#im curious how certain things are translated compared to the Japanese version and the english localization

[crimson-cassowaries]

Ooo anyone want to see something real cringe, at like the PEAK of my Sebek phase I made a doc about me over analyzing his ass and making a whole bunch of (mostly depressing) headcanons and its was lowkey just me projecting like EXTREMELY HARD but if anyone wants to see it feel free to ask, I'll probs post the link later lol

[precisemuseum]

okay so im very curious, sorry if this is very obvious or if its been asked before, why does witch talk like that

Short answer: Because English doesn’t have 3+ degrees of politeness that would help you differentiate between Raffina, Rulue, and Witch.

Extremely Long Technical Answer: 

The three basic types of Japanese politeness are Teineigo (polite speech), Sonkeigo (Honorific Speech, used when talking to or about someone of higher status), and Kenjougo (Humble Speech, used when talking about yourself to humble yourself in comparison to whoever you’re talking to). 

Based on every situation, you are supposed to mix the three (or use none) according to the status of the person you are talking to in relation to yourself. Even when talking with strangers, for instance, proper form is to use all three; but when talking about your boss to an outside party for instance, you’re supposed to use humble speech instead of honorific speech because otherwise that’ll look like bragging. 

You can google more about the linguistics of this if you’re interested, but basically Teineigo is using “desu” or “masu” and Sonkeigo/Kenjougo require different verb replacements and conjugations. Even within them, there are ways to make your speech a little more polite or impolite.

So here’s a basic rundown of Raffina, Rulue, and Witch and where they stand (starting with Ringo, for additional comparison): 

Ringo: Primarily Teineigo, though she also uses Kenjougo in phrases like “Iza! Mairimasu!” aka “Here I come!” In this statement alone, you can see how the 2 forms of politeness cannot be translated to English. “Here I come!” is neither particularly polite nor casual, and if you were to make it more polite you would edge too far into the weird zone: “I depart at once!” which contrasts the feeling we want for her character.

Our direction: Emphasize her nerd aspects through technical phrasing while keeping a degree of politeness, thus easily making her speech unique. The Japanese, in contrast, primarily relies on her politeness and occasional literary verb declaration to convey her “polite but weird” character description.

Raffina: All three: Teineigo (not dropped even for classmates), Sonkeigo (though the circumstances in which this needs to be used are very few and probably only when she’s addressing Ms. Accord), and Kenjougo to emphasize her lady, high-class upbringing. As you might realize, this is polite only in form, because Raffina is a very haughty character who thinks she’s better than everyone else. 

Rulue: Very little of any, not even Teineigo, for the Queen respects no one…except when she’s talking to Satan, in which case she’ll use all three at once. However, just like Raffina and Witch, Rulue uses feminine phrase tics (deshou, for instance) which are automatically more polite than casual (where it would be “darou”). Here we have a bit of a problem because this variation cannot be conveyed perfectly in English. Essentially, she uses lady-like speech but with limited politeness for others – but this could also be because she is older than most of the cast, in which case it would be natural for her to speak to them without Teineigo (Amitie, for instance, uses Teineigo when talking to Rulue, so this is likely the case, in addition to the fact that Rulue doesn’t respect people that much since she doesn’t use Teineigo with strangers). 

Though to make this more complicated, she may use Sonkeigo when talking to the viewer, but without Teineigo. Wow. How do we even begin conveying that? (Example: 私のスペシャルスキル　『女王乱舞』の　せつめい　ごらんに　なりたいのかしら？ — bolded: Sonkeigo…without the desu or masu of Teineigo.)

Our attempt: We’ve made Raffina’s wording ever so slightly more polite, but otherwise they end up sounding similar. The game also intends for them to overlap, however, so this isn’t a huge deal.

An example: Raffina says in one route, “That is something for I, myself, to decide.” If Rulue were saying essentially the same line, we would go with something more like, “That is something I will decide myself.”

Witch: All three as well, but to the point of overdoing it, in a way – Witch uses Sonkeigo and Kenjougo no matter who she’s talking to. But why? Is it because she’s actually more polite than the rest of the cast? 

It’s because she’s a salesman.

Here’s the joke in Japanese: Witch does extremely rude things with extremely polite language. She’s a salesman ready to swindle you. So herein lies the problem — in English, simply making her polite is going to have an incredible overlap with Raffina, whose politeness is different and reflects her upbringing. And it doesn’t help that Raffina, Rulue, and Witch all use feminine grammar structures and laugh with Ohohoho!

So, now for a quiz: With the character differentiations we just went over, who’s saying what line between Raffina, Rulue, and Witch?

1. Could you not go around calling yourself the strongest beauty when someone as grand as me exists?

2. While Puyo battling over and over, I have somehow ended up in a place unbeknownst to me.

3. To begin with, dancing when you’re a fish is so improper!

4. A maiden’s determination can shatter any obstacle!

5. Well then, I shall gladly be on my way.

6. Sheesh! In this case, I shall make it so that you cannot move!

Answers:

1. Raffina

2. Witch

3. Rulue

4. Rulue

5. Raffina

6. Witch

So here we have a problem: these lines actually look like they could’ve all been said by the same character, despite having differentiation in Japanese. But if we remember, only Raffina and Rulue are supposed to mirror each other.

Leading us to two options:

1. Leave it be and have 3 characters that speak very similarly and primarily rely on context to distinguish

2. Swap Witch to a different form of politeness, thus leaving only Raffina and Rulue alike. 

As you can see, we went with the second by using Southern Belle, or a polite form of the Southern American English. Leaving us now with:

1. Could you not go around calling yourself the strongest beauty when someone as grand as me exists?

2. After Puyo battling over and over, I’ve ended up in rather strange parts.

3. To begin with, dancing when you’re a fish is so improper!

4. A maiden’s determination can shatter any obstacle!

5. Well then, I shall gladly be on my way.

6. Sheesh. If you won’t settle down, I’ll have to truss you up so you can’t move!

Witch’s lines are now clearly distinguishable, and we’ve done our best to keep her polite within the dialect. Of course, some may disagree with this decision since Witch does not actually speak in another dialect in Japanese, but very few Puyo characters do, and when they do they tend to run the typical stereotypes (Kodomo Dragon speaking a somewhat incomplete Kansai because he’s “wild”). Witch’s polite southern will not overlap with these characters even if we also translate them to southern, so we do not foresee future issues.

We believe it also makes certain exchanges more interesting. Compare the original translation of this scene to the final version:

We hope this has been an adequate answer to your question.

Bonus: To further underscore how complex politeness is in Japanese, here’s seven ways to ask someone to do something for you, in order of ascending politeness…

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