"Stick to the source material"

[Sarugetchu]

Okay, I wanna talk about this before I lose myself in college papers for the next few hours. I don't speak Japanese but anything I see drama over a game's translation because it is just an entitled fansubber looking for clout not caring how much of an asshole they are. Pro tip: you don't get work in the business if you're an asshole. The people who follow along always say one thing though. "Man, why can't they stick to the source material?!" Now before I take this part, I want to throw this side a bone and acknowledge that the translation of Japanese games has been a mixed bag. It is a lot better in the days but still, there are some things I would personally change.

Who am I? Just someone who likes writing that has his personal project he is doing with a few others where I am the head editor. I won't tell you what it is due to the NSFW nature of it. It's my first project ever. I have a game next up that I wanna do. I can't tell you the name of it as that is very NSFW. Though as my time as an editor and just a consumer for all things Japanese. I have learned a few things. What are they? I'll give you a list.

1. This shit is hard.
2. Being overly literal is a bad idea.
3. Changes are okay and are a part of making a good translation.
4. Know your audience.

The last one is sticking to the source material is just not a good idea. Why? Well for starters, you need to know your audience, and if you are just making something so foreign people are gonna get lost. I don't know why some want something to be so Japanese to a point no one understands. I got lucky because I am the kind of nerd who likes studying countries for fun but the typical high schooler just wants to play a good game with anime waifus. I also feel the gaming community picks and chooses when to say this because there is a number of Japanese titles with a ton of changes no one says anything about like Phoenix Wright for example. You know the series where everyone's name is some kind of pun. The game where they had to change where it takes place as the series makes fun of the Japanese legal system. That's one of many. Another one is the Klonoa series of videos game. Now I would write a novel on how good the Klonoa games are but you're not here for that. Just go play them.

I will say this though. This job is tough and as someone who has taken on his own project, I have talked to my fans about it. They just want it to be understandable and easy to follow. You see the series I work on is boxing-related manga series. I may have given it away by saying that but follow me for a second. The creator, who I am good friends with, admitted to me he has never watched boxing or has no clue about it. I didn't say anything back besides okay but you know I made changes to it. I even made one he approved of. I had to make changes because the roughly translated text would confuse you even if your only knowledge of boxing is the Rocky films. I have to make a number of tweaks as what he describes will just go over everyone's heads. I had to do it while still being faithful obviously. That was a fun balancing act I tell ya. I bring all this up to tell you because you need to know what is more important. Please 5 people who want things to be 1 for 1 or someone who is going to support your chapter by chapter wanting to know more. This isn't excusing some guys out there so fuck up, but I think we need to understand sticking to the source material is not ideal and will never be ideal.

Also if you wanna see the series. Just pm me. I'll get back to when I can. I wrote this post because of the translation drama surrounding the new The World Ends With You game.

 

[Chary]

I always find it funny how particular people get over localizations. I tend to appreciate XSEED because of the way they handle translations--they're as accurate as possible, but they put ridiculous amounts of effort into making sure the localization isn't obnoxiously literal. Trails of Cold Steel has more dialogue than all the Harry Potter books combined, and that amount of text is staggering on its own. Yet, it never feels awkwardly written or like it doesn't make sense. I'd love to learn Japanese one day, if only to just see for myself all the intricacies of the Trails series localizations.

 

[Taleweaver]

I am the head editor. I won't tell you what it is due to the NSFW nature of it

... And now I have a completely wrong mental image of "head editor". Thanks for that.

On a more serious note : just translate it how you best see fit, dude. A complaining fan base is usually an echo chamber of people who've never translated anything outside of school assignments.