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The Mistranslation in Hector and Eliwood's A Support (JPN vs ENG)


Kirokan
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Hi everyone! Me again with another JPN vs ENG post (does anyone remember me? xD)

A user on the FE reddit had pinged me to look into something on Hector and Eliwood's A support. Namely, what was going on with Erik Laus, and how the conversation reads in Japanese.

I looked into it and it is indeed very likely a mistranslation --revolving around some pronoun mishaps. The conversation ends up reading quite differently in the two languages as a result.

Please read my in-depth post about it on my blog to see the details!

I now want to go check every support conversation between characters in the game... as the mistranslations are starting to pile up...

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Oh, that's cool.

Personally, I don't think I've actually read that support until now. I suppose even without this context, the notion of Erik doing that would've still sounded strange, heh.

Oh, checking all the supports? That's quite the project. Looking forward to what other tidbits come out of it.

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Your blog is prety neat, I really like how you explan stuff so well and then give us a nice PNG file that simplifies things, overall I just appreciate the fact our community has a really good (and active) translator. Also on the topic of this A support, I know I A ranked them once but don't remember this weird wording so atleast now it's refreshing and pretty cool to know.

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Once more and always, thank ya Kirokan!

 

I've become a bit of junkie for translation issues thanks in part to you.

For instance on the Heroes board, I asked Ice Dragon about the Sacred Twins, and it seems there were slight issues with them. Namely the titles weren't always capitalized, which can in English make it not so apparent that the weapons even have titles. And Gleipnir underwent something of a title change, or twist at least, altogether. Besides Audhumla being canonically misspelled to this day.

https://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?/topic/86222-choose-your-legends-3/&page=83&tab=comments#comment-5389475

They also pointed out elsewhere to me the sorta neat thing Japanese can do with furigana, or at least "sorta neat" as I someone who doesn't speak Japanese sees it. Making in Japanese what in English is the title of a legendary weapon its name, while pronouncing the name in Japanese as its mythological reference which is its English name. Japanese can consolidate the title and name into one thing.

 

To actually get to your translation work this time.

I recall the C and B supports of HectorxEliwood quite well, and provided my brain isn't playing tricks on me, I recall young Erik being a courtesan and the H & E's meeting at a gathering of the Lycian lords. But I somehow totally forgot that weird hand-cutting thing which you dealt with here. Sounds partly from the context like it might not have actually been a real tradition, and more something boys speculating on what manhood was were either made up themselves because it sounded tough, or were lied to about by some adults wanting to amuse the kids.

The nuance lost from the Japanese, Erik wanting to curry favor with Ostia and not understanding Hector, is somewhat relevant given what later happens in FE7. I also liked seeing, though it isn't in the least surprising, that you said Hector uses "ore", just to know how he describes himself in the original language of the game.

And I do think this conversation is possibly a flashback which could be so much clearer if IS had the money for CGs for certain supports. An image of Hector and Eliwood as kids shaking hands with a little blood dripping from say their thumbs, with young Erik off to the side shocked and envious, would absolutely clarify things.

 

 

Again, thank you Kirokan! 

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