10 replies to this topic

[Suwa]

What does it clearly mean to her personality? What kind of a girl is she?

As a german person, i have no idea what i could be... translated to our language.

"What is it like, to the japanese people in their language? Is it like, really similar to our mind or is it totally
different, like, a meaning other than what I think?" as Yuki probably would say.

For me as a german person, it´s quite mysterious and i really want to know. Maybe some of the translators can
help me too, because i like her a lot and i´m, like, fully curious!!!


And as a german person, i never heard of the word "amscray" before the most recent chapter 127.
It´s a good chapter!

~Suwa

Edited by Suwa, 23 December 2011 - 03:29 PM.

[Thunder Wolf]

I'd like to start by saying I can't explain her speech pattern in Japanese. I've only read the English version, so I have no idea how she actually speaks, what accent, or any other details about her speech regarding Japanese culture. There are a few different Japanese stereotypes she could be, but I'm not even going to try and guess.
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I know she isn't really a perfect example of this, but her speech pattern is similar to a gaudy, stereotypical "valley girl".
I don't know if you've ever seen the movie, but Legally Blonde is a good example of her speech pattern. If you can, watching that movie might explain a bit.

I'm not sure about the original Japanese speech pattern, but in America, that particular speech pattern is associated with being an airhead or being scatterbrained. People with that speech pattern are usually fashion obsessed and care more about outward appearances than inward ones. The slang we typically call people like that is "shallow".

However, some people may talk like that out of habit or to make them appear like what I mentioned. Like in the movie I mentioned, the main character, while having that speech pattern was actually very intelligent. So people with that speech pattern can be smart, but are usually portrayed as being ditzy.
Here's a typical example of what people usually view a valley girl to be like.
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I was debating with myself whether or not to mention another possible speech pattern, but I guess I might as well as to give you a more complete understanding.
There's another group that is known for saying "like" a lot. That is the "surfer" and "skater" crowd. The speech pattern is associated with people who surf and skate as a sport. Often, people view them as unintelligent (even more so than the last group) and foolish. The main distinction is that they typically say "dude" and "rad" a lot (at least, stereotypically).
Here's an example of what many people view surfers to be like.

I hope that helped! If you need me to, I can simplify or expand upon any explanation I just gave.

[Daru]

@Suwa: Das liegt daran, dass man es nicht wirklich ins Deutsche übersetzt bekommt. Bei uns gibts das in der Art nicht. Im Englischen läuft es aber so ziemlich auf das hinaus, was mein Vorredner erwähnt hat (das mit dem airhead vor Allem). Es soll ein bissl kindisch, gewollt niedlich wirken. Ich empfinde in diesem konkreten Fall den "gewollten" Aspekt des Ganzen am passendsten, sehe im Ganzen auch einen verspielten Aspekt. Im Deutschen würde das ganze am Ehesten noch hinkommen, wenn man haufenweise überflüssige Füll-Wörter in einen Satz streut wie "irgendwie", "so" usw. oder aber gewollt Pausen einlegt. ("Das ist irgendwie weil eben, du das nicht so übersetzen kannst und so, weil eben is so.") Aber wie gesagt, übersetzen kannste das nicht.

Sorry for writing the answer in german. In general I simply explained, that this pattern of speech can't be translated into german and that I think, Thunder Wolf explained it quite well. I for myself think that this way of talking is aiming to seem especially cute and childish, in a kind of playful manner.

Edited by Daru, 04 January 2012 - 10:27 PM.

[Thunder Wolf]

Are you suggesting she might be trying to be a mild version of a Kawaiiko?
I mean, the thought crossed my mind, but I never pegged her as that. I never personally attributed that speech pattern with "cute". At least, from an American view point, it's typically not associated with cute.

Dang, if only we knew her actual Japanese speech pattern. It'd be so much easier to understand. Like if she used "desu" or slang a lot. She might also use a dialect.

[Daru]

I don't exactly know the term Kawaiiko, but from what I guess, my thoughts went in that direction. On the other hand I think you are also right with the "airhead"-thing. In this special case I think it is, that she wants to seem like that, to be cute (in a perhaps weird way? xD).
Unfortunately I don't know japanese and can't compare the original with the translation. It kind of bugs me, because the character didn't have this speech-pattern from the very beginning so I kind of want to know, whether it is an accurate translation or some "artistic freedom" from the translator. (Most likely both would be the case I think, because as far as my understanding goes, it isn't always possible to make a 100% accurate translation).

Edited by Daru, 05 January 2012 - 10:25 AM.

[Thunder Wolf]

A Kawaiiko is a girl who purposely tries to be cute and centers her life around it. Not to be confused with Burikko, which means a girl who tries to be cute, but overdoes it so much you almost want to kill her.
I have a vague understanding of Japanese, so I might be able to understand a bit if I were to see her speech.

There's a cultural thing in Japan and America where air-headed can be seen as cute. Especially in Japan, considering their obsession with anything cute.

You're exactly right about there not always being a 100% accurate translation. When a character has a Kansai dialect, a TL has to chose an accent for the character. Some chose American Southerner, or Australian. There's no real consensus, so often one translation team TLs one character different than another.

I guess until a TLer comments, we can only speculate.

[Suwa]

My gosh!

Thanks for that remarkable explanation Thunder Wolf ! It gives me a slightly better understanding of who she is... and who she´s surely not!
While a habit could be the case, acting cute or something is out of the question, at least for me. So don´t speak ill of her!
Joking aside... the possibility of a dialect would mean that her parents have it too (normally)... and while writing that, i don´t remember the chapters, in which they were at her house. *will re-read later*


What Daru also said above in german, about intended pauses could also be a good guess. Maybe even certain accentuations, which the translaters tried to translate.

[Thunder Wolf]

You're welcome!

I'd just like to throw out there that acting cute in Japan is different than it is in the west. Being cute is something girls often do in Japan. In fact, in Japan, cute = sexy.
Also, a lot of girls act cute not for attention, but because they legitimately enjoy being cute. So she might be acting cute because she likes being cute or likes cute things. Then again, she might just be cute, desu.
It's somewhat hard to explain, because there isn't a lot of cultural things like that in America, or to my knowledge, German speaking countries.

Anyways, I hope that further cleared things up.

[Suwa]

Yeah, she´s really might just be^^

And there you are!

http://www.bilder-ho...iks5-3-eccb.jpg

I searched a for a raw pic, maybe you can point something out.

Edited by Suwa, 06 January 2012 - 05:59 PM.

[Thunder Wolf]

Well, I learned how they spell Kyoko's name; キョーコ
Basically, while I can't really discern much, maybe someone else can. I'd just like to let you know that I'm not the best TLer, I'm still learning Japanese, so I suck.

I'll go ahead and post as much of her text bubble as I can. そたキョーコちやん、ヒマ:なら (some kanji I don't know) の (some stuff with Furigana I didn't really want to read/type) い しない？
The second text bubble is as follows:　やリたいこと？
I hope I got all that right. I'm unsure about something on the second hiragana in the first bubble, though. Maybe it's a punctuation mark of some sort.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help. I don't want to try TLing that, as I feel I'll fail horribly. I wouldn't want to give someone the wrong impression about Shinonome due to my poor Japanese skills.

[Suwa]

Thanks anyway!^^

It would be cool though, if a translator or some other guy with imba jp-skills could look into it.

Edited by Suwa, 07 January 2012 - 03:43 PM.