Thread:Zeldakasumi/@comment-26377724-20151021121413/@comment-7888499-20151023122419

Honestly, I think you might get a better informed answer to this question if you consider asking someone like Reading Steiner who worked on both the fan and the official translations, I think. Or maybe Link0306...?

To be honest, the last time I properly played the Steins;Gate VN was with the old fan translation patch and before I started learning Japanese. -I keep promising myself that I will take the time to play all the way through the official translation before the SG0 anime airs.-

I do tend to use the lparchive because it saves time and is handy to have a text source split up by scene where you can exactly point someone to. I have, however, been reviewing chapter 6 of the official visual novel as I am working on revising an old blog post, because I wanted to replace the lines I quoted from the lparchive with the official translations.

What I've been noticing with my own limited Japanese listening comprehension and comparing the fan with the official translations, is that both translations are often pretty close to each other. Very occasionally, I thought the fan translation might be more literal. However, it also has some big errors that one has to be wary for.

Example:

(Official - correct meaning, but not completely literal word choice)

"Some of SERN's researchers in my time came up with the theory that memories are a way of sharing information across worldlines."

(Fan - incorrect meaning)

"In 2036, SERN researchers came up with a theoretical 'means to transfer information' to yourself across world lines"

I hope this has helped a little.