A Story on Word-Sense, or; Why I'm Deeply Interested in Foreign VTuber Translations

※This article was written on Jun 30 2024

I am deeply interested in localization, and here is why. Obviously, I have my own biases and I am completely self-taught, so do not take my word here at face value. However, this is my daily journal to do with as I please, and you, dear reader, are choosing to read it. Which is why I need to explain some things first.

In order for you to understand the "formality" of translation, I intentionally phrased the paragraph above with stiffer wording. What happens when machine translation attempts to translate this? Well, first is "Risk Aversion". We don't want there to be any miscommunication whatsoever, so we stick to a safe distance. True-to-textbook Japanese, in keigo.

That's the interesting thing about Japanese: keigo. You could call this polite Japanese speech a quirk, or perhaps part of our national identity. In English, politeness is generally determined through nuances in speech. Though, there are some phrases that function similar to keigo. "Welcome to the Underground" for example, can be translated differently depending on who's talking and what situation they're in. Are you literally welcoming them to a location underground? Or are you talking about a seedy place with dangerous people? Should you include some slang? Or should it be intensely formal?

When there are many options, the result is incredibly by the book. "I have a pen," "I would like to go eat lunch with you." But what do real children say? "I gotta pen!" "Let's go grab a bite!" Judging that sort of nuance can't be done by any amount of learning, but instead comes from a sense of style. That's why they give you a formal, neutral, and inoffensive answer—in keigo.

Therein lies the truth—translation is nothing but a sixth sense. You can google English terms and slang as much as you want. But the ability to understand what an author is saying, to communicate that in another language in a unique, impactful way? It is a blessing and a burden indeed.

What really impressed me was when some lone otaku hero watched gura and the Hololive EN cast saying "oh~nyo~" and translated it into にゃんてこった！(Nyanttekotta!)—a pun combining にゃん (Nyan/Meow) and なんてこった！(Nantekotta/Oh no).

There is no "correct translation" to "oh~nyo~", of course. But in the hands of someone who takes "moe" culture seriously, someone fueled by the hope that Japanese people will someday understand how adorable these girls are, it became "Nyanttekotta!" If this isn't a symbol of true love, what is? I, for one, love seeing Amelia and gura teasing each other. But maybe that's me.

The task of translating bishojo-style speech—and particularly the slang-laden speech of VTubers—is a long and arduous task. Their image, their very brand, rests on the phrasing of a few translators and editors. Many, for example, would try to translate gura with a childish tone. In actuality, she's likely the most poetically-spoken member of the entire group. Her sense of humor is simple yet hilarious, and it's no surprise she's considered the meme queen. Once, while driving around in a game during a stream, someone in the chat told her to change the music because he hated it, to which she snarkily replied, "Who's the driver here? I'm the driver. I'll buy you a Happy Meal, now zip it!" How do you translate such a joke without losing some of its edge in the process? (Even my mental translation ends up being nothing more than my own personal interpretation.) This isn't intelligence, but sense. It might even be called love.

And then, there are the otaku who take clips of English VTubers and translate them into Japanese. Sure, their translations might be extremely inaccurate, and they don't get many views, but their sense when it comes to what to clip is top-notch. They tell us so, going so far as to use their broken Japanese to say, "The girls in our country are saying this funny shit, check it out." They trade any possible engagement, any possibility of going viral, for pure, unadulterated love of a character.

In a sense, they're like a modern-day Francis Xavier—a Spanish missionary well-known in Japan for spreading Christianity. They come across the oceans, spreading their god (Gawr Gura) and religion (fun). A just society would welcome them with open arms.

As such, it's important for us to try to understand what these girls are saying, what they actually wanted to say, without the use of someone else's translation. More importantly, it's also good English practice. I'm a particular fan of how foreign otaku learn Japanese by watching anime. It's simple, efficient, and requires zero extra effort because it's something they enjoy.

By the way, the localization for the game I wrote, Needy Streamer Overload, seems to be a hit across the globe. Much of that success is thanks to the efforts of the localization team, without which it would not be as big as it is today. The quality of their localization, too, is in part a result of their undying love for otaku culture.

Long story short, the reason why I'm suddenly so deeply interested in translation is quite simple:

I wanted to know, without anyone else's filter, what wonderful things Gura, Amelia, and Ina'nis were talking about. I wanted to experience their fun with my own eyes and ears.