Surprise in Chrono Clock

[Benji Price]

I was playing Cro's route when I found out a detail that really surprised me.

I don't know how many people here are Movies fan, or in particular Quentin Tarantino's movies fan. The thing is, I saw a line in which Rei mentions a Character from the movie "Pulp Fiction" (my favourite movie of all times) and it was amazing to me, since I have never seen yet a mention like this one, that writers take as a fact that you will now that character. Or maybe it's just a translation detail, since I haven't read the jap text (if someone did please tell me).

So, I just wanted to share this with everyone 

Here's the screenshot of the line:

And here is the scene from the movie where you'll know that character:

Cheers!

[WinterfuryZX]

I don't know if it is the case but I don't like replaced citations at all. Maybe it's just me.

[novurdim]

1 hour ago, WinterfuryZX said:

I don't know if it is the case but I don't like replaced citations at all.

Yeah, definitely one of the worst possible things in usually otherwise decent translations.

[Decay]

I'd check the actual Japanese line before getting your pitchforks out. Tarantino is relatively popular in Japan though and didn't Makoto herself reference him at another point when mentioning the kinds of movies she likes? 

Either way, I tend to be in favor of replacing obscure Japanese pop-culture references hardly anyone reading an English translation would understand.

[WinterfuryZX]

Just imagne something like Aoi Honoo or Excel Saga with all the citations replaced with murican things... 

[novurdim]

I vote for always replacing any Japanese citations with one same ultimate murican replacement. That way you won't ever need to think and it won't ever break the flow! 

[Darklord Rooke]

15 hours ago, novurdim said:

I vote for always replacing any Japanese citations with one same ultimate murican replacement. That way you won't ever need to think and it won't ever break the flow! 

"Cockthirsty"

 
I know, I know, it's a brilliant suggestion. You're all welcome  

[novurdim]

8 hours ago, Darklord Rooke said:

I know, I know, it's a brilliant suggestion. You're all welcome

Yes, amazing. Now we will always know when something is replaced, plus if I am not well versed in that weird and unneeded murican media (localizations are racist so it's not like they'll replace it with anything swedish or irish), I won't have to scratch my head or lose time and concentration on Google every time. Everyone wins. 

Edited June 27, 2017 by novurdim

[Nandemonai]

A friend of mine and I were talking about shows based off VNs and whatnot, and he thought that we needed a new disease that all these sad sick girls could have.  Obviously they don't have anything like what the shows say they have, right?  So we should find something more appropriate.

I thought for a minute, and suggested Tourette's Syndrome.

[Zakamutt]

(Narcissu spoilers) I found this discussion of the illnesses shown in Narcissu from a medical student's perspective amusing.

[Benji Price]

On 25/6/2017 at 5:55 PM, Decay said:

I'd check the actual Japanese line before getting your pitchforks out. Tarantino is relatively popular in Japan though and didn't Makoto herself reference him at another point when mentioning the kinds of movies she likes? 

Either way, I tend to be in favor of replacing obscure Japanese pop-culture references hardly anyone reading an English translation would understand.

So am I.

If I'm not wrong Tarantino's popularity in Japan started when Kill Bill Vol. 1 came out. The trip the bride made to Okinawa, the Hanzou Katana, the Crazy 88 battle and so.

Still, until someone sees the jap lines we will never know for sure.

[Okarin]

On 25/6/2017 at 10:55 PM, Decay said:

I'd check the actual Japanese line before getting your pitchforks out. Tarantino is relatively popular in Japan though and didn't Makoto herself reference him at another point when mentioning the kinds of movies she likes? 

Either way, I tend to be in favor of replacing obscure Japanese pop-culture references hardly anyone reading an English translation would understand.

It depends, and it depends who's gonna buy your game.

Some things are basic Japanese fan* lingo, where other are more obscure, yes (like spreading water in the temples, as seen in Hoshimemo, it's a given and a very common custom, but I never noticed it before. I know this is not a translatable term but a custom, but it got addressed in that game properly).

After decades of repeating the same old and used tropes, it's easy to become familiar not with Japan, but with Japanese clichés.

I admit that when they reference Japanese comedians or famous people, like in some Key works such as Clannad, the best weeb can get lost.

 

* weeb or regular fan, what you like.

Edited July 3, 2017 by Okarin

[WinterfuryZX]

Where would you draw the line? For exhample I'm quite familiar with Sion Sono and Takashi Miike cinema, I'd appreciate for sure in context citations in this case (and, due to my ignorance on hollywood movies, there's also the chance I won't catch the substituted citation.).

Edited July 3, 2017 by WinterfuryZX

[Fred the Barber]

I think this is mostly a question of consideration of audience. There's certainly something to be said for targeting your translation for an audience of non-Japanese speakers who have nonetheless been steeped in Japanese culture, but there's also something to be said for tuning a translation to try to capture a broader audience, hopefully without losing that venerable audience of enthusiasts. This is, I presume, the line that most VN translations try to walk these days: increasing accessibility without sacrificing the accuracy and context that, understandably, the enthusiasts demand.

And it's important to understand, with a work of fiction or poetry especially, that the translator's goal is (or at least should be) to give their audience an equivalent experience to what the original author intended for their own audience. Consider page 73, paragraph 2, of this book I came across while looking up some translation theory: IMO, as the translation critics the VN community have become, we have a tendency to get too hung up on extremely small-scale meaning equivalence (i.e., is the joke exactly the same as it was in the original?), and to be too willing to sacrifice the bigger-scale equivalences in experience (i.e., is the joke funny?). The explanation stretches pretty well, too, if you consider "equivalence in experience" as implying that, for instance, a joke should be about roughly the same topic, or a reference should share as many characteristics as possible, like how old the thing being referred to is, what various cross-segments of society think about it, etc.

[Suzu Fanatic]

There's been a uncomfortable term cropping up with localizers lately (or at least Nintendo) called "cultural relevance". Personally, I don't need or want "cultural relevance" - i'm a intelligent, grown man that doesn't require spoon-feeding, I'm o.k. being taken out of my familiar comfort zone, in terms of things I know. (though, as Libra is a good example - I do still want it to be legible.)

Give me a translation, not a reinvention - why reinforce "the box" when we can show the quirks and differences between cultures? I don't think I'm a weeb for wanting open eyes instead of horseblinders~

 

Though FTB brings up alot of intelligent points, that I can agree with to a point regardless.