Re: Phantasy Star Generation 2: English Translation
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:38 am
It's nice to hear that you're progressing so well with this translation.
I'd go with Japanese / German names wherever possible. And don't feel you have to stick to romanization conventions established by Japanese game designers -- in my experience they're not (usually) the best judges on how to romanize stuff. By the same token, don't feel that you need to use the established English names. Why bother putting in the time to do a "proper" localization at all if you're not going to localize everything from scratch? I think the goal should be keep things faithful, but also to make things sound cool and look good when written out in English, so use your own imagination. Screw convention.
"Heilsam (boots)" sounds good to me. I'd use the "exotic" German spelling since that seems like the intention.
Same here. Go with "Harnisch".
"Fibrilla" sounds cool and exotic. Again, probably the intention. Go with that.
Do you have any pictures of the armor? Is it actual glass, or is it fiberglass?
Go with "Keinz". The Germanic spelling is probably what was intended. The pronunciation should be clear since the spelling is similar to the well-known brand Heinz. Don't use "Kinds". It sounds way too Engrishy to me.
HTH
I'd go with Japanese / German names wherever possible. And don't feel you have to stick to romanization conventions established by Japanese game designers -- in my experience they're not (usually) the best judges on how to romanize stuff. By the same token, don't feel that you need to use the established English names. Why bother putting in the time to do a "proper" localization at all if you're not going to localize everything from scratch? I think the goal should be keep things faithful, but also to make things sound cool and look good when written out in English, so use your own imagination. Screw convention.
Kyence wrote:1. "Hirza Boots": (Ha-i-ru-za-mu) ; on this site it is listed as Hailsome, which is a scottish term meaning 'healthy.' I have also seen that the German Heilsam (changed: thanks, skymandr, for the correct German spelling ) means the same thing. There are more examples of things looking more like German in the katakana form (it is used for any foreign word, after all). Which spelling should I use?
"Heilsam (boots)" sounds good to me. I'd use the "exotic" German spelling since that seems like the intention.
2. "Nish": (Hah-nisshu) ; on this site it is listed as Harnish, which has no meaning in English. However, the German word "Harnisch" is equivalent to Armor or Harness. Which is better, Harnisch, Harnish, or Harness?
Same here. Go with "Harnisch".
3. "Fiblira": (Fu-i-bu-ri-ra) ; this has always ranked up with Nish as a WTF item name for me. I am thinking it is actually a composite term of some sort. A fibula is a type of brooch used in ancient times. Reversing the -la and -ra, which are indistinguishable in Japanese, gives fibrilla, which is a term for a bunch of fibrils, or tiny fibers. I have seen this term used in some textiles, but is mainly a biological term; cellulose in plants and muscle fibers in animals can use it. I don't know if I should just keep PS3's precedent or what...but the idea of a woman's armor that resembles muscle fibers that form around the body sounds pretty sci-fi and cool.
"Fibrilla" sounds cool and exotic. Again, probably the intention. Go with that.
4. "Fiber": (Gu-ra-su) ; the game's kana is referring to Glass, but as this site shows, it is evident that the idea is that it was supposed to be Fiberglass/Glassfibre...it's a fun thing to note that the word got split up and used differently. I don't think they had the space to write it out; one of the G2-only items uses an abbreviation for this purpose. With Tryphon's tools, we can use either Fiberglass or Glassfibre in its entirety...which one would you like to see?
Do you have any pictures of the armor? Is it actual glass, or is it fiberglass?
5. "Kinds" /Kain ; Based on the German-sounding words I've come across, I wonder if this is supposed to be spelled more like "Keinz." I believe there is a character in the Black Butler series with the same kana spelling that is named Keinz.
Go with "Keinz". The Germanic spelling is probably what was intended. The pronunciation should be clear since the spelling is similar to the well-known brand Heinz. Don't use "Kinds". It sounds way too Engrishy to me.
HTH