Lost in Translation? ( I'm nihongo impaired! Please help! )

[RoninH]

Alright, here's the scoop. I'm helping work on a project for a Final Fantasy IV RPG, a big part of the job is helping the main editor get the itty-bitty and nitty-gritty details sorted out. However, the world of FF4 is vague at best, so, efforts must be taken to ensure that the questionable details and inconsistencies are sorted out.

The problem in particular? A small, little tidbit from the J2e translation of Final Fantasy 4j. FuSoYa, according to J2e, says "He(Zemus) created the tower of babil to give mankind the tool to destroy themselves." at one point in this conversation. I have my doubts, since every other translation I could find says different. So, I decided to delve into the original japanese text itself. Between my old japanese textbook, an online eng-jap dictionary, and my basic, growing knowledge of japanese, I was able to descifer the following:

Notta lotta.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to analize this not-quite-lengthly conversation, and try to decipher where J2e might've gotten this impression. Please keep in mind, that there might be no implication (which I'm hoping for) that Zemus had this particular intent when building the Tower of Babil. If anyone who knows this language well could give me a solid analysis, I'd be so grateful!

I tried my very best to make this big and readable, yet small in file size and easy to digest. The highlighted parts are FuSoYa's dialogue.

For those in the audience with short attention spans like me: I'm not looking for a full translation. Basically I just want to see if anything FuSoYa says even IMPLIES that Zemus designed the Tower of Babil for the sole purpose of giving mankind a way to trigger their own self destruction.

If you do find something, please tell me what part of the script it's in and in what context it is being used.

Thanks Lots!
~Ronin~

 

[PaulTB]

The problem in particular? A small, little tidbit from the J2e translation of Final Fantasy 4j. FuSoYa, according to J2e, says "He(Zemus) created the tower of babil to give mankind the tool to destroy themselves." at one point in this conversation.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to analize this not-quite-lengthly conversation, and try to decipher where J2e might've gotten this impression. Please keep in mind, that there might be no implication (which I'm hoping for) that Zemus had this particular intent when building the Tower of Babil. If anyone who knows this language well could give me a solid analysis, I'd be so grateful!

http://www.crystal-studios.net/translation.gif

I did a quick scan read and didn't see anything in _that_ conversation about why the tower of Babil was created. He talks about the じげんエレベータ of the tower being used to destroy everything at the end. ( Jigen elevator ). I'm not sure what meaning 'Jigen' has in FF4.

 

[PaulTB]

Anyway, you persuaded me to start playing FF4 again

Herewith the Only in Final Fantasy vocabulary list.

ひくうていだん 飛空艇団 Aero-warband, (airship equivalent of Marines)
げんじゅう 幻獣 Monster ('illusionary beast')
りゅうきしたい 竜騎士隊 Dragon Knight Company
ギル Gil (currency)

P.S. 'Bomu ring' ボムのゆびわ
How stupid is that Cecil ? セシル >_<;

 

[RoninH]

Awesome! I really appreciate your feedback, but I want to get at least one more opinion, just to be sure.

EDIT: According to the JREF dictionary, Jigen has 5 possible meanings.

-Construction of Character
-Merciful Eye
-Period, or devision of Time
-Dimension
-Manifestation (of a celestial being)

Which one of these, I'm not sure. I think the most likely might be 'dimension'. A dimensional elevator would make a lot of sense.

Anyway, you persuaded me to start playing FF4 again

Mwahahaha! My mind trick worked.

And yeah, Cecil is a very stupid name. I change it to something else every time. His last name is Harvey too. *shudder*

I'm tempted to go back and look into the japanese script for Tella and Gilbert's first encounter at Damcyan. I can only imagine what sort of japanese sentence would mean "You spoony bard!" in english.

~Ronin~

 

[PaulTB]

Awesome! I really appreciate your feedback, but I want to get at least one more opinion, just to be sure.

EDIT: According to the JREF dictionary, Jigen has 5 possible meanings.

-Construction of Character
-Merciful Eye
-Period, or devision of Time
-Dimension
-Manifestation (of a celestial being)

Which one of these, I'm not sure. I think the most likely might be 'dimension'. A dimensional elevator would make a lot of sense.

Yeah but earlier I saw "じげんたち" which implies jigen could be /people/ (or at least people-ish). Possibly it's being used to mean "dimensional beings" there ...

And yeah, Cecil is a very stupid name. I change it to something else every time. His last name is Harvey too. *shudder*

Actually that wasn't what I meant. He's just been given the "BOM RING" to deliver and then he's surprised when it blows up?

I can only imagine what sort of japanese sentence would mean "You spoony bard!" in english.

One which exceeded the very limited Ninteno Censor standard ;-)

 

[RoninH]

Yeah but earlier I saw "じげんたち" which implies jigen could be /people/ (or at least people-ish). Possibly it's being used to mean "dimensional beings" there ...

Another name for a lunarian, I wonder? Hmmm...

Actually that wasn't what I meant. He's just been given the "BOM RING" to deliver and then he's surprised when it blows up?

Oh yeah, that too.

<King Baron> "Here, take this bomb ring to the village of mist."
<Cecil> "Wait--bomb ring? Don't those things like...explode or something?"
<King Baron> "That's a bunch of rubbish!"
<Cecil> "Then why am I taking this ring."
<King Baron> "Because...well....it looks good on you, you should wear it ALL the time."
<Cecil> "Oh....well...er...thanks.........I guess...."

One which exceeded the very limited Ninteno Censor standard

Yeah, but it was in the PSX remake too, so one has to wonder.