Kotaku Article/Video on Translations

108

Rookie Adventurer
Hey hi everybody . . . it's me . . . the guy making these videos!!!!!!!

I have just finished chopping up hours and hours of footage for the fourth video (what I did was: I put a little cut on each dialogue box, so I can tab around through the script with ferocious speed).

It is true: The Management here at Kotaku just want two more videos, though they're both going to be pretty long.

So this fourth video is turning out to be sort of a nightmare! I love it. I think it is going to be almost thirty minutes long. Uh.

So it covers Wall Market, Shinra Tower, and the Kalm flashback, which are like . . . I'd have wanted to do like one twenty-minute episode about each of those :-/

I have a bunch of notes and I'm writing a script, with the goal being to record the script tomorrow and then begin laying in the footage and titles to match it.

So if there's anything in those segments that you think would be really good to cover, please let me know!! Wall Market is sort of a nightmare because it's like, I could do a whole two hours on Wall Market, though I've got to narrow it down to just a couple things. Like, I'm talking about how "Bubby" in Japanese is "bouzu". Man, I can get like five minutes out of that alone. I gotta be careful. Also I'm talking about the "protein drink set". Man, Wall Market is too full of stuff . . .

And, uh, Domino and "Hart" both having pizza-related names.

There's a lady in Shinra Tower who refers to herself as an "OL", which is translated as "secretary" in the English version, so I could talk about that . . .

There's a "XIII" as a single character in the Japanese name entry screen, just for naming Red XIII!

When Aerith says no one has ever seen Rufus "bleed or cry", in Japanese she says "I've heard he has neither blood nor tears", which is a tiny difference though I love the way it sounds.

Aerith calls Cloud "Nandemoyasan", not "bodyguard", a reference to how he had said, in the church, that he did "a little bit of everything".

In the Kalm flashback, Cloud's verb tenses keep getting weird in English . . . maybe that's not interesting, though.

Sephiroth keeps talking about "the geological stratum of 2,000 years ago", which is such a clunky phrase in English. Uh, maybe that's interesting?

At the end of the Kalm flashback, you get a "PHS", which is a type of old-school Japanese cell phone . . . I could talk about my friend who had a PHS until 2006, when I finally convinced her she to get a regular phone.

Anyway, yeah, I sure just showed up on your forum and started taking notes for my own dumb video. Uh, if anyone has any suggestions that'd be cool!!!!! Like I said, I have way too many ideas and I just gotta narrow it down to The Best Ones so that I don't go insane making a six-hour video . . .

Uh, yeah, also, hello!!!
 

Pixel

The Pixie King
Hey Tim :D

The ortopedic underwear - Rather grown-up/sexy underwear in Tifas room. Ive seen that translated by a few people as Slightly stretched underwear. Can't find the japanese, but it uses a word that means "to make oneself seem older/taller". I guess thats where orthopedic and stretched came from.
 

108

Rookie Adventurer
Yeah, orthopedic underwear! Man, that's a good one. Yeah, I think I solved that mystery last night.

Oh, of course, I am also doing "That's how you'll fool them." I think the explanation is a tiny bit uninteresting (I think the translator accidentally translated one line twice and didn't translate Cloud's line "I just KNOW there's some women's clothing I need in this place!"), though it's a good time.

Ah, man, and Johnny says "Thanks for the flower, and 1 gil", which is like, he's indicating that she sold him the flower for 1 gil, which is how much she sold a flower to Cloud for. So the other guys there had to pay 300 and 500 gil, and Johnny had to pay the same as Cloud, meaning that Johnny is a cool guy. Johnny is weird, man. I could do a whole episode about the saga of Johnny. I wonder who would watch that.
 

Roger

He/him
AKA
Minato
Hey Tim, thanks for dropping in here. You're making the best Kotaku content in years!

If I could make any request it'd be about any lost nuance concerning how Cloud, Cloud/Zack, Sephiroth and Shinra guard #1, #2 refer to each other that gives us a better idea of how much a regular unit the 4 of them were.
Zack practices their signature stance "as always" with one of the MPs and Sephiroth asks Cloud what it's like coming home and offers time off to spend time with family so they seemed quite familiar with each other but Crisis Core went in a very different direction.
 

Pixel

The Pixie King
There's a weird thing with the option for the dress. Llike shiny, soft, shimmers etc. Not sure if its interesting enough though.

「はだ触りは」
Something...
"One that feels...

    さらっとしたの
That feels clean
smooth

This will get you Cotton Dress, 1 dress point

「ひかり具合は」
And something...
"And looks..."

    きらきらしたの
shiny
shimmering

&#12288;&#12288;&#12288;&#12288;&#12388;&#12420;&#12388;&#12420;&#12375;&#12383;&#12398;<End>
that shimmers
sleek

&#12288;&#12288;&#12288;&#12288;&#12373;&#12431;&#12387;&#12392;&#12375;&#12383;&#12398;<End>
That feels soft
tight

&#12300;&#12402;&#12363;&#12426;&#20855;&#21512;&#12399;&#12301;
And something...
"And looks..."

&#12288;&#12288;&#12288;&#12288;&#12365;&#12425;&#12365;&#12425;&#12375;&#12383;&#12398;
shiny
shimmering

This will get you Satin Dress, 3 dress points
&#12288;&#12288;&#12288;&#12288;&#12388;&#12420;&#12388;&#12420;&#12375;&#12383;&#12398;<End>
that shimmers
sleek


Other stuff that might not be interesting enough to make the cut.

&#12300;&#12302;&#30007;&#30007;&#30007;&#12303;&#12392;&#12363;&#12356;&#12358;&#30475;&#26495;&#12434;&#20986;&#12375;&#12392;&#12427;
&#12288;&#12472;&#12512;&#12364;&#12354;&#12427;&#12376;&#12419;&#12429;&#65311;
&#12288;&#12381;&#12371;&#12395;&#12289;&#12354;&#12435;&#12383;&#12392;&#21516;&#12376;&#36259;&#21619;&#12398;&#20154;&#12364;&#12356;&#12427;&#12435;&#12376;&#12419;&#12290;
&#12288;&#24444;&#12395;&#30456;&#35527;&#12375;&#12390;&#12415;&#12427;&#12392;&#12424;&#12356;&#12376;&#12419;&#12429;&#12358;&#12301;<End>
You know the gym? You'll find a lot of people there like you. Go and talk to them.
Should be like "Have you seen the sign for the gym, "Man Man Man"? The guys there are into to same stuff as you. You should try talkin&#8217; to them."

&#12300;&#8230;&#8230;&#21516;&#12376;&#36259;&#21619;&#65311;
&#12288;AERITH&#12289;&#35242;&#29238;&#12373;&#12435;&#12395;
&#12288;&#12393;&#12435;&#12394;&#35500;&#26126;&#12434;&#12375;&#12383;&#12435;&#12384;&#65311;&#12301;<End>
...'like you'? Aeris, what did you tell him?
Cloud "...The same stuff? Aerith, what exactly did you tell him?"

&#12300;&#12489;&#12531;&#12539;&#12467;&#12523;&#12493;&#12458;&#12399;&#26377;&#21517;&#12394;&#29420;&#36523;&#36020;&#26063;&#12290;
&#12288;&#12381;&#12429;&#12381;&#12429;&#36523;&#12434;&#12363;&#12383;&#12417;&#12427;&#12387;&#12390;&#12435;&#12391;
&#12288;&#12362;&#12520;&#12513;&#12373;&#12435;&#12373;&#12364;&#12375;&#12395;&#29105;&#24515;&#12391;&#12397;&#12360;&#12301;
Corneo is described as a famous dilettante. Not sure thats the right word. Its more like "Don Corneo's a well-known, affluent bachelor. But now he want's to establish himself, so he's keen to find himself a bride."

&#12300;&#12356;&#12425;&#12387;&#12375;&#12419;&#12356;&#65281;&#65281;
&#12288;&#12418;&#12390;&#12394;&#12356;&#21531;&#12391;&#12418;&#12289;&#12371;&#12371;&#34588;&#34562;&#12398;&#39208;&#12391;&#12394;&#12425;
&#12288;&#36939;&#21629;&#12398;&#24444;&#22899;&#12395;&#20986;&#20250;&#12360;&#12427;&#12399;&#12378;&#65281;&#65281;&#12301;
Welcome!! Even unpopular dweebs, like you, may meet their destiny here!!
Should be something like "Welcome!! Even a no-hoper like you can meet your soulmate here at the Honeybee Inn!!"

&#12300;&#12431;&#12375;&#12399;&#30007;&#29289;&#12398;&#26381;&#12399;&#20316;&#12425;&#12435;&#12398;&#12384;&#12364;&#65311;
&#12288;&#12381;&#12428;&#12395;&#12289;&#12354;&#12414;&#12426;&#27671;&#20055;&#12426;&#12364;&#12379;&#12435;&#12375;&#12394;&#12301;
I don't make men's clothes. And I don't feel like makin' anything right now.
Should be something like &#8220;I do make clothes, but you know I don't make men's stuff, right? Besides, I got better things to do."
 

108

Rookie Adventurer
「『男男男』とかいう看板を出しとる
 ジムがあるじゃろ?
 そこに、あんたと同じ趣味の人がいるんじゃ。
 彼に相談してみるとよいじゃろう」<End>
You know the gym? You'll find a lot of people there like you. Go and talk to them.
Should be like "Have you seen the sign for the gym, "Man Man Man"? The guys there are into to same stuff as you. You should try talkin’ to them."

Ah, hey, yeah, I'll cover the 男男男 part -- my argument is that the dressmaker is referring to exactly one person -- Big Bro! The other guys in the gym aren't necessarily Like Cloud. That's how I read the Japanese, anyway . . .

And heck yeah on the group dynamics. I gotta say, the very first time I played this game (in 1997, lol) I sure didn't pick up on Cloud's motion-sickness. I'll scrutinize the opening of the Kalm part again, though yeah, Cloud-Zack seems very, very friendly with Soldier-Cloud in Japanese -- I'll check to see how much MORE friendly he is than in the English version.
 

108

Rookie Adventurer
I am having such a good time researching the video . . . like, in Japanese, the 200-gil item in the vending machine is "Kiaijuuten Gold drink set". Kiai juuten sorta means "Energy recharging", though like, if you Google-image-search &#27671;&#21512;&#20805;&#22635; (which I take it is supposed to be an in-world brand-name of some sort, similar to many real-world Japanese convenience store energy drinks), you get, uh sort of a bunch of weird assorted gibberish. I love it. Try it out.

I'm guessing it's supposed to be some kind of an aphrodisiac beverage, the likes of which actually exist all over Asia.

Oh, also, the guy outside the inn says "we have a beautiful room", which is sorta wrong. He says "&#12365;&#12428;&#12356;&#12394;&#37096;&#23627;" in Japanese. That kinda just means "our rooms are clean". I'm pretty sure that's what he'd be advertising. He would not be overselling it as "beautiful". People in that slum just want a place to be clean, yeah?

Uhhhhhhhh yeah I'm spoilering my whole video here huh
 

108

Rookie Adventurer
Whoa, I just did another pass of note-taking, and I noticed that the dialogue when Tifa is injured in the reactor scene is super-ambiguous, owing to Japanese pronoun rules. She doesn't say "You came for me like you promised"; she says "[no pronoun] promised me [no pronoun] would come to help me when i was in a pinch". So it's super-open-ended whether she said that to Cloud or to Zack. Neat stuff!!!
 

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
X
This is all SUPER interesting stuff! Thanks a ton for sharing it as you're going through.

Additionally, I added the URL back into your previous post for you & updated your usergroup, so that you should be able to post links and things without any issue now (since some of it was getting caught by spambot filtering since your account is still new).





X :neo:
 

ForceStealer

Double Growth
Welcome! And yeah these videos are awesome. Also I never thought about the pizza-themed names...clever.

Ah, man, and Johnny says "Thanks for the flower, and 1 gil", which is like, he's indicating that she sold him the flower for 1 gil, which is how much she sold a flower to Cloud for. So the other guys there had to pay 300 and 500 gil, and Johnny had to pay the same as Cloud, meaning that Johnny is a cool guy.

I always read the English line as, while she charged exorbitant prices to the other guys, she gave Johnny a flower AND 1 gil, because he's that pathetic. But that probably makes more sense :P
 

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
Thanks for dropping by here. I say make your videos as long as you want, and if Kotaku doesn't want all of it, we'll be happy to promote the rest.
 

Lex

Administrator
Or host it! :D

Welcome to the board - as you can probably tell by the posts in this thread, we're really enjoying this series. While we've discussed the translation and its nuances before, your videos really offer something unique in how you're applying the perspective of specific parts of Japanese culture which really give them context they lack in English (an example I'm thinking of is when you explained the "specific type of creep" (grabber) in an earlier video). Much appreciated.

Wall Market, Shinra HQ and the Kalm Flashback are all pretty iconic so in terms of general interest even from people who like VII a bit more casually than most I don't think you can go wrong with what you choose to cover in the next video. I'm looking forward to it regardless of what you choose to focus on :)

With that in mind you are very welcome here, and I hope you'll stick around to post and join in on some of the VII discussions if you feel like it!
 

Pixel

The Pixie King
Oh yeah, the guy outside honey bee with spiky hair. Probably not interesting enough to make the cut, but seemed odd
&#12300;&#12354;&#12435;&#12384;&#12424;&#65281;&#65281;&#12288;&#12390;&#12417;&#12540;&#65281;&#65281;
&#12288;&#12415;&#12379;&#12418;&#12435;&#12376;&#12419;&#12397;&#12360;&#12382;&#65281;&#65281;
&#12288;&#12458;&#12524;&#12399;&#12289;&#12356;&#12414;&#12356;&#12381;&#12364;&#12375;&#12356;&#12435;&#12384;&#12424;&#65281;&#65281;&#12301;<New>
What the hell!! You *%^&!! This ain't no #$*&^% show!! I'm busy right now!!
&#12300;&#12499;&#12531;&#12499;&#12531;&#12395;&#24863;&#12376;&#12390;&#12435;&#12384;&#12424;&#65281;&#65281;
&#12288;&#25126;&#12356;&#12398;&#20104;&#24863;&#12387;&#12390;&#12420;&#12388;&#12434;&#12424;&#65281;&#65281;&#12301;<End>
I'm feelin' like there's gonna be a fight!!
Something like &#8220;Tough guy, ey!? Looks like we&#8217;ve got ourselves some competition!!&#8221;
 

Flare

Pro Adventurer
AKA
Flare
So I never actually watched these til now, and I must say, 108 you sure do know how to make translating dialogue into very amusing videos, I frickin' love your voice :awesome:
Just generally fun and interesting videos to watch, I'm looking forward to more! Thanks for creating these ^_^
 

108

Rookie Adventurer
Hey buds! I'm back. I wanted to ask permission to use this image

https://thelifestream.net/wp-content/uploads/tifasorthopedicunderwear.jpg

I think I nailed the orthopedic underwear segment!! It's got a good joke. The script is done and I'm going to edit the video all night. I thank you guys twice in there!!

Judging by the script, this video is going to be about thirty minutes long . . . heh yeahhhHHHHHHHHHHH I think the ending is straight-up hilarious. I am excited to record the voiceover . . . I am going to give myself a little bit of distance before I do so, because once the recording begins, I'll go into Finish It Now Mode.

Man, I really wish I coulda done a video each on Wall Market, Shinra, and Kalm.

I am gonna do a two-hour livestream *just* going through Wall Market in Japanese. So that's gonna be fun!!! I might do that the week after next.
 

Pixel

The Pixie King
Help yourself to any images or resources hosted here.

Can't wait for this. And hopefully Im not working when you do the livestream. Otherwise Im sure I'll catch the archive version, if there is one.
 

fancy

pants
AKA
Fancy
*Starts up 108 Harem Fanclub* :megusta:

Ah! As Flare said, I&#8217;ve only just gotten around to watching this series and just those three videos released has gushing with fandom feels and good vibes. This is so, so cool! I think my favourite bit has been the unveiling of the depth that each Japanese dialogue gives these characters, especially to someone like Barret, who comes across as a much more chil, hardened, cool guy with his Japanese dialogue. That difference between him saying, &#8220;Stop actin&#8217; like a damn kid. Si&#8217;down an&#8217; shu&#8217;up! And, &#8221;You are not a child. Be cool.&#8221; for example. Just ah! Learning that gives me all the chills and thrills. Dunno, you just get the sense of someone who has been through the ropes and is a little tired, but pushes on because this is what he HAS to do for the Planet. Even more so than with his English dialogue. Love it!

Count me as another fan of your voice delivery in these vids xD. Even reading your little musings via the posts you&#8217;ve made in this thread has been exciting/eye opening.

Anyway, I&#8217;ll stop gushing all over you now, lmao. I do hope you consider letting the TLS host/promote more of this series because what I&#8217;ve seen so far has made my whole week. Kudos! :glomp:
 

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
X
Hey buds! I'm back. I wanted to ask permission to use this image

https://thelifestream.net/wp-content/uploads/tifasorthopedicunderwear.jpg

I think I nailed the orthopedic underwear segment!! It's got a good joke. The script is done and I'm going to edit the video all night. I thank you guys twice in there!!

I'm the one who took that image, so please go for it. The same goes for any of those images that you like. I'm just absolutely glad that the cache of screenshots that I pulled from the 4th disc so many years back is finally gonna make its way into something bigger. :D

I can't wait to see how this is gonna turn out.





X :neo:
 

Fangu

Great Old One
I have to say, I nerdgasmd all over these videos because as someone (well close to) bilingual, I know how translation isn't really as much about language, but culture. These videos are gems, because you rarely see 'translation' analysis of this depth, or, well, at least not in my corners of the Internet :P

Really looking forward to watching the next one, thanks X!
 
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