The Legend of Zelda : The Wind Waker for the Nintendo GameCube (European Version) Hylian Text Translations v1.0 (22/5/2003) by Ignacio de Lucas This FAQ and everything included within this file cannot be reproduced in any way, shape or form (physical, electronical, or otherwise) aside from being placed on a freely-accessible, non-commercial web page in it's original, unedited and unaltered format. This FAQ cannot be used for profitable purposes (even if no money would be made from selling it) or promotional purposes. It cannot be used in any sort of commercial transaction. It cannot be given away as some sort of bonus, gift, etc., with a purchase as this creates incentive to buy and is therefore prohibited. Furthermore, this FAQ cannot be used by the publishers, editors, employees or associates, etc. of any company, group, business, or association, etc., nor can it be used by game sites and the like. 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Unpublished work Copyright 2003 Ignacio de Lucas. /==============================================================================\ | INTRODUCTION | \==============================================================================/ During your play through tLoZ: The Wind Waker, you might have noticed some rune-like writing on signs, as well as other places. These are not random scribblings, but are actually written in a runic alphabet which has correspondence to Japanese alphabets; Katakana and Hiragana to be precise. With an adequate translation table (included in the Japanese manual, and later posted at http://cube.ign.com/articles/380/380104p1.html), a mild knowledge of Japanese, and sharp eyes, you can translate many of them. And well, that's what I've done. On another note, you could use the Hylian table to translate the Hylian speech of the Guardians. However, and seeing as it's automatically translated during the second quest, I don't really see any point in doing so. /==============================================================================\ | NOTATION | \==============================================================================/ Most of the translations will have three rows: the characters transcribed one by one, the Japanese they spell out, and the English translation. Regarding the transcribed characters: KA I'm sure it's a KA character KA? It seems like a KA character KA/KU? It could be a KA or a KU, or another character entirely ??? Ummm... can I use a lifeline? (small TSU) See below. About the small TSU thing... it's hard to explain to non-Japanese speakers, but in Japanese, the A, I, U, E, O, TSU, YA, YU and YO characters (both in Hiragana and Katakana) have a smaller version that is used in conjunction with others. Example: KI + small YO = KYO. Particularly interesting is the small TSU, which basically duplicates the consonant following it. Example: TE + small TSU + KEN = TEKKEN. However, in most of the cases in Hylian, what would be those smaller versions are actually represented at the same size than the other characters (!), making some amount of guesswork necessary. That notwithstanding, very rarely (I've only seen it happen twice) some signs will actually display those smaller characters, well, smaller. That's what (small TSU) means. With that out of the way... /==============================================================================\ | OVERWORLD / MISCELLANEOUS | \==============================================================================/ -------------- | Generic sign | -------------- You know, the one which is everywhere all around the game and that you can chop with your sword. Yup, all normal signs say the same in Hylian. CHI YU U I Chuui Caution CHI KA ZU I DE MO TSU TO YO KU MI TE KU DA SA I Chikazui Motto Yoku Mite Kudasai Look very closely at the nearby ??? I would need help from someone who knows Japanese for that line. Also, the blue lettering below that is unreadable. ---------------- | Tingle's Tower | ---------------- - Writing wrapping around the tower - CHI N KU RU SE N YO U CHINKURU Senyou Propery of Tinkle All rings say the same. It is CHINKURU ("Tinkle") and not CHINGURU ("Tingle") written there, I double checked. Either Tingle's name is "Tinkle" in Japanese, or... I don't know :/ --------------- | Beedle's ship | -------------- - Lettering outside - SHI YO TSU PU Shoppu Shop ------------ | Sea Charts | ------------ - Tingle's Chart The lettering pointing to Tingle Island reads: CHI N KU RU TO U CHINKURU Tou Tinkle Island - IN-credible Chart - SU NO N GO I MA (small TSU) PU Sunongoi Mappu Sunongoi Map The Japanese name of the IN-credible chart, according to JL Lee's FAQ, is Sungoi Map (Sugoi means fantastic). I see an additional small vertical line in the Hylian writing on the chart, which translates to a NO; but Tingle's handwriting is horrible (I had to use a lot of imagination to recognize the GO and the PU), so it just might be he blundered. - Beedle's Chart - TE RI - MA TSU PU Teri- Mappu Terry Map Terry is Beedle's Japanese name. --------------- | Racing Course | --------------- - Large flag - GO - RU Go-ru Goal O TSU KA RE SA MA DE SHI TA Otsukaresama Deshita Thank you (for participating) /==============================================================================\ | WINDFALL ISLAND | \==============================================================================/ - Sign outside potion shop - KU SU RI Kusuri Medicines - Sign on bomb shop - SE KA I I CHI NO BA KU DA N Sekai Ichi no Bakudan The best bombs in the world - Large stone arch - YO U KO SO TA U RA TO U HE Youkoso Taura Tou He Welcome to Taura Island According to JL Lee's walkthrough, the original Japanese name of Windfall Island is Taura Island. --------------------- | Squid Game Building | --------------------- - Sign on the wall - KA N RA N SHI YA NO RI BA KO CHI RA KA RA Kanransha noriba kochira kara [the] Ferris wheel boarding place [is accessed] from here ----------- | Tombstone | ----------- The one near Todd. The lettering here is again barely visible because of its small size and plants/lime obscuring it. There's three lines to it. - First line - 8 3 1 - 8 9 4 831 - 894 - Second line - I GA/GU/ZE? I NA RE NO - Third line - GE/ZA? I JI YU SHI/O? GA? I would need someone who knows more Japanese to see if he/she gets an inspiration about the second and third line (the first one obviously being the birth/death dates). It's very likely that the JI YU in the third line compose JU, if that helps. ---------- | Cafe Bar | ---------- - Sign outside with a cup - KA FU E BA - Kafe Ba- Cafe Bar Lower lettering is unreadable. Interestingly enough, it's mirrored (left to right) in two of the three places where it appears. It appears in the two faces of the round hanging symbol in Zunari's shop, and above the door of the bar itself. Well, it's only correctly drawn in the side of the hanging sign that's facing opposite from the bar (the one which has the cup handle to the left). I guess the programmers in charge of applying textures to signs didn't know Hylian :) - Pots on the shelves - GU? - FU A ME E GA I NO GU SU ME HI ?? RE ?? DE ?? Almost unreadable, I give up. - Chalkboards - KI YO U NO O SU SU ME Kyou no Osusume Today's reccomendation RO N RO N MI RU KU -> 1 5 0 Ron Ron Miruku -> 150 Lon Lon Milk -> 150 DE KU NO MI KE - KI -> 3 0 0 Deku no Mi Ke-ki -> 300 Deku Seed Cake -> 300 ZO - RA KO - HI - -> 2 5 0 Zo-ra Ko-hi- -> 250 Zora Coffee -> 250 - Sign with a letter drawn on it - A RU BA I TO BO SHI YU U Arubaito Boshuu Part-time job recruiting NI MO TSU NO SHI WA KE NA DO Nimotsu no Shiwake Nado Parcel sorting, etc. BA I TO RI YO U HA YO U SO U ??? N Baito Ryou wa Yousou ??? N Job Payment ??? aspect ??? I won't even bother with the smallest lettering ^^ ----------- | Classroom | ----------- - Sign outside - SHI A WA SE KI YO U SHI TSU Shiawase Kyoushitsu Happiness classroom - Chalkboard - A O I SO RA Aoi Sora Blue sky SHI RO I KU MO Shiroi Kumo White cloud/clouds (Japanese has no plural) - The drawing of the girl besides the pig - O MO I YA RI Omoiyari Consideration/sympathy - The sign with three text lines just below it - KI YO KU kiyoku Purity TA DA SHI SA Tadashisa Correctness/justice/honesty/politeness (yeah, this has lots of similar meanings in Japanese...) U TSU KU SHI KU Utsukushiku Beauty/loveliness /==============================================================================\ | DRAGON ROOST ISLAND | \==============================================================================/ - Wind Requiem Stone - KA ZE NO U TA Kaze no Uta Song of wind - Sign outside Rito place - PO SU TO HA U SU Posuto Hausu Post House -------------- | Sorting game | -------------- - Left sign on the desk - YU U BI N KI (small TSU) TE Yuubin Kitte Mail Stamps - Right sign - CHI YO KI N KA WA SE Chokin Kawase Postal Savings Exchange ------------------ | Large red banner | ------------------ The one which is between the sorting game and the chieftain's room. YU U BI N KI YO KU Yuubin Kyoku Post Office /==============================================================================\ | NINTENDO GALLERY | \==============================================================================/ ------------ | Large sign | ------------ - Small lettering - FU I GI YU A NO CHI? SA? ??? U FIGYUA ??? Figure ??? - Large lettering - NI TE N DO U GI YA RA RI - NITENDOU GYARARI- Nintendo Gallery Nintendo should be really spelled NINTENDOU in Japanese, but I guess they skipped the first N for reasons of space. - Milk Bottles - RO N RO N MI RU KU Ron Ron Miruku Lon Lon Milk - Phantom Ganon Figure's Sword - ZU BO RA GA BO RA Zubora Gabora These are the names of the mountain smithies in Majora's Mask. /==============================================================================\ | THE LEGEND | \==============================================================================/ By the Legend, I mean the Hylian writing on the stone murals in the intro screens. I tried translating some of it, but it's really hard. The flash animation at www.zelda.com doesn't nearly have enough resolution to translate it off it, so I'm stuck with having to take pics of the intro while it rolls, which as you can imagine is a chore. It's not easy to take good pics off a TV screen due to pixels aligning (that typical wave effect); many times they're not usable and have to be taken again. The fact that some particular screens scroll by in a way that certain parts of the text are only visible for a split second doesn't help, as you can no doubt imagine. Anyhow, I first tried translating the text in the small squares in the images. Here's the two in the first ever screen: HA I RA RU O U KO KU Hairaru Oukoku Hyrule Kingdom YU TA KA NA RU DA I CHI Yutaka Naru Daichi Peaceful land But even those required several tries each to get, so I've given up for the moment on them. However, in the process I also manage to get a good, clear shot of one whole page, so I said "what the heck" and went ahead to translate it. It's the second screen, the one that shows' Ganon's first coming: KA MI NO CHI KA RA WO TE NI I RE TA A SHI KI MO NO NI YO TSU TE DA YA A KU GA KO NO TO RA SHI Kami no Chikara wo Te ni Ireta Ashikimono ni Yotte Dayaaku go Kono Torashi TSU TSU MI KO MI U TSU KU SI KA TSU TA DA I CHI MO HO RO BI KA KE TE I TSU TA SO NO TO KI DE A TSU TA Tsutsumikomi Utsukushikatta Daichi mo Horobi Kaketeitta Sono Toki de Atta I'm missing several words (I don't nearly know that much Japanese), but it seems to follow the English translation. Ex. "Kami ni Chikara wo te ni ireta" = "after laying its hands on the Gods' power", and the second like talks about the destruction of the beautifulness that surrounded and filled the land. So it doesn't really seem like it's worth the effort, since it basically follows the English subtitling. I'm willing to bet that it, in fact, follows the subtitling of the Japanese version word for word. /==============================================================================\ | CONCLUSION | \==============================================================================/ That's pretty much all, I guess. If you have any additions or comments... you'll have to post them in the GameFaqs' messageboards, and hope I find them, unfortunately. I no longer reply (or wish to receive) mail related to my FAQs, as it's far too time (and space) consuming. Sorry. I'd also want to thank Santaman from the aforementioned message boards, who got me into translating this stuff and kindly searched for places with Hylian text thoughout the game for me to translate. Thank you!