Anyone Speak Japanese?

Status
Not open for further replies.
North_Ranger

North_Ranger

Staff member
And it's time for another installment in our series "NR asks stupid language questions" :p

As I've mentioned before, I'm currently in the middle of two Changeling: The Lost campaigns, and I've been tinkering a lot (both as a player and as an ST) with the mechanics of various things in that setting. Now... I'm considering having either my character or an NPC character in the other game forge a new kind of magic blade, a poisonous wakizashi (or possibly tanto) that delivers a potent venom with each cut.

Now, the character involved is likely interested in the Japanese culture, and seeing how the Lost have a tendency to name such magic items quite colorfully (eg. Blood Poppet, Glimpsing Mirror, the Jerusalem Mile, etc.), I thought giving a proper sobriquet for that blade in both English and Japanese would be perfect.

Thing is, my knowledge of Japanese is limited to a couple of words, ranging from 'banzai' to 'kawaii'.

So, any help from our Japanese-speakers would be quite welcome.

Possible names:
Serpent's Fang
Serpent's Kiss
Nightshade Blade
 
Allen who is Quiet

Allen who is Quiet

bhamv3 said:
Oh no no no no no, machine translation is a BAD THING. Even Google's, which is one of the more advanced ones out there, will throw up nonsense more often than not.

Though I'm sure Ranger is aware of this, being a translator himself.
Click to expand...
In this case, the phrases are simple enough that at least two of them are accurate.
 
North_Ranger

North_Ranger

Staff member
bhamv3 said:
Oh no no no no no, machine translation is a BAD THING. Even Google's, which is one of the more advanced ones out there, will throw up nonsense more often than not.

Though I'm sure Ranger is aware of this, being a translator himself.
Click to expand...
This, pretty much. I've yet to run into a translating engine that could interpret any human language properly. In fact, I sometimes have fun seeing the nonsense they spout.
 
Allen who is Quiet

Allen who is Quiet

Okay fine.

サーペントのきば (saapento no kiba) is serpent's fang.
サーペントのキス (saapento no kisu) is serpent's kiss.
ナイトシェイドブレイド (naitosheido bureido) is nightshade blade.
 
@Li3n

@Li3n

Allen who is Quiet said:
Okay fine.

サーペントのきば (saapento no kiba) is serpent's fang.
サーペントのキス (saapento no kisu) is serpent's kiss.
Click to expand...
Might work better using the original word for snake instead of what's obviously a neologism for serpent imo.


North_Ranger said:
This, pretty much. I've yet to run into a translating engine that could interpret any human language properly. In fact, I sometimes have fun seeing the nonsense they spout.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but two words will usually work...
 
Allen who is Quiet

Allen who is Quiet

In that case, it's

Hebi no Kiba (へびのきば）
Hebi no Kisu (へびのキス)

Snake's Fang is the only one of the three that doesn't involve any loan words, so if you want something that sounds completely Japanese, it would have to be that one.
 
North_Ranger

North_Ranger

Staff member
Okay, then I'll probably go with that.

Of course, if you have a suggestion as to the name for a short sword/dagger that delivers a virulent poison, I'm all ears :) Especially if it can be somehow tied to anyone of these themes or emotions: Spring, renewal, desire, passion, deviousness (the person forging the blade is a member of the hedonistic/optimistic Spring Court, and he himself is a Darkling, a kind of witty boogeyman, a kinsman to night and darkness).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top