That is the problem....it is impossible to really know. When you read japanese back it is just the literal side of it. "you're not nice, not nice" sounds a bit literal and lacks personality I suppose.
Well, I quoted it from the gamefaqs thread linked in this thread a few hours ago by Vehek -
A few months ago, there was some argument at GameFAQs over whether Edea's speech at the parade was different in meaning or not.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=197343&topic=48710512
In which there are a few Japanese speakers/translators. I'm very aware of how difficult it is to translate Japanese. This line was translated as "You're not nice! Not Nice!" which I think, as I previously stated, has more of an impact than "MEANIE!" which makes Rinoa sound like a 5 year old child.
And also, I didn't mean that that particular piece of dialogue needed to be changed, I was using it as an example of how the effect of the dialogue has been changed just by that line - which could be considered correct by many.
The translation of Edea's speech is similar, as are Ultimecia's lines during the final battle in the game.
I'm not going to post it all because there's more information (and discussion) in that thread for anyone that wants to read it. It seems however, that when translated directly, the dialogue during the final battle refers to Ultimecia in the third person, about how she's reflecting on her childhood emotions. In the English version, it all says "Reflect on
your childhood/emotions" blah blah blah... or something along those lines - it points nowhere near Ultimecia.
I've come to realise (from reading a post that explains just this in the previously linked thread) that the characters' dialogue when translated is ultimately a reflection of how the translator(s) perceive that character. One would translate it literally from Japanese, then say "Nah, they wouldn't say that" and give them a line as close to the original meaning as possible but ultimately convey how they feel the character should be.
Oh, and Squall doesn't actually say "Whatever" all the time, he says all different things. A few times he apparently awkwardly says "oh, sorry" which he says more than once. This kind of "mistake" is what irritates me because it completely changes the attitude the character is giving off. "Whatever" is completely indiffirent and cold, "I'm sorry" is the opposite.
