Honestly, the problem with this line isn't the line, it's the pause in the middle. I assume it was there to help match the lip flaps? But Sonic is clearly supposed to be hyped up for this line and the pause in the middle takes the energy way down.

The use of だね implies he's not talking about his mood but anyone else's. It's a context you missed out on. Edit: It was addressed in the extra notes.

I honestly love this line, it just feels like something Sonic would definitely say.

I like this video. I agree with these points. It makes sense to say that localization is about translating the subtext and the characterization. Since those elements are integral to the fiction, they are the most important things to properly convey. The characterization of Sonic and the subtext underpinning his words are translated faithfully with this choice of diction and delivery.

Translating is such a hard and thankless job

yeah but the voice actors delivery makes it hilarious xD

I don't know why but I keep coming back to watch this video again and again.

Bro has a degree in professional yapology. (in a good way)

"I'm feeling good," can work well within the localization based on HOW the actor says it. There are plenty of ways to intonate and put emphasis on syllables on that phrase that doesn't have to have them go to an awkward English phrase that sorta fits.

I'm so vindicated ily

It's very akin to "Finally, something interesting!"

it was, in fact, happenin

This vid is happenin'!

Localisation is underrated nowadays.

So people actually thought he was literally saying, "Ah yeah! These events that I am witnessing as of this moment are transpiring!"? I may be autistic but not to the extent that he really means something along the lines of, "this party's getting crazy!" or "It's so groovy, it's out of sight!"

"Happening" as in the cool "this is a happening place" sorta way of saying it. Not in a literal sense that "reality is happening before me"

When finally someone explained translation and meaning of this phrase 0:01

I love that you included Korone, an actual Japanese, reacting to that line laughing, to support your statement that the line might be supposed to be funny to its audience. ^^

If you change it just a bit, it becomes "Well, this happened" which is on the complete opposite side of the coolness spectrum that I've just created, standing firmly on the "lame-ass marvel humor" side of things.

❤

please make more of these

There are people out there who will go "No, we need totally accurate translation at all times, no localisation!" and that's wild to me when you realise how much cultural context goes into localisation.

We've reached comedy

I've never really minded this line; Sonic and cheesiness go hand in hand, especially when you remember that Sonic's a teenager. 'twas a nice watch, though; Sonic Adventure's English translation isn't perfect, but man is it charming!

Ngl got a lil worried when I saw Sonic jump off that building. 💀💀💀

translation has always been about conveying meaning and impression! i rly hate when people dunk on "localisation" as if everything is still 4kidz, it's a writing choice 😭. I still love how goofy this line is though in a nostalgic way

I'll be honest and say I never took the line that way. "Happening" being used that way sounds weird to me, so I always interpreted it more like "This is really going on."

1:03 subbed

I never understood why JP-ENG translators never replace English words in Japanese phrases with words in Spanish. We use Spanish the exact same way, it's the cool foreign language.

this made me feel like i was back in 2016 listening to anime commentaries

Thank you, japanese white man

Conscise, correct and full info Damn i love videos that feels like the old good youtube

So this is where those japanese bible lessons went, solid.

I would love to see a comparison between the original Japanese and the localization of Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. And I think you're absolutely right in this video.

I think most people are misinterpreting 'happening'. I feel like too many people are reading it as the event or occurence definition instead of as meaning trendy.

I never hated it that line. I don't know who hates it (cough, genz) because that line sounded like it came from near the end of the 90s, when rap music was getting bigger. But honestly, if there's one line that is too much to cringe, then it's gotta be the "We're Sonic Heroes!"

I never held anything against this line. Just sounded like trying to be hip, with both success ir failure working well for Sonic.

This is also to avoid wrong assumptions of the character's personality for everyone outside Japan especially people like me who will have a hard time accepting that the character is already good but because of some "mistranslation" I ended up picturing the character in a bad light when the character isn't that bad as I thought.

1:03 Now is the time to like the video

The problem, like you said, comes from people taking the “This is happening” literally instead of realizing that it means “exciting,” as in the phrase “hip and happening”

"This is happenin'!" is such a painfully 90's line...

Wait, is Sonic Kappei Yamaguchi?

I would 100% watch a two-hour video explaining the literal and figurative translations of every line in Sonic Adventure 2

I'm bringing this line back into my vocabulary

I rather prefer the literal translation.

I love that line too. Especially with how it was translated. I’ve played the game with the french subtitles forever and especially before I was able to speak english and a grasp of Japanese. In French though, it says: « Et oui! Ça bouge! » which is so weird to say even in French 😂 but you can get the meaning. Literally translated it could mean: “And yes! It moves!” But in fact, it’s more like: “Aw yeah! There’s a lot of action around”

Hearing the Bible this way makes me wonder how prevalent Christianity even IS in Japan. Edit: Google says about 1.5% of the Japanese people are Christian. The most prevalent religion is Shinto and Buddhist, which makes up two thirds of the country.

wow i’ve never played a sonic game but this is interesting

A few of extra notes! x.com/TurboJehtt/status/1876712912435486794

You could make an entire series analyzing the localization of the Sonic series, and I'd watch the whole thing. And bookmark it. People don't understand the importance of localization. And it frustrates me in many cases of older media that people mistake as inherently poorly done instead of being "directly" from the source material. A lot of 90s and 00s localizations were iffy, like 4kids stuff, but overall, there's a lot of good work in there despite the hiccups caused by the producer requirements of the time. Also, if it came up in conversation, for at least another decade, we can just explain to kids "Sonic is just saying 'this is lit' but in 90s slang".