Fan-translators and professionals weigh in on Fire Emblem Fates' localization

The following comes from Potato, one of the members of Team IF, a fan-translation team...

“[My] main concerns would be with NoA’s tendency to often cut or alter important plot points, or even change certain characters’ personalities. With our translation project, we would be more confident in being able to portray the original intended meaning of the Japanese script. The biggest struggle [was] making the Japanese sound natural in English while still keeping most of the original meaning and nuances intact,.

...I believe you can still draw out accurate translations using interpretive methods, but NoA [Nintendo of America] localizations can often entirely change certain elements of the original material, possibly due to them believing that they may not be accepted or understood to their target audience.”

The following comes from Brian Gray, who was the lead translator on Kingdom Hearts and other Square Enix games before opening his own studio...

“I could go on and on (and on!) about how there’s no such thing as a literal translation from Japanese. I think people who mindlessly chase down that ideal are holding themselves back from being good translators. [...] That whole mindset—that Japanese has ‘correct’ translations into English and that localizers are people who mangle those perfect answers—is misguided.”

This debate about official translation versus fan translations is going to rage on forever. There's no right answer here. Some fans aren't going to like what Nintendo does when it comes to localizing games. There are some conversations changed in ways that some feel impact the entire vibe or motivations of characters. Others feel the interpretations stay close enough to the source material that all is well. Others still don't care and are never aware of what changes go into a game when localization comes around.

Team IF is going to keep pushing on their localization of Fire Emblem Fates, making sure to include what they feel is a very direct translation of the Japanese release. They'll also include all the 'petting' mini-game content that appeared in the Japanese release as well.