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In July 2017, I realized that I had never played Final Fantasy VII since i learned japanese. I decided to do it and make a little video about the experience. In the very first text box of the game, I encountered a nuanced difference between Japanese and English. This inspired an obsession. Two years later, I played the game sixteen times in English and Japanese and made five hours of videos detailing hundreds of significant differences between the English translation and the original Japanese script. Today, the project is finished. This is the first part of the final in two parts.
(You can watch all the videos in order, thanks to this handy playlist on YouTube.)
As I always say when presenting one of these videos, my explanation of the differences between the Japanese and English lines in this game does not represent a "retranslation". I never try to say that the translation is "bad" or that my suggestions are "better."
I rather engage in what I call "slow translation", in which I present to you nuances of the original language that the translator would not have been able to integrate, for technological reasons, Final Fantasy VIIThe text boxes in 1997. Heck, same s' he could If all the nuances I have illustrated in the text boxes have been integrated, it would have been impossible to present them as interesting writings.
With this series, I wanted to "lend" my experience of having lived in Tokyo for the entire decade of my twenties, speaking Japanese (on average) thirteen days out of fifteen. In this series, I discover, decompress, explain and explore significant differences between English translation and original Japanese script in dozens of key dialogues. Sometimes I lead this exploration through brief lectures on the mechanisms of Japanese grammar; Sometimes I present anecdotes describing how I have personally encountered a particular word, phrase, or structure.
Many of you have said that this series has helped you to approach the study of a second language. Many of you tell me this, in fact, that out of a sense of duty to my audience, I have wildly taken away the original estimate that I had given Kotaku Stephen Totilo, editor, both for the series as a whole ("I think it will be fair, like, a five-minute video") and for the duration of this final episode.
I had originally conceived it as an epilogue in which I would briefly explore the most famous scene of Final Fantasy VII, in which Aeris dies by the sword of his hated rival Sephiroth.
Instead, after watching my footage from this last segment of the game, I immediately discovered a small honest translation error that, due to its position and timing in Final Fantasy VIIStorytelling is the most catastrophic mistake the translator made – an error that could have created a misconception that taints the understanding of many players about the weather events in history.
Basically, he translated the Japanese word "ishiki, "Which means" consciousness ", as" knowledge ", which in Japanese is"chishiki. "This is a particularly interesting mistake, isolated from Final Fantasy VIIbecause it suggests that the translator speaks enough Japanese to slide bilingually in a way that could have a native speaker.
As to why this is such a big problem – my friend, it takes a long enough explanation.
Months later, this final episode has completed the length of a feature film. I divided it into two parts. The payment of this week ends in a cliffhanger. I'm sorry for the cliffhanger. That's why, as an excuse, I designed what I consider to be a awesome Title card "intermission".
Next week we will present the final. See you.
Oh! And there is a YouTube playlist that groups each episode in one convenient place. For example, if you want to watch this on your luxurious widescreen TV, while enjoying a meal or a drink, a situation I encourage you to give me the photographic evidence via Twitter.
By the way! You can subscribe to our YouTube channel if you like videos like this.
There is even a playlist of all my other videos. Wow!
The first lines of Final Fantasy VII Are a little different in Japanese
I play Final Fantasy VII in both English and Japanese, and I notice a lot of things …
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