Am I the only one that thinks that brawl needs no VC?
I wouldn't use voice chat even if it had it. So nope. If I do voice chat while playing I can easily use ventrillo or skype anyway.
Moving on, I have to agree with all of the posts above me. How could the game possibly get delayed as close as it is to the Japanese release? All of the games are generally the same, save for a few
SMALL bug fixes. If there was anything large enough to cause a delay for North America, the Japanese release would have to be pushed back too.
As far as translation goes, SSE will, more than likely (I'd bet money on it) not have voice acting more than Melee Adventure Mode did. This means only text would be translated, and look at what we have seen so far. Most of the text has had significant improvements and has been properly translated. I think the last time I saw a poorly translated screenshot (which even then wasn't too bad) was in November or early December.
Fact is, it's nearly done. If anything all they have left to do is look over the the translations and ensure all of it is right, then take it to press. It's impossible for them to still be adding content and major bug fixes are very unlikely.