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!
| 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.
| Japanese | English | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix 2 | ちょっと待ってください！そもそも、マンションは停電だったはずですよね。この記録がそれを証明しています！ |
Hold it right there! The prosecution has said there was a blackout at the time of the discovery! And this record proves it!
| |
| Sawhit 3 |
...!
|
...!
| |
| Phoenix 4 |
テレビにしろ、ビデオにしろ使えるワケがないじゃないですか！
|
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2. I pondered over whether the first sentence is worth highlighting. "Hold it right there!" initially seems somewhat stronger than the fairly polite Japanese. Translating the English back into Japanese would probably produce the imperative form, "mate" (待て) rather than polite request form, "mattekudasai" (待ってください). However, I think the disparity between these two is simply because polite speech isn't such a strong part of the English language, and because (I presume that) that lawyers in America generally speak in more heated terms than their Japanese counterparts. There is is a similarly slight difference in the second sentence of the English. The Japanese makes no specific mention of the time of the discovery or that the prosecution had already said something. Instead, Phoenix just says, "In the first place, there would've have been a power outage in the building, right?" The game's English seems somewhat strange because surely it is unnecessary to mention having to prove something that the prosecution has already mentioned. I think this line could be expressed more naturally as simply, "Wasn't the building experiencing a power outage!?"
3. As highlighted in an earlier post, previous instances of "....!" in the Japanese script were translated in different ways, such as "Gulp!" However, this time the Japanese and the English are the same, and I think this is perfect. It conveys Sawhit processing what Phoenix said and then his alarm at realising that he has been caught out.
4. Again, the nuisance between the two languages is slightly different. The Japanese focuses on the point that it would have been impossible for the victim (Cindy Stone) to have been using a television or a video, whereas the English focuses on Sawhit's ability to hear these devices. As an alternative translate that stays closer to the original, I offer, "Regardless of was a television or a videotape, there's no way either of them would have been working!" I prefer the English translation because Phoenix's remark is about Sawhit himself, which makes sense since he is on the stand and Phoenix is trying to discount his testimony.
| Japanese | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Sawhit | ‥‥！！も、もうしわけございません。‥‥でも、なにぶん、死体を見たショックで‥‥。 |
...! M-my apologies, Your Honor! It... er, it must have been the shock of finding the body!
|
| Judge 5 |
もういい、わかりました。では、さらに<<証言>>をおねがいしましょう。
|
Very well, Mr. Sahwit. Let's hear your testimony once more please.
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5. Here I think that the English lacks the frustration the judge expresses at Sawhit in the Japanese. "Very well" seems too neutral in comparison to "mou ii", which is usually said or sighed in resignation when someone is fed up with a situation. I think the translation would be more accurate if "*sigh*" was inserted before the "Very well."
Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the above points or Phoenix Wright'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/2015/03/phoenix-wright-ace-attorney_16.html
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