Translation nerdery

As part of the LARP I'm taking part in, I'm playing a descendant of Izanagi, and since I already know some Japanese, I took it on myself to translate some important game speeches into Japanese for my character to recite. One of them I wrote myself, in a mishmash of modern and classical Japanese that would probably look awful to anyone who knows either version of the language, but another I translated from text provided to me and it brought to mind some of the choices translators have to make.

The whole text might be spoilers (for any other participants who read this), but here's a line where I had to make some decisions:

Should I break this oath may all my victories become as ashes in my mouth

And here is the Japanese I came up with:

宣誓を破ると勝利が遺骨になるようにで
Sensei wo yaburu to shouri ga ikotsu ni naru you ni de

The first part is fairly straightfoward--"To break an oath," but the と there after the statement indicates a natural consequence. Like, 雨が降ると濡れる--"If it rains, [you'll] get wet." It's a situation where the second part is an obvious result of the first part with no question. If you turn off the light, it gets dark. If I break an oath, my victories will become as ashes.

The second part I took a couple liberties. I'm not entirely sure how to express hopes and wishes in Japanese. " といいです" is the way in normal conversation--the same と as above, implying that if X happens it will be good--but that just a set phrase that's the equivalent of "I hope that [something positive]" and doesn't apply here. I ended up choosing a phrase from the wishes offered at shrines. "ように" is the way that ema usually end with, and so here it's implying the speaker's own desire. Not only is this a natural consequence, it's what the speaker wants as part of their devotion to fulfilling the oath.

Also, the usual word for ash is just 灰 (hai), meaning ash from a fire or cigarette or something similar, but I went with a different nuance. 遺骨 are specifically the ashes of the dead after the body has been cremated, so I wanted to imply here that breaking the oath would have a cost in lives. The victories turning to ash is literally others dying because of the oathbreaker.

I'm taking this to my Japanese tutor later today, so we'll see what she thinks of it. But I'm pretty proud of at least that part!

Game Review: Mass Effect 3

After my review of Mass Effect 2, you might wonder why I'm even playing Mass Effect 3. And let me tell you, there were some times that I wondered the same thing. Usually whenever the main plot was occurring, or during a lot of the dialogue that had been stripped down to a But Thou Must of "[PARAGON] Yes" or "[RENEGADE] Yes." This...was not a good game. But it is a flaw in my character that I have a very difficult time putting a piece of media down and walking away. Yes, I realize that there are enough good video games that I could stop playing the instant I stop liking something and I would still never be able to play all the games worth playing, but I have a hard time remembering that. Once I picked up Mass Effect 3, I was going to finish it.

And I did. Sort of. You'll see what I mean later in this review.

Ah yes, the famed salarian foresight and strategic acumen.

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