Hello. “Difficulties of translation of bosses in Dark Souls” turned out to be an unexpectedly popular article – collected a bunch of pluses, views and comments and was generally very warmly accepted. Thank you! I did not want to dwell only on the first part, so almost immediately I started working on the second, which, of course, took a decent amount of time. Not least because I had an official source in my hands (Dark Souls Trilogy – Archive of Fire), which could be drawn in difficult times.
Disclaimer #0After the success of the first article, links to it appeared wherever possible-on forums, in discussions on Russian ds, Vicki, somewhere else. This, of course, is wonderful (in particular, the fact that it is a link, not copy -paste), but I still call for the adequacy of perception. In the Russian community, sparkling DS with an YAP is not as common as in English -speaking, so some people tend to consider my material the truth in the last instance. Spoiler – no, it’s wrong. My articles and analysis are just an attempt to apply the linguistic knowledge and love for the FS games in order to look at the success of different localizations and play lorne unraveling, suggesting what the author wanted to say. I have no personal connections with Miyazaki and the rest of the gentlemen from FS, so I cannot say anything in terms of Laura.
Disclaimer #1 – Before writing this material, I had no idea about what Dark Souls has Russian localization and what quality, I did not know the names or the bosses, nothing. For me, the DS series has always been 70% English and 30% by the Japanese Title in terms of linguistic experience.
Disclaimer #2 –Trust me, I’m a professional If this fact somehow adds persuasiveness and reliability in your eyes, then I am a certified linguist. Speca – English and Japanese.
Disclaimer #3 – I’m not a professional translator. In addition to purely information notes about what the name of the boss really means (or what it may mean, because it is still Japanese and there may not be easy translations), there will be my personal opinion about how much it was possible to convey the meaning and assumptions about whether there was some more easily or correct path from the point of view of transmission of the value. I understand that localization is a short time, often the lack of context and various difficulties.
Disclaimer #4 – Yes, get ready for LNGS (search syndrome of deep meaning). I will express any assumptions about why this boss’s name is so and not otherwise. These will be just thoughts, I have no proofs except linguistic.
Why are different readings in hieroglyphs?
The simplest explanation is about this: in the Japanese language, the hieroglyphs in the vast majority of two readings are kunny and on -on (maybe several in each category, but the essence is). On the readings came from the Chinese language, since almost all the hieroglyphs were borrowed from there, and Kunny readings were originally Japanese. Когда иероглиф стоит отдельно и используется как слово сам по себе — то у него кунное чтение. If a hieroglyph is an integral part of a word from several hieroglyphs, then it has an on -one reading.
Inaccurate infa about localization
From Japa to English, Frognation was localized again, subtitles for the Russian version made 1C softclab. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Legend
[:] – the colon after vowel in transcription means a long sound.
[‘] – Apostrophe after one vowel and in front of another (or between two n) means that these are two different syllables, and not one long.
Transcation is presented without compliance with all-all academic rules and special symbols, just for the convenience of reading, which it completely reflects.
Sources
For this material, I used Japanese wiki, English wiki, Russian wiki, Dark Souls Trilogy – Archive of Fire and a certain number of dictionaries. Picchi were found on the Internet and most often are a hundred years ago Detailed pages of an official artbook. Sometimes I used other people’s arts, but the authors are indicated everywhere and even with links.
We will disassemble bosses according to the same scheme: the original name with transcription, then the English version of the translation, and finally Russian. Next, we consider in more detail the original name and evaluate how much the value has changed or preserved in localized options.
Japanese – 最後の巨人 [saigo no kyojin]
English – The Last Giant
Russian – The last giant
最後 [saigo] – the last.
巨人 [kyojin] – giant, consists of hieroglyph 巨 "big. giant ”and hieroglyph“ man ”. The same word denotes the titans in Attack on Titan (shingeki no kyojin), and indeed this is a standard designation of mythical giants/titans and others like them.
There was nowhere to make a mistake, so both localizations were successful.
Japanese – 呪縛者 [jubakusha]
English – The Pursuer
Russian – The pursuer
呪縛 [jubaku] – extremely curious word, consists of hieroglyph 呪う [noro.u], which can mean a curse or any spell at all, and 縛る [Shiba.ru], which means "binding, constraining movements". The whole word together – Jubaku – means “binding/immobilizing spell/curse”, and 者 [Mono/Sha] indicates a person/action agent. As a result, the name is the boss – “one who is connected by a curse”.
The description of the boss in Archive of Fire reports that he “continues to kill the curses marked by curses as if it would let him go in the past of sins” and that “we can say that he is definitely a captive of the binding curse”. Who connected him with this curse, is not specified.
The Pursuer, for nothing that it misses the whole topic with curses, sounds like he is so unique, but we know that this is not so, and these pursuers in the game are a whole handful. That is, as I suppose, this is a special group of knights who haunts the cursed throughout the kingdom and even beyond. The English localization did not distinguish with the imagination, and there was nothing left for Russian how to work with The Pursuer.
Japanese – 竜騎兵 [ryu: kihei]
English – Dragonrider
Russian – Dragon Horseman
The Frenchman is to blame unexpectedly.
竜騎兵 [ryu: kihei] – Japanese word for the designation of dragoons, cavalry warriors of some European states.
The origin of the word “dragoon” is not known for certain – it is initially French, and the most common etymology reports that, perhaps, the name of the troops came from the French Dragon – a short musket, which was in service with cavalrymen. There is also a version that the name comes from lat. Draco – a dragon, because dragons were depicted on the banners. In French there are no differences between the “Dragon” and “Dragoon”, both are indicated by the word Dragon.
This word has moved to Japanese with all important meanings: something about the dragon, a rider and soldier. Three hieroglyphs denote exactly the same 竜 – Dragon, 騎 – A rider on a horse, 兵 – soldier.
However, there is the use of this word in the wrong context. Dragons historically were cavalry, which traveled on horses. Accordingly, the dragoon ≠ is a horseman on the dragon, although it has a dragon in the name. But the dragon horsemen from the DSII were really riders and flew on wyverns. Then why are they called dragons?
In Japanese Wikipedia there is a whole paragraph dedicated to the use of this word in fantasy contexts. If in short, in Japanese fantasy, the historical concept of “dragoons” is often used to refer to the horseman on the dragon, because the hieroglyphs are approximately the case. However, this is virtually wrong, and the English localization either knew about it or simply experienced a surge of insight and correctly translated Dragon Rider. Quite an interesting case: D
Japanese – 古い竜狩り [furii ryu: kari]
English – Old Dragonslayer
Russian – Ancient dragon -worker
Art by Unknown Artist
古い [Furu.I] – Old, ancient, belonging to the past.
竜狩り [Ryu: KA.Ri] – the same word that designated Ornstein in the first part, “Dragon Hunter”.
Disappointing a little unconsciousness in writing the same word in the first and second parts: Dragon Slayer → Dragonslayer. Could you see how it was in the first part, the word is the same. It would be possible to complain about the fact that there should be an “old dragonford”, and not an “ancient dragonian”, because in the English localization of OLD, and not Ancient, but in my opinion the old dragon-worker sounds like an ornstein-pensioner, but an ancient dragonman hints at old legends and the appearance of an era of the long time, which is generally more lail.
Japanese – 流罪の執行者 [ruzai no shikko: Sha]
English – Flexile Sentry
Russian – Flexible sentry
Lost on all fronts.
流罪 [ruzai] – link that exile.
執行者 [Shikko: Sha] – Word 執行 [Shikko:] means “imposition”, “implementation”, and the hieroglyph well familiar to us 者 [mono] indicates an agent performing. The boss is actually the name “Anyone who is fulfilling the link,” because he really does it – takes the exiled undead to the forgotten fortress.
For some reason, English localization was unable to embrace the wealth of her language, this name and instead of the invention of something like Exile Enforcer called the unfortunate one in his appearance (very doubtful), using the archaic version of the word Flexible-flexile. Some English sources say that here, they say, the ingenious game of the words “flexile-exile”, but I somehow poorly believe. It would be better to come up with something adequate, and not played in words.
In our language, the word “flexible” does not have an archaic version, except that the gutta-perchae, but even that is too specific and with a large interference, and as a result in the Russian version, the name has become even more trivial and some kind of faded. But here the Russian localization turned out to be a hostage to the curve of English adaptation, so the stones are not in their garden. And in the comments to the last article they wrote to me that I get too sag to Russian localization! I’m digging up to everyone.
Japanese – 虚ろの衛兵 [utsuro no eihei] – アレサンドラ [aresandora], ルカ [ruka], レギム, [regimu]
English – Ruin Sentinels – Alessia, Ricce, Yahim
Russian – Guardians of the ruins – Aleessia, Richch and Yahim
虚ろ [UTSU.RO]-empty, absent (about the expression of the face), in general, means imperiality of something-matter, expression, meaning, and so on.
衛兵 [eihei] – a guard, consists of hieroglyphs “protect” and “soldier”.
Some miracles are again taking place with the transfer of own names of one’s own. Alesandra became Alessia, Luka became Ricce, Legim became Yahim. So much like that? I don’t know, English localization in this part has some incredible problems with the transfer of their own names.
According to the ENT, these are three souls that control empty armor, so they are rather “empty guards”, there is nothing about the ruins in their name at all. I don’t know why English localization did not translate as it should-maybe because the word Hollow in Laura DS is already loaded, and Empty sounds somehow not very (?), but who knows now.
Japanese – 鐘守のガーゴイル [Sho: Shu No Ga: Goir]
English – Belfry Gargoyle
Russian – Gorguli from the tower
鐘守 [ShO: Shu] – literally “Bell Defender”.
ガーゴイル [Ga: Goir] – Gorgul
Interestingly, with localization 鐘守 [ShO: ShU] – Defenders of the Bell – English -language localization used the word BELFRY, which indicates the place where the bells are located – in the Russian “Ringeen” or “bell tower”. The location where we meet the Gorguli, – 月の鐘楼 [TSUKI No ShO: Ro:] contains this word and translates literally as “Moonlitar” or “Lunar bell tower” in the English version of Belfry Luna.
There is a whole legend about lovers who could not be together because of the enmity between their kingdoms. Two bells were built as a symbol, and lovers created the guards who were supposed to guard these bells. Gorguli are just one of the guards and guard the Alken bell, so their original name is not surprising. Why it was impossible to localize normally in English – a secret behind seven seals.
As for Russian localization, the pots of the tower is like good, but if they introduced the word “belfry” – that it would be cool in the names of locations, just like a translation of the word BELFRY in all names. “The bell tower” is also not bad, and the “tower” is too generikovo.
Japanese – 忘れられた罪人 [Wasurareta tsumibito]
English – The Lost Sinner
Russian – Forgotten sinner
忘れられた [Wasurareta] – passive key to the verb “forget”.
罪人 [tsumibito] – first hieroglyph罪 [tsumi] means sin, guilt, crime, any violation of the law or existing order. 人 [Hito] – Man.
It is not clear where Lost came from in English localization when there can be no doubt that it was necessary to use Forgotten. Russian localization either experienced a divine insight, or successfully surfaced the translation of Lost, what I do not want to believe in, and returned to the rails of the original. Success.
Japanese – スケルトンの王 [sukeriton no o:]
English – Skeleton Lords
Russian – Lord skeletons
スケルトン [sukeruton] – recorded by a katacan English word Skeleton.
王 [o:] – the word “king”/”the Lord familiar to us in the first part. In Japanese there is no grammatical category of number, so the “king” and “kings” in the hieroglyphic plan on the letter will not differ in any way.
Localization coincides with the original – these are the Lords, which themselves are skeletons, and the lords that command a certain number of skeletons. In Russian, one could wrap something like “bone lords”, and correct the English on Skeletal Lords to emphasize that they themselves are skeletons, but these are already trifles.
Japanese – 刑吏のチャリオット [Keiri No Chariotto]
English – Executioner’s Chariot
Russian – The chariot of the executioner
We will remove from the road a recorded English word chariot – チャリオット, there are no problems with him.
刑吏 [keiri]-executioner, this word is literally one single meaning. But wait, the mock from the first part was also the executioner, and was written differently- 処刑者 [Shokeisha]. In fact, both of the “executioner”, only the first, 刑吏 [Keiri], more official – the second hieroglyph already means an official, does not need to be attached to him the plebeian hieroglyph of the agent, as is the case with the resin. What is quite lorno, because the chariot acts by order of the king as an official, and the resin ate his opponents in the corner quietly so that Gwin does not see.
Japanese – 貪りデーモン [musabari de: mon]
English – Covetous demon
Russian – A greedy demon
貪り [Musabari] – the hieroglyph familiar to us from the first part – there he was the first in the name of the open dragon – 貪食 [DONSHOKU]. Means “passionately wish for something” or “to want insatiable”. Interestingly, the English localization translated this name using the word covetous, in which there is a small shade of “passionately desire something, especially if it belongs to someone else”. Which is very successful, because the young man, whom the demon was before the curse, wanted Mita’s love, which already belonged to another.
An greedy demon is a good translation, because you can get into a wealth not only (although this word is primarily connected with material well -being), but anything you want.
Japanese – 毒の妃ミダ [Doku no hi mida]
English – Mytha, the Baneful Queen
Russian – Mita, destructive queen
毒 [Doku] – poison. If you remember, then Laura Mita wanted beauty and youth, so he threw herself poisons, which, suddenly, turned her into a monster. In the battle with her, the poison is one of the main problems.
妃 [hi] – wife of the ruling king, queen.
ミダ [MIDA] – could be conveyed as it is – MIDA/Foreign Ministry, without any, but in fact, mytha would be recorded as a katakana as ミダ, There is no unambiguousness.
Mytha, the poisonous queen. It would seem that it’s easier. What does Baneful have to do with “destructiveness” and “destructiveness”. It turns out that Baneful has the archaic meaning of Poisonous – poisonous. I don’t know how appropriate the Fleur of antiquity was here, which is not in the original, but technically it is quite difficult to find fault with English localization. Russian did not read Russian further than the first vocabulary meaning, so we have a destructive queen. Which, of course, is also true, but, alas, moves it away from the original and from her Laura.
Japanese – 熔鉄デーモン [yo: tetsu de: mon]
English – Smelter Demon
Russian – Demon from the smelter
The name of the demon is associated with the location in which we find it – 熔鉄城 [YO: Tetsujo:]. This word consists of three parts:
熔る [toke.ru] – melt, fuse; present in words such as “welding”, “lava”.
鉄 [Tetsu] – Iron.
城 [Shiro] – Zakm.
Castle where iron is melted. Smelter – quite adequate word for translation 熔鉄 [YO: Tetsu], and the melting, respectively, also. Thanks to Russian localization for “from the melting”, because the name really comes from the name of the location-the locking castle. Unfortunately, the theme with melting did not stop into the name of the location itself in the English version – and, respectively, and in Russian – therefore, we have a simple Iron Keep and an iron citadel.
Japanese – 鉄の古王 [Tetsu no koo:]
English – Old Iron King
Russian – Old iron king https://casinosnogamstop.co.uk/usa-casinos/
Everything is very simple here, so everyone managed.
鉄 [Tetsu] – Iron.
古王 [koo:] – literally “Old King”.
Japanese – ネズミの王の試練 [nezumi no o: no shiren]
English – Royal Rat Authority
Russian – Rat Guard commander
Extremely interesting name, lost in translation.
ネズミの王 [nezumi no o:] – mouse/rat king. Despite the fact that Nezumi is recorded by Katakana, this is quite a Japanese word – sometimes Katakan is used to record animals and fruits, this is normal. The mouse hieroglyph is quite complicated and is practically not used in modern Japanese.
試練 [shiren] – test, test.
The second part の indicates belonging to the rat king. This boss is literally called the “test of the Rat King”, which is Lorno, because his task is to test the damned in the battle and determine how worthy of the attention of the Rat King. English localization, apparently, was somehow shy to translate Rat King’s Trit or something like this, so I invented Royal Rat Authority. The “rat guard commander” came to the Russian, which is an even more free interpretation of the position of this rat at court.
Japanese – ネズミの王の尖兵 [nezumi no o: no senpei]
English – Royal Rat Vanguard
Russian – Rat Guard fighter
ネズミの王 [nezumi no o:] – As we have already found out, the Rat King.
尖兵 [senpei] – avant -garde, soldiers on the forefront.
Vanguard is an accurate translation, but I like Royal Rat less and less. As in Royal Rat Authority, it is unclear whether the boss itself is a royal rat or not. The original clearly states that both bosses are subjects of the Rat King. What was the problem of introducing Rat King instead of the blurry Royal Rat, which can be denoted by anyone? I don’t understand.
“Rat Guard Fighter” loses a direct connection with the monarch and clarification about the avant -garde, replacing it with an abstract guard.
Japanese – 腐れ [kusare]
English – The Rotten
Russian – Rotting
腐れ [kusare] – decaying, decaying, sour (about milk). In general, 50 shades of damage.
Japanese – 蠍のナジカ [sasori no najika]
English – Scorpioness Najka
Russian – Crap
蠍 [sasori] – Scorpio
ナジカ [najika] – own name, quite correctly adapted as najka/clock.
Interestingly, the English adaptation decided to clarify that Nokka is a girl, so she slapped the suffix -ness now unproductive to get Scorpioness. Russian localization did not write a “scorpion”, what was the right. As for the husband of Zaka, Tark, for some reason everything is very bad there. English localization decided to clarify that it was a boy, so she invented Manscorpion, and Russian completely confused something and gave birth to a “half-ropion”. Spoiler – in the original Nokka and Tark, they are no different in writing, except, in fact, names – 蠍のナジカ (Scorpio Nokka) and 蠍のターク (Scorpio Tark).
Japanese – 彷徨い術士と信心者たち [samayoi jutsushi to shinjinshatachi]
English – Prownling Magus and Congregation
Russian – wandering magician and parishioners
Prize for the strangest and long name that looks like the name of the middle peasant anime. We will analyze in parts:
彷徨い [samayo.I] – get ready to see the splendor of the Japanese language. The first hieroglyph is read as [samayo.u]. The second hieroglyph is read as … [samayo.u]. And together they are also read as [samayo.u]. In my opinion awesome! The form of the word is slightly changed to make the sacrament, but the essence is already double! – it remains the same: roam (especially aimlessly), wander, wander.
術士 [jutsushi] – Narked word. There is a normal word 魔術師 [Majutsushi], which means a wizard/sorcerer and consists of magic, art and, in fact, a professional/expert. 術士 [JUTSUSHI], although it is read like that, apparently, is about the same, the hieroglyph about magic passes at all, and the last hieroglyph is replaced by another, but with the same reading. It consists of the hieroglyph “Art, technology, trick, magic” (the same as in a normal word for the wizard) and hieroglyph, which means gentleman, scientist, as well as samurai (not suitable for context, but just for information). The only vocabulary that I found reports that this word is used in the Japanese title of The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, where ‘The Mage’ is just 術士.
と [to] – Union "and".
信心者たち [shinjinshatachi] – Word 信心 [shinjin] means faith, especially religious, and 者 [Sha] indicates an agent performing. たち [Tachi] indicates the plural – more than one.
The word prowning in English localization saddens me, because it is most often used in the context of “looking for prey, hiding in the bushes”, and generally mainly describes animals, such as Prown Tiger. Wandering would be much better.
Uff, a strange name. Perhaps this is the truth is a reference to Abraham, who wandered from Germany to Egypt to learn how to Magic from Abramelin (in the game this magician studied with Aldia. ), but if so, then no one caught this reference.
Japanese – 公のフレイディア [KO: No Fureidia]
English – The Duke’s Dar Freja
Russian – Freya, beloved duke
公 [KO:] – can denote various kinds of aristocracy, in this case it was translated as Duke/Duke, which is quite acceptable. This word is here only to show Freudia belonging to the Duke Tseldor.
フレイディア [Fureidia] – Freudia. Was replaced by Freya. Someone from English localization read Yap too quickly and missed a couple of syllables in the middle.
It seems like everything is simple – Freudia Duke. English localization found such a name somehow not very sonorous (?) and expanded Duke’s Freja to Duke’s Dear Freja. Perhaps this is a good technique that includes a little Laura in the name and makes it more understandable, but in most cases I am in compliance with the original. Akhtung occurred in Russian localization, and Freya became the beloved of the duke, when he was supposed to become a favorite – if you remember, the duke loved spiders and experiments, and Frey was his favorite, whom he kept in his personal chambers in a cage.
Japanese – 鏡の騎士 [kagami no kishi]
English – Looking Glass Knight
Russian – Mirror knight
鏡 [kagami] – mirror.
騎士 [kishi] – a knight, the same word in the first part designates artias and all the knights of Guin.
He is dressed in mirror armor and his shield is actually a mirror, hence the name. Judging by the ENT, some believe that its shield is a portal to other worlds, hence, apparently, Looking Glass in English adaptation.
Japanese – 闇潜み [yamihisomi]
English – Darklurker
Russian – hiding in the dark
Everything is very transparent:
闇 [yami] – Darkness.
潜み [hisomi] – from 潜む [hiso.mu] – be hidden, hidden.
The gentleman really sits in the remnants of the abyss, and you need to dance with a tambourine to meet him. Both localizations coped, her!
Japanese – 唄うデーモン [utau de: mon]
English – Demon of Song
Russian – Demon of the song
唄う [UTA.u] – sing. In fact, a more common hieroglyph for “sing” is 歌, With the same reading, and this is used in special cases – in the designations of religious songs or historical epic ballads. This is quite in the context, given that this demon is called so because he managed to learn how to imitate Milfanito songs that sang in order to facilitate the fate of the damned-for sure they were some special songs.
He is more likely Singing Demon/singing a demon, otherwise it seems that there is something bad in the song itself, since it has its own demons.
Japanese – 王盾ヴェルスタッド [O: TATE BERUSUTADDO]
English – Velstadt, The Royal Aegis
Russian – Velstadt, royal defender
王盾 [O: TATE] – literally “The shield of the king”. Was very pleasantly translated by English localization as "The Royal Aegis". The word aegis usually causes a bunch of embarrassment. For the first time, I ran into him, playing in Dungeon Siege II as an over 10 years ago and had seen enough of all kinds of aegis egis there in the Russian localization of what it was (the so-called Azuna shield, which had to be collected according to the main quest). So, the word aegis came to the English language from Greek, where this word in classical mythology and art was originally designated by the shields of Zeus and Athens from goat leather. Later, not only the divine shields began to designate the same word, but also the armor, and then the meaning completely overgrown with the gods and went to the masses, while maintaining, however, an elevated tone – you can’t say about the shield of any commoner aegis. In Russian, it would be more precise to say the “King Shield”.
ヴェルスタッド [berusutaddo] – own name, quite accurately transferred by English localization. Velstadt in Russian is somehow difficult to pronounce (or it seems to me so) and I constantly want to crawl into Velstadt, according to the model of Kronstadt and other things.
Japanese – ヴァンクラッド [Bankuraddo]
English – Vendrick
Russian – Wendrick
ヴァンクラッド [Bankuraddo] – unexpectedly, yes? : D Wendrika is actually called Vankladt, which is very similar to Velstadt – this is not surprising, perhaps in Drangleic such a pattern of names. I can assume one single reason why Vankladt turned into Vendrick-so as not to confuse it with Velstadt. It may seem that this is such a reason – and it is, I can’t stand it when the names are changing, because they think that readers/players are not able to distinguish the heroes named for one letter – but, unfortunately, this is quite found in all artistic media.
Japanese – 護り竜 [Mamori Ryu:]
English – Guardian Dragon
Russian -Dragon-Brand
護り [mamori] – derivative of 護る [Mamo.ru] – protect, protect.
竜 [Ryu:] – Dragon.
Japanese – 古の竜 [inishie no ryu:]
English – Ancient Dragon
Russian – Ancient dragon
It seems to be a hundred times familiar to us – 古い [Furu.I] – Old and 竜 [ryu:] – Dragon, there is nothing to discuss. But! If he were an “ancient dragon”, he would be written as an “ancient dragonian” – 古い竜. However, we see the hieroglyph “Old” without his typical end of the adjective, but with an attractive part の.
Though rarely, but hieroglyph 古 accepts reading [inishie] without any endings, playing the role of a noun. Inishie matters “ancient times, antiquity”. Literally there will be something like “Dragon from ancient times” or “like from ancient times”, which is not the same as “Ancient Dragon”. Nasindra and Shalkar are very fatly hinting that the ancient dragon is actually fake – this is partly confirmed by the fact that during the murder, the Dragon soul falls from it, but the soul of a giant, with which, as you know, Aldia experimented a lot in an attempt to create a dragon that would be the same as the same dragons from ancient times. Archive of Fire generally states directly: 「古竜の姿を持つ存在」- "a creature bearing the guise of an ancient dragon".
Japanese – 巨人の王 [kyojin no o:]
English – Giant Lord
Russian – Lord of the giants
All words are already familiar to us, but let’s refresh the memory:
巨人 [kyojin] – giant.
王 [O:] – King.
It would seem that everything is simple – the king of giants. The English location clamped normal revolution and instead of King of the Giants created a lord, which could be the Lord of Giants, and maybe a giant lord. Which, of course, is also true, but King of the Giants would be better.
Japanese – 玉座の監視者 [gyokuza no kanshisha] ・玉座の守護者 [gyokuza no shogosha]
English – Throne Watcher and Throne Defender
Russian – Defender of the throne and the caretaker of the throne
玉座 [gyokuza] – throne. The first hieroglyph has incredibly many meanings, most often associated with precious stones, something round or (suddenly) emperor. The second hieroglyph points to the seat. Precious seat, in general.
監視者 [kanshisha] – caretaker, the word comes from 監視 [kanshi] – oversee, observe, monitor.
守護者 [shogosha] – defender, from the word 守護 [shogo] – protect.
Nothing supernatural in names, so both localizations coped.
Japanese – デュナシャンドラ [Dyunashandora]: D
English – Nashhandra
Russian – Nashndra
In fact, Dunashandra, yes. I have no idea why the English localization decided that four syllables are too much and one should remove some. Nashindra sounds more epic? It is possible, but this is not solved by localizers, and it was necessary to transmit as it is written in the original.
My beloved ENTRYNDRA – it looks like Princess Dusk of Oolacile from the DLC of the first part, because it is a piece of the soul of the manus, which was obsessed with the princess and even stole it. I can’t imagine the shock of the first dude from the community who noticed this by examining the queen in binoculars or having studied her portrait intently: D
Japanese – 原罪の探究者 アン・ディール [genzai no tankyu: sha an di: ru]
English – Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin
Russian – Aldia, a scientist of original sin
原罪 [genzai] – original sin, including in the Christian religion.
探究者 [Tankyu: Sha] – researcher.
アン・ディール [an di: ru]-a unique name of its own, consisting of as much as two parts, was turned by English localization into Aldia, which is much more drafian than some AHN Deel, but not so interesting. It is extremely curious why Aldia has just such a name, unlike no other, and whether it is some other brutal reference.
Crown of the Sunken King
Japanese – 穢れのエレナ [Kegare No Erena]
English – Elana, The Squalid Queen
Russian – Bad Queen Elana
穢れ [kegare] – the meaning of this word is somehow connected with impurity – reputational, moral, physical, as well as mud and even corruption. I don’t know how much the word Squalid came up here, there is a tint “dirty, declining as a result of negligence or poverty”, and in general this word often describes the places and living conditions, and not people. It would be better Elana the Defiled or something like that. “Badge” in Russian localization is also very mme. The meaning of this word is “vile, ugly, bad” and expresses a personal hostility or subjective characteristic rather. “Bad Queen Elan” sounds as if she was harmful or badly rules. Perhaps Elana is an unclean one would fit.
エレナ [Erena] – By the way about the name. Someone from English localization again read the katakan too quickly and waged syllables because she is Elena/Elena, not Elana (エラナ).
As you can notice, we do not analyze the word “queen” – this is all because it is not in the original. English localization spent a parallel between her and the Foreign Ministry and just in case slapped the “queen” and here. Of course, formally Elana Elena was a queen, but perhaps do not insert additional words into the names of the characters, which were not spent there.
Japanese – 眠り竜シン [nemuri ryu: shin]
English – Sinh, The Slumbering Dragon
Russian – Sin Drown Dragon
眠り [NEMU.Ri] – comes from the verb 眠る [NEMU.ru] – sleep, be in hibernation, be inactive. It’s not that it’s completely “nap”, so the Dormant Dragon would be possible to be closer to the original, but I have nothing against Slumbering/dormant.
竜 [Ryu:] – Dragon. As you can see, unlike the first part of the deuce in the dragon names, uses the corresponding hieroglyph, and not the English word dragon recorded by the katacan.
シン [shin] – the name of its own, was quite correctly adapted as sinh with a fervent h at the end, which helps to take the dragon’s name from sin away (literally).
Japanese – 冒された盗掘者 [okasareta to: kutsusha] ・古い戦士ウォーグ [Furui Senshi Ba: Gu] ・古い探索者セラ [Furui tansakusha Sera]
English – Afflicted Graverobber, Ancient Soldier Varg, and Cerah The Old Explorer
Russian – The mourning ruin of the tombs, ancient soldier Varg, the old researcher of Cerach
冒された [okasareta] – passive key from 冒す [OKA.SU], a verb with many meanings, but including “infecting the disease”, “defile a shrine” or “take someone’s name, someone to pretend”. Not that there are a lot of Laura about these guys, so the translation of Afflicted can be quite correct. The boss wears the armor of Alva, whose ENT is largely connected with the search for medicine for some kind of ailment. By whom the boss grins in Russian translation is unclear.
盗掘者 [to: kutsusha] – comes from the verb “illegally dig the graves”. Graverobber/Tomb of the tomb – accurate translation.
古い [Furu.I] – Old, related to the days of the past.
戦士 [Senshi] – Soldier/Warrior.
ウォーグ [vo: gu] – voug/Vog, not warg.
探索者 [tansakusha] – from the verb “explore, search”. Explorer/researcher – accurate translation.
セラ [Sera] – Cerah is a completely adequate transmission of the name, because H at the end is not read. Russian localization decided to read what was strange, because the name of the previous boss – Sinh – was adapted normally.
Crown of the Old Iron King
Japanese – 煙の騎士 [Kemuri No Kishi]
English – Fume Knight
Russian – Smoky knight
煙 [Kemuri] – Smoke. According to Laura Reima is associated with black fog and fire, so that his name is very suitable. For some reason, English localization decided to bury and use the word FUME, which has a much wider field of “couples/evaporation” meanings. Russian localization experienced another insight, so we have a smoky.
騎士 [Kishi] – Knight.
Japanese – 騎士アーロン [kishi a: ron]
English – Sir Alonne
Russian – Sir Alonn
We will not go far from the word “knight” and look at Alonna. Alonne the Knight apparently seemed to be somewhat not very English (and it is really not very), so they translated as SIR, which indicates a knight when handling if it faces a name. Very elegant solution, I like. Russian localization also coped.
アーロン [a: ron] – generally aaron/aalon, but the English localization decided to change the name to Alonne, probably because Aaron is a very ordinary English -language name. Imagine if this boss was called Sir Alexey. The situation was close to critical, but I believe that Alonne/Alonn is quite good for itself.
Crown of the Ivory King
Japanese – 王の仔アーヴァ [o: no ko a: ba]
English – Aava, The King’s Pet
Russian – Aava, the king of the king
王 [O:] – King, ruler
仔 [ko] – used to refer to animal cubs. Since Aava is one of the seven animals who have served the king, the use of the word Pet/pet is quite acceptable. Of course, it would be better to “aava, royal kitten”: D
アーヴァ [a: ba] – the name is transmitted correctly – aava/aava.
Japanese – 王の仔ラド [o: no ko rado] ・王の仔ザレン [o: no ko zaren]
English – Lud, The King’s Pet & Zallen, The King’s Pete
Russian – Lud, King and Zallolen, the King Petelain
We will not go far from the royal pets and dwell on the names of the other two royal kittens:
ラド [Rado]-correctly transmitted as lud, but Russian localization did not work out with reading, so we have Lud.
ザレン [zaren] – zallen, no one had any particular difficulties.
Japanese – 灼けた白王 [yaketa hakuo:]
English – BURNT IVORY KING
Russian – The burnt king of ivory
Ivory. Ivory. Yeah.
灼けた [yaketa]-burned (someone or something), in this case, the flame of chaos.
白王 [hakuo:] – White King. No fashion shades of Aivory of this season, no ivory bones. White_korol, like a sieve was white_decon. English localization from part to part of some endless allergies to hieroglyphs 白?
Bonus!
Japanese – 緑衣の巡礼 [ryokui no junrei]
English – Emerald her
Russian – Emerald Bulletin
緑衣 [ryokui] – consists of 緑 [midori]-green/emerald green and 衣 [koromo] – clothing. Literally "dressed in green".
巡礼 [junrei] – Pilgrim. Not herald, it is not clear where came from, but pilgrim. Emerald Pilgrim/Pilgrim Clad in Green. I can’t imagine where the messenger came from and that Shanalotta announces in this case. She is a pilgrim because she wanders, looking for the very damned one that will pass the whole chain from collecting souls to throne and Blablabla. Junrei is a vocabulary, not that it is some kind of rare or complex, so I don’t understand what the problem was. Russian localization turned out to be a hostage to English, but nevertheless I really like how the “emerald messenger” sounds. Ear music and light breeze in the face.
Japanese – 愛しいシャラゴア [Itoshii Sharagoa]
English – Sweet Shalquoir
Russian – Dear Shatkoir
愛しい [Itoshii] – dear, dear, beloved. Sweet/sweet – quite suitable translation. It is worth noting that this word means a personal attitude to someone, and not just a characteristic. Dear-Itoshi-this is about someone close and expensive. Cute-kawaii-just about something that looks bad or causes AWWW.
シャラゴア [Sharagoa] – The localization of Shalquoir is increasingly convincing me that the names, in any case, some, come up with the Latin. I can’t imagine how you can get Shalquoir – a very specific name in the French manner, which no one else has in the first or second part – from Sharagoa, unless you know exactly that this is the author’s idea. It is transmitted to Russian as “Shalkar”, which corresponds to the Russian tradition of recording such French names.
Where does the name shalquoir come from? I have no idea, and this drives me crazy, like the whole fandom. If you google “shalquoir”, then all the results will be reduced to “this is a cat-trader from DSII” and “this is someone’s nickname in some kind of service in a cat from DSII”. My modest knowledge of French was not enough to even assume what word Shalquoir can be formed from. Of course, the easiest way to assume that this is a randomly generated by the creators an unusually sounding name in the French mood, and there is absolutely no hidden subtext in it, but Camon, it’s boring. As an admirer DS, I have the right to all hidden meanings everywhere in a row.
It would be a more accurate adaptation of the coat-oned spelling something like the Shalagore-here you can climb somewhere in Serbian and assume that the name comes from the word šala, but this is a very eighth floor of insanity, we will not do that.
It is interesting that in the original, when you get acquainted with Shalkuar, it seems to be that it is hinting that Shalkar is not her real name:
This is そうね Makes all the sentence to sound like “I, uh … you can call me Shalkuar”. 呼んでいい – You can call me – is used in cases of “I am Alexander, you can call me just Sasha”.
I looked at the scripts of all her remarks in the game, and she uses そうね when she talks about something that is not sure (when she captures your smell and tries to determine it) or when he cannot immediately choose the necessary words (as when she explains to you what the carpets are). It is strange that it uses the same expression-filler when it seems. This is all, of course, speculation, but the original makes it that impression on me.
Japanese – 渇望の玉座 [katsubo: no gyokuza]
English – Throne of Want
Russian – Throne of desire
渇望 [katsubo:] – literally “dragging desire”, comes from the verb 渇く[kawa.ku] – experience thirst, dry (from thirst) and 望む [Nozo.mu] – wish. “Winging desire” is what you want more than anything.
I was incredibly pleased with the choice of English localization in favor of the word WANT. Wish/Desire does not convey what it conveys. You don’t just want something (wish) or thirsty (Desire), but passionately, dragging in need of something you suffer (Want). Nashndra, as a piece of the soul of Manus, is a thirst for power, and this desire was so much that the entire plot of a deuce. She longs for strength and suffers in her absence – this is literally what represents her, her only characteristic feature: a thirst for power, strength and power.
I also want to praise the Russian localization for the fact that this is a “throne of desire” – one, the most powerful, and not the “throne of desires” or there are “desires”. “Throne of desire” really sounds very solemn – the throne of one desire, specific, special.
玉座 [gyokuza] – throne, we saw this word repeatedly.
Japanese – 巨人の共鳴 [kyojin no kyo: mei]
English – Giant’s Kinship
Russian – The giant genus
A very important item, the name of which was somewhat lost in translation.
巨人 [kyojin] – giant, already familiar to us the word.
共鳴 [Kyo: Mei] – Resonance. The first hieroglyph means “the same, having something in common”, and the second is used to indicate a myriad of various sounds, both animals and human, but it also has the meaning of “sound, surrender to echoing”.
As you know, this item is the key to the throne of desire, which gave rise to the largest and, so to speak, reasoned theory that the throne is the very subject that Wendrick stolen from the giants for Nashndra (especially taking into account the fact that there is a small throne over the large). It is logical that in order to gain access to the subject of such importance, the origins of which are on the ground of giants, you need to be a giant or somehow relate to giants. Resonance is not a physical object, but as if a sign/print/passive that you receive after the victory over the king of giants. It is interesting that he falls only from the king, and not from any other giant. Perhaps resonance is needed to rule and be a king, and enter into a throne of desire?
Kinship is a more understandable word than resonance, probably this is why the reason was chosen by English localization. “Kinship” seemed to them more obvious than “resonance” is not clear who is not clear with whom. It’s not that the ENS DS is generally very understandable or needs to be simplified, but oh well, the minced meat cannot be handed back.
Many Yapa researchers in DS in the English-speaking community translate Kyojin no kyoumei as resonance with the Giants, but I always had doubts because of a particle の. Resonance with The Giants sounds like after Luthanie you suddenly began to resonate with giants. Why would this subject fall from their king – he does not need to resonate with anyone, he is already a giant himself. It seems to me that this item indicates more to the resonance of giants with each other and their connection as one kind is as if the ephemeral sign of the unity of the people, so it is at the king, and therefore opens the way to the throne. In general, it is quite difficult to wipe through meanings and assumptions, but Enivee, this is my opinion on this occasion at the moment.
Results
Why I want to praise the English localization:
For a successful, sometimes choosing words with very thin nuances – such as Covetous, Royal Aegis and Throne of Want, the latter is right;
For which I do not want to praise:
For reading a katakana. Nasindra lost the syllable, Eren became Elana, Freudia became Frey. Ruin guards are generally called "based on". What is it.
For a dubious choice of words, for example, Prowning, Squalid, Royal Rat (?), and all this with a normal direct translation from the Japanese original. And for EmERALD HERALD, which Pilgrim.
For Flexile Sentry. This is some kind of horror. Yes, he does not have the simplest name in the original, but it is quite possible to catch the essence, as well as to come up with something good. And do not spank him a random name taken literally from the ceiling. This is not Pinwheel from the first part, where the name had to be invented from scratch, because the original was a cultural phenomenon. Everything was quite overcoming here.
For the liberties, which subsequently only confused. For example, the Czech with scorpions, where at first they shot their leg with Scorpioness, and then they were forced to digging Manscorpion, which was absolutely not necessary. Or Ivory King instead of White King. Well, why.
Why I want to praise the Russian localization:
For unexpected accuracy in the “Demon from the Melting” and “Smoky Knight”. The throne of desire and the emerald messenger is also good.
For the absence of straight Ahtung Falee, as in the last part there was a “demon of Copra”. I pass on my hearty hello to his fan club, by the way!
For which I do not want to praise:
For jambs in the transfer of the names of their own types of cerahs, when SinH was localized correctly. Inattention?
For a dubious choice of words in the case of “destructive” and “bad”. One would think more. The “grieving” tomb of the tombs is also like that.
"Beloved Duke". You can start the old song again, they say, what if they did not know Laura, and then it was necessary to know the ENT and see the pictures, and generally call FromSoft and clarify, but let’s honestly – a little more care and attentiveness, and we would have the Duke’s favorite. The whole game was translated by one team, the same people – they saw all the texts, all descriptions, all dialogs and the whole ENT. The spacing spider with each localization more and more falls into some kind of fan fiction.
But why I want to feel sorry for Russian localization is that in many situations it (as I am sure, and many others) turned out to be a hostage to the curve of English adaptation, and therefore she had no choice but to drag mistakes to herself. This is sad, but, alas, inevitably, when you translate from someone else and do not check with the original.
Working in this article, I complained that the English adaptation is not particularly creative, or something, there is no imagination in these localizations, as it was with the first part. But then I looked at the original – so there is a little of it there, although the material (bosses) is quantitatively larger, there are 3 dlc. 95% of the translations as a whole as a stick, the remaining 5% are a dragoon on the dragon connected by curses and the unfortunate, long-suffering Flexile Sentry plus a certain number of poorly digestible names such as Prowling Magus and Congregation, where it was really necessary. In fact, the names of the bosses in DS2 are divided into groups and a lot of things will be re -reduced in their names – for example, a thousand shades of the hieroglyph to “protect”, all kinds of “defenders” and “caretakers”, as well as “guards” and “guardians”. Infinitely dangerous world DS2, what can you say here.
The deuce in the Dark Souls family is special for many reasons, and now for me they have become clear and, so to speak, its linguistic differences. It was also difficult to write this material because many bosses had a rather muddy ENT – if he has it at all. And "muddy" is not in a good way, as in the first part. For example, I still can’t understand why AFFLICTED GRAVEROBBER, in fact, AFFLICTED, because the cat was crying for these three guys – accordingly, I can’t determine how true the translation was, because I can’t even imagine what could be meant in the original. The ambiguity in the deuce is combined with amazing straightforwardness: unlike the first part, where the ENT often explained the names of the bosses (Sit and Gwindolin, for example), sometimes it does not need to be highlighted at all in history. For example, the defender of the throne and the caretaker of the throne: one vendric said to watch, to the other – to protect, that’s all the things.
Anticipating angry comments – no, I am not a hat of a deuce. I once started with her, and she is dear to my heart. Just from the point of view of the difficulties of translation, it seemed to me not as exciting as the first part: D
Let’s see how the third will be.
Thank you for your attention, and Happy New Year: 3
First published in Sheetani’s Lair. I also had a channel on Twich, go to chat and ask why these articles do not come out more often: D
