Romanization of Locations and Names

(Chapters 3-6)

Romanization of Locations and Names

Postby DAP » Tue May 16, 2017 9:27 pm

Question:
In Shenmue 2, is the English transcription of the Chinese places and people written in the pronunciation of Cantonese or Mandarin?

My Answer:
Locations in Wan Chai and Kowloon are written in Cantonese pronunciation. (But, why the exception with Example#4?)
Character names are written in Mandarin pronunciation. Why?
The language of Hong Kong (where Wan Chai and Kowloon are) is Cantonese, so it is prudent of Suzuki-san to use the romanization of such when showing which streets and shops Ryo is walking in; to be realistic for English gamers. Of course I can understand that natural logic, however, since I've only just begun studying Mandarin, can someone help me understand why Suzuki-san would use Mandarin pronunciation for character names in Shenmue2?

LOCATIONS:

Example 1:
文武公園
Man Mo Park


In Mandarin: wen
In Cantonese: man
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%96%87


In Mandarin: wu
In Cantonese: mou
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%AD%A6

公園
In English: park


Example 2:
恩田楼
Yan Tin Apartments


In Mandarin: en
In Cantonese: jan
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%81%A9


In Mandarin: tian
In Cantonese: tin
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E7%94%B0


In English: building (of two or more stories)


Example 3:
点心街
Dimsum Quarter


In Mandarin: dian
In Cantonese: dim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dim_sum


In Mandarin: xin
In Cantonese: sam
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%BF%83


In English: street


Example 4:
豆将軒
Dou Jiang Diner


In Mandarin: dou
In Cantonese: dau
http://cantonese.org/search.php?q=%E8%B1%86


In Mandarin: jiang
In Cantonese: zoeng
http://cantonese.org/search.php?q=%E5%B0%86


In English: pavilion with a view

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

NAMES:


Xiuying Hong = 紅秀瑛
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary ... 0%E7%91%9B

Yuanda Zhu = 朱元達
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary ... 3%E9%81%94

Dou Niu = 斗牛
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary ... 7%E7%89%9B

Fangmei Xun = 薫芳梅
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary ... 3%E6%A2%85

Zhangyu Kong = 孔張喩
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary ... 5%E5%96%A9

Luming Zhen = 珍鹿鳴
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary ... F%E9%B3%B4

DAP has received 2 thanks from: Esppiral, Switch
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Re: Romanization of Locations and Names

Postby Switch » Fri May 19, 2017 7:08 am

Interesting topic! I don't have an answer to your query, but it reminded me of this other recent post about the use of Japanese characters on sign-boards in the game, as well as Japanese pronunciation for some of the Shenmue 3 placenames:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=49529&p=1149047#p1149001
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Re: Romanization of Locations and Names

Postby sand4fish » Fri May 19, 2017 1:01 pm

I don't think even Yu could answer that for you as the localization team was the one responsible for these.
But given the many instances of use of Kanji in Shenmue 2 instead of the native written language like the post Switch pointed it out, the mixing in the transliteration of Cantonese and Mandarim is not a big deal. The gibberish Cantonese Joy spouts to Ryo was already a big tell that they were not going for real life fidelity.

Curiously I've been to Man Mo Temple in real life before and I noticed this:
Image
Image

The writings on the outside walls in Shenmue 2 are exactly like the real life counterpart but their position have been swapped. So little things like these probably show the resources spent on research and detail were more focused in the first game, while they preferred the second game to have a grander sense of scale.

Anyway, like I posted in the other topic what matters to me personally is that the internal world of Shenmue 2 is still pretty much consistent as everyone from Guilin to Hong Kong speaks fluent Japanese, so seeing Kanji or mixing uses of Mandarim and Cantonese are all within context with the rest of the game's internal structure.

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Re: Romanization of Locations and Names

Postby DAP » Fri May 19, 2017 5:34 pm

Switch and sand4fish, thanks for your replies, that clears things up for me.

That's really cool that you got to visit ManMo! Did the buildings nearby look similar to Wise Men Qr.?
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Re: Romanization of Locations and Names

Postby sand4fish » Fri May 19, 2017 7:31 pm

DAP wrote: Did the buildings nearby look similar to Wise Men Qr.?


Not at all. The location of the temple in the game is different from the actual one. In real life it's close to a financial district. So plenty of banking and accounting firms with their tall skyscrapers, and people in suits around the area. Though I have to say that I found a few antique shops in the area that kinda resemble the ones in the game, and bought a nice antique chess set from one of the stores.

Probably the places that look the most like Wise Men Quarters to me are located in another "island", like Sham Shui Po in the Kowloon Peninsula (going by either a ferry or subway from where Man Mo Temple is located).
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Re: Romanization of Locations and Names

Postby Brian SII DC vs Xbox » Sun Jun 18, 2017 4:07 pm

All this time and I never knew that the Man Mo Temple was a real place.
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