Romanization or Direct Translation?

Started by fcgamer, October 13, 2013, 05:09:42 am

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P

November 02, 2013, 04:55:31 am #15 Last Edit: November 02, 2013, 12:24:13 pm by P
Yup I was lucky my post makes grammatical sense. :)

Edit: Sorry I didn't intend to mock the English language.

fredJ

Quote from: P on October 13, 2013, 01:47:49 pm
I agree with both of you that you should use the correct Japanese name for the Japanese version of a game. And if you have room for it you can use an English translated title as well since it will be easier for English speaking people to remember names they understand. But including every misspelled variant of names? Well if there's a title that's misspelled very often I would maybe include it as some kind of note.

The problem that Japanese names are romanized differently is just because they are either using different romanization standards (compare Hepburn and Kunrei-shiki) or in the case of Getsufuumaden it's because 月風魔伝 (moon, wind, demon, legend) is most likely a made up word and thus doesn't really has a correct reading (kanji has multiply readings). But the reading that the makers of the game wants us to use, is written above the title in hiragana so it's clear that the makers of the game wants us to call it Getsufuumaden (or Getsu Fuumaden I'm not sure why you'd want a space in the middle of the word though). The person calling it Geppuumaden either didn't look at the title carefully enough or just decided that Geppuumaden sounds cooler or something.




Getsufuumaden is an annoying because it can be spelled is different ways. Currently I write it differently each time, on a whim. Getsu Fuumaden, Getsufumaden, Getsu Fuu Maden, Getsufuu Maden, etc.

Take Yuu Yuu Hakusho. In the west, it is Yu Yu Hakusho. However, I have recently decided to call all games based on it Yuu Yuu Hakusho.
I think I have my own system for deciding what name to use: whatever method that makes most sense to me.  "Yuu" is pronounced different than "Yu" so that seems best to me.  But I might have to change this again later, considering there are games called Yu Yu Hakusho (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu_Yu_Hakusho:_Spirit_Detective) It is complicated...

Quote from: L___E___T on October 13, 2013, 07:19:56 am

Let's take an example, Ninja Ryukenden.  When I talk about that game, using that name, it means I am talking about the Japanese version.  If I were to say Ninja Gaiden, that might not be so clear.  However, this is an example where there is a famicom and NES counterpart, so the (part) localised title already exists.



Almost everyone knows Ninja Ryu(u)kenden as Ninja Gaiden, so that is what I call it.

Quote from: L___E___T on October 13, 2013, 07:19:56 am

If we used an example where there isn't a NES counterpart, like say Kyattou Ninden Teyandee, then it's a bit better - but there's still the official localised title name, because the animated series came to the West.



I can't remember the title Kyattou Ninden Teyandee, so I call the game Samurai Pizza Cats. If I had lived in Japan and talked to a friend there, maybe I would call it Kyattou Ninden Teyandee. But Kyattou is a Japanese spelling for the english word cat, if I understand it correctly (I don't speak Japanese).
Selling  Japanese games in Sweden since 2011 (as "japanspel").
blog: http://japanspel.blogspot.com