Help with some kana (might turn into a game topic!)

[Ashen-tan]

So, I've finally got my external HDD plugged back in and opened up Ren'Py for the first time since the con (strangely, the launcher took a day and an age to load; might be Firefox hogging all my memory). I couldn't think of something to do that's not what I started at the convention (I'm still waiting for that to go up, so I can download it onto my computer), but then it came to me: I could do something I had been planning to do as a manga as a VN. The title is in Japanese, but my kana isn't really up to scratch...

What I have is this:
あの子たちミタイ二なりたい

Babelfish translates it as this:
That child [mitai] two we would like to become

The romanji is:
Ano ko tachi mitai ni naritai

I've talked with someone who's second-generation Japanese-American about the romanji, so I know that's correct for the meaning I'm going for (which is either "We want to be like them" or "I (strongly) want to be like them"; can't remember exactly what it was... /swt). So... Can anyone help out with this?

I might eventually turn this into the WIP topic for it once I start getting more stuff done for it. I've already got a lot of the ideas done -- it's just planning out whether I want to make it a true VN or if I want to do a kinetic novel, like so many of my ideas seem to be.

EDIT: As soon as I make a post, lo and behold, the Otakon games are up on the site. xD Still going to work on this more, I think. I feel more strongly about it, plus it's a more solid idea.

[monele]

Babelfish chokes on the katakana it seems. あの子たちみたいになりたい should work better.

[Hime]

What I have is this:
あの子たちミタイ二なりたい

Babelfish translates it as this:
That child [mitai] two we would like to become

The romanji is:
Ano ko tachi mitai ni naritai

Shouldn't you use the hiragana ni instead of the kanji ni (= 2)? Like this:
あの子たちミタイになりたい
I'm not extremely skilled in Japanese or anything, but that should fix it if you ask me... Nothing wrong with the katakana I guess, but using 二 is (I guess?) incorrect in this case.

[Ashen-tan]

... Ack. That should've been obvious. I wonder what brainfart got me to hit the spacebar to do the kanji instead of the hirigana (since I do, at least, know my numbers).

I'll probably write up the game information for myself while I'm at work, then when I get more done, turn this into a proper topic. Thanks for the help!

[chronoluminaire]

What I have is this:
あの子たちミタイ二なりたい

Babelfish translates it as this:
That child [mitai] two we would like to become

The romanji is:
Ano ko tachi mitai ni naritai

I've talked with someone who's second-generation Japanese-American about the romanji, so I know that's correct for the meaning I'm going for (which is either "We want to be like them" or "I (strongly) want to be like them"; can't remember exactly what it was... /swt). So... Can anyone help out with this?

Yes, it does mean that... kinda both of them One of the delights of Japanese is that the subjects of sentences are frequently implicit, so that's ambiguous between "We", "I", or indeed "You" or "He" or "She". And the "strongly" bit is quite implicit, but putting "mitai" into katakana rather than hiragana does have a slight emphasising effect, something like using italics in English. So off the top of my head, I'd translate it as "I want to be like them" (where "them" carries an implication of "those kids" or "the other kids").

Looks like the problem with the kana was already sorted out by Hime's suggestion, right?

[Ashen-tan]

That's the translation I was aiming for! And yes, it got sorted out. Now I just have to write out stuff. What makes it difficult is that I'm a more... virulent, if you mind me using a virology term, writer on the computer than I am on paper. I'll usually write anywhere from two-to-three times more on the computer than I would on paper. So... I have to figure out how to do a slap-dash outline format on paper that I can easily translate into stuff on the computer.

Also, another quick question:

I dunno if it's just my IME being stupid, but when I start up the game, the taskbar has the title with a bunch of question marks, rather than the actual characters. I know my computer is more than capable of displaying them, though. It's done this with track names too, when I transfer them between it and my Mac (they show up as question marks on my Mac). Anyone know a fix for this?

[Mikan]

あの子たちミタイ二なりたい

It's pretty odd to have the particle に in katakana. It's not done in Japanese unless the whole word is 「ミタイニ」. (Me Tiny?)
It reads to me as "I want to become like those kids."
Another way to say it would be: あの子たちのようになりたい

... but anyway, if you don't know what you're writing, stick to a language you know.
~~;; if it sounds lame in a language you know well, then putting it into a foreign language doesn't suddenly make it cool.

[monele]

if it sounds lame in a language you know well, then putting it into a foreign language doesn't suddenly make it cool.

C'mon, sometimes it does . It's like song lyrics in foreign languages. It sounds good until you finally learn what they mean ^^;

[Jake]

It sounds good until you finally learn what they mean ^^;

Sometimes it sounds good when you know what they mean, as well.

Hit me with your rhythm stick! Hit me! Hit me! Je t'adore, Ich liebe Dich! Hit me! Hit me! Hit me!

[Ren]

Sometimes it sounds good when you know what they mean, as well.

Hit me with your rhythm stick! Hit me! Hit me! Je t'adore, Ich liebe Dich! Hit me! Hit me! Hit me!

O_O

Are you feeling well?

[Jake]

O_O

Don't tell me you've never listened to Ian Dury?!



...OK, OK, maybe "just as good" would have been a better wording.

[Ren]

Not until now....I guess he's not well known in Italy?
Also: a ruminating singer!


On topic: I personally don't think it's such a tragedy to include a foreign language in your script as long as there's some kind of reason to it, but it would be cool if it wasn't Japanese all the time :3

[Ashen-tan]

Well, I do know it. Just... not as well as I know English. Plus I'm still learning. And it just doesn't have the same effect for the story. As a matter of fact, the character names are all Japanese. ^^;; That's what I get for being defensive about sensitive subjects close to me. That's partly the reason why there's Japanese text for the title, and why the characters are Japanese. Place will probably be fictional, rather than a true location. You know, the classic "they all have Japanese names, but it's not Japan" type of approach.

Then again, I could take an even safer approach (for all audiences) by making the whole thing first (again, it's a kinetic novel, like my first one, but more dialogue-based than story-based), sending it out to people, THEN seeing what they think might be a good title. Right now, the title is based off of the sentiments of the main character. There's actually a quote in the prologue where she says "I'm finally like them," so... I'll figure something out eventually.

And yes, sometimes songs sound good after you know what they mean too. (Tentai Kansoku by BUMP OF CHICKEN <3; as a matter of fact, I loved it more after I learned the lyrics. :3)