stuff I'd count more on the american side of english.

Which means nothing as the translation company is just the company that hires the translators. For all we know they might be Murricans, Brits or even Japs themselves.

That's part of the idea, though. Localisations try to bring the game by adapting it, not simply put a skin and sub over the game and be done with it. In the same way you wouldn't leave idioms or general culture in a localisation (because 99% of the players won't get them at all and it'll be super confusing), you also do the rest of the stuff.

Bashing on a localisation because they are focusing too much on localisation instead of "literal-translation" or subbing or whatevs, is kinda... you know, like you are completely missing the point of what's being done. We were kinda "dismissive" of Blue's post because he went on a super rant on Americanisation and imperialism and whatnot, when what he had described is the 101 of proper localisation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Prinny said:

For my part, I've seen a few FTW, FTWs and some other stuff I'd count more on the american side of english.

"FTW" isn't american slang, it's internet slang. And Daru spouts internet slang all day long, that's his character, so I fail to see the problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Jun Inoue said:

That's part of the idea, though. Localisations try to bring the game by adapting it, not simply put a skin and sub over the game and be done with it. In the same way you wouldn't leave idioms or general culture in a localisation (because 99% of the players won't get them at all and it'll be super confusing), you also do the rest of the stuff.

Which doesn't really work for those that understand enough spoken japanese to find fault every now and then. While I have to agree, localisations are better for the target audience most of the time, sometimes there are backlashes. But if you localise just do it from start to finish and not just give up somewhere halfway. Like if you don't use "senpai" even if characters say it and then suddenly you use it and explain the meaning somewhere waaaaay down the story, it comes of as a bit unproffessional.

 

If you can still see/hear the original text a more or less literal translation would be more preferable, imo. Even when people that would read and praise the translation either way say that localisations are bettern than literal translations because it sounds more natural or because literal translations are boring.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, Prinny said:

Which doesn't really work for those that understand enough spoken japanese to find fault every now and then. While I have to agree, localisations are better for the target audience most of the time, sometimes there are backlashes. But if you localise just do it from start to finish and not just give up somewhere halfway. Like if you don't use "senpai" even if characters say it and then suddenly you use it and explain the meaning somewhere waaaaay down the story, it comes of as a bit unproffessional.

 

If you can still see/hear the original text a more or less literal translation would be more preferable, imo. Even when people that would read and praise the translation either way say that localisations are bettern than literal translations because it sounds more natural or because literal translations are boring.

I recall the one instance where "senpai" was kept in the translation and could see why they had to do it there. The use of "senpai" in that one instance was evidence that a specific character was speaking, in the original work. Therefore, in the localization where they had chosen to remove the term "senpai", they needed something there to provide that evidence, and so they put in that explanation. They chose not to put "senpai" back in in literally all the other instances to save this one case, and thus did the sensible thing: explained the term at that time, and that only that one character would have referred to her as such.

I personally think it was a good decision, but it's obviously a tradeoff. It was certainly neither a mistake nor unprofessional.

And in general, unsurprisingly, I agree with the majority of the dog pile here. I'm tired of reading half-translations written for weebs. I want to read stuff that treats me as a literate English speaker, exactly the way the original works treat their audience as literate Japanese speakers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Fred the Barber said:

I recall the one instance where "senpai" was kept in the translation and could see why they had to do it there. The use of "senpai" in that one instance was evidence that a specific character was speaking, in the original work. Therefore, in the localization where they had chosen to remove the term "senpai", they needed something there to provide that evidence, and so they put in that explanation. They chose not to put "senpai" back in in literally all the other instances to save this one case, and thus did the sensible thing: explained the term at that time, and that only that one character would have referred to her as such.

I personally think it was a good decision, but it's obviously a tradeoff. It was certainly neither a mistake nor unprofessional.

And in general, unsurprisingly, I agree with the majority of the dog pile here. I'm tired of reading half-translations written for weebs. I want to read stuff that treats me as a literate English speaker, exactly the way the original works treat their audience as literate Japanese speakers.

You are wrong, kurisu calls Maho "Senpai" from the first time, she never calls her plain "Maho", now at some point they changed her name to senpai because they HAD TO (and they explain what senpai means) or else the story wouldn't make any sense but this doesn't make sense either way because why kurisu will change all of the sudden changing from using her name to Senpai in that specific part?Guess what? She wouldn't, a lot of serious stuff happened before and after and she never changed the senpai to her name. 
See, what you think it was a sensible thing to do it was just something that doesn't make any sense AT ALL and thus a cheap way to fix something for a bad translation decision.

Honorifics are part of their language and culture, just as much as mayuri's way of talking (a childish japanese way of talking)  and how they conjugate verbs depending on the person they are speaking to or the situation they are in. 
You cannot have one without the other, you cannot replace a San with a Ms/Mr, the same way you can't replace kun or chan or any other honorific... but wait ohh I see... they didnt replace those with anything, so for example how can you understand that katsumi acts in a really close way to the people around her using the so evil HONORIFICS, yes, you can't, because the translators decided for everyone that you shouldn't care for that and it seems that nobody actually cares as long as the translation looks like if was written by an english author but by doing so they striped the personality of the characters that makes them so unique, all of that is gone because of a bad decision to turn a JAPANESE vn into a weird English wanna be thing.
 

If you want to read English novels then read something written by an English author, then again what you actually want is some butchered cross version of a Japanese written visual novel turned into some American version, the question is why would you be reading something in Japanese if you are so against its culture and everything that makes it so unique?

In simple terms, you are asking for a hamburger but at the same time asking to take out the meat and add tofu to it  :vanilla:

Edited by Deep Blue
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm, I don't remember that inconsistency, but it's possible it happened and I forgot about it. Then that is a mistake - they happen. They did, for one line, refer to her as senpai for the reason I described, but they clearly intended not to for the rest of the time.

It's still a good decision to cut things like honorifics. I'm going for an appeal to authority here, since I've already given my own personal argument, but I think it's a pretty valid appeal to authority, when I say that your assertion that honorifics and Japanese terms like "senpai" are somehow fundamental and untranslatable is obviously wrong, given that literally only VN translators (and usually just weeb fan translators, at that) do it. No professional translator of Japanese literature feels the need to do this. I've read Murakami, Mishima, Kawabata, and Oe in translation - nary a "senpai" or a "-chan" to be found. If those were fundamental to the nuance, don't you think that would be all the more important for literature? We're talking Nobel Prize winners here; don't you think they get top-quality translations? Or are you really going to sit there and tell me, no, the VN fan translators are clearly better at their work than Jay Rubin because the fan translators realize that "senpai" is a fundamentally untranslatable word?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dw bois, once i get around to reading this (the furthest i got was the title screen, and it made me jizz within 5 secs, but i had to willpower stop cuz I'm still grindin' away for finalzz) so I'll be da judge on whether the localization's justified removal of the senpais and the sans and the Makise Kurisu becoming Kurisu Makise and whatnot because that's just how localizations work you damned inferno elitist weebers and your need for purist weeb English

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Eclipsed said:

Dw bois, once i get around to reading this (the furthest i got was the title screen, and it made me jizz within 5 secs, but i had to willpower stop cuz I'm still grindin' away for finalzz) so I'll be da judge on whether the localization's justified removal of the senpais and the sans and the Makise Kurisu becoming Kurisu Makise and whatnot because that's just how localizations work you damned inferno elitist weebers and your need for purist weeb English

You can still hear the honorifcs and makise kurisu in japanese, the dub is still here, so you just have to ignore the english text at those moments. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Eclipsed said:

damned inferno elitist weebers and your need for purist weeb English

 It's not about "weebs" (which is pretty ironic to use here, in a niche forum for a niche, mostly, japanese medium) It's about dropping important cultural aspects in a game obviously in japan, where japanese people with japanese names are talking japanese to other japanese people. Cutting off part of a culture just because some people might have trouble to understand is the worst kind of censoring. Even worse if you can hear one thing but read something else. If you localise instead of translating, do it in a medium where you can at least use a localised dub instead.

 

Some people, myslef included, await a certain degree of perfection if it is an official translation/localisation. If you pay for something that isn't without obvious flaws, you (meaning consumers) will end at a point where you just consume everything, just because it is there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Prinny said:

 It's not about "weebs" (which is pretty ironic to use here, in a niche forum for a niche, mostly, japanese medium) It's about dropping important cultural aspects in a game obviously in japan, where japanese people with japanese names are talking japanese to other japanese people. Cutting off part of a culture just because some people might have trouble to understand is the worst kind of censoring. Even worse if you can hear one thing but read something else. If you localise instead of translating, do it in a medium where you can at least use a localised dub instead.

 

Some people, myslef included, await a certain degree of perfection if it is an official translation/localisation. If you pay for something that isn't without obvious flaws, you (meaning consumers) will end at a point where you just consume everything, just because it is there.

So, liking visual novels make me a weeb? interesting.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Prinny said:

Some people, myslef included, await a certain degree of perfection if it is an official translation/localisation. If you pay for something that isn't without obvious flaws, you (meaning consumers) will end at a point where you just consume everything, just because it is there.

Except those "flaws" are a completely subjective thing and are, in fact, the industry standard when it comes to official translations. Visual Novels are literally the only medium that still keeps things like honorifics in their official translations, likely because of the niche community that supports the games and demands things like honorifics be kept. Any other medium, be it books or movies, removes honorifics from their translation, because 99% of the times they are not seen as needed for an English audience to comprehend what's going on and they make the text less confusing.

But what do I know, those companies and professional translators are all hitlers who hate the Japanese culture.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Nosebleed said:

Except those "flaws" are a completely subjective thing and are, in fact, the industry standard when it comes to official translations. Visual Novels are literally the only medium that still keeps things like honorifics in their official translations, likely because of the niche community that supports the games and demands things like honorifics be kept. Any other medium, be it books or movies, removes honorifics from their translation, because 99% of the times they are not seen as needed for an English audience to comprehend what's going on and they make the text less confusing.

But what do I know, those companies and professional translators are all hitlers who hate the Japanese culture.

Persona 3 and 4 keep honorifics in. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, solidbatman said:

Persona 3 and 4 keep honorifics in. 

 

7 minutes ago, Nosebleed said:

 Visual Novels are literally the only medium that still keeps things like honorifics in their official translations

Well, I know Persona isn't a full on VN, but the idea I wanted to convey is that this type of media is the only one that still goes out of its way to purposefuly keep honorifics, even when most of the time they are not needed.

Also, if Persona kept them, it could also be that they were relevant to the overall comprehension of the text. I haven't played either game though so I wouldn't know.

I think what should happen more often is companies should tell the fans why they do/don't keep things like honorifics when translating. Any proper book translation should have this, and I wish it was more common. If you explain to your fans why you make certain decisions (objectively), then you only have their trust to gain from it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/13/2016 at 4:18 PM, yorikbad said:

What I don't like about those great guys at PQube, it's a lack of any definite information concerning PC port. They put SG on Steam (after how many years of fan and official TL) and at the same time release Zero for consoles. Just give a hope for non-pirate community and those who can wait, will do that.

 

Yeah, let's just blame a petty thieving nature of some people on PQube who never even had any part in the steam release of the first game. Classy and self-explanatory. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, Zakamutt said:

Does Persona 4 even keep honorifics? They even had Nanako use "big bro" in the dub, so that would be a bit weird to me. I played the european PS2 version, might be a difference.

I believe it did, less than P3 but still there in a few cases. I might be confusing it with something else though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...