Translation of Character’s Name in Bookworm
-
I really don’t understand how the translators came up with Justus as the equivalent for ユストクス in Ascendance of a Bookworm. The anime uses Eustachius, which is a little closer, but really, his name more like Eustokos or Eustokus or perhaps Eustokas (Eustox is also a possibility since 「クス」is usually used for the “x” sound in Japanese, but does not seem to fit with the typical spelling conventions of the series).
I kind of see it as a problem because it makes his name sound significantly shorter than it is. At the end of part 2, Myne/Rozemyne herself states that nobles have longer names than commoners, but assuming that the author was using katakana (a syllabic writing system) as the basis for that, it gets... well, lost, when you translate names that are longer in Japanese as shorter names in English. It makes his name seem shorter than Rosina’s.
As I understand it, a commoner’s name is usually no more than four characters long in Japanese (not counting mini characters used as sound modifiers and dashes for elongation). Meanwhile, the shortest noble name that I have seen is Elvira, which in Japanese is 「エルビラ」. Granted, I am not entirely sure how Philline would be spelled. There’s not much helping that Rosina’s name is the same length as Elvira’s in English since that is the right translation, but being that Justus in Japanese would be 「ジャスタス」, I feel like something closer to the actual reading of 「ユストクス」should have been used. -
You can see that a lot of thought and discussion went into the choice by reading https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/3630/how-would-you-pronounce-eusticus-update-it-is-now-justus or skip to explanation and justification of the decision at https://forums.j-novel.club/post/99478 and https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/3630/how-would-you-pronounce-eusticus-update-it-is-now-justus/129?_=1604835389685
-
I would direct you to this page
where there was an extensive debate over this name.
P.S
I was on the losing side
-
@Pinkrose064 said in Translation of Character’s Name in Bookworm:
The anime uses Eustachius, which is a little closer, but really, his name more like Eustokos or Eustokus or perhaps Eustokas (Eustox is also a possibility since 「クス」is usually used for the “x” sound in Japanese, but does not seem to fit with the typical spelling conventions of the series).
This is how it's actually pronounced in the OVA so from those names the only choice I think lines up would be Eustox but that was rejected for reasons you can find in the discussion thread.
being that Justus in Japanese would be 「ジャスタス」
Translating "Justus" as「ユストゥス」is perfectly okay, just look at Wikipedia, which is very close to「ユストクス」especially when compared with「エウスタキウス」(Eustachius).
-
@catstorm said in Translation of Character’s Name in Bookworm:
I would direct you to this page
where there was an extensive debate over this name.
P.S
I was on the losing side
Sad nod of the head in your direction
This one is already downrange, no need to rehash it again.
-
@xdrfiredogx
I’m new to the site actually, so I did not know that. -
Wikipedia is not what I would call a reliable source. Nor is Google Translate. I am speaking purely from the perspective of somebody who can actually read the language.
That said, I see no particular point in continuing this, since I didn’t realize that there was a debate about this months ago.
-
My apologies everyone. I am new to the site and haven’t figured out browsing the forum yet, so I didn’t realize that there was a big discussion about this months ago. When I posted this the other day, I couldn’t figure out how to find posts relating to just Ascendance of a Bookworm to save my life.
-
@Pinkrose064
I never brought up Google translate though. Wikipedia is certainly far from a great source in general but in this situation I think it works. -
Since the OP’s question has been answered I will be locking this topic down.
Also for future reference for anyone new reading this topic, please be aware we do have a dedicated sub-section on these forums for Bookworm.
https://forums.j-novel.club/category/17/ascendance-of-a-bookworm
