Japanese names

[Prime Blue]

Since I did some translation work on the Creative Soundtracks, I also got interested in the character and location names of the Japanese version. I tried to restore some of the original meanings.

Leim (ライム = Raimu)
They probably wanted to name him Lime. Lime the Lion. Durr. Hurr.

Royd (ロイド = Roido)
A wonderfully hilarious mistranslation of Lloyd.

Perel (ペルル = Peruru)
That's the toughest one. It could either be Perl, Perel or Perle. Since Perel sounds distinctly American and Perle is a woman's name, I'll stick to the former.

Beruga (ベルーガ = Berūga)
Beluga seems more correct because of the elongated u.

Crysta (クリスタルホルム = Kurisutaruhorumu)
The original version is Kristallholm (using stylized Swedish lettering here), as an equivalent of Stockholm.

Taklama (タクラマカン = Takuramakan)
Another bad mistake. The real-world desert Taklamakan was originally meant.

Storkolm (ストークホルム = Sutōkuhorumu)
This should have been Stockholm.

Mosque (グランドモスク = Gurando Mosuku)
Grand Mosque, although the fanatics don't seem to be muslims...

Penginea (ペンギンランド = Pengin Rando)
Penguin Land, for obvious reasons.

Zue (ズウ = Zuu)
Go figure, Zoo is the real title of the African area, even given in roman letters on the soundtrack.

Canyon (せんじんの谷 = Senjin no Tani)
Hard to translate because "senjin" isn't given in kanji. The play on words is obviously intended, as "senjin" can mean a lot of things pertaining to that particular situation (that's probably also why they didn't give the word in kanji), for example "vanguard" (as in, the person that clears the way for another), "bottomless", or "of great depth". Personally, I like the Abysmal Vanguard Valley.

Grecliff (グレートクリフ = Gurēto Kurifu)
The English version Grecliff is a portmanteau of the original Great Cliff.

Liotto (リオット = Riotto)
Since this town is modeled after Rio de Janeiro, it's safe to assume it's real name is Riotto.

Nirlake (ニアレイク = Nia Reiku)
Near Lake, it being near lakes and all...

Airsrock (エアーズロック = Eāzu Rokku)
The Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock is a rock formation in North Australia.

Louran (ロウラン = Rouran)
Its real name is Loulan, a city discovered by Sven Hedin.

Dryvale (ドライバレー = Dorai Barē)
The graveyard at the South Pole is called Dry Valley in the Japanese version.

Quatro's (クワトロ団の村 Kuatro Dan no Mura)
Cuatro is the name of the type of guitar the Cuatro group is playing. "Cuatro" is Spanish for "four". A better translation of the term would be the Cuatro Group's Village.

[Coz]

Prime Blue wrote:

Royd (ロイド = roido) A wonderfully hilarious mistranslation of Lloyd.

I like it better than Lloyd ^_^

Prime Blue wrote:

Mosque (グランドモスク = gurando mosuku) Grand Mosque, although the Beruga fanatics don't seem very islamic to me...

Probably was just alluding about religious fanatism, not islamic culture.

[eFlare]

Prime Blue wrote:

Royd (ロイド = roido) A wonderfully hilarious mistranslation of Lloyd. ... Liotto (リオット = riotto) Since this town is modeled after Rio de Janeiro, it's safe to assume it's real name is Riotto.

Not that I'm an expert but isn't it quite common that words in Japanese that contain an L in English often end up being written with an R for pronunciation? I read that somewhere in search of the explanation why Light was spelled as Raito.

Of course, Wikipedia isn't right all the time.

[chicken]

isnt that what everybody says about the chinese? that they cannot pronounce an R so they use the L?

[Hammerit]

chicken wrote:

isnt that what everybody says about the chinese? that they cannot pronounce an R so they use the L?

Yeah though I personally know some chinese and all can pronounce R and L without any difficulties lol.

[Prime Blue]

eFlare wrote:

Not that I'm an expert but isn't it quite common that words in Japanese that contain an L in English often end up being written with an R for pronunciation? I read that somewhere in search of the explanation why Light was spelled as Raito. Of course, Wikipedia isn't right all the time.

Japanese use katakana to write foreign words and names (e.g. ロイド = Roido). Since there is no difference between r and l in Japanese (they pronounce it as something in between, but more similar to an r), a lot of mistranslations are made by localization teams.

chicken wrote:

isnt that what everybody says about the chinese? that they cannot pronounce an R so they use the L?

Well, last semester I attended a Chinese lecture. I'm by far no expert on the language but my teacher could pronounce the r just fine, despite being of Chinese descent. Mandarin even uses the letter r in its vocabulary.

[inferiare]

eFlare wrote:

Prime Blue wrote: Royd (ロイド = roido) A wonderfully hilarious mistranslation of Lloyd. ... Liotto (リオット = riotto) Since this town is modeled after Rio de Janeiro, it's safe to assume it's real name is Riotto. Not that I'm an expert but isn't it quite common that words in Japanese that contain an L in English often end up being written with an R for pronunciation? I read that somewhere in search of the explanation why Light was spelled as Raito. Of course, Wikipedia isn't right all the time.

Technically, as Prime Blue said. Then again, 'Raito' is just the Japanese spelling of the English word 'Light', only with less use of the "gh" that English speakers have. When I took Japanese, my teacher said that the R/L was interchangable, even though in speech, it has a really distinctive sound (it sounds like r/l/d sound, which sounds really weird in type, but 'l' and 'r' have a similar sound.), and there is no 'L' line in the Hiragana/Katakana, it's only 'R' (which would also explain Light's name being Raito in Katakana).

So uh, lengthy story short, the English translation was improper, and it probably should have been "Riotto" and not "Liotto". XD

[Moddex]

The actual translation team was a ragtag bunch who were infact not English as I recall. They were Swedish. The group wasn't too good with English, thence why we get some funky name screw ups. The team was pretty damn lazy if you ask me. "Royd"? Come on...! If they were on a translation team, they should have known that was an L based on the regular syntax.

Plus, there being some mistranslations like Mosque. It was meant to be in fact Moscow. Looking at its position on the map, that's right where it should be in Russia. The Japanese name itself is also a screw up. Some of the concept teams may have misunderstood the English title of it and though it said Mosque, so they called it that instead of better researching it.

One name I'm still trying to figure out is "Yunkyo". It doesn't sound Japanese and if it was in China, shouldn't it have been Beijing? Once again, a square peg in a round hole. If you also notice, Ark starts to stereotype the Chinese people in the hotel and shop. He starts talking like they are with broken English.

If I knew anything about ROM hacking, I'd try to make a patch to fix all the mistranslations. Sadly though, I have neither the program or the know how as of yet.

[Prime Blue]

Well, Moscow would have been モスクワ (Mosukuwa). Also, "Grand Moscow" doesn't sound all too reasonable.

[Manibrandr System]

Personally, I like the mistranslations, as it gives the game this authentic flavour that it alludes to the Earth we live in, but it's not really THE Earth we live in.

[Miss Prime Blue]

ドライバレー means 'Dry Valley'.

ドライ = Dry
バレー = Valley

バレー is not BARE, it's pronounced in japanese as BAREE, (notice the ー
for the long vowel sound) as in 'Valley'.

エアーズロック = Ayers Rock
エアーズ = Eaazu (ー long vowel sound, Ayers)

せんじんの谷 = The Kanji '谷' can also mean 'Valley'.

[Prime Blue]

tenchisouzou wrote:

ドライバレー means 'Dry Valley'. ドライ = Dry バレー = Valley バレー is not BARE, it's pronounced in japanese as BAREE, (notice the ー for the long vowel sound) as in 'Valley'.

Well, the translation is right. I was just too lazy to add the macron above the e to indicate that it's elongated.

tenchisouzou wrote:

エアーズロック = Ayers Rock エアーズ = Eaazu (ー long vowel sound, Ayers)

Same here.

[westside]

I'm sorry for reviving this old thread, but I just want to make one more addition to this list. I'm an Uyghur Ethnic from Northwest China and I've been to Taklamakan before on Camels, it never ceases to amaze the foreigners when they see middle-eastern cutler in China. I also want to add another mistake they made here. Louran is correctly written as Kroran, Loulan is the Chinese name which they used since they can not pronounce Kroran, and Louran is even worse. The people of Kroran are the ancestors of Turks and Mongols and one of the eldest Caucasian ethnics, although some of them have the modern Mongolic (east asian) features. This is an area in ruins currently also in the region I come from, (NorthWest China: Xinjinag) this place is currently in Ruins and are filled with Mummies of the Ancestors of Turks.

Just a little history lesson, although this game got the name wrong, knowing something so exotic means they probably did their homework before making the game.

[Blade]

westside wrote:

I'm sorry for reviving this old thread, but I just want to make one more addition to this list. I'm an Uyghur Ethnic from Northwest China and I've been to Taklamakan before on Camels, it never ceases to amaze the foreigners when they see middle-eastern cutler in China. I also want to add another mistake they made here. Louran is correctly written as Kroran, Loulan is the Chinese name which they used since they can not pronounce Kroran, and Louran is even worse. The people of Kroran are the ancestors of Turks and Mongols and one of the eldest Caucasian ethnics, although some of them have the modern Mongolic (east asian) features. This is an area in ruins currently also in the region I come from, (NorthWest China: Xinjinag) this place is currently in Ruins and are filled with Mummies of the Ancestors of Turks. Just a little history lesson, although this game got the name wrong, knowing something so exotic means they probably did their homework before making the game.

Wow! Thats very interesting! Thanx for lighting us up!
I myself am a history maniac...

...and it's ok to revive old threads

[inferiare]

westside wrote:

I'm sorry for reviving this old thread, but I just want to make one more addition to this list. I'm an Uyghur Ethnic from Northwest China and I've been to Taklamakan before on Camels, it never ceases to amaze the foreigners when they see middle-eastern cutler in China. I also want to add another mistake they made here. Louran is correctly written as Kroran, Loulan is the Chinese name which they used since they can not pronounce Kroran, and Louran is even worse. The people of Kroran are the ancestors of Turks and Mongols and one of the eldest Caucasian ethnics, although some of them have the modern Mongolic (east asian) features. This is an area in ruins currently also in the region I come from, (NorthWest China: Xinjinag) this place is currently in Ruins and are filled with Mummies of the Ancestors of Turks. Just a little history lesson, although this game got the name wrong, knowing something so exotic means they probably did their homework before making the game.

Ooh, nifty! A piece of history I didn't know.

Thanks for making me want to go there, though.