The Ægyptian Stork The tale of the Ugly Duckling (Den Grimme Ælling) is perhaps Hans Christian Andersen's most famous tale - part autobiographical story about striving against the odds, and part celebration of the sublimity of nature. Whilst a full analysis of the linguistics and narrative elements
Ducal Difficulty in 3D Duke Nukem 3D, a FPS game featuring the titular pastiche of action heroes of the 80s and 90s, with all the corny lines and questionable macho-attitude, received a Japanese release for the PC, and in that vein it came with a manual. The translation
The Foul-Mouthed Miller Geoffrey Chaucer, factotum of Plantagenet England and author of countless inimitable works of poetry, wrote towards the end of the 1400s his magnum opus The Canterbury Tales, wherein we follow a wide assortment and slice of society as they make pilgrimage towards Canterbury. Chaucer
Do excuse my rudeness, m'dude. Hearkening back to one of my earlier posts where I remarked on how some characters in Japanese comics would use an overly assertive or informal pronoun, i.e. ore, when speaking in keigo, polite speech, I encountered the element in probably one of the
The Mystic Tinderbox Whilst researching for future posts, I was looking into the Andersen fairy-tale Fyrtøjet (The Tinderbox), which famously is about a soldier who fortuitously meets an old witch that offers him abundant riches if he is to help her retrieve a magical tinderbox that her
poem Poems - The Moon Here is another poem which was originally written a few years ago, but has since become part of a poem collection that I am working on. This was one was written in one go, I do not exactly recall the inspiration for it, but
poem Poems - Coffee & Swing Here are some short poems from my upcoming poem collection that I am working on, said poems were written between 2020 and 2021, and is still being written on. These in particular was after listening to some Billy Joel as well as reading Ginsberg,
DB in DK - Addendum - Shukan Idou Son Gokuu's ability to instantly teleport from place to the other, provided that he can recognise a qi pattern that is there possess a rather simple if verbose name. 時間がなくてよ 教えてもらった技はひとつだけなんだ そんでも えれえ 苦労したんだけどさ 瞬間移動ってやつが できるようになったぜ！ Jikan ga nakuteyo oshiete moratta waa wa hitotsu
DB Addendum - Super Ultra Mega Saiya Jin The Danish Dragon Ball translation by John Lysmand, has been covered in quite a few posts on this blog, albeit in Danish, though, this time, I would like to write one in English for a change, moreover concerning the nomenclature when it comes to
Hans the Clog-Head In the place of another large project to take care of, I thought we'd take a look at some of Andersen's lesser known works and how they have been treated in translation. Hans Christian Andersen's shorter tale, Klods Hans ("Hans with the Clogs" named
Emperor's New Clothes Comparison - 1960 - 1980s Thus we reach the final leg of our journey through the comparison of the various Japanese translations of Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes, wherewith we now are covering those translations occurring during the 1960s and 1980s - meeting a person who we covered in
Piano the Pterodactyl Yes-Man This being the first of April and an international day of pulling the proverbial appendage, I thought that we, however, ought for a moment pause for elegiacal thought for the fate of a fictional Yes-man of Japanese comic history, Piano of Dragon Ball, of
Princess Tamaeda Whilst researching for upcoming projects in relation to the next work to compare and analyse, I came across various Japanese translations of Andersen's De Vilde Svaner ("The Wild Swans") - which involves a young princess by the name of Elisa, who must save her
Emperor's New Clothes Comparison - 1930 - 1940s We now enter the pen-ultimate chapter in our grand tour of the translations of the fairy-tale, as we now enter two decades that feature two translators, Taketomo Boufuu and Oohata Suekichi, both experienced and famed handlers of translating literary works into Japanese at this
english Honorifics in Outer Space Science fiction and fictional royalty are no strangers, with various planets adorned by exotic and varying degrees of pompous monarchies. When one addresses royalty, especially in fictional settings, you run the risk of insulting the Majesty and ending your days being fed to mutant
japanese Emperor's New Clothes Comparison - 1924 - 1929 Thus we enter a new decade of translations and a new round of analyses that either have the Emperor of the story be demoted to mere king or have him keep his empire. We thus acquaint ourselves with three new translations, this time by
Quick update - 06/03/21 A quick word of update to quell any worries there might be. I am currently researching for a bigger comparison project, and also taking care of IRL problems that have been occurring. The most recent research has been on the characteristics of speech of
english 'Bout the Word Bloke The word bloke is one of the quintessential British and to a point Australian terms. Its origins are placed in the murky waters of the underworld slang of 1860s England. Here it according to Green's Dictionary of Slang, most likely derived from the Dutch
japanese Of Dukes of Thunder and Flesh This article was originally going to be about the pronoun kikou (貴公), but research led me to a much deeper topic, namely that of how one translates and even conversely render other titles from one language to the other. Today we shall be looking
japanese Clash of the Pocket Clerks Wherein we learn that the economical mechanisms of RPG worlds concerning the trading, breeding and fighting of mutant animals seldom makes for logical pondering and that some clerks are more humble than others - and that the good writer of this blog is probably
Update 02/02/2021 Greetings! Once more it is time for a semi-weekly update of sorts (though by the current standard of things it seems to hover between various definitions of exactly and hebdomadally that seven days ought to constitute a week and not 8 or 10.). Work
japanese Emperor's New Clothes Comparison - 1910 - 1911 Closing off the tenth decade of the 1900s, we deal with not just two, but three translations, those by Wadagaki Kenzou (1910), Ueda Kazutoshi (1911) and Kondou Toshisaburou (1911). Their Majesties - The King, the Son of Heaven and the Emperor: You shall note
Mokujin's Back The Man-o'-Wood-and-War with his visible kanji-etched back and with his version of Yoshimitsu's sword.The wooden training dummy Mokujin ("Wooden Person"), debuted in the second Tekken game, a Japanese fighting game franchise created by Namco (now Bandai Namco) in the mid-nineties. The character Mokujin
Update 24/01/21 The latest post in the series analysing The Emperor's New Clothes, has been updated to now contain all of the pertinent information that has been covered in the previous ones, namely dialogue choices, translation of nuances of character and terms. I shall proceed with
japanese Philomena cries at night The Nightingale is a tale written by Andersen concerning the contrast between natural and artificial beauty, in the aspects of music, splendour and above all else life. The titular bird that sings before the Emperor of the story has various connotations in not just
