The Help with Foreign language Thread

[Morhighan]

Hey there.

I've noticed that a lot of people tend to use titles in other languages here, and most of them get corrected by other members, or even chastised.
[I've looked around and I didn't see a similar thread, but if there is, feel free to point me to it and delete this one.]
The point of this thread is for people who need help with another language to receive assistance.

Anyway, I guess I'll start off.

I had an idea for a game with a Japanese Aesthetic. (A Japanese style visual novel? How original! lol) Normally I try to stay away from using languages I'm not familiar with, but I'm going to make an exception to my rule.

Now, I would go for an English title, but what I'm trying to express is a bit long in English.
What I'm going for is: "The Idol's name is false." [Sort of like the biblical "Beware of False Idols."] I want the title to have a sort of sad feeling to it.
The Characters I want to use are:
偶像 (ぐうぞう) - Basically "guuzou," which I think means image/idol/statue
偽名 (ぎめい) - basically "gimei" or "alias"
I'm having trouble finding a way to say "is false" or "that is false" or "isn't true" or "is a lie." If you have any ideas on how to express this in a linguistically correct way, please tell me.

For a character name or pseudonym in the same game, I was thinking about using "ぐうじんこ." Would this be a proper way to express the feeling/meaning "puppet child"? And following along with that, is 人形師 (にんぎょうし) proper for the term "doll maker"?

Thank you for your time.

If you need help with Latin, German, or American English, just ask me!
Also, if you need help with any other languages (for names or titles of games) just post here.

[Camille]

偶像の偽名は嘘。
(Guuzou no gimei wa uso.)
(The idol's name is a lie.)

嘘（うそ）- "uso" = lie, falsehood

That should do it? I think it's kind of long in Japanese, too, though. D: (syllable-wise, it's longer in Japanese than your English equivalent) I didn't look up the other kanji you used, so assuming guuzou and gimei mean what you intend, then that should be correct. Another kanji/words for lie is 虚偽 (きょぎ), but that's really close to gimei, so it would be a little confusing.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

Well, I'm not much help on the Japanese part, but if you wanted to do your title in English with the same meaning but shorter and with more punch, you could go with:

"Alias of the Idol" or "Idol's Alias"

I assume you'll be writing in English, since you need help with the Japanese, so I'm presuming most of your players will speak English. So even if you come up with the "perfect" Japanese title, all people will do is refer to your game title by its English translation anyway. It is hard for people to remember titles and sentences in another language they don't speak, so they will just remember the translation in their head. Just a thought.

[Morhighan]

That works.
We'll see what I ultimately decide--or if I even complete the project!
Thanks.

[Niki]

偽名 (gimei) means something along the lines of "fake name" or "false name"...
Hence if you stick with 偶像の偽名は嘘。-> the idol's false name is a lie
It's sort of like two negatives, so it's kind of convoluted ^^;
"偶像の名は嘘" (guuzou no na wa uso) might be better in this case, if you mean "name" not alias?
Hope I helped!! ><

[lordcloudx]

We have had a similar thread from a former forum member, but I'll stop here since she didn't exactly leave under the best circumstances. (said thread http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... =13&t=7723)

Protip: Google search actually works better than the in-built forum search most of the time.

edit: btw, I don't mean to discourage this particular thread from proceeding.

[HikkiPanda]

Any idea what is the japanese for a katana named "god killer"? It doesn't have to be the exact translation as long as it carries the similar meaning. Thanks in advance !

Edit: @Morhighan: how about using Aidoru for Idol? They're pretty common in anime

[Joey]

I can't find a word for the "god killer" thing (I only know how to say "killing a god" lmao). >_<;

アイドル/aidoru/idol is only used in the J-pop star sense. I dunno if that's what Morhighan is trying to go for or not xD;

[Niki]

@HikkiPanda
Hmm, I'm not too good with things like that but perhaps try something like 神殺剣 (shinsatsu-ken) or 神殺し (kami-koroshi) or 神之死 (kami-no-shi)... I know most old Japanese swords would use on-yomi, hence the latter two might be a bit too modern-sounding, I don't know >< But the first one sounds similar to 診察, which is...... yeah. (/_T ) Play around with kanji and string them together until you get something nice-sounding? Or look here for a real katana which killed a god.

Hope I helped ><

[KimiYoriBaka]

for "god killer," since it's a sword, possibly 神切 (which I assume would be pronouced "shingiri"). I don't know how that would sound to a japanese person, but I've seen a lot of cases where "cut" is used to mean "slay."

[lordcloudx]

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_p ... o_Japanese

[HikkiPanda]

I can't find a word for the "god killer" thing (I only know how to say "killing a god" lmao). >_<;

Haha, at least you know something! I'm totally clueless lol XD

@HikkiPanda
Hmm, I'm not too good with things like that but perhaps try something like 神殺剣 (shinsatsu-ken) or 神殺し (kami-koroshi) or 神之死 (kami-no-shi)... I know most old Japanese swords would use on-yomi, hence the latter two might be a bit too modern-sounding, I don't know >< But the first one sounds similar to 診察, which is...... yeah. (/_T ) Play around with kanji and string them together until you get something nice-sounding? Or look here for a real katana which killed a god.

According google translate 診察 means 'medical examiantion' x__X ... . how come!?! Even though shinsatsu-ken sounds cool >.< !!!

Thanks for the wiki link, hope I can learn something from it

for "god killer," since it's a sword, possibly 神切 (which I assume would be pronouced "shingiri"). I don't know how that would sound to a japanese person, but I've seen a lot of cases where "cut" is used to mean "slay."

Thanks for the input! I'll consider this for the sword name

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_p ... o_Japanese

Thanks for the links! The second alternative sounds pretty cool