Is the Q&A over?

[sosa]

You can forget about B-Spec ever making a return.

I presume you have some solid evidence to claim that B-spec is a lost feature. And to remain off topic, there is only one reason I would like the B-spec... the possible return of the endurance races.

 

[Jaywalker]

It was a nice damage control concept. Blown.

 

[talkin_2_me]

Firstly the question has to be translated. This requires some nuance to get the translation accurate - it's true of any language that you can't wholly faithfully recreate it in any second language, due to structure and even vocabulary differences - but Translator-san is pretty bloody good at it (we had a round table discussion with Kazunori and Translator-san managed to convey the questioners' spoken intent pretty faithfully). It's a bit harder in text - you can't really determine inflexion or tone this way.

Then it has to be answered. That's a pretty easy bit, assuming that the Sony PR machine that oversees things will allow the question to be answered. I'd also assume it requires some time for Kazunori to be available and not making a game and also for the relevant department heads if the question involves them.

Then the answer needs translating back into English. The problems of step 1 apply - but they're even more critical because if Kazunori's answer has any ambiguity to it, certain fans will seize on phrasing and even individual words to further their agenda.

You can't possibly believe that your described scenario takes 3(!) months. He's a professional translator, for crying out loud!

-take a day or two, to translate 10 friggin' questions

-shoot Kaz a mail, asking him kindly to answer those questions; something like:

"Hey buddy,

how's it going? Care to translate these ten questions the Gran Turismo fans at gtplanet.net scrambled together because they feel very passionate about them?
I know you are very busy, with all your racing and stuff, but it really doesn't take long. You can answer them while you're on the can, or wherever.

Sincerly

Translator-san"

-give Kaz a week or so, to answer the questions and to run them by his PR goons
-give yourself time to translate Kaz' answers as accurately as possible; even a week or two, if you must
-present the lusting gtplanet users with your shining answers = profit


But seriously, translating is no rocket science. If it really was mostly due to Translator-san's work (or lack of), that this whole friggin' ordeal is taking so long, he should be looking for a new profession asap. Although, I don't believe for a second that the issue of translating is stalling the process.
This whole Q&A disaster reeks of another one of PD's numerous broken promises. Whether they just don't care, or they fear their fans might not like what they have to say, and therfore say nothing at all, I honestly don't know.
I actually feel for Translator-san. He must be wrongfully getting some stick from disappointed fans, simply by being the intermediary between fans and Kaz/PD.

​

 

[Famine]

You can't possibly believe that your described scenario takes 3(!) months. He's a professional translator, for crying out loud!

You can't possibly have just quoted my entire post and only read a tiny bit of it before replying...

Then it has to be answered. That's a pretty easy bit, assuming that the Sony PR machine that oversees things will allow the question to be answered. I'd also assume it requires some time for Kazunori to be available and not making a game and also for the relevant department heads if the question involves them.

Oh snap.

certain fans will seize on phrasing and even individual words to further their agenda.

Your reply is exactly why steps 2 and 3 exist. I mean, my post was in plain English and still you only bothered with the first part of it - imagine what it's like when it's translated from Japanese first.

 

[Tornado]

He had to translate it from indigo to black.

 

[whereSTheFUhd]

You can't possibly have just quoted my entire post and only read a tiny bit of it before replying...Oh snap.Your reply is exactly why steps 2 and 3 exist. I mean, my post was in plain English and still you only bothered with the first part of it - imagine what it's like when it's translated from Japanese first.

Considering that most of your words are devoted to emphasizing the intricacies of the translation process, with two paragraphs sandwiching the part that happens in between the translations, which you refer to as 'a pretty easy bit', there certainly does seem to be a misplaced emphasis on the translation being such a time consuming process, especially when it was in response, specifically, to the question, "why does it take so much time!?"

Most anyone who speaks multiple languages will concur that the translation process should not be as difficult as you seemed to be conveying. Hence, the people countering such a notion. And rightly so. A faithful translation can be ready to be sent out the same day it was received. One would surmise that such a misplaced emphasis on the translation process may simply be, in part, due to the fact that you just recently happened to speak with 'Tranlator-san'.

Whatever the case may be, it would seem that the point that people were trying to make was that there is no way that the translation process is an attributable factor, in any meaningful way, to the extended period of time it is currently taking the questions to be answered (especially, when talking about timelines that extend beyond a month).

 

[hardvibes]

Most anyone who speaks multiple languages will concur that the translation process should not be as difficult as you seemed to be conveying. Hence, the people countering such a notion. And rightly so. A faithful translation can be ready to be sent out the same day it was received. One would surmise that such a misplaced emphasis on the translation process may simply be, in part, due to the fact that you just recently happened to speak with 'Tranlator-san'.

Whatever the case may be, it would seem that the point that people were trying to make was that there is no way that the translation process is an attributable factor, in any meaningful way, to the extended period of time it is currently taking the questions to be answered (especially, when talking about timelines that extend beyond a month).

I agree.

I speak 3 languages fluently (italian, french, english), know a 4th one (spanish) and learning a 5th one since I live in Shanghai (chinese, duh). As second job I make translations and for a year and half I worked in a communication agency as project manager and translations manager.
Many translations my clients asked were english>chinese and chinese>english. My chinese translators always had to deal with legal documents, technical documents (sometimes even big .pdf volumes of 50 pages and more), brochures etc.

Even for the technical documents of 1-2 pages it didn't take them more than 2-3 days to deliver.

 

[talkin_2_me]

You can't possibly have just quoted my entire post and only read a tiny bit of it before replying....

Sorry, if I misunderstood your post, but I quoted it entirely because the notion of it seemd to be that the translation process is what is taking so long, which I simply cannot agree with.
Therefore I didn't bother to nitpick at every sentence.
I don't know if you truly believe that translating is such a time consuming endeavor, or you just saw an opportunity for some name-dropping.

Either way, I just realized that whereSTheFUhd managed to express my thoughts on the matter better, than I ever could so I'll leave it at that.https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/members/wheresthefuhd.196252/
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/members/wheresthefuhd.196252/

 

[Famine]

Wow. Even when you're trying to help them out they are absolutely determined to read only what they want to read.

certain fans will seize on phrasing and even individual words to further their agenda.

The fact was that I spoke to two of the most recognisable people at PD (Kazunori, Translator-san), as part of my job, one of whom I spoke to about this exact topic. I thought that the fact we'd had this conversation might be useful and relevant to the people who are pessimistic about the continued existence of the Q&A/Pit Stop features and put an end to the speculation. I guess not, I must have just been name dropping - ironic phrase given that I know his actual name and choose never to use it...

So. Here's the state of play:
The Q&A is not over, no.
Translator-san has translated questions from the fans.
Answers take a bit of time because Kazunori is making a game (actually, I presume two - continued support and updates for GT6 and making GT7) and fulfilling racing (like N24) and media (like GT Academy) commitments and some of the questions will require input from departments of PD who are also making a (or two) game(s).

Since that answers the original question fully and the discussion is now turning off that track and onto another one that demonstrates exactly why it's a bad idea to give us information, this thread is locked before someone at Sony/PD realises that it's a bad idea to give us information.

Edit: But here's a thread with an ad hoc round table interview translated from Italian to Japanese, Japanese to Italian and both to English that you can continue to cherry-pick and infer to your heart's content. I was in the room at the time and participated in a similar interview a few minutes later after we interviewed Darren Cox [/name drop] in the same manner...