Final Fantasy VII - Retranslation Project

[Strangelove]

I don't know if you can use the Japanese idiom for anything other than actually running away from the enemy or battle (for your advantage later on/overall).

Saying the full phrase out seems a bit wordy for Reno to me (unless maybe you changed it around like "You know what they say. Discretion and valour and all that." or something), but leaving it as it was in the English version seems fine as well. It might not be another idiom but it still works.

Keep Goin'? > つづけて、チャレンジしますね? > Next challenge?

'Challenge' as a verb in Japanese isn't really the same as 'challenge' in English/as a noun, but more to try to do something.

 

[DLPB]

Yeah I was corrected on that a few hours ago also

What does this one come out as?

Then go for it! > で、チャレンジ! > Then, go for it! seems ok really?


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[The Twilight Mexican]

I don't know if you can use the Japanese idiom for anything other than actually running away from the enemy or battle (for your advantage later on/overall).

Given the cases where I've heard it used, I'd have thought it was rarely used in such a literal context.

But I really like your suggestion of "Discretion, valor and all that."

 

[DLPB]

I like it too, but might be lost on people.... Only problem now is this yo business.

2 I am working with do not like the idea of making Reno sound like some gangsta rapper...I personally think yo is ok to be used in some circumstances.

Are you both agreed that all 3 , yo, to and zo are simply used as a quirk, and that the best way to proceed is to find some kind of quirk to be used in the English?

Apart from yo, what else might I consider?

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Yeah, some quirk or set of quirks in English would be the way to go. As for what to use to do that, beyond those I've already suggested, I can't think of anything else at the moment.

 

[DLPB]

When a Japanese person sees yo, to and zo...they see the sound? Yes? But I need to know the nature of what a Japanese person will feel and see and identify with when they see these symbols.

I mean, if I were to add "Man" or "dude" at the end of a sentence you would have a vision of what the character was like. I mean yo in English is not direct to a Yo in Japanese.

I need to know the nature of it....the feel. If you see what I mean?

Do they just see a random sound and think "wow reno is a bit whacky"
Do they see something that is supposed to have meaning but is used wrong, and think "That looks a little odd"

Do they see some type of reference to something in japanese, something that has a deeper meaning than a symbols in the wrong place?

If it is just a case of some rather odd sounds he makes then it can easily be placed into English...well somewhat.

What about Wakka on FFX? and his Ya's.....?

=================

Another person suggests that it is like adding "see" or "like" or "but" to the end of a sentence, and so a potential use is:

レノ「こいつら、しぶといぞ、と」

This lot are stubborn, see

This lot are stubborn, yah





if it is just a sound, things like

Zah, Yah, Yo could be used?

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

In general, grammatically superfluous additions like "zo" and "yo" would be seen as something akin to an exclamation point in English. Reno uses them so goddamn much, though -- and at times that clearly don't call for it -- that he'd be perceived as either quirky (this would apply more to teenage girls, though =P Think Rinoa from FFVIII) or going out of his way to be super informal (this one's Reno).

Again, look at how he wears his uniform and compare to Rude's. That tells you everything you need to know about Reno. =P

And that's why I say there's such a range of what you could -- and should -- do with it in English, depending on the context of the line. There are times I'd have him use "man," "bro," "yo" and various grammatical shortcuts such as contractions and word slurs.

 

[Strangelove]

Given the cases where I've heard it used, I'd have thought it was rarely used in such a literal context.

It's my deepest and darkest secret that I can't think of ever seeing it anywhere but FFVII and probably shouldn't have commented

I can't remember what Wakka said, but I do remember that Tidus had a little, though less idiocratic, vocal flourish, 'ssu' (shared with several other characters from past FF games). I don't think they really did any kind of word-for-word replacement for that in the English version, though.

On the other hand, Raijin in FFVIII had 'mon yo' (IIRC) which became 'you know?' in English.

'Zo' would usually be a kind of forceful, rather masculine marker for emphasis, but following it up with 'to' kind of throws that a bit off for me. The rest of his speech doesn't really indicate a different dialect or anything, so it's just this little odd thing he says all the time.

This kind of thing, having a little speech tick stuck at the end, is a lot more common for Japanese media. It's a pretty common way of adding a bit of personality/uniqueness to a character. I don't tend to see much examples of translations nowadays, I mostly just stick with the original, so I can't really think of any more examples about how others handled stuff like this.

And i'm too tired to construct coherent thoughts anymore so will stop here

 

[DLPB]

Cheers. Well from all this I think we are agreed that this is all simply something they used to make him unique. That can be dealt with somewhat. I will try and avoid "yo" mostly, and certainly I won't over do this quirk because that will simply detract from the character....

 

[DLPB]

Well I have decided for now to go with:

yeh, eh, yo, I seh < in order of frequency

The yeh, eh, seh are my attempts to make it a decent take on yo to and zo . Obviously if this proves to be unpopular, I will change it. I use them also based on context. For example:

"Even in retreat...we're victorious, yeh"

"Looks like it's time, eh"

"Let's call it a day, yeh"

"This lot are stubborn, I seh"

Of course I won't be going overboard with this liek the Japanese.

 

[DLPB]

Ok we are a bit stuck with 1 of the enemy moves. This one by Sepher Sephiroth:

originally translated as Deen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deen

Japanese: [FONT=&quot]&#12487; &#12452;&#12531;[/FONT]

Romaji : Dein

==============

However according to a few Japanese dictionaries, this could be dane, dain or dainn. Dain and dainn are names in mythology:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A1in

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However, this could be din

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deen_(Arabic_term)

taken from the old high german Dein http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dein

and then there is my favourite....
----------------

Dean http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Dean

Middle English deen, from Old French deien

and its meaning?

"Chief of ten" or "of ten persons" and what is Sephiroth?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sephirot

Sephirot (In Hebrew &#1505;&#1456;&#1508;&#1460;&#1497;&#1512;&#1493;&#1465;&#1514;, pronunciation), meaning "enumerations", are the 10 attributes/emanations

and so...

I think it is actually Dean. But is it? What do you think?

 

[DLPB]

I have edited the Chocobo game with my own font and with re-translation:

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/SeiferAlmasy2008/chocotrans1.png

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/SeiferAlmasy2008/chocotrans2-1.png

There are a few other images I will be sorting soon...which were mistranslated in both versions.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I think it is actually Dean. But is it? What do you think?

I think so. Even if it's not, it should be, because it fits.

 

[DLPB]

Agreed!

Also....I found out someone at Qhimms had already done a good job of the images, and redone them all. So I edited those and we have >

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg129/SeiferAlmasy2008/auto.png

 

[Ryushikaze]

I think it's Dean as well. Mostly because of the religious connotations it would have, and the rest not making any real sense.

 

[DLPB]

1 more.

Any idea where Gysahl comes from? &#12462;&#12469;&#12540;&#12523; I looked around on one of the OST's it is listed as Gishal, the only thing I can find as a possible origin is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishal_(name) a Hindu God. The green vegetable uses the name from a town in an earlier FF game.

Is there any information on what spelling for this was intended?

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Honestly, I don't know what it comes from. As for the spelling, I'd probably just go with Gysahl, what they used for the DS version of FFIII (where the town of the same name appeared; the greens were acquired here and named after the town), since it's unlikely that we'll find out the origin of the name.

 

[DLPB]

Yeah that is what I have done, gone with Gysahl. Still there are so many spellings of it, and Gishal is one. I guess we will never know

 

[Strangelove]

According to this (I don't remember myself), FFVII's is named differently from the others in the series:

http://ffdic.wikiwiki.jp/?%A5%A2%A5...%AE%A5%B6%A1%BC%A5%EB%A4%CE%CC%EE%BA%DA%A1%DB

Instead of &#12300;&#12462;&#12469;&#12540;&#12523;&#12301; with an 's' it's &#12300;&#12462;&#12470;&#12540;&#12523;&#12301; with a 'z'.

Though I don't know where it comes from (nor do I have any meaningful input about the Sephiroth attack).

 

[Tetsujin]

Random info: It's translated as "Gizar" in the German version.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I just checked VII's Ultimania Omega. It, indeed, spells the item with a "z" instead of an "s."

 

[DLPB]

So FF7 game should be considered an error? and this is a Z? Actually I am not sure if it ever was with an S even in the game, because I used another source

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Gysahl_Greens could be wrong

 

[Strangelove]

They've reused it for other FFVII things (BC, CC), and in FFX-2 for some reason. So it seems like they at least acknowledge it.

If it didn't come from the game itself it might have confused it with the other, more common name. (That link I posted before mentioned people doing the opposite, thinking they're all 'z' from playing FFVII first).

 

[DLPB]

That's strange....I am guessing that there is some sort of miscommunication with the correct spelling of the item, or they indeed wanted a variation of the FF3 name (spelled with an S I take it?)

 

[Strangelove]

I don't know if the Ultimania Omega mentions anything about (don't have it with me to check). It did confirm stuff like Misteel (spelling fail) being French, etc. Maybe Tres can check it out?