i have a few questions about the use of japanese vs non-japanese names on here 1. is it japanese names no matter what or only if their associated copyright is japanese in origin? for example if an english game had name changes in the japanese version. 2. what's the criteria for a japanese copyright using the english names instead of japanese ones? i noticed a few copyrights like Pokemon and Fire Emblem use english names despite being japanese games, why is that? 3. what's the deal with non-english foreign copyrights? for example chinese games with name changes in japanese or english. which language takes priority there?
It's always Romanized Japanese unless the series is so well known in English that no English speaker would use a different name to search for it. Like Pokemon, Pheonix Wright Ace Attorney and similar series.
1. is it japanese names no matter what or only if their associated copyright is japanese in origin? for example if an english game had name changes in the japanese version.
The traditional answer to this is only if the associated copyright is Japanese in origin, because it would be weird if we called a Disney movie by its Japanese name, for example. However, this relates to your third question:
3. what's the deal with non-english foreign copyrights? for example chinese games with name changes in japanese or english. which language takes priority there?
Chinese has had a complicated history in terms of what names we go with, induced in part by the fact that people aren't as commonly familiar with Chinese, so even if they wanted to go with the Chinese name they had to know how to romanize it, which required knowing what reading was being used. topic #14274 and topic #23510 are examples of this history, and actually directly correlate to your second question:
2. what's the criteria for a japanese copyright using the english names instead of japanese ones? i noticed a few copyrights like Pokemon and Fire Emblem use english names despite being japanese games, why is that?
Traditionally, it used to be a hard rule that copyrights of Japanese origin would use their Japanese names, no buts. But the late 2010s saw the beginning of a push to adopt more common English names over the Japanese ones for accessibility purposes, which started with Fire Emblem (topic #16149) and Xenoblade (topic #17157), before getting formalized as a trend with Pokemon (topic #17160), parallleling developments in topic #17011, which saw Danbooru shifting away from a rigid-but-consistent romanization standard to a slightly less restrictive standard which both allowed for more common romanizations to be used, but also official ones too. Of course, that trend of JP to EN has been restricted so far to particularly noteworthy cases (see Darkstalkers seeing it changed, but not Rival Schools, in topic #31610), but it just takes one spark, or rather, one BUR, for someone to propose a change to a copyright of their choice.
The traditional answer to this is only if the associated copyright is Japanese in origin, because it would be weird if we called a Disney movie by its Japanese name, for example. However, this relates to your third question:
Chinese has had a complicated history in terms of what names we go with, induced in part by the fact that people aren't as commonly familiar with Chinese, so even if they wanted to go with the Chinese name they had to know how to romanize it, which required knowing what reading was being used. topic #14274 and topic #23510 are examples of this history, and actually directly correlate to your second question:
Traditionally, it used to be a hard rule that copyrights of Japanese origin would use their Japanese names, no buts. But the late 2010s saw the beginning of a push to adopt more common English names over the Japanese ones for accessibility purposes, which started with Fire Emblem (topic #16149) and Xenoblade (topic #17157), before getting formalized as a trend with Pokemon (topic #17160), parallleling developments in topic #17011, which saw Danbooru shifting away from a rigid-but-consistent romanization standard to a slightly less restrictive standard which both allowed for more common romanizations to be used, but also official ones too. Of course, that trend of JP to EN has been restricted so far to particularly noteworthy cases (see Darkstalkers seeing it changed, but not Rival Schools, in topic #31610), but it just takes one spark, or rather, one BUR, for someone to propose a change to a copyright of their choice.
It's always Romanized Japanese unless the series is so well known in English that no English speaker would use a different name to search for it. Like Pokemon, Pheonix Wright Ace Attorney and similar series.
So on that part about a piece of media being very well known in English, should sen_to_chihiro_no_kamikakushi be spirited_away, for example? Pretty much everyone I know has seen or at least heard of that movie, and they would call it "Spirited Away" rather than sen_to_chihiro_no_kamikakushi. Just trying to understand how well known something has to be for it to pass that bar, because I do understand that something like Pokemon is more well known (though I would suggest Ace Attorney is less well known).
So on that part about a piece of media being very well known in English, should sen_to_chihiro_no_kamikakushi be spirited_away, for example? Pretty much everyone I know has seen or at least heard of that movie, and they would call it "Spirited Away" rather than sen_to_chihiro_no_kamikakushi. Just trying to understand how well known something has to be for it to pass that bar, because I do understand that something like Pokemon is more well known (though I would suggest Ace Attorney is less well known).
Again, keep in mind what I just said, this is a relatively recent trend that hasn't been aggresively pushed site-wide. It's worth noting, for instance, as I did in forum #350141, that this has largely impacted video games, and especially so a) Nintendo properties; b) games which had significant name changes from one to another, whether as narrowly as game titles per Danganronpa, to complete cast renames like Ace Attorney and Animal Crossing.
No one has yet to propose a JP -> EN thread for Ghibli movies, but you could use this trend to justify the proposal. You just need someone to make that proposal.
So on that part about a piece of media being very well known in English, should sen_to_chihiro_no_kamikakushi be spirited_away, for example? Pretty much everyone I know has seen or at least heard of that movie, and they would call it "Spirited Away" rather than sen_to_chihiro_no_kamikakushi. Just trying to understand how well known something has to be for it to pass that bar, because I do understand that something like Pokemon is more well known (though I would suggest Ace Attorney is less well known).
i feel like if someone made a proposal for ghibli movies it could have a good chance of going through (even if these have been exclusively video game-focused properties so far). someone just has to be the one to make it first like damian said
Again, keep in mind what I just said, this is a relatively recent trend that hasn't been aggresively pushed site-wide. It's worth noting, for instance, as I did in forum #350141, that this has largely impacted video games, and especially so a) Nintendo properties; b) games which had significant name changes from one to another, whether as narrowly as game titles per Danganronpa, to complete cast renames like Ace Attorney and Animal Crossing.
No one has yet to propose a JP -> EN thread for Ghibli movies, but you could use this trend to justify the proposal. You just need someone to make that proposal.
speardovich said:
i feel like if someone made a proposal for ghibli movies it could have a good chance of going through (even if these have been exclusively video game-focused properties so far). someone just has to be the one to make it first like damian said
Makes sense. I was thinking about this in topic #32399, and I thought it would make more sense to have a top down policy of English vs. Japanese before making individual changes so we have a guideline on which to base renames, but BURs give the possibility of a bottom up means of achieving overall guideline changes after smaller changes. It just seems like it has a strong possibility of leaving us in a half-in half-out state where some copyrights are English and some are Japanese, and personally I would find the lack of consistency irritating. Oh well. I will make the BUR for Studio Ghibli films now, and we can see what people think.
