Game Localization: Why Everyone is Wrong
Vložit
- čas přidán 21. 07. 2024
- Translation is a complex beast. Today, I want to take a look at some of the major factors that impact game localization. This is by no means exhaustive, so just think of it as dipping a toe into a pool. I've included footage from a few games whose localizations are considered by many to be excellent. I loved them at least!
Referenced Videos:
Davidvinc RPGs: • Eiyuden Chronicles - W...
Just the Gems: • Eiyuden Chronicle Loca...
Featured Games:
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age
The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero
0:00 Intro
0:53 Learning Japanese
3:19 Becoming a "Professional"
5:08 The Realities of Business
6:05 Translation Woes
8:50 Inspirations
9:17 No Such Thing as "Right"
#localization #translation #games #Japanese #jrpg - Hry
I love that you took on this potentially controversial topic. Quite recently, I heard from classmates in my Japanese class about how they are starting to see that subtitles are "just wrong" when watching anime or playing video games, and I had to interject that "wrong" is rather subjective as there might be many reasons why the English subtitles were written the way they were. Localizers do a lot of work and are under so much pressure from so many directions and their resources/time/stipulations are not consistent between projects. Thanks for shedding some light on why subtitles aren't one-for-one translations!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Even now, when I don’t see the translation I would expect for a line, it can be hard to prevent a knee-jerk reaction. Forcing myself to take a step back and check my ego is crucial.
"...liberal and full of life over technically accurate..." Agreed. There's always going to be something lost in translation. I like hearing and seeing how something in a game would've been translated differently in different hands. Especially when lore is involved. Great vid - nice to see it from a translator/localizer's POV. I think some people forget that deadlines exist and in the end, the company is there to make money.
Glad you enjoyed the video!
Yeah, when I’m playing something translated, it often comes down to “in a perfect world, I would want to see X, but we don’t live in a perfect world, soooo good enough!”
I think the too many cooks part hits home. I wholeheartedly agree with everything you are saying but some companies like Yen Press have tested my patience. You cannot be making mistakes in every single volume of a series. You cannot attribute a villains monologue to a protagonist saying it (WTF). You cannot translate a characters name which is Tivey ( Tee-Bi in katakana) as "TB" (I am not kidding) when the earlier translator had translated it as Tivey for 5 volumes. You cannot call Patarasche as Patalash just from the Romaji when Patarasche is a name from a western cartoon. My problem is with the companies rushing out a product. Perfection is overrated but errors cannot be tolerated in every single god damn release.
I had not heard about that! What you’ve described does not sound particularly fun as the reader… Everyone makes mistakes, of course, but you always hope that no serious ones will slip through into the final product.
@@IntentionalBrandon Localized games seem to be good at correcting errors but this is very prevalent in light novel spheres. Its a whole different beast.
Solid points, my dude. I loved the full circle use of 違う！ Nicely put together. As a human who also strives for perfection, even in the most mundane, it was hard to accept "good enough", but ultimately that's quite liberating in a variety of ways. I hadn't applied that perspective to localization though, so I appreciated your insights here interwoven with your own perspective and experiences. Keep up the great content! 宜しくお願い致します！🙇💛
Thank you for the kind words! I find that taking a step back to think about the business of things helps me a lot when I let myself get frustrated. Everything starts to feel so much more obvious.
3:50 All my brain hears is Atsugiri Jason. "WHY Japanese people?? WHYYY?"
Ahahaha, okay, I gotta admit it's not far off
What I hate about some Localizations is where they drop the honorifics because it loses the cultural significance of where it came from. I love the honorific system. However there is one form of media where I will give it a pass and it is the Phoenix Wright games because the Localization it more geared to America rather than Japan. Also with some localizations and translations the translation is so wrong that's is borderline disrespectful. Look at the Anime Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid the translators made up their own translation. With me as long as the translator sticks to the original source material as best they can when translating on top of putting their own personal spin on it I can get behind that.
I don’t blame anyone for choosing to drop honorifics, but I do enjoy having them sometimes. As long as it’s not voiced. I don’t think I could ever get used to that 😂
@@IntentionalBrandon That's exactly what I mean. They speak the honorifics but the text does NOT include them that annoys me to no end. However if the piece of media does not have them then it is not needed I agree with you there or if it's not spoken which is very rare in my experiences. The characters speak them but the English text does not have them is some of the media that I have played.
Okay, yeah, that’s…different. 🤔
There need to be a balance between translation (left side) and keeping the original game's spirit (right side)
Too far to the left: Current political inserts, memes, etc.
Too far to the right: Honorifics, cultural references , etc. (which I don't mind, but I know would confuse the masses)
Anything in between that should be the goal. In fact, as long as the test audience understands and it gets you the game classification rating that you wanted, those should be your goals.
In your example of a perverted old man, was there a mass hysteria back in the 90' because of Dragon Balls' Master Roshi or the old man looking into the Celadon City Gym in Pokémon Red/Blue? No, it's only because of things like DEI that these things are changed over the years because at the end of the day, companies know that any lost sales over such minor things are nothing compared to the money they get in investments for having a better ESG scores.
One of the big things for me is if it pulls me out of the game world. I like having some separation from the real world when I play games, so political references and the like are usually not my favorite. Unless it's a core component of the source, of course.