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You can't imagine how excited I was when I discovered there were Russian and Italian versions of Homestuck. I frantically dashed to the Google search bar and entered "homestuck in chinese." After waiting a split second, I was met with a long list of results. None, however, was titled with the boxy hanzi title I had been searching for. Alas, there is no Chinese version of Homestuck as of yet.
So, to compensate for this, I'll try to transliterate Homestuck and its terms into Chinese using my mediocre knowledge of the language (because no one else is going to!). I'll use mostly Cantonese, which I personally think is much smoother and better-sounding than Mandarin. In addition, it provides for ending consonants.
So let's begin!
Homestuck
First up is the title itself, Homestuck! 3nodding It's essentially "home"+"stuck". I'm thinking 在家游记 [Cantonese Jyutping: zoi6 gaa1 jau4 gei3 / Mandarin Pinyin: zài jiā yóu jì] would work, as it roughly means "record of travels at home." It's a play on 西游记, an ancient Chinese fantasy novel. Of course, that doesn't sound very catchy and it doesn't really make sense -- most of the traveling that the characters do in Homestuck are outside their homes.
What if we remove the first character, 在, though? We would get 家游记 [Cantonese Jyutping: gaa1 jau4 gei3 / Mandarin Pinyin: jiā yóu jì], meaning "Home Wandering Record." It doesn't make much sense, but neither does "Homestuck."
Trolls
Before we can move on to anything else, it's important to translate "troll" first. Chinese mythology doesn't have trolls, so we're going to have to rely on other things. According to this page, the traditional trolls in Norse mythology are called 巨怪 [Cantonese: geoi6 gwaai3 / Mandarin: jù guài], meaning "huge strange creature." This isn't exactly accurate, considering trolls and humans have been proven to be the same size.
Alternately, we could use 白目 [C: baak6 muk6 / M: bái mù], which is the Chinese term for trolling (in the Internet sense). It literally means "white eyes," which doesn't make sense, but we could always modify it and use 黄目 [wong4 muk6 / huáng mù], meaning "yellow eyes." Though that might create some problems when Terezi loses her eyesight.
Hivebent
If the above translated name for Homestuck doesn't sound good enough, then "Hivebent" may be an alternative title for the hypothetical Chinese translation of the webcomic. 居湾 [geoi1 waan1 / jū wān], roughly meaning "dwelling bent," may work. It's short and catchy. Or, we could go with the lengthier 住宅弯曲 [zyu6 zaak6 waan1 kuk1 / zhù zhái wān qū], meaning "residence crooked," or pretty much the same thing.
Sburb
"Sburb" is a hard one; it doesn't really mean anything and the "sb" and "er" sounds aren't native to either Cantonese or Mandarin. It does, however, come from the word "suburb." I'm thinking 苏郊 [sou1 gaau1 / sū jiāo] would be nice, considering it means "revive open space" or "revive suburb," which isn't very far from the spirit of the game.
Andrew Hussie
Given his numerous self-insertions and the blatant fact that he is, after all, the author of this webcomic, where would we be without a Chinese version of Hussie's name? Now, as family names go before given names in Chinese, his Chinese name will be read Hussie Andrew rather than Andrew Hussie.
So let's start: Hussie would be 核司 [hat6 si1 / hú sī]. This is fitting, considering the first character means "seed," "kernel," or "atom," and the second means "control" or "manage."
Andrew would be 安朱 [ngon1 zyu1 / ān zhū], which doesn't really mean anything but "peaceful vermillion." So, in the end, Andrew Hussie is 核司 安朱 [hat6 si1 ngon1 zyu1 / hú sī ān zhū].
John Egbert
Again, family name first. A long version of Egbert would be 愛格伯特 [ngoi3 gaak3 baa3 dak6 / ài gé bó tè], but let's just use the first two characters, 愛格. John would be a single character, 俊 [zeon3 / jùn]. So John Egbert would be 愛格 俊 [ngoi3 gaak3 zeon3 / ài gé jùn].
Alternatively, if we want Egbert to have a traditional Chinese family name, he could be 魏俊 [ngai6 zeon3 / wèi jùn], which sounds somewhat like John Egbert.
Jade Harley
Harley can be transliterated as 哈雷 [haa1 leoi4 / hā léi], while Jade can be translated as 美玉 [mei5 juk6 / měi yù], meaning "beautiful jade." Thus, Jade Harley is 哈雷 美玉 [haa1 leoi4 mei5 juk6 / hā léi měi yù].
Alternately, if we want to change Jade Harley into a completely Chinese character, we could simply drop the first character 哈 and get 雷 美玉 [leoi4 mei5 juk6 / léi měi yù], a perfectly legitimate Chinese name.
Dave Strider
cool Alright, time for the cool guy! Strider David would be 斯太德 大卫 [si1 taai3 dak1 daai6 wai6 / sī tài dé dà wèi], but that's a mouthful and I doubt any Chinese publisher would want that name for a character.
Alternately, 司徒 大卫 [si1 tou4 daai6 wai6 / sī tú dà wèi] would be a rare but acceptable Chinese name, the family name coming from a term meaning "minister over the masses" and the given name coming from the standard transliteration for the English name "David."
Rose Lalonde
For Lalonde Rose, 罗伦 秀兰 [lo4 leon4 sau3 laan4 / luó lún xiù lán] would be appropriate; 罗伦 being transliterated from "Lalonde" and 秀兰 being a common Chinese given name meaning "elegant orchid."
Alternately, drop the second character and you'll have 罗 秀兰 [lo4 sau3 laan4 / luó xiù lán], a perfectly normal Chinese name.
Now, rushing through the trolls' names. Several of the troll names are taken from Sanskrit terms and thus may have Chinese parallels; others will have to rely on phonetic characters to get the sounds across.
Aradia Megido
Megido: either 米吉多 [mai5 gat1 do1 / mǐ jí duō] or 芈 [me1 / miē]
Aradia: either 阿拉地亞 [aa3 laa1 dei6 ngaa3 / ā lā dì yà] or 罗帝 [lo4 dai3 / luó dì]
Tavros Nitram
Nitram: 奈张 [noi6 zoeng1 / nài zhāng]
Tavros 達吴罗斯 [daat6 ng4 lo4 si1 / dá wú luó sī] or 大吴思 [daai6 ng4 si1 / dà wú sī]
Sollux Captor
Captor: 卡布托 [kaa1 bou3 tok3 / kǎ bù tuō] or 加捕托 [gaa1 bou6 tok3 / jiā bǔ tuō]
Sollux: 苏乐 [sou1 lok6 / sū lè] or 双光 [soeng1 gwong1 / shuāng guāng]("double light" wink
Karkat Vantas
Vantas: 环他斯 [waan4 taa1 si1 / huán tā sī] or 運岔 [wan6 caa1 / yùn chà]
Karkat: 加轧 [gaa1 gaat3/ jiā gá]("add crush" wink or 家吉 [gaa1 gat1 / jiā jí]("family lucky" wink or 卡咭 [kaa1 kat6 / kǎ jī]
Nepeta Leijon
Leijon: 雷安 [leoi4 ngon1 / léi ān]
Nepeta: 猫草 [maau1 cou2 / māo cǎo] ("catnip" wink or 芳 [fong1 / fāng]
Kanaya Maryam
Maryam: 末艷 [mut6 jim6 / mò yàn] or 瑪阴 [maa5 jam1 / mǎ yīn]
Kanaya: 金谷 [gam1 guk1 / jīn gǔ] or 巾雅 [gan1 ngaa5 / jīn yǎ]
Terezi Pyrope
Pyrope: 火目 [fo2 muk6 / huǒ mù] ("fire-eyes" wink or 拜立 [baai1 laap6 / bài lì] ("bowing establishment" wink
Terezi: 帝智 [dai3 zi3 / dì zhì]
Vriska Serket
Serket: 天蝎 [tin1 hit3 / tiān hé] or 瑟蠍 [sat1 kit3 / sè xiē]
Vriska: 威视卡 [wai1 si6 kaa1 / wēi shì kǎ]
Equius Zahhak
Zahhak: 炸客 [zaa3 haak3 / zhà kè] ("exploding guest" wink or 抓 (zaa1 haak1 / zhuā hēi)
Equius: 峨珪丝 [ngo4 gwai1 si1 / é guī sī]
Gamzee Makara
Makara: 摩伽罗 [mo1 gaa1 lo4 / mó qié luó] or 摩竭 [mo1 kit3 / mó jié]
Gamzee: 紺紫 [gam3 zi2 / gàn zǐ] or 金志 [gam1 zi3 / jīn zhì] or 鑑自 [gaam3 zi6 / jiàn zì]
Eridan Ampora
Ampora: 双耳 [soeng1 ji5 / shuāng ěr] or 安波拉 [ngon1 bo1 laa1 / ān bō lā]
Eridan: 波江 [bo1 gong1 / bō jiāng] or 尔意单 [ji5 ji3 daan1/ ěr yì dān] ("you-opinion-lonely" wink
Feferi Peixes
Peixes: 珮世 [pui3 sai3 / pèi shì]
Feferi: 辉利 [fai1 lei6 / huī lì]
As you can see, translating/transliterating something into Chinese isn't as easy as it sounds. Unlike Japanese, none of the Chinese languages have a phonetic script, and this forces Chinese translators to dig into their dictionaries for appropriate characters to substitute the foreign sounds with. I'd like to end this entry by wishing good luck to anybody crazy and brave enough to try to make a Chinese version of Homestuck... sweatdrop
[img:9a670ca977]http://worldtopthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Pigeons-300x200.jpg[/img:9a670ca977][/align:9a670ca977]
 KaemeRaj · Sat Jul 21, 2012 @ 12:28am · 0 Comments |
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