Trauma Center: Second Opinion - Patient Names

Second Opinion is a game that involves playing as an amateur surgeon. In the Japanese version of the game, the events take place in Japan, but in the English localisation the setting of game is the USA. The majority of the gameplay involves operating on a patient, and before each surgery the above briefing screen appears and introduces the patient. Given the switch of setting, these details required localising rather than just translating. At first, I presumed this equated to giving the game's generic Japanese names English equivalents. In the case above, Matsuo Tanaka was changed to Kevin Turk. It also makes sense that for the patients' height and weight, the metric system is ditched in favour of the US system. However, caught my eye is that the translator was aware that the average body measurements between Japan and the United States differ, and therefore needed to be tweaked. I imagine this is an aspect that could easily be overlooked, but in this case, the translator increased the weight and height of the patient to create an image closer to that of a typical American citizen. To be precise, the US patient is approximately five kilograms heavier and fifteen centimeters taller than his Japanese counterpart. Great work!

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Localisation Review (8)

This is an entry in a series of posts looking at the localisation of the first chapter of the game, Phoenix Ace: Ace Attorney. You can find the first post here. Thanks for reading!

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	Japanese	English
Phoenix 1	日本で午後４時のとき、向こうでは前日の午前２時。時計で見れば、その差はちょうど、２時間になります！	When it's 4:00 PM here, it's 1:00 AM the next day there. The clock wasn't three hours slow, it was nine hours fast!

1. The translation of the second sentence is different. The Japanese literally reads, "Judging by the clock, that time gap is two hours exactly." This can be more naturally conveyed as, "The clock shows that the time difference is exactly two hours." The English strays from the structure of the Japanese but nonetheless carries out the same purpose of precisely defining the time difference. Moreover, it is a more resounding statement because it corrects the previous assumption, and then spells out the true way to interpret the time difference.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Localisation Review (7)

This is an entry in a series of posts looking at the localisation of the first chapter of the game, Phoenix Ace: Ace Attorney. You can find the first post here. Thanks for reading!

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	Japanese	English
Sawhit 1	うるせえんだよ！細かいことをぐちぐちと！あ、アイツだ‥‥！オレは見たんだよ‥‥。し、死刑だ！あの男に、死刑を‥‥！	Shutupshutupshutup! I hate you! I-it was him, I tell you! I saw him! H-he killed her and he should burn! Burn! Give him death!

1. This sentence is translated very freely. In the Japanese, after telling Phoenix to shut up, Sawhit then express his irritation at Phoenix complaining over little details (i.e. flaws in his testimony). The English realigns with the Japanese for, "I-it was him, I tell you! I saw him!" but then takes a more extreme turn. In the Japanese, Sawhit simply twice demands for Larry be given the death penalty. I would offer an alternative translation of, "The death sentence! Give him the death sentence!" I don't think I agree with the English localisation because it is diverges greatly from Sawhit's original Japanese characterisation and instead portrays him as a very exaggerated figure.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Localisation Review (6)

This is an entry in a series of posts looking at the localisation of the first chapter of the game, Phoenix Ace: Ace Attorney. You can find the first post here. Thanks for reading!

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	Japanese	English
Payne 1	この置物は、証人の言うとおり、実は置き時計なんです。首がスイッチになっていまして、 時間をアナウンスするタイプです。	As the witness stated, this statue is indeed a clock. The neck is a switch. You just tilt it, and it says the time out loud.
Payne 2	時計には見えないので、<<置物>>として提出したんです‥‥。	As it doesn't look like a clock, I submitted it as a statue. My apologies.

1. This is a strange one. The Japanese contains not much information about how one would get the clock to announce the time. The fact that, "you just tilt it" for it to announce the time is completely new information, yet it is somewhat strange that the Japanese lacks this detail since the clock announcing the time is such an key part of the case. It's conceivable that Japanese players would logically assume that the clock announces the time when tilted, but there would be other ways to interact with the neck that could conceivably make it announce the time, such as pushing it or pulling it. I much prefer the English translation as it clears up this slight confusion, and also alludes to way Sawhit swung the clock when he used it as the murder weapon.

2. This is another strange one. Simply, the English sentence of apology isn't present in the Japanese. Indeed, the "...." ending to previous sentence suggests Payne feels justified in his actions, and therefore without reason to apologise. Within this context, the English makes sense if it represents Payne just making a glib apology. Alternatively, it could've been added to help show Payne drawing a line under the issue. Either way, I am not convinced that this addition was necessary.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Localisation Review (5)

This is an entry in a series of posts looking at the localisation of the first chapter of the game, Phoenix Ace: Ace Attorney. You can find the first post here. Thanks for reading!

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	Japanese	English
Judge 1	では、弁護人。<<尋問>>をおねがいします。	Mr. Wright, you may cross-examine the witness.

1. This is an example of good culturally aware non-literal translation. In the Japanese, the judge literally says, "Now Mr. Wright, please cross-examine the witness." Just by the the little courtroom knowledge I have acquired from courtroom scenes in television shows, I know that it is more common for a judge to give a lawyer permission to cross-examine a witness. A comparison of the number of search hits for these two sentences further confirms this point.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Localisation Review (4)

This is an entry in a series of posts looking at the localisation of the first chapter of the game, Phoenix Ace: Ace Attorney. You can find the first post here. Thanks for reading!

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	Japanese	English
Phoenix 1	しかし、それはおかしいんですよ。この解剖記録のデータと、あきらかにムジュンしています。	Frankly, I find that hard to believe! Your statement directly contradicts the autopsy report.
Phoenix 2	被害者が死んだのは、午後４時より後なんです。２時に死体を見つけられるはずは、ゼッタイにありません！	The autopsy notes the time of death at sometime after 4PM. There was nobody to... er… no "body" to find at 1:00 PM!

1. The first sentence in the Japanese and English seem to carry a different emotional weight. In the Japanese, Phoenix plainly states, "However, that's strange", before following up with his reason. The English however is much more confrontational and emotionally charged. I can come up with two possible ideas for this difference. First, perhaps as part of the overall localisation of Phoenix's character they wanted to inject him with a bit more spunk than his character in the Japanese version. Alternatively, this more confrontational style was chosen to better convey the atmosphere in an American courtroom. I have no legal background, so I am unable to comment on how courtroom speech patterns differ between Japan and the USA, but my instincts tell me that the former is likely probably more polite/restrained, and the latter more brash/heated.

2. Leaving aside the matter of time difference (which has already been discussed in my second post in this series), this line is one of the stranger script differences. In the second sentence of the Japanese, Phoenix clearly and plainly states, "There is no way a dead body/corpse could have been found at 2PM." In contrast, the English contains a strange kind of pun that makes Phoenix look somewhat goofy. To facilitate this change, even Phoenix's animation while speaking was changed, which is rare. This kind of slightly goofy characterisation of Phoenix could have been targeted from the outset, but it still strikes me as curious as why this script change occurred at this particular moment. I wonder if the translator simply happened to come up with this joke on the spot, and just decided to insert it.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Localisation Review (3)

This is an entry in a series of posts looking at the localisation of the first chapter of the game, Phoenix Ace: Ace Attorney. You can find the first post here. Thanks for reading!

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	Japanese	English
Payne	事件があった日、きみは彼女の部屋に行かなかったかな？	You went to the victim’s apartment on the day of the murder, did you not?
Larry 1	‥‥‥‥！	Gulp!

1. Even people unable to read Japanese can see that in the Japanese, Larry's reaction to Payne's question is just a set of ellipses and an exclamation mark. It could be argued that since these punctuation marks are used in both languages, the English dialogue could be the same as the Japanese. However, as a native English speaker, I feel that a set of ellipses followed by an exclamation mark conveys a sense of confusement followed by a sudden cottoning on to something. This is not how the scene plays out in the game. The use of, "Gulp!" is fantastic because it is a specific word/sound in the English language that conveys a sudden sense of fear or foreboding. I am not a native speaker of Japanese, but to my knowledge there is not such a succinct word in Japanese.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Localisation Review (2)

This is an entry in a series of posts looking at the localisation of the first chapter of the game, Phoenix Ace: Ace Attorney. You can find the first post here. Thanks for reading!

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	Japanese	English
Phoenix 1	矢張　政志。‥‥小学校からの大親友だ。”事件のカゲに、ヤッパリ矢張”と言われつづけて２３年。	Larry Butz... my best friend since grade school. Our school had a saying: "When something smells, it's usually the Butz."

1. This famous saying about Larry pops up a number of times throughout the series. Translated literally (and therefore also awkwardly), it means, “Behind every incident will no doubt be Larry.” The saying in Japanese is founded on the wordplay around the similarity of “yappari” (meaning, “no doubt” or “just as you would expect”) and “Yahari”,  Larry’s name in Japanese. The English translation of this phrase is really impressive. It retains the use of Larry’s name (this time his surname), it retains the core meaning of the saying, and then goes a step further by including a butt joke that is both amusing and convincing as saying that would originate from young school children. I wonder how long it took to come up with this translation. It is sterling translation work.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Localisation Review (1)

This is the first entry in a series of posts looking at the localisation of the first chapter of the game, Phoenix Ace: Ace Attorney. Thanks for reading!

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	Japanese	English
Mia 1	...なるほどくん	Wright!
Phoenix 2	あ、しょ、所長	Oh, h-hiya, Chief.
Mia 3a	ふう。なんとか、間にあったわね。どうかしら？　初めての法廷は。	Whew, I'm glad I made it on time. Well, I have to say Phoenix, I'm impressed! Not everyone takes on a murder trial right off the bat like this.
Phoenix 3b	こ、こんなにドキドキするの小学校の学級裁判のとき以来です。	NOT TRANSLATED
Mia 3c	...それはそれは。ずいぶん、ごぶさたしてるのね。	NOT TRANSLATED
Phoenix 3d	え、ええ、まあ。あの… 所長。今日は、すみません。いそがしいのに...	NOT TRANSLATED
Mia 3e	ううん、かまわないわ。カワイイ部下の初舞台だもの。‥‥それにしても。	NOT TRANSLATED
Mia	初めての法廷で殺人事件をあつかうなんて、すごい度胸ね。感心するわ。	Well, I have to say Phoenix, I'm impressed! Not everyone takes on a murder trial right off the bat like this.

1. The Japanese contains the honorific “kun”, which has numerous uses, including for when a senior addresses a junior. Naturally, English doesn't have a range of honorific suffixes like the Japanese language so they can sometimes be tricky to translate. However, in this case the exclamation mark alone does a good job of conveying Mia’s senior status because it sounds like she is calling Phoenix to attention.

2. In the Japanese, Phoenix stutters over the word chief (shochou), but in the English he stutters over an added “hiya” before he says “chief.” I like this touch. If Phoenix had stuttered the word “chief”, it could have seemed that Mia's presence was the cause of Phoenix’s anxiety, when it is actually the fact that it is his first trial.

3a. The English chops up the order of the information slightly after Mia’s “Whew, I'm glad I made it on time.” In the Japanese, she then asks, “So, your first case. How are you feeling?” Phoenix responds, “I haven't felt this nervous since my trial in elementary school.” To a Western audience, the notion of a trial in elementary school would likely seem strange. For new players unaware of the series’ whacky tendencies, the idea of a trial in an elementary school might have been jarring. In contrast, in Japan a school trial (gakkyuusaiban) is not an entirely unheard of prospect. Apparently, there are teachers who may do such a thing when a student consistently fails to hand in their homework.

3b. Mia replies, “Hmm, well, that is a long time, isn't it.”

3c. Phoenix then stumbles over his response, “Mmm, yeah, I guess so. Hey chief, thanks for coming today. I know you're busy and all.” This line, and a lot of the script (and just Japanese writing in general) contains ellipses. My feeling is that while they have their place in the English language, it is usually limited to awkward situations, or when one simply has no idea how to respond to something. I think when translating these parts into English, they can be ignored or substituted with some small remark, such as, "Hey", or, "Hmm."

3e. Mia replies, "Don't mention it. I couldn't miss the debut of my cute little protege now could I? That said…" After that, the game's English realigns with the Japanese script.