Sword Art Online - Names and Terminology

[Misogi]

I need to catch up on SAO, but here are some town names and terms I found in the French simulcast.

Episode 4
Floor 35 : Mishe (not in the LN)
Floor 47 : Floria (correct)
Mirage Sphere (correct)

Episode 5
Floor 50 : Arcades (already mentionned, likely a mistake)
Floor 56 : Pani (not in the LN)
Floor 57 : Marten (correct)
Floor 59 : Danak (not in the LN)

Episode 6
Nothing.

Episode 7
Floor 48 : Lindearth (Lindus and Rindaasu were used in the LN)

All the names in these episodes were already corrected.

But according to a fellow French translator, Drakyo, there are some names that were changed.
Sinker --> Thinker
Yuriel --> Yulier
Cobert --> Corbatz
I'm not sure of these changes, I'll check them ASAP.

[Tap]

Lindearth, Thinker, Yulier and Corbatz make sense. (Especially Sinker, since it doesn't exactly make any sense as it is now)
Here's the kana for anyone who wants to check: リンダース、シンカー、ユリエール、コーバッツ.

[Mystes]

Reminds me, what's the problem with the apostrophes' encoding? They seem to switch over and over.

[Pryun]

yep, some of those ought to be changed. Any volunteers?

[Tap]

Apostrophes' encoding?
You mean the difference between the usage of ' and ’?
Word processors (e.g. Microsoft Word) usually uses the second for apostrophes, while the first is used by text editors (e.g. Notepad), so that's the reason why you see both of them.
The reason why there's no standard is due to the differing habits of each translator (and the semi-epic war of words between Vaelis and Zero).

And I'll change them in a day or two if no one has any objections.

[BeginnerXP]

To be honest, I don't think relying on French version is a good idea, considering 'Arcade' and Egil. But I do agree with all those except Yulier, which I think Yuriel is more suitable.

[Tap]

They used Agil too. The one that used Egil was Crunchyroll, I think?
Arcades certainly felt odd, though.

I didn't have the chance to watch episode 12 yet though, so I'm not sure how they pronounced Yuriel/Yulier.

[triendarkform]

Apostrophes' encoding?
You mean the difference between the usage of ' and ’?
Word processors (e.g. Microsoft Word) usually uses the second for apostrophes, while the first is used by text editors (e.g. Notepad), so that's the reason why you see both of them.
The reason why there's no standard is due to the differing habits of each translator (and the semi-epic war of words between Vaelis and Zero).

And I'll change them in a day or two if no one has any objections.

Just a note that the 2nd apostrophe's use can confuse certain text-to-speech implementations, making things sound really funny when the computer reads

[Misogi]

To be honest, I don't think relying on French version is a good idea, considering 'Arcade' and Egil. But I do agree with all those except Yulier, which I think Yuriel is more suitable.

They used Agil too. The one that used Egil was Crunchyroll, I think?
Arcades certainly felt odd, though.

I didn't have the chance to watch episode 12 yet though, so I'm not sure how they pronounced Yuriel/Yulier.

I confirm that Agil was used. For Arcades, it was likely a mistake, so I don't know what is the correct spelling.
Again, I need to check all of this to confirm these spellings.

[Mystes]

IIRC, I saw some errors in the Crunchy version that were also in the French version. I dunno if they are related though.

[Misogi]

I heard that foreign simulcasts are given a list of terms that was already validated in the American version. This way, validating terminology is faster, but the errors will also be present in other versions.

This is the only explanation I have. Unless we have confirmation from the author, we can't be sure of some terms.

[M.A.D]

Apostrophes' encoding?
You mean the difference between the usage of ' and ’?
Word processors (e.g. Microsoft Word) usually uses the second for apostrophes, while the first is used by text editors (e.g. Notepad), so that's the reason why you see both of them.
The reason why there's no standard is due to the differing habits of each translator (and the semi-epic war of words between Vaelis and Zero).

And I'll change them in a day or two if no one has any objections.

Usually, either Zero or Vaelis would have changed them, or both.

[Catsy]

Just a few opinions on what's been discussed. Some of these are likely settled and final; please feel free to ignore those. :)

Hajimari no Machi: Admittedly I lean strongly towards "Starting City" for this. The phrase "starting city" or "starting town" is an extremely common colloquial term--almost a term of art--in video games that refers to whatever city in which a character begins if a name wasn't otherwise explicitly given for it--and often even if it was. For example: "I'm going to go back to the starting city and vendor all my loot", or "where's the starting city for dark elves?" With the way SAO lampshades so many RPG cliches and conventions, it has the right feel to me.

But I can see an argument being made for "City of Beginnings", it just struck me as a little odd and cheesy (and overly literal).

Agil: The definitive argument for this spelling rather than any other has nothing to do with ME2 or whatever subs are used by which outfit, and everything to do with the character's real life name: Andrew Gilbert Mills.

Yuriel: I just about choked when I saw that CR had rendered it as "Yulier". It's a perfectly valid romanization of ユリエル, but as a name it just feels... awkward to me. The "-er" ending unconsciously suggests "one who does X" to me when I see it, rather than a name. "Yuriel" sounds like a woman's fantasy genre name. Interestingly, I've seen it elsewhere as "Yurielle", which I rather like as well--but IMO either is better than Yulier or any of the other romanizations I've seen for it.

Sinker/Thinker: I was a little off-put when I saw it subbed as "Thinker", simply because I was used to seeing it in the LN translations as "Sinker". But as I thought about it more, "Thinker" just made more sense--especially since the character in question ran a web site dedicated to MMO news and game info.

Corvatz/Corbatz: I think "Corvatz" sounds cooler, but absent any other logical reason to suggest a "V" sound was intended rather than a "B", I tend to avoid romanizing katakana names or words with a "V" unless the original text uses e.g. ヴァ rather than バ. This could really go either way.

Diabel/Diavel: Is there some authorial or on-screen source that suggests a "V" in this character's name? I mean, other than subs, which IMO aren't really an authoritative source. Again, I'm reluctant to assume "V" sounds where ベ is used unless there's some reason to think it should be that way.

Aincrad Liberation Force/Front: Because of the canonical acronym of ALF, it has to be one or the other--and although "Front" has a classy revolutionary sound, it's not an accurate translation of 軍. If "Front" had been intended, IMO 共闘 would've been used. I also think the paramilitary rather than revolutionary character of the ALF itself suggests that "Force" would be better.

Just my 2 Col. ;)

[Misogi]

I watched a few minutes of Episode 8, and Algade was used, instead of Arcades.

This proves that it was likely a mistake due to the replacement of the proofreader during Summer.

[M.A.D]

So are they using the same proof reader now?

Btw, we're confirmed in Ep 13 that's Heathcliff's name is really Heathcliff