Petition to change the name of The Maelstrom (english language)

[Anonymoose]

You know, I figured early on that The Immortal Flames was a play on the Persian Empire's elites, but I thought it was kind of funny since Eorzea vs. Garlemald is pretty much a modern retelling of the Greek city-states vs. Persia.

It's like Ul'dah naming themselves after their inspirational enemy... but hey, history is a nice break from Star Wars when it comes to plot archetypes. Thanks to Harry Potter and FFXII, I'm done with carbon-copies of A New Hope's basic plot points for now. Maybe we can move on to The Empire Strikes Ba-... ohhhhh

[Catapult]

You know, I figured early on that The Immortal Flames was a play on the Persian Empire's elites, but I thought it was kind of funny since Eorzea vs. Garlemald is pretty much a modern retelling of the Greek city-states vs. Persia.

It's like Ul'dah naming themselves after their inspirational enemy... but hey, history is a nice break from Star Wars when it comes to plot archetypes. Thanks to Harry Potter and FFXII, I'm done with carbon-copies of A New Hope's basic plot points for now. Maybe we can move on to The Empire Strikes Ba-... ohhhhh

You, Sir Moose, want to google "The Hero's Journey". XD

[Catapult]

You know, I figured early on that The Immortal Flames was a play on the Persian Empire's elites, but I thought it was kind of funny since Eorzea vs. Garlemald is pretty much a modern retelling of the Greek city-states vs. Persia.

It's like Ul'dah naming themselves after their inspirational enemy... but hey, history is a nice break from Star Wars when it comes to plot archetypes. Thanks to Harry Potter and FFXII, I'm done with carbon-copies of A New Hope's basic plot points for now. Maybe we can move on to The Empire Strikes Ba-... ohhhhh

You, Sir Moose, want to google "The Hero's Journey". XD

[Takanosu]

If you try to talk about 'The Order of the Twin Adder' with a Japanese person and translate it like it is named in English, it comes out 双子のヨーロッパクサリヘビのオーダー. It is good for the laughs at least. The auto-translation dictionary is too.... random to rely on as well, no matter which language you're trying to translate to.

双子のヨーロッパクサリヘビのオーダー this tanslation is a disaster lol.So if i translate that in English it'll be ' Order of Twin Europe Vipera berus '. Fascinating isn't it lol

[Fernehalwes]

Hey everybody.

It's great to see the the localization (localisation!) forum heat up again. Having the opportunity to communicate with you guys is one of the best parts of my job (the paycheck and the free cookies being the other two ).

I'm going to avoid the topic of which name is better: "Maelstrom" or "Black Vortex Group" or "Stygian Swirl Sentries" or "Ebon Eddy Elite," just as I'm going to avoid the topic of which is a better translation/localization policy: stick to the JP or localize for maximum "kick-arseness." Everyone has their preferences, and I'm not one to say A is better than B or B is better than A. There is nothing I, or my colleagues, wouldn't give to have 100% of our users say "Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude! Maelstrom RULES!" but we know that's nigh on impossible.

That said, the issue of loosely translated terms does rear its head every once and a while, so I'd like to toss out a bit of background info on how the naming process is handled here at Square Enix headquarters. Unlike a lot of games by Japanese developers which are translated after the game (or at least the text) is finished, the LOC team here works with the world planners during the early stages of lore creation. This, in effect, makes the naming of everything from NPCs and monsters, to locations and organizations, a joint effort. Once a concept is conceived and a bit of background info is created, name suggestions from both the planners and the LOC team begin pouring in. Usually one side will start off with a bunch of ideas, and then the other side will counter with their own. After a few back-and-forths, we usually arrive at something that we believe sounds good in both our languages, while remaining faithful to that original concept.

Because of this, you'll find the development side translating terms originating in EN back into JP almost just as often as you'll find the LOC team translating into EN terms that originated in JP. An example of this is the Grand Company Names--both the Maelstrom and the Order of the Twin Adder actually originated in EN and were translated into JP, while the Immortal Flames was taken from a Japanese word (不滅隊) that the lore-masters was quite smitten with.

Well then, where in the seven hells did "black" in come from!!!!!!?

I seem to recall that the kanji for "Black" was added to the JP Maelstrom translation to keep the three-kanji symmetry that the other two Grand Company names possessed. Another reason "black" was chosen was because of its use in the word 黒潮 (kuroshio), the powerful "black tide" current that swirls about Japan. So, in this case, "black" would mean "powerful," -> "powerful whirlpool" -> "maelstrom" -> localization GOLD.

I hope this helps to clear up some things.
Talk to you all again soon!

(Wow, these are starting to get as long as Yoshi-P posts... I hope he doesn't think I'm trying to steal his thunder...)

FUN FACT
Some other in-game terms that originated in EN: The Black Shroud / The Mizzenmast Inn / Maidenmere / Immodest Mouse

[Sav]

So, I un-lazied myself and found the Kanji for the other two. 双蛇党 for the Order of the Twin Adders, which is more like Twin Adders Place; and 不滅隊, which is more like Non-extinguishing Military Group, or something (character-by-character it's Non Extinguishing Military-group, for anyone that doesn't know Kanji). If you really think that those are better options, well. . .

不滅 actually does mean immortal. To the OP, I just can't agree. I even know Japanese, and I prefer the English (though to be fair, English is my first language). Literal translations hardly, if ever, work out well.

[Anonymoose]

I'm only a paragraph into the response, but I'm so naming my linkshell the Ebon Eddy Elite. Lmfao. +1

EDIT: Okay, finished reading. I like the dev-process insight very much; it's fun to imagine all of you sitting around throwing out terms from your respective languages.

It's a shame I can only give one +1 via the current like system; Immodest Mouse deserves another.

[Holland]

Fernehalwes, Thank you for that.

And thank you Square for putting a lot of work into the lore of the games you create. You guys are doing an excellent job.

[Viridiana]

不滅 actually does mean immortal. To the OP, I just can't agree. I even know Japanese, and I prefer the English (though to be fair, English is my first language). Literal translations hardly, if ever, work out well.

Did you read any of my other posts in the topic? >_>

[Mermentia]

Wow. That's fantastic, Ferne. Thanks for sharing that!