Here's a Transcript of what Suda51 Said During the Nintendo Switch Presentation

Ha, I was wondering what was going on during that segment. I love how scatterbrained this guy is!

Oh wow, the two versions are way more different than I expected

We lost out on some crucial info

an indie star? so travis and shovel knight? i'm in! if it's going to be like firepro and with a bunch of guest stars, i suggest inviting over some friends from lollipop chainsaw and shadows of the damned. bayonetta because she belongs everywhere. dante as well. some american mcgee's alice action too. hell, invite everybody who's ever wielded a sword. it'll be like kingdom hearts of the mad. shovel knight will be the sane one.

This was so painful to watch. I had such a hard time trying to decipher what he was actually saying. I have to wonder how they couldn't find a better translator for an event as important as this one.

No disrespect to the translator, because I'm sure he was doing his best, but there's no denying that it was pretty bad. Can't blame him that much though, since Suda was kind of rambling anyway.

Hope the game doesn't take too long to develop. I missed the last game but really liked the first one.

What indie star would Travis go with? Shovel Knight? Rusty? Juan? Commander Video? Gunvolt? Gunman Clive?

@MitchVogel a transcript with a more thorough translation didn't really improve understanding all that much. the poor live translator got more grief that he deserved, assuming reggie hasn't laser-eyed him before he got his due.

wow. no wonder the translater was struggling. he had no chance! there are some hardcore sentence fragments in there. lol

That poor translator is huddled in a corner somewhere living that reoccurring nightmare.

I'm glad Indies are excited, they've produced some great titles lately.
I've been playing heaps on my Wii U and I'm glad Switch will be picking up most of them.
Can't wait to see what they come up with control wise, so many options on Switch.
Go, go Nindie Switch!

I feel bad for mocking the trailer now...nah who am I kidding no I'm not. Still understandable as to why he fumbled up as much as he did.

My favourite line is, "Hang on, let me check the teleprompter."

That... basically explains everything.

I loved this for the brain fart this guy had

....well, I guess I can forgive the translator now. I was really upset that I couldn't understand Suda San. He's awesome! His games are awesome.

He said quite a lot. You'd never know going by the translator. Still, I think he was a late addition and it was unscripted. And the way Suda51 was talking, the game will be lucky to be finished before the next generation starts.

Woah that translator was more far off than I thought. It must be hard to be able to translate with the pressure and in real time so maybe it's understandable but yeah oh well at least we know the real translation now.

@NintonicGamer yeah real time translation is virtually impossible. Would have been handy if Suda 51 spoke a sentence and then gave a pause so the translator could translate, the way it always works.

Oh dear

It's feeling like a possible return to the Wii era. All we need now is Red Steel 3

These Joycons are a godsend. We're gonna get motion games (real, cutting edge motion like Vive VR-level stuff) but it won't be forced for every game. Just another tool in developers belt to help them make the kind of games they envision, and enhance games with otherwise "normal" controls. Zelda shooting the crossbow with the Joycon... that's the stuff.

I can just imagine what this game will be like with Joycon motion technology...

@MadAdam81 Ah that makes sense now.

Yeah...
That looks like a nightmare to attempt to translate in real time.
Suda51 set up that poor translator for failure.

Wow, we missed more than I realized when the translation got muffed.

That poor translator.

That guy reminds me of myself trying to give a presentation (which I actually did on the day of the Switch presentation): Trying to be funny while going way off track of my actual script and thus, wasting way too much time and looking completely awkward. At least he gave me an example and I did stick to my script last friday. The poor translator, though.

I hate to be THAT GUY, but technically he's an interpreter. Translators handle the written word, while interpreters deal with what is spoken (usually on the spot as in this case).
http://www.languagescientific.com/what-is-the-difference-between-translation-and-interpreting/

I hate to be THAT GUY, but technically he's an interpreter. Translators handle the written word, while interpreters deal with what is spoken (usually on the spot as in this case).
http://www.languagescientific.com/what-is-the-difference-between-translation-and-interpreting/

That translator couldn't have made it any more understandable than he did. Suda is big on wrestling and was throwing in wrestling-terms that hardly anyone understands, especially not an audience full of suits, which made it even more painful. I wouldn't be surprised if the Travis game has a huge emphasis on wrestling.

But Nintendo getting people up on the stage saying something like: "we don't really have an announcement or anything, but the Switch looks kinda cool I guess", was just awkward. They should've known better. Just explain what the console is and show things you're comfortable with showing, instead of holding a gun to a 7foot- tall Viking's head forcing him to say a few words on stage.

"eh... I guess that bombed"

An omen to Switch perhaps?

Suda is notorious enough in his eccentricity that I figured as much (of the interpreter's predicament, not of Suda's words) while watching the thing. So much the more if the guy's literally the "translator" as you call him instead, meaning he and/or the editor team were probably shared the written script with and knew the gist of what to expect - and then... XD

Good job clarifying this stuff nonetheless - while still mysterious, it gains some interesting data earlier literally lost in translation.

@Jamotello Travis and Viridian.

And spikes. Lots and lots of spikes and spikes and spikes.

This, boys and girls, is why you always stick to the teleprompter during a live, scripted broadcast; especially when it involves live translation. Not cool dude. Not cool.

With all the wrestling references, I can think of one Indy star...

Knowing what he actually said now, it's actually kind of funny that the translator had no idea what was going on.

@Sinton Juan from Guacamelee?

he started with a keiji muto pose.

He is a huge japanese pro wrestling fan.

After the Gearbox article, it feels really refreshing to see someone "crazy enough to work"... on the Switch.

@DiscoGentleman the guy did get vindicated afterwards, but he was still going off a script instead of by ear. doing it live is a skill level meant for the u.n. and not the localizers at nintendo. this was jsut a side assignment so he should be fine, aside from a bit of office teasing.

Is Travis going to host a wrestling tournament between all the indie stars? We'll get Gunvolt vs Shantae, Shovel Knight vs Isaac, Yooka-Laylee vs Drifter! And everyone against Beck!

Oh my... Suda51 is as crazy as his own games and I mean it as a compliment!
(I got the hint that he was like that even before, but the full translation pretty much confirm it XD).

It was a very interesting speech, maybe a bit messy, but the man sound really like the legendary devellopper he is, really interested to see what he will make with his idea.

Gonna be awesome:)

Cool. I didn't understand anything as well, but the Mutoh pose was enough to make me happy.

Suda51's brand of enthusiasm transcends languages anyway. With all the puroresu references Nintendo's guy didn't stand a chance.

Travis Touchdown and an Indie character....
Fan Fictions, Start Your Engines!!!

Pre-record presentations. Always.

No wonder the translator lost his way in that epic ramble. Always excited for more Suda51 games.

Whatever Suda51 makes, I'll be buying.

Totally agree with @Lizuka, No More Heroes 3 please! Would prefer this unnamed indie character to be more of a sidekick/minor character only. The good thing is - who knows what Suda-san will come up with. Can't wait to see more - Trailer this E3??

Poor translator, he had no chance with the speed Suda was talking. I wouldn't be surprised if he used Japanese slang that must be a pain translating into something coherent in english.

Let's hope Reggie hasn't eviscerated him with his laser eyes.

Annoying how unfairly criticised he was. You could very clearly hear the stress in his voice and that something was gravely wrong. Hope he wasn't reprimanded. :/

Holy moley.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Suda games don't take long to make.

Man, the fact that he's not just a wrestling fan but a Fire Pro fan makes me so happy.

They did it. They turned a moment of what should have been fandom excitement into awkward cringe.

That's impressive. Also, glad to know what he said.

On Nintendo of America's Twitter page, almost 24 hours after the presentation, they were looking for a Japanese and English bilingual translator. The poor dude got fired.

@DiscoGentleman Makes you wonder what you'd do In the same situation; stick rigidly to your own script or try and chase blindly after the uninterrupted ramblings of an eccentric enjoying his time in the spotlight.

I mean, as a translator rather than simply a narrator, it's not unreasonable to be asked to do some actual... translating, but there are only so many tangents one one can be reasonably expected to follow at max speed with little room to breath. And the translator must have been asking himself, "how much of this stuff is actually relevant?". Following a bizarre analogy half-way through and then abandoning it to skip ahead to some new information would sound even more laughable than the frequent pauses. A good compromise would perhaps be to have use the script as a blueprint, and then add in any extra concrete bits of information gleaned from the rambling.

A golden rule of translation must surely be - where possible - to only translate each section when you fully understand what it's trying to convey, nuances and all. I'm sure many members of the Japanese audience took a while to fully cotton onto what Suda was getting at (which was not only full of vague analogies but also "I can't say anything yet, but..." style hints). Asking them - however fluent - to reformulate the entire preceding stream-of-consciousness, and read it aloud, whilst simultaneously taking in all the new information, is a tall order for anyone.

Not that I'm really annoyed at Suda for doing so. I think it's great to have someone on-stage speaking as themself rather than the voice of an autocue, but my heart goes out to the live-translator. The guys sat on the sofas at the Treehouse presentation seemed to have a much easier time of things. Including such luxuries as time to actually think and speak.

What capacity do you do JPN/ENG translation, out of curiosity? Full-time professionally, part-time professionally, or as a hobby? I'd be interested to know how you found your way into it (e.g. of the back off a language degree/major, or some other route?). What kind of materials do you mostly work on?

@Nintendude789 I read somewhere that that position had actually been on pen since November 30th, so I think it's a red herring.

I sure am glad I weren't the one having to interpret this guy live! O_O;;;

Can't say who was rambling more, Suda or the poor translator. Until now I blamed the translator but man, this dude lost his focus several times in just a minute.

It is unfortunate because the piece of information that was left out was actually quite important.

This and the Sega tramslation really got me thinking....they have just picked someone from the audience to translate.!

I'm really glad you guys put a transcript up. The translation was one of the lowest points of the presentation making Suda look like an incoherent, rambling disaster. The good news is apparently the translation was a success. Suda WAS an incoherent, rambling disaster!

Poor translator having to figure out what the heck was going on and say something that sounded almost sensible out of this. And no doubt was still stuck behind a paragraph trying to figure out what to do with wrestling memes out of nowhere when the real information came through.

Though I believe it was the same translator for the Splatoon Squid Research Lab presentation and he seemed to be fumbling through that too.

I'm not sure who it was but by his voice I believe it might have been the guy, I can't remember his name, but the guy that was translating for Miyamoto at the Treehouse Zelda & Mario segments. He was doing very well there (and I recall he did very well at E3, too (and Miyamoto's a fast talker.) He seems to be a very capable real-time translator if it's him, so I'm wondering if there was some kind of technical glitch in the audio stream coming to them during translation that we're not aware of (given the technical problems they had with the treehouse stream the day after, it seems plausible if they were busy setting up in NYC.)

In retrospect they should have had Bill do all the translations though, for something as important as a console launch. He was translating Koizumi for the important details, and I understand they wanted the feeling of different speakers, but he's the only one there that seems able to keep up in fast pace with virtually any situation.

@Maxz ". I think it's great to have someone on-stage speaking as themself rather than the voice of an autocue,"

Very true. At least this was uncomfortable in an amusing way and not uncomfortable like Square Enix's presentation translations can be with the slow pacing, or even the sloow-spoken English to allow for JP translation that can seem really awkward wan Shawn Layden does the Playstation presentations. He, himself being kind of "the other Bill Trinnen" regarding translation skill.

It sounds like No More Heroes: Super Awesome Indie Deathmatch" (or some whimsical subtitle that only Suda can come up with) where it'll be a vs fighter featuring Travis Touchdown and a gaggle of other indie characters. Or it could be the next installment of No More Heroes featuring him teaming with and/or battling indie heroes and villains. As long as it's Suda51, I don't care WHAT it is, just bring it

It seems there is an eternal storm going on in Suda's brain. Love this guy !!!!!

@Dr_Corndog @Wendigo

What do you guys means? The guy wasn't translator, but a localizer. Removing content is what they do.

@FiveDigitLP Good link, very well explained. It does mention that 'Interpreters' are also known as 'Real-Time Translators' though, which could be argued to be a specific type of translator - especially if we take the everyday usage of 'translation' (i.e. 'shifting meaning from one language to another' - in ANY context).

However, in an academic or professional environment, it's good to know the distinction, and I'm glad to have read that piece, so thank you for posting it.

So, I heard from a friend that Nintendo are hiring a new translator...

Who thinks the translator covering Suda51 during the presenation got fired?

https://mobile.twitter.com/jobsatnintendo/status/820663761421770752

@OorWullie That's right.

Crazy story. Maybe that's why the translator couldn't translate it?

No loss though, crazy story and no footage. That's the point: Why should I care about all those developers if they show squat?

From the looks of it some people where right: The developers that are on board got their development kids so late that it will take quite some time before the games arrive. They couldn't even show them yet. Very bad planning from Nintendo, but no surprises here.

@BensonUii A man can dream! But I wonder how could we do the motion based swordfight in handheld mode.

I hope they never go the whole live translation presentation route ever again. Certainly they shouldn't bring out people as obviously unfit for being an on-stage presenter as this eccentric kook.

@Jamotello not sure it was your intention but your comment made me laugh way more than it should have XD

"Bayonetta as well, as she belongs anywhere"
This. So much this. And the prospect of a Suda51 X Platinum game is making me hyperventilate.

Thats just sad

@clvr yeah i remembered those bayonetta memes when she was announced for smash XD

i think a grasshopper x platinum game is going to need some SERIOUS oversight. in other words, adult supervision. western clients don't seem to bring out their best. it's when they get contracts from their fellow japanese that they produce their classics.

@Jamotello Yeah I'll admit she was my first pick in the ballot!
She even managed to steal the top spot from Tingle lol

Back on topic, I think they would need total control over the whole project...and let's face it, who's gonna burden themselves with the commercial flop this game would end up being?
But should it ever happen, I'm quite sure the sexiness and zaniness would be overwhelming, especially for us Westerners
At least we still have Ninty's censorship lol

I'm for any Travis Touchdown games too come onto the Switch new or old but him teaming up with Bayonetta hella yh man.

@clvr i think a great first step and possible testing the waters is a switch remake of the old grasshopper and platinum games, especially the ones not on the wii, like vanquish, shadows of the damned, lollipop chainsaw, revengeance, etc. mad world and the bayonettas are also a must. onechanbara if they can manage the rights to them.