Translation Digimon Story: Lost Evolution Translation Project

[Mirby]

True, but the actual names in game if you go straight to romaji are Mazabo and Grabo. It even says on that map I posted earlier. If anything we're staying faithful to the Japanese version, aside from changing Mazabo to Mobo so it sounds less like a Jewish cracker and more like a computer part.

 

[Seqa]

True, but the actual names in game if you go straight to romaji are Mazabo and Grabo. It even says on that map I posted earlier. If anything we're staying faithful to the Japanese version, aside from changing Mazabo to Mobo so it sounds less like a Jewish cracker and more like a computer part.

Again, since this culture of abbreviation does not exist in English, it would be strange to do a direct romaji version of the names. Mobo is fine since it's an actual English abbreviation, but Grabo is quite strange.

I understand wanting to stay faithful to the Japanese version, but to a Japanese player, Mazabo and Grabo makes 100% sense and represent actual objects. These abbreviations are understood by the general population and that is what we should aim for in a translation as well. It should be understood by an English speaking player.

 

[Mirby]

I'm also going with Grabo with that simply because anything else that is similar doesn't make much sense. Plus, I'm not thinking of these strictly as abbreviations and more as actual names of landmasses that just happen to reference computer parts.

 

[Seqa]

I'm also going with Grabo with that simply because anything else that is similar doesn't make much sense. Plus, I'm not thinking of these strictly as abbreviations and more as actual names of landmasses that just happen to reference computer parts.

I've voiced my opinion on this, and I'm not going to argue. However, I hope that other Japanese abbreviations are avoided and replaced with a more natural translation. Otherwise the whole translation will seem amateurish to the end-user, aka the people who will enjoy the translation.

On another note, I really hope I can join the project and help out with the story translation.

 

[Mirby]

Oh we're trying to do that, but for the landmasses and keeping in mind the character limit, I personally feel like these two things make sense. I still would prefer Mobo Province over Mobo Island but either works. We'll see what the others think.

 

[Seqa]

Oh we're trying to do that, but for the landmasses and keeping in mind the character limit, I personally feel like these two things make sense. I still would prefer Mobo Province over Mobo Island but either works. We'll see what the others think.

Province is pretty good, but it wouldn't work with Grabo as it would push it to 14 characters.

Then again, we could just name it Mobo Province and Grabo Island.

 

[Mirby]

Hahaha that's what I meant. Mobo Province and Grabo Island (or Grabo Islands) haha

 

[Seqa]

The character limit is a challenge sometimes.

This made me randomly think of an experience I had with character limits as a kid. The first time I played pokemon gold (right after the JP release) I played a hurried "translation" on a physical cartridge bought in Thailand where the entire game text had been romanized. Aka, everything was still in Japanese, but in roman alphabet letters. Hinoarashi (Cyndaquil) was called Hinoa, since there is a 5 character limit on pokemon names in the JP version. Waninoko was Wanin. Chikorita was Chiko.

 

[garmmon]

Took me a while to read through everything P:

As for the "faithful translation" part. If you speak more than one language and have been translating between them in a professional setting, or even just for fun, you know that it's a true art to find just the right balance of faithful to the original language and natural in the end language. A 100% faithful translation would be unnatural and amateurish to the end user, while a 100% natural/localized translation might take elements away from the original story or what the creator of the original wanted to tell the user.

Took the words right out of my mouth! Anyway yeah, it's true that most translators will strive to find the middle ground between 100% faithful and 100% natural, but most of us tend to lean towards one side. To be honest I lean towards the localised side, because I personally find it very important for a script to feel natural and flow well such that the player can feel more...immersed? And that it actually feels like you're playing a game in English, rather than a game that was very clearly translated from another language.

So yeah that's personally my reason for not wanting 'Mazabo', because an English speaker would have absolutely no idea it's supposed to be the shortened form of Motherboard, as opposed to Graphics Board > Grabo. I guess I'm not totally against Mobo, but I always pronounce it sounding like 'hobo' and it feels really weird lol.

I actually kind of like the idea of dropping the 'Continent' parts of the names altogether, but idk?

----------

On the topic of localisation, there have already been some things in the script I attempted to localise:

うおーッ　はやくアメふれっ！
アメーッ　たのしみだぞーッ！！
……えッ！？
ふるアメは　ただのミズ！？
あまいアメじゃないのかーッ！？
なんだ　ガッカリだぞーッ！

to

Oh man, I wish it'd snow! I can't wait for it to snow!! ......Huh!? You mean the snow that falls from the sky is just plain old frozen water!? Not tasty like snow cone snow!? I've been played for a fool!

The original refers to the Digimon wanting rain to fall because he thought it'd be candy (rain and candy are both pronounced アメ), which I changed to snow and snow cones because...idk is there any food that sounds like rain in English?

Also

ぼくの　スキな　コトバは
『タナからボタモチ』だよ〜
あと『ハナよりダンゴ』とか
『ヌレてにアワ』とか〜
……たべもの　ばっかり？

I changed to

My favourite idiom is 'cream of the crop'~ Also 'apple of one's eye', and 'piece of cake'~ .....What do you mean they're all food?

Because the idioms in the original are basically idioms which contain food in Japanese but not in English, so I completely changed the idioms to fit in English.

These are just minor Farm conversations so they aren't too important, but yeah I just wanted to see what's everyone's opinions on these. There are some things I'm trying to localise in the main script too but I'm still confused as to who's saying what where so I won't post those for now P:

 

[Seqa]

Took me a while to read through everything P:


Took the words right out of my mouth! Anyway yeah, it's true that most translators will strive to find the middle ground between 100% faithful and 100% natural, but most of us tend to lean towards one side. To be honest I lean towards the localised side, because I personally find it very important for a script to feel natural and flow well such that the player can feel more...immersed? And that it actually feels like you're playing a game in English, rather than a game that was very clearly translated from another language.

So yeah that's personally my reason for not wanting 'Mazabo', because an English speaker would have absolutely no idea it's supposed to be the shortened form of Motherboard, as opposed to Graphics Board > Grabo. I guess I'm not totally against Mobo, but I always pronounce it sounding like 'hobo' and it feels really weird lol.

I actually kind of like the idea of dropping the 'Continent' parts of the names altogether, but idk?

----------

On the topic of localisation, there have already been some things in the script I attempted to localise:


to

The original refers to the Digimon wanting rain to fall because he thought it'd be candy (rain and candy are both pronounced アメ), which I changed to snow and snow cones because...idk is there any food that sounds like rain in English?

Also

I changed to

Because the idioms in the original are basically idioms which contain food in Japanese but not in English, so I completely changed the idioms to fit in English.

These are just minor Farm conversations so they aren't too important, but yeah I just wanted to see what's everyone's opinions on these. There are some things I'm trying to localise in the main script too but I'm still confused as to who's saying what where so I won't post those for now P:

Yes! These are definitely parts where staying faithful to Japanese would make the end user lose out on what the creator wanted.

You. I like you.

 

[Mirby]

I pronounce Mobo like Hobo too. Everyone I know pronounces it that way haha

There's other ways to pronounce it?

As for the farm convos... I think they work perfectly! Yeah there's a bit of liberty taken from the original Japanese version but these are meant to be silly little one-liners anyways. For instance, one of my favorite Farm lines from Dawn/Dusk is "I had a dream about a good nap" or something. It's silly yet cute. I think if we're trying to keep them silly, changing the idioms a bit to work in English is perfectly acceptable.

Also to use an example, the localization team for Kid Icarus: Uprising was given permission to stray from the JP script if they found a chance for humor and they did. And that game is one of the funniest ones I've played. So with things like this it should work, especially considering the corniness of the localization we get for the anime.

 

[Black-Ice]

I'm glad we're reaching a resolution on the names, and I'm glad we've found another helpful person

On another note, I really hope I can join the project and help out with the story translation.

yugix
add 2 localisation team pls

 

[Mirby]

Seriously though, Mazabo sounds like a Jewish cracker. But yeah, glad this thing's getting back on track. :3

 

[dimmidice]

A faithful English translation would require faithful, thoughtful names.
Not only do Grabo and Mazabo by themselves basically not describe anything, they give off the impression of a half-assed effort.
Sorry but in a project like this, everything matters.

i agree entirely, grabo and mazabo would be awful names. they mean nothing in the english language.

Idk, and I guess there's a difference between GPU and Graphcs Board, but with only 13 characters to work with...

graphics board and GPU are the same thing. so GPU and Mobo is the best possible translation IMO.

 

[Seqa]

i agree entirely, grabo and mazabo would be awful names. they mean nothing in the english language.


graphics board and GPU are the same thing. so GPU and Mobo is the best possible translation IMO.

Then I vote Mainframe Isl. and GPU province.

"Mazabo" is supposed to be the main area, right? I played this game briefly* a few years ago but I never got far because I didn't have time to play games. Mainframe sounds way cooler than Mobo.


Edit *Actually I'm not sure if it was this one. I tried out a couple of Japanese Digimon games for DS.

 

[Korn]

IMO Mainboard Isl. and Graphics Isl. sounds best, GPU also sounds good and is nearer to its origin. I would call both islands or whatever else, not two different things, but that's just my opinion. One thing though, doesn't "Mainboard Isl." (or Mainframe for that matter) have 14 characters?

 

[Mirby]

I'm still iffy on using GPU as an actual name, since it's an abbreviation in and of itself.

Also as Korn pointed out, Mainframe Isl. is indeed 14 characters. I like how that sounds but it's still too long, unless we're cool with it showing up as "Mainframe Isl" in game, which to me doesn't really look that good.

Then again, we might be able to get away with something like Mainframe Bay due to how that continent is shaped, and that would fit perfectly...

 

[dimmidice]

I'm still iffy on using GPU as an actual name, since it's an abbreviation in and of itself.

so you're on the team now then? gratz!

 

[Mirby]

I've been on the localization team. For months.

My name's even in the OP.

Did you think I was just some random person trying to tell everyone how to do their jobs despite not having any involvement with the project whatsoever? Cause I'm not.

The only reason I'm saying these things like I'm on the team is because I've been on the team for nearly a year now. Maybe a year, I dunno. It's been a while.

 

[Phoenix Goddess]

I've been on the localization team. For months.

My name's even in the OP.

Did you think I was just some random person trying to tell everyone how to do their jobs despite not having any involvement with the project whatsoever? Cause I'm not.

The only reason I'm saying these things like I'm on the team is because I've been on the team for nearly a year now. Maybe a year, I dunno. It's been a while.

I don't think they meant any harm or offense.

And to be fair, it also lists me in the OP because I helped with a graphic or two a long time ago. I'm not a part of the actual team, though.

I'm glad yugix is getting help now. Despite the various opinions, it just goes to show how many people want this project to succeed.

Good luck, guys