Topic: I'm confused with SotN's plot ( spoliers?)

[Claimh Solais]

I'd chalk that up to a simple mistake.
Also, I generally ignore localizations in favor of the original version.
Localization teams seem to favor things sounding good in English over accuracy.

I'd agree in a lot of cases. For example, Soma was a foreign exchange student in the US version but not in the JP version. Talk about making him MORE cliche'd. (Feminine foreign exchange student with a fur coat and amazing white hair who seemed normal at first, only to figure out that he has these amazing powers that he must use for the greater good cuz the world depends on it. :\)

But there's a few things in the American version I prefer. For example, the use of "Belmont" over "Belmondo". The use of "Trevor" over "Ralph". The use of "Slogra" over "Berrigan". "Lecarde" over "Ricardo". But when it's story and script, that's a whole different story. I much prefer the JP-script for SotN, mainly cuz it sounds amazing compared to the weird dialog we got in the US (which gave us the meme's such as "Die monster!" and "What is a man?!", so thank the lord for that).

[Puwexil]

They only became memes because of the hammy voice acting. The script itself is top class.

Alternate explanation: people are the worst.

[Flame]

About 2 of the things you mentioned are pronunciation issues mostly. Lecarde is still Lecarde, but pronounced ricardo in Japanese. Same for belmondo. Thats how they pronouce Belmont.

to be honest, i think Soma being a foreign student makes a bit more sense. You wont find many Japanese people with Hispanic like names.

[Claimh Solais]

About 2 of the things you mentioned are pronunciation issues mostly. Lecarde is still Lecarde, but pronounced ricardo in Japanese. Same for belmondo. Thats how they pronouce Belmont.

to be honest, i think Soma being a foreign student makes a bit more sense. You wont find many Japanese people with Hispanic like names.

Well, according to translation people, Ricardo and Belmondo are actually the correct translations. I'm not too familiar with Japanese, but I've heard it enough. I know the Japanese pronunciation of Belmondo is Berumondo. I believe Ricardo would be something like Ricado.

Then again, most of the English translations of the names I think sound better overall.
Larned/Learned -> Renard
Valnumdez/Fernandez -> Belnades (though I have no problem with Fernandez)
Orlean -> Aulin
Ralph -> Trevor (how did they screw that up? I'm happy with it, though)

I realize you won't see many Japanese people with hispanic names. Maybe his papa was Spanish but his mama was Japanese? I really sounds like a gang member from where I live at. They mostly have the name Cruz and there's a "Soma" gang for that city Somerton.

[Flame]

Berumondo is how they pronounce it. Belmondo is how they romanize that.

Same for "Ricardo"

Sort of how the "Castlevania" title in japan was called "Kyassurubania", which confused many a Japanese gamer, since the wordplay involved in the name only works with someone who speaks English and can understand the combination of words involved

[Inccubus]

OK. Lemme shed some light on this Belmondo thing. Certain phonetic characters in Japanese change their pronunciation when they are within a word as opposed to when placed at the front. to/do is one of these. So the intent IS Belmont, but Belmondo is the closest you can get in Japanese. Before anyone asks, yes, I've studied Japanese. Thus, Belmont isn't  localization, it's the correct translation. I came across a similar thing in doing some Translations for Final Fantasy Tactics. There's a character in that game that was localized Draclau, but when I checked the katakana that appeared in the Japanese version it was Derakua, which obviously can't be Draclau because to do a 'dr' sound in japanese it's 'dora' as in dorakyura. Being that all the supporting cast names in FFT are madelled after different European regions it clicked that what they were intending here was actually a french name. De'Lacroix. Which mean 'of the cross' if I'm not mistaken which jives with the rest of the characters that are part of the church in that game. Often times the localizers don't have any detailed info to go on which causes all sorts of wierd translations. Like the Barrett enemy in Final Fantasy 1. If the localizer had played Dungeons and Dragons he'd have known that 'burei' was referring to the monster known as a Bulette. They screwed up a lot of those. Like the Ochu and Neochu are actually supposed to be an Otyugh and a Neo-otyugh. Happens all the time.

rica-do in Japanese is Ricardo, not Lecarde. Lecarde would be reca-du. There's no 'ar' sound in Japanese. They use a long 'a' sound instead.

[darkwzrd4]

Well, thanks Inncubus.  This sheds a lot of light on why character names seem to change when translated into other languages.

[Flame]

Belnades is also mistranslated if i recall correctly. it is supposed to be Fernandez, making Carrie ironically, the only one with the correct name.

[Inccubus]

Belnades is also mistranslated if i recall correctly. it is supposed to be Fernandez, making Carrie ironically, the only one with the correct name.

That, I think, falls more closely under the label of 'mangled rather than 'mistranslated'. You are indeed correct, though.

[kompwars]

its just how they pronounce it. im japanese myself. Like japanese people pronounce david  Debiito or pronouncing Alucard Alucaado

[Claimh Solais]

its just how they pronounce it. im japanese myself. Like japanese people pronounce david  Debiito or pronouncing Alucard Alucaado

Arukado. I know all the Harmony of Despair characters' names with Japanese pronunciation.

[kompwars]

Arukado. I know all the Harmony of Despair characters' names with Japanese pronunciation.

ohohohohoho i always mixed up my l's with r's :p even my mom thinks its weird. tho i still prefer Alucado