October 28, 2013
Patrino
Translating EarthBound to Esperanto
EarthBound was released in the US in 1995. Breaking from the usual swords-and-dragons questing typical of its genre, it was set in a caricaturized modern world with a whimsical and self-aware sense humor. Despite its initially lukewarm stateside reception, the game acquired an active and uniquely dedicated fan community, rose to widespread acclaim and cemented its status as a video game classic.
It would be hard to overstate the influence of this one game and its surrounding community on my childhood, directly or indirectly cultivating my interest in storytelling, fictional worlds, music composition, computer programming, and language (particularly Japanese). When I decided it would be a worthwhile project to translate a video game into Esperanto, I didn't so much as consider any other game. Aside from my deep familiarity and connection with the game and its widespread popularity, the game's script has some features that make it particularly enticing, and challenging, from a translation perspective. Unlike many games in which dialogue serves to provide information or advance the plot, EarthBound's dialogue is alive, spanning many styles and registers of speech, from inspirational orations to offhanded insults, philosophizing to philandering, haiku to fart jokes; creating an unforgettable world for the player to explore. To ensure a natural and engaging script, the game's producer, Shigesato Itoi, spoke characters' lines aloud to be dictaed, down to the last um, ah, and mispronunciation. The translation may be a challenge for Esperanto itself, pushing it into domains of usage it has rarely if ever needed to venture, and I look forward to seeing how the language rises to the challenge.
Patrino is an ongoing project, and is not yet available to play. I warmly welcome feedback to make the project as good as it can be. If you notice an error in my Esperanto, would like to suggest an alternate translation, or have a question or comment, please don't hesitate to let me know.