Tung Fu Rue
But where's Jubei?
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The Essence of Hakkyokuseiken Lies Within...
Ending
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Tung: Ho ho ho, you've both grown so strong... | Tung: You've got tough ,boy! |
| Andy: No, our training is still incomplete! | Andy: Not yet. I need a lot more training! |
| Terry: We both want to become much stronger! | Terry: We want to get tough ,too! |
| Tung: It's time for me to rest.... | Tung: Speak for yourself. I need a vacation! |
| Andy: Master Tung! What's wrong?! | Andy: Master Tan! What's wrong? |
| Terry: Master Tuuuuuuuuuung! | Terry: Master Taaaaaan! |
I'm just going to say this upfront: the editor had a lot of fun with Tung. But there are underlying problems with the translation as well, and I'm not sure where the blame lies for those.
Once again, we have "Master Tan". Four years. It's correct in the rest of the game. Come on.
Andy's line would typically be read as him only talking about himself, but since Terry shows up in the very next line, I felt it made more sense for Andy's line to include him too. The official translator didn't share that decision, which isn't wrong.
There's a subtle difference between Japanese Terry saying that they want to become stronger (implying they're already strong) and English Terry saying they want to get tough (implying they are not currently tough). It's minor, but it's there.
In Japanese Tung is dying/retiring/going away forever, like he did back in Fatal Fury Special. This is changed in English to him taking a vacation, but since Terry and Andy's lines don't change it comes off as really weird. In general Tung's lines are changed to be much more flippant in English, so this is a theme...but boy does it stand out here. I have no explanation.
Win Quotes
vs Terry
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| I know you're stronger than this. | I thought you were stronger! |
See, it's all like this.
Japanese Tung is a disappointed grandpa, English Tung is a taunting winner, and yet the translation is very nearly the same. Tone's a remarkable thing, innit?
vs Andy
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You're far too gentle. | You're far too kind , and dumb! |
Meanwhile, this adds an insult for whatever reason. I think the idea in Japanese is that Tung thinks Andy was holding back. Then the editor got a hold of it.
vs Joe
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| It's good to be so free-spirited. | You're quite the cool cat , huh? |
Not sure "cool cat" has quite the right connotations here, the Japanese is more like carefree/happy-go-lucky/blithe spirit where "cool cat" suggests more laid back/low key/actually cool. Still, I can kind of see how they got from A to B, and it sure is an Americanization.
English Tung isn't as approving of Joe being so Joe as Japanese Tung.
vs Mai/Mary
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Women shouldn't be so stubborn. | Relax ,honey. Kids today! |
I think it's "shouldn't", because that makes the most sense, but as always, feel free to correct me.
Anyway, I suspect this got changed because the original sounds pretty sexist/demeaning, so it got changed to...well, "honey", but the "Kids today!" makes it sound more like grandpa telling you to slow down than a more heavy-handed command. This also suggests that the editor knew he was working on Tung, which says that there was at least a little context involved.
vs Tung Fu Rue
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You must get tired, imitating me. | You have no originality , you! |
The English is more generic, and also harsher. Tung is generally characterized as being confused as to why someone would imitate him, not angry that he got imitated. The Japanese also has nothing in it about originality, and the English doesn't have anything about being tired. Basically, this got rewritten for...some reason?
vs Billy
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| It seems you're not as evil as your master. | I can't forgive the evil you host! |
Well that's different.
Japanese Tung sees through to Billy's heart and realises he's not as bad as Geese. English Tung thinks that Billy is evil and cannot forgive him. I can't easily see how this got changed; there isn't an obvious misreading in Japanese or anything. Possibly the editor making stuff up out of whole cloth? Or possibly someone misread あるじ/aruji (master, but also shopkeeper, landlord, etc) as saying Billy is the master?
Very confusing.
vs Geese
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| I just don't know how to calm your evil heart... | I'll silience your evil! |
This is another confusing one. Japanese Tung doesn't know what to do with his wayward disciple, but English Tung knows exactly how to handle it, and sounds pretty violent about the process. There are the connecting threads of silence/calm and evil, but everything around those is changed. The editor?
There's a typo in the line, but that's honestly the least confusing thing here.
vs Krauser
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Heart, technique, strength - in every aspect, you're superb. | You really know your stuff , junior! |
心技体/shingitai, the three qualities of a successful martial artist, show up again. Basically, you need a strong heart, technique, and body to be a success, and this is a well-known phrase in Japanese. It's not so well-known in English, which is why the official translation sensibly shortens it to "know your stuff". I wanted to show that off, and it makes more sense for Tung to say something like that than Clark.
Point is, Krauser is really good.
vs Laurence
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| To make killing routine is to be cursed. | I have slain your evil beast! |
This is yet another very confusing one.
In Japanese, it's pretty straightforward. Laurence's job as a matador involves routinely taking life, which will bring a curse upon him. It's very Buddhist. But in English, Tung talks about killing Laurence's evil beast (a familiar?) which has nothing to do with anything. There's no evil beast, Laurence is evil for killing beasts (as a routine).
There's no obvious misreading for this one either, so I'm just as confused as always. The only explanation I can come up with for Tung is that the editor just went to town and didn't worry about anything else.
vs the Jin brothers
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Use your youthful spirit to conquer that evil heart within you. | I'll crush your evil heart ,fool! |
And again...
This has a bit more of an obvious connection, in that at least the idea of destroying an evil heart is there. There is a pretty major difference in that Japanese Tung wants the Jins to overcome their evil ancestors themselves, but English Tung is just going to do it for them. Or possibly the Jins themselves are evil in English, it's ambiguous.
It had to get cut down, but in the process it lost a lot. The end result still more or less makes sense, but it definitely gives the wrong impression.
vs Yamazaki
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Why do you hate humans so much? | You have too much hate , friend! |
This, on the other hand, is nice and straightforward despite the clear hand of the editor. As always, SNK is mysterious.
The English loses the idea that Yamazaki specifically hates humans, and drops that Tung is questioning him about it. But he's still got a lot of hate in him. Too much!
vs Kim
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Oho! What a likable young man you are. | You're quite a powerful tyke! |
The main difference here is that Tung is saying Kim is likeable, or agreeable, or somesuch. "Powerful" isn't the right word, as that implies more fighting prowess, but Tung is commenting on Kim's morals. Not sure how that happened.
"Tyke" is also a bit younger than Kim actually is, but that can be read as grandpa being old. I think it's more likely the editor just didn't care, but it's only slightly jarring.
vs Cheng
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| It's a sad thing to love money so much. | Your money lust saddens me ,friend! |
This is basically the same, though with the usual tone problem. The usage of "friend" is interesting, because I've only seen that in Tung's lines so far. It's distinct. Did the editor get a flair for just an hour?
vs EX Tung
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Can you still not believe that you lost...? | I can't believe your weakness? |
Screenshot thanks to Rage Quitter 87. Thank you!
I believe this is making a joke about how EX Tung is senile, so he's not aware that he lost. The English is very confused, changing to a more straightforward diss, but with an inappropriate question mark. It's probably just a typo, but it makes the line even more confusing.
At least this does look like it got translated with at most a minor mistake and then the editor grabbed it, as opposed to whatever happened to a lot of Tung's lines.
vs others
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Whoa! I haven't felt this young in ages! | I feel like new! |
Another translation could be "I'm filled with youth!" or something, but that makes it sound more mystical when the idea is just that grandpa's having such a ball fighting he feels young again. Which the English gets across just fine and without any bizarre changes, so we can end on everything making sense.
For now.