Thread 58366245

Cases where the localized name is significantly more clever than the original Japanese name. Any language allowed, except for the original Japanese. Bonus points if you actively compare it to the original Japanese name.
Video game localization is an interesting subject to me, and since Pokemon is a Japanese franchise, a good few Pokemon were designed around a joke or reference that didn't translate well into English (Stantler and Girafarig for example), so I think it's fun to look at the occasional case where the English name is far better.
I'll start with Giovanni.
>Contains "gio" as in "geo" because he's a ground gym leader
>Italian name because he's a mob boss
One of the best English names for a trainer in the entire series.
The original name is "Sakaki," which, according to Bulbapedia, is the name of a sacred tree in Shinto that the Earth Badge happens to look like, and I mean...sure? That doesn't say a lot about his character. The English name is a lot better.

>He's evil so his name must tell me how evil he is
That's not how people's names work.

>>58366254
it is how narrative works, however.

>>58366254
>he's a rock gym leader so his name must have rock in it
>she's an ice gym leader so her name must have ice in it
this is just how people are named in Pokemon

All japanese gym leader names are based on plants

>>58366245 (OP)
>is the name of a sacred tree in Shinto that the Earth Badge happens to look like
That's actually pretty good foreshadowing, I imagine at least a couple Japanese kids saw pictures of the Earth Badge and put the pieces together before getting to the 8th gym back in the day

>>58366291
Pretty cool when you put it like that

I like "Siniestro" for Dark-type in Spanish

>>58366254
I guess Lt. Surge doesn't exist then.

>>58366254
that's literally what this series runs on...

>>58366413
>>58366281
>>58366426
Only the American names, the Japanese ones are mostly based on plants.

Giovanni on the log

German Ghetsis (G-cis) name works well because it's the explicit reference to its name origin, the "G-cis" chord is the "Devil" in music

>>58366245 (OP)
None. Localization is always shit, no exceptions.

>>58366458
That's what "Ghetsis" means too, it's some variant of that in every language
>>58366484
Buddy, you do realize how many of the classic 151 have names in Japanese that are just English words, right?
It'd be really underwhelming if you went to go catch Moltres and it was just called "Fire"
I agree that there's a lot of problems with the process of localization, particularly surrounding censorship, but you gotta understand that sometimes a change made is for the better

>>58366518
>It'd be really underwhelming if you went to go catch Moltres and it was just called "Fire"
Transliterate it as Faiah. There. Fixed and actually faithful to the original.

>>58366531
>adds an h at the end because it looks better stylistically in English.
This is a localization choice. You just localized the name, it's not faithful. The only faithful translation would be "Fire", which sucks. Any other translation requires thinking about how to deviate from the literal translation in order to make it look and sound good in the target language... aka localization.
The "all localization is bad" crowd is a walking meme that doesn't understand what they're talking about
The only way to have a "faithful" experience if you really care that much is to play the JP version.

>>58366569
My proposal is still a thousand times closer to the original than Moltres. Cope.

>>58366588
Okay, what about Freezer and Thunder?
Moltres isn't even that bad of a name, I don't see the problem. Molten and tres is a pretty damn clever idea.

>>58366591
he's gonna say something like fureeza and sahnda probably

>>58366588
>Localization is always shit
>except when it's my idea!
cope, you know nothing about videogame translation

>>58366604
It'd be really funny if he does.

>>58366616
wowza indeed

>>58366588
well the original is retarded so you just made it a thousand times more retarded

>>58366627
ken-sama won though, he has a beautiful wife
might wanna use a different image to make fun of this guy

>>58366633
Sword-san can win all he likes(I'm glad he won,) this image is still goofy as shit though and really funny.

>>58366635
true and real

>>58366591
Unironically >>58366604. I don't see the problem with this. Better than the fanfiction names we got.

>>58366639
KEEEEEEEK CALLED IT

>>58366604
>sahnda

>>58366651
>fureeza

It was, in fact, really fucking funny.

>>58366639
>you fink typing in Engrish funny letard-sama? Plepale fol the bugs in anusu

>>58366639
The problem is two fold:
Those are still localized names.
>Localization is always shit
>no exceptions
Those names sound like fucking racial caricatures of the Japanese.

>fanfiction names
Be glad we did not end up with this.

>>58366674
Att and Lantis are actually kino though

>english word
>english word, japan

>>58366674
>Those are still localized names.
They're not. They're transliterations.
サンダー > Sandā
フリーザー > Furīzā
Assuming the game engine can't handle macrons you'd have to either and a second vowel or use an h, which is not unheard of. I prefer the latter stylistically.

>>58366678
Eh, to each their own. Personally, the funniest one on that list to me is Orphon. Completely ill fitting but it has that charm of being Japanese-levels of descriptive.

>>58366687
Pokemon would have been an international failure with a genius like you at the helm.

>>58366687
shitty transliterations of the japanese names is exactly what chinese bootlegs do btw

>>58366687
You would have called the franchise Poketto Monsuta wouldn’t you?

>>58366687
picrel is (You) when someone calls it a Poke Ball instead of a Monster Ball

>>58366455
>ai garbage
dilate

vgh... sovl...

>>58366712
Not going to call me a pajeet? Kind of refreshing tbqh famalam.

>>58366730
To be entirely desu with you I wouldn't have minded the name "Koiking" sticking around
Always bothered me that "Koiking" had to be changed to "Magikarp" despite the fact that "Koiking" makes perfect sense in English, meanwhile "Gyarados" is still "Gyarados" and that's completely meaningless to an English speaker, it could come from like 7 different uncommon Japanese words, and Sugimori said it doesn't even have a particular name origin and that he picked it just because it had a lot of "force" to it
And y'know, fair enough, but it's just weird that they only changed the one that already made sense in English

>>58366748
>not letting the desu senpai word filter do its thing
it would've been thematically appropriate desu senpai

>>58366687
The entire reasoning behind those names is that "English words are cool" in Japanese. Badly written English words are not exactly great in English.

>>58366750
I think Skulkraken was rejected because it was considered a bit too violent for the time and they couldn't think of anything better.

>>58366755
>Badly written English words are not exactly great in English.
Wrong, they're fucking epic when pronounced with a japanese accent.

>>58366757
I just thought it was because Gyarados is a sea serpent/Chinese dragon, not a kraken.
Then again, that didn't stop EarthBound, which was made by a lot of the same people as Pokemon

>>58366762
Being incorrect about the origin of something isn't that big of a problem when it came to translating Pokemon. Just ask Golem and Persian.

>>58366760
the japanese pronunciation of "vaccine" is "wakuchin" which is the funniest word imaginable

>>58366769
wakuchin
waku waku chin
waku waku chinpo
わくわくちんぽ

ywnbj: the thread

>>58366774
ww, 草 even

>>58366775
it's literally just the one guy who's like "grrrr all localization is the work of lucifer himself"

>>58366776
every laugh in japanese media should be translated as "grass" to remain as faithful as possible

>>58366531
Early Yu-gi-oh did this thing where the cards where the names were just English.
So they when they were released outside of Japan they translated them to Japanese instead.
So I guess Pokemon could've done that, and Moltres would be Honoo or something.

>>58366788
TRVE

>>58366788
This but unironically, it'd be hilarious

>>58366771
Which one of you did this anons

>>58366796
I saw that too. Wasn't me though. But whoever it was, you made me laugh. Thank you.

>>58366800 (me)
Fuck man, I'm not even mad my thread got derailed. This is the most fun I've had on 4chan in months.

>>58366245 (OP)
>he's italian because... he's a mobster

>>58366808
It's simple and easy to convey. The issue boils down to the fact he's apart of organized crime. We don't have the Yakuza here, we have gangs and we have the Mafia. Gangsters are primarily black in the states, and so it's not intuitive to put him in there, so Mafioso it was.

>>58366808
He’s not a mobster, he’s a legitimate businessman.

>>58366808
he's the fuckin' godfatha

>>58366531
>>58366588
>>58366639
>>58366687
You are retarded. Dellusional.

>>58366444
Holy retard. Did you know they pick the plant names... for a reason?

>>58366835
Japanese game, japanse franchise, japanese company.

>>58366865
…that localizes their games into a dozen languages.

>>58366865
The best part about this is that the English localizer for the first 4 games is LITERALLY a Japanese guy who had direct communication with GF. The japs don't want your fanfiction.

>>58366245 (OP)
>Contains "gio" as in "geo" because he's a ground gym leader
but those aren't pronounced the same way