Final Fantasy VIII - Localisation Review (5)

This is an entry in a series of posts looking at the localisation of the beginning segment of the game, Final Fantasy VIII. You can find the first post here. Thanks for reading!

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	Japanese	English
Zell 1	……なんだよ。仲がいいんじゃねえか。同類だぜ、あんたたち。あのなあ、これ、ただの戦闘じゃないんだぞ。大事な試験なんだ。勝手な行動はマイナスでかいぜ。	What the hell...I thought you guys didn't get along? You're like, all buddy-buddy now. Listen. This ain't no ordinary battle. It's an exam, an important one. I'm tellin' ya, we have to stick to orders.
Seifer 2	おまえ、ここに残れ。やる気のない奴はいらない。	Then you stay here. I don't need any boy scouts.

1. Zell's second and third English sentence is slightly different in Japanese. These two sentences are covered by one in Japanese that simply expresses Zell's questioning of the fact that Seifer and Squall are getting along with each other. He doesn't explicitly mention that he didn't think Squall and Seifer got along (although it is implied). The English also lacks Zell's comment in Japanese that he thinks Squall and Seifer are of the same sort (i.e. two peas in a pod/cut from the same cloth). As an alternative, I offer, "What the hell... You guys are getting along? Tch, you two are cut from the same cloth."

2. When I saw the term, "boy scouts" pop up, I just knew that there was no way that the Japanese could have contained this exact phrase. I was correct! In the Japanese, Seifer says he doesn't need someone who is unwilling/unmotivated/uneager. I don't intuitively associate boy scouts with these qualities, so I don't think I can support this translation. The boy scouts remarks suggests that Seifer's problem with Zell is his lack of experience, when he is actually complaining about his lack of enthusiasm. As alternative, I offer, "I don't need anyone whose heart isn't it."

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	Japanese	English
Dollet Soldier	うわっ！あ、あんたたちは！？	Ahhh! W-W-Who are you!?
Squall 3	俺たちはガーデンから派遣されてきた。ＳｅｅＤ候補生だ	Don't worry. We're SeeD candidates. We've been dispatched by Garden.

3. Simply put, the Japanese has no dialogue from which "don't worry" could be extrapolated. I wonder why the translator chose to add this. I suppose given the state of Dollet soldier (pictured below) it does make contextual sense for Squall to reassure him. However, the fact remains that the original writers of the Japanese script chose not to add this remark. It'd be fascinating to learn the level of freedom the translator had to add in parts that they judged as appropriate for the scene. In this case it is a tiny detail, but I wonder about in terms of the principles of the game's translation.

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	Japanese	English
Seifer 4	おい、山頂の様子は？	So what's going on up there?
Dollet Soldier	ガルバディア軍の兵士たちが【電波塔】に入り込んでいる。それから……そもそもあそこはモンスターの巣窟なんだ。あんたたちも行くなら気をつけ……うわっ！	The Galbadian soldiers have entered the [Communication Tower]. On top of that... that place has always been a nesting ground for monsters. If you guys are goin' up, be caref...H-HELP!!!"

4. To start, the English Seifer's initial remark in Japanese of "oi/hey" is substituted with "so", which makes him seem less rude. In addition, although the English uses the vague term, "up there", the Japanese uses the specific term sanchou (山頂), which means means "the top/summit of a mountain." As highlighted in a previous post, this is the same way this term was interpreted for Zell's dialogue. I wonder if this is because the location in the game doesn't necessarily seem like a mountain, so using the term "mountain top" or "mountain summit" might have been jarring.

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	Japanese	English
Squall 5	モンスターもいるのか	Monsters, huh?"
Zell 6	こりゃ面倒だぜ	That sucks.
Seifer	お楽しみが増えただけだ。さあ、行くぞ	More fun for us. Come on....
Zell 7	……お楽しみだあ？	...Fun? Pu-lease...

5. I feel there is a slight difference in nuisance here. The Japanese literally translates as, "There are also monsters too?" In other words, Squall is showing slight surprise at having to fight monsters in addition to Galbadian soldiers. In contrast, the English just shows that Squall is mildly surprised by the presence of monsters. Perhaps I am nitpicking, but I do feel that the meaning is slightly different.

6. In the Japanese, Zell uses the adjective mendou (面倒), which conveys something is bothersome to do or deal with. Although I think "that sucks" is a natural response to something that is bothersome to do, "what a pain in the ass" would better conveys Zell's implied frustration at having to deal with the addition of monsters to fight.

7. Strictly speaking, there is no word in the Japanese dialogue that directly matches the "Pu-lease...", but I can see why it was inserted. In the Japanese, Zell elongates the end of his sentence with (what I imagine is) a rising tone that conveys his disbelief. I would equate it to someone saying, "Huhhhhhhhhhhh?" "Pu-lease..." is a slightly quirky way to convey this sentiment, but the translation would be worse without it. Personally, I would opt for my previously mentioned, "Huhhhhhhhhh? Fun?"

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Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the above points or Final Fantasy VIII's localisation as a whole, so please comment if you've got something to say. 

If you enjoyed this post, I bet you'll like the next post in this series:
http://www.localireview.com/2015/04/final-fantasy-viii-localisation-review-6.html