blazing-sunflowers

This is just me talking off the cuff, so don't expect comparison screenshots or extensive analysis. I'd just like to make note of something I noticed while reading Wish Lantern/A Radiant Reenactment.

Now, I read the event when it first came out on the JP server. I typically read the events a second time when they come out on the EN server to see what the localization has changed and to see how the characters' "voices" have been translated (to compare to my own dialogue). Something felt very "off" to me as I was reading this event in English, and for the longest time I could not figure out what it was... so I pulled up the event in JP to compare.

You know what I realized??? There's actually notable differences in how Deuce, Jack, and especially Kalim have been characterized. I just didn't think too hard or notice it right away because these three characters don't usually spend a ton of time together + I don't check English homescreen voice lines for these boys that often. Because Wish Lantern stuffed them all into the same room and they interacted with each other, things started to fall into place.

This gets long, so it’s all under the cut if you’d like to see my comparisons!

Re: his speech patterns, I’d like to eventually revisit this in a separate analysis because there are so many layers to his speech! But I’d like to use this to point out that the situation about Kalim commanding Jamil in the original Japanese version is supposed to be exclusive to life or death situations, and isn’t what he usually does to try to get Jamil to do smth (directly). i can pull out the lab coat card for reference; Kalim mentions that ___ should prioritize fixing the kitchen over kalim’s homework. (nothing is address specifically to anyone, no pronouns are used). Jamil asks why, Kalim says that they’re having another banquet. Jamil asks who is going to make all of the food and;

kalim doesn’t actually command Jamil here. what is happening is Kalim’s speech going to the most informal use (だろ, even more informal than just だろう) because of that upbringing mentioned and the arrogance that naturally seeps into his speech. but it’s disingenuous to explain that he is commanding jamil here to do something , or put any more effort into it for Kalim’s sake than he usually does (which is why Kalim also follows it up with “just make the food while you’re making mine”). he’s not just saying jamil’s name and ending it off there, like the answer to Jamil’s question is Jamil, and that’s that. he’s saying it like a question (although informally); “Jamil, right?” (he’s still making an assumption/asking Jamil to confirm). that nuance is important 😭 it’s part of the flip flopping that Kalim does to try to figure out what Jamil wants to do. (leave it to Kalim to help out a little or does Jamil want to do it all himself? does Jamil want to do it and thinks Kalim needs it to be perfect or does Jamil want it to be perfect? etc.) (he has other examples of this where he tries multiple things before book 4 to figure out what Jamil wanted.)

it’s also just a natural part of Kalim’s vocab. in book 5-30, even communicating with a little bit of hesitance and insecurity to yuu & grim, he still uses speech patterns (assertive & informal) that befits his upbringing, not his present feelings or situational context on the matter. (だよ) (using さ at the end of the sentence). it’s another layer as to why grim says (and the narrative uses to help gloss over) that Kalim hadn’t seemed like he was upset about the vocal positions at all. he still uses his regular speech pattern throughout the talk.

(it’s a bit of a theme with the three light characters in nrc ? silver looks like he doesn’t actually feel anything at all and the other students complain about it. rook is seen as weird to people and he has more love to give than he receives, so no one really bothers to look deeper or care. he has metaphors to being a “mirror” for vil - reflecting what’s on the surface. kalim’s issue is his arrogant words covering up how he actually feels about things, intentional or not, leading other to misunderstand him like this.)

(it’s also helped to create a bit of an “otherworldly” feeling where Kalim’s actual feelings on the matter are separated from how he talks about it or how he presents. this is major beyond book 4 going into book 7 when it comes to his thoughts on Jamil, but it also pops up sometimes like in tamashina mina where kalim was just getting insulted on the ring but he doesn’t even acknowledge how he’d feel about what others would say, just tries to take constructive criticism out of it… which results in him following someone else’s idea for how he fights rather than Leona’s strategies.)

there’s a lot more to his informal speech (ending sentences in ぜ for example, placing the last image as context below here), and there is nuance behind his speech as well. i don’t think it’s fair to use it to make it sound like that’s his intention (to command people always with his always direct speech) when we’ve seen it used in situational context where it wouldn’t make sense to if it’s just Kalim having grandeur. (in that conversation with grim, he also has to clarify that he hasn’t gone through life believing that he himself was the obvious choice) (context for why in Kalim’s ceremony robes, to him, the obvious choice was Jamil for housewarden. yes, kalim wasn’t lying when he told grim that there was never a point in kalim’s life where he believed he was the obvious choice. he knew his strengths and definitely knew he flaws. now he has a little more context as to why jamil rejected Kalim’s observation/proposal , depending on how you want to interpret that direct speech) (but you know… if everything he says is a command… that should have been a command to Jamil to take the position too, right ?) (it wasnt . but i hope that puts it into context what kalim’s direct speech specifically means in these scenarios and why misunderstandings happened in the first place. assuming you can glean his intention from sentence structure isn’t how kalim is meant to be interpreted - you’re supposed to look past it, especially considering his informal/arrogant speech is still used in conversations where, contextually, it makes no sense that he’s using it to seem superior.)

I’ve realized this is also why some people say he doesn’t have insecurities. He does, but… gestures to everything else. The localization is a bit difficult to accomplish, but I think they did the best they could considering how the misunderstanding for that specific scene in Book 5 can still be read as valid in the EN localization. I think it’s just the differences between how situational context affects the way he phrases things. Yes, he clearly still has the capacity to word his sentences and choose how to divulge information differently depending on context. it’s part of why a lot of people didn’t actually believe kalim knew he was getting poisoned, or how he chooses to only say his first name to the bus driver but say his full name to cheka in tamashina mina. He doesn’t think about the details in sentence structure, but that’s not easy to translate when his character doesn’t just not think about the way he interacts with people at all (re: the examples here). Because of that nuance, we have changes like this. I think it’s the best they could do without completely simplifying his character to one trope (the idiot), which is probably the problem they wanted to prioritize because he is also not meant to be read as a single trope in the JPN version as well .

My Stardew Valley event posters! Created these over the span of like a year and a bit. Did the Spirit's Eve one in November 2022, and finished off with the Flower Dance one earlier in Feb this year.

well that’s mathematically incorrect becuase you can still simplify the fraction since both sides have “he”

One of the AO3 translation volunteers (Min) created a Google Docs script to handle issues when copying from a doc into AO3. It’s really easy to use

create a copy of this google doc. It contains the script that will do all of the HTML formatting for you.

Delete all of the text from the document.

Write or paste your fic/chapter into the document.

Go up to the top menu and click the new menu option Post to AO3, then choose Prepare for posting into the HTML editor

Note: because this is an apps script, you’ll need to give it permission to run the first time. 

The script will automatically mark up your document with the required HTML that you can then paste into the AO3 composition window. \o/

To revert your text back to normal, just go back up to that menu and choose Remove HTML. It will look like regular text again. 

Once you have the doc, you can make a new copy of it for each new fic you write and that way you’ll always have that script available when you need it :)