I was expecting she couldn't read; not being able to read another language is entirely reasonable.

But ... but ... 'murica ... O_O

Curious..."友人" means "friend" (in a rather formal fashion), yet the Touhou Wiki translates "友人様" as "Master", when it would seem to be just a VERY formal, polite "friend". (There's no real equivalent I can think of in English. "O honorable friend" has about the right meaning, but darned if anyone would ever actually use the phrase in real life.) This despite that Clownpiece calls Hecatia "Master" using the more standard term "ご主人様".

Moonspeaker said:

Curious..."友人" means "friend" (in a rather formal fashion), yet the Touhou Wiki translates "友人様" as "Master", when it would seem to be just a VERY formal, polite "friend". (There's no real equivalent I can think of in English. "O honorable friend" has about the right meaning, but darned if anyone would ever actually use the phrase in real life.) This despite that Clownpiece calls Hecatia "Master" using the more standard term "ご主人様".

Since Junko is a friend of Hecatia, could it be that Clownpiece here meant to address her as "honorable friend of my Master"?

OMGkillitwithfire said:

Since Junko is a friend of Hecatia, could it be that Clownpiece here meant to address her as "honorable friend of my Master"?

I would think so, yes, but again, whoever did the Touhou wiki dialog translations opted for just "Master", and Nassan035 followed suit when doing the initial translation. Were it not for the wiki serving as an example, I'd simply alter the translation, but I wonder if there's some pertinent info on the wiki I haven't spotted, or if whoever did the dialog translation knows something relevant that I don't.

The book is supposed to be in english, but the title on it is in japanese...

Moonspeaker said:
I would think so, yes, but again, whoever did the Touhou wiki dialog translations opted for just "Master", and Nassan035 followed suit when doing the initial translation. Were it not for the wiki serving as an example, I'd simply alter the translation, but I wonder if there's some pertinent info on the wiki I haven't spotted, or if whoever did the dialog translation knows something relevant that I don't.

I see. Then I guess the safest option would be to follow the wiki translation.

OMGkillitwithfire said:

I see. Then I guess the safest option would be to follow the wiki translation.

Until/unless there's reasonable proof that the wiki might be wrong, yes. (Not proof it IS wrong, necessarily, just something confirming that the use of "master" was no more than a guess, rather than based on evidence.)

I'm reminded of one of the early Ichigo Mashimaro chapters, a little joke they did with Ana and Matsuri running into a foreigner.

Guy: Oh good, an English girl. Can you give me some directions?

Ana: I CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH!!

Guy: What the hell!?

It's no shocker that many Americans can't read or speak English.

Remember though, she's actually Greek.

Tapper said:

Remember though, she's actually Greek.

Just like the Statue of liberty is a greek goddeness.

RIGperu said:

Just like the Statue of liberty is a greek goddeness.

Well technically she's French.

Blue_Stuff said:

Well technically she's French.

To Americans, all Europeans look alike.

Skribulous said:

To Americans, all Europeans look alike.

We can understand: to Europeans all Americans look like Donald Trump or Jim Inhofe.

And while the former might be the a joke, the latter has been voted by someone... Creepy.

(It is a joke)

Moonspeaker said:

Curious..."友人" means "friend" (in a rather formal fashion), yet the Touhou Wiki translates "友人様" as "Master", when it would seem to be just a VERY formal, polite "friend". (There's no real equivalent I can think of in English. "O honorable friend" has about the right meaning, but darned if anyone would ever actually use the phrase in real life.) This despite that Clownpiece calls Hecatia "Master" using the more standard term "ご主人様".

I think the word you're looking for is "dear friend"

I'm pretty sure you can find a version in Greek, Clownpiece.

e22big said:

I think the word you're looking for is "dear friend"

That seems to me like it'd work for 友人, but 友人様 is a whole level of formality/respect above "dear friend".

The Touhou wiki has been known to make mistakes and take unnecessarily large liberties with their translations.

I think we shouldn't let them have any influence our translations, and that our work should be largely independent.

If you don't think "master" fits as a translation, you should not feel beholden to people not on Danbooru, and should change it.

Bansho said:

The Touhou wiki has been known to make mistakes and take unnecessarily large liberties with their translations.

I think we shouldn't let them have any influence our translations, and that our work should be largely independent.

If you don't think "master" fits as a translation, you should not feel beholden to people not on Danbooru, and should change it.

Seems like a reasonable approach. However, I'm still a bit stumped for a proper-sounding translation of 友人様. I guess "honorable friend" will do.

In the last fairy manga chapter is revealed that clownpiece knows english.

Skylander said:

It's no shocker that many Americans can't read or speak English.

I am perfectly capable of reading and speaking American English. British English, on the other hand, is less familiar.