Board Thread:New on BlazBlue Wiki/@comment-5633574-20170614110700/@comment-5633574-20170614123705

If it was explained so clearly, providing a link to it on the front page would make it a lot easier for newer users and/or the uninformed. Even the original thread for this barely felt like it explained anything. I really see no actual reason for so much hostility.

Nonetheless:

"And it uses proper English terminology translated from the original source."

Hard translations/unofficial translations of the original Japanese are not the proper English terminology. Whatever the translations from the official dubbed version are, are the proper English terminology. Always over whatever you literally translate from the original Japanese. It has always been this way in all official and unofficial channels for literally any media from Japan. If you truly wanted proper English terminology, go with the English translations.

"Do you know what transliteration is? Because I can't see anywhere on this wiki calling Grimoire as Madōsho."

Sorry, I mixed up 'transliteration' with something else, so that was indeed an error on my part. That being said, the example you listed does not occur here, No, there are other examples where it's not too far from this. The NOL name translated from the Japanese form is an example of this, and while you might not have written it directly as " Sekai Kokū Jōhō Tōsei Kikō" the hard translation is in itself ajust as bad. At that point, you might as well just start writing Madōsho or whatever for everything if you're that intent on going with the original.

"And again, where do we do this? In cases like "Sankishin", "Amaterasu", etc. it just has to be like this."

Surely you can't be serious about using Amaterasu as an example here. That's a name directly from Japanese mythology; it's far different than something like Sankishin. But to answer this question, Amaterasu and Sankishin would be fine here because that's what the English script uses. Using Blue instead of Azure or Shinki: Murakumo instead of Lux Sanctus: Murakumo is incorrect, however, since those are not the official terms. It's really not so complicated--just follow the English script.

"No matter how I slice it, Japanese people called it like this."

But this is not a wiki in Japanese, nor is it written in hard-translated Japanese. So regardless of what it's called in Japanese/hard-translated to, that is not the correct term for an English wiki.

"Sounds, but when we translate this name, it's a nonsense, because: "Hey, let's call it a 'New World Library', but we hate being called as the 'Library'!""

Given how the first game has a Miss Litchi segment dedicated to why they have that name and why shortening it to the Library isn't something they approve of, it's not that ridiculous, and keeps with consistency as well. New World Library is also far more proper than...whatever you want to call World Void Information Controlling Organization. That's just objectively improper English.

"And again, it's not transliteration. 爆炎 turned into "combustible", but when I think about it "Blazing" may fit better here."

Now this I like, because Blazing would be a better fit (I'm not advocating for it though since it's not the official chosen translation) and you're sort of seeing what I'm getting at here. A direct translation or hard translation oftentimes doesn't translate well from any language to another. Keep in mind that a translator's job is not simply just to translate the language as-is for foreign audiences, but make it understandable and to make the script seem more natural in their tongue. That is why using the official English translations is best here--they may not be exactly the same as the original, but they fit the language itself better. Plus, consistency AND them being official and all.

"I can't see a problem with calling it as "Magic(al) Association", especially when definition of "association" word fits here much more than for "guild"."

Association, perhaps, but what does 'magical' imply? It's very ambiguous and open-ended. Mage's Guild narrows it down and makes it easier for you to infer, even if 'guild' isn't exactly the most proper conveyance. And again, it's the official translation.

"And the game has rebels and criminals, so let's just merge it into "criminal", because it's "more clear", even when it's a title for people who REBELED against the Controlling Organization. Even the page explains it."

Kokonoe is an SS-Class Criminal who isn't actively rebelling--she is labeled because of her philosophy and development of dangerous weapons and aiding terrorists. 'Criminal' fits her far better, and is likely why they went with it as the term. I really hate to keep saying it, but again, it's what the official translators went with.

Also I'm sorry, but I really cannot help but shake my head when I see 'rebelled against the Controlling Organization.'  It just sounds like a line from a poorly-written novel or something, and how out of place it feels is likely why they changed it.

"Purely subjective, because the fact I can have an opinion is bad, yes? "

You're misunderstanding what I'm saying. There is nothing wrong with having an opinion that is critical of official translations; having differing ideas and thoughts is very good for discussion, as well!! But one's opinion should never factor into whether or not official terminology is used on a site such as this. I'm not saying you're wrong if you were to use the literal translations because you like them more in informal discussion like this, but a site that is intending to be an encyclopedia for the series while using a language that isn't its original one shouldn't mix and match terms purely because the admins like one better than the other.

"Good, then I think everyone will be fine when I'm going to start call Prime Fields once as Boundary Interface Prime Field Device (ooh, this name makes so much sense!), then as Dimensional Boundary Contact Prime Field Force, and then as Dimensional Boundary Interface Link, and who knows what else, because they are terms used in our version. Hopefully then nobody will feel lost or something."

Your pointed sarcasm is noted, but actually, yes, it would help greatly in people not being as lost. This wiki is not solely for people already familiar with or having in-depth knowledge of the series--many wiki users go to a respective thing's wiki to learn more about the subject or study up on it without any prior knowledge. I really don't see why you're so prickly about suggesting that using official terms that this audience (and even the ones who know the series in-depth) are more familiar with is such a horrendous thought.

"It is called cherry picking. Change everything, or nothing."

That's...not how cherry picking works. Furthermore, I wasn't saying only change Bystander and Observer, but simply include notes on the pages to differentiate between the two different types of Observers.

"And what? I'm just reminding we asked people if they want translations or localizations, and they choose translations"

To be fair, only a very small amount of people even posted feedback, and the one who did say they were against it got shot down and booed--can you blame them for not elaborating on why they didn't like it with that hostility? Also, locking the thread discourages anybody else from bringing it up who might have good points to raise or who could show the discussion in another way. I would've gladly posted this there instead of making a brand new thing about it if I could.

"What. No seriously, what? So yeah let's say it's a grimoire (magic book) because *I* feel so and it makes for *me* more sense, screw Mori and the fact he called it (not a magic) book."

You're either willfully misinterpreting what I'm saying or didn't get what I tried to say, but what I meant is you pointed out that Azure Flame Grimoire seemed to imply it HAD to be a magic book. It doesn't--it's just a stylistic name choice, and keeps consistency with the rest of the tone they had. It doesn't change anything about the original meaning.

"Again: what are you talking about? Nobody uses here transliteration, you can't see here awesome articles in style: "SS-kyuu no hangyakusha is the highest rebel class and one of them is Raguna za Buraddoejji"."

"And I still don't know what's the point of saying this. This page has a proper translation just as you said. If someone's going to replace this translation with Google Translate like gibberish, then don't expect that I'm going to accept it."

That is not what I said. I said that having the wiki as it is now opens up the doors for it to possibly look like that, eventually. That being said, your last sentence there is a relief to see, so I'll concede on this point at least that I'm wrong.

"Nothing's gonna change, it was decision of at least semi-active users. And even if by some chance we decided to change it back, then I wouldn't need anyone's help, when I have AutoWikiBrowser to change stuff."

That's good to hear that it's an easy enough change if you do decide it, but I wish you would at least consider that I'm not bringing all of this up because "I LIKE OFFICIAL TRANSLATIONS BETTER" or anything. And while it may have been the decision of semi-active users, I will say that doesn't necessarily make it a correct one. This is a site that is a knowledge database for English speakers to learn more about BlazBlue, and this includes not only diehard fans and wiki users but visitors and newcomers. The change to translations may be preferred by some, but it ultimately causes some dissonance/isolation from the other side.

"And Homura and Tenjou are not males, localization made it up."

I don't recall ever mentioning them, and I'm not arguing that the localization made it up. But that's also a vastly different situation than name translation choices, and I would definitely be against listing them as males on their pages if anybody said so--especially given we have a media outright showing Tenjo's true gender.