what do you think

[The RPG Veteran]

What do you all think of my party's names? I tried to give them my best Japanese translation, here they are:

Jason: Jaisun
Kyle: Kairu
Lynn: Lin
Troy: Toroi

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: what do you think

Couldn't you have put this in your other topic?

[The RPG Veteran]

Re: what do you think

not really, since my other thread asks of a site in which i could get a translation from american to japanese. i just made THESE names up with my friend without going to a site, and i was wondering if they sounded japanese.

[Auron]

Re: what do you think

i just made THESE names up with my friend without going to a site, and i was wondering if they sounded japanese.[/QUOTE]

Well, they sound pretty good to me.

[JPS]

Re: what do you think

They sound good to me but I see this as not really being a rpgm3 thread...lol i havent learned anything from opening this except a few more japanese names

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: what do you think

Well I can tell you how those are pronounced:
Jaisun: Jah-ee-soon
Kairu: Kah-ee-roo
Lin: Leen
Toroi: Toh-roh-ee

And you have tho say those fast. And I think actually the R is pronounced in some funny way, but I've never been able to figure out how.

[Libby]

Re: what do you think

I think that you shouldn't go after the japanese names. It's something that is getting waay to cliche' in any sort of medium these days. Come up with something on your own. The names arn't bad, but they scream Americanized Japanese. The whole "Adding a u sound onto your name" is actually kinda silly, and makes most names sound forced. If you want to look for the Japanese equivilent of names, I'd go for the meanings. For example. My "Name" in japanese would be Amberu. My actual name would be Kohaku, which is the Japanese word for Amber. (http://linear.mv.com/cgi-bin/j-e/dos...FG=r&BG=b&S=26)

http://behindthename.com/nmc/jap.php is a good list of Japanese names. I am currently using "Takara" for one of my characters. It means "treasure."
Another good site is http://www.babynames.com Their list of japanese names - http://www.babynames.com/Names/search_result.php

Another example is finding words in Japanese that would work, or matching meanings.
Lynn means lake, plug lake into http://linear.mv.com/cgi-bin/j-e/dict and you get Kosui. (http://linear.mv.com/cgi-bin/j-e/dos...FG=r&BG=b&S=26)


Jason means to heal, plug "to heal" into the search engine, get Iyasu and Naosu. (http://linear.mv.com/cgi-bin/j-e/dos...FG=r&BG=b&S=26)

Kyle means a straight or channel, put that in the engine and get Suiro, Yousuiro, and Seto. (http://linear.mv.com/cgi-bin/j-e/dos...FG=r&BG=b&S=26)

Troy...your kinda on your own. For fun, I put it in the engine and...got Toroi, just like you did. (http://linear.mv.com/cgi-bin/j-e/dos...FG=r&BG=b&S=26)

I hope this helps. Don't rely on a translator that will just give a half-assed translation of a name. Go deeper and do some research. The japanese were about meanings more then they were about sounds, like Americans usually are. (then again, this is coming from a person who's main character is named after her boyfriend's cat. :P)

Have fun with it, and be original!

Edit - And Drag, usually the r is pronounced like a rolling "l." like you would say "Roll" rlorr.. or something like that.

And I think Kariu is a female name.

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: what do you think

Yeah, I'd need to hear it in order to understand how to pronounce it. But I'll figure it out when I go back looking for Japanese lessons again.

[Valkysas]

Re: what do you think

Yeah, americans using japanese names in everything is getting pretty tiresome.

why not just use the original names?

[The RPG Veteran]

Re: what do you think

Ok, thanks Libra. I'll use those names you said instead of just the sound only translation like I had beforehand. Thanks again.
And the reason im using japanese style names is because my game is a ninja related game and I didn't think that our normal names would fit that well.

[irate giraffe]

Re: what do you think

I agree with Valk. To me, Kyle, Lynn and Troy sound much better than Kairu, Linn and whatever the other one was. I hate playing games where I don't even know if I'm pronouncing the names right in my head.

RPG Veteran, what is the context for needing Japanese names? Is there going to be a lot of Japanese text in the game, as well? Cause with names like that the characters better not sound, act or appear occidental at all.

edit: you already answered. But I still think Kyle, Lynn and Troy (and maybe Jason) work as ninja names. By using Japanese names in a game made for (I assume) non-japanese to play, you are putting up a barrier that need not be there. It is much easier to get engulfed in a game (or story) when the characters names sound familiar, instead of foreign.

[Valkysas]

Re: what do you think

given the setting, I understand now that english names wouldnt work. the characters would come across as outsiders.

[The RPG Veteran]

Re: what do you think

I'll consider that approach, since RPGM3 doesn't have what I would call a plethora of items that could be used to make a japanese style in surroundings and in the environment let alone the people.

[JPS]

Re: what do you think

Ya every game ive ever made uses japanese names, and its getting tiresome, im stickin with american names in Love Me Ever

that still sounds odd...but off the wall like i intend

[The RPG Veteran]

Re: what do you think

Another thing is, the names are all names of my friends. Jason being me, Kyle being the one I'm working on the game with, and Troy(actually his name is Trey, but the database for that site didn't have Trey so we used Troy instead) is just another friend that always hangs out with us. Lynn is just a made up name, because my girlfriends name seems too generic for an RPG(Barbara is her name).