First of all, most differences are due to the differences between
the Japanese typeface and the English one. Whereas in Japanese with a
single character you can write a whole word or at least a 2 or 3 letter
syllable, in English you only have one letter. This is the reason for
most of the Overworld short names, weapons, armors and items names. For
example, Taklama is タクラマカン i.e., Taklamakan, in both the Japanese
version and in Standard Japanese. Yet the English cartridge memory
couldn’t allow for 10 characters on one row for titles, so Taklamakan
became Taklama.
Besides such shortenings, others are more imaginative. Magirock is プライムブルー (Prime Blue) in Tenchi Souzou. You’ll notice that both are around the same character-length (8 and 7) whereas Prime Blue is 10 (including the space) something which again isn’t allowed by the cartridge memory.
Proper names of actual historical figures, when differing from English (like Keinz for Keynes and Hedyn for Hedin) are due to translator ignorance as both the correct and the incorrect English versions are ways of translating the same names as they appear in katakana, a more limited writing mode (syllabary) than full alphabetic scripts like the Latin alphabet.
Sidenote: To illustrate how these differences arise at a grander scale than a mere video game translation, let’s take the case of Louran. In fact, it could have been Loulan, Rouran or Roulan just as well given the katakana in game, where it appears as ロウラン (RO-U-RA-N). Yet there truly was a kingdom in that part of the world, which the Chinese, from whom the Japanese took the name, called it 樓蘭 (Lóu-Lán). Still, even this name is incorrect, being just what the Chinese could pronounce of the kingdom’s true name which was Krorän.
Lastly, a remaining source of what appear as mistranslations is Quintet’s own imperfect knowledge of English, which they put into Japanese katakana. For example the golden woodpecker-like monster ペリュントン reads Peryunton yet it is clearly meant to represent the Peryton and as such ペリトン (Periton) or, if you want to be Greek about it and account for the y (upsilon), ペリュトン (Peryuton). The European translators decided to translate the katakana in English pronunciation: Parionton is the name in game. They chose the form and not the essence, as it were. Yet doing this was one of the alternatives. One which gives a certain flavor to the game, just as the game’s Overworld geography, created with the limited 90s technology and game design principles gives the same flavor: that of an alternative Earth, not ours yet still not so far away.
Besides such shortenings, others are more imaginative. Magirock is プライムブルー (Prime Blue) in Tenchi Souzou. You’ll notice that both are around the same character-length (8 and 7) whereas Prime Blue is 10 (including the space) something which again isn’t allowed by the cartridge memory.
Proper names of actual historical figures, when differing from English (like Keinz for Keynes and Hedyn for Hedin) are due to translator ignorance as both the correct and the incorrect English versions are ways of translating the same names as they appear in katakana, a more limited writing mode (syllabary) than full alphabetic scripts like the Latin alphabet.
Sidenote: To illustrate how these differences arise at a grander scale than a mere video game translation, let’s take the case of Louran. In fact, it could have been Loulan, Rouran or Roulan just as well given the katakana in game, where it appears as ロウラン (RO-U-RA-N). Yet there truly was a kingdom in that part of the world, which the Chinese, from whom the Japanese took the name, called it 樓蘭 (Lóu-Lán). Still, even this name is incorrect, being just what the Chinese could pronounce of the kingdom’s true name which was Krorän.
Lastly, a remaining source of what appear as mistranslations is Quintet’s own imperfect knowledge of English, which they put into Japanese katakana. For example the golden woodpecker-like monster ペリュントン reads Peryunton yet it is clearly meant to represent the Peryton and as such ペリトン (Periton) or, if you want to be Greek about it and account for the y (upsilon), ペリュトン (Peryuton). The European translators decided to translate the katakana in English pronunciation: Parionton is the name in game. They chose the form and not the essence, as it were. Yet doing this was one of the alternatives. One which gives a certain flavor to the game, just as the game’s Overworld geography, created with the limited 90s technology and game design principles gives the same flavor: that of an alternative Earth, not ours yet still not so far away.
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