Cyber Sub-Zero's OSD menu translation

MKIFan

New member
After not seeing a thread with translations of the Chinese/Japanese characters on some occasions in the game I've decided to open a small translation thread starting with the OSD menu of Cyber Sub-Zero.

The sources I've used are:

http://jisho.org/ for the Japanese meaning of the characters and
http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php for the Chinese meaning of characters.


OK First at all a small information:

The set of Japanese Kanji, without newly created Kanji is a subset of all Chinese characters. Also every character has besides it's syntactical attributes one or more meanings. For the source of the character's meaning click on the link.

OK let's now check cyber Sub-Zero's OSD menu.

View attachment 1267

Each character represents a different sub-menu. I'll give the meaning of the characters from the upper right to the lower left. I'll also include the Japanese meaning, due to the fact that two characters makes more sense if you interpret it with the Japanese meaning.






Chinese meaning(s): spirit, soul; spiritual world

Japanese meaning(s): soul; spirits


It seems that "soul" is the closest meaning, which fits in this situation. It's interesting that his soul is mentioned in his programming this could mean that every cyborg ninja could get access to his soul.






Chinese meaning(s): sharp

Japanese meaning(s): edge; pointed; sharp; sharpness; violent; weapon;


Actually it seems that, this character's meaning should be Japanese and not Chinese, because "sharp" doesn't make any sense, whereas weapons does.






Chinese meaning(s): law, rule, regulation, statute; France, French

Japanese meaning(s): law; method; model; principle; rule; system;


Again the Japanese meaning is more like than the Chinese one but regulation would also fit for this situation. It refers to his system-settings ;)






Chinese meaning(s): learning, knowledge; school

Japanese meaning(s): knowledge; learning; school;


It seems that "knowledge" is the closest meaning, which fits in this situation. It could refer to his knowledge database.






Chinese meaning(s): dim; blurred vision

Japanese meaning(s): see everything;


This character is rather complicated because it has different meaning. Personally I tend to the Chinese meaning of dim because it could represent a stand-by modus.






Chinese meaning(s): ice, frost, icicles; cold

Japanese meaning(s): congeal; freeze; hail; ice; icicle;


Both meaning contains the element, which Cyber Sub-Zero represents.


I am grateful for corrections and/or other viewpoints about this topic.
 
These two languages are hard to learn, I guess.
Good work, bro. I also always wanted to know what did the chinese/japanese characters in MKD mean (the characters are in the far left of THIS image)
 
These two languages are hard to learn, I guess.
Good work, bro. I also always wanted to know what did the chinese/japanese characters in MKD mean (the characters are in the far left of THIS image)

Actually I am able to speak and read Japanese. I am still learning it though :) As far as Chinese concerns I know how to work with dictionaries. Concerning the symbols on the banner I'll post a translation later :)
 
Actually I am able to speak and read Japanese. I am still learning it though :) As far as Chinese concerns I know how to work with dictionaries. Concerning the symbols on the banner I'll post a translation later :)

Cool! I appreciate that. It's nice to see that there are friendly people on this forum. I am looking forward to learn Chinese (China will eventually rule the world xD), but I heard you need something like seven years to master it. ._.
 
@The_Wraith:

OK I've looked at the banner. First of all there are only five characters, after that they just repeat. As for the last character, well I'll say something on that later, because this seems like calligraphy. Also Ill try to make some reasonable sentences.

Again my sources are:

Denshi Jisho for Japanese meanings
Chinese-English Dictionary for Chinese meanings


Good let's start again with the characters and their meaning: I'll go from the highest to the lowest character. If you want to know some explanation of them please click on the links.

Unfortunately there are also the meanings of the compounds (if two or more characters are together sometimes the meaning changes) concerning the Chinese meanings. Due to the fact that I am only able to speak and read Japanese I've just copied the meanings from the directory because thats my main tool. Any correction is heavily appreciated.






Chinese meaning: what, why, where, which, how
Japanese meaning: what








Chinese meaning: affair, matter, business; to serve; accident, incident
Japanese meaning:business; fact;matter; possibly; reason; thing;








Chinese meaning: man; people; mankind; someone else
Japanese meaning: person







Chinese meaning: net for catching birds; gauze
Japanese meaning: gauze; Rome; thin silk;



As for the last one, there are several problems. I am now trying to explain this.

After hours I didn't find this character this means:

1. I was looking for the wrong radical.
2. I couldn't see some parts of this character.
3. This character is a calligraphic creation of two characters, which is quite common in calligraphy.

I'm going for point 3 at the moment. If any Chinese speaking person could help me to identify this character I would be very grateful.

OK, it looks like a fusion of two characters the first one is this definitely this one as for the second one, due to the illegibility I toned the choices down to those three: , ,

Now for the meanings:





Chinese meaning: central; center, middle; in the midst of; hit (target); attain
Japanese meaning: center; in; inside; mean; middle;






Chinese meaning: bird
Japanese meaning: bird


This character doesn't make any sense in the context and can be therefore ignored.






Chinese meaning: good, auspicious; beautiful; delightful
Japanese meaning: beautiful; excellent; good; pleasing; skilled; (superior, found it in another dictionary)


Only the Japanese meaning of this character would make any sense in the given context. Let's keep us this one.






Chinese meaning: serve, attend upon; attendant, servant; samurai
Japanese meaning: samurai; serve; wait upon; waiter;


This character is definitively clear. As nearly everybody know samurai means warrior. We are keeping therefore this character.

OK we've reduced the choices down to two:

中佳

The fusion of this two characters into one, as usually did in calligraphy, would mean "amidst the skillful" if we take the Japanese meaning for the second character. It fit's into the context nevertheless. Or "amidst the superior" if we are taking the Chinese meaning.


中侍

However this one would mean "amidst the warriors", in contrary to the previous fusion this would be the meaning for both, Japanese and Chinese meaning. We should favor this fusion.



Now after some dictionary work I came out with these translations. I have to admit that I have taken some freedoms:


何事人羅中佳

Chinese: How is the gathering of people amidst the superior going on?
Japanese: -



何事人羅中侍

Chinese:How is the gathering of people amidst the warriors going on?
Japanese: -



I hope this helps you. If anybody has come up with a better translation fitting in the context of Mortal Kombat, please tell me.


As for your question. Seven years sounds plausible. I am studying Japanese for one year and am able to make a semi-fluent but not eloquent conversation. After seven years of Chinese you should be able to read, speak and write fluently :)
 
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wonderful information, but has nothing to do with MK9.

Believe me this was the closest meaning I've found. Either way Midway put the Chinese characters randomly there or I am not able to grasp the deeper meaning of this sentence :)

UPDATE: Oh sorry, yes you're right. If a mod wishes it then he/she might move this thread to the general discussion forum.
 
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@The_Wraith:

OK I've looked at the banner. First of all there are only five characters, after that they just repeat. As for the last character, well I'll say something on that later, because this seems like calligraphy. Also Ill try to make some reasonable sentences.

Again my sources are:

Denshi Jisho for Japanese meanings
Chinese-English Dictionary for Chinese meanings


Good let's start again with the characters and their meaning: I'll go from the highest to the lowest character. If you want to know some explanation of them please click on the links.

Unfortunately there are also the meanings of the compounds (if two or more characters are together sometimes the meaning changes) concerning the Chinese meanings. Due to the fact that I am only able to speak and read Japanese I've just copied the meanings from the directory because thats my main tool. Any correction is heavily appreciated.






Chinese meaning: what, why, where, which, how
Japanese meaning: what








Chinese meaning: affair, matter, business; to serve; accident, incident
Japanese meaning:business; fact;matter; possibly; reason; thing;








Chinese meaning: man; people; mankind; someone else
Japanese meaning: person







Chinese meaning: net for catching birds; gauze
Japanese meaning: gauze; Rome; thin silk;



As for the last one, there are several problems. I am now trying to explain this.

After hours I didn't find this character this means:

1. I was looking for the wrong radical.
2. I couldn't see some parts of this character.
3. This character is a calligraphic creation of two characters, which is quite common in calligraphy.

I'm going for point 3 at the moment. If any Chinese speaking person could help me to identify this character I would be very grateful.

OK, it looks like a fusion of two characters the first one is this definitely this one as for the second one, due to the illegibility I toned the choices down to those three: , ,

Now for the meanings:





Chinese meaning: central; center, middle; in the midst of; hit (target); attain
Japanese meaning: center; in; inside; mean; middle;






Chinese meaning: bird
Japanese meaning: bird


This character doesn't make any sense in the context and can be therefore ignored.






Chinese meaning: good, auspicious; beautiful; delightful
Japanese meaning: beautiful; excellent; good; pleasing; skilled; (superior, found it in another dictionary)


Only the Japanese meaning of this character would make any sense in the given context. Let's keep us this one.






Chinese meaning: serve, attend upon; attendant, servant; samurai
Japanese meaning: samurai; serve; wait upon; waiter;


This character is definitively clear. As nearly everybody know samurai means warrior. We are keeping therefore this character.

OK we've reduced the choices down to two:

中佳

The fusion of this two characters into one, as usually did in calligraphy, would mean "amidst the skillful" if we take the Japanese meaning for the second character. It fit's into the context nevertheless. Or "amidst the superior" if we are taking the Chinese meaning.


中侍

However this one would mean "amidst the warriors", in contrary to the previous fusion this would be the meaning for both, Japanese and Chinese meaning. We should favor this fusion.



Now after some dictionary work I came out with these translations. I have to admit that I have taken some freedoms:


何事人羅中佳

Chinese: How is the gathering of people amidst the superior going on?
Japanese: -



何事人羅中侍

Chinese:How is the gathering of people amidst the warriors going on?
Japanese: -



I hope this helps you. If anybody has come up with a better translation fitting in the context of Mortal Kombat, please tell me.


As for your question. Seven years sounds plausible. I am studying Japanese for one year and am able to make a semi-fluent but not eloquent conversation. After seven years of Chinese you should be able to read, speak and write fluently :)


Outstanding! To my limited interpretation capacity, it seems the banner is referring to Shujinko gathering the warriors to fight Onaga. Seems like something Havik would say (as far as I remember, he was the one to lead the heroes to the Dragon King's Temple).

Really big thanks, man!
 
Outstanding! To my limited interpretation capacity, it seems the banner is referring to Shujinko gathering the warriors to fight Onaga. Seems like something Havik would say (as far as I remember, he was the one to lead the heroes to the Dragon King's Temple).

Really big thanks, man!

No problem you're welcome, but please don't forget my work :)
 
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