tobakudan
Rookie Adventurer
On my first time through the game I played with Japanese audio (speech) and English text (subtitles, menu, etc.). I actually tried to make the text Japanese too, but for whatever reason I wasn't able to find a way to do this in the settings. I changed the language setting to Japanese, but the text remained English.
Anyhow, this turned out to be interesting because the Japanese and English are often very different. The translators took a lot of liberty, as I'm sure they were instructed to. This is in contrast to the original FFVII, in which translations tended to attempt to stick to the original meaning to the point of being a bit too rigid, and where there were differences they were often translation errors. In the remake, the English text is often completely different in meaning from the Japanese yet communicates a similar emotion that the particular scene wants to convey. It's as if the translators were told to prioritize communicating the emotion present in each scene rather than the literal meaning of what is being said. Also, it probably goes without saying, but the quality of the translation is magnitudes better than the original. I can only remember seeing one clear mistake.
I'm currently playing it a second time on hard mode with English speech. I'm noticing that the differences in the quality of a voice can also totally change the impression of what's being said, even if the English and Japanese are practically equivalent in meaning. So far I can only think of one clear example, and that's Tifa. Her Japanese voice has a tinge of maturity (especially relative to Aerith) yet still retains an sense of being young and cute. This matches a lot of the body language she displays, especially in the Sector 7 slums. In my opinion, this is lost in the English voice. She sounds motherly and middle-aged, and as a result her physical appearance, facial expressions, and body language feel dissonant. I saw in another thread that many people seem to like Tifa's mature English voice, so I might be the odd one out and my point here isn't to criticize; just pointing out what I thought to be an interesting difference.
I'm hoping that eventually somebody will make a video series comparing the Japanese and English, something like the "Let's Mosey: A Slow Translation Of Final Fantasy VII" created by Tim Rogers (that series was godlike, btw). In fact I might be interested, although I would probably be unable to pull it alone.
Anybody else play in both languages and notice interesting differences?
(For those wondering, I'm an American born and raised in Japan, so I'm fluent in both languages and work as a translator.)
Anyhow, this turned out to be interesting because the Japanese and English are often very different. The translators took a lot of liberty, as I'm sure they were instructed to. This is in contrast to the original FFVII, in which translations tended to attempt to stick to the original meaning to the point of being a bit too rigid, and where there were differences they were often translation errors. In the remake, the English text is often completely different in meaning from the Japanese yet communicates a similar emotion that the particular scene wants to convey. It's as if the translators were told to prioritize communicating the emotion present in each scene rather than the literal meaning of what is being said. Also, it probably goes without saying, but the quality of the translation is magnitudes better than the original. I can only remember seeing one clear mistake.
I'm currently playing it a second time on hard mode with English speech. I'm noticing that the differences in the quality of a voice can also totally change the impression of what's being said, even if the English and Japanese are practically equivalent in meaning. So far I can only think of one clear example, and that's Tifa. Her Japanese voice has a tinge of maturity (especially relative to Aerith) yet still retains an sense of being young and cute. This matches a lot of the body language she displays, especially in the Sector 7 slums. In my opinion, this is lost in the English voice. She sounds motherly and middle-aged, and as a result her physical appearance, facial expressions, and body language feel dissonant. I saw in another thread that many people seem to like Tifa's mature English voice, so I might be the odd one out and my point here isn't to criticize; just pointing out what I thought to be an interesting difference.
I'm hoping that eventually somebody will make a video series comparing the Japanese and English, something like the "Let's Mosey: A Slow Translation Of Final Fantasy VII" created by Tim Rogers (that series was godlike, btw). In fact I might be interested, although I would probably be unable to pull it alone.
Anybody else play in both languages and notice interesting differences?
(For those wondering, I'm an American born and raised in Japan, so I'm fluent in both languages and work as a translator.)
. In Chapter 17 when they're separated, Cloud calls them "the others" in EN but in JP he always says "Tifa-tachi". It's a cute little detail.
No, actually, I prefer this. It feels more like the Tifa thing to say to me