SnK: Joshua is kind of a prick
Aug. 26th, 2018 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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noronoronotesOn vacation from translating for TotR! I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to use my free time to roll through my video game backlog. By which I mean, I'm actually ignoring the giant pile of new games I just bought in order to replay Trails, overflowing with hype for Sen IV next month. This is a very practical replay that is in no way going to take me many years to complete.
The Trails series is a pretty beloved niche JRPG series these days, and English fandom seems equally intense about both the games and the localizing company. Justifiably, since XSEED does really great work and the games are such a massive undertaking. When I read a line differently than the official English version I generally assume it's me rather than them. That being said--holy shit, Joshua is an ass in English. Doing the side-by-side, I'm actually a little taken aback that I managed to like not just the romance that is the pivotal part of Sora 1-2 but Joshua... at all...
The localizer, whose job I 500% do not envy, surmounts a Very Japanese argument between Estelle and Joshua about whether she's the older sister or not by changing it to a discussion about her being the "woman of the house." This made me cringe, a lot, although I can see why they did it. After their play-argument they go down to breakfast where Joshua mentions their final exam to become Bracers. Estelle has, naturally, forgotten. Joshua is exasperated by the two airheads he lives with and says:
Holy shit, Joshua, chill! She just forgot a test. This is one of those translation quibbles I have where people tend to get tetchy about the justice of the official version. It's clear that the official translator understood the line, and they wrote a good natural-sounding translation. It's also possible that the Japanese tone is a lot more contemptuous than I'd have guessed. But most likely our difference here is that even two native speakers of a language are going to respond differently to the same words based on their own background and personal experience. If I saw a guy talking like that to a chick, joking or not, I'd absolutely believe the contempt is real. By contrast the Japanese line feels more fondly exasperated to me; he's complaining about how laid back both Estelle and Cassius are, as the token uptight member of the family.
Of course, later in the prologue I can see more of WHY Joshua seems to think Estelle is too stupid to function. They head into Rolent for their Bracer exam and Estelle is complaining about having to do more tests after they'd just finished school. Joshua encourages her, saying:
Apparently Estelle is so stupid that she literally forgot she wanted to be a Bracer. That sure makes Joshua's annoyance make a lot more sense, though he's still kind of shitty and PA in acting like this is all Estelle's idea. Joshua, of course, also made the choice to try to become a Bracer himself. Pinning this all on Estelle here is a weirdly obnoxious move.
Anyway, these are tiny tonal tweaks where I'm just not on the same page as the official translation. Joshua feels surprisingly more condescending to me in the English, and Estelle feels dense to the point where I think it undercuts her motivations. Oof.
The Trails series is a pretty beloved niche JRPG series these days, and English fandom seems equally intense about both the games and the localizing company. Justifiably, since XSEED does really great work and the games are such a massive undertaking. When I read a line differently than the official English version I generally assume it's me rather than them. That being said--holy shit, Joshua is an ass in English. Doing the side-by-side, I'm actually a little taken aback that I managed to like not just the romance that is the pivotal part of Sora 1-2 but Joshua... at all...
The localizer, whose job I 500% do not envy, surmounts a Very Japanese argument between Estelle and Joshua about whether she's the older sister or not by changing it to a discussion about her being the "woman of the house." This made me cringe, a lot, although I can see why they did it. After their play-argument they go down to breakfast where Joshua mentions their final exam to become Bracers. Estelle has, naturally, forgotten. Joshua is exasperated by the two airheads he lives with and says:
| Original JP | Rough | Official Eng |
| はあ、君って子は… ノンキというか、そそっかしいというか。 | Honestly, you... I don't know if I should call you carefree, or just careless. | I honestly don't know how you've survived this long, Estelle. Your brain is like a sieve. |
Holy shit, Joshua, chill! She just forgot a test. This is one of those translation quibbles I have where people tend to get tetchy about the justice of the official version. It's clear that the official translator understood the line, and they wrote a good natural-sounding translation. It's also possible that the Japanese tone is a lot more contemptuous than I'd have guessed. But most likely our difference here is that even two native speakers of a language are going to respond differently to the same words based on their own background and personal experience. If I saw a guy talking like that to a chick, joking or not, I'd absolutely believe the contempt is real. By contrast the Japanese line feels more fondly exasperated to me; he's complaining about how laid back both Estelle and Cassius are, as the token uptight member of the family.
Of course, later in the prologue I can see more of WHY Joshua seems to think Estelle is too stupid to function. They head into Rolent for their Bracer exam and Estelle is complaining about having to do more tests after they'd just finished school. Joshua encourages her, saying:
| Original JP | Rough | Official Eng |
| 好きで志望したんだからこのくらいは苦労して当然だよ。 | You're pursuing what you wanted. It's only natural that it's hard work. | Truth be told though, you're the one who signed up to be a bracer in the first place, so I don't know why you'd expect to get away with any less effort. |
| それもそっか。 | Wellll, that's true. | Oh yeah, I guess I did... |
Apparently Estelle is so stupid that she literally forgot she wanted to be a Bracer. That sure makes Joshua's annoyance make a lot more sense, though he's still kind of shitty and PA in acting like this is all Estelle's idea. Joshua, of course, also made the choice to try to become a Bracer himself. Pinning this all on Estelle here is a weirdly obnoxious move.
Anyway, these are tiny tonal tweaks where I'm just not on the same page as the official translation. Joshua feels surprisingly more condescending to me in the English, and Estelle feels dense to the point where I think it undercuts her motivations. Oof.
