The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
Your mom was in the trailer with a dude.
Significant Differences Between English and Japanese
- Thread starter tobakudan
- Start date
LicoriceAllsorts
Donator
Tobakudan, can I ask you something?
In chapter 5, when Cloud, Tifa and Barret are making their way through the spiral tunnel, the scene switches to Heidegger and his grunts having a discusson about Avalanche.
Heidegger. "Born survivors, these sewer rats. Speaking of which, where is the third?"
Subordinate. "In custody, sir."
Heidegger. "Return it to the wild."
However, when Cloud and Tifa find Barret, he's fighting Shinra security forces and the grenadier says, "It's the three who jumped from the train. Don't let any of them escape," so he obviously didn't get the memo.
Are either of the lines I bolded a translation error? "In custody" means the target has already been captured and subdued, which isn't what has happened with Barret.
Or - and this would be nice - are we meant to understand that Subordinate is lying to his boss, telling Heidegger what he thinks Heidegger wants to hear, allowing Heidegger to think the third terrorist is already in custody, when the reality is that security is still trying to take him into custody?
In chapter 5, when Cloud, Tifa and Barret are making their way through the spiral tunnel, the scene switches to Heidegger and his grunts having a discusson about Avalanche.
Heidegger. "Born survivors, these sewer rats. Speaking of which, where is the third?"
Subordinate. "In custody, sir."
Heidegger. "Return it to the wild."
However, when Cloud and Tifa find Barret, he's fighting Shinra security forces and the grenadier says, "It's the three who jumped from the train. Don't let any of them escape," so he obviously didn't get the memo.
Are either of the lines I bolded a translation error? "In custody" means the target has already been captured and subdued, which isn't what has happened with Barret.
Or - and this would be nice - are we meant to understand that Subordinate is lying to his boss, telling Heidegger what he thinks Heidegger wants to hear, allowing Heidegger to think the third terrorist is already in custody, when the reality is that security is still trying to take him into custody?
Maidenofwar
They/Them
Scene I was thinking of when Aerith asks Cloud
then Cloud says
and Aerith says
and Cloud
apparently in other languages Aerith doesn't say
Also apparently Barret's
when Cloud mentions
is really
or something like that with Barret's follow up line basically meaning
by it, EN is
is Tifa girlfriend?
no
buut someone special right? *points up*
"it's not like that"
"but someone special right?" she says "you're angry/annoyed" basically the meaning is you're fired up or something.
Also apparently Barret's
"That Ancient girl really knows her stuff"
Aerith showed him a way before
"Pays to have a Ancient girlfriend huh?
he didn't mean any harm
when he says that Ancient girl really knows her stuff he follows up with "Didn't mean nothing by it
LicoriceAllsorts
Donator
Ancient girl really 'knows her stuff' nudge nudge wink wink.
Kratos
Pro Adventurer
Almost all of those carry the same nuance - the only one that’s different is Barrett’s “girlfriend” line. Even his follow-up line to that is the same...although ironically, it actually doesn’t make a ton of sense as a response without the girlfriend bit to get Cloud flustered. Unless @LicoriceAllsorts is right and “knows her stuff” is an innuendo, but that would be a weird thing for Barrett to do.
LicoriceAllsorts
Donator
I was joking
SailorStarDust
Kept you waiting, huh?
- AKA
- SSD
To clarify, I meant "bitchy" in the colloquialism sense. I personally find it crappy because already Tifa gets a bad rap by some fans, you know? But then again, some fans felt Aerith was a "creepy stalker" in Remake so I don't know if it's the ADR direction of the English dub, or what? Question marks??? Seriously, what are people getting such a reading from?? FF (and AC too) games tend to come across as quite flat in English dubs even when voiced by really good actors, so I'm forever confused and disappointed.
Then again, I've always been a weeb fangirl, so Maaya Sakamoto, Ayumi Ito and company really knocked it out of the park for me. I just never saw either girl in terms of the hate they get (or any Jessie hate that might be happening), hence my confusion.
On a different note, I was absolutely confused about the Biggs stuff/"in custody" too so far that I brought it up in a spoiler discussion thread (about to check the replies to that).
No no, there wasn't anything wrong with it, I was commenting that and dubbed Midgar Blues amused me. It's just funny to me, like when 90's anime dubs would go as far as dubbing in a dog barking. Similar feel. The JP Midgar Blues is great since it really hits home the "CloTi" (I forget the English lyrics, though).
Then again, I've always been a weeb fangirl, so Maaya Sakamoto, Ayumi Ito and company really knocked it out of the park for me. I just never saw either girl in terms of the hate they get (or any Jessie hate that might be happening), hence my confusion.
On a different note, I was absolutely confused about the Biggs stuff/"in custody" too so far that I brought it up in a spoiler discussion thread (about to check the replies to that).
No no, there wasn't anything wrong with it, I was commenting that and dubbed Midgar Blues amused me. It's just funny to me, like when 90's anime dubs would go as far as dubbing in a dog barking. Similar feel. The JP Midgar Blues is great since it really hits home the "CloTi" (I forget the English lyrics, though).
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tobakudan
Rookie Adventurer
You're right to feel weird about this part; I did too when I played it in Japanese. The Japanese word is 捕捉, which means to capture. "In custody" is too strong. But even the Japanese word seems on the strong side because, as you point out, Barret is still fighting. The word is being used loosely, to mean something like that they have Barret surrounded. After that, Heidegger says ２匹と合流させろ, which means "make him (Barret) join/meet up with the two of them (Cloud and Tifa)." This is confusing because what, then, was the purpose of capturing Barret? Supposedly Heidegger's grand plan is to destroy them with the Crab Warden, but this isn't indicated clearly so you're kinda left thinking wtf?
Theozilla
Kaiju Member
I’m pretty sure Heidegger’s grand plan was to always have the Airbuster “execute” the three. Not the Crab Warden (which was a retired mech). I think they surrounded/captured Barret initially because Heidegger didn’t want the three to be separated and he needed to “herd” them along, but without the trio realizing they were being herded.
tobakudan
Rookie Adventurer
The reason I think that was Heidegger's plan was because he clearly looks frustrated after they defeat the Crab Warden. Then the president calls, as if something went wrong, and Heidegger pivots by claiming that he got interesting data. That's when he decides that he will destroy them via other means.
Theozilla
Kaiju Member
Except IIRC the Airbuster was already in construction before the Crab Warden was woken up/destroyed. And a major point of Heidegger's plan was that Avalanche's "execution" be broadcasted which wasn't happening during the Crab Warden fight. I think the frustration with the Crab Warden was more that the explosion caused by its destruction destroyed many security cameras and communication tools involved in the Airbuster operation.
tobakudan
Rookie Adventurer
Hmm. That's not how it comes across to me, but I'm not super confident that my perspective is right either. Oh well
Theozilla
Kaiju Member
Hmmm, I went back and watched the Chapter 5 cutscenes, it's kinda unclear either way. Since Heidegger says to prepare the "prototype", which seems to be referring to the Airbuster, since the Crab Warden is an old model. But they also describe it as being in Section E which is where the Crab Warden is encountered. And after the Crab Warden is destroyed they discuss how there was an "anomaly" during the "test", is that referring to the Airbuster or the Crab Warden? Is this maybe a case of a awkward translation or is the phrasing unclear in Japanese too?
Anyways in either scenario I this still has the same implications for why Heidegger "released" Barret, he either wanted Barret to be soundly crushed by either the Crab Warden or the Aribuster along with Cloud and Tifa, so Heidegger was "herding" in either case.
The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
Could be that she's referring to
Seph having Jenova's body assume his form now rather than the #2 copy guy -- though I'll admit your take seems to fit well with Aerith's commentary a moment later that "everything about" this Seph is wrong.
Dark and Divine
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- D&D
The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
You get a ? for this reference.Sephiroth and his Armada
Wol
None Shall Remember Those Who Do Not Fight
- AKA
- Rosarian Shield
This' new' Seph shows interest in protecting the planet, that's why she is confused, she only knows the usual destructive Seph (based on her knowledge about the future). My 2 cents.
Theozilla
Kaiju Member
Technically this is more about the OG game, but I thought this thread on Twitter gives a lot of really interesting insight on how English/Japanese translation works, especially in regards to the importance of context (like I never knew Aerith's "my bad" line in in the church had a completely different meaning), and how even "literal translations" aren't completely literal either.
tobakudan
Rookie Adventurer
Good stuff
SailorStarDust
Kept you waiting, huh?
- AKA
- SSD
Was The Sauce still The Sauce?
Late reply is stupidly late, but if you're actually curious/asking, The Sauce was hilariously, あれ(as, in "that!")
youffie
Pro Adventurer
So, slightly unrelated, but as I said a few times I’ve been working in videogame localization for two years now. Last year I worked on my first Japanese game; I do not know Japanese, our source text was the English translation, though there was a guy in our team who knew Japanese, which helped. This is not ideal, as working from the actual source language should always be preferable, in my opinion, but as far as I can tell from my limited experience, most non-English games just pass through English and then get translated to other languages from there. I don’t know if it’s because it’s cheaper or faster or both, but it is what it is.
Anyway, the thing is, apparently the English was heavily rewritten after our translation, to the point they might even add a disclaimer to warn players of notable differences, as the other languages now follow the Japanese more closely than the English. Which is pretty hilarious if you think about how these translations came to be in the first place.
I have no idea whether FFVIIR was translated from English or Japanese into the other languages (I should look at the Italian translation more closely, I usually can tell if they’re borrowing structures from English), but I do wonder if these heavy rewrites are becoming a trend in localization, at least for the English versions. For better or worse.
(Btw, I think the English localization for Remake was generally phenomenal and if it was half a pain in the ass as this project of mine was it’s a miracle it got done at all.)
Anyway, the thing is, apparently the English was heavily rewritten after our translation, to the point they might even add a disclaimer to warn players of notable differences, as the other languages now follow the Japanese more closely than the English. Which is pretty hilarious if you think about how these translations came to be in the first place.
I have no idea whether FFVIIR was translated from English or Japanese into the other languages (I should look at the Italian translation more closely, I usually can tell if they’re borrowing structures from English), but I do wonder if these heavy rewrites are becoming a trend in localization, at least for the English versions. For better or worse.
(Btw, I think the English localization for Remake was generally phenomenal and if it was half a pain in the ass as this project of mine was it’s a miracle it got done at all.)
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