Well Capcom Fans,

Lost here. I’m back with the third and final installment of interviews with the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Justice For All localization team. This time around, we’re interviewing Janet Hsu, also of Capcom Japan, who talks about how long it takes for one to become fluent in Japanese and yummy noodles known as “soba”. Luckily it appears there is no correlation between language fluency and eating soba. “Slurp!”

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Lost: Please tell us about yourself – name, where you grew up, languages spoken, interests, etc.

Janet Hsu: As it says to the left of this sentence, the name’s Janet Hsu and I have a “Made in Taiwan” sticker stuck on the bottom of my left foot. After being manufactured there, I was shipped to America, and grew up in New Jersey (or Joisey, as people seem to think we say). I sort of speak Mandarin Chinese, although I am embarrassed to admit my Japanese is better.

I have quite possibly too many interests, but I love music, especially classical, and cyberpunk sci-fi. I also like to write and draw, and of course, gaming.

Lost: How did you come to be work for Capcom of Japan?

JH: I had always wanted to work in the game industry since I was young, but never thought about working in the Japanese branch of a game company, actually, until I saw an ad while I was teaching English here. So I applied, and the rest is history. As for why Capcom, a lot of the games I played when I was young were Capcom games, and I remembered loving them. That, and it didn’t hurt that Capcom makes the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) games. laughs

Lost: What is your favorite aspect of translation?

JH: My favorite part is creating the characters’ personalities for an English-speaking audience. I like the challenge of taking a character in Japanese, and figuring out how to best represent that same type of character in a way English-speakers would understand. It’s kind of a delicate balance because as the translator, you don’t want to write new things into characters because that changes the gaming experience for the Western audience, but at the same time, some character archetypes that exist in Japanese anime, for example, but not in the Western world, need some tweaking. So in the end, it’s about “How do I recreate the feeling and experience Japanese gamers had in a way that is understandable to a Western audience?”

Lost: How many years of Japanese have you studied? How many years does one need to be considered fluent?

JH: I think it’s different for every person. Personally, I studied Japanese for 2 and a half years at college before coming to Japan, and most of my studying happened after I got here, although I never actually took any lessons. I basically taught myself by surrounding myself with nothing but Japanese 24/7 for a good 3 years. So on average, I would say 5 – 7 years is a good estimate of how long it takes to be fluent.

Lost: What is the translation process? (ie: Do you play through the game first? Or do you get into a database and change the text directly in that?)

JH: The translation process changes depending on the game. Some games are translated as they are being made, while others, like the Ace Attorney ones, were made a long time ago. I try to play through the whole game first, either a commercial version or a beta version we receive from the development team. After that, I sit down and translate the text. For the most part, we don’t have to deal with coding, although some games do require some basic understanding of programming logic. After the preliminary translation, if there is time scheduled for it, we get a text edit, and if there is no time, then the unedited text goes into the game to be checked and edited during what we call a “native check”. That’s when final text changes are made before we ship the game off to Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft for approval.

Lost: How long does the translation process take from beginning to end?

JH: Depending on the length of the game, anywhere from a day for little cell phone games, to 6 – 8 months for something like an Ace Attorney. We always wish we had more time, but who doesn’t, right?

Lost: What is the most challenging part of the job?

JH: I think the most challenging part would have to be the intense concentration you have to put in to make sure everything makes sense to someone who hasn’t played the game before. It does no one any good if a player who doesn’t know the Japanese has no idea what is going on. So Brandon is a great help in that department because he can make great suggestions when XYZ doesn’t make sense. The other big thing is keeping everything consistent. Before I did translation, I thought it couldn’t be that tough, but I can tell you now that it is a bear. Thank goodness for glossaries!

Lost: Are there jokes or phrases in the original Japanese text that just don’t translate to western culture/English? How do you handle that? Can you give us an example?

JH: There were quite a few that didn’t translate well, and most of them were in Episode 3. Thankfully, we had JP, master of comedy, on the job so no one has to suffer through what could have been potentially 100 times more groan-inducing Moe jokes.

The other things that didn’t transfer very well were for the most part, cultural references. For example, Morgan Fey’s style of speaking in the Japanese version is a very old style of Japanese and she has a peculiar way of addressing people. I had to figure out how to rework it so she still sounded formal, but slightly odd in English and came up with “Good sir!” as her way of addressing Phoenix.

Another favorite of mine is Gumshoe’s instant noodles, which in the original was a kind of really cheap noodle called “soba” in Japanese. Both give the impression he is really poor and can only afford the cheapest food you can imagine.

And I think the biggest change that was made to a character is Dr. Hotti. I’ll leave it up to you dedicated fans to figure out what he said in the original about Pearl…

Lost: Conversely, what sorts of stuff do you add to give the Phoenix Wright dialogue a bit more of a Western flavor? Can you give an example of that?

JH: I think what makes the dialogue more Western are things like colloquial phrases, sayings, and even the odd reference to a Western movie or show. The dialogue for the most part, in my opinion, is not really country-specific, so I think what lends the feeling of where a game takes place are the little things, such as Maya liking hamburgers instead of ramen, and using American law terms, such as “pleading the 5th”. Also, the inclusion of characters of different races makes it feel more like America to me, since Japan is pretty homogeneous.

Lost: What is your favorite aspect of Phoenix Wright?

JH: I like the series for the humor and the stories. Mr. Takumi’s sense of humor is great, and I love dramatic mysteries, and those are two things the Ace Attorney series does very well.

Lost: What new features and highlights can fans expect in the Phoenix Wright: Justice for All sequel?

JH: Well, the three new additions to the gameplay are the new life gauge, the Psyche-Lock system, and the often overlooked new ability to present profiles, which I think will make the game a little harder for veterans of the first game. And, depending on if you liked them or not, the return of some characters is a highlight.

Lost: What are some TV shows or movies you have been watching lately?

JH: Lately, it’s been a mix of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, and Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. – 2nd GIG. I haven’t really watched any movies lately, but that’s because ticket prices in Japan are outrageous!

Lost: Who is your favorite character in the Ace Attorney series and why?

JH: I’m a bit of an underdog rooter, so I’d have to say my favorite character (so far) is Adrian Andrews because she seems like she could very easily be someone you know. Second place goes to little Pearly.

Lost: Before Phoenix Wright, what other games had you worked on at Capcom?

JH: I worked on Mega Man: Powered UP and Mega Man Battle Network 6. As a part of the Localization Team here, I’ve also helped out a little on a few other games, including Lost Planet and a Mega Man game for cell phone.

Lost: What are you working on now? (…if you’re allowed to say, that is!)

JH: I’m currently back on Mega Man, translating Mega Man Star Force, and working on a few other things on the side. Unfortunately, that’s about all I can say, for now…