localization of visual novels

[ezyo22]

what do you think about visual novels localization did it improve over the years or it still have a long way to make visual novels companies look at other markets .

[Chewy]

what do you think about visual novels localization did it improve over the years or it still have a long way to make visual novels companies look at other markets .

I would say both. It improved a bit but it has a way to go.

[AnonP]

Yeah. I agree that there's some improvement, but there are still a great deal of good games out there that haven't been localized. I wish some of the PSP VNs would be localized, but the chances of that are incredibly low.

[LinovaA]

Well right now we are only in the infancy of more VNs being localized outside of Japan. We have a long way to go before we get to a point where there is a decent sized market. I mean, the success of the Clannad and Grisaia kickstarters probably show that there is definite interest in Visual Novels over here, but when you compare it to VN sales in Japan, we are still barely scratching anything.

 

So, while yes it has improved... by that meaning there have been more and more VN's coming over, but we still have a while to go before we see anything more substantial. There has been a lot more publicity for VN's in recent years, which is promising so I am keeping my hopes relatively high.

[Miulei]

VNs seem to be getting more popular in the West, but most of them only appeal to an otaku audience. Someone who doesn't already have an interest in such things is unlikely to buy one. Adding that they aren't as readily available or as widely known about here, VN sales are far from good compared to how they are in Japan where you can buy these things in most video game stores.

 

I think making more people aware that VNs exist and are an art form should be the first step to getting more people buying them and subsequently getting more localizations. But that's just what I think. I'm hardly an expert.

[krill]

i think its a ambiguous question since there are more being picked up then ever in the past and the demand and interest is definitely growing here in the west as is the acceptance of the medium , but part of this is due to steam releases and the use of the green-light system, and as sakura spirit proves that means we get just as much crap as we do quality releases. so are we getting more? absolutely. but is it getting better enough to make the companies that do quality localization more proactive in the west? i think there is a long way to go before thats the case.

[Clephas]

If any of you had read the original version of Edelweiss, I think you'd agree with me that localization efforts have gotten better in recent years (whereas localization efforts refer to 'official' translations).  However, due to cultural differences, limited vocabularies on the part of translation/editing staff (both in Japanese and English), and other such issues, there is a tendency toward... very limited results.   Take a look at Mangagamer's old localizations... you'll notice the overuse of 'bitter smile'.  This is most likely a translation of 'nigawarai', which can mean bitter, dry, or wry smile.  However, most likely the person in question only knew that the first kanji meant 'bitter' and the second meant 'smile', which caused this almost-constant poor result and a lack of adaptability to context.

 

Edit:  This is a tendency identical to that of about 9 out of 10 localization-effort translators (with former fantls excluded).  This is because they tended to be limited in their Japanese experiences prior to entering the workforce, and afterward there was no one to properly 'reeducate' them and broaden their horizons on how to read Japanese and comprehend the context.  This is because the most experienced localization teams are on jrpgs, rather than VNs, and the 'recruits' tended to either be native Japanese (thus with limited comprehension of English) or textbook-taught Japanese students just out of college (thus with a limited understanding of Japanese). 

 

While grammar is the biggest barrier to playing VNs, vocabulary and experience are the greatest barriers to translating them, lol.

 

Edit2:  As time goes on and more 'veteran localization translators and editors' come into being, localization efforts for VNs will probably stabilize at about the same level as jrpgs.  Currently they are somewhat below that...