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Steam curator warns players if Sweet Baby is involved in a game

The CEO has been translating for almost 30 years, since the PS1 days. The company is also based out of Tokyo and employs a mix of Japanese and international staff. Can anyone actually point out something egregious before embarking on a witch-hunt?


The principle of altering an original work for "cultural convenience" is egregious enough. I don't care if they have worked 30 or 300 years, that idea is corrupted and essentially evil. The only way to be true and respectful to an original work is to translate exactly as it was intended or expressed by the author. That's it.
 
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Kilau

Member
Oh shit you're back 😮:D

vwie41e6b0w91.jpg
 

Zathalus

Member
The principle of altering an original work for "cultural convenience" is egregious enough. I don't care if he has worked 30 or 300 years, that idea is corrupted and essentially evil. The only to be true and respectful to an original work is to translate exactly as it was intended or expressed by the author. That's it.
There are plenty of times when you need to alter the source material. Translation for media is more then simply changing words, the translator needs to balance both connotation and denotation. Other things that can cause problems is alliteration, rhyming, puns, humor, idioms, and wider cultural aspects. Sure, you can be a purist and claim things must never be altered, but that runs the risk of the media being made less approachable to a wider audience. Not something you want when taking financial considerations into account. It also depends on what you are translating as perfect accuracy matters far more in factual documents or historical works, but for generic RPG X it probably matters a lot less.
 
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Dr.Morris79

Member
There are plenty of times when you need to alter the source material. Translation for media is more then simply changing words, the translator needs to balance both connotation and denotation. Other things that can cause problems is alliteration, rhyming, puns, humor, idioms, and wider cultural aspects. Sure, you can be a purist and claim things must never be altered, but that runs the risk of the media being made less approachable to a wider audience. Not something you want when taking financial considerations into account. It also depends on what you are translating as perfect accuracy matters far more in factual documents or historical works, but for generic RPG X it probably matters a lot less.
We're fully aware of what they've been up to in regards to translation lately 👍
 

Zathalus

Member
Look at the last 20 games they translated. It doesn’t take a genius to see. Though this may be talking to a brick wall given your tendency to defend this mind rot.
What games? I can only find the following portfolio on the website: https://dragonbaby.com/portfolio/

Is there some issue with the translation of those games? Or is there a list elsewhere?

Also, I'm not defending anything, I have only asked for somebody to explain what exactly they have done. If they have butchered a translation then that would be worth knowing.
 
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sloppyjoe_gamer

Gold Member
What games? I can only find the following portfolio on the website: https://dragonbaby.com/portfolio/

Is there some issue with the translation of those games? Or is there a list elsewhere?

Also, I'm not defending anything, I have only asked for somebody to explain what exactly they have done. If they have butchered a translation then that would be worth knowing.

I guess you can just pretend what's happened to the Pokemon characters recently in making them look gender neutral as opposed to female (when it was an obvious female before) isn't happening. But i suppose that no matter what example we give, it won't be good enough or you'll just attempt to gaslight us like all the other defenders of this horseshit.
 
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Zathalus

Member
I guess you can just pretend what's happened to the Pokemon characters recently in making them look gender neutral as opposed to female (when it was an obvious female before) isn't happening. But i suppose that no matter what example we give, it won't be good enough or you'll just attempt to gaslight us like all the other defenders of this horseshit.
I won't have a problem with a good example at all, but that is frankly a terrible example because a) The consulting translator won't have any influence over character designs (because obviously), and b) they haven't translated for Pokémon in almost a decade.

So how about stop getting internet outraged about this and insulting me on something I haven't done and actually post something related to a bad or butchered translation? Or are you going to claim I'm gaslighting you because you think a translating consulting company has any say at all over how the Pokémon company designs its characters?
 

sloppyjoe_gamer

Gold Member
I won't have a problem with a good example at all, but that is frankly a terrible example because a) The consulting translator won't have any influence over character designs (because obviously), and b) they haven't translated for Pokémon in almost a decade.

So how about stop getting internet outraged about this and insulting me on something I haven't done and actually post something related to a bad or butchered translation? Or are you going to claim I'm gaslighting you because you think a translating consulting company has any say at all over how the Pokémon company designs its characters?

Thank you for proving my point
 

Zathalus

Member
Thank you for proving my point

Or are you going to claim I'm gaslighting you because you think a translating consulting company has any say at all over how the Pokémon company designs its characters?

Lol, fucking knew it. I assume nobody has any actual evidence then, and everyone is just making sure they demonstrate the correct amount of faux outrage. Performative art at its best.

Hell, I'd actually be upset with this company and look at future works with them with a skeptical eye if anyone can actually post some real translating gaffes. But actual examples, not blaming a translating company that works with text and words for what a separate company does regarding animation and pictures.

Side note, it's remarkable that the level of discourse we are at requires me to explain what the difference is between text and pictures.
 

Dr. Claus

Banned
Lol, fucking knew it. I assume nobody has any actual evidence then, and everyone is just making sure they demonstrate the correct amount of faux outrage. Performative art at its best.

Hell, I'd actually be upset with this company and look at future works with them with a skeptical eye if anyone can actually post some real translating gaffes. But actual examples, not blaming a translating company that works with text and words for what a separate company does regarding animation and pictures.

Side note, it's remarkable that the level of discourse we are at requires me to explain what the difference is between text and pictures.

Projection and gaslighting. The Zathalus special.
 

Zathalus

Member
Projection and gaslighting. The Zathalus special.
Please explain how asking for simple proof of any wrongdoing by this particular company is in any way resembling gaslighting? Hell I'm not even claiming they are blameless or that they haven't done some shit or dodgy translations, I'm simply asking for evidence of any wrong doing instead of going on a performative witch-hunt.

I've already asked you for proof several times now and instead of providing it, you are trying to deflect with logical fallacies you apparently don't know the definition of. But I suppose you are unable to post hyperlinks again.
 
There are plenty of times when you need to alter the source material. Translation for media is more then simply changing words, the translator needs to balance both connotation and denotation. Other things that can cause problems is alliteration, rhyming, puns, humor, idioms, and wider cultural aspects. Sure, you can be a purist and claim things must never be altered, but that runs the risk of the media being made less approachable to a wider audience. Not something you want when taking financial considerations into account. It also depends on what you are translating as perfect accuracy matters far more in factual documents or historical works, but for generic RPG X it probably matters a lot less.


You know that's not the issue. And by how they word it on their website it's pretty clear they are not referring to that either. When I play or read a work belonging to a culture different from mine, I am interested in learning about it without any filter. In the case of RPGs in a fantasy world, it's an immersion breaker that characters crack meme jokes or use localized idiomatic expressions. Some people may like it, but I find it dumb as fuck. It's a vandalization like putting graffiti on a painting masterpiece.
 

Zathalus

Member
You know that's not the issue. And by how they word it on their website it's pretty clear they are not referring to that either. When I play or read a work belonging to a culture different from mine, I am interested in learning about it without any filter. In the case of RPGs in a fantasy world, it's an immersion breaker that characters crack meme jokes or use localized idiomatic expressions. Some people may like it, but I find it dumb as fuck. It's a vandalization like putting graffiti on a painting masterpiece.
That's perfectly valid, I think the subtitled works (or novels) should try and stick as close to the original language as possible (but even then some changes do need to occur, reading fan translated light novels can often be painful compared to the official ones). But in a dub situation it can be difficult to be completely literal in translation and make it sound like real people actually having a conversation. Companies also would want to localize works for maximum understanding (and to not say anything offensive or commit a cultural blunder as advertising companies often do, such as the Ford Pinto debacle in South America) so trying to cast a wide as net as possible and appeal to the larger demographic makes sense for them as well.
 

Dr. Claus

Banned
Please explain how asking for simple proof of any wrongdoing by this particular company is in any way resembling gaslighting? Hell I'm not even claiming they are blameless or that they haven't done some shit or dodgy translations, I'm simply asking for evidence of any wrong doing instead of going on a performative witch-hunt.

Took me less than 3 minutes to do a basic search on LinkedIn, find the CEO and other members/collaborators with Dragonbaby,

Jeremy Blaustein has worked on numerous projects, with the longest running being Pokemon in the west - the same one that is notorious for having one of the absolutely worst localized scripts in existence (Its not a frying pan, its a drying pan! Minnesota Viking jokes, Onigiri referred to as donuts, etc).


Lists a lot of their recent work.

Ace Attorney's shit localization, Pokemon's shit localization, World's End Club with its shit localization. You can find even more if you continue to look.

People are calling a spade a spade. In this case a shit localization company led by someone who is bad at their job as a shit localization company led by someone who is bad at their job.
I've already asked you for proof several times now and instead of providing it, you are trying to deflect with logical fallacies you apparently don't know the definition of. But I suppose you are unable to post hyperlinks again.

And I stated exactly where you should look.You blame others for your laziness and inability to do basic things. As for the inability to post hyperlinks on my phone - that was an actual issue. When I got home I went looking into your "sources" and realized what kind of person I was dealing with and realized that there was nothing I could post, showcase, or say that would change the mind of someone who actively uses and pushes slacktivists as proper sources of history.

But I know exactly what you are going to do. You are going to come up with some random excuse, project, and gaslight. As you always tend to do.
 
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Zathalus

Member
Took me less than 3 minutes to do a basic search on LinkedIn, find the CEO and other members/collaborators with Dragonbaby,

Jeremy Blaustein has worked on numerous projects, with the longest running being Pokemon in the west - the same one that is notorious for having one of the absolutely worst localized scripts in existence (Its not a frying pan, its a drying pan! Minnesota Viking jokes, Onigiri referred to as donuts, etc).


Lists a lot of their recent work.

Ace Attorney's shit localization, Pokemon's shit localization, World's End Club with its shit localization. You can find even more if you continue to look.

People are calling a spade a spade. In this case a shit localization company led by someone who is bad at their job as a shit localization company led by someone who is bad at their job.


And I stated exactly where you should look.You blame others for your laziness and inability to do basic things. As for the inability to post hyperlinks on my phone - that was an actual issue. When I got home I went looking into your "sources" and realized what kind of person I was dealing with and realized that there was nothing I could post, showcase, or say that would change the mind of someone who actively uses and pushes slacktivists as proper sources of history.

But I know exactly what you are going to do. You are going to come up with some random excuse, project, and gaslight. As you always tend to do.
Thank you for actually posting some sources, if you had done that in the first place instead of insulting me we could have saved a lot of time. So yes the issue with the translations that they have done on Pokémon appear to have been shoddy joke replacement and juvenile humor which was really poorly done overall. I wouldn't make a silly claim like they are responsible for the recent animation change, I don't think such a small company that hasn't worked on the franchise in years has that kind of pull. It's not entirely bad, Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, and Dragon Quest 7 appear to be quite good, although I could be wrong here but I don't recall any major issues with the localization on those games. As for Ace Attorney they only appear to have done the dubs for the recent re-release of the Apollo Justice Trilogy, so the original changes were not done by them. Lastly, World's End Club, I'm not finding much on issues with translation on this one, what's the issue with it? Really they don't appear to have done much recently outside of some obscure indies, the only thing I've heard of other then the previous games is World of Horror. So overall, a mixed bag.

As for the other thing, it's outside of the scope of this thread, but I did ask for your sources quite politely. You obviously didn't want to bother, so fair enough.

Now do you want to continue this discussion or just continue crying about projection, and gaslighting? Two terms which you really need to look the definition up of instead of using it as buzzword of the year.
 
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Zathalus

Member
Thanks for proving my point.
And there it is. Not really interested in having a discussion, just claims of gaslighting and then trying to nip it in the bud so as to appear to score a win while not forgetting to get those ad hominem attacks in.

Why Dr. Claus, you'd make a great politician.
 

Dr.Morris79

Member
Thank you for actually posting some sources, if you had done that in the first place instead of insulting me we could have saved a lot of time. So yes the issue with the translations that they have done on Pokémon appear to have been shoddy joke replacement and juvenile humor which was really poorly done overall. I wouldn't make a silly claim like they are responsible for the recent animation change, I don't think such a small company that hasn't worked on the franchise in years has that kind of pull. It's not entirely bad, Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, and Dragon Quest 7 appear to be quite good, although I could be wrong here but I don't recall any major issues with the localization on those games. As for Ace Attorney they only appear to have done the dubs for the recent re-release of the Apollo Justice Trilogy, so the original changes were not done by them. Lastly, World's End Club, I'm not finding much on issues with translation on this one, what's the issue with it? Really they don't appear to have done much recently outside of some obscure indies, the only thing I've heard of other then the previous games is World of Horror. So overall, a mixed bag.

As for the other thing, it's outside of the scope of this thread, but I did ask for your sources quite politely. You obviously didn't want to bother, so fair enough.

Now do you want to continue this discussion or just continue crying about projection, and gaslighting? Two terms which you really need to look the definition up of instead of using it as buzzword of the year.
So they do shitty translations then? 🤷‍♂️
 

sloppyjoe_gamer

Gold Member
And there it is. Not really interested in having a discussion, just claims of gaslighting and then trying to nip it in the bud so as to appear to score a win while not forgetting to get those ad hominem attacks in.

Why Dr. Claus, you'd make a great politician.

Noone is this dense. Youve done nothing but gaslight everyone who has shown you the examples that youve asked for.

People like you are why no honest discussion can happen about this very real problem that very many people do not like or appreciate.

My ignore list is getting quite the workout these days. Be off with you.
 

Dr. Claus

Banned
And there it is. Not really interested in having a discussion, just claims of gaslighting and then trying to nip it in the bud so as to appear to score a win while not forgetting to get those ad hominem attacks in.

Why Dr. Claus, you'd make a great politician.

More projection and more gaslighting. If you want an honest discussion, then it begins with you. Sadly every interaction I have seen you have with this community has been nothing but gaslight attempts and projection, blaming everyone else for your own failings. Do better, kiddo.
 

sloppyjoe_gamer

Gold Member
More projection and more gaslighting. If you want an honest discussion, then it begins with you. Sadly every interaction I have seen you have with this community has been nothing but gaslight attempts and projection, blaming everyone else for your own failings. Do better, kiddo.

Just ignore he/him/they/them.....not worth the aggravation as you will never get an honest conversation
 

phant0m

Member
And there it is. Not really interested in having a discussion, just claims of gaslighting and then trying to nip it in the bud so as to appear to score a win while not forgetting to get those ad hominem attacks in.

Why Dr. Claus, you'd make a great politician.
They don’t even know what the word gaslight means dude.
 

Zathalus

Member
So they do shitty translations then? 🤷‍♂️
Yes, I said as much. Some of the translation they have done are bad. Some are good, with MGS probably being the best one. So a mixed bag on the whole, which justifies putting their work under scrutiny. I can't find much more on some of the recent stuff they have done like World of Horror. Could be good or bad, I have no idea but I wouldn't be surprised either way.

Noone is this dense. Youve done nothing but gaslight everyone who has shown you the examples that youve asked for.

People like you are why no honest discussion can happen about this very real problem that very many people do not like or appreciate.

My ignore list is getting quite the workout these days. Be off with you.
I'm the only one even trying to have a proper discussion. All I've got from you Gents have been repeated claims of gaslighting, a term which is getting bizarrely hilarious considering how badly you are at using it. Here is a small hint, a honest discussion doesn't involve one side repeating the word gaslighting over and over again. Your very first post responding to me already had claims about gaslighting! How are you so bad at this?

Also, your ignore list? Why I'm absolutely honored.
More projection and more gaslighting. If you want an honest discussion, then it begins with you. Sadly every interaction I have seen you have with this community has been nothing but gaslight attempts and projection, blaming everyone else for your own failings. Do better, kiddo.
Please, do me a favour and look up the definition of projection and gaslighting. Repeating buzzwords doesn't make it true, it just makes you come off as a bit of a idiot. To top it all off you end off your post/rant with the cliche 'kiddo'! 10/10, really well done.

Edit: Whoops, just noticed I'm "apparently" on ignore now, yay echo chambers!
 
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Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Uh guys, asking for specific examples isn't in and of itself "gaslighting".

If you present good evidence and are then manipulated into believing that good evidence is actually bad evidence, and being erroneously convinced that you can't trust your own judgement, that would be gaslighting.

There's a lot of steps missing here. Simple disagreements on the interpretation of any given observation is not necessarily gaslighting.
 

phant0m

Member
Uh guys, asking for specific examples isn't in and of itself "gaslighting".

If you present good evidence and are then manipulated into believing that good evidence is actually bad evidence, and being erroneously convinced that you can't trust your own judgement, that would be gaslighting.

There's a lot of steps missing here. Simple disagreements on the interpretation of any given observation is not necessarily gaslighting.
Like we said, they don't understand the term nor want to have any good faith discussion. Just internet rage.
 
The principle of altering an original work for "cultural convenience" is egregious enough. I don't care if they have worked 30 or 300 years, that idea is corrupted and essentially evil. The only way to be true and respectful to an original work is to translate exactly as it was intended or expressed by the author. That's it.
That’s not what every translator has been paid for in business ever. But go off.
 

naguanatak

Member
Like you said, we don’t need half of society. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings but honestly, most people are behaving as sheep. They will just follow the side that is more vocal, and more and more good people who oppose all this insane evilness are getting louder and louder and powering each other and others to take a stand after being silent for a very long time because of being afraid of being cast outside society, loss of job, or worse things. The pandemic was the most eye-opening event in modern history and shone a light on a lot of things and if you look back where we were 4 years ago and where we are now, the difference is crazy. Although it’s sad that it needed this but at least we are progressing.
Again, I get that.
But at the same time you see whole generations just glued to a screen in their hands. They believe most of what is shown to them and lack the necessary critical thinking skills to evaluate if a message is genuine or not. On the other hand, a lot of mass perception is astroturfing and bots galore on every platform to steer the masses. And it has been going on for quite a while. (Can't recommend 'the century of self' enough)
And still you have people calling anyone who questions authority or shows deficits in todays civilization or calls for remembering 'history' and what that can teach us a tin foil hat. Just look at the last couple of years, the censorship, rewriting and redefining... But some people do not and cannot see this. And they are not wrong as much as I am not right... They just live in a different world. It's just perspective. Most of todays world is just twisted and turned on its head. And the shadows on the wall get more complex the more time goes on. Sometimes I feel that when you can't see how blatantly obvious our society is force fed lies upon lies now, you just won't...ever.
You get punished for being a good human and telling the truth while people lying through their teeth and stepping on others get promoted and celebrated, win nobel peace prizes and are called philantropists by society.
And you get laughed at for even suggesting there is something wrong.
But that's just the pessimist in me. A little part still has hope that there will come a day in our lifetime where the breaking point occurs. And I'm here for it. Even if it isn't a bang...but a whimper.
 
Again, I get that.
But at the same time you see whole generations just glued to a screen in their hands. They believe most of what is shown to them and lack the necessary critical thinking skills to evaluate if a message is genuine or not. On the other hand, a lot of mass perception is astroturfing and bots galore on every platform to steer the masses. And it has been going on for quite a while. (Can't recommend 'the century of self' enough)
And still you have people calling anyone who questions authority or shows deficits in todays civilization or calls for remembering 'history' and what that can teach us a tin foil hat. Just look at the last couple of years, the censorship, rewriting and redefining... But some people do not and cannot see this. And they are not wrong as much as I am not right... They just live in a different world. It's just perspective. Most of todays world is just twisted and turned on its head. And the shadows on the wall get more complex the more time goes on. Sometimes I feel that when you can't see how blatantly obvious our society is force fed lies upon lies now, you just won't...ever.
You get punished for being a good human and telling the truth while people lying through their teeth and stepping on others get promoted and celebrated, win nobel peace prizes and are called philantropists by society.
And you get laughed at for even suggesting there is something wrong.
But that's just the pessimist in me. A little part still has hope that there will come a day in our lifetime where the breaking point occurs. And I'm here for it. Even if it isn't a bang...but a whimper.
If you knew how much I get everything you say…
Those who are still screaming “tinfoil hatters or flatearthears” for any person who is challenging the insanity around us are just scared to look as they would lose their grip on reality or worse, they know well, but they are benefitting from it one way or another. Still, they don’t even deserve any bit of attention because day by day they seem more and more ridiculous when everyone sees something that is so blatant that only the mentally challenged could deny it in good faith and they are quickly losing attention and trust.
Regarding the younger generations, the olders have to show them the way as it always was in the past because they are the main target of the system in many ways. But that they are glued to the screens can also lead to their awakening, I believe, by discovering things that the media wouldn’t tell them.
 
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That’s not what every translator has been paid for in business ever. But go off.


As said in another post, I don't care about what has been done "for years". It's wrong. Look, I am a writer and every word that I put in the book has a purpose, there is no filler, no room for interpretation, much less for "transcreation" as these bullshitters say. Before some hack alters my work I'd use AI and then supervise the result myself. I'm against AI, but we are reaching a point where a stupid machine is more reliable than a person and that's pretty sad.
 
To anyone wondering what Sweet Baby Inc. is, they're a sort of "support" studio (I'll explain why i put SUPPORT in quotes in a bit), that is contracted by game devs to help with certain "aspects" of their games.

Now that we got the bullshit out of the way, let's tear down the pretty façade and get into what they're really about and what their true motives are, since that's something well known that they don't ever, really bring up.

They simply push devs to basically sacrifice creativity for the sake diversity, inclusion and representation of certain "minorities" in their games. In a few words: They "woke"-nize the games you play that they're involved in. Oh and they're also a bunch white people hating bastards so there's that too, on top of some other shady motivations, which are part of an even bigger rabbit hole that's too deep to dive into.

So, a fair bit of advice. Stay away from video games that credit them...and you'll probably save your sanity.
 
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phant0m

Member
As said in another post, I don't care about what has been done "for years". It's wrong. Look, I am a writer and every word that I put in the book has a purpose, there is no filler, no room for interpretation, much less for "transcreation" as these bullshitters say. Before some hack alters my work I'd use AI and then supervise the result myself. I'm against AI, but we are reaching a point where a stupid machine is more reliable than a person and that's pretty sad.
Humans are famously pretty unreliable. Unreliable narrators and unreliable memory recollection.
 

Pejo

Gold Member

Rumor: Wukong devs reject $7 million ‘extortion’ from DEI consultants​


The source of this info is a little suspect. As far as I can tell it's just that single tweet. However, I don't doubt that this kind of thing happens a lot. Hell that one Sweet Baby lady said as much in her video where she was like "we go to your marketing department and we say, 'you don't want people to say that you were against diversity, right?' ".

If it did happen that way, I'm glad they told the west to go fuck off and made the game that they wanted to make.
 
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