Future Games and Name Changes

[Forsaken Lover]

So a guy on SomethingAwful's forums who speaks Japanese is very harshly critical o the English localization of XIII. Apparently, it's too literal. The point of translation he says, is NOT to just transfer everything said in Japanese to English because not everything said in Japanese would sound good in English. Even if XIII was well-written, it might sound really forced and unnatural once changed into our language.

This got me thinking about the exchange that went something like...
Snow *to Hope: We gotta have hope!
Hope: We don't have any!

I think a first-grader can see the problem with this dialogue and, indeed, the general problem of using foreign words as exotic naming.

Sound familiar, FF fans? Tina or Terra?

The problem is that it isn't the same world as back in the 90s. We were all too young and too ignorant of the fact the games we loved were made on the other side of the world and they were originally in another language. Hell, this even worked for anime too. Pokemon? Nobody cared then and few people care now that Ash Ketchum is actually Satoshi.

But times change. We're a more informed people. And with that informed state came a lot of people who don't take kindly to meddling with the translation beyond a certain point. Any change, big or small, can be viewed as a BETAYAL to these people.

And so I ask you these two little questions.

1. What if the mai character of FFXVI had a name like Hope? It's a name here sure but it's also a word - a word that would be brought up quite frequently in a story about saving the world and never giving up. Let's say for the sake of argument the main character's name is Life. Would you be supportive of changing that name for foreign translations?

2. Regardless of what your feelings are on the matter, do you think Square-Enix of America would have the nerve to change names nowadays? Would they let Life slide because they don't want to risk pissing off the more informed fanbase?

[Quindiana Jones]

I used to watch anime dubbed, but then I had to move onto subbed out of necessity. Ended up rewatching everything I'd seen but subbed, because it was so much better in every way.

Languages function in different ways. Certainly, there is a lot of overlap between English and Germanic languages, and English and Latin languages. As such, direct translations rarely sound all too shabby between these countries, I find. But when it comes to languages that have absolutely no common ground in any capacity, direct translations are rarely effective and lose a lot of meaning. Ideally, the script would be written twice or more by different native speakers, but governed by the same principles and directors, but that would be expensive and time-consuming, so I'm not too surprised it doesn't happen. xD

[Mercen-X]

I don't understand people's utter obsession with subtitles. More often than not, IMO, the subtitles read much more ridiculous than the American dub. Just because the voice actors possibly don't sound as cool as the Japanese voice actors (for example, Logan in the recent Wolverine anime). I can't stomach the subtitles sometimes just so I can hear the original Japanese characterization.

As for character names... I don't know.

[Shauna]

Apparently, it's too literal. The point of translation he says, is NOT to just transfer everything said in Japanese to English because not everything said in Japanese would sound good in English. Even if XIII was well-written, it might sound really forced and unnatural once changed into our language.

That's why they have a localisation team. Translation, followed up by localisation to make it sound more natural in the translated language. I honestly did not find any issue FF13's dialogue.

For an example of fantastic localisation, you need look no further than the Ace Attorney games. Things that were jokes in Japanese are made into jokes that people in the West can understand.