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| 5 | [[quoteright:320:[[VideoGame/SamuraiShodown https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0001_4.png]]]] |
| 6 | [[caption-width-right:320:No, he's not involved in ''that'' [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles Troubles]].]] |
| 7 | %% |
| 8 | ->''I think there are a number of factors that combine to make All Your Base a fairly virulent meme. First, the incongruity of "engrish" in a reasonably nicely produced game is funny, much like professionally printed signs that happen to contain typos. Second ... it works well as a catchphrase and slogan and fits easily into many different contexts. And, as any 12-year-old or online gamer knows, anything that was funny once is funnier when you repeat it 100 times.'' |
| 9 | -->-- A quote from ''Wired''[='=]s [[https://www.wired.com/2001/02/when-gamer-humor-attacks 2001 article,]] explaining the cultural effectiveness of ''VideoGame/ZeroWing''[='=]s famous line. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | Whether it be due to bad translators or just being a rush job, sometimes you get a bad translation. The wording might be funky, the grammar might be off, or someone just might have flubbed the line. But people might like it anyway. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | This kind of translation becomes popular with the fans, either because it is [[{{Narm}} unintentionally hilarious]], or because it's [[MemeticMutation memorable and amusing to repeat]] -- it's SoBadItsGood. It becomes so popular that fans will insist on it; the developers, under fan pressure, [[AscendedGlitch won't correct the mistake after the fact]], and reprints and sequels will keep the mistranslation. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | See also TranslationTrainWreck for gibberish translations that may fall under this trope. Related to BlindIdiotTranslation. Compare the intentional versions, GagDub and IntentionalEngrishForFunny. Contrast {{Woolseyism}}, which is well-presented but just different from the source material. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | ---- |
| 18 | !!Examples: |
| 19 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 20 | |
| 21 | [[folder:Action Adventure]] |
| 22 | * From ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': |
| 23 | ** The original ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' is famous for its mistranslations, which were humorous for being obtuse and not always making a lot of sense; for example, "Eastmost penninsula is the secret," [sic] and "[[FeedItABomb Dodongo dislikes smoke.]]" The most enduring are "It's dangerous to go alone. Take this!" and "It's a secret to everybody," which have inspired many in-jokes and {{Shout Out}}s. Sadly, the [=GameCube=] and GBA rereleases make things at least a little better. |
| 24 | ** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' has a character who says, "I am Error." It's often thought to be an example of this trope, and it is -- but not for the reasons most people think. Most people believed it was an awkward rendering of an actual error message; in fact, the character's name actually is "Error." A man in Mido will even reference him by name ([[NintendoHard if you manage to get that far]]). The translation mistake comes from another character being called "Bagu"; his name was supposed to be "Bug," which would have given us [[ThemeNaming Bug and Error]]. Nintendo themselves had to confirm this was the case, and they weren't above referencing it later; a robot boss in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' says the phrase after his systems are attacked. |
| 25 | ** The last boss of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'''s final form is named [=DethI=], which is pronounced Death Eye. However, because supplementary material had the name written down that way (with the uppercase "i" looking almost exactly like a lowercase "L"), the nickname "Dethl" (with a lowercase "L") has become a fan-accepted version of his name. |
| 26 | ** Also in ''Link's Awakening'', the "Bucket Mouse" answering the phone in Old Man Ulrira's house [[https://www.glitterberri.com/links-awakening/staff-questionnaire/ is actually meant to be a reference to the fishing shop Bucketmouth in Osaka, Japan.]] But this inside joke would go over English speakers' heads, and the idea of a talking mouse with a telephone living in a bucket somewhere on Koholint Island is pretty amusing in its own right. |
| 27 | ** The name [[BlackKnight Darknut]] may be a bit silly, but it's more memorable than Dark Knight. |
| 28 | * ''VideoGame/CaveStory'' gave us a number of mistranslations that became popular among the fans, including the name "Grasstown" (originally something like "Bushlands"), and the nonsensical "Litagano motscoud", which translator Aeon Genesis didn't notice was supposed to be a [[SdrawkcabName backwards]] TitleDrop (the Japanese title being ''Doukutsu Monogatari''). Nicalis's translation changed some of these to be more accurate. |
| 29 | * The original English dub for ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' was a rich source of NarmCharm for a lot of players. Many of these players were not pleased when the PSP remake redubbed all the lines. |
| 30 | * The first island of ''Higemaru Makaijima: Nanatsu no Shima Daibouken'' is meant to be a reference to Cook Island, a Pacific Ocean island. Because of how katakana sounds, the game sends you with it with "WELCOME TO CUCK ISLAND". |
| 31 | [[/folder]] |
| 32 | |
| 33 | [[folder:Adventure Game]] |
| 34 | * 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 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!'". It's all rendered in voiced, well-emoted English. |
| 35 | * The Spanish translation for ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'' did this during the [[VolleyingInsults insult swordfighting]] sequence. The closest counterpart for the slang ''[[NoYou I am rubber, you are glue]]'' is ''Botellita de Jerez'' (''todo lo que digas será al revés'', everything you said will be reversed). However, it was literally translated as ''Yo soy cola, tú pegamento'', resulting in a very funny phrase that lacks any coherence. It got very popular, becoming an icon of the game and even being preserved in the remake. |
| 36 | [[/folder]] |
| 37 | |
| 38 | [[folder:Beat 'em Up]] |
| 39 | * Among many other examples in ''VideoGame/RiverCityRansom'', one of the gangsters' anguished cries of pain, "Gehh!" [[https://legendsoflocalization.com/whats-up-with-river-city-ransom-and-barf/ was translated]] as "BARF!" For the translation of ''River City Ransom EX'', Creator/{{Atlus}} not only kept this in, but they even made a '' wallpaper'' bearing the phrase. |
| 40 | * The NES version of ''[[VideoGame/DoubleDragon Double Dragon III]]'' has Billy's name misspelled as "Bimmy" in the opening of the 2-Player Mode. The 1-Player Mode uses the correct spelling. ''VideoGame/DoubleDragonNeon'' has a ShoutOut: a DualBoss's BossSubtitles is "Mistranslated Mutants: Bimmy and Jammy". |
| 41 | * The ''VideoGame/XMen1992'' arcade game is so famous for its poorly translated dialogue that original lines like "X-Men, welcome... to DIE!" were preserved when the dialogue was re-recorded for a later Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 release. |
| 42 | * ''VideoGame/PuLiRuLa''[='s=] broken English translation only adds to the game's surreal quality. |
| 43 | [[/folder]] |
| 44 | |
| 45 | [[folder:Fighting Game]] |
| 46 | * The ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown'' series is famous for absolutely ridiculous translations. The fourth game in that series gave us the phrase [[http://www.engrish.com/2002/10/samurai-showdown/ "VICTOLY!"]] Even [[Main/TyopOnTheCover the title]] isn't spelled right (apparently an artifact of when the game was to be called ''Shogun Shodown''). Knowing Creator/{{SNK}}, whether this was intentional (at least from the second game onwards) is anyone's guess. |
| 47 | ** The famous intro text about the man who "try to make his skill ultimate" and was "involved in UsefulNotes/TheTroubles". Of all the ways to say that they got into trouble, they used a common term for the "Northen Ireland Conflict". |
| 48 | * ''Keitai Denju VideoGame/{{Telefang}}'' was a {{mon}}ster-fighting game released in Japan only. Bootleggers "translated" the game into English and packaged two versions of the game under the names Pokemon Diamond (not to be confused with [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl the game released for the DS in the mid-to-late '00s]], which is a real ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' game) 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!" Other than that, though, it wasn't a bad game. |
| 49 | * In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', one of Zell's attacks is called "Meteor Barret." It's likely they meant "bullet" (and not the giant black man from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''). Flavor text in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' gives this a ShoutOut (presuming they didn't just make the same mistake twice) when it describes Squall's gunblade as shooting "barrets." |
| 50 | * "AWinnerIsYou" from ''VideoGame/ProWrestling'' is [[MemeticMutation so much of a meme]] that it [[TropeNamers named the trope]] for disappointingly sparse video game endings. |
| 51 | * ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' gave us Ryu's boast: "You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance!" This gave rise to a persistent UrbanLegendOfZelda (and AprilFoolsDay joke) that there was a secret boss character named "Sheng Long". In fact, "Sheng Long" is the Chinese name for Ryu's ''Shōryūken''; more accurately, the quote should have been, "Until you can overcome my ''Shōryūken'', you cannot win!" The SNES port fixed this translation, but it further muddied the waters by claiming [[AllThereInTheManual in the manual]] that both Ryu and Ken were disciples of a "Master Sheng Long." It even inspired Akuma's appearance in ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo''. It came to a head in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'', where Capcom announced that Gouken was "really" Sheng Long, and one of his win quotes was "You must defeat me to stand a chance!" |
| 52 | ** Come ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6'' and Sheng Long is real! At least in World Tour mode, as a late-game NPC during the "Fighty Mighty" side quest. |
| 53 | [[/folder]] |
| 54 | |
| 55 | [[folder:H-Game]] |
| 56 | * A famous (or rather notorious) [[Rule34 doujin]] HGame for ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', 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 [[SoBadItsGood 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 work-safe scenes are [[NarmCharm wonderfully Narmful]]. |
| 57 | [[/folder]] |
| 58 | |
| 59 | [[folder:Idle Game]] |
| 60 | * ''VideoGame/BattleCatsRangers'' had a hilariously terrible translation when it was first released. The most notable example would be the name of a power-up that causes a Viking Cat to attack the opponent from behind, which ended up being called "Butt Warrior." Fans considered this the best part of an otherwise SoOkayItsAverage game, and weren't pleased when updates to the game eventually fixed some of the poor translations. |
| 61 | [[/folder]] |
| 62 | |
| 63 | [[folder:Light Gun Game]] |
| 64 | * ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis''. "[[DoubleEntendre Don't come!]] It's a trap! Oh noooooo!" |
| 65 | * ''VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead'' is full of these: "You must stop Curien, or else something terrible will happen!", "Don't Come! Don't Come!", "Suffer like G did?" |
| 66 | [[/folder]] |
| 67 | |
| 68 | [[folder:Platform Game]] |
| 69 | * At the end of ''VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins'': |
| 70 | ** "Congratulation. This story is happy end. Thank you." |
| 71 | ** "Being the wise and courageour knight that you are you feel strongth welling. In your body. [[NewGamePlus Return to starting point. Challenge again!]]" |
| 72 | ** [[spoiler:"This room is an illusion and is a trap devisut by Satan. Go ahead dauntlessly! Make rapid progres!"]] |
| 73 | * ''VideoGame/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}'' for the NES had an Engrish final message: "[[AWinnerIsYou Conglaturation !!! You have completed a great game. And prooved the justice of our culture. Now go rest our heroes.]]" This is actually an ''improvement'' over the original Japanese ending, which had "grate" instead of "great" -- or rather would have had if it didn't display nonsense Hiragana due to a glitch. The 2009 ''[[VideoGame/GhostbustersTheVideoGame Ghostbusters]]'' game has the phrase on a PC screen in the office. |
| 74 | * ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' |
| 75 | ** The Varia Suit in the first ''VideoGame/{{Metroid|1}}'' was actually originally meant to be called the Barrier Suit, but instead of fixing the mistake, [[ThrowItIn it was kept]]. The reasoning was apparently that since the Varia Suit can handle many different variable conditions of planets, it could also be short for "Variable Suit". [[https://metroid.retropixel.net/games/metroid2/manual/m2_08.jpg The manual]] for ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' called it the "Barrier Suit"; the game itself uses "Varia". |
| 76 | ** The planet was known as Zebes in the manual for the original ''VideoGame/Metroid1'', but was called "Zebeth" in the game's opening, and in some early sources. The confusion comes from the katakana rendering, "Zebesu." |
| 77 | ** "Chozo", the name for the series' powerful bird creature race, was used in the original Japanese specifically for the bird statues scattered throughout Zebes. The word ''chōzo'' itself is Japanese for "carved statue"; Japanese media referred to the bird-people as ''chōjinzoku'' which literally just means "birdman tribe". When a [[Creator/RetroStudios Western studio]] did ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' and used the name "Chozo", it was adopted [[RecursiveTranslation back into Japanese media as well]], as a contraction of the original name. |
| 78 | ** The original ''Metroid'' [[https://static.wixstatic.com/media/45334d_867be7a932c8484a9ebe5cba686050c6~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_560,h_249,al_c,lg_1,q_90/45334d_867be7a932c8484a9ebe5cba686050c6~mv2.webp ended]] with the GratuitousEnglish message, "Great !! You fulfiled your mission. It will revive peace in space. But,it may be invaded by the other Metroid. Pray for a true peace in space!" [sic] |
| 79 | * ''VideoGame/ContraIIITheAlienWars'' begins with one of the heroes suggesting, "[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Let's Attack Aggressively!"]] It's not even a direct translation; the Japanese line is "Let's greet them with style!" As a ShoutOut, Pliskin uses this line in ''VideoGame/ContraRebirth'', and the line is also voice-acted in [[spoiler:''Contra IV'', when the heroes of ''Contra III'' are unlocked]]. |
| 80 | ** The unlicensed [=NES=] port by Ei-How Yang, ''Contra Spirits'', has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCqouh36HAA thending]], as well as a completely different take on the intro: |
| 81 | --->'''WELCOME''' |
| 82 | --->'''THE WORLD OF GAME''' |
| 83 | --->'''A GAME''' |
| 84 | --->'''END''' |
| 85 | * In ''VideoGame/TheGoonies 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?") |
| 86 | * When LetsPlay/{{Raocow}} did his Let's Play of the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' romhack known as VIP, a member of his forum attempted, with varying levels of success, to translate the various level names into English. This resulted in one level being called "Dodge the Beefsteak!" (a more proper translation would have been "Avoid the Enemies"). Later, an actual Japanese speaker did a proper translation of VIP for Raocow, but she left "Dodge the Beefsteak!" alone because it was just too funny. |
| 87 | * ''VideoGame/Rockman4MinusInfinity'' has an understandable, but poorly-worded translation, leading to things like this: |
| 88 | --> '''Kalinka:''' (referring to an upgrade) I suppose I put it on the doggy. ... All OK. |
| 89 | --> '''Dr. Light:''' W... [[VideoGame/ZeroWing what you said?!]] No joking, Rock! |
| 90 | [[/folder]] |
| 91 | |
| 92 | [[folder:Puzzle Game]] |
| 93 | * The indie video games ''VideoGame/MondoMedicals'' and ''VideoGame/MondoAgency'' play this up on purpose in the cinematics, in which the games' [[TheWatcher "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, as is apparent in his [[VideoGame/HotlineMiami later works]]. |
| 94 | --> "CANCER?! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT A CANCER IS?! CANCER IS A SMALL PIECE OF DEATH THAT SLOWLY TAKES OVER A BODY!" |
| 95 | --> [[ThatCameOutWrong "I HAVE TOUCHED PEOPLE INSIDE! IT'S NOT LIKE IN THE BOOKS!"]] |
| 96 | * ''VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster 3'': "EXCELLENT, but...let's go better next time" |
| 97 | [[/folder]] |
| 98 | |
| 99 | [[folder:Racing Game]] |
| 100 | * The 1989 Atari arcade game ''S.T.U.N. Runner'' had minimal text that needed to be translated into Japanese, and most of it could have been left in English without losing anything. Unfortunately, the Japanese fluency of whoever "translated" the game was, at best, rudimentary. By far the most infamous part of its translation is the equivalent of "insert coin." Instead of leaving it untranslated (as many Japanese releases did), or translating it as anything remotely sane, they mangled it into コインいっこ いれる ''koin ikko ireru'' (roughly translated as "you can insert coin x1"). Okay, it's worded slightly awkwardly, but maybe it's not that bad--but then it ''keeps showing up'' everywhere "insert coin" appears in the original game. It's no exaggeration to state this is the Japanese equivalent of "all your base are belong to us," with references to and parodies of the line frequently appearing within gamer culture. |
| 101 | [[/folder]] |
| 102 | |
| 103 | [[folder:Role-Playing Game]] |
| 104 | * The first installment of the Flash game ''Feudalism'' is plagued with misspellings and typos, such as "Soul Braker". This was funny enough not to have been "repaired" in the second game. |
| 105 | * ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'': |
| 106 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' 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. The line also made it into the PSP 20th anniversary edition. |
| 107 | ** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', when Tellah fights [[TheBard Edward]], the original featured Tellah calling out Edward for taking the sage's daughter away. The original English script featured, instead, the line "You spoony bard!". "Spoony" here is an obscure word meaning "foolishly or sentimentally in love" -- ''technically'' correct, but hilariously awkward to use. This line proved to be so popular that it's in every single English re-release, even if other lines have been translated more appropriately. The DS remake even has a DevelopersRoom where one of the translators says they fixed the erroneous translations, but "the bard was spoony -- we checked!" |
| 108 | *** It pops up in other franchises entirely, like in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'', whose translator was apparently very enamored with the phrase. |
| 109 | *** Creator/NoahAntwiler named one of his D&D characters Tandem the Spoony, and then his website ''WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment'' in reference to this line and his character. He is also known as The Spoony One, or simply Spoony. |
| 110 | *** It was also a former [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]] on Website/ThisVeryWiki; it has since been renamed to QuirkyBard. |
| 111 | *** It pops up in other ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy'' games as well, such as the PSP remake of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' or in a somewhat obscure ShoutOut in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII''. |
| 112 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' wasn't really cerebral, but it graduated into an outright MindScrew in the English version because of the dodgy translation. This may have been one of the reasons Western fans found the game so fascinating (and funny). The PC edition corrected some of the more obvious mistakes. |
| 113 | *** It all starts in the credits, where the head guy is credited as "Executive Produce". Cue jokes from the fanbase about how Hironobu Sakaguchi is secretly a vegetable. |
| 114 | *** 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 ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' fans to [[FanDumb identify the newcomers]]. |
| 115 | *** The Gold Saucer Arena had an error in the punctuation of the quit option. When asked if you want to continue, you get "Off course!" for yes and "No, way!" [sic] for no. |
| 116 | *** Now that's a typo that will poque even your interest. |
| 117 | *** Look for something called "Secret"! |
| 118 | *** At one point, Reno tries to slap some sense into Elena by telling her "You're a Turks!", which did lead people to wonder if "Turks" actually was the title for a singular member. |
| 119 | *** One bewildering exchange has Cloud announce, "...Hmm. That's how you'll fool them", and Aeris respond, ".........Hmmmmmmm. So that's how you fooled them." The original exchange was supposed to be more along the lines of: "Looks like I have to go in to the brothel to complete my disguise." / "Oh, so that's your excuse?", but Aeris' line was translated incorrectly, ''then'' accidentally duplicated and assigned to both characters, after which another localizer adjusted the lines to suit Cloud and Aeris's established speech patterns without fixing the problems. |
| 120 | *** The gag where Tifa becomes concerned that Barret's looking up her skirt is so garbled as to be lost entirely, instead giving the impression that she suddenly freaks out about his height for no reason. |
| 121 | *** There are a few moments where unnatural construction gives the dialogue a sort of poetry. One example is when Sephiroth attempts to explain that Jenova is a shapeshifter, he uses [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallelism_(grammar) parallelism]], phrasing it as "The power to change one's looks, voice and words; that is the power of Jenova." |
| 122 | *** The German version went one step further and didn't translate a few lines of text at all. This leads to Yuffie starting a sentence in German, changing to English mid-sentence, and then switching back to German. |
| 123 | *** The French version didn't want to be left out, so aside from generally being full of grammatical mistakes, typos, and just plain awkward sentence structure and choices of words, some sentences are repeated for no reason; or, at the other end of the spectrum, just stop halfway through. Two shining examples are the Nail Bat weapon, translated as "Coup d'ongle", Nail (as in ''fingernail'') Strike and Sephiroth revealing in Cloud's flashback that, instead of Jenova being his mother's ''name'', she's his mother, period. |
| 124 | *** The Spanish version fares no better, having typos where Cloud is a she (ella) and Aeris a he (él); and a scene when Cloud is going to join the "party" upstairs--"party" as in a group--translated into Spanish as "fiesta". |
| 125 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'': |
| 126 | *** As noted above in the Fighting Games folder, one of Zell's moves was translated as "Meteor Barret" instead of "Meteor Bullet". In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyBraveExvius'', when a vision of Zell was added to the game, not only did the move keep its ''[=FF8=]'' name, but Squall (also originally from the same game) gets four different moves that all have "Barret" in them. This is certainly intentional; several other characters (such as Amelia and Lucille) have moves with the same katakana in their names but properly translated as "Bullet" (such as "Killer Bullet" and "Stun Bullet"). |
| 127 | *** ''VIII'' is downright weird when it comes to the French translation. Between several instances of BreakingTheFourthWall (mainly from Squall), item names that make no sense[[note]]the "screw" item became ''enclume'' ("anvil")[[/note]] or have been invented out of nowhere[[note]]Phoenix Downs and Tents are "MT-Psys" and "Red Krosses"; extra weird as ''VII'' used the correct translations[[/note]], characters and creatures that switched names[[note]]Carbuncle became ''Ahuri'' ("flabbergasted")[[/note]] and a so-bold-it's-funny case of {{Bowdlerize}}[[note]]in the original version, Ward becomes a mute after suffering from a near-fatal SlashedThroat; in the French version, he takes a vow of silence so he'll never jinx himself after Laguna talks about TemptingFate[[/note]], the whole experience feels quite strange. Nobody knows if the translators [[IndyPloy had no idea of what they were doing and winged it]], took a ''lot'' of creative liberties or thought using made-up words would fit better. |
| 128 | * ''VideoGame/MapleStory'' used to be filled with these (most famously Horned Mushrooms being called "[[AccidentalInnuendo horny mushrooms]]"), as well as occasional lines [[TooLongDidntDub not translated from the original Korean at all]]. As of the Big Bang patch, most of those have been fixed, but that didn't stop the launch version from being advertised as now being available "in broken English." |
| 129 | * ''VideoGame/{{Persona 1}}'' received a remake in the PSP which overhauls the dialogues. One line from the original remains: [[NarmCharm Mark danced crazy!]] |
| 130 | * ''VideoGame/Persona3'': |
| 131 | ** The game mistranslated "Ceylon tea" (as in, tea from Sri Lanka) as "[[Franchise/BattlestarGalactica Cylon]] Tea", which made people giggle. Considering Atlus USA's penchant for minor gags and shoutouts in its ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' translations, however, it was very likely intentional. |
| 132 | ** The post-battle stats screen is full of odd phrases. Normally, it says "EXP: It is the experience value acquired by the battle", although earning an item will add "ITEM: It is the item obtained by the battle." Getting bonus experience points results in the phrase "Great! He is an uncanny fellow!" This doesn't happen from any other Shuffle Time result. |
| 133 | * A Vietnamese [[VideoGame/PokemonVietnameseCrystal bootleg translation]] of ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokémon Crystal]]'' made famous in a LetsPlay by LetsPlay/DeliciousCinnamon [[https://www.youtube.com/user/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" (Sentret) and "LAP" (Pidgey), Totodile using scratch being displayed as "Croc scrah", Silver's dialogue making absolutely no sense, and a Pidgey saying "LITTLE STRAWBERRY ME BABY" if you talk to it. |
| 134 | * ''VideoGame/SecretOfTheStars'' has a laughably bad translation possibly caused by little faith in the game's success in the United States or Creator/{{Tecmo}} 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!" |
| 135 | * ''VideoGame/SwordOfPaladin RE'': The current state of the translation is absymal, with bad grammar, awkward word choices, and inconsistently translated names. However, there are many unintentionally funny and narmy moments, such as Clifford leaving the party by "breaking up" with Nade, Nade and Chris having a "hot night," Red Rose claiming that she [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar "comes"]] when sinking ships, and characters yelling "Gosh!" in serious situations. |
| 136 | * Most of the spelling and grammar mistakes that appeared in the first ''VideoGame/WildArms'' game were corrected in its rerelease, ''Wild Arms Alter Code F''. However, the {{Artificial Human}}s in the game were still called "Holmcross" instead of the correct "Homunculus" because fans felt it was emblematic of the series. |
| 137 | ** The remake also made some new errors. Jack van Burace was originally supposed to be Jack Vam Brace, to reference his past as Knight of the Vambrace. The remake kept his mistranslated name, and then changed his former title to Knight of the ''Gauntlet''. |
| 138 | ** ''VideoGame/WildArms2'''s translation is also seriously flawed, but at least one "mistake" turned into accidental genius. The game's GoldfishPoopGang, Liz and Ard (who happen to be aliens), are turned into {{Cloud Cuckoolander}}s whose dialogue is both [[YouNoTakeCandle 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. |
| 139 | [[/folder]] |
| 140 | |
| 141 | [[folder:Shoot 'em Up]] |
| 142 | * ''VideoGame/RType'': "The Byde Empire was annihilated to never scare people again." |
| 143 | ** The sequel also has "The Bydo empire [[RougeAnglesOfSatin whice]] was attempting to expand its territory over this wide galaxy collapsed here" and "Many planets were invaded by the evil empire and turned into [[Franchise/StarWars Death Stars..."]] |
| 144 | * The English Sega Platform/MegaDrive version of ''VideoGame/ZeroWing'' famously gave us [[MemeticMutation "All your base are belong to us."]] It's so iconic that even though the Steam version features a new intro with an improved translation, "All your base are belong to us" is still preserved in all its Engrish-y glory. |
| 145 | * While the English localization of the first ''VideoGame/CastleOfShikigami'' game was [[TranslationTrainwreck just plain bad]], the second and third games tilt more toward the SoBadItsGood scale, if still somewhat incomprehensible. |
| 146 | ** "DAMNED NINJAAAAAS!" |
| 147 | ** "Oh, you're into THAT." |
| 148 | ** "I like girls. But now... it's about justice." |
| 149 | * The English Dreamcast version of ''VideoGame/BangaiO'': There are popular rumors that suggest that the English script is either an [[IntentionalEngrishForFunny intentional]] {{Homage}} done by the localization company to [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor translations]] of the golden era of video gaming, or that Creator/{{Treasure}} had sent a preliminary translation of the script that said localizers [[SoBadItsGood liked so much]] that they left it as is in the game. Regardless , fans wouldn't have it [[RuleOfFunny any other way]]. |
| 150 | * Beating ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}} III'' for the SNES on the [[HarderThanHard hidden "Arcade" difficulty setting]] would end the credits with the baffling message "I'M GIVE UP YOUR APPELLATION'S TECHNICAL MONKEY". This ''may'' mean "You've won. Your ranking is: [[NoFairCheating Cheater]]". |
| 151 | * The Creator/DataEast shooter ''Bloody Wolf'' (more precisely, the European arcade version retitled ''Battle Rangers'') has such gems as: "YOU! INVADERS! GET YOU THE HOT BULLETS OF SHOTGUN TO DIE!" |
| 152 | * ''VideoGame/AeroFighters'': "I never thought I'd be frying" over a jungle. |
| 153 | * ''VideoGame/ArmedPoliceBatrider'' brings us wonderful song titles such as "Choice Or Die" (menus), "Let Ass Kick Together !" (ground boss), and "Chop U!" (air boss). |
| 154 | * The instruction manual for ''VideoGame/ThunderForce VI'' shows a prototype continue screen: "DO YOU WANT TO CONTINUE? PLEASE SELECT YOUR MIND." (The second sentence was [[SoBadItWasBetter changed to "PLEASE SELECT YES OR NO"]] in the final release.) |
| 155 | * ''[[VideoGame/DonPachi DoDonPachi]]'': "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xW2Ypl0ChA How dare you penetrate my territory ?]] You have robbed everything I possessed. You knoe,what you've done to me is just unforgivable. I'll punish you myself and see to it that you die a miserable death with my awesome weapon. Die,maggotts." |
| 156 | ** And in its predecessor: "This is not similation. Get ready to destoroy the enemy. [[AttackItsWeakPoint Target for the weak points]] of [[PrecisionFStrike f**kin'machine.]] Do your best you have ever done." |
| 157 | * ''VideoGame/BlazingStar'': "You fail it! Your skill is not enough, see you next time, bye-bye!" This was the TropeNamer for EpicFail. |
| 158 | * ''Franchise/TouhouProject'': "Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please watch warmly until it is ready." |
| 159 | * ''Creator/{{CAVE}}'' games have long started with legal warnings against playing the games outside Japan, ending with "Violator and subject to severe penalties and will be prosecutedt to the full extent of the jam." When ''VideoGame/{{Mushihimesama}}'' and ''[[VideoGame/DonPachi DoDonPachi: DaiFukkastu]]'' received Steam ports, it was reworded into grammatically correct English, changing the context to warn against playing the game on other planets, while still mentioning the jam. |
| 160 | [[/folder]] |
| 161 | |
| 162 | [[folder:Simulation Game]] |
| 163 | * The various ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' games are known for their somewhat lovably bad translations, which run the quality gamut from "Actually not bad" to "[[MemeticMutation lol wut.]]" Most famously, in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'', Natsume misspelled their own name on the title screen ([[http://legendsoflocalization.com/did-natsume-misspell-its-own-name-in-harvest-moon-64/ sort of]]). The best-known, though, is "Confirm the origin of fire!", which was in ''several'' games. |
| 164 | * Start screens have always been a bit of a challenge for Natsume: ''Harvest Moon 64'' welcomed players to "Push the START". |
| 165 | [[/folder]] |
| 166 | |
| 167 | [[folder:Stealth-Based Game]] |
| 168 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' |
| 169 | ** The NES port of ''VideoGame/MetalGear1'' gave us "The truck have started to move!", "I feel asleep!", and "Contact missing our Grey Fox". |
| 170 | ** The European localization of the MSX original was even worse. "Penetrate the enemy's Outer Heaven and destoroy the ultimate weapon Metal Gear." "Mision! Gain access to the enemy's fortress, Outer Heaven." And cigarettes are "Cigals", and landmines are "L-Mains". |
| 171 | ** ''VideoGame/SnakesRevenge'', the NES sequel to ''Metal Gear'', was ostensibly written with the American market in mind. However, it features dubious lines like "here are three graves for you!" or "that room is filled with gas". One of the most infamous examples is a segment where an enemy spy in disguise tries to misdirect Snake with [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial obviously deceptive advice]] such as "there is no trap in that car" or "there are no enemies in that room". |
| 172 | [[/folder]] |
| 173 | |
| 174 | [[folder:Survival Horror]] |
| 175 | * VideoGame/ResidentEvil1: |
| 176 | ** "Jill, here's a lockpick. It might come in handy if you, the MasterOfUnlocking, take it with you." |
| 177 | ** After a tense life or death situation: Barry: ''"You were almost a [[MemeticMutation Jill Sandwich]]."'' [[{{Narm}} Doesn't help considering how it was spoken.]] The actor seriously sounds like he's {{corpsing}} while saying it. |
| 178 | ** Don't forget the "Oh my Cod" line. |
| 179 | ** ''Creator/{{Capcom}}'' has gone on to poke fun at these, with Barry quipping "Who's the Master Of Unlocking NOW?!" when [[CuttingTheKnot using a wrecking ball to smash open a locked door]] in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations2'', and with "Jill's Sandwiches" being a restaurant in the food court of ''VideoGame/DeadRising''. |
| 180 | ** In particular, in ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations2 Revelations 2]]'', Capcom canonised original ''Resident Evil 1'' as Barry's recollection of what happened. |
| 181 | --->'''Moira:''' *groans* [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents Does Barry tell]] ''[[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents everyone]]'' [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents that story?!]] |
| 182 | [[/folder]] |
| 183 | |
| 184 | [[folder:Turn-Based Strategy]] |
| 185 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'': |
| 186 | ** Professor Daravon was famous for such lines as "This was the darkened items won't appear." |
| 187 | ** "I got a good feeling" would occasionally pop up in tavern mission reviews. Like the Spoony Bard reference, it got a ShoutOut in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', but it didn't make it into the PSP remake. |
| 188 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' referenced a similar interjection from tavern mission reviews: "This is the way!" Both "I got a good feeling!" and "This is the way!" are random exclamations that party members issue ''while the mission leader is trying to recap the events of the mission to the player.'' Fittingly, "This is the way!" is the name of the document in ''[=FFTA2=]'' that tells you about the implementation of a similar mechanic in that game. |
| 189 | ** "Surrender, or die in obscurity!", which the PSP version retranslated as "Lay down your swords or die clutching them! None shall mourn your passing." |
| 190 | ** The entire translation of Tactics gave memorably awesome lines, sadly removed in War of the Lions, like Delita's "Don't blame me. Blame yourself or God." |
| 191 | ** The prologue sets the stage (and the sort of translation you're in for) by explaining that the kingdom is having some trouble with [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment rebels plotting rebellion]] because they have l i t t l e m o n e y. It's apparently written that way to make the text move slower; the translators were apparently asking for a pay raise. |
| 192 | * An interesting FanTranslation example occurred with the fifth ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' game. Most of the FE community relies on a fan who goes by "Firelizard" for translations, and they're usually quite good. While working on ''Thracia 776'', Firelizard hit a snag and asked a message board for help, asking if anyone knew a more... elegant way to say "Purple Dragon Mountain". Everyone was too amused and the name stuck. The same translation also has "Murder Hollace", both the name of a chapter and a concept that gets brought up in dialogue. Firelizard claimed it's a real medieval term for a strategy where you lock yourself the enemy [[LockedInARoom in a room]] and fight to the death, but no one can confirm if that's true, and it's likely just GratuitousEnglish for "Murder Holes". It's become so iconic to the FanTranslation though, that no one wants to change it. |
| 193 | * ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'': |
| 194 | ** In the original version, Thunder Maiden Arycelle Dania was supposed to be called "Alocer" based on the ''Literature/ArsGoetia'' ThemeNaming. However, when the PSX version came out, her name became [[UnfortunateNames Aloser]]. But since she remained a GameBreaker despite such name, it was considered a charm on its own. |
| 195 | ** The PSX version had a boatload of profanity, using everything short of the [[ClusterFBomb F-bomb]]. Vice was [[SirSwearsALot particularly foul-mouthed]] for a "good" guy; one of the first things he says is to call the hero's sister (and his childhood friend) Kachua a "bitch", and he says "shit" practically every other sentence. Such language, though, did contribute to the game's dark and cynical [[CrapsackWorld setting]], and the worst of the swearing was largely limited to characters who were established to have short tempers and violent tendencies. The PSP remake of the game eliminated almost all the cursing in favor of a more sophisticated manner of getting their anger across, [[SoBadItWasBetter to some fans' disappointment]]. |
| 196 | [[/folder]] |
| 197 | |
| 198 | [[folder:Visual Novel]] |
| 199 | * At one point in ''VisualNovel/{{Ever17}}'', you have the dialogue choice of "Naturally I knows the hacker." (It's meant to be something like "Of course I know what hacking is.") The rest of the translation isn't too great either, but this one line became one of the most quoted phrases from the game. |
| 200 | [[/folder]] |
| 201 | |
| 202 | !!Non-video game examples: |
| 203 | |
| 204 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 205 | * In ''Manga/DragonHalf'', Dug Fin's ultimate weapon is a sword that was initially translated as the "Godslayer of Hit Points". When retranslated for a DVD release, this line was kept in the subtitled version. The dub contains the better translation, "Demon Sword Godslayer". |
| 206 | * In ''Anime/TransformersHeadmasters'', Sixshot's title of ninja commander was infamously translated as "ninja consultant" in the notoriously poor Omni Productions dub. This became so well known that it even found its way into the subtitles. Another beloved mistranslation resulted in a bad guy gloating that "Fortress Maximus has come himself." (By which we mean "Fortress Maximus has arrived.") Other infamous ones include "This is UNICORN!" (a misspeaking of Unicron, whom one of Galvatron's plans vaguely resembled) and translating a SkywardScream as [[DullSurprise something closer to a yawn]]. The wiki is so fond of the Omni dub that all its quotes from ''Headmasters'' are from there. |
| 207 | * The mysterious "Armblast" from the English dub of ''Anime/KiddyGrade'' was originally named "Armbrust" -- German for "crossbow", which fits the ThemeNaming scheme. The "correct" translation would be "Arbalest", another word for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbalest a large crossbow.]] Incidentally, Armbrust (and Armbruster) are perfectly legitimate German last names in real life. |
| 208 | * ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9rndioYxg4 EVERY SINGLE MISSILE HIT THE TARGET!!]] Game, Set, and Match. |
| 209 | * ''Anime/CodeGeass'': "You know full well what this badass mother can do!" |
| 210 | * ''Anime/ExcelSaga'': One episode features Excel going to America. The original (Japanese) dialog contains poorly used English, while the (English) dialogue 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!") |
| 211 | -->Yo yo homies! Feliz Navidad. Me llamo Excel. You're my bitches! |
| 212 | * ''Manga/BlackLagoon'': In the second season, 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. 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 -- and while Revy's attempts to sound tough in English come across as cute, Balalaika actually manages the intended menace. |
| 213 | * Quattro's "Oh dear mother of God...!" during her very priceless OhCrap moment during Episode 25 of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers''. Bonus points for it being an [[CloneJesus accurate]] [[MamaBear description]] of Nanoha in that situation. |
| 214 | * ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed'' was a gold mine of InconsistentSpelling, both because many of the characters' names were completely fictional and had no real-world language equivalent (when official spellings for the names were revealed, some people found them so outlandish they refused to use them for a while; big offenders included Fllay and Cagalli), and because it was such a popular show it had close to a dozen different fansub groups working on it, and each of these groups used different spellings for the names. Everybody had their own favorites, though. One memorable topic that cropped up on the Animesuki forums was called "Battle of the Names", where people more or less voted on which fansub spellings they liked the best. One poster's hilarious response to spelling Le Creuset's name went as follows: "We should just call this guy "Cruise", like Creator/TomCruise." |
| 215 | * Most ''Franchise/DragonBall'' fans prefer the [[InconsistentSpelling more literal transliterations]] of names based on their Japanese pronunciation, which work better as names than the intended meanings, which are often just English words. Examples include Frieza/Freeza, whose name was intended to be Freezer, and Shenron, who is meant to be named after the legendary Chinese dragon Shenlong (and is called this in the English manga). |
| 216 | * ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'': "CANADA is greatest country." |
| 217 | * ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'': "Nah, I'd win." |
| 218 | * There is an English sub of ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' in which the opening song contains the lines 'we cannot be born again but...', referring to wanting either to start over your life, which you cannot do, or make it better, with the friends you do have, which you can. The wording captures it better than the sub which comes along with [=YouTube=] opening clips of the same series, and it is the only translation which references being born again. So the song is a bit choppy in this version, it comes across as a lot more meaningful. |
| 219 | * The ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' English dub has Sayaka's "You're mine, Madoka! Mine, mine, mine!" and Hitomi's "Girls can't love girls! Girls can't love girls! [[RuleOfThree Girls can't love girls!]]", both of which are in accidental LesYay moments between Madoka and Sayaka. The lines are a lot more unnatural-sounding and [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment repetitive]] than the originals, but the scenes are ''supposed'' to be awkward and silly, so [[NarmCharm it works]]...maybe [[MemeticMutation a little too well]]. |
| 220 | * The "Duwang" {{fansub}} of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' draws inspiration from the infamous early {{scanlation}} of Part 4, featuring broken grammar, the lyrics to Music/TheBeatles' "Get Back" for Part 1's opening, silly names like "Joey Jojo" for Jonathan Joestar and "Jack in the Box" for Jack the Ripper, and "ABAJ" as a frequently used interjection. |
| 221 | [[/folder]] |
| 222 | |
| 223 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 224 | * The 1993 Yuen Woo-ping version of ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Monkey_(1993_film) Iron Monkey]]'' both played this trope straight in the VHS dub, and subverted with the 2001 theatrical release of a subtitled version which was much more serious and dramatic. The earlier dub included all the overexaggerated Hong Kong-style fighting foley effects and such gems of dialogue like: |
| 225 | ** "You're so ugly, no wonder you're still a virgin!" to a homely female adversary. |
| 226 | ** "You! You're the monk who rebelled against the religion of Shaolin and destroyed the temple by burning it!" "They deserved it! And I won. So don't preach to me, it's your dead colleagues who are sorry now!" |
| 227 | ** "Fight poison with poison! What a brilliant doctor!" |
| 228 | ** "Wonder Palm!" |
| 229 | * The title of ''Film/BicycleThieves'' was translated as ''The Bicycle Thief'' in some countries. Many consider this a better title than the original [[spoiler:since it doesn't reveal the fact that there are two thieves]]. |
| 230 | * ''WebVideo/BackstrokeOfTheWest'', a Chinese BlindIdiotTranslation of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', got its SoBadItsGood fame for how hilarious the translation is. Most famous line is Darth Vader's infamous BigNo upon learning of Padme's death, translated as ''"Do Not Want!"''. |
| 231 | * Though an earlier Slovak dub of the original ''Film/XMen1'' film was good, whoever was in charge of translating made the inexplicable decision to translate all the X-Men monikers/codenames into Slovak. Most of the results were bearable, but poor Wolverine was translated to Vlkomuž ("Wolfman") rather than Rosomák ("Wolverine"). This became fairly memetic among the Slovak comic-book and science-fiction fandom, especially given the impression that the translator probably had no idea what a wolverine is, and didn't bother to look it up in a dictionary. The whole case gets weirder when you take into account "Rosomák" sounds genuinely badass in Slovak, while "Vlkomuž" not only sounds comical, it's also a bit grammatically suspect. |
| 232 | * The Chinese subtitles for ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers'' features plenty of these. In addition to the understandable Ents being "tree man," Orcs are "bitch man," Elves are "evil," and wizards are "magic man." And none of the names translate properly. Meaning that Alarwang has to tell his girlfriend that he cannot love her because she is Evil, just before being told that "bitch man come!" by Grey Magic Man Gandofu. |
| 233 | [[/folder]] |
| 234 | |
| 235 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 236 | * The phrasebook ''The New Guide of the Conversation in Portuguese and English'' (also known as ''[[http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=608757 English As She Is Spoke]]'') is famous for its mangled English phrases. The mangled phrase "to craunch the marmoset" is especially great. |
| 237 | * Creator/KarlMarx wrote poetry when he was young. One of his poems was [[https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1837-pre/verse/verse4.htm "The Fiddler" or "The Player"]]. It may be dark, but it's not funny. Meanwhile someone wrote [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/38017685/Was-Karl-Marx-a-Satanist a religious tract]] alleging Marx was a Satanist, in which a bit from the poem was "translated": |
| 238 | -->The hellish vapors rise and fill the brain,\ |
| 239 | Till I go mad and my heart is utterly changed.\ |
| 240 | See this sword?\ |
| 241 | The Prince of Darkness sold it to me. |
| 242 | * An in-universe example from ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'': there's a mountain that was named in the classic "point at it and ask the locals what it's called in your own language" method, which ultimately led to its current name of Yourfingeryoufool. |
| 243 | * There's a non-fiction book (''A choice of catastrophes'', about [[ApocalypseHow ways everything can end]]) by Creator/IsaacAsimov that in the Spanish translation has ''[[UsefulNotes/BlackHoles black holes]]'' as ''ventanas negras'' (''black windows''). |
| 244 | [[/folder]] |
| 245 | |
| 246 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 247 | * In an episode of ''Rude Awakening'', Dave said he had to chase Creator/ChristianSlater down the street. This was translated to Hebrew as "A Christian slate-layer". |
| 248 | [[/folder]] |
| 249 | |
| 250 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 251 | * Hot Limit, an [[BlindIdiotTranslation Italo-Engrish]] Eurobeat cover of a J-Rock song. "Yo say! Summer love will stimulate my heart tonight. Mysterious mermaid, barefoot all alone. Wishing, revealing. It's the fruit I want to eat. Precious love is always eating UP MY HEART!" The band itself is Italian and can't speak English either, leading to it also being known by its most famous mishearing, "We Drink Ritalin". |
| 252 | [[/folder]] |
| 253 | |
| 254 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 255 | * Spanish translations of early [=RPGs=] were often fan-made, and many of them were not professionals. |
| 256 | ** Spanish fans of ''TabletopGame/SpaceHulk'' often quote the rule "Si Fire no Move", since it was translated that way into supposed Spanish. |
| 257 | ** The Advanced ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' translator didn't know "xbow" was short for "crossbow" and translated it as "Arco X" (Bow X) |
| 258 | ** In the old ''Star Wars'' RPG by GDW, "target" was translated as "tarjeta" (meaning "card"). "Locking on your card" was a dogfight move. |
| 259 | * A early ''Dungeons & Dragons'' translation into German allegedly translated "torch" as "Taschenlampe". That does indeed mean "torch", as in the glowing thing powered by batteries. It also turned "box leaves" (as in, leaves from the plant ''Buchsbaumblätter'') into "a box of leaves" ("Kiste Blätter") |
| 260 | [[/folder]] |
| 261 | |
| 262 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 263 | * It looks like ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' characters [[http://xkcd.com/414/ found a good example]]. |
| 264 | * In one ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' comic, Torg had a dream in which Zoe and Oasis were characters in a fighting game, with dialogue such as "You killed my fish!" "Why does that pickle you?" "My feet hurt... with DESTINY!" |
| 265 | [[/folder]] |
| 266 | |
| 267 | [[folder:Web Video]] |
| 268 | * Website/YouTube's closed captioning system can create good bad ''transcriptions'', so long as you find videos that have the "CC" button on them first. And that's before the automatic translation get to mangle the mess even further! |
| 269 | ** On at least one occasion, this has gone back to affect a work's canon: In the second episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', one of the scenes centers around the interactions between the main characters and a distressed sea serpent. One of the lines of dialogue addressed to him, "Your fabulous manicure," was somehow transcribed as "Steven Magnet," and proved so popular that it became the serpent's FanNickname. This later rose to the status of AscendedFanon in the merchandise and tie-in media, and finally into the show itself. |
| 270 | ** On Arglefumph's [[VideoGame/NancyDrew Stay Tuned for Danger]] walkthrough, "Let's talk to Lillian because we can." apparently gets translated to "Let's talk to William because we can." |
| 271 | ** Some {{Gag Dub}}s have been created based on these. For example, ''Lutheran Satire'' remade their video "St. Patrick's Bad Analogies" as "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9ItXr63LUk St. Patrick's Bad Closed Captioning]]" based on captions that rendered the original's "bad Irish accents and Trinitarian jargon" into near-WordSalad. |
| 272 | * WebVideo/GoogleTranslateSings will take the text of a song (typically from a Disney movie) and applies several layers of translations via Google Translate and then translates that into English and sings it to the tune of the original song. It results in lines like "[[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Do you want to build a Yeti?]]" |
| 273 | [[/folder]] |
| 274 | |
| 275 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 276 | * Some find cheap translations from Chinese products to be entertaining. There have been bands named after them, such as Glonous Cultual. It's also a common source of material for WebVideo/StuartAshen, whose best is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbw9fGx_1RU this]]. |
| 277 | * [[http://www.snopes.com/humor/misxlate/tounge.asp Instructions for Tounge of Frog]]. (Always remember: ''never'' throw out the other person's head.) |
| 278 | * Mahir Cagri and his lovable homepage [[https://web.archive.org/web/20120206001339/http://www.ikissyou.org/ "I Kiss You"]]. He was like the Web 1.0 Turkish Borat, before the domain name expired. |
| 279 | * 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 [[JapaneseRanguage Flosty Gritter]]. It's Good Bad Translation because the people at Lush loved it [[http://www.lushusa.com/shop/products/bath-shower/bubble-bars/flosty-gritter and kept the name.]] |
| 280 | * [[http://www.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. |
| 281 | * According to legend, when Jacques Cartier was exploring the New World, he asked a group of Huron-Iroquois where they lived. "Kanata" is the Huron word for village or settlement, so they said they lived in their village. He assumed that "Kanata" was their name for the land, and so the land was identified on maps thereafter as Canada. |
| 282 | * There is [[CommonKnowledge a myth]] that, when UsefulNotes/JamesCook was exploring Australia, he came across a strange, jumping animal with huge feet and a large tail. Upon describing it to a native and asking what it was, he supposedly received the answer "Kangaroo". Assuming that was the name of the animal, he dutifully recorded it in his survey report, not knowing that it was native-speak for "I can't understand you." Unfortunately, this myth was debunked recently by a linguist researching that native language. The myth was prominently featured in the movie ''Film/{{Arrival}}'', including the fact that it's not true. |
| 283 | ** Mexico's Yucatan peninsula has a similar story, that "Yucatan" is Mayan for "I don't understand." Other sources claim it's a garbling of the Nahuatl name "Yocatlan." |
| 284 | * One popular theory for why the white rhinoceros of Africa is called "white" is that Dutch settlers called the rhino "wijd", the Dutch word for "wide" in reference to the rhino's lips. English settlers are said to have gotten "wijd" confused with "white" and the name stuck. |
| 285 | * "Tax haven" in French should be translated as "refuge fiscal". Instead it was translated as "paradis fiscal", which is the translation of "tax h'''ea'''ven". But the erroneous translation is actually just as appropriate as the correct one, if not more. The same is true in Spanish, which is "paraíso fiscal", and Swedish ("skatteparadis"). |
| 286 | * The English word "alligator" came from the Spanish "el lagarto" which actually translates to "the lizard". The Spanish word for alligator is caimán, which, in turn, is the English name [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caiman for another (closely related) type of crocodilian]]. |
| 287 | [[/folder]] |
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