#that actually is a line in sasagero by the way....

[couldbebetterforsure]

Man, getting into Enstars after being a part of Idolish7 for so long is so funny to me. Because I realized Kotaro Nishiyama voices both Kanata in Enstars and Minami in Idolish7. And hearing the difference in the type of songs they sing is something else 😂

Because on the one hand you got a guy singing about friendship and bonds and dreams and protecting the smiles of people. And on the other hand you got a guy singing about how typical love is dumb and actually being in a codependent relationship is awesome!

[ikevampeventarchive]

thanks so much for the elaboration on arthurs eng route, and i totally agree with giving cybird massive kudos! it was a really nice surprise to see it in the text, alongside other little pieces like 'keep the home fires burning', as well as turns of phrase i use or hear a lot ("up the wooden hill to bedfordshire"). also the delight in him going from the very stereotypical turns of phrase like "by jove" into good old brit curses with "wanker/bollocks". one of my favourites for the accuracy alone!

Hello Anon!

Arthur’s route is a great example of all the localization work that’s been put into the game and is a delight to read through in English. Seriously, huge kudos and props to the translation and localization teams because this degree of detail and clarity put into the game must’ve taken a lot of effort. We know firsthand how difficult translation can be, so all of us were pretty shook upon seeing Arthur’s route lol

This reply got hijacked for a long diatribe into the differences between versions and translation nuances, so it’s under the cut if you want to read it! 

The extra vocab and historical references might not be up everyone’s alley, since we are aware that some people prefer a straight JP -> ENG translation, but in our opinion, the localization just makes things more fun!

Just translating the text is pretty straightforward and often the easiest step, but oftentimes it renders the text confusing and hard to digest, since each language carries with it cultural cues and implicit meanings that are hard to convey, not only to non-speakers, but having to conveying it through a different language makes even more challenging. Which is where localization comes in!

Localization is what makes everyone’s foreign otome make sense! During this stage, it’s when historical references are searched up and thesauri are combed through. Cultural references, puns, and even just plain words that come naturally in Japanese sometimes don’t make any sense in English, or sound very unnatural. So during this stage, things are often swapped out or changed to preserve the meaning, but allowing the dialogue and text to flow easier in English.

Ex. The game tagline.

In JP, it goes 「俺に捧げろ。お前の身も心も　―　運命も」 roughly, this translates to “Surrender it to me. Your body, your heart  ― and your destiny.”, which we often translate as “Surrender it all to me ....” because having the “all” in there just makes it flow better, yes? That’s basically what translation is! Direct JP to ENG.

But in the ENG version, the game tagline is “I want it all. Your body, your heart... and our destiny” in the official game PV, and more recently, “Give it all to me. Your body, your heart... and your destiny.”

Pretty close, right? There are varying degrees of how something can be localized, and the 1st version of the tagline is quite different from the 2nd version, which is much closer to the original JP meaning.

We’ll leave it up to you which version you prefer, but the 1st version of the tagline hits a more tender note at the end with the inclusion of “our destiny”, as well as shifting the subject of the sentence to the suitor saying this to the MC, giving off a more assertive vibe as well. Personally (as in the person writing this), I think it’s a great change! The energy of the sentence is different but it reflects the tendency of English to put subject first and have the speaker be the assertive party in the sentence and gives me the same vibes as the JP version even with different words.

A note on the JP version to conclude this very long reply though, is how the tagline in JP can be changed to suit the personality of each suitor without affecting how it’s translated into English.

Here’s an example between Napoleon and Arthur, to use suitors that already have PVs that we can reference.

JP

Napoleon: 「俺に捧げろ。お前に身も心も　―　運命も」Arthur: 「俺に捧げて。キミの身も心も　―　運命も」

ENG

Napoleon: “... I want it all. Your body, your heart... and... our destiny” Arthur:  “Give it all to me. Your body, your heart... and your destiny.”

It’s most likely that Napoleon got a special localized line because he’s the poster boy of the game, but the difference is still interesting to talk about. More interesting though, is Shakespeare’s version of the tagline, but his route isn’t out in ENG yet so there’s no official statement to compare. 

Napoleon uses the 捧げろ (sasagero) conjugation of the verb 捧げる (sasageru), which is the standard “manly guy” conjugation of the verb. If you have consumed a lot of Japanese material before, especially shounen manga, this sort of conjugation comes up a lot to show that the character is a cool, assertive, a bit rough around the edges.  In addition to this, he uses the pronoun お前 (omae) to refer to the MC, which is technically a bit rude, but still, it fits the way he speaks. Without getting into the specifics of how お前 came about as a pronoun, let’s say it matches with his military background. Overall, his tagline is a bit rough, manly. It depends on the delivery for each character, so Napoleon’s sounds more calm and collective as opposed to Theo, who says the same exact phrase, but is much more aggressive in tone. 

Arthur, on the other hand, uses 捧げて (sasagete) and キミ (kimi). Both are much more casual ways of speaking to another person, carrying a sort of light airy tone, especially paired with the way Ryohei Kimura voices him. Without going through the long tirade I did with Napoleon, it’s suffice to say that this sort speech quirk matches his character perfectly. The usage of  キミ in a different script as opposed to the regular 君 is interesting as well. 

However, the main point here is that both versions, at their core, can be translated into English to same way, and most likely will actually be translated as the same thing. How are you going to say “Give it to me (but manly and rough)” versus “Give it to me (light and flirty)” in English without diving into the super nuanced and rare verbs? 

This is the leg up to ENG ver that JP ver has, in that the characters’ personalities are expressed even through only one verb, and tin the end it truly depends on one’s preference and ability for languages as for which version is better. We love both!  

Thanks for the asks, Anon, it’s nice to have a chance to talk about the finer aspects of the work that’s gone into porting a game from one language to another! There’s a lot more that can be pointed to for examples of localized phrases and various different translations, but that would make this reply way longer than it already is.