Punch-Out!! (Wii) - Authentic-Sounding Language Goes Beyond Words | Localization Lens
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- Опубліковано 25 чер 2024
- There are some weirdly niche parts of language, and of them, I'd say there are almost none smaller and more niche than a language's non-words. Yet, as Punch-Out!! (Wii) shows, there is a surprising amount of depth that comes with a language's grunts, groans, and non-lexical utterances. From how we express emotions to the cultural nuances of specific non-word performances - the seemingly instinctual noises we make can actually be very language-specific. And yet, Punch-Out -and it's unusually ambitious approach to character voices- gets it amazingly right.
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Timestamps
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0:00 - Punch-Out!! (Wii) has an Eye for Detail
0:45 - Punch-Out!! (Wii)'s Next-Level Language Authenticity
1:52 - Smash Bros Little Mac Sounds Japanese, Despite Never Speaking a Word
2:59 - Mouth Sounds: The Expressive Noises of a Language
4:25 - Mouth Sounds Sound Weird and are Hard to Learn About
5:12 - Mouth Sounds Can Even Affect Physiological Reflexes
5:43 - Back to Smash Bros and Why Little Mac Sounds Japanese in that Game
6:43 - Why do Kiais Sound Japanese?
7:15 - Kiais as Culture-Specific Language Phenomenon
8:02 - Mouth Sounds are Weird, Small, Meaningful Parts of Language, but Punch-Out Gets Them Right, and That's Awesome
For Video Credits in Text Form, see here: nomansguy.wordpress.com/2023/... - Розваги
As a native German-speaker, I can give a bit more context on Von Kaiser. Because "Bumms" as an onomatopoeia is actually _very_ uncommon nowadays. It's pretty old-fashioned.
But that actually works even better on a second level because from the vibes he gives off, Von Kaiser could be straight from the 1950s. So, giving him a very old-fashioned interjection makes perfect sense!
Wow. That's an even cooler bit of characterization detail than I thought. Thanks for sharing that.
As a native Hindi speaker, in gave me immense joy hearing Great Tiger's taunts.
When I heard "Is bache ko bolo ki apni maa ka dudh peeke ayee!" (Tell this kid to go drink his mother's milk and then come back!), I burst out laughing.
I really wish more games use Hindi and other Indian languages, would really feel great.
NEW LOCALIZATION LENS LETS GOOOO
I love the example at 5:16 because you often see localizations use things like "Kyaaa" for English voice actors, and I never realized why it might sound a little unnatural until now. One recent example would be Shinigami from Master Detectives Archives: Rain Code. While her performance is phenomenal, the localization is super guilty of keeping these Japanese mouth noises despite neither the voice actor nor the character originating from Japan (as it's a fictional setting)
The fact that you can totally translate "kyaa" as "eek" and it conveys pretty much all of the same connotations as the Japanese standard representation of a girlish scream (high-pitched, feminine-sounding scream, which contextually can be either fear or shock or fangirlish excitement) was a realization that's always stuck with me because it never stood out to me until I was working on an amateur fandub a few years ago.
You can read "kyaa" in a manga translation and totally get the idea through context - it's pretty clearly a scream, even if no English literature has ever written "kyaaaa" to represent a scream. But the second I listened to the English voice actress I was working with try to shout/scream "kyaa" in a convincing way, I instantly realized that there was no way I was going to get a good take if she had to vocalize "kyaa". It just sounded so unnatural and forced from her, and I could *hear* how it sucked the emotion out of her performance to be forced to scream something that just wasn't how English vocalized it.
Great video! When playing Smash 4 I totally remember thinking "weird, Little Mac sounds like Piston Hondo for some reason"
This was very insightful, it's really nice to learn that a lot of work that goes into adapting things in localization isn't strictly just dialogue, but minor sound effects as well. It's like a "you won't notice anything when they take that extra level of care, but you'll definitely notice if they don't" kind of deal.
This is some great insight into how Punch Out Wii manages to somehow not feel problematic when it easily could have.
I'm so happy that there's a channel exists that looks at localization topics this in-depth! As someone whose dabbled in writing and is currently learning Japanese with a hope of getting into localization, you're videos have given me further appreciation of both crafts. Keep up the fantasic work!
Indian here. Even "arrey" and "aiyo" are different.
- *"Arrey"* comes mostly from North Indian languages Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi.
- *"Aiyo"* comes mostly from South Indian languages (Dravidian languages) like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada.
Ah thank you. That's what the online sources suggested as well (that "aiyo" was very South Indian), though I wasn't certain (and because BBC Hindi had a segment on it when it was added to the Oxford dictionary which I couldn't understand ua-cam.com/video/KUj0tUqZSzc/v-deo.html). It makes me wonder what the voice actor's background / what the direction was for the "Aiyo" was then.
@@Aquason that video is the same thing, just says "it's an exclamation to show exasperation". Since cultures cross a lot in India, aiyo transfered to Hindi speakers as well.
I checked for the VA, seems like a North Indian who moved to Vancouver.
Even more interesting since GT is supposed to be from Mumbai
it's surprising how easy it is to hear the differences when you know what you're looking for. a fascinating watch as always!!
Your channel has given me an appreciation for an aspect of media I'd never considered in much detail before. I hope to see more videos in the future, I like how concise and information dense they are. Truly fascinating and educational content, keep up the good work
Thank you. I put a lot of effort and revision work into making these videos focused and concise, so I'm especially proud that that stood out to you.
I never thought twice about how the boxers sounded in Punch-Out Wii, they just seemed exactly right. This just goes to show that the best audio design truly is invisible
I can't believe Xiaolin Showdown was used to teach me about linguistics. Incredibly awesome.
English is my primary language, but I’ve been learning Mandarin Chinese since I was about 10 years old. I really like discussions about harder-to-classify, messy parts of language, because it’s a huge part of more natural speech. You have to learn to hear them, and it can be hard to use, but your language skills will automatically improve once you figure out that in (insert language here), they don’t say “yeah”. My personal favorite is the multi-purpose “aiya”, and I was quite pleased to see Uncle Roger explain it. Great video! :)
Loved this analysis! What a well put together video!
A very fascinating watch, which has raised my already massive respect for Punch-Out higher once more. Keep up the good work, and have a nice day.
This is one of the many reasons why I love the localization process as a whole. It's such a fascinating subject!
Not only do I love hearing about little localization details like this, I also love hearing praise for one of my favorite wii titles! Super interesting watch
More than that, where are everyone's mouth guards? For pros at boxing, you'd think they remember to slip it on before throwing hands.
Holy shit this is probably the most fascinating and interesting video on a linguistics topic I have ever watched on youtube. This is a topic I've always been vaguely interested in (As a Spanish-English bilingual I've always had a vague awareness that these interjections are slightly different in English compared to my native language, as I've seen many translations botch this aspect), but I've never known how to put it into words or find research so I could learn more about it. You're amazing dude, I'm blown away, keep making these.
As a native Turkish speaker this is one of the reasons that I struggle a bit whenever I'm translating, say, a visual novel or something. In English and Japanese, these mouth sounds have a written form whereas in Turkish, they're much more rare. This makes it a bit of a pain when translating, especially when those sounds add so much character and naturality.
As a research assistant working at a translation and interpreting department in a university, I love your "localisation lens" videos. Please continue making content like these!
Wow, it really raises my spirits to know that people working in the translation and interpretating studies field are enjoying my amateur videos. And I hope you'll be happy to hear that I am working on another "Localization Lens" video. I'm optimistic that I'll be able to get it out within the next month or two.
@@Aquason That's wonderful news. To be honest, I've read many articles in the process of MA and writing the thesis. Very few of them presented valuable information, and they weren't even that fun to read.
Your videos are informative with translation theories and very enjoyable at the same time. Please consider making more "Localization Lens" videos with reference to other translation theories as I think students may understand much better with your examples.
nice vid! the whole time i couldn't help but think about the infamous "teriaaaa!" cutscene in sonic adventure 2, another good example of how this detail can be easily missed by localizers lol
Rewatching this video once again. Easily the most criminally underrated video on your channel. Punch-Out!! for the Wii has so many nice details in it and having a video dedicated to its wonderful use of language is fantastic
Amazing! I love all your stuff so far, excited for future videos!
Dude, props to such a thorough analysis of a small part of language no one ever seems to address. I look forward to binging the rest of your content as soon as I get a chance now
Excellent work as always !
Absolutely fascinating topic I'd never even considered before. I wonder if many games at all capture this aspect of language. Perhaps not many. Great video!
loved this !! super interesting and well put together , looking forward to what else you have coming up !
OOoooo, punch out video. Nice!
Man, Punch-Out is so cool
Amazing video! Thank you for giving me more things to notice and love about video games ^^
Great video!
Is Kiai part of why anime characters call out their attacks?
I don't have any evidence to support it, but it's a possible cultural influence on why that became a staple of anime fiction.
interesting content, subbed
this is really interesting!
I want to note, as I've seen other french speakers have pointed out in the past, that since Joe's voice actor is canadian, he has a Quebecois accent, not exactly a parisian or traditional french one!
I'm not good enough at French to really distinguish accents, but my impression was that, as Glass Joe was voiced by Christian Bernard, a former Radio-Canada presenter, he speaks in a "Radio-Canada" accent. That is, 'standard' French that avoids the colloquialisms or noticeable vowels shifts of Quebec French (he's not speaking Joual or anything). There might still be some bit of accent there (I have read French speakers comment that Glass Joe sounds endearing/funny), but nobody specifically saying "he sounds Quebecois".
@@Aquason So he sounds like how news anchors sound? That's honestly funnier.
Also, I have seen at least one Quebecois person say that themselves, so maybe they just notice it more, lol.
Why does this video have so many fewer views than your other videos???
Video? Watched
Mind? Opened
Hotel? Tr*v*g*