Hiku said:
So you mean if they say "watashi wa hambaaga wo" (I hamburger 'wo' = indicating that the previous word is a noun), you want the text to say "I hamburger", and not "I will eat a hamburger"? (Which it actually means/implies.)
I can only guess this is because you want to know exactly what each spoken word means? But assuming you have no interest in learning the language, that seems a bit strange?
Though you can learn what words mean by hearing them used in repeated sentences, and figuring out how they're constructed. Not as straight forward, but like with anything, if you hear it enough, you'll start to understand bit by bit.
Personally, I prefer to get the story that the original author wrote, as translations can be quite different. But on top of that, I almost always prefer the performance of Japanese voice actors in Japanese type media. But I can certainly understand the preferance of hearing things in your native language as well.
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Fire Emblem Fates had a song, and it was dubbed fine. I'm a musician. I understand music. The actual lyric translation isn't difficult at all. People have been translating music for literally centuries. The only difficulty is in casting someone who can sing and act, and people with both skills are a dime a dozen. Very many voice actors are trained singers.
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I'm not a musician, but the songs I'm thinking of off the top of my head that have been translated in videogames from Japanese to English have had completely different lyrics.
Let's take one of the most famous ones as an example. Utada Hikaru's Simple and Clean/Hikari (Light) for Kingdom Hearts.
Simple and Clean's first three verses:
When you walk away
You don't hear me say,
"Please, oh baby, don't go."
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight
It's hard to let it go
You're giving me too many things
Lately, you're all I need.
You smiled at me and said,
"Don't get me wrong, I love you,
But does that mean I have to meet your father?"
When we are older you'll understand
What I meant when I said,
"No, I don't think life is quite that simple"
Hikari's first verse:
No matter what the time
I'm just alone
Destiny forgotten,
Even though I kept going.
Inside of the sudden light I awaken
In the middle of the night
Quietly, stand in the exit way,
And, in the pitch-black, take the light
And about the recent promises, is it just that I'm so anxious?
A wish that's wanting to be said, but shall be repressed
I'll introduce my family,
You'll surely get along well
These lyrics may not be important to a game though. Neither of these seem to have much to do with Kingdom Hearts for example. But in a game that revolves much around music, it could be that the original lyrics are some times related to the story.
| I think that voice acting has come a long way since the 90s, and specifically looking at the voice acting in SMT4, it's some of the best VA I've ever listened to in a japanese game, if not then the best. I thought Persona 4's was much campier, but it was still very good. I was actually looking forward to this dub specifically because their track record with voice casting has been very good. |
It certainly has. SMT4 featured a VA I like, Mathew Mercer (Walter). While Persona 4 had some of my favorites. Johnny Yong Bosch (Yu) and Yuri Lowenthal (Yosuke).
Some of the best English voice acting for Japanese games for me is Metal Gear Solid 1, Xenosaga: Episode 1, and Tales of the Abyss.
Incidentally, both Johnny Yong Bosch and Yuri Lowenthal were featured in Tales of the Abyss, along with the English voice actor of Jade, who just nailed that role perfectly.
But because the top English VA's are relatively few (compared to Japan) it can get tiersome to hear the same voice actor voice different characters in the same game series, two games in a row.
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No, what I mean is that I don't mind if the dubbed translation isn't accurate, because I'm 100% sure that what I'm reading what I'm listening to. With localization, the intent isn't to remain true to the text, but to capture the relative intent of the narrative. The better and more natural the localization, the father the text strays from what is literally being said.
For example, in the japanese version, there would be a joke that doesn't translate well in english. A good localization would completely change the joke to something that is funny and relatable to the new audience. With a japanese dub, you're still hearing the old joke but reading a new joke. This kind of clash of what's written vs. what's actually said happens constantly in subs, and that drives my up the wall. At that point, they could be saying literally anything any it wouldn't matter because you wouldn't understand it. To me, you may as well be listening to someone speak english in reverse. It's the same thing because you are listening to what is essentially gibberish.
That's why I said that if I wanted to hear Japanese dubs, I'd learn Japanese. At least that way, I'd be able to ignore the text and actually immerse myself in the intracacies and subtleties of the language and performances that no one could possibly ever grasp without actually knowing the language.
I think that's Kingdom Hearts example wouldn't happen with this game, because the songs are so integral to the narrative. The localization team would be translating these songs with that in mind, so they very likely would not mess something like that up. That doesn't mean that the translation would be literal, though. It shouldn't be, but it would be a translation that would adequately serve the localized script, which is all it would need to be.
I do agree with your sentiments on hearing the same VA cast over and over, but at this point I'd much rather hear Yuri play main male protag #56 than suffer through an entire 20+ hours japanese dub that I don't understand. So much so that I'm actually considering learning japanese so that I can actually ignore subs altogether when I'm forced to hear them as is the case here.
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