When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

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When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by Baggie_Saiyan » Sun Aug 06, 2017 2:27 pm

The subject might be a bit clunky but basically what I am asking is when it comes to all these Japanese names or terms in Dragon Ball what do you decide to use. For example more or less everyone uses "God of Destruction" or "Destroyer" and not "Hakaishin" yet everyone uses "Kaioshin" or the dub "Supreme Kai" and not "God of the Kings of the Worlds" or "Lord of Lords" and I just find that really fascinating and it extends to names as well like people preferring Blooma instead or Bulma saying that they prefer the preservation of the pun. From what I gather it seems to a be a mixed bag for everyone using translated terms with un-translated terms, so what specifically makes you decide that, is it just the way it sounds? Or do you prefer to be close to the pun as possible when it comes to name like the Blooma group? Or are you like me and use whatever terms the subtitles use! For example I was using "King of All" as that was what the DT subs were using then the simulcast came along and I have since been using "Zen-Oh".

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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by KBABZ » Sun Aug 06, 2017 4:34 pm

I'm actually currently in a "transition phase" I suppose where, having listened to the podcast for a while now, I'm using a mix of both after having used exclusively the FUNimation terms for years. So for example I say "Krillin, Tien and Master Roshi fought at the World Martial Arts Tournament with Mercenary Tao". While on here though I do tend to switch some of them to the Japanese version, like Tao Pai-Pai (which is fun to just say). I don't pronounce the Kamehameha like the Japanese do because it comes off like "Cummy Hummy Haaaa!!", which I can't stand with. Most moves I've learnt the words from the FUNi DB dub and the FUNi Kai dub, so I use Makangasappo rather than Special Beam Cannon (what a generic name that is!). I stick with Solar Flare though because a lot of the Japanese attack words kinda blend together for me.

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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by Robo4900 » Mon Aug 07, 2017 5:32 pm

Some things like Kami-sama are common words in Japanese that really should be translated, in that case, "God", while others such as Kaioshin are made-up terms which could go either way.

Most attack names -- Genki Dama, Makankosappo, Kaioken, etc. -- should be left as-is, as they're all made-up things that don't translate too well(Makankosappo = Demonic Piercing Light Murder Gun. Good luck fitting that to the mouth flaps), and having Japanese attack names usually works pretty nicely anyway, and is generally expected in most anime that have named attacks.
For edge cases like Kaioshin, Kame Sen'nin, or Tenkaichi Budokai, you could go either way. In some cases, you could do both, which is probably preferable for names(For example: IIRC, "I am Kame Sen'nin, the Turtle Hermit!" is the way Viz translated his introduction, and they would use those two names equally; they also use both Kaio and Lord Of Worlds, aswell as Kaioshin and Lord Of Lords), although it could get a little weird in other cases. Many argue Kami-sama/God should be treated like this, something I generally favour.

Ultimately though, people tend to disagree about this, and there's no definitive answer.
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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by 8000 Saiyan » Mon Aug 07, 2017 5:42 pm

Even though it is accurate to the Japanese, Blooma just sounds odd to me, probably because I'm too used to calling her Bulma.
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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by Duo » Mon Aug 07, 2017 6:08 pm

Depends on who I'm talking to. There's no point in saying "Tenshinhan" to somebody who just isn't going to care about or know the difference. It's more important to put effort into being understood by who you're talking to than it is to be too picky about what things are called.

Except for the H-word, though. The character is Mr. Satan and will be referred to as such.

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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by Chuquita » Mon Aug 07, 2017 6:40 pm

Mine's just a collection of terms from all over. Unique to me:
-I like the vowel at the end so I spell it Kakarrotto.
-I mostly use saiyan now, but still abbreviate ssj because for most of my fandom I've called it saiyajin.
-Vegetto because Kakarrotto.
-I bounce back and forth between Krillin and Kuririn, but lean towards the former currently.
-Vegeta is both an ouji and a prince; I use them as synonyms.
-Brolli with two L's.
-Planet Salad because I think that sounds funny. If we get an arc there, then I'll switch to whatever they go with.
-I've been using the arc over the u in Gokû for a while now, but I still spell it Goku in tags.


That's all I can think of immediately.
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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by Baggie_Saiyan » Mon Aug 07, 2017 6:57 pm

Chuquita wrote:Mine's just a collection of terms from all over. Unique to me:
-I like the vowel at the end so I spell it Kakarrotto.
-I mostly use saiyan now, but still abbreviate ssj because for most of my fandom I've called it saiyajin.
-Vegetto because Kakarrotto.
-I bounce back and forth between Krillin and Kuririn, but lean towards the former currently.
-Vegeta is both an ouji and a prince; I use them as synonyms.
-Brolli with two L's.
-Planet Salad because I think that sounds funny. If we get an arc there, then I'll switch to whatever they go with.
-I've been using the arc over the u in Gokû for a while now, but I still spell it Goku in tags.


That's all I can think of immediately.
I have wondered about that is the arc of the u meant for pronunciation like how people write "Gokuu"?
8000 Saiyan wrote:Even though it is accurate to the Japanese, Blooma just sounds odd to me, probably because I'm too used to calling her Bulma.
Same even when people type "Blooma" I still read it as "Bulma"! But also with me like with "Saiyan" dub pronounced I prefer Bulma cuz it just sounds better, same with "Krillin". On the flip side "Kaio" and "Kaioshin" sound much better than "King Kai" and "Supreme Kai" and even over the proper translations like "Lord of lords" or what have you.

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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by Chuquita » Mon Aug 07, 2017 7:56 pm

Baggie_Saiyan wrote:
Chuquita wrote:Mine's just a collection of terms from all over. Unique to me:
-I like the vowel at the end so I spell it Kakarrotto.
-I mostly use saiyan now, but still abbreviate ssj because for most of my fandom I've called it saiyajin.
-Vegetto because Kakarrotto.
-I bounce back and forth between Krillin and Kuririn, but lean towards the former currently.
-Vegeta is both an ouji and a prince; I use them as synonyms.
-Brolli with two L's.
-Planet Salad because I think that sounds funny. If we get an arc there, then I'll switch to whatever they go with.
-I've been using the arc over the u in Gokû for a while now, but I still spell it Goku in tags.


That's all I can think of immediately.
I have wondered about that is the arc of the u meant for pronunciation like how people write "Gokuu"?

Yeah, it's for pronunciation. Now that I think, Gokū is more accurate than Gokû. The code for ū on my laptop either wasn't there, or it didn't sit well with notepad/word and that's why I started using the û instead. It's something that worked with my phone, but not my computer.

I tried using Gokuu for a bit, but couldn't get used to it.
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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by Boo Machine » Mon Aug 07, 2017 8:09 pm

I'll mostly use the english dub terms, just because it's what I'm used to, with a few exceptions. Like I'll rarely use "Special Beam Cannon" because it sounds ridiculous.

But It mostly comes down to who I am talking to. If I'm speaking to someone who is a mainly watches the English dub version, then I'll use the English dub version of the terms. Even Special beam canon, if the person doesn't know what Mankakosappo is.

But If I hear someone use the Original terms, then I'll use them as well, just because it's obviously what they're more comfortable with, and most likely can't stand the english terms.
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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by floofychan333 » Fri Aug 11, 2017 11:28 pm

In general I use English Manga terms except for Hercule. I try to pronounce similarly to the Japanese but I don't do the full accents because it sounds weird.
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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by KBABZ » Sat Aug 12, 2017 8:52 pm

Not that I'm advocating to have it switched to Hercule, but it makes a certain amount of sense for his bumbling, incredibly un-informed character to call himself that instead of the full and proper Hercules because he really doesn't know any better. Like I can really imagine him justifying to the press that he dropped the s because "there's only one Hercule, don't go pluralizing my name because there's only one guy who could possibly be as great as me!" (aka he thinks Hercules is the pluralization of Hercule). It fits his rather Captain Qwark-like personality.

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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by TheGreatness25 » Sat Aug 12, 2017 9:22 pm

At first, despite enjoying and appreciating the Japanese version, I would use the Funimation name spellings (Krillin, Spirit Bomb, World Marital Arts Tournament, but always Mr. Satan because it was in the dub DVDs as such). Then, at some point, I switched over to Steve Simmons's spellings (Genki Dama, Kuririn, Tenkaichi Tournament, etc.). Then, I started switching over a bit and started using Tenkaichi Budokai, etc.

Right now, I'm starting to slowly get into the Japanese language itself and honestly, I think that the ideal would be to read and watch the DB series in its native language. I love reading their Japanese names and figuring out the proper sounds and even the direct translations of names. I hope to get to a point where I'd be able to translate everything that Steve Simmons kept (the Makankosappo). Ideally, I would like to be able to adapt -- if talking with a dub fan, I'd use Funimation's names, if with a Japanese fan, I'd hopefully use my own derivatives of names independent of Steve Simmons's translations. I might be in the minority, but I absolutely love that Funimation changed so much. I kind of wish they changed even more because there are like two separate versions that have their own nuances that are just fun to explore.

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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by B » Sun Aug 13, 2017 12:55 pm

I will use the Japanese term for pretty much everything. Tricky situations/exceptions:

-I alternate between Krillin and Kuririn. I wish I could smack someone involved with the official companies in the face when I see "Klylyn" or some such.
-"Kami-sama" becomes "God" because duh.
-I'll never refer to the Dragon Balls by their Chinese names because I will never, no matter how hard I try, remember them. Same for the Evil Dragons in GT.
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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by Kaboom » Sun Aug 13, 2017 8:53 pm

I usually end up with a common-sense mix of official English terms that are well-translated, and Japanese terms that either aren't officially well-translated or just too mouthy or awkward when they are.

For example, "Special Beam Cannon," is only halfway-accurate at best and sound clumsy to boot, and Viz's "Light of Death" doesn't quite cut it for me either. So I just stick to "Makankosappo" for Piccolo's trademark attack. If it had been translated in either English production more straightforwardly as "Dark Drill Cannon" or something, that'd be a different story.

Same deal with character names. Like, a literal translation of "Kaioshin" as "God of Lord of Worlds" or even Viz's "Lord of Lords" is pretty clunky, so I find it better to stick to the well-known "Kaioshin" instead. Better than Funimation's "Supreme Kai" in any case.

But on the flipside, "Spirit Bomb" isn't a completely accurate translation of "Genki Dama," but it's still more than accurate enough, succinct, fits the attack, and all-in-all just doesn't sound stupid. So I use it.

And sometimes I make up my own translated terms for things. Like "Tsufrians" for the ex-inhabitants of Planet Plant, because "Tsufruian" has too many vowels and "Tuffle" is stupid.
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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by DanielSSJ » Mon Aug 14, 2017 5:20 am

I'm kinda a stickler for leaving characters names unchanged from the original version, though I don't mind helping along the English-based ones that might get stuck in Japanese phonetics. For example, I don't use Bejita or Furiza or anything like that. Kakarotto is one of the few exceptions, simply due to the fact that Vegetto's name would make no sense if you cut out the 'o' at the end.

For job titles, nicknames, and attack names, it's a case-by-case basis. If there's a way to translate something both accurately and succinctly, I'd take it. For example, I see no reason to say/write Shunkan Ido when it's apparently a just generic term for teleportation. On the other hand, as Kaboom said above, a literal translation of Kaioshin would be a bit too clunky for my tastes, so I stick with the Japanese terminology.

I do occasionally flip flop back and forth between Japanese and English with some of the terminology. For example, I use God and Kami interchangeably, along with Great Ape and Oozaru, and Turtle Hermit and Kame Sen'nin.
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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by TheGreatness25 » Thu Sep 14, 2017 1:11 pm

I've went back and decided to do all of the names the way that I saw fit when translating them or adapting them from their Japanese counterparts. It has led me to some problems and questions.

First off, even though the "Artificial Humans" all have the same word for it (人造人間, or Jinzōningen), I feel that the translation is strange. "Artificial Human" doesn't really do it for me. Other adaptations such as "Manufactured Person," etc. also don't really sit well with me. So I call 16 and 19 "Androids," while calling 17, 18, and 20/Gero "Cyborgs." It is not 100% accurate (because all of them are known as "Artificial Humans"), but it works for me.

My entire goal was to recreate what the Japanese audience sees when it looks at the names. So words written in katakana (which are derived from other languages) are adapted to English, while I try to actually translate the words written in hiragana and kanji. What I mean is, when we read the word for "Tenkaichi Budokai" (天下一武道会), it doesn't really mean the same thing for someone who doesn't understand Japanese, while it means something for them. A word like "Kaio-ken" doesn't mean the same thing for someone who doesn't speak Japanese, as it does for someone who does. So therefore, I believe in recreating that understanding by translating the words that can be translated. I know that the preferred way of going about things is leaving things like "Genki Dama," "Makankosappo," "Oozaru," etc. However, it loses its affect when I don't see it the same as a native Japanese speaker, where these words actually mean something.

So I tried translating the words that can be translated. This has opened up a world of questions for me, since I used Google Translate (for the kanji). I didn't just blindly use whatever the result was, but tried to break down each character, but of course, I have my concerns.

If someone who actually knows kanji translations would be so kind to help me out with some translations, I'd greatly appreciate it.
猛血虎 - Steve Simmons has this as "Mo Kekko" and the dub uses "Wild Tiger." I have "Blood Tiger.".

繰気弾 - This is Yamcha's attack. Steve Simmons leaves this as "Soukidan/Sokidan" and the dub uses "Spirit Ball." The translation that I could derive from it is "Blowback." That's what it is with all three kanji characters, but when pulling them apart, it really does seem that it all builds the word for "blowback."

陳大拳 - This is the name of the martial arts master that Steve Simmons leaves as "Chin Taiken" (which is how the three characters are read); the dub uses "Chin." I got "Great Fist Chen."

牛魔王 - This is the good ol' "Gyumao" as per Steve Simmons and "Ox King" as per Funimation. I got "Demon Ox King."

魔封波 - The "Mafuba" as per Simmons, "Evil Containment Wave" as per Funimation. I got "Demon Seal Wave."

魔閃光 - This is "Masenko" as per Simmons and Funimation. I translated it to "Devil Flash."

魔貫光殺砲 - Ah, the "Makankosappo" as per Simmons and "Special Beam Cannon" as per Funimation. I got "Devil Light Death Cannon."

どどん波 - Simmons leaves this untranslated as "Dodonpa" while Funimation uses "Dodon Wave," which is accurate as the kanji character is "Wave." My question is, does the "Dodon" translate into anything since it's in hiragana?

元気玉 - This is the "Spirit Bomb" as per Funimation and left unchanged as "Genki Dama" by Simmons; I use "Spirit Ball." Though, apparently "genki" can be translated to "energy," etc. and "dama" can be translated to "sphere," "bullet," etc. So Spirit Bomb is not terrible to me; I'd still rather use "Spirit Ball." I don't know.

舞空術 - I tried so hard to find a good way to translate this, since what I came up with was "Sky Dance Art" or something. This is the "bukujutsu" as per Simmons, and just "flight" as per Funimation. I gave up and just use "flight" as well.

魔族四天王 - Funimation's "Spice Boys," while "Demonic Four Monarchs" as per Simmons. I am going with "Four Demon Kings."

兎人参化 - This is "Rabbit Boss" as per Simmons and "Boss Rabbit" or "Monster Carrot" from Funimation. I got "Ginseng Rabbit." Pretty terrible, so I don't know.

金角 - Funimaton's "Terror" and Simmons's "Kinkaku." I got "Gold Horn."

銀角 - Funimation's "Plague" and Simmons's "Ginkaku." I got "Silver Horn."

閻魔大王 - I struggled with this one. This is "King Yama/Yemma" as per Simmons and Funimation. I got some funky variation of words and landed with "Demon Gate King."

大界王 - "Grand Kai/Kaio" by Simmons and Funimation; I got "Great World King."

ハイヤードラゴン - This is katakana for "Haiyaa Doragon." Simmons leaves this as "Haiya Dragon" while Funimation uses "Icarus." My only question is: should it be "Haiya" or could this be derived into "Higher?"

武天老師 - Muten/Master Roshi. However, the name does translate into something. I got "Heavenly Old War Master" or "Heavenly Master" for short.

気円斬 - Simmons's "Kienzan" and Funimation's "Destructo Disc." I got "Energy Slash Disc."

チャパ王 - Simmons's "Chappa-o" and Funimaton's "King Chapa." I got "King Chopper."

キーラ - This is Killa, but I got "Killer."

豹牙天龍 - This is Simmons's "Hyoga Ten Long" and Funimation's "Sky Dragon." I got "Leopard Fang Dragon."

豹牙旋風脚 - "Leopard Fang Dragon's" attack which Simmons named "Hyoga Spinning Kick," while Funimation used "Panther-Cyclone Leg." I got "Leopard Fang Whirlwind Kick."

マーロン - This is "Marron" as per Funimation and Simmons. However, I thought "Maaron" was more appropriate based on the spelling.

魔人ブウ - "Majin Boo/Buu" as per Simmons and Funimation. As far as I can tell, it literally means "Demon Boo." I then reached that it could be a magical, powerful being, so because the emblem is an "M," I use "Magical Boo," or "Magical Demon Boo."

界王神 - Simmons leaves this as "Kaioshin" and Funimation uses "Supreme Kai." However, I got "Royal World God."

界王様 - Simmons leaves this as "Kaio" and Funimation uses "King Kai." I got "World King."

桃白白 - Simmons's "Tao Pai Pai" and Funimation "Mercenary Tao." Agh... I struggled with this one. It translates to "Peach White White." Like "White Peach." I just might leave this as "Tao Pai Pai," but I'm conflicted.

栽培マン - "Saibaimen" or "Saibamen" as per Simmons and Funimation. I got "Plant Men."

神龍 - This is "Shen Long" as per Simmons and "Shenron" as per Funimation. I got "Dragon God."

太陽拳 - Simmons's "Taiyoken" and Funimation's "Solar Flare." I got "Solar Fist."

気功砲 - This is Tenshinhan's "Kikoho" as per Simmons and "Tri-Beam" a per Funimation. I got "Spirit Cannon."

ツフル人 - Simmons has this as "Tsufruian" and Funimation translated this to "Tuffle." When tinkering around with it, since it's in hiragana and thus a possible English adaptation, I can see it punning the word "suffer." So, I now have it as "Sufferian."

瞬間移動 - This is Simmons's "Instantaneous Movement" and "Instant Translation" by Funimation. I just got "Teleportation."

狼牙風風拳 - This is Simmons's "Rogafufu-ken" and Funimation's "Wolf Fang Fist." I got "Wolf Fang Wind Fist."

界王拳 - "Kaioken" or "Kaio-ken." When translating, I got "World King Fist."

多林寺 - Simmons's "Orinji Temple" and Funimation's "Orin Temple." I got "Multiple Forest Temple."

天下一武道会 - The "Tenkaichi Tournament" as per Simmons and "World Martial Arts Tournament" by Funimation. This gave me some trouble too. Roughly, from what I understand, it translates to "One Under Heaven Martial Arts Association/Counsel/etc." There are some derivatives where "one under heaven" can be "best in the world," so I got "Best in the World Martial Arts Tournament."

ブルーツ波 - Simmons's "Bruits waves" and Funimation's "Blutz waves." I got "Brutes waves."

電子ジャー - This is the "Denshi Jar" as per Simmons and Funimation. I got "Electron Jar."

円生樹の実 - This is Simmons's "Enseiju fruit," or the simpler "Yemma's fruit" by Funimation. After some tinkering, I got "Round Living Tree's fruit" or "fruit of the Round Living Tree."

如意棒 - This is Simmons's "Nyoibou" and Funimation's "Power Pole." I got "Wisdom Rod/Pole."

仙豆 - Ah, the "Senzu" or "Senzu bean," which makes no sense as the word "bean" is already in the word "senzu." However, I got "Magical Bean."

排球拳 - Is this really "Volleyball Fist" like how Simmons and Funimation have it?
I know that a lot of these terms like "magical bean" are not as cool as "senzu" and "wisdom pole" is not as cool as "Nyoibou" or even "Power Pole," but I'm shooting for an authentic feeling. When a person who actually understands what "senzu" means reads it, I believe that that person reads its as "magical bean" or some variation of it. That's why I wanted to translate whatever is possible. If someone much more proficient than I am can help me out with my little name translations would be kind enough to help me out with my accuracy, I would sincerely appreciate it.

But in general, what do you guys think? Thanks in advance!

I know that a lot of people would never switch over to these names or even know what the hell I'm talking about if I drop them, so I wouldn't really use them on here or anything; it's just for my personal reading/watching of the series.

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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by VegettoEX » Thu Sep 14, 2017 1:58 pm

Just a few thoughts:

I... sorta?... see where you're coming from with "Blowback" but that really doesn't get things across. Between this and the Boss Rabbit and the Denshi Jar, and as you concede, it's obvious you're tossing things into Google Translate without being aware of their larger context and meanings. The way certain kanji combine is sometimes simultaneously logical and bizarre, and the way Toriyama plays with words and spellings makes it all the more difficult!

Something quite a few of the names you mention (specifically from DB filler, and specifically because I've been personally working with these names for an upcoming guide) is that they're intended to be foreign-sounding names in Japanese, either actually being Chinese names or being faux-Chinese names. By "translating" them into English, they no longer serve their intended purpose; you've lost the "foreign"-ness to them. It's a lose-lose battle all around, the same way that Vegeta's attacks being named "in English" in Japanese doesn't carry over when actually translated into English.

(One technique a lot of old dubs and translations used would be to replace the English in the Japanese version with, say, French in the English version. Pretty sure the original Sailormoon dub did this from time to time...?)

As for the rabbit... just gonna steal from my upcoming guide-
Kanzenshuu wrote:The joke here is that the kanji being read as "Tō" — 兎 — is in fact the kanji for "rabbit" (typically read elsewhere as usagi), while the rest of the name describes how he turns people (人, here read as nin) into "carrots" (にんじん ninjin); Viz adapts this name as the "Carrotizer Bunny" in their English translation of the manga.
Some other early Viz names you might want to consider are things like "Cultivars" for the Saibaimen.

The "joke" with Haiya/Higher Dragon is that he's like a ride for hire. An animal taxi. You'll sometimes see "Hire Dragon" out there because of this.

Names like キーラ you have to be careful with. This is the same as with フリーザ; he's not "Killer" the same way he's not "Freezer". The ar/er ending is indicated by an elongated syllable at the end. This is what makes these names puns, rather than just the words themselves.

Tsufruian comes directly from playing on "fruit people" (versus the "vegetable people") of Planet Plant: フルーツ (furūtsu) into ツフル (tsufuru). "Tsufru" as a spelling attempts to get this across.
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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by TheGreatness25 » Thu Sep 14, 2017 2:13 pm

Oh awesome, thanks. I was thinking of leaving some names when throwing them into Google translate and them giving me the option of translating from Chinese. That's really helpful. And yeah, I obviously did use Google Translate, but then again, I never claimed that it was the end all be all. That's why I needed lots of help with it. But for anything that is a native Japanese word and can be translated, I'd like to really get that translation out of it. Thanks for the help. If there's anything else out there, I'd really appreciate it.

Look, learning Japanese is really hard, especially with no time. I got hiragana and katakana down, but feel like kanji will never happen for me. Though there is a helpful series of YouTube videos on it where they break down the composition of kanji to help someone understand the general meaning when looking at them. Of course, this is nothing without vocabulary and sentence structure. I just wish I could experience Dragon Ball in a new way, which would be experiencing it in its original form, the way someone would who actually understands it. It's nice to have translations (official or non-official) and adaptations and whatnot, but it's a totally different experience from getting it personally. I will likely never get that feeling or experience with it, but that doesn't mean that I can't chip away at it little by little. My first stop was really getting the proper names down. While it's nice to know how they sound in Japanese, it really isn't the same if to me, it's just a foreign word while it actually means something to someone else.

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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by Gaffer Tape » Thu Sep 14, 2017 4:05 pm

VegettoEX wrote:
Kanzenshuu wrote:The joke here is that the kanji being read as "Tō" — 兎 — is in fact the kanji for "rabbit" (typically read elsewhere as usagi), while the rest of the name describes how he turns people (人, here read as nin) into "carrots" (にんじん ninjin); Viz adapts this name as the "Carrotizer Bunny" in their English translation of the manga.
I thought "Carrotizer Bunny" was a Herms-ism, not a Viz-ism. Unfortunately, I'm at work right now and can't verify it, but I'm pretty sure that's not in Viz's manga.
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Re: When it comes to JPN Names/Terms what/how do you decide what to keep as is or translate/adapt?

Post by VegettoEX » Thu Sep 14, 2017 4:09 pm

Oh geeze, probably. It's right in line with those early Viz names, though! This is why I have other guys to read stuff before guides go live!
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