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You have the power to undo ONE official mistranslation or localized name you hate.

Tanuki-Go

Tanuki-Go

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jul 21, 2018
2,429
US
RecRoulette said:
Back when All Star Battle came out (2014), I swear I remembered reading that Araki signed off on all of the different localization names, which is total "That's bullshit but I believe it" territory. I mean look at this shit

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That was such a bizarre decision as they previously used Polnareff in the Capcom game, OVA and Viz's manga localization. I'm glad they ignored it when it was time to localize the Stardust Crusaders anime. lol
 
Razorrin

Razorrin

Member
Nov 7, 2017
5,236
the HELP Menu.
Biske said:
I greatly prefer Gabo to Ruff in Dragon Quest 7.

Also I greately prefer the Dragon Warrior naming and conventions, Heal, HealUs, HealUsAll, Hurt, Hurtmore, Hurtmost, I love that
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Don't forget the Holy Trinity.

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Also, my favorite spell name is still Bedragon, I don't ever think "Be Dragon," I just think of it like all one word, "Bedragon," like "Bespectacled," and it makes me laugh and it's the best name for a spell ever. Puff is a little too close to Poof for me.

(It turns you into a dragon and it kicks ass, it should be in newer dragon quest games)
 
InfiniDragon

InfiniDragon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,314
Cerulean_skylark said:
+


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Not sure if the "this is Era" applies to my statement as to be clear, I actually like the name Aeris. It's pretty and I used it for years until I found out about the official translation of the name per Square.

I just also have no problems with the actual name, Aerith and would sacrifice the mistranslation ever being used happily for the satisfaction of seeing people who can't get over Square Enix fixing the translation over 10 years ago fuck off into the sun with any complaints.
 
Rodney McKay

Rodney McKay

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,205
Erigu said:
... Erm. Guys?
Some real people are named "Edith". "Meredith". "Judith".
Just saying.
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Those are fine and don't feel weird on the mouth for those with English (American) accents.
It's been a while since I took linguistics, but it has to do with how the tongue shapes the sounds.

The "-dith" is a normal feeling and sounding ending to some words/names, but "Aer" (like saying "air") being directly before a "-ith" (with no "d" to help form it) feels unusual because it's not common to have an "er" sound directly before a "ith" sound.

People saying "if you heard Aerith as a kid you wouldn't think it's weird" are actually correct. If you had grown up with that name and pronounced it that way it would now feel normal to you since it's a name you've likely spoken it or heard it for decades at this point.

For those that played the English translation or just haven't heard the correct pronunciation (and didn't play Kingdom Hearts or Dissidia or anything else with her in it) it is an unusual name to say or hear. And IMO good translation should take that into account.
 
Melpomene

Melpomene

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jun 9, 2019
18,290
Rodney McKay said:
For those that played the English translation or just haven't heard the correct pronunciation (and didn't play Kingdom Hearts or Dissidia or anything else with her in it) it is an unusual name to say or hear. And IMO good translation should take that into account.
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I just don't see why a name containing a single unusual combination of sounds - and really not even that awkward to articulate - should be a big deal.

Especially in a work of fantasy, where "unusual" and sometimes downright absurd names are almost more common than "normal" or conventional names. Should a translation of a non-Japanese name in a Japanese piece of media be held to a different standard than native-English fantasy works?
 
Biske

Biske

Member
Nov 11, 2017
8,273
Razorrin said:
Don't forget the Holy Trinity.

wYafuaM_d.jpg


Also, my favorite spell name is still Bedragon, I don't ever think "Be Dragon," I just think of it like all one word, "Bedragon," like "Bespectacled," and it makes me laugh and it's the best name for a spell ever. Puff is a little too close to Poof for me.

(It turns you into a dragon and it kicks ass, it should be in newer dragon quest games)
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Yup, BeDragon is awesome too. I get why they changed it to match the japanese blah blah blah, but damn the Dragon Warrior naming had its own history and charm. Bedragoning so you can kill slimes....
 
Orson9999999

Orson9999999

Member
Oct 26, 2017
39
Battle Angel Alita -- original Japanese title was Ganmu, which translates to Gun Dream. Plus, the main character's name is Gally in the original, not Alita. Gun Dream is certainly a strange title, but it's not as strange sounding as "Battle Angel". I guess it's just a product of how stuff was localized in the 80s and 90s.
 
Compbros

Compbros

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,405
Crazymoogle

Crazymoogle

Game Developer
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
2,884
Asia
Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
43,597
compbros said:
Because he's meant to be named Zoro since it's a reference to Zorro shown by the mask like appearance he has when he wears his bandana.



Viz has messed up on things Oda intended before like with Elbaf (which is "Fable" backwards) naming it Elbaph or the current Raftel/Laugh Tale problem.
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Crazymoogle said:
He is clearly a swordsman, hence "Zoro" but they changed it because of how infamously litigious the holders of the Zorro name are outside of Japan. It's as you can guess, a needless change in the face of the hell between copyright and public domain.

EDIT: Note that the current owners of the Zorro IP have lost in court over the trademark, too.
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Thanks. Raftel/Laugh Tale was really messed up because it came to us out of nowhere.
 
Princess Viola

Princess Viola

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,099
Florida
The English dub of Doki Doki Precure changed the name of Alice Yotsuba to Clara Yotsuba.

I mean I have a lot of problems with the dub as a whole (cuz it was one of those 'let's localize and Westernize the shit out of this show and skip a bunch of episodes' types of dub rather than an actual accurate dub) but like why change the character's already Western first name lol?
 

Imperfected

Member
Nov 9, 2017
11,737
It hasn't really hit full-force yet, but "Yhwach" from Bleach.

I get why you wouldn't want to translate it as "YHWH" but "Yhwach" and "Yuha Bach" are both terrible-sounding double-Babelfished transliterations.
 
KingM

KingM

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,480
compbros said:
Because he's meant to be named Zoro since it's a reference to Zorro shown by the mask like appearance he has when he wears his bandana.



Viz has messed up on things Oda intended before like with Elbaf (which is "Fable" backwards) naming it Elbaph or the current Raftel/Laugh Tale problem.
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Iirc, it was Zoro in the Viz translation until the 4kids dub aired.
 
Compbros

Compbros

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,405
KingM said:
Iirc, it was Zoro in the Viz translation until the 4kids dub aired.
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Yup, they changed it so it coincided with the 4kids dub and then Funimation inherited and kept it Zolo for the broadcast dub but changed it to Zoro for the DVD dub. When it went to adult swim/Toonami it stayed Zoro but Viz kept it Zolo and has for some 800 chapters.
 
mute

mute

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
25,097
Aeana said:
It's part of a theme. All of the people from and around Heliodor have gem-themed names in the localization. Gemma, Amber, Jasper, King Carnelian, Jade, Chalky, etc.
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Eh, all the town's have their themes, but the name of the party character is what ends up in the marketing, the trailers and so forth, not the npcs. Jade just seems a little bit...on the nose when they could have done anything else or left it alone.
 
Calliope

Calliope

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,124
Detroit, MI
Aerith always. I low-key judge people that continue to call her by an incorrect name when she clearly introduces herself as Aerith in multiple pieces of media since VII.

I know she's fictional but I can't help it. Respect the woman.
 
UnsungVagrant

UnsungVagrant

Member
Dec 11, 2017
496
Gundam has a lot of this kind of stuff, but Full Burnern instead of Full Vernian always bugged the crap out of me.
 
Garrod Ran

Garrod Ran

self-requested ban
Banned
Mar 23, 2018
16,203
no other place than idiotic aeris debates do i see people who will deadass try to sell me on the nonsensical mouthfeel of a word

y'all are adults, you pay taxes, grow up and move on with your lives. it's a video game character's name
 
monapon

monapon

Member
Nov 9, 2017
253
compbros said:
Outside of Zoro/Zolo, Funimation licensed "Case Closed" in America and changed just about every name under the sun: Shinichi became Jimmy, Ran became Rachel, etc. If only given one choice I want my favorite character changed back, give me Hattori Heiji instead of....ugh.....Harley Hartwell.
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Luckily they seem to be going back to the actual Japanese names with the recent movie dubs. I've not actually watched the last one with Heiji but I assume that he gets his actual name back since everyone else does.

Though the Case Closed dub always cracked me up because the decision to move the series to America/Canada was clearly not fully thought out. At all. Still love me that one early episode set in Osaka where you have all these obvious Osaka landmarks including Osaka Castle and the dub is just like, "Oh yeah here's the Toronto Zoo."

Reym said:
My understanding from Funimation was that the studio in Japan demanded the name changes to Detective Conan, not realizing that US audiences wouldn't prefer that. Not that it doesn't still suck, but that wasn't a change they just made for the hell of it.
(...as an aside...I admit that I actually like the Case Closed to title. I know I'm wrong to, but I do.)
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Nothing wrong with liking it! Especially since Akai/Sera have that as a catchphrase of sorts as an actual reference to the English title. I thought it was a really cool nod.
 
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Phoenom

Phoenom

Avenger
Oct 28, 2017
1,304
It's petty as hell, but I really wish the Chronicles part would be taken out of the Western Xenoblade name. It's unnecessary. Xenoblade, Xenoblade X, and Xenoblade 2 sound just fine.
 

Deleted member 4869

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,753
SolVanderlyn said:
"Destructo Disc" sounds dumb as hell and reeks of bad 90s comics

Kienzan's direct translation also sounds bad (Spirit Circle Cut) but it could easily be localized into something less stupid than Destructo Disc.
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I'm super grateful the Latin American dub kept the Japanese names for the special techniques. Although some names were adapted, like...

Chi Chi became "Milk" (Because Chi Chi is slang for beast and that wouldn't fly here back in the day).

Vegeta is pronounced as Veh-Geh-Tah.

Kakarot kept the Japanese pronunciation of "Kakarotto".

And some others. But I'm actually surprised they managed to keep "Mr. Satan" intact over here.
 
darksider321

darksider321

Member
Dec 8, 2020
675
In the Dragon Ball Super dub footage that i have watch during the Tournament of Power Arc, they called Toppo as Top which i think is pretty stupid tbh. I think Toppo is a fine name and is one where i would change the name.
 
Manu

Manu

Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,183
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Ishida said:
I'm super grateful the Latin American dub kept the Japanese names for the special techniques. Although some names were adapted, like...

Chi Chi became "Milk" (Because Chi Chi is slang for beast and that wouldn't fly here back in the day).

Vegeta is pronounced as Veh-Geh-Tah.

Kakarot kept the Japanese pronunciation of "Kakarotto".

And some others. But I'm actually surprised they managed to keep "Mr. Satan" intact over here.
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It made for a very awkward ending to the Boo saga with ALL OF EARTH going "Satan! Satan!" with their hands raised to the sky.
 
OP
OP
Fj0823

Fj0823

Legendary Duelist
Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,663
Costa Rica
darksider321 said:
In the Dragon Ball Super dub footage that i have watch during the Tournament of Power Arc, they called Toppo as Top which i think is pretty stupid tbh. I think Toppo is a fine name and is one where i would change the name.
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Apparently the english games and merch ignored that and call him "Toppo"



So you got your wish
 
darksider321

darksider321

Member
Dec 8, 2020
675
Fj0823 said:
Apparently the english games and merch ignored that and call him "Toppo"



So you got your wish
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While great that future games and merch ignore the top name, won't change much of the super dub still calling him that name unless in the future when they revisit his character, they actually say his actual name. It is a nitpick but something that annoys me.
 
jonjonaug

jonjonaug

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,675
Actually I have one that's sort of the opposite

They should have used "Bag" instead of "Kaban" in Kemono Friends. Crunchyroll did this at first but it got changed later, I'm assuming due to publisher meddling.
 
Nanashrew

Nanashrew

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,328
I don't mind the academy/academia stuff, I just want it used more instead of seeing gakuen in the title of anime and manga because all gakuen means is academy/school.
 
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