LiL Playlist: th-cam.com/play/PL8NyM9oubVEQJrsJf7mOLpQmv4ZSkQC4q.html&si=RimqGUyxz_QtENi7 Regarding "almighty" - @Skawo pointed out that it's an arbitrary word beginning with 'A' which is the hexadecimal character for 10 and @lavieestbellexx suggested it was changed to 'unstoppable' to avoid association with the phrase 'Almighty God'. @havens1515 pointed out that 'stal' may come from 'SkeleTAL' much like how 'vire' could have come from 'VampIRE'.
@@childofcascadia I did happen upon it towards the end of my research for this video. I think there were a couple of times where we disagreed on how fitting a translation was. I'm sure they're more qualified to decide that, though...
Yeah, Matos awesome. Hes a professional E/J localizer and Ive been following his blog and writings for well over a decade. I love localization and the nuances in languages that are so much more than raw translation. Ive subbed and im really excited to check out your content.
Interesting, I always thought "Darknut" was most likely a mistranslation of "dark knight." Seeing the japanese manual, I'd agree it's probably going for turtle knuckle. I'd say the "knuckle" part is especially true, given that Zelda 2's armored knights are called Iron Knuckle. I also always assumed Iron Knuckles and Darknuts were the same thing, but as the series has progressed, it still has separate enemies with those names, even though both enemy types have had some variations over the years. Between Streets of Rage being called Bare Knuckle, Global Champion being called Kaiser Knuckle, characters such as Knuckles from Sonic and Knuckle from HxH, it seems Japan is far more enamored with the word "knuckle," and associate its use not just with the fist or hand, but with fighting and even a fightER.
20:05 Finally! An explanation for the etymology of the Like Like (好き好き)! And it makes sense, since it often has a “taste” for Link and his items throughout the series. 22:17 Regarding the “strange powers” (怪力), I always found it interesting that the same kanji for “suspicious, mysterious” (怪) is also used in “kaijū” (怪獣) or giant monsters like Godzilla and such. The “怪” in both of these cases seem to have less to do with “suspicion” or “mystery” and more to do with “huge” or “gargantuan.” I suppose the “mystery” is where all of the power comes from. A somewhat fun fact about the word “怪力” (superhuman strength): The Pokémon Machamp’s Japanese name, “カイリキー” (Kairikī), is derived from this word. Nice job with this video! Keep it up! 良く頑張ったね！
It's definitely a coincidence, but in Slavic languages, many death-related words have the root "гиб" (gib). The gibdo's name always reminds me of that.
Can't think of any in Slovak or Czech do you have any examples? I have been thinking about this for like 20 minutes so I'm guessing it's in eastern and/or southern slavic languages.
I've often heard that the "stal" prefix comes from SkeleTAL (look at the capital letters.) This makes more sense after you pointed out that Vire is a shortening of VampIRE.
As speculation on the change from "Almighty" to "unstoppable" - Almighty is often used in a religious context (ie "Almighty God", etc), and Nintendo of America was very dedicated to keeping religious references out of their localizations! My best guess is that they worried about Christians finding it blasphemous because of their association of the word with their God
I always see Zelda Fitzgerald come up whenever looking at ebay auctions for Zelda games, I didn't know the two were actually related :v 8:25 I mean, to be fair, the "almighty" thing IS pretty silly too. It's "A" actually just because it's using the hexadecimal character for "10". 9:17 That's pretty egregious. I can only imagine how much time was wasted trying to pull this off :v 10:10 Ditto Has the tradition of translating Kansai dialect like this started here, or are there earlier examples? 20:04 Fascinating how much thought went into naming what in english sounds like nonsense. 25:45 This one and the "Patra has the map" are the strangest thing. While I agree that it seems the translation was done without context, these hints would suggest otherwise. I really wonder what happened there.
Just found your channel and im loving the content! I am just starting to learn Japanese and this is such an amazing way for me to learn more about the language and also watch videos i love!!! Your channel is amazing!!!!
@@aldo_heHim Yes, that's probably the best transliteration. I'm not sure how it became "Hyrule", to be honest. Perhaps the localiser suggested it and it got approved?
I suppose the poor localisation has at least intrigued western players for a long while and it's testament to Nintendo's game design that the series still took off in the west despite the clunky and straight-up incorrect translations.
I think the game may have been easier yes, but I also think the game's mystery was part of the appeal for many kids. It's why theory vids are so popular, why the timeline is a hot topic even within the company, and why new games to this day still include mysteries without answers, so it least has had a lasting impact.
This is a great video on what was changed/removed from the Japanese version to English I can’t wait to see what Zelda 2 has. Will you be covering the other Zelda games as well?
@@willisrose9756 I've "finished" Zelda 2 and ALttP. Am currently getting gameplay footage for Ocarina of Time. I'll have to consider whether it's worth continuing after that...
I mean, "testi" is gonna give an English speaker, especially a younger one, one thought thats gonna cause snickers. The "hates loud noise" of pols voice caused every English speaker to repeatedly blow the dang flute at them and wonder why it wasnt working.
LiL Playlist:
th-cam.com/play/PL8NyM9oubVEQJrsJf7mOLpQmv4ZSkQC4q.html&si=RimqGUyxz_QtENi7
Regarding "almighty" - @Skawo pointed out that it's an arbitrary word beginning with 'A' which is the hexadecimal character for 10 and @lavieestbellexx suggested it was changed to 'unstoppable' to avoid association with the phrase 'Almighty God'.
@havens1515 pointed out that 'stal' may come from 'SkeleTAL' much like how 'vire' could have come from 'VampIRE'.
Hm. If youre in to localization, have you ever checked out legends of localization/Mato's huge book about Zelda 1 localization?
@@childofcascadia I did happen upon it towards the end of my research for this video. I think there were a couple of times where we disagreed on how fitting a translation was. I'm sure they're more qualified to decide that, though...
Yeah, Matos awesome. Hes a professional E/J localizer and Ive been following his blog and writings for well over a decade.
I love localization and the nuances in languages that are so much more than raw translation. Ive subbed and im really excited to check out your content.
Interesting, I always thought "Darknut" was most likely a mistranslation of "dark knight." Seeing the japanese manual, I'd agree it's probably going for turtle knuckle. I'd say the "knuckle" part is especially true, given that Zelda 2's armored knights are called Iron Knuckle. I also always assumed Iron Knuckles and Darknuts were the same thing, but as the series has progressed, it still has separate enemies with those names, even though both enemy types have had some variations over the years. Between Streets of Rage being called Bare Knuckle, Global Champion being called Kaiser Knuckle, characters such as Knuckles from Sonic and Knuckle from HxH, it seems Japan is far more enamored with the word "knuckle," and associate its use not just with the fist or hand, but with fighting and even a fightER.
20:05 Finally! An explanation for the etymology of the Like Like (好き好き)! And it makes sense, since it often has a “taste” for Link and his items throughout the series.
22:17 Regarding the “strange powers” (怪力), I always found it interesting that the same kanji for “suspicious, mysterious” (怪) is also used in “kaijū” (怪獣) or giant monsters like Godzilla and such. The “怪” in both of these cases seem to have less to do with “suspicion” or “mystery” and more to do with “huge” or “gargantuan.” I suppose the “mystery” is where all of the power comes from.
A somewhat fun fact about the word “怪力” (superhuman strength): The Pokémon Machamp’s Japanese name, “カイリキー” (Kairikī), is derived from this word.
Nice job with this video! Keep it up! 良く頑張ったね！
Your videos make my job less stressful. Great content
@@ianorourke9709 Glad to hear it! Thanks for watching!
It's definitely a coincidence, but in Slavic languages, many death-related words have the root "гиб" (gib). The gibdo's name always reminds me of that.
Can't think of any in Slovak or Czech do you have any examples? I have been thinking about this for like 20 minutes so I'm guessing it's in eastern and/or southern slavic languages.
@@AntonBagin Yeah, it's mostly in the eastern/southern ones. I was thinking of words like "гибнуть" in Russian for example.
It seems like the root gib might've changed to gin/hyn in Western Slavic languages. As in the Polish word ginąć
WOW, what a fantastic video!! I subscribed immediately!
I hope this gains many more views; it surely deserves it.
I've often heard that the "stal" prefix comes from SkeleTAL (look at the capital letters.) This makes more sense after you pointed out that Vire is a shortening of VampIRE.
@@havens1515 Wow, I'd never considered that!
Can I just say, I miss the hand drawn art from NES manuals? These booklets were full of so many hidden gems!
They are definitely a joy to look at!
Mayoi no Mori is also the Japanese name of the 5th region in Super Mario World, localized as Forest of Illusion
Great video! Super informative, interesting to see how much detail and nuance was lost through translation. ごまだれ！
As speculation on the change from "Almighty" to "unstoppable" - Almighty is often used in a religious context (ie "Almighty God", etc), and Nintendo of America was very dedicated to keeping religious references out of their localizations! My best guess is that they worried about Christians finding it blasphemous because of their association of the word with their God
@@lavieestbellexx Very good point!
I always see Zelda Fitzgerald come up whenever looking at ebay auctions for Zelda games, I didn't know the two were actually related :v
8:25 I mean, to be fair, the "almighty" thing IS pretty silly too. It's "A" actually just because it's using the hexadecimal character for "10".
9:17 That's pretty egregious. I can only imagine how much time was wasted trying to pull this off :v
10:10 Ditto
Has the tradition of translating Kansai dialect like this started here, or are there earlier examples?
20:04 Fascinating how much thought went into naming what in english sounds like nonsense.
25:45 This one and the "Patra has the map" are the strangest thing. While I agree that it seems the translation was done without context, these hints would suggest otherwise. I really wonder what happened there.
Just found your channel and im loving the content! I am just starting to learn Japanese and this is such an amazing way for me to learn more about the language and also watch videos i love!!! Your channel is amazing!!!!
@@libetslament Thank you so much! Glad you think so!
Great video! I hope that more people can come across it and watch it. I hope you can have more viewers overtime. Amazing content.
excellent work mate, thoroughly enjoyed!
This was really interesting! Hoping for more soon
This is great! Glad to see you back :)
Wow! Super interesting video
Doesn't the second a in Hairaru suggest it should've been “Hyrull,” rhyming with lull?
@@aldo_heHim Yes, that's probably the best transliteration. I'm not sure how it became "Hyrule", to be honest. Perhaps the localiser suggested it and it got approved?
The Legend of Zelda was notoriously cryptic. I wonder if a more accurate translation would've made it more accessible to westerners
I suppose the poor localisation has at least intrigued western players for a long while and it's testament to Nintendo's game design that the series still took off in the west despite the clunky and straight-up incorrect translations.
I think the game may have been easier yes, but I also think the game's mystery was part of the appeal for many kids. It's why theory vids are so popular, why the timeline is a hot topic even within the company, and why new games to this day still include mysteries without answers, so it least has had a lasting impact.
This is a great video on what was changed/removed from the Japanese version to English I can’t wait to see what Zelda 2 has. Will you be covering the other Zelda games as well?
@@willisrose9756 I've "finished" Zelda 2 and ALttP. Am currently getting gameplay footage for Ocarina of Time. I'll have to consider whether it's worth continuing after that...
@@NorkiNorkiGamingI gotcha man.
I mean, "testi" is gonna give an English speaker, especially a younger one, one thought thats gonna cause snickers.
The "hates loud noise" of pols voice caused every English speaker to repeatedly blow the dang flute at them and wonder why it wasnt working.
Do you have the translation for the old man giving the Magical Sword where he says “Master using it and you can have this”?
@@Gabeora In Japanese, he says "if you can make best use of this, I'll give it to you".
「使いこなせるなら、これを授けよう」
@@NorkiNorkiGaming thank you!
hotmail still exists?
@@plotinuswashere It did when I made the account 8 years ago 😂