Gavin Greene is a freelance localization director, translator, and interpreter specializing in video games. In his ten years in the industry, he’s translated more games than he can count (he’s better at writing than math), many of them for well-known franchises such as Final Fantasy and the Tales of series.
As a localization director, he organizes multilingual teams bringing fun and games to various corners of the world. And as an interpreter, he talks and sometimes people listen.
For this episode he chose to chat about the sci-fi novel Harmony by Project Itoh, translated by Alexander O. Smith.
“In the future, Utopia has finally been achieved thanks to medical nanotechnology and a powerful ethic of social welfare and mutual consideration. This perfect world isn’t that perfect though, and three young girls stand up to totalitarian kindness and super-medicine by attempting suicide via starvation. It doesn’t work, but one of the girls–Tuan Kirie–grows up to be a member of the World Health Organization. As a crisis threatens the harmony of the new world, Tuan rediscovers another member of her suicide pact, and together they must help save the planet…from itself.“
Gavin Greene
Twitter: @GawyntheGreen
Translation Chat
A podcast where professional Japanese to English translators and editors chat about their favorite translations.
Hosted by Jennifer O’Donnell
Music by Alex Valles
Logo by Katherine Soldevilla