Translations of Proper Nouns and MGQ-specific Terms

Rogue called these interchangeably "energy" "power" and "material." I'm still not happy calling them energy since they're actually matter. Light and Dark Mana are equivalent to these concepts.

Characters

Character voices, as imagined by Dargoth at least:

• Luka - speaks like an average young adult, generally polite and mild-mannered, says "damn" and "hell" but nothing worse.
• Sonya - also speaks like an average young adult, but less polite and very prone to outbursts, picked up bad language from Lazarus so she'll drop an f-bomb here and there. Compared to Luka, her lines are more accusatory and direct.
• Alice - shows arrogance on occasion, but not nearly as much as her adult self in MGQ. Generally has a "too cool for school" attitude with lots of "whatever" and "I don't care" type reactions. Not outright hostile, but rude. Loves to call everyone idiots and perverts. Of course, she's well-educated and can speak formally when the situation arises, such as explaining things to Luka, but her usual speech is similar to Luka/Sonya. Shows more deference to Luka than Ilias does.
• Ilias - speaks eloquently most of the time, even when enraged at monsters or humans. Often says the same lines as Alice, except with more advanced vocabulary and few contractions.

Luka vs Sonya:

ShowMessage("\\n<Sonya>You really mean that you want to use Luka as a guinea pig, right?")
ShowMessage("\\n<Luka>You don't intend to use me as a guinea pig, do you?")

Alice vs Ilias:

ShowMessage("\\n<Alice>This place gives me the creeps, but we need to head in deeper. That rabbit should be in here somewhere.")
ShowMessage("\\n<Ilias>We need to explore inside. Once we find that rabbit, we shall force her to divulge everything she knows.")

Translations of General Game Terms

Enemies

Jobs

Race

Skills

Incomplete.

Statistics

Weapon Types

Armor Types

Attributes

Status Ailments

Artists

Guidelines on Translation Consistency

Style

• American spelling
• Quotations with simple quotation marks
• Stuttering and such: "H-Hello", "H-hello", or "H, hello" (or something else)? H-hello. L-Luka
• Laughs: えへへ -> "Ehehe", "Eh he he", "He he he"...? Ehehe or Hehehe
• When technique names are in the text, should we use capital letters? (e.g., "Luka used Leg Sweep", or "Luka used leg sweep", or "Luka used Leg sweep", or...?) Leg Sweep. Let's capitalize game terms in general when they're used in the context of being a game term and not just a generic reference to strength or paralysis or whatever.
• Leave race names uncapitalized. No one capitalizes 'human' so I don't see why we should capitalize succubus or elf.
• Replace Japanese sound symbolisms with English sound onomatopoeia as appropriate. For example, "gucha gucha" could be "squish, squish" or something.*

Inconsistencies, Questions, Fixes, Bugs...

Maybe not all these questions are worth answering. I just wrote what I could think of off the top of my head.

• Translation problems:
  • うさ = Rabbi, I know where you're coming from, but that's what it makes me think of more than "rabbit": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbi "Bunni"? "Rab"? "Usa"? Bunni probably the best idea
• Inconsistencies:
  • There's a huge inconsistency in the translation, in my opinion (but maybe it's just me): 魔 is translated sometimes to "Dark" (魔素 = Dark Energy), sometimes to "Monster" (魔王 = Monster Lord), and sometimes to Demon (魔技 = Demonism). In my opinion, we should stick to a single translation for the term. 闇 aready means "Dark", and モンスター "Monster". Furthermore, 魔王 has always meant "Demon Lord", and only in MGQ have I seen it translated "Monster Lord". That's why I think it should be translated to "Demon". 魔王 has to stay as Monster Lord because of the MGQ translation. Dark Energy and Demonism are both changeable. Demon is somewhat of a loaded word because people have an image in their mind of what a demon looks like, plus it has evil and negative connotations. I think if we have Holy Energy and Demonic Energy, it unfairly paints Alice as the bad guy and Ilias as good. Well, I don't like at all the idea of being forced to use "wrong" terms because of a precedent. But anyway. Also, the 魔王 rules over some demons, and not just monsters (vampires, imps, succubi...). Plus, the 魔王 also has the same kind of status as Ilias (at least the first one), which is explained very well if she's a demon, and not if she's "just" a monster. And last, but not least, she's supposed to be depicted as the bad guy and Ilias as the good guy! That's how the story starts in the original series! The vision humans have of the world is controlled by Ilias, so of course she makes Alice look like the bad guy! Anyway, I understand that it's not up for debate, but I think the only good reason why we have to keep that term is because of how it was previously translated (and I nearly don't blame Rogue for using it, because it seemed to be a smart idea to translate it "Monster Lord" in the first (and maybe second) chapter(s)).
  • 恍惚 translated both to "Trance" (Skills.txt) and "Ecstasy" (Status Maniac). I changed Skills.txt's occurences to Ecstasy, but feel free to change back.
  • same as above: 誘惑 -> "Seduction" (Skills.txt) and "Temptation" (Status Maniac). Changed the first one.
• Translation questions:
  • アリスフィーズ = Alipheese, that's what I got from the MGQ wiki, but that sounds so wrong to me... There's no "Alice" sound in it, when it's supposed to be there... Blame Rogue. We're stuck with it. Blaming him will not help. However, I think we can change this term. We can use, say "Alispheese", and I think most people won't even notice, since the term doesn't appear very often. Furthermore, the ones who notice may be a bit confused, but if we use a more obvious spelling, such as "Alicepheeze" (well, I don't think this one is very good though), they will probably understand that, if we decided to change it, that's because our translation's better (well, I can dream)... Or we could say upfront that we changed the translations of a few terms because they were wrong. Or we can keep it... (That's the easiest solution, but I don't think it's the best one.)
  • 敏感 = Horny, why not "Sensitive"? (It's more literal and makes even more sense, in my opinion.) I kind of thought horny made more sense. Getting hit by something and becoming sensitive seems kind of weird to me. Up for debate anyway.
  • I suggested 即死 = Death (lit. "Instant Death") and 昇天 = Expel (lit. "Death", as in "Rise to Heaven"). I know Expel is very far from the original meaning, but I couldn't find anything, so I used something equivalent from the Shin Megami Tensei series... If someone has a better idea, please don't be shy. I'm not sure in what context these types of skills are used in paradox, but if it's like SMT, death/expel is perfect.
  • I've translated "ヌルネバ" "slimy, sticky", but maybe that's a bit long... Anyone has a better idea? (It will probably come back a few times, as they're monsters who are weak to Lightning.) I wonder if all the 'land-dweller' monsters fall into this category? Slugs, Earthworms, Frogs...
  • Skill エビルキラー translated to "Land Dweller Killer"? (I know that's what it does, but it clearly says "Evil Killer"...)
  • I think 練気 and 裏練気 come from 気を練る, but I don't really know how to translate these terms...
  • タルタロス -> "Tartarus": shouldn't it be "Tartaros"? (It's closer to the Japanese pronunciation, and it's the actual Greek term.) Tartarus is the English spelling.
• For the sake of consistency:
  • ほら: how do you translate? (I usually translate it differently depending on context: "look", "here", "take that"... But if you use something specific, I'll use the same, since it's a word that appears pretty often in the game.) In regular dialogue, translate hora depending on context. In H-scenes, it's okay to write "hora." The Japanese word has become part of the style of MGQ thanks to Rogue's translation. Players are familiar with it and probably expect to get their horas.
  • えい, てい, やあ, and other screams: "Ei!", "Tei!", "Yaa!", or more Anglicized? As you see fit.
  • How do you translate ～ for long vowels? "~", adding vowels...? Adding vowels. Don't use the ASCII ~. It looks terrible in the RPGMaker font. Example: こんにちは～ can be written as "Hellooooo"
  • Remi's びくびく, おどおど, Rumi's くたー... Use action words like shiver, tremble, sigh
  • Bunni's うさうさ. I've been translating this as "hop hop." Reaction has been good.
  • "all right" vs "alright" All right only. Alright is not a word.
  • Tartarus plural: Tartarus or Tartari? Tartarus rifts for the plural in reference to the holes. The place down the holes can just be called Tartarus.
  • honorifics: keep or not? Ditch them, try to get the honorific across with an English title like Mr/Lord/Lady or with speech patterns.
  • unfortunate (as in "Unfortunate Lamia"): capital? Unfortunate Lamia, capital
• General grievances and suggestions:
  • It seems impossible to do the exact same choices as Rogue did. E.g., from the Actors.txt file, I can already see many inconsistencies between this translation and theirs. So I don't think we should stick to their choices at all costs. So here are a few suggestions: Agreed in principle
    • アリスフィーズ: Alipheese -> Alicepheese or something similar (yeah, I know I'm stubborn). I think it's more important to keep Alice in her name than in the previous games, since the whole Alice in Wonderland theme is even more present. Sorry Kirby.
    • Kitsune -> Fox (or Fox God, Fox Deity): keeping it in Japanese is actually fine because it's supposed to be a Japanese fox deity, but it clashes with Kitsune's name. I think it's smarter to change it to Fox/Fox Deity and keep Kitsune for the character's name. For example: 銀狐 -> Silver Fox (rather than "Kitsune" right now), 妖狐 -> Fox Deity (I don't know what it's translated to right now)...) There's no way we can change this
  • Wan-wan -> Woof-woof (Wan-wan panties, etc) I'm okay with wan-wan panties as an item name...
  • Names: We've actually made a bunch of these changes already. The original names were a rough first pass
    • ヒルデ: Hild -> Hildr, since it's the contraction of Brynhildr.
    • フレデリカ: Frederika -> Frederica, suggesting an alternate spelling.
    • パピ: Papi -> Pup (パピ's probably a contraction of パピ―).
    • アマラ: Amara -> Amala?
    • メルティ: Meltei -> Melty? (it's メルティ, not メルテイ)
    • ルクスル: Look Through -> Luxul? (Look Through would be ルクスルー...)
    • エイミ: Eimi -> Amy
    • リヒチーヌ: Lihitenu -> Lichithine (???)
    • きつね: Kitsu -> Kitsune
    • ユメ: Dream -> Yume (Yume is a real Japanese name, while Dream is not a "real" English name, and I don't see how Sea Cucumbers are linked to dreams, so I don't think it's a good idea to translate it. On the other hand, I'm not sure why she has a Japanese name either...)
    • ラブ＆ラム: Love & Lamb -> Rab & Ram (Love and Lamb really don't sound like names, and I don't see what they have to do with the characters...)
    • ミル＆リル: Milly & Lillu -> Mil and Lil (Milly's a bit too far from ミル in my opinion, and the two names should probably be very close to each other)
    • ネフェルラミア: Nefertiti Lamias -> Nefer Lamias (Nefertiti Lamias is really damn long, this is closer to what's in Japanese, and the players will get what this means anyway)
    • 雫: Drop -> Shizuku (it's a real Japanese name, and the character's supposed to be Japanese (since she's an Oni), so there's no reason to translate it)
    • ディジィ: Deiji -> Dizzy (it's ディジィ, not デイジィ)
    • A lot of character names are puns related to their looks, species, etc, and maybe it would be a good idea to do the same in English (though it might come bite us in the ass later if we change a name too much):
      • バーニー (close to bunny): Barnny -> Barnie? (more feminine and more existing name?)
      • シェリー (close to shell): Shelly -> Sherry? (actual name?)
      • ソープ (soap): Soapy -> Why not simply Soap?
      • かずら (kazura - creeping plant, also part of pitcher plant): Kudzu -> I don't understand why Kudzu. I'd suggest something along the lines of Creepy or Creeper if it didn't mean something else and had huge chances of being another character's name later... Pitchy?
      • くらげ (kurage - jellyfish): Curage -> Jelly? Medusa? (though either of these choices might come bite us in the ass later)
      • イザベル (close (?) to isoginchaku - anemone): Isabelle -> Anemone? (probably a bit too far-fatched in this case)
      • あんこ (close to ankou - angler fish): Anko -> Angie
      • ラチュラ (contraction of tarantula): Rachura -> Ratula
      • バナッチ (contraction of bandersnatch): Banachi -> Banatch
      • キャスタ (close (?) to cactus): Caster -> Castu, Catus...?
      • ミュー (sound of something moving very fast?): Miu -> Voom, Vwoom...?
      • ガー (sound of biting?): Gar -> Chomp, Nom...?
      • ナビス (The ナ makes me think it's supposed to be part of ナース, just like in ナーキュバス but I can't find any good explanation for the rest of the name, maybe an anagram for なすび, which is a phallic symbol?): Nabisu -> Nurbis? (just includes the nurse part and is close phonetically)
      • トーチャ (close to torture): Torch -> Torture
    • Alternate spellings for names that clash or are too close to each other:
      • ソフィア: Sofia -> Sophia? (too close to Sonya in my opinion)
      • アンナ: Anna -> Ana, Annah, Anah...? (there's already an Anna (though this one's アンナ in Japanese, and the other one's 杏奈), and we can't really change the other one because it's in kanji)
      • 蜜壺: Honey -> Mitsutsubo? (there's already a Honey)
    • As you have probably noticed, the unfortunate companions' names are mostly their species' name reversed (except for long vowels, which are kept at their original places, and the last unfortunate companion, who doesn't follow this pattern), so I think we should at least keep a similar pattern to name them in English, however, changing Amira too much would be strange for the players (because writing Lamia backwards gives Aimal, and I don't think the players want that), but a possible pattern I can think of is to keep the same letters as in the species' name (I don't think it's as important to keep the same names for the other unfortunate companions, since they have much less screen time in the first game than Aimal (I think I'm gonna call her like that from now on)):
      • アミラ: Amira -> Amila (though I'd personally have liked Aimal better).
      • ピーハー: Pihar -> Yprah (completely reversed), Pyhar, Hypar, Parhy...?
      • ドーメイマ: Domaimer -> Diamrem (completely reversed), Maidmer...?
  • Species:
    • ジャックオーランタン: Jack O Lantern -> Jack-O'-Lantern
    • 銀狐二尾: Two-Tail Silver Kitsune -> Two-Tail Silver Fox, Two-Tailed Silver Fox (based on the comment I made somewhere above)
    • かむろ二尾: Two-Tail Geisha Kitsune -> Two-Tail Geisha Fox, Two-Tailed Geisha Fox (based on the comment I made somewhere above)
    • スライムベス娘: Slime Bess Girl -> Slime Beth Girl (from one of her lines, it seems "Beth" means "second" in a language, and I think it refers to the fact that the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet is Beth, and that it means 2 in the Hebrew numerical system)
    • ワカメ娘: Seaweed Girl -> Wakame Girl (it is clear from some of her lines that other species of seaweed girls, namely Hijiki Girls (damn, now I want to eat inarizushi with hijiki and carrots in it...), Konbu Girls, and Nori Girls, at least, so calling her "seaweed" will probably come bite us in the ass later)
    • 大蜘蛛: Large Spider -> Great Spider (in one of her lines, she says how her name makes it sound like she's a great monster.)
    • 小鬼: Oni -> Young Oni, Little Oni...? (there will probably be other kinds of oni in the game...)
    • ナーキュバス: Naccubus -> Nurcubus (contraction of Nurse and Succubus.)
    • Species which are already monsters should probably not take a "girl":
      • フェニックス娘: Phoenix Girl -> Phoenix
      • オーク娘: Orc Girl -> Orc
      • ミミック娘: Mimic Girl -> Mimic
      • 呪いの人形娘: Curse Doll Girl -> Curse Doll (classic Japanese "monster"), also, should probably be Cursed Doll.
      • ゾンビ娘: Zombie Girl -> Zombie
      • ミノタウロス娘: Minotaur Girl -> Minotaur
      • バンダースナッチ娘: Bandersnatch Girl -> Bandersnatch
      • ミイラ娘: Mummy Girl -> Mummy
  • Classes: I'll leave these up to MGL
    • 剣士: Swordmaster -> Swordsman They can be women too!
    • 聖堂騎士: Holy Knight -> Paladin? (yeah, I know it clashes with another class's name)
    • 魔法戦士: Magiknight -> not a knight... I'd suggest Battle Mage, but that sounds more like a mage that can fight than a fighter that can cast magic... Arcane Fighter?
    • 陰陽戦士: Tao Swordsman -> since 陰陽 is supposed to be oriental (it seems to originate from the "Japanese" village), I think it could be kept as "onmyou", sicne "tao" is more of a Chinese thing... (It's also usually translated as "exorcism", but maybe it would be confusing in this case.)
    • Hey let's change Soldier to Guard.

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