Lunatic Festa drama translation

[Zhane Masaki]

I was thinking someone should translate the drama scripts to English if they are fluent in Japanese. I got this much from the last scene of Lunatic Festa 4, "Saigo Hanashi: "Sorezore no Mirai"

Luna: Ne, Alex...Which story was the best?
Alex: Excuse me...well...
Luna: What, Alex? Don't tell me you want to go on another adventure.
Alex: An adventure? We just got back...but, today's talk was very important...like talking about...ummm...
Nall: Alex, what are ya doing?! Hurry up and tell her about the ring!
Luna: Huh? Ring?
Alex: Nall, you stupid blabbermouthed chibi-White Dragon!
Nall: What the hell!? Cowardly Dragonmaster!
Luna: Alex, is that ring...possibly for...?
Alex: Ummm...er...yes.
Luna: *ecstatic* Thank you Alex! I'm so happy!
Nall: Way to go Alex! Tonight you'll get lucky.
Alex: Wha...? BAKA!

[Benevolent_Ghaleon]

why didn't you bother translating the word baka? i'm familiar with what it means, but i don't get why so many people do this. i've seen so many people on the internet throw a few japanese words into their vocabulary but leave everything else english. can someone shed light onto why?

[Kizyr]

why didn't you bother translating the word baka? i'm familiar with what it means, but i don't get why so many people do this. i've seen so many people on the internet throw a few japanese words into their vocabulary but leave everything else english. can someone shed light onto why?

It's one of my major pet peeves. Though I've already mentioned this several times before.

If I'm gonna translate something, I'm gonna translate it. Not leave isolated words as they are. KF

[Werefrog]

Just curious Kizyr... how would you translate a character whose dialogue contains a mix of a few common English words (that weren't loan words)?

From what I understand, that was the case of Redd White from the first Phoenix Wright. The PW translators chose to use Spanish words in that situation.

[Kizyr]

Just curious Kizyr... how would you translate a character whose dialogue contains a mix of a few common English words (that weren't loan words)?

From what I understand, that was the case of Redd White from the first Phoenix Wright. The PW translators chose to use Spanish words in that situation.

That's a tough call. There're a few characters I've seen like that elsewhere: Ayako Katagiri from Tokimeki Memorial, and Henner from Lunar: Walking School, for instance.

If I were making a final translation of it, then I'd probably do something similar to what the PW translators did, depending on the context and what kind of character it is. Spanish is a good idea, but Latin, French, or even Japanese phrases (like inverting the languages) might work depending on the audience you'd expect. Ayako in Tokimeki Memorial, for instance, I'd translate her dialogue while mixing in French phrases, since that seems to fit with her character.

The PW translation is incredibly good, by the way. I'm constantly impressed by how natural-sounding they made the dialogue. KF

[Alunissage]

As far as why Zhane left "baka" in, he just said that's what he got from it, not that he was doing a translation. A lot of people can pick out that word and get the drift of what it means, so there was no particular reason for him to search for a suitable equivalent in this off-the-cuff illustration of why the Festa dialogue would be of interest.

In other words, this doesn't exactly seem the same situation as when people pepper their speech with Japanimese in the mistaken belief that it makes them sound cool or hardcore.

Although come to think of it, my general preference and occasional use of the term Mazoku over Vile Tribe might seem similar. But I use that exactly because it doesn't have the same connotation to me in English; I suspect that if the race's backstory had been fleshed out to the extent it was in the Vheen manga and even just SSS itself that it wouldn't have been translated as a name which would only connote evil monsters rather than just another species. But there was no ambiguity about their nature in TSS and no reason at the time to cast them as anything but uniformly "vile".

[Kizyr]

As far as why Zhane left "baka" in, he just said that's what he got from it, not that he was doing a translation. A lot of people can pick out that word and get the drift of what it means, so there was no particular reason for him to search for a suitable equivalent in this off-the-cuff illustration of why the Festa dialogue would be of interest.

While that might be true, in general, the simpler words that a lot of people can pick out have pretty easy-to-find equivalents. Chibi can be tiny, shortie, munchkin, dwarf, etc. Baka could be stupid, moron, idiot, fool, etc.

Although come to think of it, my general preference and occasional use of the term Mazoku over Vile Tribe might seem similar. But I use that exactly because it doesn't have the same connotation to me in English; I suspect that if the race's backstory had been fleshed out to the extent it was in the Vheen manga and even just SSS itself that it wouldn't have been translated as a name which would only connote evil monsters rather than just another species. But there was no ambiguity about their nature in TSS and no reason at the time to cast them as anything but uniformly "vile".

"Mazoku" still has connotations of being evil. The same word has been translated before in other anime/RPG series as "demons" or "devils". KF

[Zhane Masaki]

It was a somewhat amateurish job at best, but I'm not exactly fluent in Japanese, so I did the best I could. I was thinking that translations of the CD dramas could possibly be another thing that will help make this site the ULTIMATE resource for all things LUNAR on the Web...even though IMHO I think it already IS the ultimate resource. ^.^;

[Alunissage]

I totally agree; I've been wanting to know what's going on there forever. I can get an itty bitty bit of what might be going on a couple of times but that's it.

Anyway, Kiz, what I meant about Mazoku is that while it has the evil connotation to people who know what the word means, it doesn't to me automatically because I don't speak the language. So it's easier for me to relate it to, say, Rouj and Tagak. It also fits in with Genesis and the experiments in "black magic", doesn't it?

[Temzin]

That said, I wouldn't put your saying Mazoku in the same vein as random pseudo-Japanese rubbish I see online since it's a made-up word for games/pop culture, etc. that doesn't have a proper English equivalent you'll find in a dictionary. Plus, since the 'ma' of the word has become such an ambiguous double-sign for either magic or evil, you'd be even more in the clear, if you ask me. At least on a Lunar fansite, anyhow!

[Werefrog]

I'm constantly impressed by how natural-sounding they made the dialogue. KF

I agree completely. However, in the new game a few of the characters were given annoying accents in my opinion. I don't recall them ever doing that with characters in the past. Well, I guess there was that girl that talked like a Valley girl from the second trial in Justice for All. Still, I get so annoyed by characters with overly thick accents. Maybe it's just because it gives me flashbacks to Chrono Cross where nearly everyone had a nearly unreadable accent.