Rabu Study Day

Retail disappointment

2008-07-14T22:04:06Z

Positive achievements for the day: put in the long-delayed textbook order for the new course I'll be teaching in the fall. (I already ordered books for my other courses, but I had to spend more time pondering the new course.) I have a lot more work to do on developing the new course (on the Hellenistic World), but it's a start.

Above-mentioned disappointment: I was supposed to have Dish TV installed today. I was really looking forward to it, as it was going to allow me to have digital service comparable to what I have now from cable, on two TVs, with DVR service available on both, for less than I'm now paying for cable TV. Alas, it turns out that the honking big tree in my front yard is smack in the line of sight from every angle. Unless I get a tree service out to hack off about a third of the tree, I'm not going to be able to get a clear satellite signal. So, no satellite TV for me. I suppose I could try DirectTV and see if they're any better, but at this point I'm too frustrated to go through the whole process of changing services again with yet another company.

I tried calling Comcast to see if they might have a better offer than what I'm getting now. They were singularly unhelpful.

So, since I was most disappointed about the DVR part, I'm looking into Tivo, which involves more of an upfront cost, but would give me more DVR flexibility. Comcast's price for having DVR available in two rooms is just outrageous, and it doesn't have a good option for transferring recorded programming to a computer or ipod, which Tivo does.

Either way, it seems like I'm stuck paying too much for cable TV when my package deal expires next month. Meh. This calls for a drink.

The most productive thing I've done all day

2008-07-01T00:21:07Z

So I was getting ready to post about the fact that I haven't accomplished jack lately, but at least I joined a gym again today, because they were running a cheap monthly membership deal. I desperately need to get back into a regular workout routine.

But now I just need to post in order to share this, which I found via a link on another website (randomly, the Motley Fool, given that the clip has nothing whatsoever to do with finance).

The Website is Down

It starts off slow, but by the end I was wheezing from laughter. Don't give up on it before you get to the Sales Guy's desktop. (Could be considered NSFW, I guess, which is kind of ironic and meta.)

*wipes streaming eyes*

Catching up (in more ways than one)

2008-06-05T19:35:35Z

Back from the beach, currently in DC for a few days before going off to grade Latin exams starting this weekend. Considering that this is supposed to be vacation time, I feel like I'm having a surprisingly hard time getting caught up on, well, anything.

Case in point: I just went through my user info page and realized that a whole bunch of people had friended me I-have-no-idea-how-long-ago, mostly through the BL/yaoi/scanlation connection, I think. I did a wholesale friendback thing, so if by any chance anyone's been out there wondering why I was snubbing you, uh, it wasn't on purpose. ^_^;;

I'm also vainly trying to get caught up on LJ, because on top of being at the beach, where I wasn't logging in often enough to keep up with comments, this past weekend was my 20th college reunion, so I had to leave the beach early and drive up to Pennsylvania for the weekend. I had a wonderful time (the reunion deserves a post of its own), but I just realized I missed the entire discussion about registering for Yaoicon. (More thoughts on that forthcoming.)

Meanwhile, having attended my college reunion, I'm trying to lure a bunch of old college friends onto LJ (which is why I was poking around updating my user info page). Does anyone else have those moments where you look back over your journal and wonder if it would make any sense to anyone but the people who are currently reading it? Or is that just me? I don't think I'm a very good blogger.

Projects, oh god, so many projects. I've whittled away at a few of them, hoping to get some more done today. Maybe I should go do that now, because this post seems to be getting less coherent by the moment.

I'm a little distressed by the workout this icon has been getting, lately.

Beach update

2008-05-27T17:12:13Z

Yikes... over a week at the beach already?

Weather has been absolutely gorgeous, which is why I haven't been online much. As with last year, we signed up for wireless access, but the signal is only decent in two rooms, both of which are on the shady land side -- not really where one wants to be on a beautiful sunny day at the beach. I've been trying to keep up with checking email and reading the flist, but haven't managed more than that.

I should have been updating more often, but every day would pretty much look the same:

Drink coffee.
Sit out in the sun.
Practice kanji.
Sit in the sun and practice kanji while drinking more coffee.
Nap when the sun gets too high.
Practice kanji and/or read a novel (being at the beach always makes me want to reread Michael Crichton thrillers).
Lounge in the sun for the rest of the afternoon. Take a walk if I'm feeling energetic.
Toward dinnertime, have a beer and practice more kanji.
After dinner, watch whatever people feel like watching on DVD. (I managed to get my parents semi-hooked on SGA. Score!)
Stay up too late reading SGA fanfic, if I can manage to hold an internet connection long enough.
Oversleep. Wake up next morning and repeat.

Went swimming yesterday. That'll probably be my one time in the water for this year (I do not come to the beach for the swimming).

I'm doing a lot of kanji practice because it's easy to use flashcards and/or the Nintendo DS outside, even in bright sun. The poor kanji had been neglected for a few weeks during the SGA marathon, so they need the practice. I'm determined to attempt 1kyuu this year, fail or no fail (at least it will be a less abysmal fail than last year would have been).

Until yesterday it was just me and my parents; my older sister and BIL arrived last night. BIL is still recovering from the cancer that was diagnosed last year around this time, but is doing well. Cancer is gone (so far so good), but there are lingering effects from the radiation treatment. My younger sister comes up this evening.

I've moved into the smaller bedroom, which gets better internet access, so perhaps I'll be online more (unless I'm too busy reading SGA fanfic).

Trying to think of other news to report... nope, I got nothing. It's almost time for my nap.

whimper

2008-05-06T20:15:28Z

So I'm forging on through SGA (OK, so I didn't quite make it to season 4 by Sunday). I saw McKay and Mrs Miller, and it was awesome, and there was The Tao of Rodney and The Game, and that was even MORE awesome (how much do I love that they're gamers in their spare time!), and then I got to the last disk of season 3, and I'm just going to sit in the corner and bawl for a while. Jeez. You guys couldn't have WARNED me?

Am about to embark on season 4. This had better be really, really slashy to make up for *spoiler*, that's all I'm saying. *glares*

PORCH!

2008-04-19T17:40:25Z

Spring has been late coming in New England, but after a few false starts, it is porch weather again! I've been able to sit out on the porch morning and evening for the last three days. (Porch gets morning sun, so the first stage of porch weather is being able to go out when there's full sun warming it up -- being warm enough in the afternoon/evening when the porch is in full shade is the next step. Right now it's 81 degrees. Woo hoo!

I seriously spend my entire winter waiting for this day to come, so I'm happy right now.

I last waxed lyrical about the porch in this space back in August 2006... post links to some pictures, for the curious.

(No way! The truck with the annoying ice cream music just came down the street. Now I know it's almost summer.)

I'm thinking of making a run to Boston later this afternoon to pick up my latest issue of BeBoy. I'd rather go to New York, but darn it, I don't really have enough on my shopping list to justify the extra expense.

Overdue and underdone

2008-03-30T23:19:01Z

Wow, has it really been almost a MONTH since I posted anything? Posting tonight not because I particularly have anything to say, but because I feel like I have to start somewhere.

Spring break has come and gone at school (I managed to get a little bit caught up on my to-do list, not nearly as much as I wanted), but there's no sign of spring here in New England. We've had a number of sunny days that look pretty from inside, but the temperatures have barely gotten above 40, let alone 50. Cold affects me almost as much as lack of sunlight does, so the ongoing effects of winter depression have made me practically narcoleptic. Seriously, the sleeping is out of control. I can routinely take naps of 3-5 hours every day that I'm not working, and that's on top of 7-10 hours of sleep a night. I lay down on the couch with a book after lunch today and woke up at 5 pm. It's hard to get much done when all my body wants to do is be unconscious.

On the upside, it appears I spend less money when I'm unconscious. The budget is limping along.

Hmm, what else? I've taken to practicing kanji with flashcards during commercials when I watch Law & Order, which has resulted in a major jump in kanji productivity. Up to over 1300 kanji now. (With my Greek flashcards, once upon a time, the TV program of choice was ST:TNG. My language learning moves by television cycles.)

I installed a gutter downspout diverter, and my basement hasn't flooded in nearly a week! Then again, it hasn't rained much this week. My joy may be premature.

I gave up reading BL for Lent. It was an interesting experiment. I found I devoted a bit more time to actual Japanese language study when I didn't have the excuse of just picking up a manga for "practice." I was glad when Easter came though. Maybe I can get back to doing some manga reports now.

Hmm, it's past seven pm... my body announces that this means it's time to wash up the dishes, change into pajamas, and crawl into bed to watch Law & Order (flashcard enhanced). Another productive weekend! /feeble yay.

Aren't you glad I haven't been posting more often?

I can has junior high?

2008-03-06T02:18:15Z

It's official: I have now memorized (on a good day, when the moon is in some favorable house or other) all of the elementary school level kanji. I plugged the last sixth grade batch into Stackz and learned them over the last few days.

The last batch went startlingly fast, because I gathered up flashcards for all the last of the sixth grade kanji and spent an evening flipping through them while watching TV, and before I knew it, I had most of them down. Truthfully, most of these were kanji I'd been seeing in my reading for ages, and just never got around to officially learning. Still, I think it's the first time I've ever learned 40-odd kanji in one sitting.

Now begins the long, dreadful slog which is Kanji Marked Level 8 (i.e. general use beyond elementary). I've already started listing the next batch to learn... alas, these do not look nearly so familiar as that last sixth grade batch did.

Kanji currently known according to Stackz: 1223. Only 800-odd to go. Hoo boy.

(Let's not talk about how long it's taken me to learn the last 200 or so, OK?)

This post is brought to you by the letters A and D

2008-02-28T01:16:09Z

Hmm, I vowed I was going to be better about posting about things other than Phoenix Wright, but the days keep getting away from me. I really hate February. At least, I'm determined to blame February for the fact that I keep coming home from work and going to bed at seven, because any other explanation just boils down to me being pathetic.

Random thoughts on random topics:

Managed to get out to Boston this weekend to pick up the latest BeBoy (plus, Bitter, which just came out -- Sasuga is getting better at stocking the latest titles within something less than three months of issue!). Got caught up with a few stories, mainly the most recent Bukiyou na Silent saga, but also the latest installment of Kamisama no ude no naka ni. BnS was adorable as always. I enjoyed the introduction of the potential love interest for the cranky osananajimi third wheel guy, but is it wrong that my favorite part was the return of Satoru's parents? Actually, what I liked best was that since so much of the story focused on the student council couple, we get to see the main couple just being a normal, happy couple dealing with normal stuff. (If you can call trying to reenact the plot of Much Ado about Nothing normal, I guess.) They're cute when they're angsting, but they're cuter when they're happy.

Kamisama... ah, Kamisama. That series never fails to have the same effect on me... I get sucked in by something, want to find out what's going to happen, and read the whole thing going "Is this the same story with the guys who were... wait... but I thought he was... no, that doesn't make sense... weren't their roles the other way around before...?... no... wait, now who is this character? Dark secret, what, did they explain this somewhere before...?" It's like an exericise in aporia, every time.

That's the most reading I've managed to get done lately, because when I'm not going to bed at seven, I've been trying to play Phoenix Wright. Only I've (temporarily) given up on PW 1.5. I literally started the game over from the beginning at least five times trying to compare the translations. I started wondering at one point if it was even the same translation team working on it as the prior chapters, because the gap between the Japanese and the English was so much greater than the others, and in some places the translation just looked flat-out wrong to me. I finally got to the point where I decided the only way to compare them effectively was to transcribe the entire thing in Japanese... and after about four hours of that, I had had enough. I still want to go back to it, because there were some things that I'd like to figure out, but for now, I've gone back to playing PW 2 in English and Japanese.

(I finally got to the point in PW 2 where wednesday_10_00 was in Japan! Thanks to the voice of experience, at least I knew what to do with Director Hotti to get him to talk. Which is good, because it would have REALLY annoyed me to spend more than five minutes dealing with that stupid character.)

After more than a month of neglect, I've been practicing my kanji again. (Hey, at least I was learning all those lawyerly kanji with PW. PW has been really good for my Japanese. I know all sorts of useful words now: lawyer, defendant, victim, suspect, witness, murder weapon, autopsy, ballistic markings, spirit medium... I tell you, you never know when these things will come in handy.) I'm determined to try 1kyuu this year, fail or no fail. I slack too much when I don't have a specific goal to work toward. I think I need to set myself some specific study goals... x pages in a prep book per week, or something. Maybe when I can stay awake past seven. (When, oh when will it be spring?)

In the rare moments when I haven't been playing Phoenix Wright or sleeping, I've been on a major organizing kick. I shredded and purged three garbage bags of paper this weekend, and that was only scratching the surface. Seeing so much floor space in my study is actually a little spooky. I do have a long way to go to get to where I really should be, but compared to the way things usually are, I'm just not used to seeing all this... clean. I wonder if there isn't something in my psyche that needs to fill spaces with clutter because I get a little freaked out at the sight of open space. Working on this.

Now, do I practice kanji flashcards, or play some more Phoenix Wright? Hmmm...

PW 1.4

2008-02-16T00:35:08Z

Apparently, I'm on track to do these cases at the rate of one a WEEK instead of one a day. *sob*

Spoiler alert: I have SO MUCH LOVE for the osananajimi storyline of this chapter. Those who haven't played the game (yet), beware! Spoilers lurk within.

PW 1.4

Characters

Eng: Gregory Edgeworth
Jap: 御剣信 (Mitsurugi Shin)

I think he was briefly introduced in an earlier case, but I don't think I included info on his name. His personal name means "belief."

Eng. Manfred von Karma
Jap: 狩魔豪 (Karuma Gou)

The "Manfred von" thing was completely made up for the English translation, as far as I can see. In the Japanese version, the Karma family lived "abroad" in America, not Germany.

The kanji in Karuma's name mean hunter + devil, which is pretty appropriate to his character.

The rest of Court-Record's discussion of the name is so useful, I'm quoting it here:

English: "Karma" being the bad Karma he's built up over the years. May also be based on Manfred von Richthofen, the infamous Red Baron who was brought down by a single bullet (thanks Johan!)
Japanese: "Karuma Gou" can mean several things depending on if you look at pronunciation or kanji meaning.
Pronunciation wise, "Karuma" is the Japanese Romanization for "Karma." "Gou" may come from the word gouka, which could be "the effect of karma" or "fires of hell."
Kanji wise, karu ma means "a demon which hunts," and gou comes from erai, which means "great" or "excellent."
All of them are pretty fitting.

He's so arrogant, he calls himself wagahai (a very supercilious form of "I"). Seriously, who calls themselves that? It took me a while to even figure out what he was saying.

(LOL!! I just answered my own question by googling. The main thing that came up in a google search was the Japanese novel wagahai wa neko de aru, "I am a cat."

Of course a cat would call himself wagahai. From the Amazon review of the novel:

But the problem is that "wagahai" is kind of like the royal "we" taken to extremes; it's a lordly, infinitely superior way of talking, of saying "I". And the "de aru" form is again ultra-formal, just not the way people ever, ever talk. "Neko" is just cat. So the point is that the whole title is insanely incongruous: how could a cat, of all beings, ever say "wagahai", much less use the "de aru" form? Well, this cat can. Believe me, he can. He may have no name, but "wagahai" he is forever, a lord in his domain, a superior being among cats.

The novel sounds like an awesome book, btw.)

Eng: Lotta Hart
Jap: 大騒ぎナツミ (Oosawagi Natsumi)

Oosawagi = uproar, clamor (being loud and obnoxious is supposedly a Kansai trait), with the added implication (I think?) of having something to do with the tabloid press. At least, I'm pretty sure I saw the term used in connection of something being a big sensation in the tabloids.

Lotta Hart speaks with a Kansai (specifically Osaka-ben) dialect. No surprise there – that's pretty much what I suspected from the minute she appeared in the English version, talking in a southern accent.

[Rant]: why do they always make Kansai-ben into southern dialect?? This seems to be a near-universal consensus among English translators, both manga and anime. OK, the Kansai accent does have the connotation of being regional, non-standard, and somewhat looked down upon, which sort of corresponds to the status of the southern accent in mainstream American society. But apart from that, they have nothing in common.

The US perception of the southerner is (forgive me, my southern friends!) laid-back, hospitable, rural, provincial in outlook, uneducated, possibly religious, conservative and/or racist (especially if the character is white). The Kansai, and particularly the Osaka, stereotype is (so far as I can tell) almost NONE of these things, except possibly uneducated (since an educated person might be expected to have unlearned their accent).

The Osaka stereotype, as far as I understand it, is someone who is loud, brash, pushy, hot-tempered, ignores social conventions (notoriously, they can't be bothered to line up for trains like Tokyo folk do, and tend to cross the street against the light), is very business-savvy (not to say penny-pinching), and may just possibly have connections with the mob (yakuza). One of the reasons that the character Osaka from Azumanga Daioh is funny is that her gentle, spacy personality doesn't fit the Osaka stereotype at all. [/rant]

OK, rant aside, I think Lotta's translation is hilarious. Instead of just limiting themselves to turning all of her dialect features into southern drawl (yawn), the translators went to town with the outrageous rural similes. (My personal favorite is actually from the second game. In Japanese, she basically says that the surgeon from the second chapter is well-respected in his profession, but he's not well-liked. In English, she says "... but his personality stinks like wet sheep." Hee!)

The difference between the US southerner stereotype and the Kansai stereotype explains some of the changes they made in the dialogue.

For instance, in English, she says something like "Just 'cause I'm dumb, doesn't mean all southerners are dumb!" In Japanese, she says that not all Kansai folk are けち (but she is). kechi = stingy, fussy about money. This is because she's all worked up about them having wasted a roll of film. One of the Kansai stereotypes is being stingy with money, like New Englanders supposedly are. (Not any of the New Englanders I'VE met, mind you. But traditionally, that's the stereotype.) The same thing comes up later when she offers to trade them information in order to "make it up" to them, rather than giving them information for free: in Japanese, she says "kechi," but in English, she says "unsophisticated."

Another example -- It's not as obvious in the English (because I can read English a whole lot faster than Japanese), but in the beginning, she talks really fast and keeps interrupting them. (The Japanese dialogue panels kept advancing before I was finished reading them.) When Maya comes out of hiding, she says something like "Did I scare you, talking so fast? I can slow it down for you if you like." And after that, she doesn't interrupt. In English, she just says "I kin talk Yank for ya if... ahem... if it pleases you." Kansai people supposedly talk really fast.

Osaka Daigaku = Country U.? Oh, come ON.

Eng: Yanni Yogi
Jap: 灰根高太郎 (Haine Koutarou)

I haven't got a clue personally about the derivation of his name (Yanni Yogi??), so I'm just quoting from Court-Records:

English: His English name is Yanni Yogi. A few people suggest it comes from "Yami Yugi", referencing the duel-personality character from YuGiOh, but that's not officially stated anywhere.
Japanese: His Japanese name is Koutarou Haine (灰根高太郎) , a combination of two poets: Takamura Koutarou, who grew ill after losing his beloved wife Chieko, and Haine, a poet who appreciated love and youth.

Eng: Robert Hammond
Jap: 生倉雪夫 (Namakura Yukio)

Even Court-Records has no idea where his name came from.

As for the critters... Missile is really Missile (in katakana). Polly is Sayuri (is that a bird name in Japanese, like Polly is for parrots? Or is it just a girl's name?). I don't know why I found it so amusing that several of the characters kept calling her Sayuri-san. (Awww, Mrs. Whiskers, want some kibble?)

Most WTF Overtranslation

Lotta: "I'd sooner eat the south side of a north-bound skunk than tell you!"
[I so did not need that image in my head.]

Misc Translation Notes

The lake is ひょうたん湖 (Eng. Gourd Lake), so the monster is named ひょっしー (Hyosshii, Eng. "Gourdy"), after "Nessie" of Loch Ness. According to my dictionary, 瓢箪 (hyoutan) means "gourd," while 氷炭 (hyoutan) means "ice and charcoal," and therefore, a contradiction, or something which is inherently contradictory. An intentional pun by the writers, since "Gourdy" doesn't exist?

***

In English, Larry's snack stand sells "Samurai Dogs." In Japanese, he sells – wait for it – とのさまんじゅう (tonosamanjuu -- Tonosama + manjuu). Am I sucker for bad puns? I start laughing every time I look at that. manjuu are pastries stuffed with red bean paste.

***

Maya calls Larry "Yappari-san," too. What is it with people and Larry's name? Did she pick it up from her sister?

***

I don't know why they made Larry's new girlfriend into a Beyonce clone (at least, I assume that's why they call her "Kiyance" and he keeps quoting her as saying "You go girlfriend!" at the end of every sentence). Her name in Japanese is Kazumi. When he quotes her, the only distinctive thing about her speech is that all the sentence-final vowels are drawled (...じゃないかなァ...).

***

In English, Larry calls Edgeworth "Edgey," but in Japanese, he just calls him Mitsurugi, no suffix, because they were childhood friends. (I know leaving off the suffix is significant in Japanese, but do they have to come up with these stupid nicknames to convey that?) Incidentally, he doesn't call him a "stick in the mud" (though the tone of his description is more or less the same) – he says he was a o-bocchan (the son of a wealthy, privileged household). (And for some reason, I find Larry quoting chibi-Edgeworth calling himself "boku" to be painfully cute. ぼくは、コドクなヒトの味方になるのだよ！)

On a sort-of related note... Edgeworth and Phoenix call each other "Mitsurugi" and "Naruhodou," respectively, without suffixes. That's perfectly appropriate for childhood friends (I guess they weren't ever quite close enough to move to first names?). The English translation tries to appromixate that by having them call each other "Edgeworth" and "Wright." That's fine, since it's basically the same as the Japanese, but I get a different feel from reading the Japanese. Having someone as formal and standoffish as Edgeworth call Phoenix "Naruhodou" is just... really touching and intimate, to me. It's one of those things you can't really convey in English at all. I'm profoundly grateful they DIDN'T try to have Edgeworth and Phoenix call each other "Nick" and "Edgey" (shudder).

***

In Japanese, there's a bit of dialogue where Maya is shocked that Edgeworth became a prosecuting attorney, when his father was a famous defense attorney. "But he's a kenji!" Larry is all "Who's Kenji?", and they have to explain what a prosecuting attorney is. In English, when Maya says "prosecuting attorney," he says "What? Edgey's got a proboscis on his knee?" (Truly, translating language-specific puns is hell.)

***

Apparently they have trouble translating the line "He/she is like a god to X," because they do it again when Edgeworth is talking about Karma. He says that Karma, as his mentor who taught him everything about being a prosecuting attorney, is like a god to him (and Phoenix immediately thinks that that's kind of like Mia was to him, which is awfully revealing – Mia is like a goddess to him??). In English, they have Edgeworth say that Karma is a god among prosecutors, which has a different feel. I wonder if there's an unconscious (or conscious) Judeo-Christian bias that makes it difficult for them to translate the phrase literally? Or am I putting too much weight on the literal meaning of the Japanese?

***

It's a small point, I guess, but at the end of Lotta's testimony, when Edgeworth asks Phoenix to carry a message to Maya, and then all he says (instead of "Thank you") is "Tell her to watch what she says in court" – what Phoenix thinks in Japanese is "He's not being sunao." I would have translated that as something like "Why can't he just say what he really means?" In the English translation, Phoenix thinks "Yeah, I'm sure she'll be happy to hear you say that, Edgeworth. Jerk!" That seems way too harsh, in context. I've seen people commenting on LJ that Phoenix is often harsher, more sarcastic and more aggressive in English than Naruhodou is in Japanese.

***

Hmm, so, around this point in the game, I got so absorbed in it, I played through the rest of the game in Japanese without stopping to review the English at all. I did eventually finish playing through in English, but by that time I couldn't always remember exactly what they said in Japanese, so it was harder to compare. I did make a note of the things I was curious about, though.

***

Karma's objections to Phoenix's attempt to prove that the number of the safe and/or the name of the pet parrot are significant to the case are hilarious.

For the number of the safe: in English, he says that his ATM card number is 0001, "because I'm number one!" It's a great line (and fits his personality perfectly), but that's not what he says in Japanese. In Japanese, his ATM card number is 4649, "because it spells yoroshiku." (Now contemplating using that one the next time I have to come up with some inane online password.)

For the thing about pet names, the translation of his objection is pretty close. He says that his granddaughter has a dog named Ryuu, so does that make Phoenix (first name in Japanese = Ryuuichi) her fiance? "She's only seven years old!"

***

Argh, OK, if there were other translation differences, I can't remember them now. All other reflections are subsumed by the complete and utter cuteness of Edgeworth trying to imitate Gumshoe's method of celebrating, because Maya tells him to. "Woooooot! *slinks off*" I could replay the end credits, like, ten times just to read that line over and over again.

I'm not even sure when I'll get the next one done, because... arrgh. Those of you who have played, remember how annoying the lunch lady and the patrolman who thinks he's a cowboy are? (Well, they annoyed the living heck out of me, anyway.) In Japanese, they're a million times worse. I can't understand a word they're saying, and when I play through the same segment in English to try to figure it out, it's apparent to me from the little I do understand that the English translation is totally changing whatever it was they originally said. *sigh* I'm afraid I'm going to have to play through the whole game with dictionary in hand just to figure out what's going on. Stay tuned.

This is going to take FOREVER.

2008-02-09T01:30:36Z

Day 3 was supposed to be Monday...? Uh, yeah. I finished it last night.

Between the samurai jokes and the fanboy jokes, doing this one in Japanese killed me, but I found a lot of interesting stuff (interesting to me, that is. And maybe, like, 1/2 other person in the universe). So, this is long.

Without further ado!

PW 1.3
Turnabout Samurai
Jap: 逆転のトノサマン

Characters

Eng: Will Powers
Jap: 荷星三郎 (Niboshi Saburou)

Penny calls him ニボサブ (Nibo-sabu), WP in English. Phoenix and Maya pick up on it and start calling him Nibo-sabu-san all the time, which is really cute. (My favorite part is when Phoenix calls him "Mr. WP" in English.)

Eng: Jack Hammer
Jap: 衣袋武志 (Ibukuro Takeshi)

Eng: Cody Hackins
Jap: 大滝九太 (Ootaki Kyuuta)

Court Records claims that "the start of the first three kanji of his name make up otaku," but I'm not sure how. 大滝九 = "o(o)-ta(ki)-ku"? It's certainly not the otaku kanji (お宅). Someone might have been over-speculating. But his English name (Hackins) is definitely meant to suggest "hacker," so maybe they did get this information from interviews with the creators.

He speaks really rudely, for a seven year old. (He even calls himself ore!)

Eng: Penny Nichols
Jap: 間宮由美子 (Mamiya Yumiko)

Identified in dialogue boxes as "staff," where the English uses Penny from the start. (Even at the end, Maya is all "We have to trade cards with that staff girl!")

Eng: Wendy Oldbag
Jap: 大場カオル (Ooba Kaoru)

Oldbag consistently refers to herself (in the third person) as obachan, "auntie," obviously a pun on the sound of her last name, Ooba. (And can I just say, what is adorable in little girls and just annoyingly flirty for a woman like April May, is downright CREEPY in a garrulous old woman. "Obachan says..." "Obachan saw...") She calls her favorite Jack Hammer "Ibukuro-chan," but she doesn't like Will Powers, so he's just "Niboshi" (he doesn't even rate a –san). She thoroughly freaks the judge out by calling him オッチャン (occhan... I don't even know how to translate that. "Cutie old man"?) And poor Edgeworth is "Micchan" (short for Mitsurugi – "Edgey-boy" in the English version).

Her favorite food is not donuts, but youkan (bars of sweet red bean paste).

Eng: Sal Manella
Jap: 宇在拓也(Uzai Takuya)

From the sound of the name (though not the kanji), I'd guess "annoying otaku" was the pun they were going for. (uzai = urusai, loud or annoying)

Most of his sentences end with Japanese emoticons, like (笑) (smile/LOL), 泣 (tears) and 汗 (sweatdrop). In fact, it was quite an education, because I've never even seen half of these "emoticons" before: (爆) (exploding?), (怒) (angry), (黙) (silent), (萌) (moe, leer?), (垂) (drool?), (燃) (fiery?), (核) (nuclear?? this one accompanies his Big Idea to create the Pink Princess serial), (苦) (grimace of pain?), (震) (shiver), (拝) (pray, beg, plead), (考) (thinking), (恨) (resentful), (汁) (mouth watering?).

The English translation tried to communicate this with a lot of completely bizarre, frequently off-topic leet-speak ("WTF? Who are j00 d00dz!? LMAO!"). I... guess that got the idea across...? Somehow, I had a clearer impression of him as the quintessential otaku in the Japanese. In English, his speech patterns were just too weird to convey anything to me. Actually, if anything, it gave him the impression of being cooler than he actually was, like he was some sort of cutting-edge hacker, when really he's just lame.

Footnote: best LOL line in the English was when Manella is testifying about having supposedly missed lunch, and he resentfully adds "ROFS!" Phoenix, baffled, thinks "ROFS? Rolling on the Floor... Starving?"

Eng: Dee Vasquez
Jap: 姫神サクラ (Himegami Sakura)

Other

Steel Samurai: トノサマン (Tonosaman)

Tonosama means "feudal lord"; it apparently combines with the last syllable of "man" to make Samurai-Man. His full title is大江戸戦士, "Ooedo Senshi," "The Warrior of Greater Edo". (Just like a sailor-senshi, ha!) Edo is the ancient name for Tokyo. Sometimes he's called the warrior of Neo Olde Tokyo (ネオ・エド・シティ , Neo-Edo City).

The spin-off is called Himesaman, translated into English as "Pink Princess" (himesama, princess, + n: "Princess Man"??). The full title is 小江戸剣士ヒメサマン, koedo kenshi himesaman: "Pink Princess, the Fencer of Little Edo." Maya complains about being downgraded from "Greater Edo" to "Little Edo."

Evil Magistrate: あくだいかーん　(akudaikaan, 悪代官? It's never spelled out in kanji. I don't know why they always drag out the last –kaan part.)

Global Studios = 英都撮影所 (Eito (?) Satsueisho)
Satsueisho means Studio(s), but I wasn't able to find anything for 英都. It may just be a name.

Most Gratuitous (but funny) Overtranslations

Phoenix: "Oh yeah, right here! Sherlock Holmes II, baby!"
(In Japanese: やった！)

Edgeworth: "Indeed! Verily, I say... Ergo!"
(In Japanese, he's just stuttering and going その... あの...)

Sal Manella insisting that they only took a 15 minute break: "But it was only 15 minutes! 15! That's only 13 in Base 12!"

Judge (not getting the point, as usual): "What is it? Please explain so that I might be shocked along with the rest of the court."

Random Translation Notes

When asked about the producer, Penny says in English "I don't think we'd still be in business if it weren't for her," but she said in Japanese "She's like a god to this studio." Huh? Was the concept of being "godlike" too weird to translate?

***

"Mr. Monkey," the monkey mascot (the statue whose head fell and blocked the roadway), is called サルマゲどん. This joke took me forever to figure out, but I think it's saru = monkey, mage = a topknot like that worn by a sumo wrestler, and don = dono, an old-fashioned samurai-era honorific – Sir Monkey, Esq.(?) Edgeworth calls it "sarumage-kun" in court, causing Phoenix to make his sweatdrop face and think "It's actually sarumage-don, but OK..." (In English, Edgeworth calls the mascot "Mrs. Monkey.")

Anyway, when the monkey-mascot-clock is working (is everything in this game secretly a clock?), it announces the time: ４時デゴザル (4-ji de gozaru). (de gozaru is a really old-fashioned way to say "desu.") Because it's an honorable monkey, a "go-zaru (=saru)," get it...? *hides head and cries from the bad pun*

On second thought, I think I prefer the bad pun in Japanese to the English. "He announces the time in ooks. One ook per hour. Ook ook ook ook. Always with the ooks." Phoenix thinks "It IS a monkey, after all." In Japanese, he's thinking "Gozaru? Because it's a "saru"...?

***

LOL, as a card collector myself (I even have a Buffy UR or two!), I was pretty amused by the whole card trading bit. The translators had a lot of fun with Phoenix not getting trading card lingo.

In Japanese, Cody recognizes his own とれか, toreka, short for trading card, which Phoenix doesn't understand (so Cody has to explain it). Then he demands a レア (rea, rare), and Phoenix says (to Cody) 焼き加減のことか？ (yakikagen no koto ka? "You want it cooked... how?")

In English, Cody says "Hey, that's my UR!", and Phoenix is confused. "You are... what?" Then Cody demands a premium rare instead (which he claims is better than an ultra rare), and Phoenix says (to himself) "Premium, rare... why do I feel like we're talking about steaks?"

I thought it was funnier in Japanese. (Not to mention making more sense. Premium rare, what? And a seven-year-old kid has duplicate copies of an ultra-rare card? Come on!)

***

This might just be a Japanese-culture thing rather than a specific reference, but when Cody is talking in Japanese about seeing all of the Steel Samurai's live shows, Phoenix thinks something like Oh, those shows they have on the roofs of department stores and at amusement parks? That caught my attention, because it's exactly what happens in Shinesman. I think they actually have one big battle on the roof of a department store, and another in an amusement park. Anyway, in English Phoenix just thinks something like "Those stupid publicity stunts where they beat up on each other?" So I didn't notice the similarity to Shinesman until I was playing it in Japanese.

***

I might be over-reaching with the Shinesman reference, but I know this one was deliberate. In Japanese, when Mia's trying to convice Cody to talk, she just says that Phoenix is fighting for justice, just like the Steel Samurai. In English, she says "Isn't that the Steel Samurai's motto? 'For great justice'?"

Hee! Someone set us up the bomb!

***

Cody testifies before the court standing on an orange crate, not a donut crate. (Who puts donuts in a crate?)

***

When Cody calls Edgeworth Pops and the judge Gramps, Edgeworth is miffed because Cody called him an ojisan ("uncle," implying that he looks middle-aged). He would prefer to be called oniisan instead.

Varia

2008-02-06T00:46:40Z

7:41 PM: The exact moment at which I decide that two and a half straight hours of no one actually knowing who won the Super Tuesday primaries, but talking non-stop about it nevertheless, was ENOUGH. Even if they are moderately smart NPR commentators. (My heart sank when they came on at 7 and said "We'll be with you for the next nine (!!&!) hours.")

It's day 4 of the Phoenix Wright challenge, and already I'm hopelessly behind. I'm only maybe 1/3 of the way through chapter 3. Playing Japanese just takes way too much time. Oh well, I'll take wednesday_10_00's advice, and just work through it at my own pace. I have too many stressful items on my to-do list to be stressing out over a game.

PS THANK YOU to everyone who commented with suggestions for video games to play! I definitely intend to store those suggestions up for when I've played through what I have on hand.

PW 1.2

2008-02-04T03:23:49Z

This one took a LOT longer to play through. Trying to do this in Japanese and English is going to be a killer. Still, I will gambare!

PW 1.2 Notes

As before, links on the Japanese names go to the bios in Court-Records, which do such a good job explaining the origins of the names in English and Japanese that there's usually no point in me repeating what they have to say.

Previously introduced characters

Eng: Phoenix Wright
Jap: 成歩堂龍一 (Naruhodou Ryuuichi)

Eng: Mia Fey
Jap: 綾里千尋 (Ayasato Chihiro)

New characters

Eng: Maya Fey
Jap: 綾里真宵(Ayasato Mayoi)

Maya calls her sister oneechan (big sis); she calls Phoenix "Naruhodo-kun" (well, after she gets past the initial phase of calling him bengoshi-san, "Mr. Lawyer"). I'm really baffled about where the English translators got the idea of having her and Larry call Phoenix "Nick," since there isn't that much difference in Japanese between how Mia addresses him and how Maya and Larry do (and Maya and Larry don't even use the same form of address), but it's cute. Phoenix calls her "Mayoi-chan." (In case you can't tell, I'm endlessly fascinated by the difference between American assumptions about what characters with a certain level of closeness ought to call each other, and Japanese assumptions about the same thing.)

Maya's favorite food is ramen (esp. miso ramen), not burgers. (Sorry, American fanfic authors!)

Eng: Miles Edgeworth
Jap: 御剣怜侍(Mitsurugi Reiji)

Since probably 75% of these entries overall will wind up being me fangirling over Edgeworth, I'll refrain from further comment for the moment. Mitsurugiiiii!

Ha! OK, I lied. He's known in English as the Demon Prosecutor, a cruel and merciless opponent... in Japanese, he's Mitsurugi-kenji, 血も涙もない、オニのような検事 (chi mo namida mo nai, oni no you na kenji: "A prosecutor like a demon, [having] neither blood nor tears"). Only other Koori fans will know why I find that funny. "Having neither blood nor tears" is a Japanese expression for being cold-hearted, but it has literal significance in Koori no mamono no monogatari, The Ice-Cold Demon's Tale, a manga which EVERYONE SHOULD READ.

It's interesting in retrospect to see how careful the writers are to give the impression that Phoenix knows Edgeworth only by reputation, but rereading this in light of PW 1.4, it can just as easily be understood in the light of Phoenix looking forward to his long-awaited chance to meet Edgeworth again. まさか、こんなに早く合うことになるとは... (Masaka, konna ni hayaku au koto ni naru to wa...; "I didn't think I'd be meeting him so soon...")

Eng: Dick Gumshoe
Jap: 糸鋸圭介(Itonokogiri Keisuke)

Gumshoe's title is 刑事 (keiji), Detective. The shortened version of his name is Itonoko; he objects to Phoenix shortening his name at first, but everyone else does it, so his protests fall on deaf ears.

His speech patterns in Japanese don't have any catchphrase equivalent to "pal," but as noted at Court-Records, he does slur the end of all his sentences. Instead of んです, he adds ッス to everything. I think of that as being a typically youthful-male Tokyo slang pattern, is that more or less right? It shows up in a lot of high school BL. Larry does it too (the English version gives him the speech patterns of a slacker dude). Gumshoe is a little too old to be talking like a teenager (he's 30), but then again, he's kind of behind the curve for his age. And my impression of it being primarily youth slang might be incorrect.

In general, the English localization gives the side characters more distinctive/eccentric speech patterns than the Japanese version does. Some of the Japanese characters have really distinctive speech patterns (Redd White, below, is one; so is Lotta), but more often it's a subtle dialect/slang difference that I would hardly have noticed reading in Japanese. Usually, though, the choice that the English translators made is really clever, amusing, and true to the way the character is portrayed in the game overall. And since relatively subtle differences of speech pattern can convey so much in Japanese, it was probably a good editorial decision. It makes the game a lot more fun to play in English. (It's a LOT less excruciating than some dialect renditions I've seen in published manga. Challengers, ugh!)

Eng: April May
Jap: 松竹梅世(Shouchiku Umeyo)

The first three kanji of her name are a pun; if read as a three-character compound, they would be read 松竹梅= shouchikubai, literally "pine-bamboo-plum." In a commercial context, "pine" is the lowest grade and "plum" is the highest, so it also means low-medium-high. (That's what my dictionary says, but I have no idea how that classification system originated... anyone know?)

In keeping with her flirty persona, her speech patterns in Japanese are ultra-feminine. She refers to herself in the third person ("Umeyo thinks..."), as very young girls do, and drawls out her vowels. The general impression is of someone speaking in a high-pitched, giggly, baby-talk fashion. The English translation did a pretty good job of conveying the same impression (and, as so often, she's much funnier in English).

Eng: Redd White
Jap: 小中大(Konaka Masaru)

His name is another three-character kanji pun. The three characters in his name mean "small, medium, large."

His company in Japanese is called "Konaculture" (konakaruchaa), so the syallables of his last name Konaka are mingled with the first syllable of culture to make the company name. The English version changed that into Mr. Redd White of Bluecorp. Mia's dying words were Ko...na...ka.

I was really curious about his speech patterns in Japanese after playing the game in English, since he uses a lot of overly long, made-up words ("Ridiculosity!"). I wondered if he was misusing rare kanji words, or something. Turns out he's saying almost everything in outrageously mispronounced Engrish, spelled out in katakana. Fortunately he repeats his English phrases in Japanese, because nine times out of ten, I had no idea what the katakana were trying to say until I read the Japanese. He's way more fun to play in English.

(Ex., from the first time he does this: ドンチュノウ？ [Me: "Donchunou?" Wha?] 知らないのかい？ [Me: Ohhh, "Doncha know." Why didn't you just say so.] This line was translated into English as "Are you not cogniferous of my abilities?")

He "apologizes" a couple of times for using so much English (it's more a smug assertion of superiority), saying that he lived in the US for a long time and his Japanese is rusty. The writers of this game evidently think Americans are REALLY strange. (The von Karma family supposedly lived in America, too.)

Eng: Marvin Grossberg
Jap: 星影宇宙ノ介(Hoshikage Soranosuke)

He uses old-man Japanese (calls himself washi, ends verbs with -oru instead of –iru, -ja instead of –da, etc). Again, the stuffy way he talks in English does a pretty good job of conveying the same impression. (I can't figure out why he ends half of his sentences with チミ, though. I figured it was a gruff form of "kimi," but he seems to use it in a lot of places where "kimi" ("you") isn't very appropriate. Is this another old-man thing?)

Favorite lines in English (none of these jokes were in the Japanese...)

April May: I love a man with a big... vocabulary.

Phoenix (thinking): Tomorrow in court, I'll get to this woman's bottom!... uh, I mean... you know what I mean.

Phoenix (confronting April with the evidence that the clock wasn't sold in stores): I think it's high time you went shopping for a better excuse, Miss May.
April: ....
Phoenix: Oh? Excuses not on sale today?

(and, of course...)

Edgeworth: Objection! That was... objectionable!

Funniest Lines that Weren't Meant to be Funny

Judge: "Please! No wonton winking in the court."
(But egg drop winking is OK?)

Funniest Moments in Lazy Animation

When they didn't want to bother to create another "sprite" for the bellboy, so they stuck him in the stand to testify still holding up that ridiculous tea set, and the judge says in all seriousness, "That tea set looks rather heavy, so without further ado, the witness may begin his testimony."

Miscellaneous

There is one thing that really bugs me about the resolution of this particular case. I hate when Mia suddenly appears at the end and "reveals" that the receipt has vital information on the back. Maya channelling her is cool, but there's an old gentleman's (sic) agreement from the golden age of mysteries in England (think Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie) that the detective should never have information that isn't accessible to the reader. Suddenly pulling a rabbit out of the hat during the final summation ("Well, it just happens that I found this bloody handkerchief while I was searching the study...") is against the rules. The receipt thing annoyed the heck out of me the first time I played the case, and it still annoys me on the replay. Fortunately they don't do this often.

Phoenix Wright challenge: here goes!

2008-02-02T19:21:57Z

In response to the challenge on gyakuten_saiban, I'm going to try to play all the games through in Japanese and English, blogging about the differences as I go. All entries will be public, so people can visit from the PW community if they want.

I'll quote a lot of things in Japanese, but I'll try to transliterate and explain for the benefit of my friends (and maybe outside readers) who don't speak Japanese. If you're a non-Japanese reader keeping up with this, comment once in a while and let me know... otherwise I might get lazy, since it seems silly to explain everything to my friends who are fluent in Japanese but have only played the game in English (or not at all).

I'll try to avoid or spoiler-tag protect significant spoilers, like things that give away the solution to the case or reveal major background spoilers on the characters, but eventually it'll be impossible to avoid talking in detail about spoilery stuff. If you haven't played the game yet, click on cut tags with caution.

To new readers: if you've played past the middle of PW2, do me a favor and protect me from major spoilers for the end of games 2 and 3? I know a lot of spoilers because I can't seem to stay away from fan groups and fan fiction, but I'd rather not know any more than I already do. I'm hoping to get closer to the end of PW3 in the next few weeks, but I play really slowly when I'm going through a game for the first time.

On with the blog!

Today's case is Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Chapter 1.

I thought the gameplay of PW was SO stupid when I first started playing it... of course, it gets much harder very, very quickly. I got stuck so many times during PW:AA, it wasn't funny. I had to have the cheat sheet nearby all the time. Once, during PW 1.5, I was at my hairdressers' for over an hour waiting for a color job to set, and I didn't have the cheat sheet with me, and I was totally and completely unable to progress the entire time. I sat there presenting every single thing in my inventory to Edgeworth... three times. It was pitiful.

Anyway, lots of potentially boring name and terminology stuff in this one. Later I should be able to blog more about the gameplay.

English Title: The First Turnabout
はじめての逆転 (Hajimete no Gyakuten)

Gyakuten is sort of an interesting word... turnabout isn't really the best translation, though I can't really suggest any single word that would be better. It means coming from behind, making a complete recovery, turning defeat into victory at the last minute. When Mia tells Phoenix to "think out of the box" at one point during PW 1.1, she's using the word gyakuten (basically, she tells him to turn his reasoning around and look at it in a completely new light).

Abbreviations (FYI)

PW1: Phoenix Wright, Ace Attoney (AA)
PW2: Phoenix Wright, Justice for All (JFA)
PW3: Phoenix Wright, Trials and Tribulations (T&T)
PW4: Apollo Justice, Ace Attorney (due out in English 2/20/08)

Cast of Characters

In the list below, Eng. names are given first name/last name, but Jap. names, including the transliterated form, are given last name/first name.

Links go to Court-Records, where the origins of each character's Japanese name and English name are explained more concisely than I could hope to!

Eng: Phoenix Wright
Jap: 成歩堂龍一 (Naruhodou Ryuuichi)

Naruhodo in Japanese means "Ah, I see." The fact that the last syllable in Japanese is long (-dou), not short (-do), ought to make a difference, but actually a lot of the characters seem to switch randomly between using the long syllable and the short syllable when speaking to him (this happens in the doujinshi too). The katakana identifying him in the game dialogue boxes read "Naruhodo."

Nicknames: In English, Mia calls him "Wright" and Larry and Maya call him "Nick." In Japanese, Mia and Maya call him Naruhodo-kun; Larry calls him just Naruhodou (no suffix) or 成歩堂ぉ (dragging out the last syllable of the name, Naruhodoouu; the extra o at the end makes it sound kind of whiny. Duuude!).

Eng: Mia Fey
Jap: 綾里千尋 (Ayasato Chihiro)
Nicknames: in English, Phoenix calls her "Chief." In Japanese, he calls her 所長 (shochou), "manager," or sometimes "Chihiro-san."

Eng: Larry Butz
Jap: 矢張政志 (Yahari Masashi)

yahari is an alternate way to pronounce yappari, "Sure enough!/I knew it!" ("Ah, I See" and his childhood friend, "Sure Enough"... this game should seriously be rated P for Painfully Bad Puns.)

In English, the old saying about Larry was "When something smells, it's usually the Butz." In a lot of cases I think the English version's jokes are funnier than the Japanese version, but this isn't one of them. The Japanese version was事件のカゲに、ヤッパリ矢張 (jiken no kage ni, yappari yahari). jiken no kage ni means roughly "the one behind it" (lit. "in the shade of the event"), so the Japanese joke is "When something goes wrong, sure enough, it's Sure 'Nuf's fault." That makes me laugh, but I find the English version crude and stupid. Oh well, I'm not sure I could have come up with anything better. Translating puns is hell.

Nicknames: Mia, who apparently has trouble with names, calls him Harry instead of Larry in English. In Japanese, she called him Yappari-san, which totally cracked me up. ("Let's go for a drink to celebrate Yappari-san's innocence!")

Eng: Winston Payne
Jap: 亜内武文(Auchi Takefumi)

His name is "Ouch," Payne, get it?? "Winced in pain"? Capcom, ya kill me. And dear God, I didn't think anything could be MORE wimpy than his voice in English, but his voice in Japanese is actually worse. He sounds like a castrated nanny goat.

Eng: Cindy Stone
Jap: 高日美佳 (Takabi Mika*)
*According to Court Records. Unlike most of the characters, whose names are spelled out in kana the first time they're introduced in the game, we're never told how her name is pronounced. It may be spelled out in one of the Japanese fanbooks or something.

Nicknames: hardly anyone actually calls her by name, but the one time Larry does use her name, he just calls her Mika, no suffix. He does NOT, as in the English, call her anything resembling Cindy-windy. (People, there is a limit to cutesifying the dialogue. Seriously.)

Eng: Frank Sahwit
Jap: 山野星雄 (Yamano Hoshio)

Because he "saw it," right? He was a witness, get it? (I think their translators got better at the jokes later on.) This joke isn't in the Japanese... I don't remember what they were translating when Phoenix says "Isn't that right, Mr Sahwit... or should I call you, Mr. Did It?", but I think it was something generic like "Isn't that right, Yamano-san?". That's an early example of them just taking the original dialogue and running with it. Later in the game, the "let's rewrite all the dialogue" shtick gets funnier and funnier. (My personal recent favorite, from PW 2.2: Phoenix thinks to himself, "All right! This case is in the b..." [Franziska smirks at him] "... blast range of disaster." And Lotta Hart is a walking comedy routine.)

Some random vocabulary

Defense attorney: 弁護士 (bengoshi) or 弁護人 (bengonin)
Prosecuting attorney: 検事 (kenji)

Am I wrong that in the American legal system, whether you act as prosecutor or defender has nothing to do with your training or your legal degree, but is determined by the job you hold (or even by the particular case you take)? It looks like, in the Japanese system, prosecutor and defense are completely different professions, with separate training and separate titles. (Kind of like barrister and solicitor in the British system, though I think that distinction is more complicated.) Anyone know if that's actually the case? Then again, even after endless hours of "Law and Order" on TNT, my grasp of the legal profession is hazy at best. And Phoenix Wright is hardly a model of accurate court protocol, in ANY country. (If it were halfway accurate, that judge would be so fired.)

Hold it! = 待った！ ("Matta," wait!)
Objection! = 異議あり！ ("Igi ari," an objection exists!)
Take that! = くらえ！ ("Kurae," crudely, "Eat this!")

While I was in Japan, I got a Phoenix Wright cell phone strap that says "Soko da!", but I haven't seen that phrase in the game yet. It was labeled as PW4 merchandise, so it's probably a new catchphrase in that game.

Miscellaneous comments on the localization of PW 1.1

Of course, the Japanese game is located in Japan, not in the US. The English game is located in Los Angeles (there's a comment in PW 1.5 that clinches this bit of fan speculation). It's never specified what city the Japanese game is located in, but I would assume somewhere around Tokyo. This affects any references in the original game to stuff that supposedly takes place "overseas."

In the English version of PW 1.1, the victim had just returned from Paris, and the nine-hour time difference between France and L.A. plays a role in the story. The clock appears to be 3 hours slow, but is actually 9 hours fast. In the Japanese version, the victim had just returned from New York, and the time difference is 14 hours. The clock appears to be 2 hours slow, but is actually 14 hours slow. (Gah, did I do the math right? Whatever, you get the idea.) In English, Sahwit thought the crime took place at 1 pm; in Japanese, it was 2 pm. Anyway, this particular instance of localization isn't that big of a deal, but there are several later that require substantial rewrites and are much more interesting.

Well, playing through that one in an evening wasn't too hard... let's see how the next few chapters go!

Just what I needed: ANOTHER time-sucking hobby.

2008-02-02T16:31:23Z

For the record -- I KNEW it was a bad idea to get into video gaming. ^_~

I mentioned earlier that my obsession with Phoenix Wright (the first real "game," not counting kanji games, that I've enjoyed playing since... Myst? In 1995? And the last one before that was Rogue in 1988, and Zork in 1983...) finally prompted me to do what I've been thinking about doing for a long time, and buy a PS2. Since then I've been feeling the steady pull of all these games I've been ignoring for years because I didn't see any way to dip my foot in without committing more money than I was willing to spend.

So far I only own a Nintendo DS and a PS2, but I'm really tempted to get a GameCube so I can play Zelda. (I just don't see spending the money on a Wii, yet, and they're a pain to find anyway.) My current game collection:

DS
Phoenix Wright 1-4

PS1/2
Final Fantasy VII (quite fun, but I only just started making progress because it took a while to find a PS1-compatible memory card)
Taiko Drum Master + drum (in English, plus a couple of Japanese Taiko collections)
Dance Dance Revolutions Supernova 2

I got DDR last night, courtesy of February's entertainment budget. This was always one of my goals in getting a PS2, because I don't get nearly enough exercise and DDR sounds like a fun way to change that. I tried it out this morning, and can report that this thing is WAY fun. If I practice enough, I might get over my terminal case of two left feet. (My friends have seen how pitifully I did trying it out at firesign10's house!)

Obviously, I have a thing for games with weird rhythm-driven controllers.

So, gamers on my list, hit me. What games should I be playing (someday, maybe, when I finish Phoenix Wright and FFVII)? I want to play the Zelda games, especially Ocarina of Time. I'd like to give Super Mario Bros another shot (I gave up on it back when I had a Nintendo GBA and couldn't see the non-backlit screen for crap). I'll probably get some old arcade games at some point (ah, Ms. PacMan and Galaga). Generally speaking, I like adventure and puzzle-solving games and dislike first person shooter or fighting games, though I haven't played that many games overall, so who knows? I FEAR the life-sucking power of WoW, so I'm staying away from that for now. I don't think my manga backlog would ever recover if I went down that road.

Recommendations for Japanese-only games also welcome (I have SwapMagic for the PS2, and of course the DS is cross platform). Playing PW in Japanese is really helping my Japanese quite a lot.

Speaking of Phoenix Wright, I'm going to try to tackle the challenge posted on gyakuten_saiban: play through all three Phoenix Wright games between today and 2/19, when the English version of PW4 is due to ship. I don't know how long I can keep it up, but I'm going to try to play in Japanese and English and blog about the differences between the two.

Naruhodo...

2008-01-18T19:02:00Z

Peevish aside: I am so DONE with jet lag. I'm getting almost-normal amounts of sleep now (waking up too early, is all), but my brain is mush and the simplest tasks overwhelm me. I have stuff to do, darn it.</peevish>

I started on the Comiket post, but it's turning into a monster. I need to edit it a bit and maybe add some more pictures when my brain is working again. In the meantime, I will report on one of the few things my jet-lag-addled brain seems to be able to handle: playing Phoenix Wright 24/7.

So I bought the Nintendo DS to practice kanji, really I did. (I bought a bunch of new kanji games in Japan, too.) But I had heard rumors on the flist of this incredibly addictive and slashy trial lawyer game. I wanted to try playing it in Japanese, but got scared off by the reports of lawyerly kanji (and come on, really, how fun could playing a lawyer be?). But as Japan neared, it occurred to me that the English game might be fun to play on the 14-hour plane flight, and if I liked it (if!!) I could buy it in Japanese while I was there. (I had delusions of used DS games in Japan being much cheaper than games in the US, which they're really not, but never mind.)

So, yeah, bought the game in English and started playing it, like... Xmas eve? INSTANT ADDICTION HELLO. I can report that the game is, indeed, highly addictive, especially if you can't stop watching Law and Order and CSI reruns, and as for slashy... well, Phoenix/Edgeworth is not canon in the sense that Phoenix doesn't actually get down on one knee and propose, no. But when chapter 2 (or was it 3?) of the very first game has Edgeworth telling Phoenix to leave him alone because his presence causes "unnecessary feelings"... your Honor, I rest my case. And that was BEFORE they brought in the childhood friend/angsty past thing.

It turns out wednesday_10_00 was in the middle of playing the game as well (she was in the middle of PW2, while I was in the middle of PW1), so there was much playing of Phoenix Wright on the Tokyo train system. I managed to find all four games in Japanese in Akihabara, and the first three have a button to switch to English translation, so I'm all set for a while. (I'm now half way through the last (extra) case in PW1, and that's after playing non-stop in the wee hours of the morning between bouts of jet lag.)

And then there were the doujinshi. Oh god, the doujinshi. I've always resisted getting into series-themed dj, because the sheer volume terrifies me. Besides, how can you tell from looking at the cover if the story inside is any good? But we picked up some random Phoenix Wright doujinshi at the first day of Comiket (by which I mean: w_10_00 picked out several, and I slavishly copied everything she did), and I was totally hooked. There are two groups in particular, Miteiya and Dokusai-Moratorium, who do fabulous PW doujinshi. I think I ended up buying nearly everything Dokusai has put out (though not QUITE all). It's an easy doujinshi fandom to get into, because the volume is still small, the pairings are obvious (viz: NaruMitsu*, NaruMitsu**, NaruMitsu...), and the story/game is so inherently cute and funny that the doujinshi tend to be the same. (I love the one about Naruhodou and Mitsurugi sharing an apartment for the week.) And there is enough angsty backstory to put meat on the bones of dj that want to tackle a more serious story. (I've mostly read only the fluffy ones so far, because I don't want to spoil myself TOO badly for games 2, 3 and 4.)

*The characters' names in Japanese are Naruhodou Ryuuichi (Phoenix Wright) and Mitsurugi Reiji (Miles Edgeworth). Yes, his name really is Naruhodo(u) (Eng: "Oh, I SEE..."). Nearly all the names in PW are stupid puns.

**Apropos of nothing, I find it interesting that the Japanese fandom never swerves from NaruMitsu (Edgeworth=Mitsurugi is the ultimate tsundere uke), but the American fandom seems to have a slight preference for Edgeworth/Phoenix over Phoenix/Edgeworth. ~~Yes, I have been reading fanfiction. Shaddup.~~

Speaking of the stupid puns, the humor and cultural references make the game a bit of a challenge to translate, and Capcom has done a really impressive job, in spite of the occasional lame joke (well, the original was pretty lame, in most cases), typo or translation error. At its best, the rendering of the humor of the original into an American idiom is inspired. It reminds me of the utterly hilarious dubs of Shinesman. ("I think she's one OAV short of a series.")

By way of example, check out this random assortment of non-spoilery quotes (culled from a hilarious discussion of favorite quotes over on gyakuten_saiban):

Phoenix: ...
Judge: Yes, Mr. Wright?
Phoneix: I was hoping I'd come up with a question while pounding on my desk.............. I didn't.
Judge: ... You have my sympathies.

Judge:I would like to end the cross-examination of the witness, Ms. Vasquez.
Edgeworth: OBJECTION!! ............
Judge: Yes, Mr. Edgeworth?
Edgeworth: I was hoping to come up with a question while I was objecting, Your Honor................ I didn't.
Judge: I see... Very well.
Edgeworth: OBJECTION!!

Phoenix: I would like to cross examine the witness's parrot!
Judge: BAILIFF!! BRING IN THE PARROT!

Edgeworth: Objection! That was...objectionable!

Mia: (Well we know whose milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.)

Max: Quit joking around. You've got to be pulling my magic wand.

Edgeworth: It wouldn't be right for us to discuss things so intimately, Wright.

Larry: C'mon Edgey, you were a guy once!

Edgeworth: What the hell was that wriggling piece of PLYWOOD?!

Phoenix: (He's gotta be using some sort of infinite ammo code with that box of seeds!)

Edgeworth: Witness, you really should come with a supply of cheese to match your vintage whine.

Edgeworth: (Do I really inspire this sort of frothing desire from the female masses?)

Godot: I have here in my hand a ticket.
Phoenix: ...A ticket?
Godot: That's right, a ticket to Guilty-ville! Population: the defendant!

But this one has to be the best quote (it took me a couple of re-reads to get the joke):

Maya: Umm, would you mind taking a look at this?
Lisa Basil: I'm sorry. That data is SuPer-Admin Restricted Desktop Access password-protected.
Maya: SuPer-Admin Restricted Desktop Access password-protected? What?! This is madness!
Phoenix: No, Maya, that is SPARDA. She won't tell us unless we say the right code word.

I thought it was interesting that all the reviews I've seen of the game explicitly mention its similarity to the old Zork text adventures, which were always my favorite type of game, too. I really hope the success of this game means there'll be more of the same coming from Nintendo soon.

Edgeworth: Objection! Verily...I say. Ergo!

Oh jet lag, how I hate thee.

2008-01-17T14:03:35Z

Back in CT! Actually I've been back since Sunday, but couldn't work up the energy to post. I have about two good hours every morning; after that I'm completely shot. Nothing at all gets done after lunch. Right now? It's 9 am.

Since coming back I've been working on unpacking, sorting through mail, making sure I'm caught up on financial stuff, keeping appointments, etc. At some point I have to revise/write my syllabi for the beginning of classes next week. I really, really hope I'm feeling a lot better before then.

In the meantime, here is the long-delayed picture of the main bulk of the scary haul. It includes books, magazines, doujinshi and other media like CDs and DS games, but not the cute goods (I need to summon a whole new batch of energy to upload the next batch of photos).

This photo was taken down in DC. I don't know how soon I'll be able to actually unpack this lot in CT... I need to reorganize my whole shelving system. In the meantime, they're boxed up in six boxes neatly labeled things like "Aqua-Dear+". Hopefully I can find things when I want to read them.

The picture is a medium size thumbnail, but to see the full horror, click, click and click again. 0_0

Japan 2008 haul

Soon, I hope, I will manage more catching up -- some trip reportage (maybe?), manga reports, and the sad tale of my Phoenix Wright addiction. I blame reppu.

ETA: pictures of goods now in the gallery. It's the same goods pictured from two different views. I really ought to do a picture-by-picture show of the cute stuff, but argh... see jet leg, above.

Tadaima!

2008-01-10T03:13:36Z

... I'm home! Got in late last night. I want to do a full trip report, but I don't seem to have the brain cells tonight. The short version: I had a great time, all my manga made it home without destroying any suitcases (yay!), and I'm already mentally forming shopping lists for next time. Best uninterrupted twelve-day shopping orgy EVER, in spite of rampaging illness that laid low one of our party after another.

I'm taking pictures of the haul now, and will upload them when some of my brain cells regenerate. (I got three hours of sleep last night, which was three more hours than I was expecting. Then I took a nap this afternoon, which may prove to have been a Serious Mistake. I didn't mean to fall asleep ~~when I crawled into bed and pulled the covers over my head~~.) My parents can't believe I got all this stuff into three suitcases and a backpack. Neither can I.

If I missed anything on LJ in the last two weeks, please forgive. I managed to check my email for emergency messages a couple of times but nothing more, no LJ reading, no chance to log into an account I could send messages from. My email inbox is a bottomless pit of horror. I'm trying to catch up a bit at a time.

I hope all my travel-mates spacealien_vamp, wednesday_10_00 and mangaroo made it home safely and well and are even now tucking their tired manga into the bookshelves for some well-earned rest. HUGS! I miss the manga pimping already!

Out of town message

2007-12-26T13:22:05Z

Leaving for Japan today EEEEEEE! Back on Jan 8. (I am the worst blogger in the world. Did I even mention this upcoming trip in this space? I resolve to be a better blogger in 2008.)

Apologies in advance if I'm not responsive to email in the next couple of weeks. I may have intermittent email access, but possibly not until the New Year.

Hugs and a belated Merry Xmas to all. I am pretty organized in preparation for this trip, but not for anything else... I was writing recommendations (for students) at 11 pm on Christmas. 0__0

Happy New Year in advance!

Why Flylady recommends laying out clothes the night before.

2007-12-07T14:49:25Z

Because I'm leaving for NY directly after work today, and I'm not finished packing, and I'm already running late... I am, of course, surfing the internet, came across this, and felt compelled to share.

As a bonus to certain persons on the flist, it's from a knitting blog... but has nothing whatsoever to do with knitting.

How long does it take YOU to get dressed in the morning?

http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2007/12/06/how_it_goes.html

Enneagram meme

2007-10-20T20:15:33Z

Heh! OK, I admit it, I couldn't resist this meme.

I originally scored a 4 (The Romantic), but when I went back and clicked on the other answer that I was fifty-fifty on, I got a profile that I thought was much more on target... what do you guys think?

Your Score: 5 - the Observer

Thanks for taking the test !

you chose BZ - your Enneagram type is FIVE (aka "The Thinker").

"I need to understand the world"

Observers have a need for knowledge and are introverted, curious, analytical,
and insightful.

How to Get Along with Me

Be independent, not clingy.

Speak in a straightforward and brief manner.

I need time alone to process my feelings and thoughts.

Remember that If I seem aloof, distant, or arrogant, it may be that
I am feeling uncomfortable.

Make me feel welcome, but not too intensely, or I might doubt your
sincerity.

If I become irritated when I have to repeat things, it may be because
it was such an effort to get my thoughts out in the first place.

don't come on like a bulldozer.

Help me to avoid my pet peeves: big parties, other people's loud music,
overdone emotions, and intrusions on my privacy.

What I Like About Being a FIVE

standing back and viewing life objectively

coming to a thorough understanding; perceiving causes and effects

my sense of integrity: doing what I think is right and not being influenced by social pressure

not being caught up in material possessions and status

being calm in a crisis

What's Hard About Being a FIVE

being slow to put my knowledge and insights out in the world

feeling bad when I act defensive or like a know-it-all

being pressured to be with people when I don't want to be

watching others with better social skills, but less intelligence or
technical skill, do better professionally

FIVEs as Children Often

spend a lot of time alone reading, making collections, and so on

have a few special friends rather than many

are very bright and curious and do well in school

have independent minds and often question their parents and teachers

watch events from a detached point of view, gathering information

assume a poker face in order not to look afraid

are sensitive; avoid interpersonal conflict

feel intruded upon and controlled and/or ignored and neglected

FIVEs as Parents

are often kind, perceptive, and devoted

are sometimes authoritarian and demanding

may expect more intellectual achievement than is developmentally appropriate

may be intolerant of their children expressing strong emotions

Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele

The Enneagram Made Easy

Discover the 9 Types of People

Harper
SanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages

You liked the test?

so S P R E A D I T ! tell everyone!!!
(use Quick-Paste below)

you wanna know MORE?

so check out, what Wikipedia says about your type...

...even more you'll find in Google

or do you prefer to

You are not completely happy with the result?!

You chose BZ

Would you rather have chosen:

AZ (THREE)

CZ (ONE)

BX (NINE)

BY (FOUR)

Link: The Quick & Painless ENNEAGRAM Test written by felk on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

sara_tanaquil @ 2007-10-05T17:07:00

2007-10-05T21:08:49Z

So, the deadline for signing up for the JLPT is 8 pm eastern time tonight. That's three hours away.

I had just about decided not to sign up, since I haven't been studying hardly at all, but I'm having second thoughts.

I have really been slacking on studying -- I'm not even doing my daily kanji practice, except occasionally playing with the Nintendo for a few minutes. I think part of the reason I'm slacking is that I haven't been focusing on an exam goal. I really don't feel excited about the prospect of taking 2kyuu yet again, even if I could improve my performance (I was still only getting a C last time around). It would be more fun to sign up for 1kyuu, but I would fail. I mean, that's not a pessimistic statement; I would completely, utterly fail. I'd be filling out Christmas tree patterns on the answer sheet. I tried opening a practice test last night, and I couldn't answer a single question on the first page. And the kanji section is usually the EASY section for me.

OTOH, I'm afraid if I don't do anything, I will continue to slack and my Japanese will die on the vine.

The clock is ticking, folks. Poll time!

View Poll: JLPT

(WTH... I have to vote in my own poll in order to be able to see the results without clicking through? OK, Other it is. Keep those votes coming!)

Best course evaluation comment ever

2007-07-27T18:52:30Z

Oh man, I know I'm way overdue for a real update, and I hope to get to that soon, but this was too funny not to share right away.

I'm in the office this afternoon taking care of some administrative tasks and sorting through mail, and I started reading my student evaluations from the spring. You know, the forms that students fill out about what they liked and disliked about the course.

Most of it was as expected, but from one of the evaluations from the advanced Greek class:

Q. What was the most positive aspect of the way in which this instructor taught this course?
A. You weren't kidnapped by pirates.

To understand this, you have to realize that we were reading Acts (from the NT) and Chariton (ancient Greek novel), and pretty much every five pages, someone got carried off by pirates. We had pirate jokes going on all semester. I'm threatening to show both Pirates of the Caribbean and The Princess Bride to my ancient fictions class in the fall.

Some days, teaching is awesome.

KKM prologue (Part 2 of 2)

2007-07-19T00:22:04Z

Abandon all coherent syntax, ye who enter here. (The middle part is the worst.)

Prologue, Part 2

だからゆーちゃんがいつもぶつぶついってるみたいに、
dakara Yuu-chan ga itsumo butsu-butsu itteru mitai ni
Because, like Yuu-chan always grumbles...

This is where I start to lose it. It sounds like it's the father that is always grumbling about interest in the next part, but Yuu-chan definitely seems to be the subject here...? Or is Yuu-chan actually the subject of "(is) a name" about four lines down? I don't get the overall syntax of this whole sentence.

利率がどうとか利回りがいいとか、
riritsu ga dou to ka rimawari ga ii to ka,
"How's the interest rate (riritsu)" or "the rate of return (rimawari) is good" or...

A series of puns on 利, "profit" or "interest." Apparently beginning to quote Yuuri's father.
-to ka: is always saying stuff like...

パパが銀行やさんだからって
Papa ga ginkou-ya-san da kara tte,
Because Papa works at a bank and all,

Not sure about "kara tte."

利子とか利息とかのことばっかり
rishi to ka risoku to ka no koto bakkari
nothing but "interest (rishi)" this and "interest (risoku)" that...

考えててついた名前じゃないのよ決して！
kangaete tsuita namae ja nai no yo, kesshite!
It's a name that I thought of it and it stuck, isn't it! Surely.

I don't get the –ja nai no yo at the end. It seems like it ought to be negative ("it's not a name..."), but then the sentence doesn't make sense. (Plus, isn't kesshite always "definitely (not)"?)

ね、ゆーちゃん？七月生まれだからユーリ。
ne, Yuu-chan? shichigatsu umare dakara, Yuuri.
Right, Yuu-chan? You were born in July, so you're Yuuri.

ねっほら可愛いでしょー？ママの愛を感じるでしょ？
ne, hora, kawaii deshou? mama no ai wo kanjiru desho?
See, isn't that cute? Can't you just feel your mama's love?

七月生まれでユーリ、素敵よねえ、ちょっとどっかの少女マンガにでも出てきそうな美しさじゃない？
shichigatsu umare de Yuuri, suteki yo nee, chotto dokka no shoujo manga ni de mo dete-kisou utsukushisa ja nai?
Yuuri, because you were born in July – that's so cool. Isn't it beautiful? Kind of like something you'd read in a shoujo manga.

"chotto" is literally "a bit, so I did it as "kind of," but I'm wondering if it could be more like "Just like..."
dokka = dokoka = somewhere
manga ni de mo = in a manga or something
dete-kisou: I think this is dete kuru --> dete ki+ sou, "looks/feels like something that comes from/appears in" – can kuru have a –sou form like that?
utsukushisa is a noun made from an adjective, but I turned it back into an adjective for easier translation. Lit. "The beauty feels like something that would appear in..."

ユーリ。ああすてき、キラキラーって感じ。
Yuuri. Aa, suteki, kirakira tte kanji.
Yuuri. Ahh, it's so cool, it feels all sparkly.

kirakira tte: the "sound" of something sparkly (like stars twinkling).

Pardon me while I go back to scratching all the skin off my fingers. (The poison ivy seemed miraculously to fade from my arms after a couple of hot showers, but it seems to have reappeared in small patches all over my body, which is infinitely preferable to what I had two years ago, but is still an awful lot like being devoured by a horde of evil mosquitos. It no sooner stops itching in one spot than it pops up in another. I haven't had enough alcohol yet tonight. T_T)

Better late than never: KKM, Prologue (part 1 of 2)

2007-07-18T23:33:19Z

KKM is back! Although CERTAIN mangaroos are falling behind... ^_~

I'm going to split the prologue up into two bits. (It was originally going to be three, but what was going to be the third bit turned out to be easier than I remembered.

The first bit mostly seems to make sense; let me know if I've made any mistakes, or not explained anything clearly enough. The second bit is where things get weird. (I thought I remembered the end being the worse, but it's actually the middle I really don't get -- next post!)

The prologue seems to be all Yuuri's mother speaking, but filtered through Yuuri's memory of what his mother always used to say to him growing up about how he got the name "Yuuri."

Prologue, Part 1

あのねえ、ゆーちゃん。
ano nee, Yuu-chan.
Hey, Yuu-chan.

The next part is all one gimonstrous sentence, but I'm going to try to break it up in several smaller sentences, since that sounds much better in English.
Also, I find it so adoarable that people in Japanese refer to both themselves and the person they're speaking to in the third person, I try to keep that in translation whenever I can.

ゆーちゃんの名前はねえ、
Yuu-chan no namae wa nee...
About your name, Yuu-chan...

ママがボストンの街角でいやーっどうしよう今にもうまれちゃううーって困ってたときに、
mama ga Bosuton no machikado de "iyaa- doushiyou imanimo umarechauu" tte komatte 'ta toki ni,
Back when Mama was in big trouble on a street corner in Boston, (thinking) "Oh no, what am I gonna do! This baby's gonna be born any second now!"...

The 'tte shows that everything from "iyaa!" up to that point is what the mother was thinking at the time.
This whole part is a temporal clause governed by "toki ni"; the subject is Mama and the main verb of the temporal clause is komatte'ta.
umarechauu = umarete shimau

親切にもタクシー相乗りさせてくれた超カッコいいフェンシング選手が、
shinsetsu ni mo takushii ainori sasete kureta chou-kakkoii fenshingu senshu ga,
(There was) this super-cool fencing athlete (who) kindly let me share his taxi,

This isn't a complete sentence; it's just introducing the subject who speaks the following quote. "senshu" is the grammatical subject of "waratte kureta," below.
What's the "mo" doing after shinsetsu ni?
sasete, causative or permissive; here it means "allowed (me) to share"

ママを慰めようと
mama wo nagasameyou to...
(and) in order to cheer Mama up...

Am I right that -you to is a kind of purpose clause? It seems to be an aside here.

「夏を乗り切って強い子供に育つから、
"natsu wo norikitte tsuyoi kodomo ni sodatsu kara,
He said, "Because he'll (?) grow up as a strong child who survived the summer,"

I'm not quite sure whether the implied subject of "sodatsu" is Yuuri in particular, or children who are born in July in general.
kodomo ni: "as a child" is the closest I can come to making sense of this; is that right?

七月生まれは祝福される。
shichigatsu-umare wa shukufuku sareru.
"Being born in July is considered lucky."

僕の育った故郷では、七月はユーリというんですよ」って、
boku no sodatta kokyou de wa, shichigatsu wa Yuuri to iu n desu yo." tte,
"In the hometown where I grew up, "shichigatsu" is called Yuuri, you know."

The syntax is clear enough, but I don't understand what this is supposed to imply. Is this a Japanese fencing star, who just happens to be riding past in a taxi in Boston? And is "Yuuri" therefore supposed to be some local reference to a Japanese small-town tradition? Or is this an American athlete (because Boston is just full of famous American fencers), and is the speaker (who is apparently speaking fluent Japanese in the mother's memory) making a pun on July = Yuuri in the Japanese pronunciation? I don't think I get this author's puns.

あまりにもさわやかにニコって笑ってくれたから、
amarinimo sawayaka ni niko tte waratte kureta kara,
And he smiled at me, such a nice bracing smile...

At last, a proper verb! (But still technically subordinate to kara, I guess -- the true main verb comes in the next part.)
amarinimo = ?
sawayaka ni: "bracingly"
niko tte: the "sound" of a smile

ママが思わずつけちゃったのよ。
Mama ga omowazu tsukechatta no yo.
... so right there on the spot, Mama decided on that name.

The actual main clause of the sentence.
Lit. "Without thinking (any further), Mama went and attached it."I assume the name is the implied object. Or is this another case of "called (you that)"?
tsukechatta = tsukete shimatta