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| Golden Sun (The broken seal) |
| Translation guide v1.004 |
| Last update: may 29th 2010 |
| Compiled by LBoksha |
|_________________________________|
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/ Introduction
This guide is a list of comparisons between the names and concepts encountered
in the first Golden Sun game as they are encountered in the US/international
release and their counterparts in the Japanese release. It's a simple table
with, on the left, the name in the English versions of the game, followed by my
translation/interpretation of the Japanese name (although I will use the
official interpretation if I know of one and it's not too ridiculous). This
field is omitted (marked by a hyphen) if it's the same as or very similar to
the first field. Next is the Japanese name, followed by a roman transcription
of the pronunciation using Hepburn transcription wherever possible, with the
exception that I will double up enlengthened vowels. As far as I'm aware
Hepburn offers no transcription for certain modern katakana combinations like
ウォ, キィ／シィ... and ティ, which I'll transcribe as "wuo" (to differentiate
from ヲ, "wo"), "ki'"/"shi'"... and "ti" (チ is "chi") respectively.
Sometimes I will add some additional explanation or notes to entries at the
bottom of a section. These comments are numbered per section.
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/ Table of contents
You can go to any section easily by searching (Ctrl-F in IE and Firefox) the
file for the section's complete name.
1. Character names
2. Place names
3. Other names and concepts
4. Classes
5. Psynergy
5a. Utility psynergy
5b. Common Venus attacks
5c. Common Mars attacks
5d. Common Jupiter attacks
5e. Common Mercury attacks
5f. Elemental physical attacks
5g. Curative psynergy
5h. Common support psynergy
5i. Ninja techniques
5j. Samurai techniques
6. Weapons and unleashes
6a. Light blades
6b. Long swords
6c. Axes
6c. Maces
6c. Staves
7. Protective gear
7a. Clothing
7b. Armor
7c. Robes
7d. Shields
7e. Gloves
7f. Bracelets
7g. Helms
7h. Hats
7i. Circlets
7j. Crowns
7k. Shirts
7l. Boots
8. Items
8a. Healing items
8b. Stat improving items
8c. Psynergy items
8d. Attack items
8e. Rings
8f. Other items
9. Monsters and their attacks
9a. Vault/Hidea
9b. Goma, Bilibino and Kolima
9c. Imil and the Mercury lighthouse
9d. Mogall forest
9e. Altin
9f. Lamakan desert
9g. Near Kalay/Calais
9h. Karagol sea
9i. Around Tolbi/Trevi
9j. Altmiller Cave/Altamira
9k. Suhara desert
9l. Suhara Gate
9m. Tunnel ruins, Venus Lighthouse
9n. Crossbone/Treasure Island
9o. Bosses
9p. Other enemies
10. Djinn
10a. Venus Djinn
10b. Mars Djinn
10c. Jupiter Djinn
10d. Mercury Djinn
11. Summons
11a. Venus summons
11b. Mars summons
11c. Jupiter summons
11d. Mercury summons
12. Questions and answers
12b. Version history
12c. Copyright
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| 1. Character names |
|____________________|
US/international Translated 日本語 (Japanese) Transcription
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Isaac Robin ロビン robin
Garet Gerald ジェラルド jerarudo
Ivan - イワン iwan
Mia Mary メアリィ meari'
Jenna Jasmine ジャスミン jasumin
Felix Garcia ガルシア garushia
Sheba - シバ shiba
Dora Kinney キニー kinii
Kyle Dory ドリー dorii
Kraden Sclater スクレイター sukureitaa
Alex - アレクス arekusu
Saturos - サテュロス satyurosu
Menardi - メナーディ menaadi
The Wise One Wiseman ワイスマン waisuman
(1) McCoy obviously does not have a Scottish accent in the Japanese version;
instead he just talks extremely crude, like a street urchin. In fact, he sounds
precisely like Gerald.
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| |
| 2. Place names |
|________________|
(1) Most likely named after the Taklamakan desert (located in western China)
(2) Alternatively, Curry. Seeing as most places in the game are named after
actual locations, Calais makes more sense.
(3) Possibly named after Kara-Bogaz-Gol, a body of water connected to the
Caspian Sea.
(4) The kana transcription of Tolbi would be トルビ (torubi). Most likely this
city was named after the Trevi Fountain, a fountain in Rome people also throw
coins in, much like this city's fountain in the game.
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| |
| 3. Other names and concepts |
|_____________________________|
US/international Translated 日本語 (Japanese) Transcription
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Golden Sun - 黄金の太陽 ougon no taiyou
(1) The broken seal 開かれし封印 hirakareshi fuuin
Psynergy (2) energy エナジー enajii
Adept energist エナジスト enajisuto
Alchemy - 錬金じゅつ renkinjutsu
Ki qigong/chi'kung 気こう kikou
Chi haiya (3) エイヤ eiya
Colosso Colosseo コロッセオ korosseo
(1) This subtitle is omitted entirely from the international release.
(2) At first it seems like a strange decision to change energy to psynergy, but
there's a little more to it. Japanese is full of loanwords from English and
other languages. These words get changed to fit Japanese pronunciation (and
writing). One of those words is エネルギー (enerugii) from the English
"energy". The term used for psynergy in the Japanese version however is the
more phonetically correct エナジー (enajii) which, in the game, is used as a
term distinct from エネルギー. エナジー strictly refers to what is called
"psynergy" in the US version, while エネルギー just means "energy". The word
"psynergy" was probably introduced to prevent confusion that would arise from
translating エナジー with energy. "Energy is a kind of energy" does sound a bit
silly after all.
(3) The people in Xian talk funny. It would make sense they name a technique
after the sound it makes. Yay for prejudice!
(1) A common source of confusion: there are two moves called "Blast" in the
English release. They have different names in the Japanese version.
(2) Yes, I know it's really "Magical shoot", but that just sounds crummy.
(3) Cure light would work as well, but considering the next step is "best",
"right" makes more sense.
(4) All of these psynergies end in "...no jutsu", which means (literally)
"technique of...". The full translation would be the one listed followed by
"... technique".
(5) A note on the Samurai techniques; these are rather problematic to translate
because many of them are Sino-Japanese. That is, they're supposed to be a
combination of Chinese characters. However, Golden Sun only gives the
pronunciation so one can only guess at what characters (and therefore what
meaning) was intended. More so than in the rest of the article, there will
likely be errors in here.
(6) "bakuen" refers specifically to the smoke left after an explosion.
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| 6. Weapons and unleashes |
|__________________________|
US/international Translated 日本語 (Japanese) Transcription
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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/ 6a. Light blades - かるめの剣 karume no ken
Leather cap - レザーキャップ rezaakyappu
Wooden cap - ウッドキャップ uddokyappu
Mail cap Chain hood チェインフード cheinfuudo
Ninja hood Black hood くろずきん kurozukin
Lure cap Lure hat さそうぼうし sasouboushi
Prophet's hat Seer's hat よげんじゃのぼうし yogenja no boushi
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/ 7i. Circlets - サークル saakuru
Herb - やくそう yakusou
Nut Heal nut ヒールナッツ hiirunattsu
Vial Heal drop ヒールドロップ hiirudoroppu
Potion Heal potion ヒ−ルポーション hiirupooshon
Psy crystal - エナジ−クリスタル enajiikurisutaru
Antidote Antidote herb どくけしそう dokukeshisou
Elixir Restorative きつけぐすり kitsukegusuri
Water of life - (1) ふっかつのせいすい fukkatsu no seisui
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/ 8b. Stat improving items
Power bread Life bread ライフパン raifupan
Cookie Psy cookie サイクッキー saikukkii
Apple Power apple パワーアップル pawaa appuru
Hard nut Guard nut ガードナッツ gaadonattsu
Mint Speed mint スピードミント supiidominto
Lucky pepper Happy pepper ハッピーペッパー happiipeppaa
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/ 8c. Psynergy items
Orb of force Force orb ファースのオーブ faasu no oobu
Douse drop Aqua drop アクアのドロップ akua no doroppu
Frost jewel Chilled magatama チルドのまがたま chirudo no magatama
Lifting gem Lift jewel リフトのジュエル rifuto no jueru
Halt gem Stop gem ストップのジェム sutoppu no jemu
Cloak ball Shadow ball シャドーのたま shadoo no tama
Carry stone - キャリーのいし kyarii no ishi
Catch beads - キャッチのビーズ kyatchi no biizu
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/ 8d. Attack items
Oil drop - オイルドロップ oirudoroppu
Bramble seed - いばらのたね ibara no tane
Weasel's claw Storm claw かまいたちのつめ kamaitachi no tsume
Crystal powder - すいしょうのこな suishou no kona
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/ 8e. Rings
Adept ring - エナジストリング enajisutoringu
War ring Muscle ring マッスルリング massururingu
Sleep ring - スリープリング suriipuringu
Healing ring Cure ring キュアリング kyuaringu
Unicorn ring Monoceros ring モノケロスリング monokerosuringu
Fairy ring - ようせいのゆびわ yousei no yubiwa
Cleric's ring Fallen angel ring だてんしのゆびわ datenshi no yubiwa
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/ 8f. Other items
Sacred feather - せいなるはね seinaruhane
Black orb - ブラックオーブ burakkuoobu
(1) A translation error. 「ほうし」 （胞子） means spore, 「ほし」 （星） means
star/planet.
(2) Another error, most likely caused by not taking context into account. Yes,
「ブレス」 can mean "bless". That's not very likely when something is spewing
things from its mouth.
(3) Additionally, ひとさし can apparently mean dance. In the context of a bee,
a sting would make more sense.
(4) Another example of a translation error caused by lack of context.
「サイズ」 can mean size, but in this case it's obviously a scythe.
(5) The ferocious glower is 「シーフマスターはおそろしいかおで
にらみつけた！」 which literally means "Thief master glares at you with a
frightening face!". Trembling is 「スナッチャーはビビって
手のふるえがとまらない！」 which means "Snatcher is so frightened his hands
won't stop shaking!".
(6) For some reason Acid Breath was replaced by the "dark" variant here.
(1) Corona and Fever being switched is not a typo. They're actually switched
around.
(2) Probably short for "generator".
(3) Bise being pronounced as "baisu" could be a mistake in the Japanese
version. The correct pronunciation of bise is "biizu" but the spelling suggests
"baisu".
(4) Chichi is Japanese for (breast) milk, but there's already a Djinn called
Milky. Chi Chi is also a sort of cocktail.
(1) The Japanese name (kind of) matches the Greek pronunciation Κυβερη.
(2) kirin (キリン) is Japanese for giraffe.
(3) Again Greek pronunciation （Αταλαντη）.
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| 12. Questions and answers |
|___________________________|
Here are some answers to questions people might or might not ask.
Q: The Japanese text seems garbled or "off", or the rightmost column doesn't
line up correctly. What gives?
A: Make sure that in your browser, you select "Shift-JIS" or "SJIS" as
encoding. In Internet Explorer and Firefox, this can be chosen from the "View"
menu.
Q: What software did you use to write this guide?
A: The guide was initially written in Windows XP Notepad and later in Notepad++
for its ability to configure tab size. To get the line breaks in the right
place and convert tabs to spaces, I wrote a little C++ program that also
invokes the Win32 API function to convert UTF-16 to Shift-JIS.
Q: Do you speak Japanese?
A: No, not really. I know enough to read and understand most texts written
primarily in kana (the Japanese phonetic script) or using only the most common
400-500 kanji though. Anything more than that and I need a dictionary.
Q: Kara-Bogaz-Gol? Taklamakan desert?! How do you know stuff like that?
A: I had to look those up in an atlas! I did visit the Trevi fountain, although
I didn't throw a coin into it.
Q: Do you enjoy speaking in second person?
A: Never really thought about that. I think I do actually.
Q: Are there any real differences between the Japanese and international
versions of the game?
A: I'm not aware of any gameplay changes, but there's plenty of changes in the
text, mostly because English is often much less compact than Japanese. As such,
the English text is much less verbose than the Japanese text. A striking
example is the lack of hints to the location of the Turtle Boots in the English
version, a result of the translators being forced to strip out text because of
space limitations.
Q: I have other questions/remarks/corrections/criticism. Where can I contact
you?
A: Any other questions can be directed at my Hotmail address: boksha at hotmail
dot com. Criticism and corrections are always welcome. Be sure to mention the
word FAQ or "Golden Sun" or something somewhere in the subject line or your
mail will likely be deleted as spam. Please don't mail me to ask whether you
can upload this file elsewhere or whether I will upload this file elsewhere.
The answer is no, and I probably won't mail back.
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/ 12b. Version history
1.000:
Guide completed, uploaded
1.001:
Added version history
Fixed Hydros Statue kana and transcription
Fixed typo in introduction
Fixed Raging volcano (らっかざん -> れっかざん)
Fixed line break on ninja headband
Mad Golem --> Mud Golem (looks like mud, sounds like mud, smells like mud)
wisshy --> wisshu
1.002:
Some minor tweaks
1.003:
Some changes to kanji readings
Changed Gerald's せんし class to fighter (soldier implies military status)
Some other minor changes
1.004:
Some more minor changes, fixed typos
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/ 12c. Copyright
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.
This document is copyright 2008-2010 Leon Buikstra.
This document may not be reproduced without permission, except saving a copy to
your own harddrive for personal, private reference or printing it out for
personal, private reference. This document is available on GameFAQs; if you see
it anywhere else, please contact me (see the last question above). If you wish
to refer to this document on your site, please link to this document on
GameFAQs directly.
