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Nintendo censors "human rights" and "freedom" in Chinese localization of Paper Mario: The Origami King (UP: Game was not censored. See threadmarks)

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Atheerios

Atheerios

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Oct 27, 2017
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Hong Kong news website reporting on this:

unwire.hk

《紙片瑪利歐》繁中版移除「自由」「人權」　與日文及英文版意思不同

有台灣玩家近日在社交網站 Plurk 上發貼文表示，指自己在進行 Switch 上一項名為《紙片瑪利歐：摺紙國王 Paper Mario: The Origami King 》的遊戲時發現，官方在翻譯「自由」以及「人權」等字詞時竟然移除了相關內容，並改以「外表」以及「生活」取而代之，惹來網民熱烈爭議。近日有台灣玩家在 Plurk 上發貼文，指其在遊玩過程中發現《紙片瑪利歐：摺紙國王》遊戲中各個語言的翻譯版本中存在一定差異，當中英文以及日文分別清晰地提及「Rights...
unwire.hk unwire.hk

English version:

2cAMGVZT5UXABTp4A79qQW-1.jpg


This game hasn't even been released in mainland China.
 
Y2Kev

Y2Kev

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Oct 25, 2017
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I WANT A PLAIN OUTLOOK
I WANT A PLAIN OUTLOOK
I WANT A PLAIN OUTLOOK
I WANT A PLAIN OUTLOOK

-- rallying cry, 2020
 
entremet

entremet

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge
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Oct 26, 2017
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Localization versus Literal translation debate #983 lol.
 
bob100

bob100

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Oct 29, 2017
1,726
Fuck off Nintendo

I really hate that corporations who have so much power bend over backwards for China just to make money

They really do not care about the political and human rights violations that their customers are suffering

There is no such thing as Pro Consumer
 
Chimpzy

Chimpzy

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Dec 5, 2018
1,757
Always remember major companies only care about inflating their numbers. Ethics are nothing in the face of profit.
 
neilyadig

neilyadig

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Nov 13, 2017
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Now that Nintendo has officially entered the China market with Switch, we will definitely be seeing more of this in the future.

Nintendo must comply with mainland censorship regulations, there is nothing that they can do about it if they want to sell in China. Everyone can get up in arms all they like, but this is a requirement and cost of doing business in China - that's the bottom line.

Edit: I read the threadmark, I understand that the English translation of the Chinese localization may have been off and I may have jumped to a conclusion regarding this instance of localization.
 
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jsnepo

jsnepo

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Oct 28, 2017
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So ummm... do we expect the same kind of criticism on Nintendo as much as Activision got?
 
Melhadf

Melhadf

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Dec 25, 2017
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Looking at that twitter thread it appears as though it's Human Rights in Japan and changed for other markets (including the English translation).
 
808s & Villainy

808s & Villainy

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Oct 27, 2017
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It looks like all the various localizations say slightly different things though

Also what is the actual text in the Japanese version? Did it literally say "human rights" and not even a Toad pun? That sounds odd and incorrect
 

Deleted member 679

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Oct 25, 2017
14,741
Melhadf said:
Looking at that twitter thread it appears as though it's Human Rights in Japan and changed for other markets (including the English translation).
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Not really. It's not a literal translation, but the english localization still keeps the message of claiming for rights and being against abuse/oppresion. The chinese one, if the english translation offered in the tweet is correct, is just a personal life goal.
 
Aaronrules380

Aaronrules380

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Oct 25, 2017
22,472
It's fucked up, but this was always going to be the cost of doing business in China. Which to be fair, does make one question whether trying to do that in the first place was an ethical decision, but the writing has always been on the wall since they announced they were going to do business there. Just like every other company that does so.
 
Gobias-Ind

Gobias-Ind

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Nov 22, 2017
4,025
Lol this is hysterical.

Looks like Nintendo bowed to the whims of the oppressive Western governments with their English translation too
 
Bonejack

Bonejack

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Oct 27, 2017
16,654
I think Zhuge tweeted something about Nintendo and China? Can't find the tweet, but i think it is Tencent that handles chinese localizations for Nintendo games? Could be wrong.
 
J-Skee

J-Skee

The Wise Ones
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Oct 25, 2017
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Why international companies do business in China, I'll never know. (yes, yes, money, but still)
 
danmaku

danmaku

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Nov 5, 2017
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NovumVeritas said:
Has Nintendo China censored it themselves or was that of behalf of Chinese government?
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It's probably Nintendo self censoring to avoid any kind of problems with the government. The party doesn't need to hand out too many direct bans, fear is enough.

808s & Villainy said:
It looks like all the various localizations say slightly different things though

Also what is the actual text in the Japanese version? Did it literally say "human rights" and not even a Toad pun? That sounds odd and incorrect
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The picture is a bit small but the kanjis looks exactly like "human rights" ( 人権 )

human rights - Jisho.org

jisho.org jisho.org
 
Gobias-Ind

Gobias-Ind

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Nov 22, 2017
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Aaronrules380 said:
The english version is still about rights, it's just been localized to be a more expressive take on the same idea
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It's Toad. It's Paper Mario. I don't think Chinese people need, nor want, the Japanese to instruct them on the concepts of "freedom" and/or "rights."

Aaronrules380 said:
I mean if it's a choice between ethics/morality and money, you're naive if you think literally any decently sized company will choose the former
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This shit coming from westerners is legitimately insane.
 
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