My only problem with nekopara.

[Eclipsed]

Reminds me of when Ren talked about why he hated editors

So was it the editors fault that the end translation had Chocola referring to herself in 3rd person in places she doesn't?

[Nosebleed]

It could be either the translator's fault or the editor's fault, we'll never know.

 

But the fact that the editor thought this was passeable English already makes me cringe.

 

That is assuming they had an editor and/or a quality check  

[Darklord Rooke]

Reminds me of when Ren talked about why he hated editors

 

Editors are 100% necessary. Ren's hatred of them is a tad extreme and may stem from the fact that a) everybody who speaks English thinks themselves qualified to be an editor and b ) there's hardly any decent editors hanging out in fan-tl circles. 

 

In this instance the problem is Sekai not getting a good editor. Well... part of the problem anyway.

 

EDIT: Stop over-using the word "editor", Rooke!

[Yeah Way]

[Mikan]

Actually in japanese language you can say "I" in the 3rd person. Watashi, ore, jibun, [your own name here]. It's kinda normal (?) well was what I've learned, but it makes Chocola cute too <3

[Zakamutt]

Uhh, who taught you this exactly because I don't think those work in the way they think they do

[Abyssal Monkey]

Actually in japanese language you can say "I" in the 3rd person. Watashi, ore, jibun, [your own name here]. It's kinda normal (?) well was what I've learned, but it makes Chocola cute too <3

[Chuee]

It happens more often than you think, you just don't notice or since they always sub it in 1st. I remember at least 3 characters from anime last season that spoke 3rd person.

[Zakamutt]

Yeah, that's not that uncommon (well, in anime and manga. Don't expect real life to match up.) What is rong is watashi, ore or jibun being third-person pronouns lol. [own name] would be 3rd person (and somewhat childish) tho.

[zoom909]

jibun is a reflexive pronoun, it can refer to either a 1st or 3rd person.

 

But the main issue still is, not what they do in Japanese, but what we do in (modern) English.  And because of that, translators have to make a stylistic choice on whether to keep names in 3rd person, or convert it to first person--same as choosing family/given name or given/family name, same as choosing Mr or -san, onii-chan or iinchou vs. substituting the person's name, etc.

 

I prefer:

converting 3rd person to 1st

using given name/family name

keeping the suffixes/titles

 

Only caveat is, I wonder if they made a conscious choice or whether they just took the easy way out.  That collage of constant "It can't be helped" makes me think it's the latter

[douggle]

I never noticed this  issue  and I dont find it t be a problem either. 

[Yuuko]

It isn't a problem for me, but I have to admit it was a little disturbing when Chocola clearly didn't say her own name but they still used Chocola. But it also makes Chocola sound like a stupid cat girl that she is.

[Chuee]

Well there's a few examples where it ironically makes sense in English. Like with Chinami, her speaking in 3rd person only makes her more annoying. Other than that you should avoid using 3rd person because it makes translating unnecessarily difficult and sounds really strange in English because nobody does that unless they're mental. 

[Yeah Way]

I wish I could play the game to confirm, but it sounds to me like she uses 'Chocola' instead of a regular pronoun. Then, when you see 'Chocola' in the text, but don't hear it, it's probably because she's omitting the pronoun in that sentence.

 

In that case, what else could you do as the translator? You could use both 'I' and 'Chocola', sure; but I can see why they chose to go full 'Chocola'.

[Chuee]

I wish I could play the game to confirm, but it sounds to me like she uses 'Chocola' instead of a regular pronoun. Then, when you see 'Chocola' in the text, but don't hear it, it's probably because she's omitting the pronoun in that sentence.

 

In that case, what else could you do as the translator? You could use both 'I' and 'Chocola', sure; but I can see why they chose to go full 'Chocola'.

[Fiddle]

[zoom909]

I wish I could play the game to confirm, but it sounds to me like she uses 'Chocola' instead of a regular pronoun. Then, when you see 'Chocola' in the text, but don't hear it, it's probably because she's omitting the pronoun in that sentence.

 

In that case, what else could you do as the translator? You could use both 'I' and 'Chocola', sure; but I can see why they chose to go full 'Chocola'.

Edited April 1, 2015 by zoom909

[Eclipsed]

Eclipsed thinks going full Chocola will be good thing for forum and / or all forms of interactions, yes.

[Kenshin_sama]

Kenshin_sama would not mind trying this. Ooh, Kenshin_sama is feeling kawaii already. :3

[TexasDice]

Texas thought about it as well, but restrained his urge to do so.

 

... by the way, isn't third person in english commonly used for arrogant cartoon characters? 

[Darklord Rooke]

... by the way, isn't third person in english commonly used for arrogant cartoon characters? 

[Yeah Way]

Eclipsed thinks going full Chocola will be good thing for forum and / or all forms of interactions, yes.

[zoom909]

Plenty of anime characters use their own names instead of a pronoun. One example is Chinami, from Hoshimemo. It's an endearing character trait.

 

Heh...we're just going to go round and round on this, aren't we? :-)

 

Yes, we know little/cutesy anime girls do this.

We think it's cute in Japanese.

 

The question is, is it still cute in English?  Or is it just jarring?

[TexasDice]

We talked about it on the second page. Third person usage doesn't mean the same in English as it does in Japanese, there was some disagreement on exactly how it came across, but let's just say it comes across in a negative fashion and not in a positive one. The only people who thinks it sounds cute are the people more immersed in Japanese culture than Western culture.

While I think it's impossible to perceive Chocola as an arrogant and haughty person by mistake, I see the issue. I just don't think there's a solution.

 

Interestingly, this debate was a huge thing back in 2005, when Pokemon XD came out. The protagonist's little sister is hated by a far majority of the fanbase til this very day for the very reason of refering to herself in conversation. 

And remember, back then moe-tropes weren't a thing the west knew about at all, so it was irritating and just weird.

[Chuee]

Yes, we know little/cutesy anime girls do this.

We think it's cute in Japanese.

 

The question is, is it still cute in English?  Or is it just jarring?

 

It works in Japanese because they use pronouns much less than we do in English. In English it just sounds weird because you'd have to use it just about every other sentence.