Rosa: Deceptively Smart
Rosa: Deceptively Smart
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Credit: Square Enix |
Rosa is, perhaps, a beacon of joy amongst female-writing in video games. Actually, so is Rydia. Actually, this entire game is great for female writing. Because sure, Rosa is the centre of a love-triangle, but how much of her dialogue is her cooing over the two men that go after her? How much of her character exists solely to prop up the male characters that surround her? Not much at all - and especially not for 1994 standards. In a word, I love her!
So, what do the translation differences tell us about the differences and similarities between the Japanese and English Rosa? Well, unlike Cecil and Kain, she’s not all that different! But one thing that does stand out is that she really is deceptively smart.
Let’s start with a little history lesson. Well, not so much history, really - but let’s talk about White Mages. The white mage, I think it’s fair, has never been associated with many smarts. Female, sure, often beautiful: but how often do they fall into the ‘intelligent’ category? Not often. Even in the very game, it’s the Black Mages who get the ‘Intelligence’ stat, and the White Mages, conversely, get ‘Spirit’. So if I said that most of us wouldn’t assume that Rosa would be the ‘smart’ one, then I think that’d be fair. But I also think it’d be fair to say that the best way in which Rosa’s intelligence is shown is through her emotional intelligence. Let’s go through some examples of this - and one example where things get really psychological.
When Cecil and Rosa first talk - properly - it’s at night in his room. And in the English, Rosa is kind, encouraging, and just stern enough to shake Cecil out of his funk. In Japanese, she’s slightly softer, more persuasive, and the thing reads a little less stern. Let’s take a look:
ローザ: 何があったの? 急にミシディアへ行ったかと思えば、幻獣討伐に行くなんて・・・・ それに、戻って来てから変よ。
Rosa (Eng.): What’s going on!? You just returned from Mysidia, and now you must journey afar to battle this Eidolon? It's not normal for you to be given such an order…
Rosa (My translation): What’s happening? Just when you were sent to Mysidia, you being sent to battle this Eidolon so soon is… Doing that this soon after you’ve returned is so strange.
And also,
ローザ: だったら、こっちを向いて。
Rosa (Eng.): Cecil, look at me.
Rosa (my translation): So, would you look over here?
And finally,
ローザ: 赤い翼のセシルは、そんな弱音を吐かないはずよ! 私の好きなセシルは・・・・
Rosa (Eng.): The Cecil I know would never whimper like this! The Cecil I love…
Rosa (my translation): Cecil of the Red Wings shouldn’t whimper like this! My beloved Cecil…
So you can see that the English Rosa is slightly more stern. She issues commands, notes the diversion in the King’s usual behaviour logically, and, in the most striking difference of this scene, perhaps, is that she declares her love for him in English. The Japanese technically just says ‘like’ (although, this word can range in meanings anywhere from ‘I like peaches’ to ‘I super-super like you like a lot’). But for a couple who marry at the end of this game, I think the English is on the money here: Rosa should love Cecil, with the line reading 「私の愛しいセシル・・・」 or「私が愛しているセシル」 (although, the latter does lose the possessive article that somehow makes this bit so sweet! Another little thing of note is the way in which Japanese Rosa responds to Cecil’s upset by softening her voice. She uses the (often feminine-marked) particles 「の」 and later「わ」at the end of her sentences in this scene, which work to make her sound sweeter, and less forceful.
Credit: Square Enix
Let’s move on to an occasion where Rosa directs this intelligence towards someone else: Rydia.
When they’re faced with blocks of ice that barricade the path to Fabul, it is Rosa who convinces Rydia to use fire magic to melt them. Cecil, very helpfully, decides to say out loud to the whole group of them that of course, Rydia hates fire, it burned down her whole village (tactful one there)! Rosa takes over and goes from encouraging her to giving her a cute pep talk.
ローザ: いーい? リディア。 この氷を溶かす力があるのは、今あなたしかいないの。
Rosa (Eng.): Rydia, you’re the only one who can melt this ice.
Rosa (My translation): Hey, Rydia? You know, the only one here who has the power to melt this ice now, is you.
Followed by,
ローザ: 私たちがここで氷を溶かし ファブールへ行かなければ、もっと沢山の人たちが恐ろしい目に遭うことになるの・・・・
お願い・・・・勇気を出して!
Rosa (Eng.): If we can’t get through to Fabul, more people will be in danger. Please, Rydia.
Rosa (My Translation): If we can’t melt this ice here and get to Fabul, such terrible things will end up happening to so many more people… Please, Rydia! Please, lend us your courage!
Again, we see the double emergence of the particle 「の」 at the end of both sentences to soften her dialogue in the Japanese. But in both versions, she also changes her tone to suit the context. Whilst in the Japanese she is being more tender with a child, in the English, she speaks to her slightly more frankly. And I think that this speaks to culture differences: in the English-speaking West, it’s encouraged, even, to speak to children about serious matters frankly. But in Japanese culture, this is less so, and thus we see a difference in her tone. But nonetheless, again, Rose intelligently changes her tone to match the situation.
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Credit: Square Enix |
The final instance I’d like to go over is a minor one, but my god do I enjoy it!
So, just after Rosa is released from captivity (standard), she says this to Kain:
ローザ: 一緒に戦いましょう。 カイン・・・・
Rosa (Eng.): Let’s fight together, Kain.
Rosa (My Translation): Kain... we'll fight together.
There doesn’t actually appear to be much of a difference between the two - at first. But if you look at the Japanese, it’s in the polite verb form (「戦いましょう」vs「戦おう」). This is a verb form that one might use in everyday conversations to people you meet, acquaintances, more senior people in your class/company… it’s a way to show respect to those outside your friends and family, essentially. But here, Rosa uses it almost out of turn. She often speaks to Kain in the plain/casual form. This one instance here, I’d say, is either a typo or an excellent bit of character development. Because by having this line come straight after Cecil and Rosa’s adorable reunion and affirmation of love, it’s a very subtle way to tell Kain that he is absolutely out of contention and that Rosa loves Cecil, not him - but without totally taking him down. It’s great! There’s no real way to translate it into English, of course (although I’ve tried my best approximation above - instead of doing a more literal translation, as usual), which is a shame. But nonetheless, it’s another time in which the script shows Rosa using emotional intelligence to keep things in check.
Conclusion
So, there we have it! Rosa is the best - and now we can say why from a literary standpoint. She’s smart and uses her emotional intelligence to keep the team together, encourage people, and also remind Kain he will forever be the third wheel - but without too much of a kick to his pride. And the English and Japanese do this in functional they same way, they just make allowances for culture. So, a job well done by the translation and localisation teams.
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