PRODUCTION DIARY: "Use Your Allusion" by Lead Editor Nich Maragos

[AtlusAram]

Use Your Allusion
by Nich Maragos, Lead Editor

Quick language lesson time, everyone: the Japanese written language has not one but three character sets. (If you’re nodding impatiently here, you can just skip to the next paragraph.) Kanji are used as the building blocks of words, while hiragana are used to conjugate or clarify, as well as for the connective tissue in sentences. Think of kanji as a vocabulary and hiragana as an alphabet and you’re not far off. The third character set, katakana, mirrors hiragana in every way except its function: it’s used to denote loan words from other languages. Japanese has a lot of these, not all of them from English: “anime,” for instance, is a loan word that’s been shortened from “animation,” but it’s also common to refer to a part-time job as an “arubaito” from the German word arbeit, or work.

So when we at Atlus are translating a game and the translators see kanji and hiragana, they know what it means, because it’s part of their everyday vocabulary. But when katakana pops up, things get slightly trickier, because that means the word is a reference to something outside of Japanese, and figuring out just what that is isn’t always as easy as you think.

As a game that takes place in a near-future “real world,” Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey provided plenty of these situations. To start with, the premise of the game calls for a sizable crew hailing from a multitude of nations who have banded together to investigate the Schwarzwelt. All of these crewmen’s names were written in katakana, which meant it was up to us to figure out which nations they were meant to be representing and how their names would be rendered in their native orthography. This is complicated by the fact that the katakana alphabet doesn’t map perfectly with any other; you have to be familiar with both Japanese and Spanish to make the connection that what’s literally translated as “Himenesu” (and in fact was thus translated, briefly, on the official Japanese website) is meant to be read as the Spanish surname Jimenez.

This process was repeated for every member of the crew. Some of them were easy, like translating “Uiliamuzu” as “Williams.” (If that doesn’t look easy to you, you’ll have to take my word for it that it practically suggests itself as an interpretation. Try saying it out loud quickly.) Some of them were more ambiguous. Due to certain well-known idiosyncracies of Japanese, “Terii” could have been either Terry or Telly, which are both common names, and “Makurein” could have been McClain, MacClane, MacLaine, or any of several other Scottish surnames. And some of them were just baffling: “Kiima” didn’t readily suggest itself as a name of any nationality we were familiar with, and the character was so minor that there were no other identifying traits to provide a clue.

In Keema’s case, we simply made a judgement call as to how to render it in English and moved on. But in other cases, some detective work and knowledge of things outside the game came in handy. For instance, keenly aware of director Eiji Ishida’s enthusiasm for Western media, we went with McClane in the above case of “Makurein.” And when it came time to figure out what “Verunu” was meant to represent, our initial guess was a Germanic Werne—until we realized that the other AI in the game, Arthur, was an allusion to Arthur C. Clarke, father of HAL… which meant that this AI was probably an homage to Jules Verne, author of Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Another major source of katakana shenanigans in the game was, as is typical of Shin Megami Tensei games, the demonary. With over 300 demons in the game, there were an ample number who have never before appeared in an American release. For a lot of these, we used J.A. Coleman’s The Dictionary of Mythology, an excellent volume for its sheer breadth and inclusiveness of world myth. Here’s how the process went, using the demon “Sukuugusuroo” as an example. It’s commonly referred to by SMT import devotees online as “Skeugslou,” but neither Internet searches nor Coleman’s book turned up any real-world results by that name, so we went digging.

We would first sound out the katakana for a likely-sounding beginning; “sc” or “sk” seemed likely. (The “u” in the Japanese “su” is almost silent.) This meant only about five pages of Coleman’s book to pore through, which is less than it seems, especially since most of the entries couldn’t possibly fit the Japanese pronunciation. There were other handy clues as well: we had a visual depiction of the demon to match against Coleman’s description, and we also had the demon’s Compendium description to give us a country of origin. This narrowed down the search by quite a bit, and it only took a few minutes before we hit upon the Swedish wood spirit Skogsra.

Wrestling with katakana loan words and references is a process that can last throughout production as a series of small epiphanies hits the translators and editors. It wasn’t until a week or so into the project, for instance, that it dawned on us that all the sectors of the Schwarzwelt were named after constellations—and the above-mentioned realization about “Werne” vs. “Verne” didn’t come until the second-to-last day that it was possible to change anything! (Depending on how many files need to be altered to accommodate these little breakthroughs, they can be accompanied by either a “Eureka!” or a “Dammit!”)

Hopefully, knowing all this will bring you greater enjoyment of your “televi game” once it’s released in March.

-Nich Maragos, Lead Editor

[CoarseDragon]

I for one appreciate all that you localizers do for us in the US - thank you!!

[Andy]

I know one person who would LOVE this production diary:



I love you, Atlus.

[Vyse of Arcadia]

Originally Posted by Andy

I know one person who would LOVE this production diary:



I love you, Atlus.

This.

Also, I've heard of this problem before. Over the summer, I got bored and watched the anime Ghost Hunt. (It was meh.) At one point the characters spent a good two episodes trying to figure out that "burado" was "Vlad," as in Vlad the Impaler.

[OriginalGman]

Really good read, but I'm left with a question that's so obvious it seems silly to ask. Why can't the translators ask the Japanese developers what they are referencing in respect to demons and character names, rather than having to do detective and guesswork, as far as to just making up a translation? I know it's Atlus USA's job to completely localize this game, but I can't see how just leaving a small footnote for really loose translations would be too hard, or perhaps getting in contact with the developers for questions. If they're referencing things outside of Japanese culture, then it shouldn't be too hard for them to dictate to the localization team what it is.

[LordShade]

Originally Posted by OriginalGman

Really good read, but I'm left with a question that's so obvious it seems silly to ask. Why can't the translators ask the Japanese developers what they are referencing in respect to demons and character names, rather than having to do detective and guesswork, as far as to just making up a translation? I know it's Atlus USA's job to completely localize this game, but I can't see how just leaving a small footnote for really loose translations would be too hard, or perhaps getting in contact with the developers for questions. If they're referencing things outside of Japanese culture, then it shouldn't be too hard for them to dictate to the localization team what it is.

Well, Nich said why on another forum:

This might come off as more negative towards the developers than it's intended, but it's because we put such an emphasis on getting it right that we do our own research instead of asking them. 90% of the time, shooting them an email would be enough, but every so often, they're as in the dark about a proper English rendering as we are. The Skogsra that I cited is a good example. The reason you'll see import SMT fans refer to it as "Skeugslou" is because that's what's written in official Japanese materials like the Pandemonium or Kaneko Works artbooks. (See also "Coreps" for "Corpse," "Mansemat" instead of the more-common "Mastema," and "Alder" instead of "Ardha.") Whether because they got it from a non-English source or any other possible reason, it doesn't work as an English spelling.

The official materials get a lot right, too, mind you. But given situations like the above (or the also-mentioned "Himenesu") we'd rather put some effort in rather than chancing it.

http://www.gamespite.net/talkingtime...&postcount=393

This is the answer here.

[FlonneHybrid]

Hee, that was cool! I've wondered about this process and the effort (or absence) that goes into it. There are some times, in games and in anime, where it's obvious the translators only went as far as romanizing the words instead of putting in the time and energy to really translate them. So often, elements of the story would make a lot more sense -- or at least have some more mind-teasing quirks -- with that little extra bit of effort, but either the translators don't know any better or don't want to bother.

...point is, the effort truly is appreciated.

[OriginalGman]

Originally Posted by LordShade

Well, Nich said why on another forum:

http://www.gamespite.net/talkingtime...&postcount=393

This is the answer here.

Thank you for giving me yet another reason to say Atlus is my favorite publisher/developer. Knowing that the localization team is going the extra mile to make sure we understand a story set either in or outside of Japan as well or even better than the developers and original audience is truly a great feeling.

[Hisiru]

Good read indeed. I am very excited for this game.

Atlus, you are full of awesomeness! I hope we will see Luminous Arc 3 and 7th dragon in the West with soundtrack (for bonus preorder)!

-Edit-
Oh and this is my first post here, I want to give a huge thank you for all the people working at Atlus U.S.

I wish success for the company.

[Onion of Mystery]

I remember reading something about SRT in which the character "Bullet"'s name, because it was in katakana, could have been translated/pronounced as Bullet, Brit, or Burrito.

[matmanx1]

Excellent insight, guys. Having just completed my first year of Japanese language study I can really feel for the work that you guys and gals are doing. Thank you for sharing your process with us and I look forward to the final product with great anticipation.

Keep up the good work!

[Kenji]

Awesome post, and it's great to see that Atlus USA puts so much work into getting things right. It just reinforces the notion that this company does what it does for the love of the game.

[Sleepless Neko]

Good read, It's fun to see your progress in translating this. I've remember how annoying Japanese was when it comes to katakana.

[PANPANPAN]

Nice read. It's fun to see a local demon like the Skogsrå in an SMT game. ^^

[Ephidel]

Really informative, thank you ^^

That said... I'm not being rude here, just honestly curious.
Where in the world is Telly a common name for a person? x_x

[Mathurin47]

Originally Posted by Ephidel

Really informative, thank you ^^

That said... I'm not being rude here, just honestly curious.
Where in the world is Telly a common name for a person? x_x

It would appear to be short for the Greek name Aristotelis.

[Bluerfn]

Believe me when I say I truly appreciate the distance Atlus' localization team goes to making the translations work, especially in terms of the demonary. Mansemat was a totally mindboggling experience to find what it actually represents. What about the different spells and skills, did the team had difficulty localizing those?

Thank you for your efforts!

[marche1990]

It was a really nice read, both informative and entertaining, especially for the people that are interested in learning Japanese (like myself). I never thought that it was such a headache some times translating stuff like that.
Oh, and the Bullet/Burrito story was awesome (I would love to see a screenshot of the game with the altered name xD)

[barbonrulon]

Seriously thinking of buying a DS only to play this game =)

[elf_boobs]

Atlus, I love you. I've already preordered, and I'm buying a DS just to play this.

[shimo]

A very nice article.I enjoy reading it I must admit.

[Crabman]

Will the Production Diary dealing with bugs and glitches be called "Appetite for Correction?"

Great read!

[Manly Biceps]

Originally Posted by Crabman

Will the Production Diary dealing with bugs and glitches be called "Appetite for Correction?"

We used that joke in the Production Diary for manuals, called "Appetite for Instruction".

[locustofchiron]

Atlus has always impressed me with it's amazing localization work. I always figured it was tough, but never would have guessed the biggest problem was with the katakana! Keep up the good work!

[kia256]

Being a translator myself I can totally empathize (even though I'm not specializing in Japanese). You're doing a great work guys.

But here's a rather obvious mistake (for a native at least) I want to draw your attention to:
It seems to me that Zelenin's last name is spelled wrong. In Russian language the same last name can be spelled differently depending on whether the bearer is male or female. Basically, Russian last names of the following types ending on the consonant should have the "a" letter added to the end if the bearer is female. For example:
Sergey Ivanov - Elena Ivanova;
Evgeniy Volkov - Galina Volkova;
Anatoliy Marinin - Ekaterina Marinina.
That should be true regardless of the language used.

So the correct way of spelling should be "Zelenina".

Although I guess it's too late for such a major changes.

[elf_boobs]

Wow, this is all really fascinating. This must be a fun job.

[Jean-Baptiste Clamence]

Originally Posted by Andy

I know one person who would LOVE this production diary:



I love you, Atlus.

Seconded. Seriously. An allusion to 'use your allusion' in a thread on translating allusions. So much love to you.

[Demiath]

Great article; it's always fascinating to read about the sheer amount of research and genuinely creative effort required to make a good translation.

Also, as a Swedish Atlus fan I was obviously intrigued by the inventive use of the word "skogsrå" (the last letter "å" - apparently simplified into an "a" in the game - is pronounced [oː]). The "Skogsrå" is often seen as basically synonymous with a dryad, and thus nowadays (if perhaps erroneously) seem to carry with it a lot of nymph-like and overtly sexual connotations. The term itself consists of two parts; "skog" which means "forest" and "rå" which is derived from an old word ("rådare") meaning "owner" or "keeper". The skogsrå was thus originally seen as a keeper of the forest...which does seem to imply a lot more power and responsibility than a mere tree nymph could be expected to handle.

Anyway, it'll sure be interesting to see SMT's take on the skogsrå once my import copy of the game arrives...

[Nensi]

That seems pretty good to me and I hope you will keep up the good work in future as well.