As we know, MANY facets of Cloud and Aeris' relationship and symbolizm toward it were "lost in translation". However, my little sister found out that in the first Digimon movie, the one with all the Taiora fluff, that all said fluff was non-existant in the Japanese version. The translators didn't agree with the SoraxMatt couple, so they added and changed a bunch of lines to make the movie more Taiora.
So, this makes me wonder....was it an accident that Aeris' line "I want to meet you" was so badly translated? What about other parts? Was it really an accident, or did the translating crew prefer CloTi?

I think that the "I want to meet you" quote wasn't translated bad. I think that "I want to meet you" means that Aeris wants to be with Cloud and get to know him more. Personally from reading Aly's essays, I think Aeris sought to help Cloud by getting to know him a little better. By knowing more about Cloud, the more Aeris could help heal any wounds that inflected in the past. I hate to be bringing in new characters, but I think that Jenova knew that Aeris was a threat and I think that's why Aeris died.

Got to go. See you on Monday.

There's an interesting discussion about the translation in Kao Megura's Final Fantasy VII Changes FAQ. This is what he says happened to the translation of FFVII:

- The translation was handled by Square Soft International, not Square or SCEA. The translators consisted of people who were both fluent in English and Japanese. It was not a set team, just various translators who were asked to work on parts of FF7 (not neccessarily at the same time).

If this is true, then the translation wasn't done by the same people all the way through. Just various people were assigned to it whenever someone was needed. That means there would be no consistency in the translation of the game. Here's more from Kao Megura's FAQ on the translation:

Most noticeable are the simple spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, such as "Touph Ring". However, what's really noticeable are the badly mangled conversations, some of which seem to make no sense whatsoever, even when you consider the context they are in. For instance, here's a sequence with Cloud and Aeris chatting outside the Honeybee Inn:

Cloud: "...Hmm. That's how you'll fool them."
Aeris: ".........Hmmmmmmm. So that's how you fooled them."

Sounds bad as is right? Well, the conversation isn't even in context with the game. Cloud hasn't fooled anyone; he was just given a Member's Card which he could use to enter the brothel, and while you could say that he tricked the guard into letting him in, it's not that big a thing to pull off in the first place.

This sort of thing is more or less prevalent throughout the game. A bad translation will come as no surprise to people who have had previous experience with Square games, but many people assumed that Sony would do a good job, this being such a popular game, and that ended up not being the case.

If the above links don't work (GameFaqs is sometimes fussy about direct links), Kao Megura's Changes FAQ can be found here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/game/20052.html

On top of that, Square's main translator left the company after the release of FFVI. The main complaint against that translator was that he translated in a way that would make the game more understandable to the NA audience rather than trying to be exact in the translation. <_< So Square's main translator - who translated FFI - FFVI for them, and who was quite familiar with stories created by Sakaguchi and Kitase - wasn't available for the translation of FFVII. Instead, the translation was handled by various teams.

Here's some other articles which discuss what a bad job Square did of translating the game:

http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~geksi...20and%20FF7.htm
http://ftp.shugg.net/vidgames/contributed/ff7chnge.txt
http://www.rpgamer.com/editor/1998/q1/010198ac.html
http://www.gamecritics.com/review/ff7/main.php http://www.epinions.com/content_135833357956 http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/review/R55066.html http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/septem...d/index20.shtml
http://www.all-reviews.com/videogames/finalfantasy8.htm
http://www.workingdesigns.com/rpg_critic/p...fantasy_vii.htm

Hmmmmm, interesting. I didn't know about the translation team. That's a silly reason for the main translator to leave though*rolls eyes*
So what do you guys think? Some of those translators were CloTi's, or just mistaken?

Well, the main translator didn't leave because of the complaints. He left because Square needed to locate him in the Los Angeles branch of the company or something and he wasn't able to make the move at the time, so he left the company instead of moving. I was just saying that he often gets criticized for doing lousy translations because he tried to localize it rather than being exact. That made people blame him for errors that were actually attempts to localize the language to make it more understandable.

Ooooh, right right. Silly Sefie!

The translation was, as Anastar said, divided into multiple lines that many translators had to work on. However, this made a problem: the Japanese script is filed with symbolism, irony and even rhymes that wouldn't make sense at all if you translated word-per-word. In those cases, the translator would need to get a line that has the same meaning, loosing some content. Having multiple translators made this a problem, since each one translated in a way they find more convenient.

I can't remember any passages in game that are like this, but here's an example: "sekai no uchi". Literally, it means "world's home", which makes no sense at all. However, in deep, that means "in the interior of your world", more like what is important to you. Of ourse, you can play with the words in the japanese script, but in the English, there's no way to do the same.

That's what has been lost: sense and direction to the story (plus the grammar errors...). It affects FFVII way more than the others, because FFVIII and on had more visual content, while FFVII relied a lot in the conversations.

Very interesting, SS. Thank you! :D

Do you have documentation that the translation was handled by various teams? That was said in Kao Megura's FAQ, but the author didn't provide a source for that information.

I remember seeing an article in a magazine once, but I don't own it, and I don't really remember which magazine that article was neither... I often throw away old stuff, so yeah... they're gone. Sorry.

Drat! :lol:

In that case, I'll just have to use you as documentation. (See this guy - he read it somewhere!) :P

Seriously - I'm glad to hear that the documentation is out there. If you ever happen to see it again, let me know, okay? :rolleyes:

Ah, they should just remake FFVII with proper translations. I'd definitely prefer that to the multiple spinoffs they're doing right now.

Didn't they fix the translation for the PC version?

Oh PC version didn't have the grammatical errors, but what SS is saying is that the general flow of what they said was lost in the translation. It would have been nice if they'd kept the rhymes...

hi, people, i found the japanese translation of the scene when aeris sais goodbye to cloud in the sleeping forest. i hace the spanish version and is horrible, in the english game mayby it was a goog translation, could you tell me after reading the true japanese version?? here:

CLAUDE'S DEPRESSION

Claude has blanked out, he can't see anything but white. He's
dreaming and talking to himself...

Claude: I can't remember...what I did....Since when have I started
losing memory? If this is a dream...I don't want to wake up....

-----------
(his dream, in the woods)

Aerith: Claude?

Claude: (voice only) I'm sorry about a while ago..

Aerith: It's not good to worry too much about it.

Claude: But I can't help it...

Aerith: Oh.... (teasingly) Then why don't you just keep on brooding?
About Sephiroth, just leave it to me. And Claude...start thinking about
yourself. Take care, so you don't hurt yourself, OK?

Claude: Where...is this place?

Aerith: (looks up at the sunlight filtered by the green leaves above)
This place leads to the 'City of the Ancients'...it's called the
'Sleeping Forest'. It's a matter of time that Sephiroth will call the
down the Meteo. So I'm going to prevent it. I'm the only one who can
do it, because I'm the only Setra left. I know there's something beyond
these woods...I can feel it. I'm going now..when everything is done,
I'll see you again, OK? (runs northward)

Claude: Aerith!

Seph: (voice) Isn't she a nuisance... she's spoiling our plans
Claude... (* notice that he says, 'our' and not 'my'....)
It's about time for that girl to....

(end of Claude's dream)
-------------
(He awakens inside a small cabin of Gongaga town)

Barett: You were crying out in your sleep. How are you feeling?

Claude: 1. Pretty good...
2. ..bad..
3. I seriously don't know... (picked this one)

Barett: (understands Claude) Don't worry too much right now.

Tifa: And Claude... Aerith is gone!

Barett: We're all looking for her.

Claude: City of the Ancients...she's on her way there. There's a way to
stop the Meteo.

Barett: She went ALONE!!? Why?..... Look, we have to go too.

Claude: Aerith is the only Setra. She's the only one who can do this.

Barett: That's BAD then!! Claude, what if something happens to her
along the way!? What if Sephiroth-

Claude: Sephiroth alreadys knows.

Barett: (dumbfounded at Claude's remark) ...Then what the hell are you
doing here, doing NOTHING!?

Tifa: Claude, get up. We have to go.

Claude: .....I don't want to. I might turn funny again...whenever
Sephiroth is around, I lose myself....

Barett: We know that! You gave the Black Materia to him, take some
RESPONSIBILITY!!

Claude: Responsiblity!?

Barett: You've got LOTS of problems Claude. You don't even know your
own self...but Claude? We can't stop here! It's like...you can't jump
off a moving train.

Tifa: Claude, we came this far...Weren't you going to finish off
Sephiroth?

Claude: NO!! (puts his hands on his ears and shakes his head)...I'm
afraid. I feel like I won't ever be myself again...I'm scared OK?!

Barett: ....this is getting pointless. Think about it Claude... exactly
how many people in this world REALLY know themselves? Everyone goes
through a mess sometime during their life. But everyone still goes on
livin'!! Right? (leaves)

Tifa: Claude...I know you'll come along. I'm believing you...
(leaves)

Claude: what am I going to do....run? Run away? ....to where...?

Tifa: (calling) Claude!

Barett: Wait Tifa. Give that kid a little time. He's got to overcome
this by himself. (Tifa looks up at Barett, concerned)...You believe in
Claude, don't you? (leaves, and Tifa follows him outside)

Claude: (thinks)...Why am I afraid to find out the truth...why is it...?
(gets up)

Guy in the house: Are you alright? You know...you're friends were
with you for a long time, hours. ....You have very nice friends...

-----------
(Outside, it's a misty morning)

Tifa: Claude...

Barett: Hey, how are you now? I need to ask you something. What's
bothering you? Do you want to know more about yourself, or are you
afraid to know? Whichever way it is, staying here and doing nothing is
only gonna make you more depressed. If you meet Seph and become insane
again....then...so be it. I'll punch you in the head and make you sane
again!

Tifa: Claude, it's going to be O.K.! We're with you all the way.

Claude: But...

Barett: Stop worrying, it can't help you right now.

Claude: .....yeah....you're right Barett...

Tifa: Let's find Aerith now.

--------------

-Cathy
--

They fixed most of the grammatical errors (not all of them), but there's still other problems, such as the scene in the Highwind as they're heading to the Northern Crater, and Cloud says that they've got to let go of Aerith's memory. He should be saying that they've got to free Aerith from Sephiroth's control. BTW, I have the PC version, and it's the only version I've played.

That's pretty close to the English translation. Some of the words are different, but the two translations are pretty close. :rolleyes:

I don't really have anything to contribute to this - I always understood the reason for the bad translation being, as a lot of people have already said, in the deadline and in the translators having to work in seperate teams, which could make the script as a whole seem a little fragmented. But I was just reading Daga15's translation and I had to comment on something that had me giggling for ages...

LOL! ::marries Barret:: :P