Topic: Help Translating/Localizing a japanese name.

Posted under Off Topic

Calling for All japanese translators.

So i finally decided to read a not so little doujin, that actually explores story and world building of doneru's OCs, this one: https://doneru.booth.pm/items/2091225

The first page actually states the name of the species for tany and clive, these guys,

post #3383708

And they're called 「バムフィル」

What i need help is translating this kana into a species name, a few translations i've come up with are:
- Bamfir (the easy literal one)
- Bamfyr
- Bamfeer
- Bamfyl
- Vamfyr
- Vamfeer

I'm not too certain on the Vs but Bs are sometimes used for Vs and there's an odd resemblance to vampire in the name.

If anyone out there could help me with better ideas, i can start tagging them this species tag.

Here's the word in context. i landed on Bamfear, but it's tentative. Any suggestions and input is appreciated.
post #3408901

Updated

Someone who knows Jack about Japanese other than some katakana, but reads way too much about translations for it.

And I'm here to overcomplicate things with:

Is it possible that it's a transliteration of the more English-like "vamp(ire)" and "fear" into Vamfear? Or does pronunciation rule that out? I kind of wonder with Doneru drawing a lot of Pokémon, whose names in all languages tend to involve wordplay like that.
Other than that, I'll leave yinz to your way, free of external supposition (for now).

benjiboyo said:
Calling for All japanese translators.

So i finally decided to read a not so little doujin, that actually explores story and world building of doneru's OCs, this one: https://doneru.booth.pm/items/2091225

The first page actually states the name of the species for tany and clive, these guys,

post #3383708

And they're called 「バムヒィル」

バムヒィル is transcribed as Bamuhixiru--the x can be ignored, for Bamhiiru. There's no F in there.

darryus said:
wouldn't it be closer to bamheer?

Bamheel, I'd say. Ending on an R just seems wrong.

darryus said:
wouldn't it be closer to bamheer?

strikerman said:
If it was an f, the text would use フ (fu) and not ヒ (hi).

furrin_gok said:
バムヒィル is transcribed as Bamuhixiru--the x can be ignored, for Bamhiiru. There's no F in there.
Bamheel, I'd say. Ending on an R just seems wrong.

Oh my god, i’m so sorry, i made a typo. It IS フィル not ヒィル. I’m sorry i didn’t notice and for any confusion. I CAN READ KATAKANA GUYS, TRUST ME.

Updated

benjiboyo said:
Oh my god, i’m so sorry, i made a typo. It IS フィル not ヒィル. I’m sorry i didn’t notice and any confusion. I CAN READ KATAKANA GUYS, TRUST ME.

Then bamfil. How are you certain that it's the species name, though? It's all dialogue, which makes it harder to read.

furrin_gok said:
Then bamfil. How are you certain that it's the species name, though? It's all dialogue, which makes it harder to read.

On the first page (after the cover page) on the bottom-right, it says 「バムフィル族」.

The suffix 族 (-zoku) apparently means:

  • Tribe
  • Race or "taxonomic tribe" (whatever the heck that means... I'm not a zoologist).
  • subculture
  • Group on the periodic table of elements

Obviously, the third and fourth definition aren't relevant. Assuming it's the second definition, it's referring to a species. I know that in Super Mario games, the various species of koopas are collectively known as the "turtle race" (kame-zoku).

Updated

furrin_gok said:
Then bamfil. How are you certain that it's the species name, though? It's all dialogue, which makes it harder to read.

crocogator said:
On the first page (after the cover page) on the bottom-right, it says 「バムフィル族」.

The suffix 族 (-zoku) apparently means:

  • Tribe
  • Race or "taxonomic tribe" (whatever the heck that means... I'm not a zoologist).
  • subculture
  • Group on the periodic table of elements

Obviously, the third and fourth definition aren't relevant. Assuming it's the second definition, it's referring to a species. I know that in Super Mario games, the various species of koopas are collectively known as the "turtle tribe" (kame-zoku).

Later on page 20 (after cover) , they're referred to as 「同じ種族」, which i'm pretty sure a very explicitly either the same Race or the same Species. And if that doesn't mean it's their species, i dunno what is.

funeralopolite said:
Someone who knows Jack about Japanese other than some katakana, but reads way too much about translations for it.

And I'm here to overcomplicate things with:

Is it possible that it's a transliteration of the more English-like "vamp(ire)" and "fear" into Vamfear? Or does pronunciation rule that out? I kind of wonder with Doneru drawing a lot of Pokémon, whose names in all languages tend to involve wordplay like that.
Other than that, I'll leave yinz to your way, free of external supposition (for now).

That is an interesting playon words, though they don't really indicate vampire traits, but Fear maybe the フィル part. Intimidation is a thing they do.

wous

Privileged

My money is on Bamphil. My reasoning is partly that "バ" instead of "ヴァ" to represent "Va" seems unlikely today, and "フィル" as a word or name ending is almost always fil, fill, phyll, phil, or fir, with phyll being a suffix that only relates to plants.

You could already start tagging the posts with a randomly chosen romanisation, and then if it turns out that it's supposed to be spelled differently, you can just request a mass update of the tag.

If the artist has contact information, you could ask them directly how they would prefer to romanise the name of the species.

wous said:
My money is on Bamphil. My reasoning is partly that "バ" instead of "ヴァ" to represent "Va" seems unlikely today, and "フィル" as a word or name ending is almost always fil, fill, phyll, phil, or fir, with phyll being a suffix that only relates to plants.

Yeah i've dropped the V thing. Ph is something i completely forgotten, and it does sound more fitting. I'll have to think about it.

gattonero2001 said:
You could already start tagging the posts with a randomly chosen romanisation, and then if it turns out that it's supposed to be spelled differently, you can just request a mass update of the tag.

If the artist has contact information, you could ask them directly how they would prefer to romanise the name of the species.

Ah right. Allright, guess i'll use a tentative one then.

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