Ace interview Aspi. It’s always nice to see that the people that are working on a project share the passion for the project that you do, really gives you a sense that they strived to make sure to get it right. Really looking forward to it the closer we get to release.
Great interview! Gives me confidence about this translation project.
Just a matter of time now!!
That was great. These guys are awesome.
Though I’m not really sure how CLANNAD is "in"famous, this was a pretty great interview and it’s nice to see the translators aren’t just random people who picked up the job for the money, but people who actually spent time to learn to love and share the love for the work!
Good job, Aspi and team!
Soon my life will disappear in over thirty hours of playing when it releases, if not more…
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Nice to see a good chunk of the team know about Yukine’s bestness.
“There are several ways to romanize Japanese names, and CLANNAD’s materials mixed between them. It was a bit fun watching the translators agonize over the inconsistency”
I think that goes for all of Key’s stuff too. Their use of romanizations have never been… consistent.
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Good interview, was a really nice read
And Yukine, eh? I’m okay with their taste^^
Yay Yukine love! Up until recently I thought I was a huge minority in liking her.
Where is Boton called Button though? I’ve seen/heard others (Fuko/Fuuko, Koukou/Koko) but not Boton.
God dammit, now I want to edit that, but it’s not my writing… lol
The dub, I believe 
That was an awesome interview and it gave some nice insight of how difficult and fun it is to translate VNs.
Nope. In the dub, they say Botan’s name as Bo-taun.
Always delighted to get an update from the Clannad translation team. It gives me second-hand stress when thinking about how hard it must be to translate something that large, it actually has a higher word count than War and Peace! I really appreciate the hard work.
I’m going to marathon this VN so hard, even if it means I lose 5 to 6 days worth of sleep.
Is it weird that I’m reading the questions in Aspi’s voice?
I like this interview. It’s good to know that there was some sort of synergy between the team members while working diligently on the translation, but I’ll let the final product be the judge of how well it paid off.
Also, Yui-man likes AIR. The man has good taste. 
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ボタン (Botan) means button, thats why it might be translated that way.
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Does any official media call him Button though? I know the official subs say “Boton” and according to @Inuconandoyle the dub does too. I don’t think any Clannad manga has been licensed in English.
Ah, but I think the point of the question was kinda like the Tenshi vs Angel argument. Previous subs have TLed her name as Tenshi, so I think the question was asking, “Would you translate based on those previous TLs, or would you possibly translate her name as Angel?”
ok I read the
part as meaning official but I guess it never mentions that.
Maybe it was… The movie dub? I definitely heard it somewhere
Quite right. I actually asked that question with that particular case in mind, because we talked a lot about it on the forum. They also gave a pretty good answer, especially considering Key already has some romanized names of characters (that are not necessarily consistent)
“Botan” is a pun (i.e. “botan nabe” is a Japanese dish made with boar meat) so it doesn’t have the same implications. “Button” can be an endearing pet name in either language, but the English usage doesn’t cause this level of contextual confusion. It might seem like an accurate translation on the surface, but it does the related dialogue a disservice. Furthermore, “localizing” puns usually makes them sound unnatural or not as clever, which has unintended side effects (DAD JOKES). Sometimes a localized pun will make even less sense, depending on where the reader is from (English has many dialects too).
That’s probably why it was an easy decision for the team. This Dangopedia is a great solution to the problem many translation teams run into. Unfortunately, nuance is often lost in translation unless you educate the reader beforehand. Shoving “translation notes” into dialogue boxes can feel intrusive towards those who are familiar with certain customs, while very few people will read the notes if they’re kept in a separate text file. The Dangopedia integrates these notes into the program so it’s unobtrusive, but still very easy to access - which is a great middle ground!
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When a debate about localization vs translation kicked off in relation to AB, I was saying how having something like the encyclopedia in S;G or the popups in Kanon are a dream to have.
There are some puns and jokes that can be translated super easily (See AB’s “horndog”) but then you get stuff that is so unfamiliar with any English terms that you either have to change it or translate it as an awkwardly long sentence.
Plus, I like the learning aspect of having things explained… Maybe a side effect from being in the TL-note age…
You learn a lot, and then the next time it shows up in a VN or something, you get it.
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