A Note on Translation – Just some information I wanted to share.
(Warning: Long introduction. I felt the need to explain myself.)
So, um, this is not a fan fiction. Sorry guys. I know this will probably get deleted soon, but I thought it might be of interest to some of the really hardcore DBZ fans out there who happen to catch it before it's zipped.
What this is, actually, is a compilation of transcriptions of some of our favorite characters' names. Most of us know their original Japanese versions, i.e. Buruma for Bulma, and Bideru for Videl, but what about some of the other languages out there? How do they transcribe them?
I recently decided that I wanted to re-read Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z to try to get myself in the mood to finish some of my fics. Only this time, I decided to read them in Chinese. I found scans of them online and started reading, not knowing, or really even caring, whether it was the Mainland or Taiwan version.
For a while most of the translations and transcriptions of character names were pretty decent. But then – oh, but then – I came across the worst transcription EVER in the history of transcribing, and I decided that the DBZ fans of the world needed to know about this atrocity. And that's why I'm compiling this. (The atrocity, by the way, is listed last, in case you are bored and want to skip to it.)
So, I found out that I was reading the Taiwan version, but in addition to the Mainland version, there is also a very…interesting…Hong Kong version, which I imagine is aimed (somewhat) to reflect Cantonese pronunciation, which I unfortunately will not be able to tell you. I only speak Mandarin.
One last, brief note before I dive into this: This document will contain Chinese characters. If you can't read them on your computer, don't worry. They will just be there for reference, and won't affect any pleasure or shock you obtain from this document, because I will also write out the pronunciation (in pinyin). Oh, and the Mainland China translation has two versions – I'll be going off of the "Haimei (海美)" version because it's the original one.
These are ordered from sanest to most outlandish.
Son Goku: For all three transcriptions, they just used the characters that make up his name and applied the Chinese pronunciation. 孫悟空 = Sun Wukong. The first character, Sun, means grandchild, and is a very common Chinese last name. It's the same last name as Sun Yat-sen, and Sun Tzu (who wrote the Art of War). Wu means to understand, and kong means emptiness. Understanding emptiness is a very Buddhist concept, which I am not going to explain right now, but I will leave you with the fact that Sun Wukong is the name of the Monkey King from Journey to the West (西遊記), which Toriyama originally began to base Dragon Ball off of. Stamp of approval? Yes.
Son Gohan: The same technique was applied to Gohan's name. 孫悟飯 = Sun Wufan. The Sun and Wu are the same, and fan means rice, or, more generically, food. He has an understanding of food. Oh yes, he certainly does. Pass.
Son Goten: And again the same technique, making him Sun Wutian (孫悟天). Sun and Wu are the same, and tian means heaven or sky. So far, so good Chinese-speaking countries!
Master Roshi: For Mainland China and Hong Kong, again just the Chinese pronunciation of the characters from the Japanese version. Wutian Laoshi. (武天老師)In Taiwan, it is just slightly different with Wutian Shifu. (武天師父) Wu means martial, as in martial arts, and tian is again heaven or sky. The meaning of shifu and laoshi are similar though: master/teacher. Pass.
Oolong: I think most of you might know this, but oolong is a type of tea. The Chinese characters for it are 烏龍. This means "black dragon," and is pronounced wu-long. This name is used in the Mainland and Taiwan versions. In the Hong Kong version, they use the name Ba-jie (八戒), which means the eight prohibitions (another Buddhist concept), and is also the first name of the pig character from Journey to the West (西遊記). Pass!
Tienshinhan: More Chinese pronunciations of the characters: Tianjinfan (天津飯). Tianjin is a city in China (meaning heaven or sky ferry), and fan either means rice, or it is a general term for food. So, Tien is the cuisine of Tianjin. Yum. Pass.
Chaozu: Again, just Chinese pronunciation: Jiaozi (餃子). This, by the way, means dumplings or pot stickers. Like the kind you order at your favorite Chinese restaurant. Pass.
Trunks: Here it starts to get interesting. Basically all three regions decided that the best way to deal with this bugger would be to cram a bunch of characters together and hope that if someone says it fast enough, it might come out sounding like the name. So Mainland China came up with: Telankesi (特蘭克斯). Nice. Though really, Chinese Mandarin speakers, next time a word with an R comes up, seriously use an R, because you can distinguish them from L's. Tlanks. Sounds like Klingon. Fine, pass. So Taiwan decided to get a little creative too, and they chose: Tenankesi (特南克斯). Tnanks. As in Trunks with a cold? Meh, pass. And then there was Hong Kong: Dulagesi (杜拉格斯). Wow, special. Dlags. Does this sound like "drugs" to anyone else? Fail. This is going to be disappointing to Trunks fans, but these are the respective meanings of the characters they chose to use for his names: "Special-Orchid-overcoming-refined," "Special-south-overcoming-refined," and "Pear tree-pull-pattern-refined." Interpret at your own risk.
Frieza: He has the same name in the Mainland and in Hong Kong. This name is Fu-Li-Sa (弗利薩). Fleesa. It means "not-beneficial Buddha." Huh. Real threatening. In Taiwan, it's Fu-Li-Sha (弗利沙). "Not-beneficial sand." Wow. Sounds a lot like the name Felisha/Felicia, as well. FAIL.
Piccolo: So, in Taiwan, they tried to apply the same method they did for Trunks – sorry, I mean Tnanks – and stick together some characters that sort of sound like it. They came up with Bi-ke (比克). Other than the fact that they somehow forgot about the entire last syllable, and as a result made our stoic Namek's name sound like something that Pikachu would say, this was much better than the others. Pass. On the Mainland, he is known as Duandi (短笛), which means piccolo, as in the musical instrument. Now, I am happy that you made an honest attempt to translate it, but China, you have missed the point entirely! There is a theme among many of the names, and that is EDIBLE THINGS. As far as I know, piccolos are not edible. Pickles are. If you wanted to translate it directly, maybe the Chinese word for pickle would have been better. Fail. Hong Kong missed the point too, with the oh-so creative Dizimotong (笛子魔童). This means flute demon-child. Not only are flutes even a bit different from piccolos, but Piccolo is not a child. He is like seven feet tall or something. FAIL.
Cell – In Hong Kong and the Mainland, he becomes known as Sha-Lu (沙魯), or "Sand-stupid." In Taiwan, he is Xi-Lu (西魯), or "Western-stupid." Thanks, Taiwan. It at least sounds a little bit like Cell, so I have to pass it.
Mr. Satan: This one passes too, even though the meaning is ridiculous. He becomes Sa-Dan (撒旦). Sa means to spread or sprinkle, and dan means dawn. Sa is also the verb used when you pee.
Pan: Mainland China wins this one with the name Pei-pei (佩佩), as ridiculous as that is. It means to wear, or a pendant (or perhaps to wear a pendant!). In Taiwan, she is Xiao-Fang (小芳), which means "Little Fragrant." While it has nothing to do with the name Pan, it is at least a kind of a real name. It is very common for kids to have the word Xiao followed by something (usually the last name), as a nickname for when they are little. Unfortunately, prostitutes also use this nicknaming method. Hong Kong fails the worst with "Bobo." They don't even bother to put it into Chinese characters. I haven't read or watched GT (and nor will I ever), but apparently they change her name to A-Bao (阿包). Bao means to wrap. It makes about zero sense.
Videl: In the Mainland and Hong Kong, she is Bi-Di-Li (比迪麗). The meaning of the name has to do with her beauty, but I'm getting sick of translating each character. You know, it's a little weird, but I'll accept this one. Taiwan, though, is not so lucky. Videl becomes Bi-Er (碧兒). The Bi means Jasper, which is a very pretty stone, and Er means child, but more specifically "son." And, the pronunciation can't help but sound like "beer." Pretty darn epic fail.
Vegeta: Ah, the grandest fail of them all. Here goes:
In the Mainland our prince is Bei-ji-ta (貝吉塔). Hmm, that doesn't sound half bad… Until you find out what it means!! The translation of each character is thus: "seashell-lucky-pagoda." WTF. Maybe the pagoda has to do with his hair? Let me just say that with the same exact pronunciation "Bei-ji-ta," including the same tones, his name could have been used: 倍極塔. Rebel-extreme-pagoda. The pagoda has to stay to retain the same tones, but it's overall much more fitting. Why did you not think of that China?!
In Hong Kong, he is Bi-Da (比達). The meaning is "compare-attain." They pretty much only used these characters to make it sound like his name. Which they don't. Like Piccolo's name, this one also sounds like Pokemon-talk.
And, the largest atrocity was committed by the Taiwanese translators. They decided to call him "Da-Er (達爾)." "Attain-lattice." Okay, so the attaining makes a little sense. But to be pronounced "Dar?" Really? It sounds nothing like Vegeta in any way! Dar. Dar dar dar. Zero correlation to ANYTHING.
If anyone actually read through any of this – thanks for doing so! And I hope it may have been informative and/or a little humorous for you. If there are any questions, put them in the reviews, and I will try to do a follow-up/ second chapter before this gets taken off the site for not actually being a fan-fic!