I think that translating just the menus for this game has been enough to convince me that I should be playing authentic Japanese games rather than something that has been translated to Japanese. With as little as I know, I’m still able to pick up some awkwardness in the language that’s being used. And that worries me. Because I don’t know what I don’t know, and that means that everything could be a bad translation.
Nevertheless, I’m almost done with these menu screens… and I am learning something.
So let’s lead right into where we left off, with 遊び方 (あそびかた or How to Play).
Now if you remember in my first sentence, I expressed concern over the translation.
ビッグブラザー seems like a straight forward translation, yes? Older brother? Er… more like “Big Brother”. That’s right, the elder brother in this game is actually The Man. But don’t take my word for it…
Ah well, from what I can tell, the camera rotation sentence looks right, so let’s finish up this translation.
We already looked at both 右(みぎ right) and 左(ひだり left). We also already looked at 回転 (かいてん rotation). So the only new kanji on this screen is:
方向に － ほうこうに － common – in the direction;
| 方（ほう） | 4 strokes. JLPT N4. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 2. | direction, person, alternative | Kun: かた、 -かた、 -がた | On: ホウ |
| 向（こう） | 6 strokes. JLPT N3. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 3. | yonder, facing, beyond, confront, defy, tend toward, approach | Kun: む.く、 む.い、 -む.き、 む.ける、 -む.け、 む.かう、 む.かい、 む.こう、 む.こう-、 むこ、 むか.い | On: コウ |
so: カメラを左方向に回転 means rotate camera to the left.
Next menu: 設定 (せってい or Settings)
映像設定 － えいぞうせってい － common － Picture Settings;
| 映（えい） | 9 strokes. JLPT N4. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 6 | reflect, reflection, projection | Kun: うつ.る、 うつ.す、 は.える、 -ば.え | On: エイ |
| 像（ぞう） | 14 strokes. JLPT N2. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 5. | statue, picture, image, figure, portrait | Kun: n/a | On: ゾウ |
音声設定 － おんせいせってい － common － Audio Settings;
| 音（おん） | 9 strokes. JLPT N4. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 1. | sound, noise | Kun: おと、 ね | On: オン、 イン、 -ノン |
| 声（せい） | 7 strokes. JLPT N3. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 2. | voice | Kun: こえ、 こわ- | On: セイ、 ショウ |
初期設定に戻す － しょきせっていにもどす － common － Restore to Default Settings;
| 初（しょ） | 7 strokes. JLPT N3. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 4. | first time, beginning | Kun: はじ.め、 はじ.めて、 はつ、 はつ-、 うい-、 -そ.める、 -ぞ.め | On: ショ |
| 期（き） | 12 strokes. JLPT N3. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 3. | period, time, date, term | Kun: n/a | On: キ、 ゴ |
| 戻（もど） | 7 strokes. JLPT N3. Jōyō kanji, taught in junior high. | re-, return, revert, resume, restore, go backwards | Kun: もど.す、 もど.る | On: レイ |
Picture settings are simple. There’s only one setting… and it’s katakana:
I had to double check elsewhere to make sure that the Greek letter used in computer graphics is in fact still called gamma in Japanese. It is. So now onto the audio settings:
音楽 － おんがく － common － Music;
| 楽（がく） | 13 strokes. JLPT N4. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 2. | music, comfort, ease | Kun: たの.しい、 たの.しむ、 この.む | On: ガク、 ラク、 ゴウ |
効果音 － こうかおん － common － Sound Effect;
| 効（こう） | 8 strokes. JLPT N2. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 5. | merit, efficacy, efficiency, benefit | Kun: き.く、 ききめ、 なら.う | On: コウ |
| 果（か） | 8 strokes. JLPT N3. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 4. | fruit, reward, carry out, achieve, complete, end, finish, succeed | Kun: は.たす、 はた.す、 -は.たす、 は.てる、 -は.てる、 は.て | On: カ |
音量 － おんりょう － common － Volume;
| 量（しょう） | 12 strokes. JLPT N2. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 4. | quantity, measure, weight, amount, consider, estimate, surmise | Kun: はか.る | On: リョウ |
OOooooooo, we’re approaching the finishing line here. The taste of sweet actual game play is spilling all over my tongue. Only a few more little things left to translate.
First, is the message that comes up if we select ゲームを終了:
We’ve already looked at ゲームを終了 which means “Exit Game”. Adding して makes it a gerund meaning that the next part of the sentence is discussing the verb. 本堂に （ほんどうに） is an adverb that means “really” or “truly”. よろしい means “good” or “OK”. ですか means “is it?”
So roughly: Quitting the game, is really ok?
本当に － ほんとうに － common － really; truly;
| 本（ほん） | 5 strokes. JLPT N5. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 1 | book, present, main, origin, true, real, counter for long cylindrical things | Kun: もと | On: ホン |
| 当(とう） | 6 strokes. JLPT N3. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 2. | hit, right, appropriate, himself | Kun: あ.たる、 あ.たり、 あ.てる、 あ.て、 まさ.に、 まさ.にべし | On: トウ |
The final menu? Let’s find out!
It looks like there’s still another two menus 🙁 I can’t look at the continue one right now since I haven’t actually started the damned game. But we’ll take a look at Chapter Select in a moment. In the meantime 選択（せんたく selection）is already down at the bottom right, but we’ve got one new word on this screen:
新規 － しんき － common － new;fresh;
| 新（しん） | 13 strokes. JLPT N4. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 2. | new | Kun: あたら.しい、 あら.た、 あら-、 にい- | On: シン |
| 規(き） | 11 strokes. JLPT N3. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 5. | standard, measure | Kun: n/a | On: キ |
And with that, WE’RE FINALLY READY TO START THE GAME!