The funny thing is, there isn't even anything controversial in the japanese script, it's a pretty tame and standard classic JRPG, but for some reason they decided to change *every* sentence for the sake of changing

And hey, if wouldn't be so bad if the eng script conveyed the same things, but no, they change the tone of waaay to many sentences, that come off unnecessarily rude, petty or whatever for the character saying it

Sadly this is gonna need an unofficial retranslation

Dude, after the JelloApocalypse drama it is clear that there is a disconnect between Japanese studios and there western publishers.

It means money. Usually in the enticing or hard-gotten/illicitly gotten connotation. Comparable to "sack of gold" or "fat wad of cash". It's not uncommon at all.

Guess it can be described as "the sound of money", although this is not the only jingle-sound possible but for many of us "the best sound". Guess, if money means so much to someone, there is not even a proper word required anymore... just its sound. To me, there is not enough meaning, so i could not automatically link this sound to coins. Language got a lot to do with your heritage and the social environment which is even judging people and their shape a large margin. However, now i am one step further into understanding "how a human works".

In the german environment we do not know the word "cash cow" because a cow does not automatically mean cash to us. Instead we say "Goldesel", which got a rather romantic or even some scent of a fairy tale. Money we usually link to "luck" and "good fortune", not to some kind of opportunistic manipulation, so a "gold donkey" is the way to go. In fact... there is probably not a single billionaire at a age below 30 that is a "self made" anymore, instead... they all kinda "won the jackpot" or lets name it in german "Goldesel", kinda some good fortune was happening to them.

Yet, in the US... it is hard to remove the general impression of "if we only work hard enough, we could achieve just about anything... even becoming dirty rich". it may work for a selected few, but almost certain never for the masses... no matter how hard they work.

Well, back to the game i guess... which... for some valid reasons... is enjoying a big bag of coins a lot, or a sack of gold which is actually closer to my own archaic heritage... jingle jingle.

The word, not the sound, but the onomatopoeia word "jingle" is used to mean money. It's not them just typing a sound, but it's a word.

Compare to "What's the buzz?", where "buzz" is an onomatopoeia word for a noisy environment full of people. Specifically meaning news, word on the street, general chatter.

Perhaps that's part of people's problems with the localization is it's very localized with life behind it and not just generic lifeless news anchor English.

Considering many people that are not even native English speakers end up playing in English, and considering a lot of translations are based on the English translation, a very localized translation is a major problem.

In both cases, you're asking for native English speakers to make sure they get a worse, more generic, localization because of other people's problems.

Well, not entirely... in the sense of "onomatopoeia", which is used in order to express some sound using a word, it actually is a noise linked to a source of the noise which is usually "well known", so we can automatically tell its source. Very common in comic books or manga, which i enjoy... so not unknown to me. Although, at a game it is not "fitting" as we got the "power of audio", in this case onomatopoeia got a invalid behavior as it simply is dealing with stuff "unfitting" in a sophisticated way. Or in other words "we do not need an abstraction"... an "absence of mind".

Still, as i see it, there are comic- or manga-like chat boxes, yet if it does not fit the "original intention" then it may not be fitting. To me it makes few sense making some sort of "manga" out of a game, a game which is much closer to "anime" and its possibilities in expression, yet... it may have somewhat a touch of it, for whatever reason. If the Japanese text did not try to act like this... it is most likely not intended and not fitting.

"Whats the buzz", sounds like slang to me... surely very common but neither archaic nor sophisticated and i would rather not use those sort of words for games... especially not a game that is, actually, pretty archaic on its environment and with a traditional Japanese heritage. Language got a lot to do with "feeling and deeper meaning" not if we could express yourself in the most common or convenient way possible. I do not even think "art" is any convenient at all... because deepness is always some sort of struggling experience until you reach a certain point of a satisfying relief.

Naw. It's unreasonable to expect games to limit themselves to timeless 8th grade reading level generica. That's how you ensure it's NOT art, that it misses any feeling and deeper meaning. Games should use lived in language. (Of course, it can go too far, if it's using this year's disposable fad-words and meme references.) The stuff shown for this game -- which I look forward to playing once it gets a few patches -- show nothing of that sort.

As for the language of today versus the environment, no. It's written today, so uses today's language. Everything would be inaccessible if it were written Shakespearean (which used tons of in-that-day language) or Chaucer. Or older! Using period language is considered a faux pas and is typically frowned upon and discouraged. (Besides, what's "period" in a fantasy game?)

(Don't get me started on how much actors need to be stabbed for using fake British accents in every fantasy VO work...)

In general i have no joy for something that is not very close to its "source", yet the world is increasingly becoming heavily influenced by each others and by every new step of "mixing the pot of languages together" our language and mentality is further losing its "special scent" coming from a certain source. Finally, we get a almost dead language as it is either becoming confusing or levelled to a certain "common expression" i do not find valuable at all. Yet... not even the "original source" is most likely in a shape making me feel full of joy... as it is simply way to blatant and is not trying to "play with our minds", kinda in a way like we would be expecting it from a romance such as the ones we know from Haruki Murakami. Perhaps the game creators would require the help of some "higher grade" literacy-leader... so the source would be way more playful and not just blatant.

I can fully understand that the translators want to give the game some more joyful or pleasant "smell" expressed by words, i do fully support. However, i simply feel like they lack the capabilities in order to truly make it impressive by its appearance; no matter close to the source or rather not.

I really dunno why the world in general... and many of its creators... lack so much love, but it seems like it is simply the loveless time we are in and some sort of sickness with spreading a language that is not just harsh but straight forward blatant.

As i said... maybe they need to hire a more capable story creator... and not the cheapest stuff they was able to get. Not that i can judge the story yet... just many of the sentence, which i consider, in general... rather limited quality.

I can fully understand that many of the fans do not feel joy by the current shape, yet... not even the "original" i can consider joyful. It is simply the general shape of the game and the language in general, paired with rather low quality story creators, that is the true issue.
Nope... truly no joy for this. Either they stick to "true common grounds" or "very uncommon grounds", rather not the ones just faking it. No one said we do need to bring over every word to a "historic shape", yet it is never bad enriching our actually poor language with some new words we barely know.

I do not think the "new translation" can be considered truly creative... rather with a simplification that goes so far that only "common people" from a native country may truly understand.

Although, it is good there are still other languages available... at least german an some more.

I understand 'jingle' and 'jangle' are the clanking of metal; in this case, coins. However, I suspect the "jingle jingle" part seems to have come from Louis Thearoux's 'Jiggle Jiggle' rap from a 2022 interview that took over Tiktok, which would correspond with the timeline of this localization work. It makes me wonder how adding this pop culture reference enhances the story/dialogue to emphasize a bonus reward when Perrielle already said they'll be paid extra if they find the artifact. It feels extra for the sake of being extra.

Even if it might be news anchor boring, Standard [Business] English is more accessible to the rest of the world and has longer longevity so that more people today and the future can play it. IMO, I think that sentiment is more important to devs than to localize it in a way that causes lingual confusion with some audiences than hypernative English speakers.

I agree with Xeshra that if they want this game to be literary gold, then maybe the story and storytelling should be elevated in the original script enough in the first place to warrant a localization that enhances a translated script. There's no reason why the original Japanese script can't be made more romantic with more obfuscated literary devices considering it seems to use Standard Japanese (Standard English equivalent) in the examples shown.

Never encountered that rap until doing some searches for this thread. It definitely greatly predates that. Though that may be an unfortunate source of it for the translators.

Only of the original source language uses boring textbook language. Which undoubtedly they don't. I have no idea why y'all want the English version to have to be lifeless and empty simply because it's a lingua franca [sic].

As i said, the NA localization i find rather unfitting and even confusing for non NA native speakers but the quality of the original source is another (as far as i can tell, i only know some sentences) weak spot; ultimately not a game i would praise for its language. At least a game got many other strong spots that can be loved... because this is not a book.

This must be subjective, since I've seen a lot of native speakers complaining just about everywhere, to the point that "adjustments" to the written text have already been announced.

Why are you so staunchly defending the translation, do you really think it's that good?
Looking at the examples of the weird localization choices, I do not find something closer to the original work boring.
And as Xeshra pointed out, it is unfitting and does not elevate the work in my opinion.