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    What country is JNC localizing for?

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    • toasterovenly
      toasterovenly Member last edited by

      When J-Novel Club localizes a Japanese text to English, what is the target county? The two big options are USA and UK I think. And I would lean towards thinking that they are localizing to the USA based on how they spell words like "color" and such. But then they go and use British phrases and slang. Like saying "in future" instead of "in the future". I've never heard an American say "in future".

      Closing question: are non-American phrases and words something that should be reported in the feedback threads for streaming light novels?

      I SomeOldGuy 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • I
        Ingraman Premium Member @toasterovenly last edited by

        @toasterovenly said in What country is JNC localizing for?:

        Closing question: are non-American phrases and words something that should be reported in the feedback threads for streaming light novels?

        UK phrasing/spelling does get pointed out occasionally in the corrections threads, even if the poster doesn’t necessarily recognize it as British English. If it’s a bother to you, then do so and let the editors make the final decision. :)

        toasterovenly 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • toasterovenly
          toasterovenly Member @Ingraman last edited by

          @Ingraman You didn't actually answer my question. Is JNC localizing specifically to American English? If they aren't, then there isn't a standard to be upheld and there isn't a need to report even if it does bother or confuse me as a reader. If they are aiming for American English then it would be worth reporting to keep the localization in line with the company's goals.

          It's ok for a book to be a little unfamiliar sometimes, that's how we learn new words and phrases. I don't want to spend time making reports that will definitely be ignored.

          I 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • I
            Ingraman Premium Member @toasterovenly last edited by

            @toasterovenly said in What country is JNC localizing for?:

            @Ingraman You didn't actually answer my question. Is JNC localizing specifically to American English?

            Theoretically, they’re aiming for American English.

            It's ok for a book to be a little unfamiliar sometimes, that's how we learn new words and phrases. I don't want to spend time making reports that will definitely be ignored.

            That’s why I don’t report every little or (even sometimes) medium thing.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
            • myskaros
              myskaros Staff last edited by

              For spelling and punctuation, American English standards. For word choice and phrases, depending on the series or setting or characters the localization team can request exceptions to use British English or other dialects.

              Whoever said nothing's impossible never tried slamming a revolving door.

              H 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 9
              • SomeOldGuy
                SomeOldGuy Premium Member @toasterovenly last edited by

                @toasterovenly Officially, at least 5 years or so ago, the standard was/is "American English". If you do a search for "American English" in text, you will find quite a number of topics about it, where many of us pointed out differences between phraseology and spelling. To quote something I typed years ago:

                Americans tend to just put "ing" on nouns to make them verbs, "worship" becomes "worshiping", "gossip" becomes "gossiping". And the vowel sound doesn't change.

                While a lot of the above examples have double consonants in "British English", they would tend to think we should pronounce them with long-I sounds, spelled like we spell them.

                As mentioned above, reporting British spellings and wording should be done. Not all of the translators JNC uses are native US speakers, so (occasionally) they use their native phraseology.

                But not everything is "strictly British"; there are a LOT of times that things ARE "American English" in different parts of the country. That's why your report may be considered, but ignored.

                Shiny 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                • Shiny
                  Shiny Premium Member @SomeOldGuy last edited by Shiny

                  As per https://forums.j-novel.club/post/394371 JNC generally follows Merriam-Webster.

                  Stay shiny, y'all.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                  • H
                    HarmlessDave Premium Member @myskaros last edited by

                    @myskaros said in What country is JNC localizing for?:

                    For spelling and punctuation, American English standards. For word choice and phrases, depending on the series or setting or characters the localization team can request exceptions to use British English or other dialects.

                    Hellsing dub versions would have been all wrong with American accents :)

                    (Sylvester Stallone as Alucard?)

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