Ranking Fire emblem Three Houses characters according to their English translation accuracy
So yeah, I’ve been translating this game for a while now and this is my conclusion. Also this in an easy accession point to all my translations. Just click the character’s name to see the translations of your chosen character.
A tier
Includes most of the characters, majority of them from Golden Deer’s which is interesting. There is also Dimitri and Dedue who are accurate until the time skip.
B tier
Majority of these characters that speak in keigo 敬語, the most formal way of speech in Japan. Some characters like Flayn and Rhea the translation comes through while characters like Hubert lack a certain edge without the refined speech. Sothis also speaks in an ancient way, referring to Byleth with an old way to say you onushi 御主 and referring to her self with washi 儂 which is an old way to refer to oneself also Hanneman uses it.
C tier
People in this category have small changes made to them.
Claude actually uses sensei 先生 (teacher, instructor) or as is translated to professor just like everyone else when speaking to Byleth but with a slight change of tone, which is why I see no problem with them changing it to more playful ’’teach’’. Also after time-skip he uses the word kyoudai 兄弟 (sibling, sibling-in-law, mate or a friend) to refer to Byleth. I find it has the same vibes when yakuza can use brother to refer to their close clan mates, thus I think it’s a reference to Claude’s culture somehow.
Ferdinand actually is more of an aggressor between him and Hubert’s support link. Hubert says he doesn’t mind eating lunch with him and Byleth and Ferdinand is the one making things difficult thus he should stay silent. After time skip Ferdinand doesn’t shout dramatically ‘’no...!’’ when he learns his father is dead, but just says to himself ‘’could it be...?’’
Caspar’s lines are changed when interacting with Petra. During the introduction to the Black Eagles Caspar says something likes to ’’I can take Byleth on bare handed’’, to which Petra asks ‘’Bare handed? You want Professor strip their gloves off?’’ To which Caspar states it was just a metaphor for combat.
Ingrid’s interaction with Sylvain during their C support have been changed.
Edelgard’s changes are subtle are only amplified after time skip. The small changes of her wording make her seem more cold and dismissive than she originally was.
Male Byleth interaction with Sylvain is changed. More could have been changed as I played in English with Japanese voices, but this one stuck up.
Multiple time skip Dimitri’s conversations have been altered. In Japanese he shows much more clear signs of paranoia and seeing things that don’t exist, speaking to Byleth after their first meeting as if they are just one of his hallucinations.
Dedue’s line when sacrificing himself for Dimitri is altered. He says ‘’I will always stay by your side, even with the distance of death separating us.’’ while in the translation he just says how Dimitri will be a good king, which is much more inpersonal.
Balthus and Byleth’s C support is altered. Where Balthus gratefully accepts Byleth’s offer to protect him and Balthus says ‘’Don’t mind me sticking to your side then.’’ in the translation he is made much more casual about it, removing the vulnerability of the conversation.
Miklain’s conversation with Sylvain is changed. This is actually the first time gendered language is used as an insult which made me suspicious.
Death knight’s English translation is much more dramatic than in the original. He is a quiet menacing and speaks rarely which leaves on impression of power.
D tier
The queer context removed gang! Here is supports between Annette and Mercedes, Leonie and Lysithea, and Edelgard and Dorothea.
E tier
These characters change a lot between the original and the translation.
Bernadetta is much more stuttering and less panic talk in the original. Also in her and Felix’s C suppport Felix notes feeling her emit sakki 殺気 (bloodlust) when escaping from him.
Felix is much more caring in Japanese, more blunt and not actually vicious. I’m planning on translating his and Ingrid’s B support which also shows this.
Edelgard’s time skip changes can be summarized with her support with Hubert. She emotes much more and shows great care for him and actually laughs with him.
So Randolf in the original speaks of doing things for his family while in the English side it’s changed to doing it for honor? Really now? You don’t want to empathize with the enemy English translation? And an NPC. Really?
So Hapi and Yuri, have an altered comments for when Jeralt dies. Yuri also doesn’t call Byleth a friend but anta あんた a more casual version of anata 貴方 which is usually translated to dear, darling, honey or something close to that.
Manuela
So she gets a a tier of her own for her altered B support with Cyril. The original support made me disgusted of her and happy there is no A support between them. Click her name if you want to read it, but beware of the problematic elements related to alcohol and hints of grooming.
F tier
So here lay Cyril, Petra and Sylvain. The characters that I have most to say about translation vice. So these character’s are completely different between the translation and the original. I can only think of the reason for Cyril and Petra’s change in speech style coming from translator's internalized racism.
Cyril has no accent and actually speaks very politely, on many occasions using desu/masu です/ ます which is polite speech below keigo but above casual speech. Closest I can refer to how he would speak in English would be Dedue. He also speaks about tolerating his work rather than enjoying it. He also speaks less about Rhea and more about himself as individual, how he is extremely loyal, and how he enjoys when people can depend on him and how Tomas was one of those people that weren’t racist against him and how he feels conflicted with his own feelings and stance of the church, but resolves himself to listening Rhea as he feels in debt to her.
Petra speaks in a very clear Japanese with sometimes a little odd word order and only stumbles in metaphoric speech usually taking it literally. She is a good representation of how learning another language works, and once being told something is a metaphor she asks what it means as she will later start using said phrases. Instead in the translation she speaks like illiterate which is kind of reminiscence how Gonta from Danganronpa V3 was translated.
(Somehow these characters are always people of color, I sure wonder why~)
Here is translated Petra and Cyril’s C support for evidence.
And then there is Sylvain... What have they done to you my boy. Translation reduces him to comic relief while he has a lot of trauma with the abuse from Miklain, to a possible sexual assault or some other trauma concerning a lot of women, as he speaks of women as ants who surround him or how he fears and hates them. All this tells that his flirty demeanor is but a defense mechanism and a self-destructive one at that. It reflects real life of how it’s common for those sexually abused to become hypersexual as a result to try to cope with their trauma’s lack of consent, ( but this is just how interpret it.) All these conversations of Sylvain's trauma are cut and can be found translated by me in Sylvain and Mercedes support chain.
