Today is a brief comparison post of a small bit of dialogue in Pokémon Sun/Moon that a reader was curious about.
There’s a bit of silly dialogue from the café (within the Pokémon centers). They wanted to know if the Japanese is the same, so I went to the spot in the Japanese version to check, and wrote the results below!
There are little to no spoilers below, simply the dialogue from the cafe.
The only context needed is that the trainer is at a cafe and asking for Moo Moo Milk. The man offers it and says the following in the official English version:
Just one sip and you’ll be hooked.
The milk is so mellow, yet rich, that it’ll
make you wish your mother were a Miltank.
Sometimes he says different dialogue, but the reader was curious about this one the most.
Here it is in Japanese:
一度 飲んだが 最後・・・
ミルタンクの あかちゃんに
なりたくなっちゃう くらい
まろやかで 濃厚なんだよ
And a literal translation:
After just one sip…
The mellow, yet rich milk
Will leave you feeling the urge
to want to be a Miltank’s child.
As you can see, the meaning is actually the same. The only subtle difference is one in English may assume you are talking about your in-game mother (just named “Mom”) which is why I was asked to look into it. That would produce a funny image indeed!
The Japanese though says you wish you were a Miltank’s child, which does mean you would want your mother to be a Miltank, but not your mother the “character” to be one.
It shows how the most subtle of things in translation can go a long way! But in terms of overall wording and meaning, the localization was spot on.
A possible literal translation with better flow:
With just one sip, the mellow, yet rich, milk
will make you wish you were a baby Miltank
By flow I mean to get the idea across without sounding stilted and awkward as purely literal translations.
Lastly, here is an info-graphic that summarizes the post:
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That’s that! If there are any other small (or large) things you want me to look into for the games, then please feel free to contact me or post there. Please be spoiler conscious as many people are still starting the game or earlier on in it (including myself). If you can, provide the original Japanese image/context with it –it will save me a lot of trouble!
And, if you’re feeling generous, then please consider donating! Any and all donations really help me out. : )
You are begging for money because of a faithfully translated line in Pokémon?
xD Seems like it!
In seriousness though, the donation button is mostly there for just general work in looking into reader requests and such on the precious free time I have, that’s all. : ) It takes a bit more time and work than you may think! And is totally up to the person to donate, rather than a forced payment or anything. xD (It was also back during unemployment, so you’ll notice on more recent posts it’s not in the page itself : ) )
That’s pretty interesting stuff! (that miltank dialogue is truly something XD)
Umm so i was wondering if you could translate sth or perhaps maybe know a way to somehow get the japanese text for it? (other than having a jap. version of the game since i only know some japanese, not enough to play the game in it xD)
Anyways, the dialogue i’d like to know is of the guy in the house on Route 2 on Mele Mele Island. His house is the one right next to the motel, his english dialogue is: “It’s good for kids to experience their own journeys, but running away without even word to your parents is another thing entirely. I tried to set that boy of mine straight, but when i did i was the one who got beat…”
(sorry, i hope it’s ok to ask like that, i’m just really curious XD also, i would provide pictures but i can’t on mobile)
Thanks for the translation you already did tho! It’s always cool to compare translation differences 😀
Oh I know the house you’re talking about. I have a Japanese copy of the game as well but it hasn’t gotten farther than the Miltank just yet, so I’ll try to get there and see (or I’ll see if there’s any Japanese gameplay on it…)
Oh that’s cool, thank you so much! 😀
I found the scene in both languages, so will take a look and hopefully post about it later on the week : ) Thanks for bringing it up!
Awesome!!
So…any chance of seeing that now that everyone knows who that guy is and who his runaway kid is? And why that element seemed to be removed in USUM?
I completely forgot to follow up on it when things got really busy. I didn’t play USUM though, was there some sort of follow up on that?
I find this changing pointless what was the problem with: “Make you wish you were a baby milktank”? Nintendo like to change things than are totally translatable in english.
I was okay with it mostly! Same meaning in the end, though that small text technicality can go a long way in connotations xD But yes it may be needless as a result too.
I believe The Pokemon Company handles the localization anyway…
Haha that was really funny when I saw this in-game.
I find it so fascinating how certain things are translated. The English version seems like they mean you’re mother is a Miltank while the Japanese sounds like you were a baby Miltank.
Thank you for all your hard work as usual and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Yes! Exactly, hahaha xD They have the same overall meaning, but all about that subtle presentation that determines if they mean you or your mother : )
You’re welcome! Thank you for reading! If you know any other silly bits of dialogue you want to see compared, let me know! (Though I’m still not done yet, I’ll keep a log to go and look at them when I get there).
Happy thanksgiving to you too : )
🙂
Absolutely!
And thank you very much!!
Neat. I’ve beaten Moon today. It was a good game.
Though we all remember Miltank for one gym. Whitney’s Miltank…
I’ve been taking my time and going through it, catching everything. xD So only around the third trial now, but with nearly 100 Pokemon on file!
Yes, that miltank is quite infamous. xD