Final Fantasy VII Remake - A Brief Look at the Translation

Final Fantasy VII Remake - A Brief Look at the Translation

Credit: Square Enix

Given the recent release of Final Fantasy VII - Remake-, I thought it was only natural that I’d start this blog off again with a small appraisal of the translation job in this game!

Now it’s no secret that the original game had some… interesting translations. (‘you are sick!’, anyone?). But now isn’t the time for going into that. And I’m not trying to cast aspersions onto the original translators either - Final Fantasy VII is text-heavy, even by today’s standards, and I don’t know who those translators were and what the circumstances they were working in were like. Although, given the industry’s reputation back then, I’d expect it was probably with little resources and an even littler amount of time.

So, I think it’s high-time that Final Fantasy VII got a new, polish translation and, my main take-away is: it's great!

Of course, it’s time for a few disclaimers here. I don’t have full access to the game script right now, so this is just a brief appraisal of what I’ve seen - mostly the major cutscenes, and a little bit of in-game dialogue here are there.

If you might humour me for a second, I’d briefly like to say a few things about the voice acting, since that’s another shiny-new addition to the game. I generally think it’s great! And, in what could be a first… (*drum roll please!*) I actually prefer the English cast over the Japanese cast! I think the talent they hired is incredible - and I am especially impressed with Cloud, Tifa and Aerith’s voice actors. Especially with Tifa, since she’s such a dear character to my heart, I was very pleasantly surprised when I really loved her voice! The only Japanese voice actor I soundly prefer over the English would be Barrett’s - and I think that could simply be a preference of mine (English Barrett feels a little… forced? To me. Not that it’s bad - just not my cup of tea!)

Anyway, diversion I’m totally not qualified to make aside: here’s my analysis. I’ll only be analysing the ending, since that’s the one that I’m best positioned to make at this juncture. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be in a position to do a full appraisal of the old *and* new game some time! (preferably before I turn 100, too).

Just to help things along: here's a copy of the part of the ending scene I'm looking at in the original Japanese, the English, and my translation.

Japanese	English	(My Translation)
B：マリン！待ってろな T：どっちへ行けばいいんだろう？ ア：(Shakes head) C：セフィロス。あいつがいる限り　俺はー B：でも　倒しただろ？ C：(Shakes head) ア：追いかけよう。大丈夫 T：私も　行く R：追跡ならば　鼻が必要だろう B：オレも　行くぜ. あいつは　星を壊すつもりなんだろ。星の敵はアバランチの敵だ。 Z：もう少しだ、クラウド。もう少しで ア：空　きらいだな	B: Marlene! I’ll come back. T: So, what now? A: (Shakes head) C: Sephiroth. Long as he’s still out there, I… B: I thought you beat him? C: (Shakes head) A: We can. We will. T: Count me in. R: If it’s to be a hunt, you could use a nose like mine. B: I’m in too. Bastard wants to destroy the whole planet, doesn’t he? An enemy of hers is an enemy of Avalanche! Z: Almost there, Cloud. We’re almost there… A: I miss it. The steel sky.	B: Marlene! Wait for me, okay? T: Where should we go now? A: (Shakes head) C: Sephiroth. As long as he’s still around, I— B: But didn’t you beat him? C: (Shakes head) A: We’ll go after him. It’s okay T: I’ll come, too. R: If it’s going to be a hunt, a nose like mine is necessary. B: I’ll go too then! That bastard plans to destroy the whole planet, doesn’t he? Then an enemy of the planet is an enemy of AVALANCHE! Z: Just a bit longer, Cloud Just a little longer… A: The sky… I, I hate it…

So, I’ll start with the biggest issues and work down to the little things I spotted.

    Aerith's First Line

Credit: Square Enix

I think probably the biggest thing is Aerith’s response to Cloud when he admits he didn’t ‘get’ Sephiroth. In the English, the line is one of strength, empowerment and encouragement: “We can. We will”. Moreover, the way this line is written invokes some unwritten lines: a conversation that passes between Cloud and Aerith, in which Aerith reads that Cloud is unconfident in being able to catch Sephiroth, but Aerith smiles, as though to say that he can. “We can. We will.”

Now, the Japanese is quite different. The lines here are "追いかけよう。 大丈夫" (which I would translate directly as “We’ll go after him. It’ll be alright”). So here, I think the difference is fairly self-evident. Yes, that unspoken conversation between Aerith and Cloud still passes between them, and it’s in much the same form. Even the sentiment of the line is the same - just, not to quite the same extent. Because whilst the English is empowering, even somewhat forceful in it’s short and sharp tone. Yet the Japanese is soft and reassuring. It’s more comforting than strengthening. But, the tone of inclusion is still there, and, as the sentiment is still the same, it’s ultimately a minor change. The only effect that this change really has on characterisation is to somewhat soften this line of Aerith’s. It does have a slight narrative impact, though. Because Tifa’s next line is also ever so slightly changed. It does from “私も　行く” (‘I’ll come, too’), to “Count me in”, which is a bit more ‘gung-ho’ (if anyone still uses that phrase?). But, as I said, this is a tiny tiny change! It’s only enough to note, I’d say.

    Tifa's First Line

Credit: Square Enix

The next change of any note is Tifa’s first line in this scene: her question in Japanese is more like a real question than the quite obvious rhetorical question she asks in English. The line in Japanese, “どっちへ行けばいいんだろう？”, can be directly translated as “Where should we go?”, although there’s a nuance in the phrasing that suggests a sort of wondering and uncertainty in the tone; she seems as though she’s asking for some reassurance, and addressing it to Aerith of them all. Compare this with the English, in which the question “So, what now?” begs less of a direct response - it feels more as though it’s something she’s wondering aloud. So, it changes our perception of Tifa and Aerith’s relationship ever so slightly. Tifa seems to be looking to Aerith for support and guidance in Japanese and had simply turned in her direction to wander around and share the feeling of certainty in the English.

    Star Who?

Credit: Square Enix

The final ‘big point’ isn’t so much a ‘translation’ note, but a general ‘huh, this is kind of weird’ note. So, in the Japanese, the ‘planet’ is referred to as a ‘Star’ (“星”). Now, as I mentioned, I don’t have access to the full Japanese script with me, so maybe they explain it, maybe they don’t - who knows! Please do correct me if you know this. But to my best guess, I’d say that since typical vocabulary to describe the ‘world’ would be 「世界」(more about the notion as the world as a space in which we all live together), and 「地球」(a little too associated with this, physical world), so I suppose that calling Gaia a ‘Star’ more aptly describes the view of Avalanche of the planet as a living, breathing thing? To my mind, I suppose the best thing to have done would be to just refer to the world as ‘Gaia’/「ガイア」, as in the original, but that’s just my opinion. And who knows? Maybe they do this in the Japanese translation and I just sound dumb right now.

(Side note: the planet being called ‘Gaia’ is why the planet is referred to as a ‘she’ - Gaia was the goddess who was *literally* the earth in Greek Mythology.) 

   Minor Differences

So, like I mentioned at the outset, these are more differences of nuance I’m picking out to highlight how they’re different, none of them are huge deals! Here, I’ll just list a couple of the interesting language differences I found in this scene.

   Barrett's First Line

Firstly, The way that Barrett’s first line is translated is slightly different between the English and Japanese. Where in the English he declares that he’ll be back for Marlene, in the Japanese he exclaims “待ってろな” (‘Wait for me, okay?’). It’s ever so slight, but it’s an interesting shift of agency. Whereas in the English Barrett is the active agent, all the agency actually rests with Marlene in the Japanese. Like I said, I haven’t seen enough of the rest of the game in the Japanese to know if this is just a difference in language or if it does reflect a consistent dynamic between them. If the former, then that would be quite an interesting change in their relationship, for the dynamic to suddenly shift in the final scene!

Credit: Square Enix

    Marlene's Name

Whilst we’re on the topic of Marlene, I just want to say that names are super tricky in Japanese but… 「マリン」, as it’s written in the game, I’d say is closer to ‘Marin’/‘Malin’/‘Maline’. I had a close listen to the way that the voice actors pronounce her name, and even they say it closer to how I’d translate it - 「マーリーン」. I’m just saying, if this were freshly translated today without all the past content, I wouldn’t be surprised if her English name had ended up as ‘Maline’. But then again, this is ridiculously nit-picky!

    Zack's Singular Line

On the topic of people whose names look very odd in Japanese, Zack (phonetically in Japanese it’s ‘zakkusu’, which although correct, just looks weird to me)! His lines don’t really have much to note, and I probably wouldn’t even make a note about them but I wanted to note how well the translators did on this line. The line in Japanese ends with ‘de’, not ‘da’ (“もう少しだ、クラウド。もう少しで”). This gives the impression that the sentiment isn’t completely finished with - just as it’s translated in the English, ending with an ellipsis (“Almost there, Cloud. We’re almost there…”). Now, this is really just abstract literary-based project here, but I’d suggest that the ending of this line, accurately reflected in the English and Japanese, mirrors the narrative arc of Zack. That is, one that was expected to be over, and yet elusively carries on. But who knows what’s planned in the next instalment!

Credit: Square Enix

    Sephiroth's Pronouns

The final little thing to remark on is the way that Sephiroth is referred to - but the choice os pronoun, not his name (although lets to lie, his name does sound a little… funky in Japanese!). He’s referred to with the pronoun ‘あいつ’ in Japanese, which is translated as ‘he’ (said by Cloud) and ‘bastard’ (said by Barrett). Now, pronouns are really difficult to translate in Japanese because whilst, like in this case, pronouns can indeed have a different connotation, they often are simply gendered/non-gendered pronouns like he/she/you. So both Cloud and Barrett say a correct translation. It’s not a nice name, yet it also does just rudely refer to the ‘he’ who is the subject of the sentence. I’d say that the intent behind it also matters; whilst Cloud does have negative feelings towards Sephiroth (no kidding!), he’s quite calm in the moment. Barrett, meanwhile, is more outwardly emotional, even to the point of slight aggression. So whilst it’s not an exact translation, I’d argue this is one of those cases where faithful translations are impossible, and indeed it’s a very apt translation of the emotions of the characters at that moment.

Anyway, that’s the main things I noticed in this little excerpt. Of course, there will be a lot more things throughout the whole game, and there may be thins I’ve written here that can be reinterpreted or strengthened with other, further evidence. I’ll have to get there one day!

Ultimately, this appears not only to be a well-translated but well-written game, and I’m very impressed! Localisation and translation have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years (I’ve been playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons recently and have been so impressed), and this game seems to be just part of that trend.

(P.S. Tifa is still the best)

Credit: Square Enix