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

[Reika]

I recently discovered from my Japanese friends that 'The Maelstrom' is called '黒渦団’　or 'The Black Vortex Group' in Japanese.

Now I ask, Why couldn't the name be the same in english?! It sounds so much cooler!

I humbly ask that It's name be changed to 'The Black Vortex' or 'The Black Vortex Group' for clients set up in English sometime before PS3 release.　＾＾

ありがとうございました。


Added to this... it would be nice if all names in the future be 'Direct Translations' of one chosen language. I and I am sure other would prefer that chosen language to be Japanese.

[Anonymoose]

If I'm not mistaken, the kanji 黒渦 (Black Eddy) means to Japanese speakers what a Malestrom means to English speakers: A bigass whirlpool (or "Free Vortex") so deep you can't see the bottom.

However, in English, Vortex often carries a cultural connotation of space and/or supernatural dimensions. I think it was a stylistic choice due to the fact that maelstrom still carries strong naval/water roots in free association whereas vortex has been compromised.

[AeraLucis]

I like what the localization team does with the names. And I definitely prefer Gladiator to "Sword-Wielder" as a direct translation. Same goes with many other localized names in this game.

'Direct Translations onry' will cause a lot of contextual misunderstandings in the future, in my opinion.

[Viridiana]

That second character can also translate as Maelstrom, though. So, yeah, they could've called it the Black Maelstrom or Black Maelstrom Group, but I don't see the point. Especially since Maelstrom is probably the only translation of the second character that provides a distinctly nautical connotation.

Out of curiosity, are the other two groups called 不死団 and 双巳団?

ETA: Sheesh, I spend ten minutes looking up Hanja, only to have to change it to Kanji, and by the time I get done two other people have already made my point.

[Reika]

If I'm not mistaken, the kanji 黒渦 (Black Eddy) means to Japanese speakers what a Malestrom means to English speakers: A bigass whirlpool (or "Free Vortex") so deep you can't see the bottom.

However, in English, Vortex often carries a cultural connotation of space and/or supernatural dimensions. I think it was a stylistic choice due to the fact that maelstrom still carries strong naval/water roots in free association whereas vortex has been compromised.

渦 isnt eddy, its whirlpool, vortex, swirl, etc. 黒 is black, 団 is group. I had no idea what it was called in Japanese until I asked. 'The Maelstrom' Translates horribly and is totally different from 黒渦団、The Black Vortex　Group.

The same with almost every other name in this game. it would be much better if the names were direct translations of the Japanese names rather than make up new names for everything. Communication could be much easier.

And The Maelstrom sounds intimidating, but Black Vortex sounds much more intimidating imo.

[Holland]

渦 isnt eddy, its whirlpool, vortex, swirl, etc. 黒 is black, 団 is group. I had no idea what it was called in Japanese until I asked. 'The Maelstrom' Translates horribly and is totally different from 黒渦団、The Black Vortex　Group.

I will disagree with this part here. Based on the lore of Limsa Lominsa: the sea, pirates, naval fleets, a city made from the remains of a ship, The Malestrom fits perfectly well.

The black vortex on the other hand does not. Localization team did a great job, in my opinion. As someone earlier mentioned a Maelstrom is a "huge-ass" whirlpool usually present in the middle of storms out in the sea. It makes perfect sense they would be called that =p

[Rentahamster]

This video clip seems relevant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBm_2IUn4MU#t=06m14s

"Maelstrom" is fine. Our localizers are godlike.

[Viridiana]

渦 isnt eddy, its whirlpool, vortex, swirl, etc. 黒 is black, 団 is group. I had no idea what it was called in Japanese until I asked. 'The Maelstrom' Translates horribly and is totally different from 黒渦団、The Black Vortex　Group.

The same with almost every other name in this game. it would be much better if the names were direct translations of the Japanese names rather than make up new names for everything. Communication could be much easier.

And The Maelstrom sounds intimidating, but Black Vortex sounds much more intimidating imo.

I may not know Japanese, but Japanese and Korean use most of the same Chinese characters with the same meanings. Looking up 渦 gets me 소용돌이 in Korean. Looking up "maelstrom" also gets me 소용돌이. You can't really argue that maelstrom is not a valid translation for that character. . .

I mean, you could, but you'd be wrong. >_>

ETA: I guess the forums don't like bolding Kanji?

[Catapult]

This hasn't been explicity pointed out by the English devs, but the German localisation team talked a bit about it recently. I ran a translation here.

To sum it up, each localisation team has a degree of artistic license available to them. There are discrepancies between the different language versions and this is entirely intentional, so as to maintain coherency within the versions - there are some things that just do not translate well or make sense in the relevant cultures.

For example, in the English localisation, the structure of the Garlean Empire is made to resemble the Roman Empire - this is simply not apparent in the Japanese version. The German's go one further and build the Immortal Flames instead as an "Immortal Legion" and have adjusted the descriptors of what the Garlean Legatus are called and what they command. (They get called Praetor, which is a combined military/political position in ancient Rome, exceedingly influential.) Titles also get tweaked to sound more relevant in the language. For example, the Germans went with calling Darnus the "Silver Wing" rather than the "White Raven".

I imagine the Maelstrom is just another example of this. When building the lore into English, they can't just directly translate everything, because it would look like an illogical mess in many respects for someone coming from a Western perspective. Rather, they need to Localize it (funny that job name...), which can be a big challenge given they can't afford to contradict base lore either.

And in my opinion they are doing a bloody good job of it.

[Viridiana]

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. . .