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Japanese HeroQuest: Quest Translation

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Re: Japanese HeroQuest: Quest Translation

Postby HispaZargon » August 31st, 2021, 7:27 pm

Kurgan wrote:My opinion is that you should be as faithful to the original Japanese edition as possible and still make it understandable.

The other projects were about not just translation but converting it into NA rules... and when stuff was too similar (like Verag, not trying to make him into some other type of character) they changed it up to make it seem like a new adventure, instead of a localized edition (to Japanese fans, the other versions didn't exist, just like for EU the NA didn't exist, etc).

Preserving its uniqueness and being direct is good, I say keep that up if you ask me!

Yeah, that's my principal working criterion. Then, we are aligned :-)

Kurgan wrote:If someone wanted to use these 14 as extra quests after completing all the others, they can do that now, and if they wanted to sit down and play the way Japanese kids did in 1991, without needing fluency in the language, you will help them to do this. To that end, authenticity is a big plus. Zargons can modify and change things as they go if they want easily enough. It's your project of course, do what you like.

You know from my previous posts that the aim of this work is trying to have the genuine Japanese version in English, to exactly allow anyone of us playing the game as if we were Japanese people. That's the idea... I think the effort 30 years later is worth it!!


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Re: Japanese HeroQuest: Quest Translation

Postby Daedalus » September 1st, 2021, 1:43 pm

HispaZargon wrote:[bQuest 1, Test of Strength:

- Same text as previous draft. Only minor improvement of map's quality and parchment text editing have been added.

- I have decided to write in italics all the "told" texts in the quest rules in order to make some visual difference with the rest of the Evil Wizard texts as some kind of visual aid. Japanese original text has no italics but, well, I think it is too much text without different visual references, but comments are welcome.

Works for me.

HispaZargon wrote:Quest 2, Fort Digos:

- The scan quality of the original map has been improved, especially at the map's bottom area.

- I have preserved the quest title proposed by Bob Bob but, Digos seem to be like a village or town since it has 'residents' so, I guess better title could be "Digos' Fort" but, maybe current title is ok in order to distinguish it from the next quest title "Pain Fortress". anyway, what do you think matchs better? Remember I am not a native English speaker ;)

It is strange that monsters and residents are both at Digos. I guess Japanese storytelling allows for that (but a Fimir?!) I'd think that the Fort would be seperate, perhaps held by the monstrous occupiers of Digos. For that reason, I think Fort at Digos could work to show the distinction. However, Digos' Fort pretty much says the same. Another tact would be to retain Fort Digos but change Pain Fortress to Fortress of Pain.

HispaZargon wrote:- I think there was a misunderstanding in Bob Bob's translation of quest rule E so I have corrected it as far as I think is better. Bob Bob (and bluesun) said here "... Also, the hero who found this treasure chest takes the jewel. They should add 100 gold to their Character Sheet." I think it is quite confusing since 100 gold really corresponds to the equivalent price of the jewel, 100 gold is not a reward for each hero as I think Bob Bob trend to indicate. Translating the original Japanese text using Google Translator we have the following:

また、こごの宝箱を発見した勇者は宝石を手に入れた。キャラクターシートに100ゴールド加えるように。
Also, the brave who found the treasure chest of Kogo got a jewel. Add 100 gold to your character sheet.

I think mine or Google translations have more sense since otherwise, finding the jewel has none extra value for the hero who found it although the Japanese text tries to make some difference mentioning the hero who found it. Maybe the Bob Bob misunderstanding was motivated by the quest's parchment text where it is said that each hero will be rewarded by 100 gold at the beginning of the quest but that's a different topic so, I think the heroes do not obtain any reward except the jewel found which unique value is 100 gold instead of 100 gold each. I know Japanese language does not make many differences between plural or singular terms but in this case it seems to be a singular sentence, otherwise has not too much sense to mention the hero who finds the jewel and after that reward both him and the rest of heroes exactly will the same gold... Additionally, I have checked that Rise of the Chaos God fan quest book also defines the jewel value in the same way as I think, so everything seems to match :-) That's my impression, what do you think?

About the Bob-Bob misunderstanding, I believe bluesun used "they/their" as the neutral singular pronoun and singular possessive in place of he/his (so still just one reward for the jewel.) This relatively recent convention places gender equality over precision, so in this case it is causing confusion (they/their = he/his, not all Heroes.) I suppose the Japanese text is equally ambiguous, but specificity is called for here. The choice of "your" is clearly better. |_P

HispaZargon wrote:- Last comment: I see that Rise of the Chaos God quest book does not include the fimir (monolizard :-)) and the orc located in the botton left corner room of the map, maybe it was intentionally done there but I don't know why since Rise of Chaos I think tries to include the same monsters as the original Japanese quest book. Was it intentionally done or is a mistake?

I'd say it was an oversight as he doesn't mention it in his posts. A Chaos Warrior and door had also been missed in a later Quest, but I think they were corrected. As Bastianbux had stated, intentional changes had to do with matching Warhammer lore. Good catch!

HispaZargon wrote:Quest 3, Pain Fortress:
. . .
- I have preserved the name "Barah" in the quest texts. Bob Bob's suggested it maybe be as Balur but, what do you think would be more accurate?

Google translate gave me Baller for the three characters. Based on that, I now agree with Bob-Bob that Balur is the intended translation. Emulating EU names is fine since most names are shared by many people anyway.

HispaZargon wrote:- I preserved the name "Talisman of Lore" for this artifact, although this item is completly different to the Talisman of the EU and NA versions of the game. i.e. In Spanish version this artifact was called just "Talismán". Again, what do you think about calling it as Talisman of Lore from accuracy point of view?

The Japanese closely translates.to Talisman of Lore, so I say go with it. There's even a new card with different text, so no problemo.

HispaZargon wrote:- Top left room, circle with Japanese character: I though it would be better to write there "MEEK" since it only had 4 letters and there were not too much space but the Japanese character written inside the circle means "princess" so that's the reason I have written "PRIN CESS" there, in order to preserve the original translation as much as posible.

I like it. It appears about 15% too small, but if you enlarge it, I think you can improve the legibility. Bolding the circle and letters should also can help. I'd even try a hyphen.
                  PRIN-
                  CESS
HispaZargon wrote:General last comment about naming: In my opinion I think Japanese creators tried to use names already existing in EU and NA versions of the game like Verag in Quest 1, although it was not a gargoyle there, but I have not investigated yet too much about the names so I now take the opportunity to ask you about it. What do you think should be the way forward with this?

The repurposing of names appears to be an intentional homage to the original EU game by the Japanese authors, so I say keep them unchanged. This adapting of the familiar in new ways both links the Japanese game to its forerunner while setting a new tone all its own.
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Re: Japanese HeroQuest: Quest Translation (NA conversion fix

Postby Kurgan » September 1st, 2021, 9:51 pm

Marvelous and you've gotten me to look closely again at these quests...

The Chaos Warrior in Q4 was guarding the Altar (Sorcerer's Table) rather than the treasure chest as in the NA conversion.

I much prefer Q2 having an Orc and Monolizard (Fimir) in the room that is otherwise empty in the NA version (an oversight in the conversion, clearly).

I didn't realize the Skeleton was missing from Q3, another good catch! These early "easy" quests are short on monsters, so the accuracy helps them not be too boring (and more opportunities for the Heroes to acquire gold from defeating them!). This prompted me to go through and see what other things might have been missed in the NA conversion posted earlier.

Before I saw your picture to refresh my memory I had wrongly assumed Verag was intended to be a Gargoyle and was only turned into a super Fimir (with stats equal to a US Chaos Warrior except 1 less movement) to make it less repetitive for NA players familiar with "The Trial" as the first quest. Much easier to defeat (since the Heroes lack offensive magic at this point) than a Gargoyle.

I'm noticing subtle artwork differences in the Japanese quest maps (the Orc and Goblin icons) that would be cool to be added to HeroScribe if someone was so inclined. The illustrations appear slightly different on the card backs and figures illustrated on card fronts too (in the eyes, look closely).

Keep up the good work HispaZargon!

Now for something different: I'm attaching modified versions of the "Rise of the Chaos God" (NA Style) quests 2, 3, 4 and 11 with the missing monsters added back in, and quest 1 with the original placement of the first treasure chest restored, as well as the Fireplace/Secret door placement of quest 2. Nothing to do with your project, but still possibly useful to someone here. ;)

I see that Quest 12 had one room that was "mirrored" but it was understandable that this was done because Heroscribe has a problem putting furniture along the outside edge of a corner room. Seems to be little point in reproducing that one here even though it could be done with a paint program to bypass the limitations of HS.
[Edit: I seem to not have been the only one who didn't realize the right mouse button can rotate the pieces, meaning I can finally fix #12!]

Edit: Also Quest 14 had a missing door and Chaos Warrior in the NA conversion, I posted awhile back in this thread. :greenorb:
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Re: Japanese HeroQuest: Quest Translation

Postby HispaZargon » September 2nd, 2021, 6:00 am

Hi. I am still pending to include some minor visual improvements to the quests description pages, translating and editing page 31 of the quest book, adapting to the correct size the quest book covers I already created and finally compile everything in a unique PDF file but, I am glad to share with you in advance the last translation draft I have for the 14 quests of the Japanese version for your comments, here they are:

HQ_Japanese_Questbook_in_English_Quests_01-14_DRAFT.pdf
Edited message: Content of attached file HQ_Japanese_Questbook_in_English_Quests_01-14_DRAFT.pdf has an updated version in this post.

My comments and last changes performed to previous versions:

Quest 1, Test of Strength:

- Minor style improvements in quest map.


Quest 2, Fort Digos:

- Quest Note E wording improved again in order to better clarification of jewel’s gold value. As explained before, I think changing the last sentence from the original is so recommended in this case.


Quest 3, Pain Fortress:

- Princess symbol wording in quest map now written as “PRIN- CESS” according to Daedalus suggestion here.


Quests 4, 5 and 6:

- No relevant changes performed.


Quest 7, Trial of White Mountain & Quest 8, Curse of Darkness:

- The scan quality of the original map has been slightly improved.

- I am not too comfortable about how I have diagonally written the names of the characters in the map since “Warrior” and “Magician” are too long words to be written inside their squares, so I will try to improve them in future revisions, maybe writing them in horizontal with white background but “invading” a little the two adjacent squares… Diagonal items are not common in Hero Quest so they look quite rare for my eyes. :-) Anyway I think the four names may be written following the same visual criterion in the map.

- I have a doubt of how to treat “White Mountain”, “Black Mountain” and “Star Lake” wordings in all the quests they appear… In my opinion calling them “The White Mountain”, “The Black Mountain” and “The Star Lake” sounds better since white and black are adjectives but honestly I am not sure how to deal with it since Bob Bob generally avoided to include the article “The” through his quests translations and the original rulebook map does not include them too.

- Bob Bob’s translation called the king at Godo as “King Godot”… Well, in my opinion it is confusing so I have decided to change this to “King of Godo” due to two reasons: 1.- The original rulebook map indicates a place called “Godo”, instead of “Godot” and I prefer to preserve the original names as much as possible. 2.- I don’t like the idea of calling the King with the same name of the place so I added the word “of” between “King” and “Godo” words (In other quests descriptions I have also applied the same criterion to the king of Neef Island referring to him as “King of Neef” instead of “King Neef”).


Quest 9, Spirits Valley:

- The scan quality of the original map has been slightly improved.

- I prefer to preserving the original names as much as possible so have changed the name “Wisdom Valley” to “Spirits Valley” since it is the name written in the original rulebook map. I know there was in the past a discussion about this since it has not too much sense the parchment text using the “Spirits Valley” name since it does not seem to be connected with wisdom or intelligence in any way but, I think we could survive with this. Then, does anybody have any idea of how to improve the parchment text sentence “Those without wisdom cannot pass, so people began to call it Spirits Valley” in order to provide it more sense without changing the name “Spirits Valley”?

- In the original rulebook map, Ricarm seems to be more likely an island or a region… Bob Bob refered to it as a “continent” on his translations but I think its size may not be enough big to consider it as a continent so I have instead called it as the “land” of Ricarm. I think “land” is a more general and friendly term for this purpose.


Quest 10, Magician of Fire & Quest 11, Balur’s Struggle:

- The scan quality of the original map has been slightly improved.

- Balur name has been used instead of Barah as presented/discussed in previous posts.

- As occur with the Talisman of Lore, the legendary treasure Wand of Recall has been also named the same as in EU and NA versions of Hero Quest, although its card’s rules are different.


Quest 12, Mystery of Star Lake:

- The scan quality of the original map has been slightly improved.


Quest 13, Temple of Ice:

- The scan quality of the original map has been slightly improved.

- The background of the non-used small room have been changed to grey colour since it was white by mistake in the original Japanese quest book.


Quest 14, The Final Battle:

- The scan quality of the original map has been slightly improved.
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Re: Japanese HeroQuest: Quest Translation

Postby HispaZargon » September 2nd, 2021, 8:40 am

Daedalus wrote:
HispaZargon wrote:Quest 2, Fort Digos:

- The scan quality of the original map has been improved, especially at the map's bottom area.

- I have preserved the quest title proposed by Bob Bob but, Digos seem to be like a village or town since it has 'residents' so, I guess better title could be "Digos' Fort" but, maybe current title is ok in order to distinguish it from the next quest title "Pain Fortress". anyway, what do you think matchs better? Remember I am not a native English speaker ;)

It is strange that monsters and residents are both at Digos. I guess Japanese storytelling allows for that (but a Fimir?!) I'd think that the Fort would be seperate, perhaps held by the monstrous occupiers of Digos. For that reason, I think Fort at Digos could work to show the distinction. However, Digos' Fort pretty much says the same. Another tact would be to retain Fort Digos but change Pain Fortress to Fortress of Pain.

Yeah, I like your approximation... Digos could be some kind of an occupied town by the monsters and they are based inside its fort, controlling all around. However 'Fort at Digos' sounds me a little bit rare, I prefer Digos' Fort and next quest title could be better 'Fortress of Pain'. I will probably add these title changes in next version.

Daedalus wrote:
HispaZargon wrote:- I think there was a misunderstanding in Bob Bob's translation of quest rule E so I have corrected it as far as I think is better. Bob Bob (and bluesun) said here "... Also, the hero who found this treasure chest takes the jewel. They should add 100 gold to their Character Sheet." I think it is quite confusing since 100 gold really corresponds to the equivalent price of the jewel, 100 gold is not a reward for each hero as I think Bob Bob trend to indicate. Translating the original Japanese text using Google Translator we have the following:

また、こごの宝箱を発見した勇者は宝石を手に入れた。キャラクターシートに100ゴールド加えるように。
Also, the brave who found the treasure chest of Kogo got a jewel. Add 100 gold to your character sheet.

I think mine or Google translations have more sense since otherwise, finding the jewel has none extra value for the hero who found it although the Japanese text tries to make some difference mentioning the hero who found it. Maybe the Bob Bob misunderstanding was motivated by the quest's parchment text where it is said that each hero will be rewarded by 100 gold at the beginning of the quest but that's a different topic so, I think the heroes do not obtain any reward except the jewel found which unique value is 100 gold instead of 100 gold each. I know Japanese language does not make many differences between plural or singular terms but in this case it seems to be a singular sentence, otherwise has not too much sense to mention the hero who finds the jewel and after that reward both him and the rest of heroes exactly will the same gold... Additionally, I have checked that Rise of the Chaos God fan quest book also defines the jewel value in the same way as I think, so everything seems to match :-) That's my impression, what do you think?

About the Bob-Bob misunderstanding, I believe bluesun used "they/their" as the neutral singular pronoun and singular possessive in place of he/his (so still just one reward for the jewel.) This relatively recent convention places gender equality over precision, so in this case it is causing confusion (they/their = he/his, not all Heroes.) I suppose the Japanese text is equally ambiguous, but specificity is called for here. The choice of "your" is clearly better. |_P

I have made a new re-wording in my last published version. Now I am comfortable with the sentence :-)

Daedalus wrote:
HispaZargon wrote:- Last comment: I see that Rise of the Chaos God quest book does not include the fimir (monolizard :-)) and the orc located in the botton left corner room of the map, maybe it was intentionally done there but I don't know why since Rise of Chaos I think tries to include the same monsters as the original Japanese quest book. Was it intentionally done or is a mistake?

I'd say it was an oversight as he doesn't mention it in his posts. A Chaos Warrior and door had also been missed in a later Quest, but I think they were corrected. As Bastianbux had stated, intentional changes had to do with matching Warhammer lore. Good catch!

Kurgan has already released corrections for those diffetences so, perfect from my side!

Daedalus wrote:
HispaZargon wrote:Quest 3, Pain Fortress:
. . .
- I have preserved the name "Barah" in the quest texts. Bob Bob's suggested it maybe be as Balur but, what do you think would be more accurate?

Google translate gave me Baller for the three characters. Based on that, I now agree with Bob-Bob that Balur is the intended translation. Emulating EU names is fine since most names are shared by many people anyway.

HispaZargon wrote:- I preserved the name "Talisman of Lore" for this artifact, although this item is completly different to the Talisman of the EU and NA versions of the game. i.e. In Spanish version this artifact was called just "Talismán". Again, what do you think about calling it as Talisman of Lore from accuracy point of view?

The Japanese closely translates.to Talisman of Lore, so I say go with it. There's even a new card with different text, so no problemo.

I agree, everything has been written in the translated quest book according to those ideas.

Daedalus wrote:
HispaZargon wrote:- Top left room, circle with Japanese character: I though it would be better to write there "MEEK" since it only had 4 letters and there were not too much space but the Japanese character written inside the circle means "princess" so that's the reason I have written "PRIN CESS" there, in order to preserve the original translation as much as posible.

I like it. It appears about 15% too small, but if you enlarge it, I think you can improve the legibility. Bolding the circle and letters should also can help. I'd even try a hyphen.
                  PRIN-
                  CESS

Hyphen added to last version. About letters size, well, I have done as posible because there is not too much space there.

Daedalus wrote:
HispaZargon wrote:General last comment about naming: In my opinion I think Japanese creators tried to use names already existing in EU and NA versions of the game like Verag in Quest 1, although it was not a gargoyle there, but I have not investigated yet too much about the names so I now take the opportunity to ask you about it. What do you think should be the way forward with this?

The repurposing of names appears to be an intentional homage to the original EU game by the Japanese authors, so I say keep them unchanged. This adapting of the familiar in new ways both links the Japanese game to its forerunner while setting a new tone all its own.

Yeah, again, I agree.


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Re: Japanese HeroQuest: Quest Translation (NA conversion fix

Postby HispaZargon » September 2nd, 2021, 8:43 am

Kurgan wrote:Keep up the good work HispaZargon!

Now for something different: I'm attaching modified versions of the "Rise of the Chaos God" (NA Style) quests 2, 3, 4 and 11 with the missing monsters added back in, and quest 1 with the original placement of the first treasure chest restored, as well as the Fireplace/Secret door placement of quest 2. Nothing to do with your project, but still possibly useful to someone here. ;)

Thank you Kurgan, very good and fast work!


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Re: Japanese HeroQuest: Quest Translation

Postby Kurgan » September 2nd, 2021, 8:49 am

Cranking these out, great job, HZ!

Yes, the original EU (UK) edition favored the "generic he" (like the term "mankind" meaning not just males, it wasn't specific to sex), while was lessened in the NA version, so whatever is appropriate for clarity, realizing common English conventions may have changed in other societies.

I was thinking of those white rooms... you could add a spare door and make it another room to search for treasure (even if "empty" of furniture/monsters) but at the same time they probably intended to have it blank and just forgot to fill it in, so fair call there.

As for Spirits, looking into a Thesaurus for synonyms for wisdom or something close to it, you could use a term like erudition, pansophy, sageness, insight or prudence. I know he didn't write the quests, but Dave Morris (whose HQ books may or may not be canon depending upon whom you ask) loved to use fancy words in his novels intended for young boys. Up to you of course.

You could say something like "those without discernment of spirit cannot pass so it became known as..."

(the term can also be "discernment of spirits" meaning telling the difference between higher and lower beings attempting to influence and sorting good from evil in one's self)

Use of the definite article seems appropriate. "The Final Battle" vs. "Final Battle" each has a ring to it.

French sounding names like Godot seemed cool, I guess ties in with the Warhammer fantasy flavor of Frankish Chivalry where it draws its inspiration (alongside ancient Roman and fictional Cimmerian). Changing the names to sound less European strikes me as creative editorial revision akin to those who try to make them sound more eastern in their opinion... but whatever is closest to the text I say is in keeping with the spirit of what you've been doing so far. Baller sounds a bit funny though.

As my own editorial aside, I think there are many westerners who are attracted to asian arts and media because of the romance of the exotic, so difference is celebrated. But the same could be said for our eastern counterparts, who may see glamor in the alien (foreign) flavor of the west. So Hero Quest brings its knights and barbarians and European folklore into that part of the world, and a few things change here and there, but it doesn't lose that aura of brushing past another world unfamiliar with exciting things to discover... so while we may be westerners re-translating the translation of "our" art for our own benefit, we're gathering up the creative interpretations imposed by another culture's view of the art in order to appreciate it as well. Just some thoughts. |_P

In my broader fan canon view, yes, I understand that these were all separate editions, but I have no trouble believing some of Zargon's forces migrated to other parts of the Hero Quest world (loosely based on the Warhammer Fantasy World!) and setup shop (he didn't just want to conquer on small part of the earth but total power was his goal). There they became known by other names (like Grimdead and Monolizard) and perhaps even took on some of the local flavor over time.

Having the guy you meet always be named after the place he's ruling over does seem a bit odd. Oh look, it's King Britain! :D (Lord British? j/k. The Neefish King sounds a little odd even if correct, so maybe "of" is best)

I believe other editions of the game have used abbreviations in the squares before when space is limited, so that wouldn't be inappropriate. Like MGN or MAG for the magician, perhaps, another thought.

I think your translation is bringing back to mind some of the things that were difficult in the original translation. The "evil god" being a synonym for the Chaos Warlock figure, but also the big bad guy character you're trying to stop (the chaos gods being another inspiration from the Warhammer world, and fits with other types of big evil dudes like the Frozen Horror in other packs in other localities, or even like the Witch Lord). But there was some confusion over who Grimdead was... if that was the name of the evil "god" or of the "Demon King" (Zargon) himself (who is compared to a "god" of the game in the manual here). And then the side discussion about deities across cultures and the "god" being one of many possible powerful beings above humans, not necessarily almighty in this context (Zargon, despite his hubris, is after all still a man). The idea of Zargon (or Morcar if you prefer, or in this case Grimdead) seeking after sources of power that even he will not be able to control, fits in with the idea of chaos and the prophetic warnings of Mentor in the EU version (that he foresees his pupil ultimately being destroyed by the very forces he has unleashed... whether this is his own bitter prediction or the prophecy of Loretome is unclear). If the evil god destroys the world, where would Grimdead be? So the lore is enhanced by these stories, I feel. Grimdead being the demon god character as opposed to the GM player ("king of demons" Zargon/Morcar) makes better sense to me.

This makes me think... isn't it about time Hasbro releases another Hero Quest for the nostalgic fans in Japan? So perhaps the next project should be a retro style translation of the (remake) English back into Japanese again...

PS: Unbeknownst to me, the Japanese versions of the Orc and Goblin are already in HeroScribe via the all in one icon pack. So nevermind!
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Re: Japanese HeroQuest: Quest Translation

Postby Kurgan » September 2nd, 2021, 9:39 am

On closer inspection, the diagonal labels of text seem better than the abbreviations, even if they are small.

"Godo's King" could also be equivalent of "King of Godo."

The Heroes upon completing the campaign, could have acquired an impressive career haul of 7,125 gold (not even counting all the bounties for slaying the monsters and hidden treasure cards), with many opportunities to lose some from dying or leveling up, of course!

I am missing the part [Spoilers] about the Princess seeking a Hero's hand in marriage in the epilogue...


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Re: Japanese HeroQuest: Quest Translation

Postby HispaZargon » September 2nd, 2021, 7:33 pm

Hi, here is some of my work about page 31 of the Japanese quest book.

I think nobody has translated this page before so I have had to extract all the Japanese texts, which has not been easy since there are areas in the scanned copy with very poor quality but I think I finally succeded with all the Japanese characters identification.

I know the content of this page could not be of much interest since it seems to include the same text (or mostly the same text) as EU and NA versions' quest books but, you will notice that the content is not exactly the same so, there we go!

Next paragraphs show my first translation attempt, waiting for comments, corrections or suggestions from your side. I have not included the monster game atribbutes since they can be directly and easily extracted from the original Japanese text. Of course, I will edit all of this translations and the monster stats in a final page to be added to the translated quest book PDF, preserving as much as posible its original style.

-----------------------------------------------

Title:

Japanese: モンスタ一一覧

Google and My Best Guess Translation: LIST OF MONSTERS

Goblin:

Japanese (without monster attributes lines): 緑色の小さくて残酷なモンスタ一。 小さいけれど、 あなどると痛い目に合うだろう。
Google Translation: A small, cruel green monster. It's small, but it will hurt if you try it.
Others Translators: Green small and cruel Monsta one. It's small, but it's going to hurt you.

My Best Guess Translation: A small and cruel green monster. It's small, but it will try to hurt you.

Skeleton:

Japanese (without monster attributes lines): 闇の力で動かされている、骨になった、戦士の死体。動きは遅いが残忍である。
Google Translation: A boned, warrior corpse driven by the power of darkness. It moves slowly but is brutal.
Other Translators: A corpse of a warrior, turned into a bone, being moved by the power of darkness.The movement is slow but brutal.

My Best Guess Translation: A boned warrior corpse driven by the power of darkness. It moves slowly but brutal.

Orc:

Japanese (without monster attributes lines): オークはゴブリンと同類のモンスタ一。ゴブリンより大きくて、力もある。
Google Translation: Orcs are the same kind of monsters as goblins. It's bigger and more powerful than a goblin.

My Best Guess Translation: Orcs are the same kind of monsters as Goblins. However, they are larger and more powerful than a Goblin.

Zombie:

Japanese (without monster attributes lines): スケル卜ン同様、閤の麿法で生き返らされた死体。腐った筋肉や血か残っている。いつもなたを持ち歩いている。
Google Translation: Like the skeleton, the corpse was revived by the method of the sword. Rotten muscle or blood remains. I always carry you with me.
DeepL Translator: Like Skeleton, this corpse was brought back to life by the magician. He still has rotten muscles and blood. He always carries a rake with him.

* I think there is some kind of issue in the Japanese text since if we delete the first character い of the last sentence Google translate it as follows, which has more sense: I carry a machete with me.

My Best Guess Translation: Like the Skeleton, the corpse was revived by the power of dark magic. It still has rotten muscles and blood. It always carries a machete with him.

Monolizard:

Japanese (without monster attributes lines): 一つ目のト力ゲのようなモンスタ一。オ一クよりさらに強い。モノリザ一ドはオークやゴブリンを手下にっれていることが多い。
Google Translation: A monster like the first Torikige. Even stronger than Ok. Monolizards often have orcs and goblins as their minions.
Microsoft Translation: Monsta one like the first torsion. Even stronger than O1k. Monolithas often have oaks and goblins.
DeePL Translation: The first one is a lizard-like monster. It is even stronger than an orc. Monoliths often have Orcs and Goblins as their minions.
Systran Translation: The first one is Monsta Ichi like a lizard. Even stronger than Ohitoku. Monoriza One often has oaks and goblins under his control.

My Best Guess Translation: A lizard-like monster stronger even than an Orc. Monolizards often have Orcs and Goblins under their control.

Mummy:

Japanese (without monster attributes lines): 闇の靡法で、腐らないように保存された死体。マミ一はスケル卜ンやゾンビよりも強力な魔法で操られている。1対1で闘うのは危険。
Google Translation: A corpse that has been preserved so that it will not rot in the darkness. Mummy is manipulated with more powerful magic than skeletons and zombies. It is dangerous to fight one-on-one.

My Best Guess Translation: A corpse that has been preserved so that it will not rot in the darkness. Mummies are controlled with more powerful magic than Skeletons and Zombies. It is dangerous in single-handed fight.

Dark Warrior:

Japanese (without monster attributes lines): 闇の力に屈した戦士たち。よろいに身を包み呪われた武器を持っている。体力もあり、倒すのは難しい。
Google Translation: Warriors who succumbed to the power of darkness. He is dressed in armor and has a cursed weapon. He has physical strength and is difficult to beat.

My Best Guess Translation: A warrior who succumbed to the power of darkness. He is dressed in armour and wields a cursed weapon. He has great physical strength so it is difficult to defeat.

Gargoyle:

Japanese (without monster attributes lines): 恐ろしい怪物の石像に闇の魔法で生命を与えて作られたモンスタ一。その石の肌に戦闘で傷をつけるのは非常に難しい。
Google Translation: A monster made by giving life to a stone statue of a terrifying monster with the magic of darkness. It is very difficult to scratch the stone's skin in battle.

My Best Guess Translation: A monster made by giving life to a stone statue of a terrifying monster with the magic of darkness. It is very difficult to scratch its stone's skin in combat.

Final note:

Japanese: 注) Cダイスとはコンバットダイスのことです。
Google Translation: Note) C dice is combat dice.

My Best Guess Translation (according to already translated rulebook's nomenclature): Note: CD means Combat Die/Dice.


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Re: Japanese HeroQuest: Quest Translation

Postby Kurgan » September 3rd, 2021, 10:48 am

You could leave as is, with the wooden literal translation or update the grammar to sound more proper in English, it's up to you. As usual I am intrigued by the subtle differences and the way languages interpret each other.

I think maybe the Princess's attraction to the Heroes might have been an editorial insertion from the guys working on the translation after all? ;)


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