When I play localized otome, I’ve gotten to the point where I ✨automatically✨ start shifting bits of unvoiced dialogue back into Japanese, which sounds vague, but it feels super cool. Hear me out, though—I’m not translating.
What I mean is, I read the stories in English, right? But parts of the dialogue spontaneously become Japanese in my head!
The unvoiced heroine will say “Understood!” in a certain context, and I’ll know “Hai!”
An irreverent “Hey, wait a minute!” is “Chotto matte!”
“Are you okay?!” becomes “Daijoubu desu ka?!”
Etc!
I am not translating anything actively! My brain reads English but “hears” Japanese! Like… I was thinking in the language?
Perhaps this is vague, but I don’t know how to describe it. It’s so much neater to me than it sounds! It reminds me of some stuff my French teachers used to say about how you don’t translate everything in your head as you go. Something like that. You just think the language! Naturally!
It’s not something I’ve been actively working toward, and it’s only a few brief exchanges and phrases, but I as I played Nightshade tonight (Hanzo’s route), it became automatic for the first time in any real, natural, unintentional sense. That’s just so cool!!
And I wanted to commemorate it here ❤
I’m no expert, and I never will be, but I was happy to experience the feeling of thinking in another language even a little. Clearly exposure works!
Shoujo Thoughts: ☆ ～('▽^人) Otaku Ramblings 