Random: On Translation

[nebroadwe]

Occasionally people ask me -- actually, they tend to pop up, red pen in hand, and point it out as an error -- why I write the name of Edward Elric's hometown as "Riesenbuhl" in my fanfiction. Well, it's not an error; it's a deliberate choice. Here's why I made it:

The katakana Arakawa uses to represent this name are リゼンブール (i.e. RI ZE N BUU RU, roughly pronounced [leezenbool]). Already the would-be translator is in trouble, because the Japanese liquid consonant isn't quite an "r" or an "l" as we Anglophones pronounce them, but sits somewhere between the two. As anyone who's read the manga Death Note knows, for instance, the English word "killer" and the Japanese onomatopoeic word キラ (i.e KIRA -- bright, shiny) are all but homophones to Japanese speakers. That said, final ル (RU) frequently transcribes a terminal "l" when moving from western languages like English to Japanese -- e.g. "Al" becomes アル, ARU. Arakawa tends not to invent names for her characters and settings, but to borrow them from Indo-European languages (e.g. Van Hohenheim, Amestris). And Riesenbuhl happens to be a German place name which is roughly pronounced [reezenbool] and would, therefore, logically be transcribed into Japanese as ... リゼンブール. As they say in my neck of the woods, "Bingo!"

I can't take credit for this idea; I remember seeing it in someone else's 'fic, probably on Scimitar Smile somewhere, back when I first began poking about in the Fullmetal Alchemist fandom. By then "Risembool" was established in Funimation's subtitles and in most print translations I ran across (fannish and official). But I stuck with "Riesenbuhl" because it's a) linguistically defensible; and b) aesthetically much more pleasing -- "Risembool/Resembool" just looks like a random collection of sounds to me, not a likely name in a milieu with places called "Rush Valley" and "Central" and "Briggs". But I am not a professional translator, so I don't insist on the correctness of my conclusion -- and would be happy to hear from anyone who has more expertise in this area than I. Always eager to learn, me.

ADDENDUM: I don't have a full etymology for Riesenbuhl -- the first element probably means "really big" (from Riese, giant), but the second element is trickier. I'm inclined to think it means "hill", but I'm not sure. Anyone who can help out with this one is also welcome to leave a comment.

Comments

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i just read your zombie thing and was wondering why you chose that spelling. Now i know

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

And knowing is -- yeesh, no, let's not go there. :-)

[lyricnonsense.livejournal.com]

Ooo, that's pretty interesting. I remember when I first saw FMA and heard the name of the town, I though to myself "Wow, could they have picked a bigger headache for translators?"

I still haven't been able to bring myself to read your zombie fic. I know it'll be excellent, but I have this thing about zombies... Sorry :(

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Ooo, that's pretty interesting. I remember when I first saw FMA and heard the name of the town, I though to myself "Wow, could they have picked a bigger headache for translators?"

Well, "Xerxes" seems to have boggled the good folk at Viz. :-) I have a lot of respect for people who translate for a living, particularly the ones who work in literature, and wish more people reading manga and watching anime had more of an idea of what goes into making a good translation. Del Rey's footnotes and willingness to teach the conflict are very helpful in that respect (must remember to write them that love letter :-). Watching parts of the Princess Tutu fandom convulse over having the heroine's name, Ahiru, rendered as "Duck" in English, left me with a desire to knock heads together, since a great deal of the kerfuffle wasn't about making a good translation (there being no proper name "Ahiru" in Japanese, it's not like translating "Sakura" as "Cherry" or "Usagi" as "Bunny") but about the fact that "Ahiru" in English is a pretty-sounding collection of syllables, suitable for a romantic heroine, while "Duck" ... is not. (And the familiarity factor, of course -- if you're used to a name, it can be hard to shift gears.) Having cut my fantasy-linguistic teeth on Tolkien (as well as dealing in foreign tongues for most of my brief scholarly career), I find myself as dissatisfied by invented names that are merely phonetically pretty (see The Game of the Gods (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1518794/1/The_Game_of_the_Gods) for examples that skewer this conceit as it deserves) as I am by original characters who have coppery red hair, luminous green eyes and freckles -- unless it's justified by other factors. [wanders off, ranting under her breath]

I still haven't been able to bring myself to read your zombie fic. I know it'll be excellent, but I have this thing about zombies... Sorry :(

No problem. I can't bring myself to read your Maes/Roy, either, and am equally sorry. I have a thing about non-canonical slash pairings. :-) Also erotica -- despite being a medievalist, I never really got comfortable with the bawdy.

[lyricnonsense.livejournal.com]

Oh you should have seen the fits I fell into when the muse decided it want Maes/Roy and it wanted Maes/Roy now. I don't do the sex scenes very often (if ever) and my main line of defense against the muse was "I can't write this! I have no personal experience of possessing the bits in question from which to draw!"

But of course the muse didn't listen to me. *sigh* I'm a pushover even to the voices in my head. :(

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

When the day comes on which I have to write about sex or its aftermaths (or its ... premaths?) in a way that requires any more detailed knowledge than that which I got from various biology and health classes, I'm going to shock my brother and amuse my friends by purchasing a copy of Sex for Dummies or The Complete Idiot's Guide to Sex and sticking it on the reference shelf next to the dictionaries and the thesaurus and the various manuals on mythology and plant life and such. :-)

[light-rises.livejournal.com]

I remember coming across that spelling in one of your stories some time ago and thinking, “Huh...haven't seen that one before!” Though I'd figured it was probably just yet another way of transliterating the original katakana—what with the variations I've seen floating around (“Liesenburgh” for the early FMA manga scanlations comes to mind)—I wondered about it and meant to ask when it came up again. And now I know! *laughs* Good point about Arakawa sticking with Indo-European names for the most part. And “Resembool/Risembool”...hmm. I suppose I just got so used to them popping up the most frequently that they never struck me as odd name-wise. Actually, I think I'd still feel more comfortable using “Risembool” rather than an alternate myself, if only to stay consistent with the “official” FUNi translation. But then I'm no language or etymology student, so.... XD;;

Hmm...and what of these zombies everyone's speaking of? I must read this for myself. *decides to save story for when she's good and alone—and immersed in broad daylight*

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I remember coming across that spelling in one of your stories some time ago and thinking, “Huh...haven't seen that one before!” Though I'd figured it was probably just yet another way of transliterating the original katakana—what with the variations I've seen floating around (“Liesenburgh” for the early FMA manga scanlations comes to mind)—I wondered about it and meant to ask when it came up again. And now I know!

It comes up enough for people that I figured I'd better explain it (I stuck it in my FF.net profile, too). I remember "Liesenburgh", too -- in a way, that's "Risembool" from the other side. "Risembool" is phonetically correct but possibly misses the borrowed-name dynamic; "Liesenburgh" recognizes that Arakawa is cribbing names from European settings but fails to take sufficient account of the phonological issues (the -rg ending in German is sufficiently hard that Japanese translates it with ルク [RU GU] -- for instance, Hamburg transliterates as ハンブルク [HA N BU RU GU]. Oh, and this is where we can talk about Japanese only having one nasal consonant that sounds like English "n" in some contexts and "m" in others and the funky "ng" in yet others. Whee! [pulls self back to earth]).

And “Resembool/Risembool”...hmm. I suppose I just got so used to them popping up the most frequently that they never struck me as odd name-wise. Actually, I think I'd still feel more comfortable using “Risembool” rather than an alternate myself, if only to stay consistent with the “official” FUNi translation. But then I'm no language or etymology student, so.... XD;;

See above about Tolkien ruining my life. :-) Honestly, though, I only know enough about these issues to get myself in serious trouble when talking with Real Linguists or Real Translators. I'm pretty sure of my ground with "Riesenbuhl", but if somebody ever comes up with a note from Arakawa saying, "No, no, I just made that one up!" I'll sigh and reverse myself. I'm not looking forward to seeing what Viz makes of chapter whatever-it-is, somewhere in the Briggs arc, where Hohenheim apologizes to an enormous list of oddly named people including, very possibly, "Mechthild" -- and who knows that name these days except medievalists and religious studies people?

Hmm...and what of these zombies everyone's speaking of? I must read this for myself. *decides to save story for when she's good and alone—and immersed in broad daylight*

They're here (http://nebroadwe.livejournal.com/45083.html)! Run! Run! (But don't waste your breath screaming. I swear, if catastrophe ever strikes in real life -- an alien invasion, the zombie apocalypse -- I am sufficiently unversed in survival skills to be for the chop early in the process, but at the very least I'll know enough to save my breath for running and scream only pertinent things, like "DUCK!" or "ON YOUR LEFT!")

[light-rises.livejournal.com]

(…Oh, and this is where we can talk about Japanese only having one nasal consonant that sounds like English "n" in some contexts and "m" in others and the funky "ng" in yet others. Whee! [pulls self back to earth]).

And now I’m reminded how useful it would be to stretch my brain beyond parsing out meaning from Romance languages. ^^; It doesn’t help that Hebrew beckons to me and yet intimidates me so. Maybe one day, though, when life has settled down some....

See above about Tolkien ruining my life. :-)

With the irony being that many of the Tolkien imitators out there don’t seem to grasp that precise, deliberate logic behind his exotic-looking employ of language. Although I find new, fictional languages created without any discernible rhyme or reason to them far more painful than individual arbitrary words or names, now that I think of it. (Probably my main gripe with Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted—“If Ella has done her research into linguistics, why haven’t you done yours as the @%&! author?!” *grumbles*—even though the book as a whole is still a favorite of mine.)

I'm not looking forward to seeing what Viz makes of chapter whatever-it-is, somewhere in the Briggs arc, where Hohenheim apologizes to an enormous list of oddly named people including, very possibly, "Mechthild" -- and who knows that name these days except medievalists and religious studies people?

*twitches* Oooo. Yes. IIRC, ZOMGFTA seemed somewhat boggled as to how some of those names should be translated, and considering what Viz did with Xerxes...I guess it will be, um, interesting, when they get around to it? I just hope that whatever they do, they at least add a few more vowels into the mix this time. XD;;;

On a lighter note, I think I like “Mechthild” as a name—although I can’t exactly see it making my short list for what I want to name my first daughter. :)

I swear, if catastrophe ever strikes in real life -- an alien invasion, the zombie apocalypse -- I am sufficiently unversed in survival skills to be for the chop early in the process, but at the very least I'll know enough to save my breath for running and scream only pertinent things, like "DUCK!" or "ON YOUR LEFT!"

And since I wouldn’t be any better off, I’ll probably be right in line behind you, thinking before we both bite the big one: “Dang…and I was hoping someone knew what the heck they were doing around here!” *grins*

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

And now I’m reminded how useful it would be to stretch my brain beyond parsing out meaning from Romance languages. ^^; It doesn’t help that Hebrew beckons to me and yet intimidates me so. Maybe one day, though, when life has settled down some....

The best history teacher I ever had once stated as an axiom that everyone needs to learn one language completely outside the centum branches of the Indo-European language tree. Japanese is doing that for me; let Hebrew do it for you ... [tempt, tempt]

With the irony being that many of the Tolkien imitators out there don’t seem to grasp that precise, deliberate logic behind his exotic-looking employ of language. Although I find new, fictional languages created without any discernible rhyme or reason to them far more painful than individual arbitrary words or names, now that I think of it. (Probably my main gripe with Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted—“If Ella has done her research into linguistics, why haven’t you done yours as the @%&! author?!” *grumbles*—even though the book as a whole is still a favorite of mine.)

Agreed on all counts. My favorite authors tend to be the ones who either "get" language invention or are very, very good at faking it (or eschew it altogether). C. J. Cherryh manages to make her aliens sound properly alien, for instance; so does Diane Duane. And Ursula K. Le Guin.

And since I wouldn’t be any better off, I’ll probably be right in line behind you, thinking before we both bite the big one: “Dang…and I was hoping someone knew what the heck they were doing around here!” *grins*

"I'm glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words." :-)

[light-rises.livejournal.com]

The best history teacher I ever had once stated as an axiom that everyone needs to learn one language completely outside the centum branches of the Indo-European language tree. Japanese is doing that for me; let Hebrew do it for you ... [tempt, tempt]

I suppose I can't ignore advice like that, huh? :) I know there's an Elementary Hebrew I offered by our school's Jewish Studies Department; perhaps I can squeeze it into my next (and last) semester if scheduling permits?

My favorite authors tend to be the ones who either "get" language invention or are very, very good at faking it (or eschew it altogether).

I have a feeling I'll end up in the "eschew it altogether" camp as a writer -- far too many ways to stumble, unless a particular story forces me to rise to the challenge. But I'll need to remind the people around me to slap me silly if I ever go so far the other way that I start to pretend language barriers don't exist when they clearly should. XD

"I'm glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words." :-)

*laughs* Is it terrible that I had to look up the source (although I knew that quote sounded familiar)? ^^; But now I'm starting to think the universe in general is nudging me towards giving Doctor Who a go. Hmm....