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 | |
|---|---|---|
| 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.
| Japanese | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Phoenix | あなたはウソをついている！あなたはあの日、現場の部屋に入ったのです！ |
You're lying! You were inside the apartment on the day of the murder!
|
| Sawhit 3 |
な、なんだと！し、知らねえぞオレは‥‥
|
Oh yeah? Prove it! Prove I went in there!
|
| Phoenix 4 |
そうだ！あの置き時計で被害者を殴ったのは、あなただったんだ！彼女を殴ったときのはずみで、あの時計は鳴った！
|
I'll do better than that! I can prove you were the one who killed her! You struck her with the clock, and the shock of the blow triggered the clock's voice!
|
3. This is a case where the Japanese and English are completely different. The Japanese reads, "W-what!? I d-don't know anything about that!" Both are expressed in the game with the same angered animation, but the Japanese is a denial, whereas the English is confrontational and a challenge to Phoenix. I'm not sure why this change was made. The English version certainly eggs on the player and ratchets up the tension, so perhaps during the localisation process this change of pace was deemed as preferable.
4. All three sentences here differ slightly between the two languages. From this entire case, the first Japanese sentence was the one I found the most challenging to translate. I even asked a bilingual Japanese colleague for his thoughts. First of all, it is understandably very different from the English due to the differing content of the previous line. In essence, it shows Phoenix realising for the first time how the murder actually panned out and what Sawhit did. His remark in Japanese is less of a response to Sawhit's words, and more a continuation of Phoenix's prior theorising. The Japanese person I asked offered, "Bingo!" which conveys the right sentiment but just doesn't feel natural. This shows how important it can be to have a native speaker handle a translation! I'm sure if I was tasked with localising English content into Japanese a lot of it would be very unnatural. Anyway, for this line I would offer, "And what's more" as an alternative, and link it directly with the second sentence, which reads, "You were the one who struck her with the clock!" This sentiment is conveyed in the third sentence of the English. At no point does Japanese make mention of Phoenix saying that he will prove something. As point discussed in the previous point, this translation seems designed to tap into the player's actual actions. Finally, the third sentence of the Japanese reads, "The shock of the blow caused the clock to ring." The Japanese doesn't specifically mention the clock's voice, but since this is obviously implied I imagine it was obvious to write this part in.
| Japanese | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Phoenix 5 |
きっとあなたは、かなり驚いたはずです‥‥。
|
The sound must have left quite an impression on you.
|
5. At first I thought this was an example of translation that deviated from the Japanese. Online Japanese-to-English dictionaries typically define the verb in this sentence (odoroku) in Japanese as "to be surprised or astonished", which has a somewhat different nuisance to the Phoenix's remark in. However, this is just proof that those English-to-Japanese resources are not good enough, and plain Japanese language dictionaries are always worth consulting. The digital Daijisen dictionary offers the following definitions of "odoroku" (驚く).
１ 意外なことに出くわして、心に衝撃を受ける。びっくりする。感嘆する。 - To be shocked after coming across something unexpected. To be shocked. To admire.The first definition is important as it expands on the simple notion of being surprised, and refers to being shocked or stunned, which aligns with the game's English.
２ はっと気がつく。- To suddenly realise
３ 目が覚める。- To wake up/to snap out of something
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.html
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