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Some words in a language can make sense in another - nekomata - 06-22-2012
but with completely different meanings, as you might already know.
(I originally thought I would give you some examples, but have decided to omit them except the last one in order to shorten the whole length of my humbling post.)
The last but not the least is, sorry to say, "Xonotic". The word, when pronounced like "kso-notic" or rather "kson-otic" which I guess the majority of the Japanese would prefer, sounds like "kso-no-tek" (クソのテク), which in their language would mean "mastery of bowel movemets" or "a great skill in the act of pooping", a totally strange and stupid phrase most good and sane people would never think of even for a moment in their whole life. Actually, "kson-otic" is a bit too long to be used in spoken Japanese conversation, so it is highly likely to be abbreviated to "kso" (クソ), which simply means "sh!t" or "of the very poorest quality you can ever imagine", the exact opposite of what the game really is. Further more, bacause any Japanese person with a reasonable level of intelligence will probably understand that the suffix "-ic" creates adjectives and is actually used in his own language just like "みたい", the sound "kson-otic" itself possibly gives him a wrong impression that it might be an unfamiliar Japanese compound word meaning "クソみたい" (sh!tty) or something of that kind.
Therefore, the "zo-notic" pronounciation, which I believe just sounds like a foreign word and thus less awkward to most of the Japanese, should be strongly encouraged among them, though sensible people would avoid the embarrassing alternative by themselves.
Thank you for reading to the very end. I wonder where the word came from, by the way. The beginning X makes me guess it were a Greek word.
RE: Some words in a language can make sense in another - Mr. Bougo - 06-22-2012
This is fantastic.
As far as I know, it *is* supposed to be pronounced zo'notic. If it isn't yet, I guess it will have to!
RE: Some words in a language can make sense in another - Cyber Killer - 06-22-2012
AFAIR there was a point in the faq referring to pronunciation. It said that both are good, the kso- for europe and zo- for usa. Asian languages can just use the usa version ;-).
RE: Some words in a language can make sense in another - rafallus - 06-22-2012
Zoonotic? Maybe it will have elephants, tigers and stuff?
RE: Some words in a language can make sense in another - edh - 06-22-2012
Everything is going to mean something rude in some other language... Anyone know why the Honda Fit (rest of world) is sold as the Honda Jazz in Europe? It's because 'Fit' is very rude in some Scandinavian countries.
I don't think Japan has a major (any?) player base for Xonotic as it happens so Japanese is not that relevant. If it meant something rude in a European language I think we'd have had it pointed out some time ago!
As for the names, here were some suggestions:
http://dev.xonotic.org/projects/3/wiki/Names?version=1
There have been many queries about the name in the forums too.
I did recently go through converting the name into phonetics somewhere on the forums based upon the most common pronunciation: 'zun-ott-ick'
RE: Some words in a language can make sense in another - Cyber Killer - 06-22-2012
I remember m$ once released a windows for cloud and called it 'windows strata' - 'strata' in Polish means 'loss'. Another thing from m$ is their search engine 'bing', it supposedly means 'crap' in some Chinese dialect ;-).
RE: Some words in a language can make sense in another - rafallus - 06-22-2012
Still, nothing beats infamous GAN4 sign.
RE: Some words in a language can make sense in another - Minkovsky - 06-22-2012
No, Quake is mastery of bowel movements. You have to know precisely when to crap yourself to do better against that shambler on nightmare...
RE: Some words in a language can make sense in another - Sless - 06-22-2012
Mitsubish Pajero.
See the spanish translation: P-a-j-e-r-o
RE: Some words in a language can make sense in another - PinkRobot - 06-22-2012
Toyota MR2
French translation of m-e-r-d-e
RE: Some words in a language can make sense in another - edh - 06-22-2012
Mazda Frendee
Ford Freda
Ford Probe
Mitsubishi Pajero Junior Flying Pug
Mazda LaPuta
Datsun Cedric
Leyland Beaver
GM not using the 'Nova' name in Spain...
The car world is full of them.