SSCX-10043~6: FINAL FANTASY IX Original Soundtrack

[Dag]

I tweaked the English tracklist a bit, using the iTunes names and retranslating where appropriate. At least it should be more consistent now.

Old tracklist for reference:

Spoiler:

01 The Place I'll Return to Someday 2:09
02 Memories Washed Away in the Storm 1:16
03 Strategy Conference 1:38
04 The Skies of Alexandria 0:54
05 Vivi's Theme 3:11
06 Living by the Sword 2:42
07 Vamo' alla flamenco 1:53
08 Decisive Action ~Search for the Princess~ 3:14
09 Jesters of the Moonless Night 3:21
10 Steiner's Theme 2:27
11 Prima Vista Band 1:45
12 Captivating Eyes 2:50
13 Tonight 0:16
14 Your Warmth 0:35
15 Mistaken Love 3:35
16 Queen of the Abyss 1:31
17 Rustling Forest 2:29
18 Battle 1 2:40
19 Fanfare 0:57
20 Memories of That Day 2:27
21 Battle 2 4:05
22 Game Over 1:56
23 Run! 2:48
24 Goodnight 0:10
25 Over That Hill 2:38
26 Ice Caverns 3:00
27 Frontier Village Dali 2:29
28 In the Distant Twilight 3:07
29 Reckless Steiner 2:45
30 Limited Time 3:03
31 Zidane's Theme 2:47
32 Black Waltz 1:39

01 Cid's Theme 4:00
02 One Danger Put Behind Us... 3:10
03 Lindblum 2:11
04 Song of Memories 1:53
05 Hunter Chance 3:48
06 Marsh of the Qu Tribe 3:17
07 Quina's Theme 3:52
08 Aloha de Chocobo 2:57
09 Ukule le Chocobo 2:23
10 Freija's Theme 3:02
11 South Gate at the Border 2:56
12 Fairy Battle 2:28
13 Burmecian Kingdom 3:55
14 An Unforgettable Face 3:24
15 Kujah's Theme 2:25
16 Sword of Confusion 3:17
17 Treno, the Sleepless City 2:53
18 Tantalus' Theme 2:21
19 Wicked Melody 2:26
20 Garnet's Theme 2:40
21 Street of the Ancient Root - Gargan Roo 1:47
22 Cleyra's Trunk 2:43
23 Cleyra Settlement 2:21
24 Eternally Good Harvest 1:16
25 Heaven's Distress 2:35
26 Extraction 1:16

01 Attack 2:23
02 Rose of May 2:34
03 Fossil Roo 2:31
04 Village on a Windy Mountain - Conde Petie 3:43
05 Black Mage Village 3:22
06 Unreachable Desire 3:47
07 Ceremony for the Gods 2:09
08 Eiko's Theme 3:36
09 Ruins of Madain Sari 3:49
10 Walls of the Illusionary Beasts 2:31
11 Iifa Tree 2:29
12 Salamander's Theme 2:29
13 Footsteps of Desire 2:20
14 We Are Thieves! 2:11
15 Love Letter Epic War 2:53
16 Tetra Master 3:40
17 Moglie Theme 1:56
18 Those Whom We Must Protect 2:22
19 The Summoned 2:56
20 Warden of Time 2:44
21 Oeilvert 2:17
22 Am Irrevocable Past 2:52
23 Turn Around, He's a Frog! 2:03
24 Sacred Grounds - Esto Gaza 3:49
25 Gurgu Volcano 2:07
26 The Mind and the Fused Magic 2:03

01 The Airship - HildaGarde 4:07
02 Hermit's Library - Daguerreo 2:05
03 Ipsen's Ancient Castle 1:59
04 Four Mirrors 2:46
05 Concurrent Battles 2:03
06 Terra 2:10
07 Soulless Village Bran Ball 3:11
08 Pandemonium - the Castle Frozen in Time 3:04
09 You're Not Alone! 2:36
10 Dissipating Sorrow 3:30
11 The Evil Mist Returns 2:26
12 Assault of the Silver Dragons 3:48
13 Place of Memory 2:14
14 Crystal World 3:44
15 Messenger of Ruin 4:43
16 Final Battle 6:15
17 Bittersweet Romance 1:32
18 The Kiss of Betrayal 0:28
19 I Want to be Your Canary 1:18
20 Two Unstealable Hearts 1:22
21 Beyond the Door 2:07
22 Melodies of Life ~ Final Fantasy 7:35
23 The Prelude 2:46
24 CCJC TVCM 15 0:20
25 CCJC TVCM 30 0:34
26 Melodies of Life (The Layers of Harmony) 3:22

[Hellacia]

The Roman numeral character used in the Japanese name is going to cause problems when people searching in Japanese try to find this soundtrack. In order to find it, people have to search with the Roman numeral character now, and I don't know of any way to type it in without using some special trick. I also can't view it on my browser; it shows up as a large, empty space (I'm on Firefox 3.6.17).

ファイナルファンタジーIX オリジナル・サウンドトラック is the text seen in almost all places, so I suggest using that, but I don't want to just go and undo the edit since a trusted editor made the change.

[Cedille]

The Roman numeral character used in the Japanese name is going to cause problems when people searching in Japanese try to find this soundtrack. In order to find it, people have to search with the Roman numeral character now, and I don't know of any way to type it in without using some special trick.

I'm really not fond of those characters (it looks out of shape on Chrome 12) to begin with, so really don't mind you changing it. The only problem here is I can give no other reason than my personal preference, while we'd still keep using characters like "①" and "☆". I remember we were always suggested replacing Ⅰ,Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳ by more Macintosh-friendly I, II, III, IV a decade ago, but perhaps enough time has passed since then.

From a purely searching standpoint, one can hit this album by only single "Ⅸ" character, so it would have its own merit, although that's not my usual searching method (I normally get rather a wide range of the results, and then click the album page I want to visit).

[Hellacia]

Added scans of the registration card... made it lower resolution than I usually do because everything else is lower resolution, so I wanted it to match. Also, made them PNG because it compresses smaller than JPG since much of the image is white. I think having scans of registration cards can help people wanting to buy complete copies of soundtracks. There's wondering if a soundtrack has an obi, and then there's wondering if a soundtrack has a registration card They seem to be very rare for some reason, and sometimes I'm not even sure if I should ask a seller if something includes the registration card because I'm not sure either of us knows if it ever came with one, and if he says "no" and I pass because of that, I could be passing on something that's complete without it.

Anyways... XD

[Hellacia]

Fun with Japanese! Translating the names of my favorite songs for my playlist, and thought I'd share some suggestions for names.

1-01 A Place to Return to Someday
There's never any mention of a person. I guess a person could be implied? But then I just feel it could be he, she, we, they, etc, so why I?

1-08 Decisive Action ~Searching for the Princess~
The て on the end of さがし (sagashi, basically "search") indicates continuing action, right?

1-09 Jesters of the Beautiful Moonless Sky
月なき is "moonless", while みそら (美空 written in hiragana) is "beautiful sky". I've never seen 空 translated as night, and I see no reference to a night anywhere in here. Long name, but that's what it is (it's senseless either way, c'mon ).

1-12 奪われた瞳
Seriously. I have no suggestion, I just want to know how 奪, which is basically "steal", and われた, which is "broken", becomes "capitvated". Totally not saying anyone is wrong, just want to know how.

2-06 Qu's Marsh
族 is clan, but "Qu" in FF9 refers to a clan; "Qu" isn't a person. For example, Quina is a "Qu". And, the game calls this area "Qu's Marsh" as well, so I think that title is actually correct, since it seems to be implied that Qu is a clan.

2-16 A Hesitant Sword
Not sure how the nominalization rules work for の, but this sounds better to me. However, I'm not sure if it's a passable translation. If it is, though, I suggest it!

3-12 Amarant's Theme
Actually, more just stating that Amarant is the US name of the character Salamander. But you probably already knew this because of the iTunes tracklist anyway. Still not sure if we want to use US names or what.

3-15 Epic Love Letter War
A better way of arranging the words. | Love Letter | Epic War | just seems awkward.

3-16 Tetra Master
Again, just another US/JPN name difference (Quad Mist is not a made-up song name, it is the card game's name in the Japanese version from what I can tell). I'm not advocating using the US names in our main English tracklist if it's not what we want to do, I'm just not sure.

4-09 独りじゃない
Again, just curious: じゃ is "you"? じゃ doesn't seem to be anything ;__;

4-21 Beyond the Door
向こう is not behind... beyond seems to make more since. Or, are we using "behind" as if to say "on the other side of" since we're dealing with a door? Behind seems weird, but maybe it's just me.

[Cedille]

Originally Posted by Hellacia

1-12 奪われた瞳
Seriously. I have no suggestion, I just want to know how 奪, which is basically "steal", and われた, which is "broken", becomes "capitvated". Totally not saying anyone is wrong, just want to know how.

It's Ubawa + Re + Ta. The last two are auxiliary verbs.

Originally Posted by Hellacia

4-09 独りじゃない
Again, just curious: じゃ is "you"? じゃ doesn't seem to be anything ;__;

It's a variation of a combination of particles "de" + "wa".

[Hellacia]

Okay, I can kind of see Captivated Eyes now, but still can't see You('re) Not Alone, because I was getting what you were describing when looking it up and... it doesn't have anything to do with a person ;__; I just get "indicates location (in)" for de and "indicates emotion (sentence end)" for wa. And じゃ, ja, just means "well then" or "so".

Another strange one was 振りカエルと奴がいる. I can only find "frog" if I separate kaeru from furi, but then I'm not using furikaeru which means "turn around" or "look back". Is this supposed to be clever or something, like a pun in Japanese? Oh, and I personally think using "Turn Around" makes more sense here, it makes it sound more like someone is telling someone else to do something, you wouldn't say "Hey, look back, there's a frog behind you!" Honestly, who says "look back"

[Cedille]

Originally Posted by Hellacia

And じゃ, ja, just means "well then" or "so".

It should be "じゃあ", which is an interjection. "You're Not Alone" sounds very fine to me, but if anything, I'd rather wonder if we could go with another subject; It could be "I'm not alone", too (and I believe most of us here know the context and see why).

Originally Posted by =Hellacia

like a pun in Japanese?

Exactly. The scene had something to do with a flog.

[Hellacia]

Ah, okay, unfortunately I don't know the context, I played FF9 for some hours and a little bit before making it off the first disc I still didn't like it and decided I'd given it more than enough time, so I quit. I wouldn't object to I'm Not Alone though (or You're Not Alone, for that matter).

And yeah, I figured it was a pun and so I didn't add it for a change or anything in my first post, though I figured that while I had you here I'd inquire about whether or not I was right Thanks for the info about these songs. Tomorrow I'll change "Qu's Marsh" even if no one has responded, since my in-game-area-name-to-closely-enough-corresponding-song-title judgment tells me it's good, along with "Epic Love Letter War" because English language. I'll wait on the others though, since (obviously) I'm no master of Japanese, though I think I understand some of these pretty well.

[Phonograph]

Originally Posted by Hellacia

1-09 Jesters of the Beautiful Moonless Sky
月なき is "moonless", while みそら (美空 written in hiragana) is "beautiful sky". I've never seen 空 translated as night, and I see no reference to a night anywhere in here. Long name, but that's what it is (it's senseless either way, c'mon ).

it's maybe because a moonless sky is a sky that can have a moon, and generally the moon appears at night (it's rare but you can also see it during the day)

Originally Posted by Hellacia

4-21 Beyond the Door
向こう is not behind... beyond seems to make more since. Or, are we using "behind" as if to say "on the other side of" since we're dealing with a door? Behind seems weird, but maybe it's just me.

it's just you, behind the door makes perfect sense to me (more than beyond the door)

---

gurgu is the english name? I remember a Goulg but not sure it's in ff ix (or maybe in the french version)

[layzee]

Disclaimer: I'm still learning so I encourage you (in general) to correct me if I'm wrong.

Originally Posted by Hellacia

1-01 A Place to Return to Someday
There's never any mention of a person. I guess a person could be implied? But then I just feel it could be he, she, we, they, etc, so why I?

Indeed, it could be absolutely anything unless you can narrow it down based on context (e.g. the conversation that was had until this point). However, this is a mere song track title so there's not much to work with. Generally, "I" is most often used as a safe default. English sentences sounds weird/incomplete/unnatural without pronouns so it would appear that choosing a pronoun (even if incorrect, hopefully no-one notices) is compulsory.

Originally Posted by Hellacia

1-08 Decisive Action ~Searching for the Princess~
The て on the end of さがし (sagashi, basically "search") indicates continuing action, right?

「探して」is the command form.
「探している」is the continuing action form and「探してる」is a very common abbreviated version.

Originally Posted by Hellacia

1-09 Jesters of the Beautiful Moonless Sky
月なき is "moonless", while みそら (美空 written in hiragana) is "beautiful sky". I've never seen 空 translated as night, and I see no reference to a night anywhere in here. Long name, but that's what it is (it's senseless either way, c'mon ).

Beautiful sky would be more accurate.

When you think about it, the moon does not usually appear in the sky during the day. So for the track title to specify that the sky at this particular time had no moon, implies that it was a night sky.

Originally Posted by Hellacia

1-12 奪われた瞳
Seriously. I have no suggestion, I just want to know how 奪, which is basically "steal", and われた, which is "broken", becomes "capitvated". Totally not saying anyone is wrong, just want to know how.

Hmm, an interesting title (to me) for several reasons. Anyway, firstly「奪われた」is a single word: the past passive form.

"Captivated" is an interesting choice of word for this track title. When I think of "eye", I would think of「目」(that's like, one of the first 20 Kanji most people would learn/encounter in their studies). In this case, the Kanji representing eye is 「瞳」, which apparently means "eye" as well as "the pupil of the eye".

It's no secret that two different Kanji can have the same (or similar) meanings but with a slight nuance. I'm not familiar with「奪う」but I am familiar with「盗む」which also means "to steal". Taking a hopefully educated guess, I would say that the latter is more physical in nuance (e.g. stealing someone's car) while the former a bit less so. So with that in mind, I don't think「奪われた瞳」is talking about how someone's eyes literally got gouged out and stolen. Rather, an unspecified someone or something special got their visual attention (i.e. the eyes of their pupils).

To use an English example, when I say someone stole my heart, does it mean that someone sliced open my chest and I lost possession of my property, or does it mean I fell in love?

In conclusion: "Captivated Eyes" seems like a reasonable and accurate translation.

Originally Posted by Hellacia

2-06 Qu's Marsh
族 is clan, but "Qu" in FF9 refers to a clan; "Qu" isn't a person. For example, Quina is a "Qu". And, the game calls this area "Qu's Marsh" as well, so I think that title is actually correct, since it seems to be implied that Qu is a clan.

「族」can mean clan, tribe or family (e.g. see the literature for Belmont from Akumajou Dracula). It seems that the original Japanese title specifies the Qu as a 「族」while the English version (Qu's Marsh) removes that. That means one of two things: 1) The clan/family is implied or 2) They were too lazy/forgot to translate it.

If you wanted to be more accurate with the original Japanese, then I guess it is mandatory to include the 「族」. Clan or tribe both sounds fine to me. Tribe sounds a bit more primitive to me than clan though so your choice of clan or tribe will depend on how you view Quina and her type.

Originally Posted by Hellacia

2-16 A Hesitant Sword
Not sure how the nominalization rules work for の, but this sounds better to me. However, I'm not sure if it's a passable translation. If it is, though, I suggest it!

Not 100% sure about this one.

It looks like a "verb stem" +「の」+ "(inanimate noun)".

The verb stem +「の」I think is converting the verb into an adjective for the noun. A noun like an inanimate sword can't be hesitant/doubtful/indecisive/etc... Those are human/animal qualities. This distinction I think is the difference between「迷いの剣」(the actual track title) and「迷う剣」.

As for the actual translation, choose whatever sounds best.

Originally Posted by Hellacia

3-12 Amarant's Theme
Actually, more just stating that Amarant is the US name of the character Salamander. But you probably already knew this because of the iTunes tracklist anyway. Still not sure if we want to use US names or what.

Originally Posted by Hellacia

3-16 Tetra Master
Again, just another US/JPN name difference (Quad Mist is not a made-up song name, it is the card game's name in the Japanese version from what I can tell). I'm not advocating using the US names in our main English tracklist if it's not what we want to do, I'm just not sure.

This is less about translation and more about personal preference. I'm a purist so my preference is obvious.

Originally Posted by Hellacia

3-15 Epic Love Letter War
A better way of arranging the words. | Love Letter | Epic War | just seems awkward.

The iTunes tracklist give a hint to an alternative translation. The Japanese track title is:「ラブレター大作戦」. Where the "epic" comes from is「大作」and "war" comes from「戦」. Perhaps the proper way of interpreting the Kanji is as thus:「大」and「作戦」. In other words, the "Love Letter" scheme is a "great strategy". I don't remember much of the game so confirmation will have to be made how this is shown within the game's plot.

Originally Posted by Hellacia

4-09 独りじゃない
Again, just curious: じゃ is "you"? じゃ doesn't seem to be anything ;__;

This one's "verb stem" + 「じゃない」(negative state-of-being).

As said by Cedille above, I'll also add that「じゃない」is the less-formal version of「ではない」.

Originally Posted by Hellacia

4-21 Beyond the Door
向こう is not behind... beyond seems to make more since. Or, are we using "behind" as if to say "on the other side of" since we're dealing with a door? Behind seems weird, but maybe it's just me.

It doesn't matter whether we call it behind or beyond the door, we're still interested in seeing what happens when we open that door. That said, beyond sounds better.

[Phonograph]

Originally Posted by layzee

...

To use an English example, when I say someone stole my heart, does it mean that someone sliced open my chest and I lost possession of my property, or does it mean I fell in love?

lol

Originally Posted by layzee

...

Not 100% sure about this one.

It looks like a "verb stem" +「の」+ "(inanimate noun)".

The verb stem +「の」I think is converting the verb into an adjective for the noun. A noun like an inanimate sword can't be hesitant/doubtful/indecisive/etc... Those are human/animal qualities. This distinction I think is the difference between「迷いの剣」(the actual track title) and「迷う剣」.

As for the actual translation, choose whatever sounds best.

mayoi is the substantive of mayou, making it a noun not a verb stem (edit: I mean, that can be a verb stem but in that case it's a noun)
so hesitant sword can be ok

Originally Posted by layzee

...

This one's "verb stem" + 「じゃない」(negative state-of-being).

As said by Cedille above, I'll also add that「じゃない」is the less-formal version of「ではない」.

not all words finishing by "i" are verb stems, seriously
hitori is a noun and can be used as an adjective

don't forget "ja nai" is also "dewa arimasen" (that's why I don't recommend to stick it while romanizing)

[layzee]

Originally Posted by Phonograph

not all words finishing by "i" are verb stems, seriously
hitori is a noun and can be used as an adjective

Yeah, I typed the wrong thing. Hitori is obviously a noun, that's what I meant.

Originally Posted by Phonograph

don't forget "ja nai" is also "dewa arimasen" (that's why I don't recommend to stick it while romanizing)

Don't forget じゃありません either. But that's off-topic.

[Phonograph]

Originally Posted by layzee

...

Don't forget じゃありません either. But that's off-topic.

nah, I didn't forget it
I simply say "ja nai" is like the "real" contraction of "dewa arimasen"
of course, you can "play" with different ways to use negation

[Hellacia]

Thanks layzee! I appreciate all the input.

Originally Posted by layzee

English sentences sounds weird/incomplete/unnatural without pronouns so it would appear that choosing a pronoun (even if incorrect, hopefully no-one notices) is compulsory.

Sure, but how often are song names supposed to be full sentences? Usually they're just one or two words. Listen to iTunes' own translation for this title, "A Place to Call Home". That doesn't sound any less natural than "A Place I'd Call Home". The translation I'm suggesting isn't far off from that; it's just using words actually in the title (the Japanese title doesn't have words for "calling" anything), so it's "A Place to Return to Someday". If this is an English standpoint, I don't think it's awkward, but if more people agree with you we can keep the old title and I won't be bothered.

Originally Posted by layzee

Beautiful sky would be more accurate.

Originally Posted by layzee

for the track title to specify that the sky at this particular time had no moon, implies that it was a night sky.

Based on the second statement, did you mean sky in your first one, or night? Or were you giving a comparison the sky would be more accurate, while night would be more sensible? Just making sure what you were getting at

I changed 3-15, I'll wait a bit on 2-06 (even though I'm pretty sure we should use "Qu's Marsh").

[seanne]

Since I just noticed them now, here are my comments on some of the (not so) recent changes to the English tracklist.

--------------

Spoiler:

"The Skies of Alexandria -> Sky of Alexandria"

The old title is the natural way of saying it as far as I can see. The new one is more like a straight literal translation.

"Living by the Sword -> Betting on This Blade"

They both mean the same thing, but the old title is a proper established term.

"One Danger Put Behind Us... -> One Danger Behind..."

I don't understand this change as the new title doesn't seem to mean anything. I wonder if the Japanese title is meant to be a short version of 一難去ってまた一難 (which seems to mean "one thing after another")?

"Marsh of the Qu Tribe -> Marsh of the Qu Clan"

It's been a while since I played the game but as far I can remember, 'tribe' would be the more fitting word - referring to a more primitive way of life.

"Wicked Melody -> Melody of Immorality"

Not sure that either are very good, but 'Immorality' seems like a odd word to use. It makes it sound like someone is preaching or something.

"Heaven's Distress -> Mourning the Sky"

Don't remember the context, but 'Mourning the Sky' makes it sound like the sky died.

"Unreachable Desire -> Unfulfilled Feelings"

Don't know what the best translation might be, but you can't really have an unfulfilled feeling.

"Ruins of Madain Sari -> Madain Sari, the Ruins"

As far as I can remember, Madain Sari was a city which was ruined (at some point before the game starts), so the old title is better.

"Those Whom We Must Protect -> Something to Protect"

Don't remember the context, but the old title seems to fit better with the Japanese title. Pretty much the only reason I see for this change would be if the 'thing' to be protected here isn't people, which I doubt.

"Turn Around, He's a Frog! -> Look Back, He's a Frog"

The same meaning, but 'Turn Around' is actually what is being done in the game, unless my memory fails.

"The Airship Hilda Garde -> Hilda Garde, the Airship"

The old title is the way you would normally say it, no? Don't see any reason for this change.

"Concurrent Battles -> Each Fight"

Don't remember the context and don't know the exact meaning of the title, but the new title seems very undescriptive, it doesn't tell me anything.

"Pandemonium, the Castle Frozen in Time -> Pandemonium, the Castle Where Time Ticks Away"

Wasn't it literally frozen in time though? The new title could mean both that time is frozen and that it is "ticking away" faster than normal.

"Dissipating Sorrow -> Indelible Sorrow"

The new title seems to go against what the Japanese title says, and also the game context as far as I can recall. Didn't Zidane's 'sadness' begin to go away towards the end of the game?

"The Evil Mist Returns -> The Evil Mist Again"

Doesn't it literally return (for a second time during the game)? 'Returns' is more descriptive than 'Again', imo.

"Assault of the Silver Dragons -> Silver Dragons Battle"

The old title works better with the in-game context, and it also sounds better, even if it's less literal.

"The Place of Memory -> The Place of Memories"

Imo, the old title sounds better, even though I think language-wise both are correct.

"Beyond the Door -> Behind the Door"

Behind is more like "someone is standing behind the door", while beyond is more poetic and far reaching, so beyond is much better.

[Hellacia]

Really nice points. Comment: for "Madain Sari, the Ruins" and "Hilda Garde, the Airship", I'm sure they were changed this way to follow the theme where the name of every place is followed by its description ("Dali, the Frontier Village", "Treno, the Sleepless City", etc). I agree that Madain Sari's new title makes less sense now than it did before, though I'm not too bothered by Hilda Garde's change. But yeah, it's to follow a theme.

[razakin]

I'd say it would be better if the theme would be description then name. The Airship Hilda Harde, The Frontier Village Dali etc.

[Phonograph]

Originally Posted by seanne

...

Quote:
"Dissipating Sorrow -> Indelible Sorrow"

The new title seems to go against what the Japanese title says, and also the game context as far as I can recall. Didn't Zidane's 'sadness' begin to go away towards the end of the game?

it's even worse than that, it totally changes the sense of the trackname
Dissipating Sorrow -> "sorrow" does go away
Indelible Sorrow -> "sorrow" does not go away

[Cedille]

Isn't the original title "消えぬ悲しみ" which super-literally means "Sadness that doesn't disappear"? So "Indelible Sorrow" sounds perfect to me. If someone wants to talk about the context, this track seems to be used in this event (and earlier in disc 3 about Eiko's). I can't believe it was 12 years ago...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...zoP4gw8#t=184s

[Phonograph]

I didn't speak about the original japanese meaning, I'm speaking about the old english and the new english tracknames
my opinion is that when the guy translated that trackname, he didn't know "kienu" is a negation of kieru
thus, you have "dissipating" instead of its contrary

[layzee]

「とけた魔法と心」: More analysis needed on this one.

Where did the "healed" in "Broken Spell and Healed Hearts" come from? It looks like both the magic and the heart is broken. Also, it may be necessary to find a better word for "broken" because the possible multiple interpretations of「とける」suggests a slow melting, dissolving or thawing, rather than an outright break.

Originally Posted by Hellacia

Sure, but how often are song names supposed to be full sentences? Usually they're just one or two words. Listen to iTunes' own translation for this title, "A Place to Call Home". That doesn't sound any less natural than "A Place I'd Call Home". The translation I'm suggesting isn't far off from that; it's just using words actually in the title (the Japanese title doesn't have words for "calling" anything), so it's "A Place to Return to Someday". If this is an English standpoint, I don't think it's awkward, but if more people agree with you we can keep the old title and I won't be bothered.

Yeah, in this case I think that is fine.

Originally Posted by Hellacia

Based on the second statement, did you mean sky in your first one, or night? Or were you giving a comparison the sky would be more accurate, while night would be more sensible? Just making sure what you were getting at

"Beautiful Moonless Sky" would be both more accurate and sensible. I was just making the observation that the track title intended the "Night Sky" to be implied (because a Moonless Night Sky is unusual, while a Moonless Day Sky is not unusual) so specifying a "night sky" would do the original Japanese title "injustice" I guess. No need to add things that weren't there in the first place is the point I'm trying to make.

Originally Posted by seanne

I don't understand this change as the new title doesn't seem to mean anything. I wonder if the Japanese title is meant to be a short version of 一難去ってまた一難 (which seems to mean "one thing after another")?

It's the first time I've seen that and with a bit of research, I'm 99% sure it is short for that. It's basically the Japanese version of "One (bad) thing after another", which can be converted into English various ways.

The phrase being cut off in the middle seems to mean, if you wanted to be accurate and fancy in your translation, "Out of the frying pan and..." which is a possible option. The full phrase is of course: "Out of the frying pan and into the fire". I think that's the sort of thing the person translating it into English was trying to get at.

Originally Posted by seanne

Not sure that either are very good, but 'Immorality' seems like a odd word to use. It makes it sound like someone is preaching or something.

That sounds odd to me too so we'll stick with "Wicked" for now.

Originally Posted by seanne

Don't remember the context, but 'Mourning the Sky' makes it sound like the sky died.

I don't remember much of the game either but the original Japanese title「空を愁いて」indicates that may indeed be the case (something bad happened to the sky). Heaven's Distress sounds like it's the sky itself that's doing the mourning but it's more accurate to say that, I assume, we, are doing the mourning, for the sky (that has had something unfortunate happen to it). "Mourning the Sky" sounds a bit Motoi Sakuraba track title-ish, so I would go with "Mourning for the Sky".

Originally Posted by seanne

Don't know what the best translation might be, but you can't really have an unfulfilled feeling.

Hmm, that's a tough one. Well, what we do know is that something is out-of-reach/unfulfilled. Using other examples, like「片想い」(unrequited love) and「熱い想い」(aspiration/passion for something), suggests a heart-felt desire for something. So for an abstract title like this one, I'd just go with whatever sounds best. "Unfulfilled Desires" sound good enough to me.

Originally Posted by seanne

Don't remember the context, but the old title seems to fit better with the Japanese title. Pretty much the only reason I see for this change would be if the 'thing' to be protected here isn't people, which I doubt.

Agreed. Also, it's missing the「べき」part. It can be "must" or "should".

Originally Posted by seanne

Doesn't it literally return (for a second time during the game)? 'Returns' is more descriptive than 'Again', imo.

「ふたたび」pretty much just means again and it implies the mist returned so eh, whatever sounds better I guess.

[Dag]

Since I made original the changes guess I should comment?

- Sky of Alexandria, Melody of Inmorality, Behind the Door, etc. Several tracks were following the iTunes translation but whatever.
- "Madain Sari, the Ruins", Hilda Garde, etc > theme indeed. The JP definitely is plain like that.
Btw, these were usually the area descriptions but the US ver. removed them (ex.- in the JP ver they wrote in big letters "魂無き村(new line)ブラン・バル" but just "Bran Bal" in the US, when entering an area for the first time).

- 1-09 みそら [御空] afaik is just a title for "sky". Only EDICT has "美空=beautiful sky" (I think it's a name actually).
- 3-06 "Unfulfilled Feelings" / とどかぬ想い is more or less "unrequited love" ('feelings/emotions that don't reach -the other person-). I see this often translated as "unfulfilled feelings" so I assumed it made sense?
- 3-15 actually "Love Letter Operation" (or "Operation Love Letter") woud make most sense IMO.
- 3-18 "Something to Protect" / 守るべきもの is ~lit. "to protect-must person/thing(s)". It could be whatever (friends? love? pride? hometown?), I think it's vague enough that "Those Whom We Must Protect" is a degradation.
- 3-26 とけた魔法と心 > とける=to solve, undo, 'melt', 'break' (spell), 'pacify' (emotion), etc. Dunno how to word it better but makes sense to me context-wise.
- 4-05 "Each Fight" / それぞれの戦い > それぞれ = various, respective, each one's, etc. Wording, etc.
- 4-08 afaik 時を刻む > time ticks away (ie.- clock's ticking). I think the implication the castle has seen countless ages but whatever, it's frozen again.
- 4-09 the じゃない makes me think of somebody's sentence rather than a description hence the "you" (or "I", depending how you interpret the scene, I'd choose the former).
- 4-12 "Assault of the Silver Dragons" I don't agree with, the JP is just a simple description.
- 4-13 I think "Memories" makes more sense context-wise. This was renamed to simply "Memoria" in the US ver though.

Anyway I updated the tracklist a bit with some of the above. Maybe it's better now. Do you guys prefer tracknames closer to official tracklists? Using US game terms? Older, more familiar yet less accurate? I don't know anymore... :S

[Phonograph]

about とけた魔法と心, I think you could interpret as "toketa mahou" and "toketa kokoro"
that could give something like "Magic Dispelled and Mind Cleared" (just an idea like that)

[Hellacia]

Thanks for giving this a look-over, Dag. I appreciate it

Originally Posted by Dag

Do you guys prefer tracknames closer to official tracklists? Using US game terms? Older, more familiar yet less accurate? I don't know anymore... :S

I like to use US game terms for things like characters' names, for example Amarant's Theme instead of Salamander's Theme. When creating an English tracklist, it doesn't make much sense to me to include names in English that aren't anywhere in an English version; there is no Salamander in the US version of the game, so having Salamander's Theme doesn't make much sense. However I don't know about the site's policy, so I'm never sure we should change these names.

I also prefer more accurate translations opposed to more familiar ones, and opposed to slightly watered-down ones. I guess what I mean by this is that I'm not in favor of using "easier" words just because they sound "better" rather than a word that was actually used in the Japanese. However, I understand that some words can have different meanings, and EDICT isn't the total authority on the exact meaning of a word. And of course, if something is just bizarrely wordy or something, it can be a good thing to try and make sense of what they're trying to say in as few words as possible... without losing the meaning (actually, this is probably why I don't translate very often, because it's too subjective, and I just don't know Japanese that well ).

I definitely don't care to try and match translated tracklists with iTunes tracklists or other "official" tracklists because sometimes the official tracklist doesn't even have anything to do with the original name. For example, take Brass de Chocobo from FFX; iTunes called it Chocobo Jam. How lame is that. That doesn't even keep the ___ de Chocobo theme going. Or how about that No Hopes, No Dreams song (however we're translating that these days); iTunes called it Out of the Frying Pan just because of a line Tidus said in narration during that area of the game. That title just has nothing to do with the original one (actually, it seems that whoever is responsible for determining the names for the iTunes tracklists likes that title, because they used it here too...). So, I don't think trying to match up with official tracklists is very worthwhile, because it's a very selective thing in that we're only "matching up" with the tracks we think are pretty close to the original. For example, should we change Fairy Battle to Faerie Battle here just because iTunes selected that spelling? Does it really matter...?

Anyway, those are just some of my thoughts.

[layzee]

Off-topic but I'm actually playing the Japanese version of FFIX right now, and not just that, but an "Excalibur II Perfect Game".

Originally Posted by Dag

Btw, these were usually the area descriptions but the US ver. removed them (ex.- in the JP ver they wrote in big letters "魂無き村(new line)ブラン・バル" but just "Bran Bal" in the US, when entering an area for the first time).

Yeah, the Japanese version had Kanji and English writing when entering an area for the first time. Some of the Kanji/Katakana had the same as the English (e.g. 氷の洞窟 Ice Cavern) while others were a bit more descriptive than the English itself.

Actually, some of the older Dragon Quest albums and Tales of... albums have arguably incomplete English translation tracklists where the English tracklist was from the album itself (not translated by users) and the corresponding Japanese tracklist was more descriptive.

Originally Posted by Dag

- 1-09 みそら [御空] afaik is just a title for "sky". Only EDICT has "美空=beautiful sky" (I think it's a name actually).

I actually felt silly reading that and got reminded that I've still got a lot to learn. You're right, Misora IS a name (a female one). I should probably somewhat stop taking eDict at face value. I heard it takes all submissions or are pretty lax when it comes to which submissions are taken.

Originally Posted by Dag

- 4-13 I think "Memories" makes more sense context-wise. This was renamed to simply "Memoria" in the US ver though.

Even better, might I suggest "The Memory" instead? Source: Final Fantasy IX Ultimania, page 444. And probably within the JP version game too.

Although I wouldn't completely rely on their translations or "translations". Notables:

イプセンの古城 -> Ipsen's Heritage
グルグ火山 -> Gulg Volcano (notice the spelling of グルグ)

Originally Posted by Hellacia

Or how about that No Hopes, No Dreams song (however we're translating that these days); iTunes called it Out of the Frying Pan just because of a line Tidus said in narration during that area of the game. That title just has nothing to do with the original one (actually, it seems that whoever is responsible for determining the names for the iTunes tracklists likes that title, because they used it here too...).

What is the "No Hope, No Dreams" song you are referring to?

Correct me if I'm wrong but the iTunes title DOES have everything to do with the original Japanese title.

[Hellacia]

Disc 1 track 12 dude.

夢も希望もありません

Which we have as "No Hopes or Dreams". Absolutely nothing about a frying pan in there. Remember, I referenced FFX in that post; I started with Brass de Chocobo and never moved away from FFX (I did mention Tidus in that track title's example too). iTunes has it named as "Out of the Frying Pan", which is retarded. But then, iTunes translations can be really retarded. "Leap in the Dark" and "Spira Unplugged"? Seriously? -__- How about Disc 1 track 16 of this soundtrack, which is Queen of the Abyss... which they have translated as The Evil Within. lmfao.

Actually, even the English names included in certain Final Fantasy soundtracks, like FF3 and FF6, aren't always entirely accurate. Getting "cute" from 小人 in the track "Cute Little Tozas" is just too big a stretch. What if I think small people are ugly? Can I then call it "Ugly Little Tozas"? 小人の村トーザス is basically "Dwarf Town of Tozas", yet there's no mention of dwarfs or a town in their English title and "Tozas" seems to be treated as a person's name, not a place. So, yeah, I don't put too much stock into official translations.

[layzee]

Oh never mind, somehow didn't notice that the subject turned to FFX (thought you were talking about FFIX's frying pan). And I agree about the embellishments/taking liberties with the translations and all that.

[Phonograph]

夢も希望もありません -> I'd have used "Neither Dream Nor Hope"

[Hellacia]

So, back here again... but I was hanging out with a friend and we kind of hit a lull in activity and so she said "Hey, let's start a new game of Final Fantasy IX! ♪ ♥" and I was like "blah" but we did cause we weren't doing anything else. Well, while looking for the Pluto Knights in Alexandria as Steiner, one of the library books I checked gave information about Dali, and said in plain English that it is the village on the border. Can't quote it exactly and didn't wanna stop the game to take a picture or anything, but the game actually described it as the border village. If you look at this map of Gaia, Final Fantasy IX's world, you can see that this border is actually the very border referred to again in track 2-11. And 辺境 seems to mean border or frontier anyway.

So... I suggest that we change "Frontier Village" to "Border Village".

Oh, and also, I want to add: isn't there only one Silver Dragon? It seems that one of the villains summons the Silver Dragon in Pandemonium as a boss fight, before fighting you himself. If so, we should make Dragons singular.