Translation Time: Xenogears, Part Alpha

Sep 10, 2016 17:19


Welcome back to Translation Time! For my current project, I'll be covering Xenogears. Although this should be obvious for all of these, it goes double for this one - beware of spoilers. As usual, I'll be starting with the characters.

Playable characters:


Fei Fong Wong - ウォン・フェイフォン - UON • FEIFON - Wong Fei Fong

Fei Fong is still his given name in the Japanese version. In either case, he's apparently named after Wong Fei-hung.

Elhaym van Houten (Elly) - エレハイム・ヴァン・ホーテン (エリィ) - EREHAIMU • VAN • HO-TEN (ERYI) - Elehayym van Houten (Elly)

Citan Uzuki (Hyuga Ricdeau) - シタン・ウヅキ (ヒュウガ・リクドウ) - SHITAN • UDZUKI (HYUUGA • RIKUDOU) - Shitan Uzuki (Hyuga Rikudou)

Bartholomew Fatima (Bart) - バルトロメイ・ファティマ (バルト) - BARUTOROMEI • FATIMA (BARUTO) - Barthlomei Fatima (Bart)

Ricardo Banderas (Rico) - リカルド・バンデラス (リコ)- RIKARUDO • BANDERASU (RIKO) - Ricardo Banderas (Rico)

Billy Lee Black - ビリー・リー・ブラック - BIRI- • RI- • BURAKKU - Billy Lee Black

Maria Balthasar - マリア・バルタザール - MARIA • BARUTAZA-RU - Maria Balthasar

Chu-Chu - チュチュ - CHUCHU - Chuchu

Emeralda - エメラダ - EMERADA - Emerada

Her name in both versions is a reference to her emerald-colored hair.

Antagonists:


Emperor Cain - 天帝カイン - tentei KAIN - Heavenly King Cain

Named after the biblical figure Cain.

Gazel Ministry - ガゼル法院 - GAZERU houin - Gazel Court

That's "court" as in a court of law.

Miang Hawwa (Executioner) - ミァン・ハッワー (エクスキュージョナー) - MIAN • HAWWA- (EKUSUKYU-SHONA-) - Myyah Hawwa (Executioner)

"Myyah" is the last five letters of "Elehayym" in reverse order. Hawwa is the Arabic name for Eve, the first woman in Abrahamic tradition.

Krelian - カレルレン - KARERUREN - Karellen

Named after a character from the Arthur C. Clarke novel Childhood's End.

Grahf - グラーフ - GURA-FU - Graf

Id - イド - IDO - Id

Kahran Ramsus - カーラン・ラムサス - KA-RAN • RAMUSASU - Kahran Ramsus

The official romanization of his Japanese name is "Carlin," but as you can probably tell, I have a bit of a soft spot for the name Kahran. ^_^

Dominia Yizkor - ドミニア・イズコール - DOMINIA • IZUKO-RU - Dominia Yizkor

Named after the angelic order of Dominions.

Kelvena - ケルビナ - KERUBINA - Cherubina

Tolone - トロネ - TORONE - Troné

Her name is derived from the angelic order of Thrones, although it's not exactly "Throne," which would be "スローン" in katakana.

Seraphita - セラフィータ - SERAFI-TA - Seraphita

Shakhan - シャーカーン - SHA-KA-N - Shakhan

Vanderkaum - ヴァンダーカム - VANDA-KAMU - Vanderkaum

Bishop Stone (Isaac Stein) - ストーン司教 (イザーク・スタイン) - SUTO-N shikyou (IZA-KU • SUTAIN) - Bishop Stone (Yzak Stein)

I went with this spelling because there's another character whose name can also be romanized as Isaac, but uses different katakana.

Nikolai Balthasar - ニコラ・バルタザール - NIKORA • BARUTAZA-RU - Nikola Balthasar

Renk - ランク - RANKU - Rank

Named after Otto Rank.

Helmholz - ヘルムホルツ - HERUMUHORUTSU - Helmholtz

Named after Hermann von Helmholtz.

Stratski - ストラッキィ - SUTORAKKII - Strakki

I couldn't find anyone who he might have been named after by Googling the Japanese name, so I just went with a romanization. I'm guessing that the English name came from reading the ッ katakana, which just means to double the following consonant sound, as a full-sized ツ (tsu) katakana, hence getting "Sutoratsuki" instead of "Sutorakki."

Broyer - ブロイアー - BUROIA- - Breuer

Named after Josef Breuer.

Vance - フランツ - FURANTSU - Franz

Other NPCs:


Chief Lee - 村長リー - sonchou RI- - Headman Lee

Timothy - ティモシー - TIMOSHI- - Timothy

Alice - アルル - ARURU - Aruru

Dan - ダン - DAN - Dan

Yui Uzuki - ユイ・ウヅキ - YUI • UDZUKI - Yui Uzuki

Midori Uzuki - ミドリ・ウヅキ - MIDORI • UDZUKI - Midori Uzuki

Big Joe - ビッグ・ジョー - BIGGU • JO- - Big Joe

Sigurd Harcourt - シグルド・ハーコート - SHIGURUDO • HA-KO-TO - Sigurd Harcourt

His surname is a reference to Duncan Harcourt from Final Fantasy VI.

Lawrence Maison - ローレンス・メイソン子爵 - RO-RENSU • MEISON shishaku - Viscount Lawrence Maison

Franz - バンス - BANSU - Banth

Likely, his name was switched with Vance/Franz's somewhere in translation.

Isaac Balthasar (Ol' Man Bal) - アイザック・バルタザール - AIZAKKU • BARUTAZA-RU - Isaac Balthasar

Wiseman - ワイズマン - WAIZUMAN  -  Wiseman

Marguerite Fatima (Margie) - マルグレーテ・ファティマ (マルー) -  MARUGURE-TE • FATIMA (MARU-) - Marguerite Fatima (Maru)

Sigmund - ジークムント - JI-KUMUNDO - Sigmund

Hammer - ハマー - HANMA- - Hammer

Captain of the Thames - タムズの艦長 - TAMUZU no kanchou - Captain of the Tammuz

Jesse Black (Jesiah Blanche) - ジェシー・B・ブラック (ジェサイア・ブランシュ) - JESHI • B • BURAKKU (JESAIA • BURANSHU) - Jesse B. Black (Jesiah Blanche)

Primera Black - プリメーラ・ブラック - PURIME-RA • BURAKKU - Primera Black

Queen Zephyr - ゼファー女王 - ZEFA- jo'ou - Queen Zephyr

Taura Melchior - トーラ・メルキオール - TO-RA • MERUKIO-RU - Tora Melchior

Gaspar - ガスパール - GASUPA-RU - Gaspar

Erich van Houten - エーリッヒ・ヴァン・ホーテン - E-RIHHI • VAN • HO-TEN - Erich van Houten

Medena van Houten - メディーナ・ヴァン・ホーテン - MEDI-NA • VAN • HO-TEN - Mediena van Houten

Khan Wong - ウォン・カーン - UON • KA-N - Wong Khan

Karen Wong - ウォン・カレン - UON • KAREN - Wong Karen

Characters in the past:


Abel - アベル - ABERU - Abel

Kim - キム - KIMU - Kim

Lacan - ラカン - RAKAN - Lacan

Sophia - ソフィア - SOFIA - Sophia

Possibly named after the Gnostic concept of the same name.

Roni Fatima - ロニ・ファティマ - RONI • FATIMA - Roni Fatima

Rene Fatima - レネ・ファティマ - RENE • FATIMA - Rene Fatima

xenogears, translation time

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