Translating Scenes From Kingdom Hearts (Japanese to English) (Part 4)
Scene: Roxas's Grief (Dream Drop Distance) (Specifically Roxas and Sora talking)
NOTE: I've been experimenting with what would make these posts easier to read through/comprehend. Any suggestions or feedback on what works and what hasn't would be great ^o^
Sora: Hey wait! Who are youâ
S: You're...Roxasâ
S: If you're also here, then is this a dream?
S: Answer/say something
Roxas: If I were you, that would have been fine.
S: Eh?
R: But it's no good without you
S: What does that mean?
R: Your heart is connected to many hearts. You are me so you carry my thoughts/feelings.
S: That's wrongâ
S: Roxas is Roxas, you're not like me. I wanted to say that, Roxas is Roxas so [you] should exist too*
R: Soraâ That's why it's no good without you.
(Roxas gives his memories)
S: Againâ
S: Was this the work of those guys too? What did you want to show me!
(I linked a timestamp starting at the "Again" part since taking out the rest of the line felt a bit off, but I wanted to share how Sora says "What did you want to show me" because it's so visceral TvT)
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1* I wanted to break down the phrase Roxas says here:
ăäżșăăăŸăă§ăăŁăŠăăăăŁăăŻăă ă
ore ga omae de atte mo yokatta hazu da
I am you even if I'm glad should (literal literal translation)
the italics are the "[Even if] I was you" and the underlined part is the "could/should have been"
*Have made an edit to fix the translation I chose there. I think my brain was just mush doing that part at the time ToT
ăăăŁă (yokatta) on its own is kinda like a "glad to" or a relief sort of good feeling (like when you finish a long task, it's like a sigh of relief; you're glad or you'd be glad to) (I feel like this phrase is one of those multi-meaning phrases) and ăŻă (hazu) is "should" in a 'I thought this is how it should be' kind of way like an expectation (this will be important with Sora's response in 2*)
The meaning of the phrase is "I could have been you" though literally breaking down each part literally kinda says "It could/should have been me" which does show how Roxas holds onto his sense of self despite his resignation. (At least from all the searching and cheking I did). That's why I think the English dub part of this line was a great choice. "This could have been the other way around" captures the essence of that line the best it could in a natural way I feel.
2* The part of Sora's line I want to point out is:
ăăăŻă”ăčăŻăăŻă”ăčăšăăŠććšăăčăă ăŁăŠă
Rokusasu ha Rokusasu toshite sonzai su beki datte
Roxas is Roxas so to exist should too (literal literal translation)
ăčă (beki) is "should" but in a "this is how it should be" way (more oriented towards expressing an opinion on how things should be) which says a lot.
Roxas's use of "hazu" shows that he wants to be and believes that he's his own person but has been resigned to think that it's something only he wants (It's an interesting dichotomy of how he believes that but also has been made to believe that he is Sora and is shown to take some comfort in that a little).
Sora's use of "beki" shows how he believes that Roxas is his own person hence he should exist, and that's that. (I was researching this to be sure of the difference lol, they can cross over to some extent but they are used differently)
I'm sorry if this became more confusing, in my mind I get it, but I'm not sure if I could explain this well (and heck I might be misunderstanding something here so correction is always welcome)
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-There isn't anything wildly different between these scenes. The point gets across in both, I was just curious as to how JPN did it LOL
-"hazu" and "beki" are both translated to "should" but have different contexts in which they're used so I have to reiterate that the English dub handled this scene really well.
-The notes/analysis section was really me going off the rails here, any need for clarification from me or a want to correct something is very much welcome always, but especially this one LOL
-I kinda want to go into how sentences can be ended in Japanese but I don't know if people are interested in that. Cause in some ways, a sentence might end with something that's meant to emphasize it like "desu yo" over just "desu" (A lot of things like formality and whatnot go into this as well)
-I've been seeing some 3D posts going around so it made me want to do this post LOL The Roxas and Sora dynamic has me wanting to pick them apart like I'm a scientist
-Like I obssess over what and how they speak to each other constantly ToT
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Making Kingdom Hearts Stuff Until KH4 Comes Out (Day 134)










