I’ve decided to go with Sieg for the main character’s name in Tales of Hearts. I’m sure many will object, but I feel that this is the right decision from a localization standpoint. As I’m sure you’re aware, primarily because I discussed it last time, the character names in Tales of Hearts were just temporary placeholder names that ended up sticking around longer than expected. The fact that these names ended up being used in the final version of the game clearly brings great pain to the Japanese developers. As I’ve already noted, never before in the Tales series have non-ninja main characters had Eastern names. This is certainly not the time to start. As such, I will be following the developers’ wishes and using the names they were planning on using.
Henceforth, Xing Meteoryte is a figment of the past. Let’s all give a hearty welcome to Sieg Meteorit! His name means “victorious meteorite” in German, which is clearly the meaning intended by the development team, as it signifies his determination to rise above all odds and stand victorious as a defender of truth, justice, and the American way. By the way, the names of your favorite brother and sister duo are now Anna and Lucio, just as the developers were intending.
In other news, I have finally completed a feature that will bring greater accuracy to KAJITANI-EIZAN’s Patch Site’s translation of Tales of Hearts: Translator’s Notes. Often known as “TL Notes”, these notes will pop up on screen any time additional explanations that cannot fit into the text are required. I feel that this was a necessary feature to be able to deliver a truly accurate Tales of Hearts experience to you, the audience. Tales of Hearts is a Japanese game, and as such, it is chock full of rich historical Japanese bunmei (culture) that will be lost on many of you. Unless, that is, I can pop up a TL Note to explain what you would otherwise be missing. This will allow Tales of Hearts to become the most pure and accurate fan translation of a game to date.
On a related note, I reviewed the translated script thus far and realized that it was far too liberal in its translation. It deviated too far from the purity of the Japanese script to even be called the script to Tales of Hearts; rather, it is as if it is a bad fanfiction about Tales of Hearts written by some foolish gaijin (dirty foreigner) who wants the characters to sound like they’re speaking conversational English. They are not; they are speaking Japanese, because that is the language that people of the planet Celland speak. Thus, I have revised the script to be more accurate and true to the pure Japanese script. For example, I noticed that people were not calling each other -san and -kun, as has been traditional in Japan since the Meiji era, so I added these honorifics (titles suffixed to people’s names to convey a sense of Japanese honor and spirit, known as bushido) back to the script. This, together with the TL Notes, should deliver a pure Tales of Hearts experience that best conveys the true story of Sieg and Anna just as the developers intended it.
I am guessing a small minority of you may be against these changes, but whatever; I can’t please everyone. I simply have to please the vocal majority of the fanbase and do whatever sticks closest to the Japanese original source and I will be doing the right thing. Tsurai asa o sukue (follow your heart every morning), as they say, according to an ancient Japanese proverb. And anyway, I’m confident most of you agree with me in that these changes are very much for the better. Just one thing… which style of TL Notes do you guys prefer? Would you like the way it is above, or the style below?
Please let me know what you think in the comments, and o-saraba da, teme-ra (until next time, friends)!
April 22, 2011 at 2:27 pm | Permalink
lol like ass-kissers with dumb questions are any less annoying than whiners. Yea he deals with a lot of that.
April 22, 2011 at 4:04 pm | Permalink
@Solo
That’s a good way to put it… I’ll admit I’ve been browsing that site out of sheer boredom a bit too much lately. :/
And given the humor in his responses, my guess is that Kaji just finds most posts humorous (as opposed to annoying), regardless of whether they’re ass-kissers or whiners or pointless-conflicters. Just a guess though, obviously.
Either way, his last two comments made me laugh pretty hard, so there’s that.
April 22, 2011 at 9:02 pm | Permalink
Why does me being nice make me annoying? Odd fella’…
April 25, 2011 at 7:47 pm | Permalink
I never liked the whole -san -kun whatever thing taht japenese use, it sounds silly, would much prefer to have it translated without that
April 26, 2011 at 2:53 am | Permalink
But sir/ma’am, honorifics are fun.
Japanese honorifics, anyway. English ones suck, imo… in that I don’t really see any point in adding “sir/ma’am” after “yes/no.”
…On second thought, any other use than that is fine with me. But then again, maybe I’ll dislike honorifics altogether after I have to start using Japanese ones once I’m in Japan.
Anyway, the only game I’ve seen where -kun, -san, etc. are still there after translation is Persona 3. Worked well there, given the game’s context, but it’s pretty obvious that they’d be out of place here.
April 26, 2011 at 9:00 am | Permalink
I came here to check for updates, saw lots of new comments. Clicked. And had another good laugh by Kaji’s sarcasm.
April 27, 2011 at 5:23 am | Permalink
Even if it’s a joke post, PLEASE, no honorifics! I don’t know why japantards want to make every single country in fiction a clone of japan.
April 27, 2011 at 7:04 pm | Permalink
kajitani-sensei, teach me to troll as good as you onegai shimasu
April 28, 2011 at 9:20 pm | Permalink
[This comment has been terminated]
April 28, 2011 at 11:58 pm | Permalink
Keep up the good work! hopefully you end up finishing the translation patch soon, im very eager to play it in english, it look’s pretty awesome! can’t wait to play! =D!
April 29, 2011 at 4:21 pm | Permalink
I assure you all of the world who loves tales game and can’t understand japan language waiting for your excellent work.
hopefully, while I’ll playing tales of hearts with your eng patch. It’s full of joy and happiness
thank you very much.
ps.I’m from Thailand. sorry about my poor english.
May 1, 2011 at 2:57 pm | Permalink
Do not refer to us…..as the Freeman….
We are The Collective…..We have arrived….
We need the…..hearts now…..for all of us
The Leviathon….belongs to us…we can release….
Obama is we….we are The Collective…Freeman….
Sieg must be….renamed Freeman…The Collective….
May 2, 2011 at 1:32 am | Permalink
^ Freeman/The Collective comments are scary o_o
May 2, 2011 at 9:03 pm | Permalink
Dein Blog gefällt mir immer mehr, weiter so!
May 3, 2011 at 3:15 pm | Permalink
Oh no, there’s a nazi in the site!
May 3, 2011 at 8:37 pm | Permalink
＾馬鹿。
May 3, 2011 at 11:00 pm | Permalink
i normally kinda just troll a bit here since you have not completed a patch yet entirely, but i wanna apologize, & encourage you to continue your dedicated efforts. Good luck man.
May 4, 2011 at 1:59 am | Permalink
Lol… So the americans still belive all germans are nazis? 😀
I think Dennis is a bot..
May 4, 2011 at 3:09 am | Permalink
Hi Dennis, wie gehts ?
May 4, 2011 at 10:22 am | Permalink
Such a beautifully named game in the Tales series, I don’t know how many chapters it is; but judging by the progress bar it will be another three years for the translation, I will definetly play it then. Best wishes.
May 4, 2011 at 4:14 pm | Permalink
And what makes you think jaclair is american, Nivea? Lolz you are as bad that troll
May 5, 2011 at 1:46 am | Permalink
Just calculating possibilities since America is rather big and China probably doesn’t have access to this site, lol.
And most europeans just know by now that not all germans are nazis, especially when they are bots, whereas I’m not so sure if most americans already know it. So yeah, I was just guessing.
May 5, 2011 at 8:58 pm | Permalink
I ain’t ass-kissin’ when I say I like the name changes… Seig Meteorit, Lucio Hearts, and Anna Hearts sound a lot cooler than their original names… Although if you want to be really original you could change the dynamic brother/sister duo’s last name to Hartz…
May 6, 2011 at 7:45 pm | Permalink
Who besides you said anything about ass-kissin’? If you mentioned it it’s because you know that’s exactly what you are doing.
May 7, 2011 at 2:11 pm | Permalink
Not even gonna’ argue it… Think what you want…
May 8, 2011 at 1:04 am | Permalink
Eh… ass kissin or not, doesn’t matter either way.
Just say what you want, but try not to be annoying in doing so. Not saying that you are, btw.
Also, spelling “Hearts” as “Hartz” seems kind of… iffy, imo. Just sayin.
May 8, 2011 at 8:55 pm | Permalink
Everyone has their opinions… I’ve seen it spelled that “iffy” way before and I thought it was really unique… That’s why I suggested it… Honestly I don’t really mind what names he uses… I’ll be fine with whatever names he uses… It’s not my translation… In my writing projects I don’t allow other people to take over writing but I do allow them to suggest things…
May 9, 2011 at 10:06 pm | Permalink
@lolprogressbar
Question: Do you just sit at your comp. and wait to pounce on people?
May 10, 2011 at 1:54 am | Permalink
Nope.
But this is one of the few sites that I have set to where it automatically loads whenever I bring up my browser, soo if I’m bored I’ll comment.
Was unaware that I was doing any pouncing, but if that’s how I’m being perceived (which is good to know, btw), then I guess I’ll stop commenting out of boredom annnd problem solved.
Regardless though, I (generally) don’t mean to offend anyone in any of my posts… especially not that last one. My bad, I spose.
May 10, 2011 at 11:35 am | Permalink
Hertz, doesn’t it?
May 10, 2011 at 4:48 pm | Permalink
The Freeman…Collective….supports lolprogressbar….
Who we support….always wins…for we are all….
Defy us….and you shall…feel death….
We do not negotiate….Freeman only retributes…
May 11, 2011 at 9:14 am | Permalink
@lolprogressbar
No way! Don’t stop it’s funny!
May 11, 2011 at 3:50 pm | Permalink
*stopz*
May 11, 2011 at 7:50 pm | Permalink
^ Your avatar says you fail.
May 12, 2011 at 12:34 am | Permalink
^ Where’s it say that?
May 12, 2011 at 2:34 pm | Permalink
Everywhere, can’t you read?
May 12, 2011 at 6:55 pm | Permalink
I still think Sieg would be an awesome name for the character.
May 12, 2011 at 8:01 pm | Permalink
With all these posts about names I can only figure you are going to remove the option to change the characters’ names. Please don’t do that, it would really suck.
But if you are not planning to do that, then all these posts are as useless as that progress bar.
May 13, 2011 at 11:13 am | Permalink
ha it is amazing how many people have the balls to troll on a volunteer
May 13, 2011 at 4:25 pm | Permalink
Personally I think Sieg sounds pretty cool, at first I was like “no” to Sieg, but now I’m like “yes”.
May 13, 2011 at 8:25 pm | Permalink
I can’t tell if this is a joke post but I’ll get to the point.
Using the honorifics to be honest makes this translation look bad simply because it is a translation and by including the honorifics your meshing japanese and english together, it’s not attractive.
While honorifics may be cool if your a foreigner who loves Japanese stuff, in all honesty it does look out of place and tacky.
If you even replace certain honorifics with Mr. sir, or madam, it at least looks less tacky while still showing off respect in the english language.
Heart-kun is an eyesore.
Mr. Heart, Sir Heart, Madam Heart, Dr. Heart, are much more aesthetically pleasing and there shouldn’t be a dispute because these are some of the ways we show respect to people in OUR language.
May 13, 2011 at 8:27 pm | Permalink
Im not saying to use things such as Mr. or Mrs. I’d prefer just the name like official localizations and other fan translations like Mother 3/ Tales of Innocence.
May 16, 2011 at 12:55 am | Permalink
…..honorifics in a translation??????
FINALLY! why is that not one game company, or anime company will use honorifics in their work. I mean the main guys JUST said Sempai and yet it comes out L’arc(Arc Rise Fantasia). I applaud you good sir for breaking the ice very few groups include honorifics and even TL notes are becoming extinct these days. The first season bleach/naruto has like a 100 TL notes and so do a few other animes around that time but now I don’t see squat from the “big” teams ie: commie, gg, eclipse, etc.
Anyways cool beans.
May 16, 2011 at 2:28 am | Permalink
Well, you could also ask why in Tales of the Abyss the main theme Karma got its lyrics removed, why some companies refuse to let some of their games translated (because the game shows some Japanese habits and/or traditions), why most Japanese games offer ridiculous and failed voice acting without the option to turn the Japanese voices on, why some sprites get edited, and so on…
Japanese and western game companies believe that if they offer in their games honorifics, Japanese music, Japanese voice, Japanese text, Japanese habits and/or traditions… the game will be too Japanese to interest the “average”, trigger happy western player. Oh, and I do like FPS games, but that doesn’t mean that my favorite genre can’t be RPGs.
May 16, 2011 at 5:54 am | Permalink
But recently ppl are noticing the difference rpg and jrpg. And you know what let the big gaming and anime companies worry about stuff like “consumer interest” and let the game translators and anime subbers stick to what we all enjoy. I mean would you prefer Getsuga Tenshou or Heavenly-whatever every time he used that move.
I mean a TL note for a lil while but but ep50 the fans already know by then.
May 18, 2011 at 3:34 am | Permalink
I recommend just removing all the skill names and replacing them with random grunt sound effects. Huaah!
May 20, 2011 at 7:57 pm | Permalink
I want to say i completely understand most of the issues that native English speakers have with honorifics. I think most non-Japanese speaking people who now enjoy watching anime with subs, and manga with honorifics have been at that stage at some point in their life. I think for at least 2 years after being introduced to anime i watched nothing but dubs, and didn’t understand how anyone could like subs. The very first time i accidentally bought a subbed anime(VHS), i was extremely annoyed at my mistake, returned it the very same day. But eventually as i found out about all these different anime and manga that had yet to come out to the states, i got over alot of my problems with it and began to see how much is lost in localizations.
The phrase “Lost in Translation” exists for a very good reason, because the differences between two languages and the culture associated with them simply can not be translated directly. For example, the japanese rarely ever call someone by their first name with no honorific, because its considered very rude if you aren’t very close to that person. In more then a few anime/manga/games there show up different characters who are simply rude, and will call someone by their first name only, and of course the other person will be outraged by it. In some localizations, they make half-hearted attempts, by having the character give them a ridiculous nickname to explain the anger, but some don’t even bother, just leaving the person’s name exactly as is, leaving most people scratching their head on why the other character is mad.
(don’t hold me to this one, as I’m no expert, which is why i sit on the sidelines and don’t help translate) Another example is the honorific -san, while most people assume its like saying Mr. or Mrs. , but it isn’t exactly. It’s mainly a way of showing respect, generally for someone older then you, or for someone generally considered an adult. This might seem pretty straight forward, but there are an odd case I’ve seen pop up more then a few times. On more then a few occasions I’ve seen a bratty kid(4-12) call a older kid/teen(usually around 15+) without -san(sometimes with -kun, or no honorific at all). For Americans, i can’t think of a good reason why a little kid would ever call a teen Mr.(unless their sucking up, or trying to avoid a beating), but in japan, im sure alot of people would get offended by it. It implies that the child is on the same level, or even above the person they talked to without -san.
I’d give more examples, but since I’m more or less at elementary level Japanese, i have no doubt that i would be flamed to death for inaccuracies if i continued. That being said, i think leaving in honorifics brings alot to any Japanese translation. Honorifics add a whole level of depth to explaining characters relationships. Are these characters close? is this character rude? is this character polite? is this character casual? is this character formal? etc etc.
I really don’t think its to much to ask someone to learn probably no more then 20 honorifics, its not as if your being asked to learn a whole new language. Last i checked, translation doesn’t mean dumbed down for the masses, that’s localization. If you can’t tolerate learning a few new words, there are plenty of localizations in your local store, maybe not the exact ones you want, but at least you didn’t have to learn 20 honorifics.
May 20, 2011 at 8:00 pm | Permalink
And yet another book has been added to this blog’s library.
May 20, 2011 at 8:44 pm | Permalink
I admit, i am more than a bit long winded. I probably could of gotten my point across nearly as well with just the first and last paragraph, but thats after the fact, not much helping it now.
May 20, 2011 at 11:01 pm | Permalink
Man, my translation professor in college would tear you apart for that last statement (the whole “translation doesn’t mean dumbed down for the masses, that’s localization”). Just sayin’.