History Main / TranslateTheLoanwordsToo

* Used for an amusing InUniverse gag in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration 2''. The [[TranslatorMicrobes translation software]] installed in the Mechs used by the aliens ([[TransplantedHumans kind of]]) known as the Inspectors apparently does this, leading to one of them pausing in the middle of a climactic battle to wonder if it's broken when [[CharClone Ratsel Feinshmecker]] ("Mysterious Gourmet" in German) appears.

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'''s {{Superboss}} has an attack where he hits you with a ''gigantic'' sword made of lightning, called "Formina Sage". This turned out to be a bad re-translation of "Fulminous Edge", the name used in [[VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn the sequel]].

* ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' had this problem with "Celadon Mansion", which is very clearly an apartment building, not a mansion. The loanword "mansion" in Japanese refers to exactly that kind of building. Even weirder, the burnt-out building on Cinnabar Island, which more correctly fits the English definition of the word, is also called a "mansion" in the English version, and it wasn't until the VideoGameRemake of ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' that Celadon Mansion was corrected to "Celadon Condominiums".
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwordsAdventures'' has a fat NPC running a ball-passing {{Minigame}}, hoping this "ball diet" helps her lose weight. This sounds weird in English unless you know that in Japanese, the English loanword "diet" means ''exercise'' and has nothing to do with eating.

* The name "Veil of Wiyu" seen in several Final Fantasy games is a complicated combination of this trope, GoodBadTranslation and BlindIdiotTranslation:

However, bear in mind that loanwords sometimes evolve into "false friends," acquiring a different meaning in the new language. While 'confetti' is borrowed from Italian, we haven't taken very good care of it: it means "sugared almonds" in its mother tongue.[[note]]The confusion arises from the fact that sugar-coated almonds were (and in certain regions still are) indeed thrown like confetti, especially at weddings; paper confetti became a cheaper replacement for that. In turn, the italian word for the paper type, "coriandoli", comes from similarly sugar-coated coriander seeds used in the same manner; thus, both words share the same origin as sweets thrown at celebrations and later replaced with cheaper paper bits.[[/note]] Conversely, a German might think that they don't need to tell an English speaker what 'handy' means... except that it's a noun meaning "mobile phone" in German.[[note]]An even better example? The word "gift" in German means "poison"[[/note]]

** Finally, the book and its original transliteration of the name from ''Tactics'' are then used from that point onwards in other FF games: this is likely done because the name itself sounds more interesting than the intended meaning and because the book is generally associated with Summoners and a "wiyu" happens to be the Nyishi peoples' term for spirits, which Summoners can naturally summon.

* '' Film/TheRoom'' features this, as Lisa is referred to as Johnny's ''future wife'' instead of as his fiancée. This was apparently {{Invoked}} by Creator/TommyWiseau, who, according to ''Literature/TheDisasterArtist'', insisted that only English be in the movie.

** ''Our War Game'' translates Cherubimon as "Kerpymon", possibly another way of dodging around religious references. [[Anime/DigimonFrontier In later appearances]], Cherubimon is used as the name of the same Digimon, to keep in line with Seraphimon and Ophanimon.

* A small one shows up in ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]''. In one scene Kyon says a few words in Japanese, then in English. In the dub and some subs he does the opposite.

** There is a fansub which humorously translates duro/draw (as in draw a card) as "pick."

* The name "Veil of Wiyu" seen in several Final Fantasy games is a complicated combination of this trope, LuckyTranslation, GoodBadTranslation and BlindIdiotTranslation:

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* ''Good'' translations, fan and official, often do this because of the GratuitousEnglish trope, and the fact that many loanwords aren't used by the borrower in the same manner as in the original language. Chances are, you've probably never heard 'diamond' shortened to 'dia,' ice cream merely called 'ice,' or a two-person team called a 'combi' if you're a native English speaker. In the same vein, there are even terms that are not immediately recognizable as English (such as portmanteaus of two words' katakana spellings. Dekotora = '''deco'''rated '''tru'''ck.[[note]]If you care, dekotora basically involves decorating your big rig the way you would a Christmas tree.[[/note]]) You can get even more confusing with "tension" - which can mean excitement. Think of an upcoming game, battle, CookingDuel, or somesuch. Leaving it turns the character's feelings of "Oh, yeah!" into "OhCrap!" - the ''exact opposite'' of what the writer intended the speaker to be feeling. There's more where those examples came from, in ''each'' category.

** An infamous case in the original Creator/{{Tokyopop}} translation of the ''Manga/SailorMoon'' manga in Act 39 of the Dream arc, which wasn't about a single word, but an entire English poem by Creator/WilliamButlerYeats. Portions of his "Literature/TheSecondComing" were translated back into English without recognizing that it was originally an English poem, despite it being credited in the text itself (This was fixed in later releases.)

** Even TheNineties English dub renamed them (despite as mentioned being for the most part in English already), and often gave the same attack multiple names in back to back episodes, often with nothing to do what what the attack looked like... It also dropped the Make-Up! from the transformation phrases.[[note]]Some of that can be explained away by the need to make the lip motions of the characters line up with English pronunciations. Japanese approximations of English words can have radically different numbers of syllables. But only some of it. Other choices were clearly to either dumb things down for little kids such as the words "mandala" and "supreme", or to get rid of things that sounded stupid/too-girly to American ears, like the aforementioned "make up!".[[/note]]

** There are some straighter examples, as well - probably the most famous is Sangan. Its English name is Japanese for "three eye", given that Sangan has three eyes... but its Japanese name was simply "Kuritta"... or "Critter." "Cyclops" became "Hitotsu-Me Giant" ("hitotsu-me" being Japanese for "one-eyed")[[note]]It's also interesting to note that the Japanese name of the card uses the English pronunciation of the word "cyclops", "saikuropusu", rather than the Greek pronunciation "kyukuropusu" which is more commonly used in Japanese[[/note]], "Sting" being translated as "Hinotama Soul" ("hinotama" being Japanese for "fireball"), and "Thunderbolt" becoming "Raigeki" (Japanese for thunder strike).

** The "Guardian" weapon was named "マインゴーシュ" (maingōshu) in Japanese. This one went over the localization team's heads because it's a loanword from ''French'' -- it's supposed to be "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrying_dagger#Main-gauche main-gauche]]".

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'''s BonusBoss has an attack where he hits you with a ''gigantic'' sword made of lightning, called "Formina Sage". This turned out to be a bad re-translation of "Fulminous Edge", the name used in the sequel.

** There is a Shinra bomber in the game called Gelnika, which should have been "Guernica", as in the Picasso painting of a bombing aftermath.

* ''Anime/CardfightVanguard'' features a deck archetype known as Blau, whose names feature a lot of GratuitousGerman. One of the first units introduced is Stern Blaukluger, where the "Stern" is clearly meant to be the German word for "Star", yet the Italian dub of the anime translated as it was English, turning it into "Blaukluger Severo". Meanwhile, the card translation got the language right and translated it as "Blaukluger Stella".

* ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' does a fantastic job of this with one class of cards. In the original Japanese, the class is called 'Ritua', a corruption of the English 'Ritual', because the set focuses on ritual summoning. In English, it is called 'Gishki', a corruption of the Japanese word for ritual, 'Gishiki'. Needless to say, the fanbase was actually rather impressed.

** There are some straighter examples, as well - probably the most famous is Sangan. Its English name is Japanese for "three eye", given that Sangan has three eyes... but its Japanese name was simply "Kuritta"... or "Critter."

** An aversion with one card named "Sanda Boruto" in Japanese. Why they didn't turn it back to Thunderbolt is anyone's guess.
** A few cards that had English names in the Japanese version got given Japanese names in the English version. For example, "Cyclops" became "Hitotsu-Me Giant" ("hitotsu-me" being Japanese for "one-eyed")[[note]]It's also interesting to note that the Japanese name of the card uses the English pronunciation of the word "cyclops", "saikuropusu", rather than the Greek pronunciation "kyukuropusu" which is more commonly used in Japanese[[/note]] and "Sting" being translated as "Hinotama Soul" ("hinotama" being Japanese for "fireball").
** One SeaMonster card is called Ribaiasan rather than Leviathan.

* Near the end of ''Literature/TheGunsOfTheSouth'', a manifesto for the AWB [[spoiler:recovered from the raid on their offices in Richmond, after they've turned on the Confederacy]] contains an anachronistic reference to UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and ''Mein Kampf''. The problem is that the book is written entirely in Afrikaans, and Afrikaans didn't exist in 1868 ([[CriticalResearchFailure It did, by the way.]]), so the translator the Confederates bring in is left to translate it from his knowledge of German and Dutch, as well as his own guesswork. Since ''Mein Kampf'' didn't exist yet either, the translator translates it as ''My Struggle'' when reading the reference back to Lee.