What's with the crappy translation?!?

[Clyde Arronway]

FFV has to have one of the worst translations of proper names I've ever seen. I mean come on! Every Japaneese>english translation learns in the first five minutes that the L/R letter is R is romanji but it is always pronounced like an L in english. Reina! REINA!!! it's lenna for pity sake. Then there's Bartz, whose name is so much better as Butz! and for pity sake, the N-zone! It's already been established as the cleft of dimention in FFIII (Unne: even adamantite will fall into the cleft of dimention, in the ancient ruins before the ibiin shiburu)

For pity sake... it's a job like no-one but woosley could do, yet he hadn't a single hand in it?! mabey he's training a protogee

bah!

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

The L/R thing can go either way. It's almost always up to interpretation.

Bartz is better than Butz but not as good as Batz, which is correct as well as sounding nice.

But yeah, "N-Zone" is stupid.

[Kirobaito]

I actually liked Reina more than Lenna.

[DJZen]

I only object to changing Sarisa to Salsa. It makes Faris's backstory make no sense. Sure, Cleft of Dimension sounds cooler, but the name change doesn't mess up the plot in obnoxious ways. Okay, maybe it doesn't REALLY mess up the plot but oh well.

[The Man]

I believe the FFV Anthology translation is based on some work Woolsey did back when Square thought they'd be bringing the game out in America for the SNES, which explains the dodgy name changes. I always thought they were crap, too, but it didn't bother me 'cause I just played the ROM.

[Mr. Graves]

The ROM is better on average in terms of gameplay, but I always prefer the Anthology translation.

[Clyde Arronway]

My goodness! I've played half of the rom and I love it. The anthology makes LENNA sound like a psycho and botches names to death.
They ought to be:
Butz
Lenna
Faris
Galuf
Carol
Exdeath
Woosley the monkey butt!

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Carol is completely wrong. So are Krile and Cara-ru. Her name is Klulu. I'm not just saying this, because I though Cara-ru was a great name.

And "Butz" is supposed to be pronounced "bots," as in robots, so I prefer the vastly less misleading spelling of Batz.

[DocFrance]

I thought it was pronounced like "boots." But I really do prefer "butts" because of how comically tragic it is.

[Clyde Arronway]

Carol is an approximation of what the japaneese were probably trying to say at one point or another. The Ca is the same in both, the next letter can be L or R, thus car, then the u is probably just a wierd vowel thing; vowels are not the heart and soul of the language, so it's not extremely important. If the next letter is an R, you get carolu. U's are the japaneese verson of our silent e's, the most famous one, part of their verb of being, desu pronounded as dess. drop the U, Carol. Remember that more often than not the japaneese are trying to say somthing in english but they screw it up unwittingly, hence Engrish. We try to figure out what they're saying and viola! we get Krile.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

The Final Fantasy Japan artbook clearly labels the names for all the characters in both Japanese and English alongside their artwork. All of the names are perfect, without a sign of mistranslation; even surnames like Klauser, Vlondett, and Baldesion are not misspelled. And Klulu's name is given as Klulu. Written in katakana, it clearly begins with a Ku, not a Ka. I can scan the page if you like.

[Citizen Bleys]

Carol is completely wrong. So are Krile and Cara-ru. Her name is Klulu. I'm not just saying this, because I though Cara-ru was a great name.

Actually, her correct name is Cthulhu, which explains a lot of the mysteries in the story.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS MISTER

[DocFrance]

Actually, her correct name is Cthulhu, which explains a lot of the mysteries in the story.
That would be the best thing EVAR.

[crono_logical]

Scan 'em all in, I wanna see these :p

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Here's Klulu.

[crono_logical]

Heh, I initially thought that was Terra :p

[Marble]

A note that many miss is that Exdeath appears to be a misinterpretation of "Exodus". Damn, it'd have been awesome if they'd have gotten that one right.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

It's not supposed to be Exodus. In Japanese, it's ekusudesu. There is a beast called Exodus in FFTA, and it's ekusedesu. It's a slight difference, but it's there.

[Marble]

The difference between an U and an E? Oh, come off it. And you know that Japanese isn't written with letters, so discussing the spelling of Japanese words is completely pointless.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

References to past games always retain the same spelling. They've never gone from Shiva to Shivo to Shivu to Shivi, and that would also just be the difference of one vowel. And this isn't pointless. It's transliteration.

[Clyde Arronway]

There may be spoilers, I don't think so but I'll just put up a warning anyhow. Let the reader beware.

The five called monsters in FF-TA are supposed to be copies of five final bosses from the eariest games. Famfrit is dark cloud from III, Ultima is Ultima from FF-T, I don't know what the bangaa one is, the human one is the emperor from II, and Exodus is ex-death from V. Remember as I have said before these games take things from all myths and cultures and religions. They're put into Japaneese letters and then taken from those letters and translated directly into english, leaving their real meaning much to be desired. For example, the first city in III is called "Ul" which is a slightly closer english translation than "Ur" for most english accents. however when one considers that the second city is caller cannan, it is more likely that the city should have been called Ur, referring to Abraham's journey from the babylonian city of Ur to Caanan, the land where Israel lies today. Second, although many have disputed this, seifer sepheroth could also be called seraph seperoth from VII. This means angel of numbers, more or less, which is appropriate seeing as the form that sepheroth takes in the final battle is that of a one winged angel. Do not look to what the name is in japan, look to cultural references.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

The five called monsters in FF-TA are supposed to be copies of five final bosses from the eariest games. Famfrit is dark cloud from III, Ultima is Ultima from FF-T, I don't know what the bangaa one is, the human one is the emperor from II, and Exodus is ex-death from V.I've seen talk of this before, and I could even buy that Ultima and Exodus are references to FFT Ultima and ExDeath, but there's absolutely no evidence to support the rest. Famfrit and Mateus look nothing like the Cloud of Darkness and the Paramekian Emperor, nor do they have similar names. And Adramelech is just a reference to FFT Adramelech, who wasn't a final boss, further disproving this rumor.
Second, although many have disputed this, seifer sepheroth could also be called seraph seperoth from VII. This means angel of numbers, more or less, which is appropriate seeing as the form that sepheroth takes in the final battle is that of a one winged angel.It's not supposed to be Seraph. It's supposed to be Sepher--Sepher Sephiroth, meaning "the Book of Numbers" and the numerical Kabbalistic pathway to God. This is indisputable.
Do not look to what the name is in japan, look to cultural references.The names in Japan are almost always perfectly representative of the cultural references; the ONLY exception I can think of is Mael-Duin, who was referred to as Madin in FFVI. It's the translations that go beyond transliteration into outright altering of names that pervert this. For example, the name of Catoblepas (a mythical beast) was changed to Shoat (a generic word for a hog or boar) in the English translations of FFV and FFVI, and Glasya Labolas (a Christian demon) was changed to Doomtrain in FFVIII.

[The Man]

I think a lot of the names in earlier Final Fantasy games were changed due to a lack of space. Catoblepas would've had to have been shortened to "Catoblps" or something in FFVI, and that's clearly wrong. Then again, so is "Shoat."

A character named Cthulhu would be the best thing ever. And yes, Klulu does look like remarkably like Terra in those illustrations. :o

It looks like Kishi's last Klulu illustration didn't upload completely. :(

[Clyde Arronway]

you may hold to your kabbalistic interperetation, which I don't deny, but I've seen far too many references to seraph to simply dismiss that it could be intentional in a boss battle with a giant demented angel. and I do see a large similarity between famfrit and mateus and those two bosses. It doesn't hurt that square said that they were based off of those charecters too.

and the names may be perfect representations, but if one does not know those representations and one takes a straight japaneese translation, one gets instances of complete lunacy, such as: one V walkthrough insisted that broad swords are not broad swords, they're bload swords.

[DocFrance]

one V walkthrough insisted that broad swords are not broad swords, they're bload swords.
What, you've never heard of bload swords? They were most commonly used by the Bloadic tribes of Northern Scotland. They were a crude precursor to the Scottish claymore.

[The Man]

you may hold to your kabbalistic interperetation, which I don't deny, but I've seen far too many references to seraph to simply dismiss that it could be intentional in a boss battle with a giant demented angel.
It's possible that they intended a double meaning on "Seraph" and "Sepher," but the Book of Numbers and Sephiroth's whole quest to become God are so closely linked that I find it impossible that "Sepher" wasn't an intended meaning.

Regardless, "Safer" is quite obviously horrible, horrible Engrish.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

It looks like Kishi's last Klulu illustration didn't upload completely. :(Sure it did. It's only supposed to be a close-up on her name. Also: hi Aaron.

you may hold to your kabbalistic interperetation, which I don't deny, but I've seen far too many references to seraph to simply dismiss that it could be intentional in a boss battle with a giant demented angel.Yet the F-sound comes before the R-sound. Even at a stretch, that would be Sephar or something, not Seraph.
and I do see a large similarity between famfrit and mateus and those two bosses.Explain please. Especially how a chunky masked giant with a chain and a cannon hoisted upon his shoulder in any way resembles a smiling, naked, feminine spirit of darkness with smaller nasty-faced spirits swirling about her.

The rumor that the Totema are "copies of five final bosses from the earliest games" has already been shot beyond a shadow of a doubt because
Adramelech has never been a final boss in any game ever,
FFT, in which Ultima is the final boss, is not one of the "earliest games" by a long shot, and
Chaos from FFI and Zeromus from FFIV are nowhere to be found,
but I'd like to know your reasoning.

[Clyde Arronway]

alright, on adremmalich I submit. I did not properly express what square officially said. But as to dark cloud, I mean it's first form with a big acessory cannon thingy. Square did say that these were the namesakes (er... sprite-sakes?) for the totema and was quoted as such in an issue of nintendo power though, so take it up with square.

[The Man]

Sure it did. It's only supposed to be a close-up on her name.Fair enough. I'm a bit disappointed, as more Amano art is always a good thing, but ah well.


Also: hi Aaron.'Sup Kishi.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

But as to dark cloud, I mean it's first form with a big acessory cannon thingy.Dark Cloud's two forms look exactly the same, except one is orange and the other is green. It never has a big accessory cannon thingy. :aimsad:

But yeah, I think we're all done here.

[Clyde Arronway]

Then it's zande. All I know is I've only got zande and dark cloud to go in FFIII, and one of those two is Exactly the same looking as famfrit.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Zande is a scary-looking devil man. He doesn't even wear armor.

http://www.ffcompendium.com/~Skylark/ff3/Image540.gif

There is no enemy in FFIII that resembles Famfrit. If you want to see for yourself, here (http://www.ffcompendium.com/~Skylark/ff3/index.html) is a list of all the enemies in the game, complete with their sprites.

[DocFrance]

Dum de dum...

Zande:
http://www.ffcompendium.com/chara/3zande-b.gif

Dark Cloud:
http://www.ffcompendium.com/chara/3darkcloud-b.gif

Famfrit:
http://www.ffcompendium.com/chara/tafamfrit2.jpg

[eestlinc]

Dark Cloud is hot.

[Clyde Arronway]

He looks like it to me. The important thing is not if he looks as such, however, it's that square said so.

[The Man]

Dark Cloud is hot.
Seconded.

[DJZen]

The difference between an U and an E? Oh, come off it. And you know that Japanese isn't written with letters, so discussing the spelling of Japanese words is completely pointless.

I know that responding to this quote is much akin to reviving a dead thread, but oh well. Japanese IS spelled with letters. They also use symbols called "kanji" to represent words, sort of like how we have the ampersand in English (this is what an ampersand is: &). Also, the difference between a U and an E in Japanese is greater than it is in English. In Japanese, vowels have fixed pronunciations. The U is always pronounced like the "oo" in "fool". The letter E is always pronounced like the "eh" in "meh". In English, the letter U can be used for the sounds "oo" (blue) "uh" (muscle) "eh" (hamburger) or this weird "ih" like sound (burn). However, when translitterated from Japanese, U will always sound the same. So, the name "ekusodesu" can NOT be pronounced "exodus". The only variations on it you can really get are things like "ekuthdes" or "exosd su". In short, Kawaii Ryukishi is right, as usual.

[AngryTurnip]

I think the monsters came off worst in FF5. Y Burn for Wyvern? FerryWalk for Fairy Orc? Oh dear...

[The Man]

In short, Kawaii Ryûkishi is right, as usual.
I'm hard pressed to think of any examples in which kishi HASN'T been right. I know there've been one or two. In something like 6,000 of his posts I've read.

[Clyde Arronway]

Even I must admit he is generally right. And I know my point is the harder to defend, but the point is that square-enix said so!

[The Man]

If you'd link us to the article in which SE allegedly said so, we'd probably be a lot more inclined to agree with you.

[Clyde Arronway]

It wasn't an online article. It was an article from nintendo power about a month before the release of the game.

[The Man]

Got the approximate date? I'm sure that if you searched for "nintendo power tactics" and the month and year of the article on google, you'd come up with something relevant.

[Clyde Arronway]

Unfotunately no... my memory grabs onto details like squares's indication and doesn't let go... but not numbers. I'll try to find the magazine again, but no promises.

[DJZen]

I think the monsters came off worst in FF5. Y Burn for Wyvern? FerryWalk for Fairy Orc? Oh dear...

FFVII is pretty much just as bad when it comes to enemy names. Kimara Bug springs to mind, as does Velcher Task.

[The Man]

My mind recalls the famous "Ogre Nix" sword in FFVI (it was obviously supposed to be "Organics," as the FFVII sword).

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

There is nothing that surpasses North Pole as "Knowlespole" in FFVII.

That is terrible.

[The Man]

Even Grand Lion as "Masamune" in Chrono Trigger, or Grand Dream as the ridiculous "Mastermune" in Chrono Cross? ;)

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

If only because they were intentional. The Masamune/Mastermune fiasco is like one of Ed Gein's savage murders and utter bodily desecrations, while Knowlespole is like that awful, complicated yet completely accidental Darwin Award death that was chronicled in the beginning of Magnolia.

PROTIP: Google will turn up an Ed Gein article as the first result in response to a search for "carved skulls into bowls."

[The Man]

I feel so much the better for benefit of all this beautiful knowledge. Thank you, Kishi. :love:

[AngryTurnip]

Let's not be too harsh on FF6. "Ogre nix" may be embarrassing, but the fact that they named the morbols after Oscar the Grouch is enough to redeem them :D

[The Man]

Oh, believe me, I'm not being harsh on FF6, I'm just being harsh on its translator.

[eestlinc]

do they just pump these games through Babel Fish? How do these hideous errors make it through? Square must not care very much.

[The Man]

obviously, because we're american heathens.

[DJZen]

Eh, I think it's more because the translations are done by people who don't speak English, except for FFVI, which was well translated scriptwise. I can see why Woolsey took such liberties with names though, it's not like it's that hugely important that they remain 100% faithful to the original. Did you know that one of the enemies is an Onion Knight? Of course you didn't, why would you need to know?

[eestlinc]

It's simply irresponsible and disrespectful to have translators that fail to understand the language into which they are translating.

[AngryTurnip]

'Course, the msot unfortunate enemy translation has got to be in the FF2 translated ROM, where Red Soul is... R.Soul.

Oh dear.

[DJZen]

It's simply irresponsible and disrespectful to have translators that fail to understand the language into which they are translating.

I agree, this is why I'm favorable toward Woolsey's translations.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

I'm going to change this thread's icon to a happy face. Because it makes me happy.

[dman]

Ok, so maybe the proper name translations are shocking, but overall which version do you recommend? Which version has the better script? FFVj translated or FFA? Which translation shows the emotion, character personalities etc better? I need to know before I start playing it because if the ROM translation is just as good I wouldn't have to suffer the PSX loading times.

[Sefie1999AD]

dman: apart from name translations, the script, overall translation and character emotions are pretty similar in FF5 SNES (fan translation) and FF5 PSX. One difference is that Faris speaks with a cheesy pirate accent in FF5 PSX. D'arr! It's up to you to decide whether that's a merit or an annoyance. Otherwise, the SNES version seemed a bit more detailed than the PSX version. And of course, you won't get annoying loading times and reduced graphics/sound/music quality in the SNES version.

[dman]

Thanks for the reply. I checked both versions and noticed that at most times the two translations were very similar, and at any other time the ROM translation was slightly better.