There is a stranger outside your house. He is old, ragged, and dirty. He is tired. He has been wandering, homeless, for a long time, perhaps many years. Invite him inside. You do not know his name. He may be a thief. He may be a murderer. He may be a god. He may remind you of your husband, your father, or yourself. Do not ask questions. Wait. Let him sit on a comfortable chair and warm himself beside your fire. Bring him some food, the best you have, and a cup of wine. Let him eat and drink until he is satisfied. Be patient. When he is finished, he will tell his story. Listen carefully. It may not be as you expect.
Culmination of Emily Wilson's Translator's Note to The Odyssey
Putting this under a cut for FE7 spoilers. ...Not really spoilers I don't think, but why risk it when all I'm doing is adding one extra click.
I'm reading the point in the novel now where Nino is fully introduced, and though I had my suspicions from the 2nd book's character introductions, I've confirmed something for sure now.
The author of the novels was not aware that Nino was adopted by Sonia, and refers to her as Sonia's birth daughter. I'm going to translate each reference to their relationship to either be ambiguous, or direct in saying that Nino was adopted if I have to.
It is possible that the writer did this on purpose, but... it's much more likely that even he himself didn't read the entire script and remember every detail in an FE game.
Since it doesn't seem like an intentional creative change to the canon on the writer's part, I'm going to stick to the canon to avoid confusion, and leave this T/N note out there for proper reference.
Short answer: Translator’s choice. As my personal rule, when I see the long expression Konohagakure no sato I translate “Village Hidden in the Leaves”, and when I see just Konoha I leave it as it is.
Long answer: There are mainly two reasons why I change names when I translate.
1 – Naruto is a work of fiction. Most of the names of places are “talking names” that convey something a mere Romanization wouldn’t do.
I know that, in the real world, nobody in their right mind would translate Tōkyō o sanpo shimashita with “I took a stroll down the East Capital”. But if I followed the general rule of not translating place names in Naruto, then I would have to leave as they are even other names such as Shūmatsu no Tani (Valley of the End), Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire), Shi no Mori (Forest of Death), and Myōbokuzan (Mount Myoboku).
Even the official translation sometimes swings from Japanese names to translated names. I’m not sure about the English dub ‘cause I’ve never watched it, but in the Italian dub sometimes they say Leaf Village, sometimes they say Konoha. I guess it mostly has to do with the fact that using only ‘Konoha’ wouldn’t explain the leaf symbol on the forehead protector, at least not to an average watcher with no knowledge of Japanese. And this leads me to the second reason…
2 – not every Naruto fan has the same level of Japanese skills. There are some fans who cringe when they see Team Taka translated as Team Hawk, but there are others who are forced to look up on the internet every single Japanese name of the techniques if they want to know what’s going on. There are some longtime Naruto fans who are well aware that Icha Icha means “make-out”, but there are people who started watching Naruto from the Shippuden arcs and so they didn’t know what the kanji on Gaara’s head meant until it was made clear in the Fourth Shinobi world war. Then there are ‘specialized’ fans who know by heart all the Japanese names of Naruto’s versions of the Rasengan, but don’t know what Sen’ei Jashu means (Hidden shadow snake hands).
As a translator, I try to please everybody and have no way to know how much you do know about Japanese. Even then, there are various viewpoints on how/how much translating things: Narutopedia’s way (literal translation), Viz’s translation (creatively), the dubbed anime? This gag manga doesn’t have an official translation (that I know of), it hasn’t been turned into an anime (though word on the street is that they’re thinking about it), so it all depends on me.
Translating names (or, well, translating in general) is not something I do for my own sake. ‘Cause squeezing something like “Village Hidden in the Leaves” into a tiny bubble speech sure ain’t easy.
(Btw I had thought, in the past, of making something like a poll to ask you if you preferred translated names over Japanese names, but eeh I kinda gave up on the idea because I thought nobody would care enough to participate.)
^Sorry for the wall of text. This thing of translating names is something that’s been on my mind for quite a while, and finally someone brought the topic to attention. m(_ _)m
[image id: The top of the image has black text on a white background reading “The research originated at Anagura, after all.” Below that is a still, three-panel rendition of the “Blinking White Guy” meme. /end id]
Was anybody gonna tell me the Far East Branch has a name besides "The Far East Branch"?
Anyway, if there's an official localization for "Anagura", let me know because I couldn't find one instance in all of Resurrection and Rage Burst.
Edit: Turns out "Anagura" is the equivalent of the localization using "the Den". See the notes for details.
Her name is written as 「イーリス」. The translators gave me "Iris", "Elis", "Eris", and other permutations equally.
Considering both Nike and Eir draw from mythology, I was more inclined to go with "Iris" or "Eris". From there, I took to Wikipedia to see what the Japanese versions of their articles looked like.
Lo and behold, Iris is written as 「イーリス」, while Eris is written as 「エリス」. Iris is also the name of a flower, so it lines up thematically, too.
You know the drill: if future content contradicts this, I'll change it.
I'd originally planned to translate this as "Devil of the Medical Corps" as a nod to the protagonist. However, Eir's title is written as follows:
「悪魔」 | “akuma”
Wiktionary
a fiend, a demon, a devil
(figurative) a fiend (very evil person)
(tarot) the Devil
(Buddhism) a mara, a demon seeking to prevent enlightenment
By comparison, the Devil of the Chrysanthemum (and Hounds) is written as follows:
「鬼神」 | “kishin”
Wiktionary
fierce god or spirit
all of the spirits and souls and gods of the world
(Buddhism) someone with superhuman power or ability, such as Śakra, the ruler of heaven, or a rakshasa or demon
Since they're different terms in the original text, I decided to reflect that in my translation. However, I also thought it'd be a nice tidbit to share, so here you go.
...And since I exposed myself as a Fire Emblem fan in the previous translator's note, I'll admit this is a stealth Three Houses reference. The "Demon" in "Ashen Demon" is also 「悪魔」 (source).
