Editing Wikifang:Telefang 1 Translation Patch/Translation Guidelines

When translating, these guidelines should be kept in mind.

If you're involved in the translation, please fill in as much as possible about this!

== Terms ==

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Japanese !! English !! Context/Notes
|-
| でんま, 電魔 || Denma || A made-up term (like Denjuu) referring to certain attacks/the energy required to use them.  <ref> Literally "electric magic", but left untranslated to match better with Denjuu. </ref> 
|-
| Dメロ || Melo-D || A custom D-Shot ringtone
|-
| じっけんシンカ, 実験進化 || Lab evolution || Type of evolution where you combine Denjuu with DNA  <ref> Literally "experiment evolution", but that proved to be a bit too long. (I still think this could be changed to match Fusion better somehow). </ref>
|-
| かいぞうシンカ, 改造進化 || Fusion evolution || Type of evolution where you combine Denjuu with items  <ref> Literally "remodeling evolution". かいぞう/改造 is also used in Japanese media in the context of turning a person/animal into a cyborg with mechanical parts, which matches its use here. We opted to change the term to "Fusion" to make it shorter, more self-evident, and less awkward in English, particularly since it returns as a mechanic in Telefang 2. </ref>
|-
| くっつく, つける || fuse, combine || Combining items with a Denjuu in a shop  <ref> These words mean "attach" or "install", but with the change to "fusion" it's better to use "fuse" or some variation that makes it clear to the player which mechanic it's referring to. </ref>
|-
| しぜんデンジュウ, 自然電獣 || Natural Denjuu || Denjuu that evolve by level-up  <ref> I believe only Natural and Cultivated Denjuu are referred to in dialogue; the rest of the types just appear on status pages etc. </ref>
|-
| ぶんめいデンジュウ, 文明電獣 || Cultivated Denjuu || Denjuu that require DNA to evolve  <ref> This one is a bit open to interpretation. 文明 specifically translates to culture/civilization, so it could be that these Denjuu are civilized/no longer adapted to the wild and have lost the ability to evolve naturally (this matches the translation better). The other interpretation (which "cultivated" is based on) is that these Denjuu were somehow created/modified by humans and released into the wild, so they're messed up and don't have the ability to evolve naturally. The official player's guide supports the latter: 文明電獣: 人間によって生み出され、野性にもどった形態。 </ref>
|-
| キカイ || machine || Denjuu seem to use this to refer to any type of human technology
|-
| ちょうろう || elder || Musa, the village elder
|-
| カクザとう,　カクザ党 || Kakuza Party || Nerikara's political party, a pun on "sugarcube" that we are ignoring
|-
| アンテナのき || Antenna Tree || Trees that provide reception and links beween areas
|-
| シンデンジュウ, 神電獣 || Divine Denjuu || A specific god-like Denjuu that appears in the story
|-
| アクマデンジュウ, 悪魔電獣 || Demonic Denjuu || An evil Denjuu (Gypsophi) that was sealed in Peperi Mountain
|- 
| いのちのき || Tree of Life || (???)
|-
| けんきゅうじょ, 研究所 || Research Center, laboratory, lab || Use Research Center for map locations, and laboratory/lab/whatever in dialogue?
|-
| ほこら　|| shrine, cave, tunnel (?) || This translates to shrine, but in-game it seems to refer to small caves/tunnels.  <ref> IMO "shrine" should only be used when the cave contains a statue or something. </ref> 
|-
|}

== Capitalization and punctuation ==

* Denjuu, Denma, Denjuu types, and other proper nouns are always capitalized.
* Fusion is always capitalized. But the verb "fuse" doesn't have to be. Likewise, the "Lab" in "Lab evolution" is capitalized.
* Full location names should be capitalized (i.e. Peperi Mountain, Tronco Village Spring)
* Antenna Tree, Denjuu World, and Human World always have capitalization on both words.
* Try to maintain as many exclamation marks and question marks as the original, within reason. (i.e. if the source contains ??, try keeping ??, but if it needs to be changed then it's no big deal.)

== Names ==

* See [[Wikifang:Telefang 1 Translation Patch/Text dump/Short lists|Text Dump/Short lists]]. (Needs updating!!!)
* Professor Craft is also referred to as はかせ ("the professor"). 

== Gender ==

* It's usually not obvious from the text whether a Denjuu is a male or a female, but when they do, it tends to be "he/him". After discussion with Kimbles: let's stick to he/him for now unless people start complaining or something.
* "They/their" is also acceptable when it sounds more natural IMO, particularly in experience item phone calls since they could be referring to a species OR an individual.

== Honorifics ==

* Honorifics should be translated or worked into the tone/phrasing of the line, never left in Japanese (i.e. -chan, -sama). 
* Consider using "Mr. Sanaeba" in the place of サナエバさま since everyone else just calls him Sanaeba. 

== Verbal tics ==

Verbal tics/speech quirks are a common thing in Japanese media, but tend not to translate into English in a non-awkward way (see: Animal Crossing). That said, we're keeping a lot of them because Denjuu are weird. Most of these manifest in the [[Wikifang:Telefang 1 Translation Patch/Text dump/Phrases|arrive/attack phrases]] and don't appear elsewhere in the game. The ones that do appear in dialogue include:
* Punica NPCs usually end their lines with プ二. Translated as "puni" (non-capitalized).
* Liriope usually ends its lines with っペ. Translated as "-ope". 
* Musa talks like an old man (very distinct in Japanese). Translated as being slightly formal and not using contractions (we're -> we are). 
* Denjuu in Kurinon Village end their lines in ダス for no grammatical reason. Translated as "man", since one of the story-related phone calls makes reference to it. (Should this be toned down a bit, or is it fine as is?)
* Humans in Paparouna Lake add extraneous ダ's to their sentences. Ignored in the translation. 

== Notes ==