I honestly wonder how many times somebody spent a full hour trying to figure out a way to take a localized joke and relocalize it for another audience that they are familiar with.
Like, hopefully you’re not a misunderstanding and thinking I’m being down on the people that are doing the translation work. Because I’ve tried to do some translation work myself and I am obviously unequipped for the job, which makes me extremely aware of how difficult a task it is, but like, even so, how difficult is it to take a joke in one language and make it into a joke in a different language with the same vibe?
how difficult is it to take a joke in one language and make it into a joke in a different language with the same vibe?
It can be extremely difficult. Often there are weird constraints like needing to preserve the first letters of one of the words, or two words both sounding similar and having similar meanings. One hour is completely believable to me. When it’s done right though it can really elevate the experience. My favorite example I’ve seen recently is from Yakitate!! Japan when they were making a Fist of the North Star Reference and the localizers changed “You are already germinated brown rice yeast” to “You are already bread”.
My favorite example I’ve seen recently is from Yakitate!! Japan when they were making a Fist of the North Star Reference and the localizers changed “You are already germinated brown rice yeast” to “You are already bread”.
I love how the English localized version doubles as a reference
I honestly wonder how many times somebody spent a full hour trying to figure out a way to take a localized joke and relocalize it for another audience that they are familiar with.
Like, hopefully you’re not a misunderstanding and thinking I’m being down on the people that are doing the translation work. Because I’ve tried to do some translation work myself and I am obviously unequipped for the job, which makes me extremely aware of how difficult a task it is, but like, even so, how difficult is it to take a joke in one language and make it into a joke in a different language with the same vibe?
It can be extremely difficult. Often there are weird constraints like needing to preserve the first letters of one of the words, or two words both sounding similar and having similar meanings. One hour is completely believable to me. When it’s done right though it can really elevate the experience. My favorite example I’ve seen recently is from Yakitate!! Japan when they were making a Fist of the North Star Reference and the localizers changed “You are already germinated brown rice yeast” to “You are already bread”.
I love how the English localized version doubles as a reference