Good Bad Translation: Difference between revisions

[[File:iamerror_1330iamerror 1330.gif|link=Zelda II: theThe Adventure of Link (Video Game)|frame|...no, really. That's his name.]]

=== Action Adventure ===

** ''[[Zelda II: theThe Adventure of Link (Video Game)|Zelda II the Adventure of Link]]'' contains what was often ''mistaken'' as such, in the form of a character saying, "I am Error." Some players even thought the the phrase represented a literal error in the game's coding; in other words, text for the character's dialogue was not properly programmed in, so an "error message" was displayed instead. Anyone who actually bothered to get far enough in Zelda 2 would have met a man in Mido that actually references him '''by name'''. It got bad enough that Nintendo had to confirm it was his real name. The real translation mistake was another character named Bagu, who was just supposed to be named "Bug". This would have given us [[Theme Naming|Bug and Error]].

*** Nintendo even jokingly referenced this themselves in ''[[Super Paper Mario (Video Game)|Super Paper Mario]]''; a robotic boss says this after he is hacked into and his systems are attacked.

* ''[[Cave Story (Video Game)|Cave Story]]:'' "Litagano motscoud." The translator, Aeon Genesis, simply didn't notice that it was supposed to be a [[Sdrawkcab Name|backwards]] [[Title Drop]]. Also, Balrog's catchphrase wasn't really "Huzzah!" according to Pixel, but it became [[Memetic Mutation/Video Games|very popular]]; the same goes for "Grasstown", which was supposed to be more like "Bushlands". Nicalis' translation actually changed them to what Pixel was really thinking of.

* The original English dub for ''[[Castlevania Symphony of the Night (Video Game)|Castlevania: Symphony of the Night]]'' was a rich source of [[Narm Charm]] for a lot of players. Many of these players were nonplussed when the PSP remake redubbed all the lines.

=== Adventure Game ===

* The Russian-developed point-and-click adventure game, ''Midnight Nowhere'', features numerous bizarre and hilarious lines when looking at the scenery. For example, looking at a stethoscope on a [[Added Alliterative AppealAlliteration|dead doctor's desk]] will produce the line, "He's probably lying here to show off. It's like he's saying, 'I'm not just wearing my pants out, I've got medical training!'" rendered in voiced, well-emoted English.

=== Beat Em Up ===

* Among many other examples in ''[[River City Ransom]]'', one of the gangsters' anguished cries of pain was translated as "BARF!" For the translation of ''River City Ransom EX'', [[Atlus]] not only kept this in, but they even made a ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131113123849/http://www.atlus.com/rcr/downloads.html wallpaper]'' bearing the phrase.

=== Driving Game ===

=== Fighting Game ===

* ''Keitai Denju [[Telefang]]'' was a [[Mon|monstermon]]ster-fighting game released in Japan only. Bootleggers, um, "translated" the game into English and packaged two versions of the game under the names Pokemon Diamond (not to be confused with the real Diamond.) and Pokemon Jade. The translation contains lines like "For the clever opponent, Injure increase!!", "Let us go to see the ball!", "Shit! Remember it!" and "I will use my strength to LET YOU SHUT UP!". Even the ''battles'' have their share of Engrish: "Some points of [number] lost!" Though horrific translation aside, it wasn't a bad game. Well, at least the Japanese version wasn't.

* [[Dissidia Final Fantasy|Squall's gunblade shoots]] ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy|barrets]]''. One has to wonder how he managed to turn a [[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|giant black man]] into an elemental being, then miniaturize him to use as ammunition.

** This may be a [[Shout -Out]] to one of Zell's attacks in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VIII]]'', called Meteor Barret. Of course, that one was likely a mistranslation as well, which makes one wonder whether they did it in ''Dissidia'' for laughs or because they still hadn't figured it out...

=== H Game ===

* A famous (or rather notorious) doujin [[H-game]] for ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]'', called ''Phoenix Drive'', was translated from Japanese into English by someone who didn't seem to be fluent in either language. The game was laughable enough as it was, but turned into [[So Bad It's Good|outright hilarity and unintentional brilliance]] with such lines as "I will beat a rod till...a tank empties", "Does sperm collect to your lower part of the body in large quantities?" and "Hey, Ni-ick. Your [Penix Wright]". Even the worksafe scenes are wonderfully [[Narm|Narmful]]ful. [httphttps://web.archive.org/web/20080529023355/http://www.finalturnabout.com/pdrive/ You can read a screencap recap of the game here], although it's fair to warn whoever might follow the link that it's pretty horrific, even when work safe.

=== Light Gun Game ===

=== Platform Game ===

* At the end of ''[[Ghosts N'n Goblins (Video Game)|Ghosts N Goblins]]'':

** The [[The Angry Video Game Nerd (Web Video)|AVGN]] had a field day with this.

* In ''[[The Goonies (Videovideo Gamegame)|The Goonies]] II'', whenever you try to "PUNCH" an NPC, they will respond by saying "Ouch! What do you do?" (instead of "Ouch! What did you do that for?")

=== Puzzle Game ===

* The indie video games ''[[Mondo Medicals]]'' and ''[[Mondo Agency]]'' play this up on purpose in the cinematics, in which the games' [[The Watcher|"supervisor" characters]] speak in English that is not so much broken as it is atomized. The creator, though Swedish, is actually quite fluent in English -- aEnglish—a fact easily missed unless you visit his website and notice the perfect English throughout.

=== Role Playing Game ===

* In ''[[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IV]]'', when Tellah fights [[Spoony Bard|Edward]], the original featured Tellah cursing at Edward for taking the sage's daughter away. The original English script featured, [[Bowdlerise|instead, the line "You spoony bard!"]] This proved so popular that the line is in every single English rerelease (although the other lines have been translated more appropriately). At the current time, this comes out to three different rereleases that retranslated the game but kept that line. <ref>Note that this is not incorrect English - "spoony" is an obscure word that means "foolishly or sentimentally in love".</ref>

** This phrase is ''so'' popular that it's actually started to appear in other ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games, such as the PSP remake of ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics (Video Game)|Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' or in a somewhat obscure [[Shout -Out]] in ''[[Final Fantasy XII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XII]]''.

** Hell, even other companies make a [[Shout -Out]] to the famous line. In the last case of ''[[Phoenix Wright]]: Trials & Tribulations'', the prosecutor Godot (who is fond of coffee metaphors) refers to Maya's mind as "a cup of café au lait" (referring to her current state of confusion), and then refers to the Judge as "the spoon" (inferring that his remarks are confusing Maya further). The judge's response: "I-I'm a spoon?! I'm no spoony bard, I'll have you know!"

* Most of the spelling and grammar mistakes that appeared in the first ''[[Wild Arms (Video Game)|Wild ArmsARMs]]'' game were corrected in its rerelease, ''Wild Arms Alter Code F''. However, the [[Artificial Human|Artificial Humans]]s in the game were still called "Holmcross" instead of the correct "Homunculus" because fans felt it was emblematic of the series.

** ''[[Wild Arms 2 (Video Game)|Wild ArmsARMs 2]]'''s translation is also seriously flawed, but at least one "mistake" turned into accidental genius; the game's [[Goldfish Poop Gang]], Liz and Ard (who happen to be aliens) are turned into [[Cloudcuckoolander|Cloud Cuckoolanders]] whose dialogue is both [[You No Take Candle|incomprehensible]] and hilarious. They were already comic relief characters in Japan, but translating Liz's "poetic" dialogue literally produced something much more entertaining than it has any right to be.

* ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'' wasn't really cerebral. It graduated into an outright [[Mind Screw]] in the English version because of the notoriously dodgy translation -- whichtranslation—which arguably made the game better. There was plenty of wonderfully dorky Engrish to laugh at in lower-ticket scenes. While not ''exceptionally'' mangled, the phrase "This guy are sick" was so hilariously out of place that it's become something of a shibboleth amongst ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'' fans to [[Fan Dumb|identify the newcomers]] who joined for the [[Cast Full of Pretty Boys]] better known as the Compilation. The PC edition corrected some of the more obvious mistakes (some of these include an option to continue the Battle Challenge in the Gold Saucer from "Off course!" [sic] to "Of course!" and the summon materia's name Kjata to the more appropriate and pronounceable Kujata).

* The very first ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' gives us "I, Garland, will knock you all down!" which was kept for the GBA rerelease. The line did not, however, make it into the Playstation version, ''Final Fantasy Origins''. Origins came first, which means the line was removed, then ''put back in'' for the GBA version. <ref>The line is another example of a translation that is literally accurate but semantically odd. The Japanese used literally means "fell," as in "cause to fall," but is commonly translated in situations like this as "defeat" or even "kill." ''[[Golden Sun (Video Game)|Golden Sun]]'' translated it as "fell," which is an obscure verb which actually does hold the intended meaning in English and helps with giving it a bit of an archaic feel (whereas "knock you all down" just sounds silly). Another possible translation would be "All who face me shall fall!".</ref>

* ''[[Secret of the Stars (Video Game)|Secret of the Stars]]'' has a laughably bad translation possibly caused by little faith in the game's success in the United States or [[Tecmo]] [[They Just Didn't Care|simply not caring]]. This gave us such lines as "SCATT THE DOG-PILL," "CHAINMALE," AND "WHAT? YOU'RE SO ANYTHING! GO TO THE CIRCUS NOW!"

* ''[[Persona (Videovideo Gamegame)|Persona]]'' received a remake in the PSP which overhauls the dialogues. One line from the original remains. Guess which one. {{spoiler|[[Narm Charm|Mark danced crazy!]]}}

* A Vietnamese bootleg translation of ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver (Video Game)|Pokémon Crystal]]'' made famous in a [[Let's Play]] by [http://www.youtube.com/user/DeliciousCinnamon DeliciousCinnamon on YouTube]. Among other things: Professor Oak claiming that everyone call him ''[sic]'' "ELF MONSTER", the player character's mother preparing "VOLCANO BAKEMEAT", "put in" being translated as "fuck", nonsensical Pokémon names such as "OUD"<ref>Sentret</ref> and "LAP",<ref>Pidgey</ref>, Silver's dialogue making absolutely no sense, and a Pidgey saying "LITTLE STRAWBERRY ME BABY" if you talk to it.

** Another [[Let's Play]] of the game by another user, Blame Truth, has created its own memes. Notably, BAJI BAJI, PRIZE,<ref>Tackle</ref>, and IRON BAR.<ref>Synthesis</ref>.

=== Shoot Em Up ===

* ''[[R -Type]]'': "The Byde Empire was annihilated to never scare people again."

* The English Dreamcast version of ''[[Bangai-O]]''. There are popular rumors that suggest that the English script is either an [[Intentional Engrish for Funny|intentional]] [[Homage|homage]] done by the localization company to [[Blind Idiot Translation|poor translations]] of the golden era of video gaming, or that [[Treasure]] had sent a preliminary translation of the script that said localizers [[So Bad It's Good|liked so much]] that they left it as is in the game. Either way, fans wouldn't have it [[Rule of Funny|any other way]].

=== Simulation Game ===

* The various ''[[Harvest Moon (Video Game)|Harvest Moon]]'' games are known for their somewhat lovably bad translations, which run the quality gamut from "Actually not bad" to "[[Memetic Mutation|lol wut.]]" Most famously, in ''[[Harvest Moon 64 (Video Game)|Harvest Moon 64]]'', Natsume misspelled their own name on the title screen (sort of).

* Start screens have always been a bit of a challenge for Natsume: ''Harvest Moon 64'' welcomed players to "[https://web.archive.org/web/20100521002049/http://www.coolrom.com/screenshots/n64/Harvest%20Moon%2064.gif Push the START]". The next game, [http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/psx/hmbtn/images/intro.gif Back to Nature], still hadn't quite gotten the hang of articles.

=== Stealth Based Game ===

* The NES port of ''[[Metal Gear 1987 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Metal Gear 1987]]''. "The truck have started to move!" "I feel asleep!" "Contact missing our Grey Fox"

** ''[[Snakes Revenge (Video Game)|SnakesSnake's Revenge]]'', the NES sequel to ''Metal Gear'', featured such a dubious writing quality despite being allegedly produced with the American market in mind with such [[Sarcasm Mode|cleverly written lines of dialogue]] such as "here are three graves for you!" or "that room is filled with gas". One of the most infamous examples is a segment where Snake gets in contact with a captured ally who is actually an enemy spy in disguise. The spy attempts to misdirect the player with such [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|obviously deceptive advice]] such as "there is no trap in that car" or "there are no enemies in that room.

=== Non-video game examples: ===

* ''[[Code Geass (Anime)|Code Geass]]'': "You know full well what this badass mother can do!"

* One somewhat overly-literal fansubber for ''[[Fate/stay Stay Night (Visual Novel)night|Fate Stay Night]]'' brought us the gem [[Captain Obvious|'People die when they are killed']]. The quote is taken out of context, since the character was speaking along the lines of: "People die when they are killed. That's the way things should be." As in, no [[Came Back Wrong|cheating death]]. Not that the fandom cared.

* Inverted in the English dub of ''[[Excel Saga (Animeanime)|Excel Saga]]''. One episode features Excel going to America. The original dialog contains poorly used English, while the dub contains poorly used Spanish and ghetto slang. However, the original audio of people's reactions to Excel popping out of a sewer is left the same. ("JEEEEEEEE-SUS!")

* In the second season of ''[[Black Lagoon (Anime)|Black Lagoon]]'', Revy goes to Japan, where she doesn't speak the language (even though her character has been speaking it throughout both seasons) because she's American born. Even though the grammar and word choice is good, her diction and pronunciation is so far off it's impossible to believe she's ever been around a native speaker. Balalaika speaks similarly throughout the story arc, but she has the excuse of being native born Russian -- andRussian—and while Revy's attempts to sound tough in English come across...''cute''...Balalaika actually manages the intended menace.

* And who can forget Quattro's "Oh dear mother of God...!" during her very priceless [[Oh Crap]] moment during Episode 25 of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikersStrikerS]]''?

* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia (Manga)|Axis Powers Hetalia]]'': "CANADA is greatest country."

=== Film ===

=== Literature ===

* Karl Marx wrote poetry when he was young. One of this poems was "The Fiddler" or "The Player". [https://web.archive.org/web/20140427210158/http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1837-pre/marx/1837-wil.htm\] It may be dark, but it's not funny. Meanwhile someone wrote a religious tract alleging Marx was a Satanist, in which a bit from the poem was "translated":

{{quote| The hellish vapors rise and fill the brain,<br />

Till I go mad and my heart is utterly changed.<br />

See this sword?<br />

[https://web.archive.org/web/20130208043227/http://www.scribd.com/doc/38017685/Was-Karl-Marx-a-Satanist\]

=== Live-Action TV ===

=== Music ===

=== Tabletop Games ===

=== Web Comics ===

* It looks like ''[[Xkcd (Webcomic)|Xkcd]]'' characters [http://xkcd.com/414/ found some good example].

=== Real Life ===

* The UK company Lush created a bubble bar (solid bubblebath) that was sent over to Japan, under the name Frosty Glitter. Once it had been translated to Japanese and then back, the product came back under the name Flosty Gritter. It's [[Good Bad Translation]] because the people at Lush loved it- [https://web.archive.org/web/20111005020653/http://www.lushusa.com/shop/products/bath-shower/bubble-bars/flosty-gritter and kept the name.]

* [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20131104133457/http://engrish.com/ Engrish.com] is full of good bad translations from signs, product packaging and clothing around the world, mostly in Southeast Asia and especially in Japan.

[[Category:Good Bad Translation{{PAGENAME}}]]