VincentASM Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 (edited) I know at least person was wondering if any characters had different names in the Japanese version versus the English version. Since every Fire Emblem game has featured name changes--even Heroes and Warriors and all the Japanese-only titles thanks to Heroes. But strangely, so far, out of all 20 named characters--none have any name changes. Or any noticeable ones. I find this odd because names are frequently changed to make them more appealing for Western audiences. What this could mean is that names were chosen for Western audiences first and then translated to Japanese. Perhaps the simultaneous global release date allowed them to do this. Anyway, here's a list of all the Japanese and English names. Bear in mind that Japanese is a phonetic language so you're not supposed to read the words literally. Rather, you should let the words kind of "flow". Via the main site You and the Enigmatic Girl Japanese name Romaji English Name ベレト Bereto Byleth (male) ベレス Beresu Byleth (female) ソティス Sotisu Sothis Black Eagles Japanese name Romaji English Name エーデルガルト Ēderugaruto Edelgard ヒューベルト Hyūberuto Hubert ドロテア Dorotea Dorothea フェルディナント Ferudinanto Ferdinand ベルナデッタ Berunadetta Bernadetta カスパル Kasuparu Caspar ペトラ Petora Petra リンハルト Rinharuto Linhardt Blue Lions Japanese name Romaji English Name ディミトリ Dimitori Dimitri ドゥドゥー Dudū Dedue フェリクス Ferikusu Felix メルセデス Merusedesu Mercedes アッシュ Asshu Ashe アネット Anetto Annette シルヴァン Shiruvan Sylvain イングリット Inguritto Ingrid Golden Deer Japanese name Romaji English Name クロード Kurōdo Claude ローレンツ Rōrentsu Lorenz ヒルダ Hiruda Hilda ラファエル Rafaeru Raphael リシテア Rishitea Lysithea イグナーツ Igunātsu Ignatz マリアンヌ Mariannu Marianne レオニー Reonī Leonie Church of Seiros/Officer’s Academy Japanese name Romaji English Name レア Rea Rhea マヌエラ Manuera Manuela ハンネマン Hanneman Hanneman セテス Setesu Seteth フレン Furen Flayn イエリッツァ Ieritssa Jeritza (TBC) トマシュ Tomasyu Tomas Knights of Seiros Japanese name Romaji English Name ジェラルト Jeraruto Jeralt カトリーヌ Katorīnu Catherine アロイス Aroisu Alois Other Japanese name Romaji English Name 炎帝 Entei Flame Emperor 死神騎士 Shinigami-kishi Death Knight クロニエ Kuronie Kronya ソロン Soron Solon タレス Taresu Thales Although none of the characters have name changes, funnily enough, the continent's name is different. In the Japanese version, it's Fodra, whereas it's Fodlan over here. Funnier still, the world map in the Japanese trailer straight up uses all the English names, including Fodlan. Also, there's something neat that's sadly lost via translation. Each of the three houses is written with katakana and kanji forms, to make them look fancier. The kanji form is exactly the same as the English name, so Black Eagle etc. But the katakana form is the house's name in German. Black Eagle is Adler Klasse (Eagle Class), Blue Lions is Löwen Klasse (Lion Class) and Golden Deer is Hirsch Klasse (Deer Class). A similar thing happened with all the class names in Radiant Dawn. Eg. Sanaki's class was Kaiser/Empress. Lance Paladin was Glory Knight/Lance Riding General. So, in some cases, we only got "half" of the class names. Edited July 2, 2019 by VincentASM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thane Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 This is pretty neat, I didn't even think about that! While on the topic of names, so far it seems like we'll have more family names than usual, what with not only the three house leaders having surnames, but also Sylvain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanes Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 That's cool, I realize though that in japanese the R is usually translated to an L, even in fan translations they do stuff like this is it just to sound better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SatsumaFSoysoy Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 9 minutes ago, Critical Sniper said: That's cool, I realize though that in japanese the R is usually translated to an L, even in fan translations they do stuff like this is it just to sound better? The Japanese don't actually have separate sounds that differentiate between the "r" and "l" sounds of English. Their "r-" is like a combination of the two instead, and comparable to the Spanish "r' in how you pronounce it. As far as I know there's no actual rule on how to translate this, so whichever makes sense, is more conventional, or just sounds better in English is usually chosen (e.g. "Linhardt" is an actual last name that has some German roots, "Rinhardt" doesn't really exist). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuckPhoenix Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Oh cool. I did not realize the Class names were German in Japanese. Thanks for that interesting tidbit. 1 hour ago, VincentASM said: エーデルガルト Ēdirugaruto Edelgard Btw..you made a small mistake there. It should be Ēderugaruto. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Karnage Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 This is pretty neat, think this may be a sign that IS is more intrested in the west than they are at home? 24 minutes ago, Critical Sniper said: That's cool, I realize though that in japanese the R is usually translated to an L, even in fan translations they do stuff like this is it just to sound better? As a Spice & Wolf fan nothing grinds my gears like Horo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acacia Sgt Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Interesting. Makes me wonder if that will hold up. I would actually be surprised if at the end of it there really are no name changes at all. 11 minutes ago, SatsumaFSoysoy said: and comparable to the Spanish "r' in how you pronounce it. Just to clarify here, the soft 'r' sound, not hard sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SatsumaFSoysoy Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 2 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said: Interesting. Makes me wonder if that will hold up. I would actually be surprised if at the end of it there really are no name changes at all. Just to clarify here, the soft 'r' sound, not hard sound. Yeah, forgot to say that. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuranSuwa Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 I wonder if there will be name changes in French. The houses names are already different, it's the Jet Eagles (the je tis a black stone), the Sapphire Lions and the Gold Deers. The localization seems of quality too. The subtitles didn't take word by word what was said in English, but changed the phrases formulation to make it more educated and dignified. Now it gets me hoping there will be dual audio, if there is full English dub it will be confusing with a different French text X) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interdimensional Observer Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Awww.... I like name changes, it's a little fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YingofDarkness Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 I wonder if this is because so many of the names are already pretty Western in nature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corrobin Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Are Sylvain's two surnames (Jose Gautier) the same in Japanese as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snack Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 19 minutes ago, Corrobin said: Are Sylvain's two surnames (Jose Gautier) the same in Japanese as well? Fireemblemwiki.org gives his full name as シルヴァン=ジョゼ=ゴーティエ (Shiruvan Joze Gōtie), which appears to be the same as what is used in the Japanese trailer both from the text and the audio, so essentially the same. The pronunciation of "Jose" though is closer to what it is Portuguese than Spanish which, though it's hard to tell since the audio mix for the English trailer has the character dialogue much quieter than the Japanese trailer for whatever reason, I assume will be the pronunciation the English dub will be using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopper... Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 1 hour ago, Corrobin said: Are Sylvain's two surnames (Jose Gautier) the same in Japanese as well? Jose would be his middle name, actually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rezzy Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Nice to see, although I wonder why they felt the need to reuse already used names, like Claude and Raphael. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cysx Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 7 hours ago, Rezzy said: Nice to see, although I wonder why they felt the need to reuse already used names, like Claude and Raphael. Well, it happens from time to time. Also Rafiel ( ラフィエル ) and Raphael ( ラファエル ) are different. Unless you were referring to somebody else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rezzy Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 2 hours ago, Cysx said: Well, it happens from time to time. Also Rafiel ( ラフィエル ) and Raphael ( ラファエル ) are different. Unless you were referring to somebody else. They sound the same, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexBolt Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 15 minutes ago, Rezzy said: They sound the same, though. Do they in english? As someone not 100% used to anglo phonetics they spund like completely different names (in portuguese and spanish too). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VincentASM Posted February 16, 2019 Author Share Posted February 16, 2019 1 hour ago, Rezzy said: They sound the same, though. In Japanese, they're pronounced Ra-Fee-El and Ra-Fey-El. I pronounce them like that in English, but it probably varies depending on the person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rezzy Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 12 hours ago, RexBolt said: Do they in english? As someone not 100% used to anglo phonetics they spund like completely different names (in portuguese and spanish too). 10 hours ago, VincentASM said: In Japanese, they're pronounced Ra-Fee-El and Ra-Fey-El. I pronounce them like that in English, but it probably varies depending on the person. Raf-eye-el for both for how I say them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstraSage Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 11 hours ago, VincentASM said: In Japanese, they're pronounced Ra-Fee-El and Ra-Fey-El. I pronounce them like that in English, but it probably varies depending on the person. I mean, if I use the Katakana spelling as a reference, Raphael seem to be pronounced as Ra-Fah-El like it's done in Latin-based languages... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Let's hope this sticks this way, rather tired of the name wars, despite some older translations or newer translations varying in quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mylady Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 (edited) I wonder if Mariannu will be translated to Marianna and Ignatsu would be something like Inatio, Ignace or simply Inis. There's already two Ignatius, I don't see they repeating the name Edited May 2, 2019 by Mylady Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuckPhoenix Posted April 27, 2019 Share Posted April 27, 2019 I personally think they might go with Marianne and Ignaz. But I honestly do not know how an American translation team thinks about these names. From my standpoint it fits really well with names like Edelgard, Hubert or Hilda. A little old-fashioned. But I think it is always interesting to learn something about names that are similar to those that I know. So I am looking forward to what the localisation team will do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted April 29, 2019 Share Posted April 29, 2019 (edited) This name thing is interesting, yeah! On the topic of Rafiel vs Raphael, I'm on Vincent's side. I say Rah-fee-ehl for the former and Rah-feye-ehl for the latter. I always thought it was supposed to be this way and that they were two different names. And this is why I used Raphael for a Tellius OC. Edited April 29, 2019 by Anacybele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.