it irks me when they just romanize さん as -san when a real equivalent is closer to Mr. / Mrs.
The reason they do that is that honorifics are not that simple and don’t really translate to English 1-1
For just a few examples. Let’s say this guy’s name is Jim Tanaka
2 people from different businesses
jp Tanaka-san
en Mr. Tanaka
2 people working in the same office that are the same age and started at the same time
jp Tanaka-san
en Jim
same office but Jim is younger
jp Tanaka-kun
en Jim
It’s already pretty complex and doesn’t even scratch the surface, which is why faster/cheaper translation work will just use “-san” instead of going through the effort to do full localization that is a lot more work.
There is also a difference between subtitle translation and full localization. For someone that understand some Japanese but needs subtitles to actually watch something, having the writers from a full localization dropped in with Japanese audio can be very frustrating, so for best quality you really need 2 translations if you localize audio.
Anyway, I don’t think localizing a VN is difficult persay, but you have to have the right people and you get you get varying quality based on the time put in.
you have to have someone bilingual for a great localization. They have to spend the time to read the entire thing and understand it completely before they start translating or you end up with interpretations where forshadowing, motifs, and the like get dropped because the context to translate earlier text wasn’t understood. For ongoing series, they also need to interview the writers to understand what’s important to the future works.
if you want to translate all the stuff in backgrounds you need artists to redraw the art
technical staff requirements can be highly varied. There are engines just for VNs, and in some cases there are frameworks for localization that are sufficient. Sometimes you need a competent programmer to make changes to the engine/game itself
The reason they do that is that honorifics are not that simple and don’t really translate to English 1-1
For just a few examples. Let’s say this guy’s name is Jim Tanaka
It’s already pretty complex and doesn’t even scratch the surface, which is why faster/cheaper translation work will just use “-san” instead of going through the effort to do full localization that is a lot more work.
There is also a difference between subtitle translation and full localization. For someone that understand some Japanese but needs subtitles to actually watch something, having the writers from a full localization dropped in with Japanese audio can be very frustrating, so for best quality you really need 2 translations if you localize audio.
Anyway, I don’t think localizing a VN is difficult persay, but you have to have the right people and you get you get varying quality based on the time put in.
you have to have someone bilingual for a great localization. They have to spend the time to read the entire thing and understand it completely before they start translating or you end up with interpretations where forshadowing, motifs, and the like get dropped because the context to translate earlier text wasn’t understood. For ongoing series, they also need to interview the writers to understand what’s important to the future works.
if you want to translate all the stuff in backgrounds you need artists to redraw the art
technical staff requirements can be highly varied. There are engines just for VNs, and in some cases there are frameworks for localization that are sufficient. Sometimes you need a competent programmer to make changes to the engine/game itself