Free Menu Translation!

[Mimi Nakamura]

I'm offering a free translation service for DP forum members!

If you need some help with Japanese menu translations, post up a screenshot and I'll translate it for you.

[kaedesdisciple]

Wow, I gotta say, that's really nice of you! I genuinely mean that, it put a smile on my face.

Should make the rest of us ask not what the boards can do for us, but what we can do for the boards ;)

[TonyTheTiger]

http://img6.travelblog.org/Photos/57013/247195/f/2019832-Japanese-McDonald-s-Menu-1.jpg

[Cryomancer]

Alright. I'll throw one out then.

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/7434/legendofdynamicgoushoud.pnghttp://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7434/legendofdynamicgoushoud.png

[Wraith Storm]

Wow, I gotta say, that's really nice of you! I genuinely mean that, it put a smile on my face.


I agree! It's very generous of you to offer to do this. But hey, these are the DP forums, right? We have a good amount of talented, generous people here. 8-)

Now I just need to find the time to hook my PC Engine up and snap a screen shot or two!:D

[ubersaurus]

Alright. I'll throw one out then.

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/7434/legendofdynamicgoushoud.pnghttp://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7434/legendofdynamicgoushoud.png

I can try and help here since I am in a similar timezone and need to give my rusty Japanese a workout!

Well your character's name is "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA". I can't read the kanji particularly well, but in the 2nd column, the first option is "Items," the third is "stakes(?)," the fourth is "save," and I'm not sure of the last one...I think it's the money you have? Third column your little hand is on "items you can use." Fonts too small on the other two options for me to read.

[TonyTheTiger]

The third says "status."

[Sniderman]

http://img6.travelblog.org/Photos/57013/247195/f/2019832-Japanese-McDonald-s-Menu-1.jpg

Gah. Beat me to the punchline.

[garagesaleking!!]

i think it says a big mac and a large coke, and dont forget the waffle fries! lol

[Kitsune Sniper]

If you're absolutely serious, I could always use some help. (http://www.foxhack.net/trans/)

[ubersaurus]

The third says "status."

Oh, it does! I didn't see the extra line in "ta."

[Daria]

This seems like the entirely wrong forum to post this offer. That said, click on Kitsune's link.

[Kitsune Sniper]

This seems like the entirely wrong forum to post this offer. That said, click on Kitsune's link.

Not really. There's some awesome import games that are mostly inaccessible to people who simply don't speak the language... menu translations can be very helpful. I remember that GameFAQs has hosted some in the past, for instance.

[Icarus Moonsight]

I'm stuck on romaji. Hiragana I can work through, if I table it all out. Ten tens and the little circle (whatever it's called) still give me hell though, well, except the T to D set ('do' is used in my name). Fu in the H group and then Pu... Grrrr. I'll take "to, too, two" over that anyday. LOL

I was wondering why I was lost after learning some hiragana... Then I realized that most the time I'm dealing with katakana in games. How many sets of ideograms does a freaking language need? :o Sure, English has print and cursive but, at least they look similar. I don't even want to think about kanji...

[smork]

Somewhat counter-intuitively, I find Kanji easier than Hiragana or Katakana. Katakana is the worst as the english-speaking brain knows it's 'usually' a foreign loan word - often it's not, though, and many times it's a foreign loan word that doesn't have the same meaning as the english equivalent.

Plus reading hiragana/katakana is s-l-o-w. Kanji is much faster to read. Steeper learning curve, but once you get far enough along that curve you appreciate kanji alot.

Menus tend to have the same or at least similar elements from game to game, so once you can read the menus from several different games 'most' others are pretty easy to make out.

I've got a Sharp electronic dictionary that has stylus input for kanji - makes life *a whole lot easier* when trying to translate something unfamiliar. I like to practice by using this dictionary on the train, translating unfamiliar words on my commute. The same approach can be used for games, too.

[Ed Oscuro]

If I found a lot of time, it would be fairly interesting to do a playthrough of Otogirisou for Super Famicom...but with each and every choice requiring understanding a new text bubble (or lots of them) it would be excruciatingly slow going.

[Mimi Nakamura]

Alright. I'll throw one out then.

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/7434/legendofdynamicgoushoud.pnghttp://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7434/legendofdynamicgoushoud.png

Top-left box is: ITEM

The central column from top to bottom is:

ITEM
ASSAULT CHANGE
STATUS
SAVE

The blue box below that is: MONEY IN STOCK

Top-right green box is: ITEM

The three blow that green box from left to right are:

USE DISCARD SORT

The blue box below that is: USE ITEMS

And the two small ones below that blue box both are: ITEM

[k8track]

Mimi, that is very generous of you indeed. I'm afraid you might be flooded with such requests!

My fiancee (who is Japanese, from Saitama) has translated a few things for me here and there (as well as scoring me some AMAZING finds). I'll never forget when we translated the entire instruction booklet for Hyper Crazy Climber for our own dear Phosphor Dot Fossils (Kazue did the rough translation and I smoothed it out more) and that seemed to take forever. It was worth it, though, when Earl finally figured out how to play it properly.

At the moment, though, I'd kill to be able to understand Hangul more properly (not from a gaming perspective, but just an everyday survival perspective).

[Kid Fenris]

Since this appears to be a thread for posting translation questions, here's one that's stumped me for some time. It's the last name of one of the characters from Bounty Arms (http://www.kidfenris.com/bountyarms.html).

http://kidfenris.com/bountyname.png

The first name (they're separated by the dot) is "Chris," but the last name doesn't seem to be any recognizable English. The katakana works out to be "Purenakaruto," which could lend itself to all sorts of phonetic adaptations: Prenkult, Planarcart, Plaincarrot, and so on.

Since it's just a character's last name, there's a good chance it wasn't supposed to make any sense in English. Perhaps it's just a bunch of English-sounding gibberish thrown together to sound Western, as Japanese game developers are fond of doing. But if anyone here wants to take a shot at the mystery word, go for it.

[Baloo]

Since this appears to be a thread for posting translation questions, here's one that's stumped me for some time. It's the last name of one of the characters from Bounty Arms (http://www.kidfenris.com/bountyarms.html).

http://kidfenris.com/bountyname.png

The first name (they're separated by the dot) is "Chris," but the last name doesn't seem to be any recognizable English. The katakana works out to be "Purenakaruto," which could lend itself to all sorts of phonetic adaptations: Prenkult, Planarcart, Plaincarrot, and so on.

Since it's just a character's last name, there's a good chance it wasn't supposed to make any sense in English. Perhaps it's just a bunch of English-sounding gibberish thrown together to sound Western, as Japanese game developers are fond of doing. But if anyone here wants to take a shot at the mystery word, go for it.

Well, you could always try to slow down or speed up your pronunciation of the word:

Prenacaluto? Sounds kind of Italian.

[Kitsune Sniper]

... It also sounds kinda Spanishy.

Prenacarto? Plenacalto?

[smork]

Don't fight Katakana and try to figure out what it is in English/Spanish/whatever. It's just "foreign". Though, not always (but usually).

The name is just exactly how it's written, nothing more or less.

[XYXZYZ]

I wonder how long it would take me to get screenshots of every menu in Langrisser II...

Can you translate this one? I can read katakana and hiragana, but I never learned kanji.
http://www.andriasang.com/blog/2009/04/22/game_archives_update/images/2132379680_view.jpg

[smork]

I wonder how long it would take me to get screenshots of every menu in Langrisser II...

Can you translate this one? I can read katakana and hiragana, but I never learned kanji.
http://www.andriasang.com/blog/2009/04/22/game_archives_update/images/2132379680_view.jpg

OK, on the left:

Idou いどう (movement)
Kougeki こうげき (attack)
Mahou まほう (magic)
Chiryou ちりょう (heal)
Shirei しれい (order)

And your character is an infantryman (hohei ほへい）

[The 1 2 P]

I've found that katakana works extremely well for understanding the majority of Japanese import games menu screens. Most are repeated anyway and the newer words can usually be easily sounded out. Seldom have I got stuck in menu's after memorizing the entire katakana alphabet. Of course, I still come across words that I can't decipher but those are few and far in between.

[Wraith Storm]

Here is one I would like to throw into the mix. I finally had time to kook up my Turbo Duo and take a few pictures. There are some sub menus as well but I will just post them one at a time instead of flooding this with requests.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm177/Archaictear8x/Emerald.jpg

Through trial and error I basically know what each option does but it would still be nice to know what they actually say.

[Mimi Nakamura]

Here is one I would like to throw into the mix. I finally had time to kook up my Turbo Duo and take a few pictures. There are some sub menus as well but I will just post them one at a time instead of flooding this with requests.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm177/Archaictear8x/Emerald.jpg

Through trial and error I basically know what each option does but it would still be nice to know what they actually say.

Top row from left to right:

EQUIPMENT EXPLANATION PARTY

Bottom row from left to right:

TOOL STATUS SYSTEM

[Ricochet]

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/6308/26270552.jpg



I've done pretty well translating the kana in this game, but the lines on the bottom left stump me. The last characters in the last two don't seem to be hiragana??

[Mimi Nakamura]

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/6308/26270552.jpg



I've done pretty well translating the kana in this game, but the lines on the bottom left stump me. The last characters in the last two don't seem to be hiragana??

Magnetite

Hotama (Something Ball?? Ho ball??) - I think be game-specific language.

Makka (Deep Red)

The last character in the middle one is kanji, as for the last one, the character all on its own after か(ka) is a mystery! It must be game specific again.

[DDCecil]

Time to bump this:

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/310/picture029y.jpg

Just curious what the options represent and what they mean. I'm guessing easy/normal/hard?

[Demon_Attack82]

Need help translating the menu in the middle of the screen and the box that says OFF in the lower right-hand corner

[Aussie2B]

Time to bump this:

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/310/picture029y.jpg

Just curious what the options represent and what they mean. I'm guessing easy/normal/hard?

Easy, Normal, and Time Attack.

[Fuyukaze]

Maybe it's the OCD in me but I feel the impulse to guess the names of some of these games. Currently not set up for screen shots otherwise I'd accidently flood this thread.

[Aussie2B]

Makka (Deep Red)

The last character in the middle one is kanji, as for the last one, the character all on its own after か(ka) is a mystery! It must be game specific again.

I don't know about the other one, but, yeah, the character after makka isn't kanji. That screen shot is from the first Megami Tensei on Famicom, and the currency of that series is called makka. That symbol following the word is simply their own made up currency sign for makka, like the $ sign.