Romanization/Translation Thread (for videos/BGM, etc.)

[rtl42]

Please post questions about how to read/romanize Japanese text that you see in GG vids, here. Typical stuff would be how to translate player names from a set of matches you found on a Japanese website, but it could be other things. (For example, if you find a GG tutorial video with Japanese text, ask about translating it in here.)

My apologies to Wind Owl, who's thread about the same topic was erroneously pruned from the forum.

==============================
Just to kick things off, somebody asked me what the standard romanizations are for kana, so I'll make a little list here of the ones that are potentially confusing:

For this first part, I'm going to use "ki" as an example of how this works in general for the other kana with consonants:

きゃ = kya
きゅ = kyu
きょ = kyo

So with に, ひ, び, み, and り as well, you romanize in the same fashion.

However, with し and ち, you don't romanize with a "y", so it's just sha/cha, shu/chu, and sho/cho. Also, this is pretty rare, but you can have:

しぇ = she (pronounced like the first three letters in the word "chef")
ちぇ = che (like in "cherry")

=====================================
To write "ti/di" or "si/zi" in kana, you have to do something similar to the above. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

example: Dizzy is written ディーズィー, so we have de + little i = di, and zu + little i = zi.

Basically, there is no natural "ti" or "si" sound in Japanese the way there is in English, but if you really have to write it out in kana, then you do テ or ス plus a small イ.
(Just FYI, you can type small vowels by entering x -> vowel. So if you wanna do a small "i", this will look like: ｘ -> ぃ after entering x, then i.)
Although I suppose the same idea could apply to forcing a "tu" syllable, I've never seen it, so I won't comment on that.

On a related note, if you're reading something in katakana and it looks like an English word, but there's a "ji" in a spot where you thought there should be a "zi"... it's because "ji" is the closest natural sound in Japanese to "zi", so words like "zipper" will show up as "jippa~" in kana.

====================================
This one comes up every once in a while: whenever you see ん followed by a character, such that a similar romanization can exist using a combination of な/ぬ/ね/の or に + や/ゆ/よ , you should romanize it as " n' ".

Here's an example, using a GG player's name: the #R Robo-Ky player ありさかしんや would have his name romanized as Arisaka Shin'ya, because Shinya would correspond to しにゃ.

Or, more recently, there's a Ky player over at GameChariot (chiba, i think) that goes by the name はんおと. So, this would be Han'oto.

=====================================
The next ones are more or less just for clarification, because you will occasionally see Japanese people still romanize these kana as I've indicated afterwards:

ち = chi; in an older romanization system, this was "ti"
ぢ = ji (i've only ever seen this once)
つ = tsu; in an older system, this was "tu"
づ = zu, or dzu, but AFAIK it's pronounced the same as ず

=======================================
These three are just "reminders" to keep an eye out for context in what you're reading and romanizing/translating:
は = ha; also used as a grammatical particle, in which case it's "wa"
へ = he; also used as a grammatical particle, in which case it's "e"
を = wo; also used as a grammatical particle, in which case it's "o"

======================================
I wanted to give ふ it's own blurb, because it doesn't quite fit in to English pronunciation very well:

ふ = fu OR hu

That is, if pronounced properly, ふ literally sounds like a cross between the way an anglophone would say "hoo" and "foo" (but with more air expelled, so it might sound a bit "breathier").
However, the next five are usually pronounced and romanized as though ふ is just "fu" (but not always, I've seen differently a few times):

ふぁ = fa
ふぃ = fi
ふぇ = fe (pretty rare, btw)
ふぉ = fo

As an example, if you're familiar with the HG (haado gei) joke from a while ago, Japanese subtitles on some of his videos would have his trademark "HOOOOOOOOOOO" call denoted as フォオオオオ. So, don't always assume that it's "fo".

========================================
okay i know this isn't actually kana, but it comes up often enough and i figured it would be helpful to know:
ー = -, ~, or the vowel portion of the previous syllable
ex. ラーク = ra-ku, ra~ku, raaku
The reason I avoid using hyphens (-) is because hyphens are already "used up" for honorific suffixes (-san, -kun, -sama, etc.). Otherwise, I just prefer using ~ because it's more direct than using the vowel from the last syllable, but I don't think it's any more or less confusing.

========================================
fixed and added a few things, thx to ethernal for catching a mistake. i will update this with "known" kanji readings (or other romanizations) once we can build up enough of a list.

[ethernal]

Hi,
so e.g., you want しょ to be written shyo (and same with ちょ/chyo)?
Looks strange to me...but I'll deal with it
I agree with the other stuff.
About the long vowel, I figured leaving the japanese ー is
what actually fits the better, but it's a personal choice.
Again, I personally prefer writing ふ as fu, but フ can be fu or hu
(katakana ARE used to write any sort of
strange accent/meaningless crap to japanese people :keke: ).
Now, what about kanji ?
I mean, beyond the basic on'yomi/kun'yomi thing.
I'm not very skilled in kanji (like when there are several onyomi forms)
but I know there are some french japanese students
(and I hope some from other countries) wandering in these forums,
who could help (If they want to, of course...Anyone can help :kitty: ).

PS : Is there a list of player names I could look at to confirm or infirm
my guesses (I couldn't find it in this forum, but I tend to remember something
like that in the past)?

[rtl42]

nope sorry, that was a mistake. i was typing this up pretty quickly, thanks for catching that. it's "sho" and "cho", to go with your examples.

=============================
as for leaving the ー character, i've noticed that depending on the language settings on the computer, any kind of Japanese script may be displayed as "???", so that's why I generally edit out any trace of J-script. (This includes the J-script space character, which looks to be about 1.5 or 2 times as wide as the English/American one.)

=============================
one thing i left out before, but i'll add now, is when Japanese use kana to emulate foreign sounds, like "ti" or "si" or something.

example: Dizzy is written ディーズィー (well, IIRC anyways)

Basically, there is no natural "ti" or "si" sound in Japanese the way there is in English, but if you really have to write it out in kana, then you do テ or ス plus a small イ.
(Just FYI, you can type small vowels by entering x -> vowel. So if you wanna do a small "i", this will look like: ｘ -> ぃ after entering x, then i.)
Although I suppose the same idea could apply to forcing a "tu" syllable, I've never seen it, so I won't comment on that.

=============================
One thing I forgot to mention, but was reminded after reading your post, is how to romanize ん if it's followed by other kana.
So in your post, you wrote "kunyomi", but technically, this would be un-romanized/"kana-ized" as くにょみ, which is incorrect -- it's supposed to be くんよみ, and this is romanized as "kun'yomi".

So, whenever you see ん followed by a kana, such that a similar romanization can exist using a combination of な/ぬ/ね/の or に + や/ゆ/よ , you should romanize it as " n' ".

Another example, using a GG player's name: the #R Robo-Ky player ありさかしんや would have his name romanized as Arisaka Shin'ya, because Shinya would correspond to しにゃ.

Or, more recently, there's a Ky player over at GameChariot (chiba, i think) that goes by the name はんおと. So, this would be Han'oto.

=============================
As for reading kanji... well, it's true that there are often "standard" readings for certain (combinations of) kanji... but honestly, I'm willing to bet that the Japanese GG players come up with tags/aliases as strange as ours -- which means they might use less-popular readings -- so sometimes you can't even be sure that the "standard" reading is going to be the right one.

Unfortunately, despite trying to be helpful with Japanese language stuff, I honestly don't know Japanese at all -- I've just picked up this-and-that, here-and-there, so to speak, so when it comes to unfamiliar kanji, a lot of times I will go with my gut feeling, however vague that may be.

To me, it's not really a big deal whether the reading you pick is correct, because even Japanese people themselves won't necessarily know 100% for sure what the proper reading -- just as long as you're consistent with which reading you pick, I don't think anyone can really blame you for potentially mis-reading kanji being used for a "proper" name.

(On the other hand, if the name is a sentence or phrase of some sort, then you should try to refer to a dictionary to get the proper reading, because then you have some context to work with.)

=================================
Like I mentioned in the first post, WindOwl's romanization thread got pruned, so we'll have to start all over again if we want to make a list of "known" romanizations.

[ethernal]

When it's possible, I do use the context.
What I meant is (I think) a little more precise
I will give a simple exemple :
The 九 kanji said ku when speaking about time of the day (like 九時/kuji, nine o'clock)
but said (or transcripted) kyuu when used with objects counters
(like 本/hon ; お酒九本/osake kyuuhon, nine --bottles of-- sake).
This is a pretty particular exemple (cause like I said, I don't know very much about it),
but it often comes out in Japanese...
So the point is I don't know when a kanji is supposed to be transcripted
this or that way because it's beside another one in particular,
or in a (too) japanese (for me) way of thinking...
If I understood well, the ん/ン is always written down as n and never as ng/m
(as it is sometimes quite pronounced, like in the upper exemple)?

[rtl42]

re: kanji

i know what you mean, and it's okay; at least here, no one is expecting you to be perfect lol, so it doesn't really matter if you're right or wrong -- just be consistent.

re: romanizing ん/ン
always as "n".

[ghost333]

what about sites translation for combos>?

[rtl42]

... what about it?

[ghost333]

i means can u translate sites?
with advice and such stuff?
or only videos and names?

[rtl42]

well, i guess if i really really wanted to, i could, but i don't usually have the time or motivation to translate an entire website >_>

[AlterGenesis]

It is also important to note that some kanji can replace the use of certain hiragana and katakana in some instances (or be read in the same way). A few examples of this would be:

見 - This kanji can be read as "ken" and "mi" which can be read as the two kana: み and ミ
田 - This kanji can read as ta/da, the same as the kana: た/タ and だ/ダ.

Etc. There are various kanji like this, which make reading very complicated. Just good to know, especially if someone's name is Yamada and it's shown like this 山田, rather than やまだ or this ヤマダ.

[rtl42]

what do you mean by "some kanji can replace the use of certain hiragana and katakana in some instances"?

[AlterGenesis]

what do you mean by "some kanji can replace the use of certain hiragana and katakana in some instances"?

One example I can think of off the top of my head is when you write "watashi." If all you know is the kana then you'd probably write it like this: わたし: wa-ta-shi. Yet, watashi can also be written as the one kanji: 私. Another, probably better example is when you write "kudasai". Generally it will be written like this: ください: ku-da-sa-i, but this kanji when used like this: 下さい, where this kanji 下 replaces the two kana that meant "kuda." It all comes with your knowledge of kanji.

[rtl42]

oh, i was confused by why you said "replace"... i guess i see what you mean by that, but it still sounds a bit misleading, to me, when you say "some/various kanji," because this is the case for almost ALL kanji.

and in a way, you make it sound like each reading uniquely corresponds to one kanji (or kanji + okurigana), which isn't true (although i'm sure you know that).

[AlterGenesis]

Well, I'm sure I could have given better examples, but my previous of example of the kanji being read as "mi" and "ta/da" exemplify my point a little better. I'm just saying that some kanji are read the exact same way as some of the characters in the Japanese alphabet.

[rtl42]

in response to ethernal's post in the help thread:

"conbo?"
no, it's combo.

骨Q = Hone-Q, or Kotsu-Q

jyonio -> jonio

sho=toruso -> shio=toruso / torso / tollso (i've seen "tollso" before, somewhere...); notice that it's シオ, not ショ.

"sento" is okay, but since it's katakana, he might be trying for a foreign word like "sent" or "cent".

good call on "feather", i kept reading that as "phaser"; i'll have to go through the vid posting thread and change that.

i'm not so sure about "washlet", since the kana is ワシレッド, which is more like "washled".

can't say for sure about 野試合, i'm not sure if it's "yashiai", "noshiai", or "shoshiai". i'd have to ask around about that. but, in any case, it means "casual matches", so you don't really have to include that in the player names.

その他 = sonota ("etc.").

my guess on 黒鰤 is "kuro buri", since 鰤 (kingfisher) can be read "buri", and the guy plays Bridget (aka "buri").

"rob o wa..." should say "robo wa..."

why "keysha"?

are you reading 万葉 as kazuha, or man'you ? try to be consistent.

"epen" -> "eben"

"yapu" -> "yabu"

this is a bit of a guess on my part, but "urashiku naruto tsui yaccha unda" is probably "ureshiku naru to tsui yacchaun da." (well, i know for sure that it's ureshii, not urashii.)

[ethernal]

I am sorry for the editing of the last post, I did it on a hurry...
About Man'you, I thought I'd look for it as a name, and I found kazuha,
which looked good to me.
Choose either man'you or kazuha, and i'll stick to it.
I didn't know the sonota expression, I'll remember it.

EDIT : Ok, I'll stick with man'you
I didn't know about kii-isha, I thought it may be the american first name

[MarlinPie]

its man'you.

also, keysha = kiisha?
its actually黄医者kii-isha. yellow faust.

there was a discussion on why he's still kiisha in AC, since he doesnt use the yellow color anymore.

[rtl42]

thx marlinpie!

[ethernal]

http://page.freett.com/abcrankingbattle/
kazu(JA) vs takuan(MA)
defure(FA) vs nezu(RO)
nezu(RO) vs takuan(MA)
kid(JO) vs akira(AX)
defure(FA) vs takuan(MA)
miyako(DI) vs LOX(JA)
shou(MI) vs takuan(MA)
miyako(DI) vs takuan(MA)
LOX(JA) vs shou(MI)

http://blog.livedoor.jp/trf_ggxx/
keba(AB) vs arapon(PO)
keba(AB) vs NOB(SO) / ABEGEN(PO) / dora(CH)
kei(AN) / hamemukiso(FA) vs nui(KY)

arapon(PO) / hayami(JA) / tai man'you saishuuheiki gureshi(AX)
vs
miya(BA) / moyuu(OR) / dorakeido(SO)

oppai(BA) / MIU(SO) / makoto(DI)
vs
bandet NOB ringer(SO) / suumei(MA) / job・john(KY)

gazou(FA) / ruka(ZA) / hamlet(MA)
vs
souseigattai(FA) / rusarika＝maria＝shubeーgerin(MA) / shuukatsuzei(JO)

satouー(JO) / rusarika＝maria＝shubeーgerin(MA) / souseigattai(FA)
vs
jonio(JO) / man'you(DI) / suzuki(MI)

satouー(JO) / souseigattai(FA) / rusarika＝maria＝shubeーgerin(MA)
vs
MIU(SO) / makoto(DI) / oppai(BA)

job・john(KY) / bandet NOB ringer(SO) / suumei(MA)
vs
ABAGEN(PO) / pickle(SL) / chikkusa(CH)

doraemon(CH) / nakano after(TE) / ASA(PO)
vs
kebia(AB) / mid・angler(OR) / nyachume(DI)

doraemon(CH) / nakano after(TE) / ASA(PO)
vs
tai man'you saishuuheiki gureshi(AX) / arapon(PO) / hayami(JA)

doraemon(CH) / ASA(PO) / nakano after(TE)
vs
pickle(SL) / ABEGEN(PO) / chikkusa(CH)

doraemon(CH) / ASA(PO) / nakano after(TE)
vs
zettaireido(JO) / renkon(CH) / otsu(AN)

doraemon(CH) / ASA(PO) / nakano after(TE)
vs
HAWK(SO) / rusarika＝maria＝shubeーgerin(MA) / souseigattai(FA)

nyachume(DI) / kebia(AB) / mid・angler(OR)
vs
oppai(BA) / makoto(DI) / MIU(SO)

nyachume(DI) / mid・angler(OR) / kebia(AB)
vs
mayo(AN) / ai no kamikuruzo no densetsu(SL) / hatenayousei「kurukuru・npoh」(TE)

hamlet(MA) / ruka(ZA) / gazou(FA) /
vs
pickle(SL) / ABEGEN(PO) / chikkusa(CH)

souseigattai(FA) / rusarika＝maria＝shubeーgerin(MA) / satouー(JO)
vs
dorakeido(SO) / miya(BA) / moyuu(OR)

ai no kamikuruzo no densetsu(SL) / mayo(AN) / hatenayousei｢kurukuru・npoh｣(TE)
vs
suzuki(MI) / jonio(JO) / man'you(DI)

kousengaeru1gou(BR) / nui(KY) / retsukaiou kusol(SO)
vs
moyuu(OR) / miya(BA) / dorakeido(SO)

kousengaeru1gou(BR) / nui(KY) / retsukaiou kusol(SO)
vs
ABEGEN(PO) / pickle(SL) / chikkusa(CH)

HAWK(SO) / rusarika＝maria＝shubeーgerin(MA) / souseigattai(FA)
vs
chikkusa(CH) / ABEGEN(PO) / pickle(SL)

As always, there is a substential part of this transcription
which is of guess.
Please correct me, and I'll stick with it.
Something may have gone wrong with the chars,
but I have no further time today to look at it...
I'll edit my post later in that case.

[rtl42]

"tai man'you": i think it should be "tai-man'you", because it means "anti-Man'you", but then again, people will often incorrectly write "anti air" instead of "anti-air" (or even "antiair"), so it's your call, really.

"bandet NOB ringer" -> "bandit NOB-ringer", since he's obviously making a play on Sol's special, Bandit Bringer. (but you did romanize it correctly, otherwise.)

"ABAGEN" -> ABEGEN ;)

just wanted to mention that i honestly don't know how to read the "sei" character properly when it comes to GG (team) names, even though I see it a lot. so, maybe it's sei, maybe it's zei.

"kebia" -> "kebya"

i translated "angler" as "angra", because it's GG and there's that bit of story background info about Millia's hair parasite-thing. but, it could be angler, who knows.

"ai" -> "koi"

"hatenayousei" is actually two words, hatena + yousei. also, it's "kurukuru npa-", which is some kind of japanese onomatopoeia.

[ethernal]

about the sei kanji (if you mean the one in shuukatsuzei), I really think it's read zei,
because there is a tsu just before...
So it would be either shuukassei (and that is not likely to be),
or shuukatsusei, with a "tsusei", and I have never seen that before
(Try to pronouce it with the japanese accent, it sounds weird).
about the npa-, I don't know why I read po instead of pa...
but I wrote it with an h in the end because the sign you use
is supposed (quoting yourself) to stand between a name/noun and a suffix.
~/ー is also used for lenghtened vowel...
As the っ/ッ represents a tonal pause (I think that's how it's called),
the latin h seems to fit.
Plus in a transcription style (I don't remember which one),
the おう and this kind of tonal pause at the end of the word are respectively romanized
with oh and h (e.g : satoh)

[rtl42]

That's true, i usually reserve hyphens for prefixes and suffixes. That was another thing I forgot to mention in the first post (onomatopoeics), I guess because you don't see it very often.
From what little I've seen, any sort of word that ends with っ (small tsu) is to be pronounced as though the last syllable is being cut off, so to me, using a hyphen "makes sense" -- but that's just me.

[Mechanica]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_TXSYqgjrMM

Can anybody who reads japanese better than I make sense of this video? This is the stupidest guilty gear video I've ever seen. Roman cancel volcanic viper into dash up command throw was the only thing you would ever use ever? I could make a video of uses for air bandit revolver FRC and it would be more useful than this...

[Brent-quest]

Thats pretty obviously a joke video. :P Also these posts probably shouldn't be here try asking the video help thread.

[MarlinPie]

i see this everywhere now
昇＝shou
correct translation is "noboru" but i see this mistake being made everywhere including youtube, just like "rokugou/rikugou and kuni" so might as well stick with the wrong one?

[Wind Owl]

i see this everywhere now
昇＝shou
correct translation is "noboru" but i see this mistake being made everywhere including youtube, just like "rokugou/rikugou and kuni" so might as well stick with the wrong one?

The point of this thread (well, my thread anyway ;_; ) was so that stupid things like that wouldn't happen, definitely go with noboru.

Anyway, thanks for remaking this thread, rtl. Your kana explanation is pretty awesome, hopefully now some people who aren't even familiar with Japanese can help out.

Later, I'll go through a bunch of names and add them to a list. It would be cool if people could just go to this thread and CTRL-F some moonrunes for a romanized name.

[rtl42]

i see this everywhere now
昇＝shou
correct translation is "noboru" but i see this mistake being made everywhere including youtube, just like "rokugou/rikugou and kuni" so might as well stick with the wrong one?
sorry, that's my fault, but thanks for pointing it out. here's hoping everyone changes it to the right way.

[DaiAndOh]

Err although no one has answered my request in the other thread, I figured I'd try searching on Nicovideo, if possible, can I get how to write in Japanese Axl-Low Ga Taosenai?

:eng101: エアーマンが倒せない - this is Airman Ga Taosenai, which is the name of the original song/video.

[rtl42]

axl would be アクセル.

[DaiAndOh]

Found it! Thanks!

[MarlinPie]

ive been ignoring this since i saw it the first time, hoping someone would notice that people are just adding imaginary letter at the end, but now i have to point it out.

K太＝けーた(ke-ta)／K-Ta
K-Tarou would simply be （K-太郎）

im sorry but thats just so totally not "tarou (太郎）" at the end.
its just your imagination!

maybe people are just too used to (ハム太郎）Hamu Tarou or something.

[Hellmonkey]

can't that be read as tai too? I thought　K太 was a play on cellphone -_-

[MarlinPie]

keita is a name.
keitai is way too random. also, when that character is at the end of a word, its almost never tai.

[rtl42]

ive been ignoring this since i saw it the first time, hoping someone would notice that people are just adding imaginary letter at the end, but now i have to point it out.

K太=けーた(ke-ta)/K-Ta
K-Tarou would simply be (K-太郎)

im sorry but thats just so totally not "tarou (太郎)" at the end.
its just your imagination!

maybe people are just too used to (ハム太郎)Hamu Tarou or something.
you're absolutely right, and i'm really really sorry. it's just a bad habit: whenever i see that i think "oh it's 'tarou' " and i don't think twice after that. won't happen again, and thanks for pointing it out.

[MarlinPie]

found another commonly mistaken translation.

incorrect: 小路 = Shouji
correct: 小路 ＝　Kouji

hopefully it wont be too late for youtube this time.

[rtl42]

thx, correction noted!

[rtl42]

holy necromancy, batman.

just fyi, 修宮 = osamiya.

[Wind Owl]

柳生 - Noel player. Anyone know what it is? ENAMDICT gives twelve different possibilities.

[axel]

柳生 - Noel player. Anyone know what it is? ENAMDICT gives twelve different possibilities.
Probably Yagyu.

[Wind Owl]

やぎゅ, やぎう, or やぎゅう？

[axel]

やぎゅ, やぎう, or やぎゅう？
It's pronounced as やぎゅう in Japanese, but usually people write it as Yagyu in English.

[Wind Owl]

Ok, thanks.

[Zenpou Tenshin]

Translations, Please.

かくるる(ザフィーナ) vs めがね(レイヴン)

テポ首領(マードック) vs ガク(ドラグノフ)

プレジ(エディ) vs 田中ヨ○子(キング)

ハガー(仁) vs ピストル(ワン)

三浦ロウ(ブルース) vs プレジ(エディ)

[rtl42]

Kakururu (Zafina) vs Megane (Raven)
Tepo Shuryou (Marduk) vs Gaku (Dragunov)
Prez (Eddy) vs Tanaka Yo**ko (King)
Haggar (Jin) vs Pistol (Wang)
Miura Rou (Bruce) vs Prez (Eddie)

- "pureji" is short for "purejidento" = "president", so it's equivalent to "prez" or "pres", if you wanna think of it like that.
- The circle symbol is used in modern Japanese to indicate a character has been omitted/hidden, probably but not always intentionally.
- "haga~" could correspond to "hugger" or "haggar"; a google search of ハガー gave me a lot of hits of the character "mike haggar" from the alien vs predator sidescrolling arcade game.


but you know, this is a GG forum, so although i don't have a problem helping out with little questions, it might be better to take non-GG fighting-game stuff to the Misc. Fighter forum (or PM me if you think I can help lol).