I'm going to go with the clear original text that Toby Fox wrote on his own rather then the Translation to Japanese.
I don't care if Toby helped with the Japanese translation, at the end of the day the original text goes above literally everything else, unless said text is too vague(Like with Super Paper Mario stuff), and in this case, yeah, it ain't too vague.
I agree with this thread.
Both lines were written by Toby Fox, a fluent japanese speaker. Both are canon and both convey the same information. You are also strawmanning my point! I am not saying the Japanese version should take over. The English version never proved the point in the first place, it's a personal interpretation that the Japanese version helps to debunk, both lines can co-exist. Neither line contradicts the other in any way.
By stating you do not care about what Toby was trying to say with this line, which is a factor when adapting, you are stating you don't care if you portray inaccurate information and inaccurate interpretation on your site by ignoring irrefutable evidence that proves Toby Fox intent.
The word "starting" is being interpreted as "new timeline", that is not true. The Japanese version
still has to convey the same information regarding lore.
There is not a single factor, a single support, or even remotely a single indication that the line 'timelines jumping, stopping and starting' means that a new timeline is forming. This is an interpretation. Not a canonical fact, and holds no weigh on the topic.
The Japanese line debunks the interpretation, it's consistent with the English version, has Toby's direct support and carries his intent
as much if not more than the English version (
As I provided evidence that Toby made effort so both versions can be experienced the same way by it's respective players).
You may ignore evidence. That is just bias on your end. Yes the English version should be above the Japanese one, but no the English Version doesn't disagree with the Japanese version. Both are canon and should fall under the same interpretation.
I disagree.
I feel you cant really get the idea of a multiversal structure from "The flow of time is jumping around, stopping and moving." quote alone, even if you cant really put an 's' at the end of words in japanese they still could've said "Many flows of time" (which you yourself said was fine, it seems) to convey the same message the original quote had in that there is more the one timeline.
"ga" is not singular! Plural and Singular are not even a thing in phonetic/phrase structures in Japanese. You cannot disagree, you are not knowledgeable on the language. The japanese
"じかんのながれが" (jikan no nagare ga) can be
both singular and plural, it depends on the context, and Undertale has plenty of other evidence to support that the line means plural here, there is no need to literally alter the original text in the translation to convey this. Yes, the phrase "じかんのながれが" (jikan no nagare ga) can be plural, depending on the context in which it is used. The word "ながれ" (nagare) can be translated as "flow" or "stream" in English, and it can refer to multiple flows or streams of time. The use of the word
"また" (mata), meaning
"again", suggests that this process is happening repeatedly, indicating that there are multiple instances of this disruption
You cannot just disregard Toby Fox's intent because of lack of plurals caused by how the language works. Just because the plural was not added, that doesn't make the intent of using "starting" as "moving" instead of "starting a brand new timeline through resets", something that was never said or implied, just interpreted, less valid.
The immutable fact is that Toby Fox intended to say the timelines are "coming to a stop, then starting to move again", that can be seen in both versions and the Japanese one is definitive as well!
It is sad that the idea of a particular interpretation is being pushed by bias and an agenda rather than neutral consideration of the evidence at hand. "Let's ignore the Japanese version which is just as canon because it refutes our interpretation of the English line"
The worst part is how everyone is lying about what I'm trying to do, claiming that "no, you're trying to say the English version is wrong", which is not at all what I'm trying to say.