Kim Kaphwan
Justice is back, baby.
Story 1
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Ripper: Here's the current winner's picture, Mr. Geese. | Mr.Geese,we got this graphic of the guy. |
| Geese: ... | Geese: Hmph! |
Story 2
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| ...taekwondo, huh? | Twai Kwohn...what? Die,garlic breath! |
English Geese achieves such weebitude that he becomes racist against Koreans.
The bit I'm most confused about is how they chose to romanize taekwondo. Was that on purpose? SNK has used taikwondo before, but what on Earth is that extra w doing there? Just a typo? A bold new spelling now that they finally learned how to spell capoeira?
Very mysterious.
"Die,garlic breath" is completely added in English for whatever reason. I'm just going to go with "the editor had a lot of fun with Geese".
Story 3
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| I'll test your strength. Hurry, advance through the tournament and face me. Ahahahah... | I can't wait to see how strong you are,big boy. |
Story 4
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Kim: All right! The real battle starts now! | Kim: Okay,let's get serious. |
| Geese: Kim Kaphwan. In the end, aren't you just another useless hypocrite? Heheh... | Hah,hah,hah. You're nothing but a sham, Mr.Tai-Kwan-Do Kim bonehead! |
...wow.
Kim's line is generic and a bit dull in both languages. The editor didn't have a lot of fun with Kim, I guess.
Meanwhile, Geese's line goes...places. "Hypocrite" -> "nothing but a sham" is a reasonable translation, but I really don't know what to make of "Mr.Tai-Kwan-Do Kim bonehead".
...besides noticing it's a completely different inaccurate romanization of taekwondo, so please refer back to my previous rant about the subject.
We've previously seen "bonehead" in FF3, when Cheng is summoning him after defeating Geese.
Win Quotes
vs Terry
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| How's that, Terry? What do you think of my new moves? | Like my new moves,Terry? |
...yup.
The editor did not bother with Kim.
vs Andy/Franco/Duck King
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Go train and become stronger! | Just keep on practicing! |
There's a feeling in Japanese that Kim is telling his opponent to become stronger (through training) to be a better match for Kim, which is lost in English. Instead the English is just supportive.
vs Joe/Bob
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Thank you. It was good experience. | Thanks for the experience. |
This sounds similar to one of Kim's FF2 win quotes, but the phrasing is different in both languages. I don't think it's a direct callback, but someone probably remembered the basic concept of the line.
The English sounds less like Kim is thanking his opponent for the practice, but that might just be me.
Also, Joe and Bob? I sense the dev team just spreading generic lines across the cast.
vs Mai/Hon Fu/Mary
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Are you all right? I tried to hold back, but.... | Are you okay? I tried to hold back. |
Yep x 2.
Man, Hon Fu gets a special line for Kim, but Kim doesn't get a special line for Hon Fu? Cold, man. Is this true justice?
vs Billy/Yamazaki/Chonrei/Geese
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Martial arts should be used for justice! | The fists are for justice,pal! |
In Japanese this is a pretty straightforward lecture to the evil characters about not using their skills for evil. "The fists" is a vaguer translation, and also sounds awkward. It sounds like they wanted "these fists" but messed it up. "[P]al" stands out as an editor-ism in an otherwise bland set of lines, which makes me wonder if Kim just got a light pass or what.
vs Sokaku/Chonshu
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| I'll teach you my style of justice. | I'm gonna teach you justice! |
The English line drops the idea that Kim is going to specifically teach his style/what he calls justice, as opposed to a more general version. It's a minor nuance change, but it's there. The English also sounds more aggressive than the Japanese, which fits in with what Kim's character became.
It's interesting that it's only Sokaku and Chonshu that get this line, while more evil characters don't. Maybe the idea is that they can still be taught?
vs Kim
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Well, you lost. Take this as a lesson and don't try to imitate me again. | Give up? Good. Now act like a tree and take a hike,ya runt. |
Okay, the editor definately got to this one.
The bit I translated as "you lost" can be translated as "give up", so that's just phrasing differences. The rest is certainly...a translation, just an odd one. For one thing, the usual phrase is "make like a tree and leave (leaf)", which was pretty popular in the 90s. Kishi, with inimitable memory, pointed out that "make like a tree and get out of here" is a quote from Back to the Future, so it's possible they were trying to reference that and just slipped up the quote, or wanted to play on the usual phrase in a similar way.