The Fan Language of Splatoon

Cdr. Sigma Skye

Inkling Representative for The Order and Sirius
Joined
Aug 19, 2016
Messages
19
Location
Madison, MS
Don't wanna spam nothin', but check my last two replies as regularly as you can, especially the first for this topic, since I'm translating as I go down. Quick question, songs must rhyme in both languages, right? Or does it not matter, so long as it makes sense? I ask since the Japanese songs tend to have no true rhyming stanza, though the romaji is consistent in flow.
 

Jonathx

Inkster Jr.
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Jonathx
Don't wanna spam nothin', but check my last two replies as regularly as you can, especially the first for this topic, since I'm translating as I go down. Quick question, songs must rhyme in both languages, right? Or does it not matter, so long as it makes sense? I ask since the Japanese songs tend to have no true rhyming stanza, though the romaji is consistent in flow.
Generally it's nice to try to rhyme in the same way in both languages, but because perfect translation is practically impossible, and meter is more important than rhyme for making a song sound right, it's quite common for translated songs to use a reduced rhyme scheme or drop it entirely. For instance, I've worked on a translation of a Russian folk song before that originally rhymed ABAB, but because English doesn't have many words that both rhyme and end on two consecutive unstressed feet, had to settle for the less difficult ABCB. But it still sounds totally fine to the English-speaker's ear. The consistency of the rhyme scheme does much more than it being *exactly* how the original was.

Though this does bring up a question: is Inkling a stress-timed language, like English, or a syllable-timed language, like Japanese or French? For lyrics that greatly affects what you can get away with while still sounding natural.

EDIT: This is more silly than serious speculation, but if the word for God in Inkling is a play on Nintendo, maybe the demons would be various plays on Sega, Sony and their mascots? Sonic {Sonika} would definitely fit the bill as a "speed demon" in that case...
 
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PiyozR

Senior Squid
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titanmkiii
Alright so my train came in early, giving me the whole afternoon to do chores. I have all of tonight free so I'll translate the song for you @Cdr. Sigma Skye .

EDIT: This is more silly than serious speculation, but if the word for God in Inkling is a play on Nintendo, maybe the demons would be various plays on Sega, Sony and their mascots? Sonic {Sonika} would definitely fit the bill as a "speed demon" in that case...
I am officially creating the Inkling word for "demon" and it is {konami}.
 

PiyozR

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titanmkiii
I'm headed for the border {i paígi ge zoáro}
It's on my mind {i že žizái}
And nothin' really matters {wúi žo henú dúyo}
I've got to be on time {subí gúyo dáoyu}
Look in the view mirror {kíse éyome nói}
Is he hot on my tracks? {súine tisó nakí}
Is he getting nearer? {zói nakía i?}
I feel some heat is on my back {zizái zoíyo eyásu}

(Speedin') Speedin' on the freeway {(fíya) fíya žiege ekí}
Gotta get a lead way {subí ža zibína}
(Speed demon) {konámi}
Doin' it on the highway {číša da badáido}
Gotta have it my way {si i ya disúro}
(Speed demon) {konámi}
Mind is like a compass {riépo si tusáitu}
I'm stoppin' at nothin' {žo tabái kué}
(Speed demon) {konámi}
He say, "pull over boy and get your ticket right" {bíe i (sukaié tabái ágo pa biké)}

And nothin' gonna stop me {i riéno atí tabái}
Ain't no stop and go {nói žo žíha}
I'm speedin' on the midway {i ya fiya éyose}
I gotta really burn this road {téna badáido žekakói}

(Speedin') Speedin' on the freeway {(fíya) fíya žiége ekí}
Gotta get a lead way {subí ža zibína}
(Speed demon) {konámi}
Doin' it on the highway {číša da badáido}
Gotta have it my way {si i ya disúro}
(Speed demon) {konámi}
Mind is like a compass {riépo si tusáitu}
I'm stoppin' at nothin' {žo tabái kué}
(Speed demon) {konámi}
He say, "pull over boy and get your ticket right" {bíe i (sukaié tabái ágo pa biké)}

Speed demon, you're the very same one {fíya konámi pa si tenó}
Who said the future's in your hands {dité sáne žoanéro}
The life you save could be your own {pu gúyo pa ya iyóči}
You're preachin' 'bout my life like you're the law {ena žo si pa ya gusáio}
Gonna live each day and hour like {fúno maegái wa dehózu}
For me there's no tomorrow {sumái žo zoíyo ŧuní}

Go! Go! Go! Go! Aaow! {ža! ža! ža! ža! Ayo!}

Speedin' on the freeway {fíya žiége ekí}
Gotta get a lead way {subí ža zibína}
(Speed demon) {konámi}
Got fire in my pocket {žéka ri unóno}
I just lit a rocket {i že féa kapáo}
(Speed demon) {konámi}
I just, pull over boy and get your ticket right {i že tabái ko sukaié ágo biké}
(Speed demon) {konámi}
Pull over boy and get your ticket right {sukaié tabái ko ágo biké}
(Speed demon) {konámi}
I just, pull over boy and eat your ticket {i že tabái ko sukaié wúze biké}
Pull over boy {sukaié}
Pull over boy and get your ticket right {sukaié tabái ko ágo biké}

Pull over boy {sukaié}
Get your ticket right {ko ágo biké}
Pull over boy {sukaié}
Get your ticket right {ko ágo biké}
Pull over boy {sukaié}
Pull over boy and {sukaié pa}
Get your ticket {ágo biké}
Eat your ticket {wúze biké}
Get your ticket {ágo biké}
Eat yo', get yo' {wúze ágo}
Get your ticket right {ko ágo biké}

This didn't take as long as I thought it would. I didn't worry about maintaining a rhyme scheme. This isn't being sung out loud, is it? For the most part, I made sure that each line has the same number of syllables in both languages. For the SFM video, I recommend having both the Inkling characters and the notation present for that true foreign feel. Just like anime theme songs have Japanese, romaji and broken English translations.
 
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Cdr. Sigma Skye

Inkling Representative for The Order and Sirius
Joined
Aug 19, 2016
Messages
19
Location
Madison, MS
I'm actually gonna have it performed. I just need someone who can pronounce the language with flow.
 
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Coelpts

Inkling
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Hi-Five City
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Coelpts
long time no post, but i found something! the terms "Sky" and "To Believe" are both {zarái}. i'm currently combing the pdf while translating reports and video scripts, so i might post a bit more the more i find. thank you!
 

PiyozR

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titanmkiii
I'm actually gonna have it performed. I just need someone who can pronounce the language with flow.
Oh wow! I can speak it out for you. I can't sing, though.

long time no post, but i found something! the terms "Sky" and "To Believe" are both {zarái}. i'm currently combing the pdf while translating reports and video scripts, so i might post a bit more the more i find. thank you!
Over twelve hundred words and only one set of homophones? I'm sure there are more.
 

Jonathx

Inkster Jr.
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Jonathx
I'm actually gonna have it performed. I just need someone who can pronounce the language with flow.
I am a classically trained tenor vocalist who knows how to modify his technique for pop, but do not have a proper recording setup, and am away from even the stuff I normally have, so I probably can't help you...sorry. :oops:
 

theFIZZYnator

Inkling
Joined
Aug 1, 2015
Messages
4
Location
Hokkaido, Japan
Changing around the topic a little: double negatives? Would double negatives counter each other (as in English and Japanese) or stay negative (as in Russian or Spanish)?
 

PiyozR

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titanmkiii
Changing around the topic a little: double negatives? Would double negatives counter each other (as in English and Japanese) or stay negative (as in Russian or Spanish)?
They counter each other like in English.

@Cdr. Sigma Skye Is that translation of the song okay? Let me know here or in a PM if you need some changes to it. If it's all good, my only request is that you reference me and the whole Squidboards gang as the creators of the language somewhere in your project. Best way to do that might be to share a link to the project's hub page (found in my sig).
 

Jonathx

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Jonathx
Since we're getting to the point that the inkling encoding is pretty well set in stone, and since the comments about {rai}'s alternate presentation forms brought it to mind, I wanted to check with @Ikaheishi about our plans for the other splatoon script/symbols encoding: a "roadmap to Splatoonicode", if you will. This is basically how I understand the current plan, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong:

EC00-ECFF: Modern Inkling
00-1F: Numerals
10-A7: (C)V(V) Syllables
A8-CF: VyV Syllables
D0-FF: Irregular Polysyllables​
ED00-ED3F: <Reserved for another script in Under-ConScript Unicode Registry>
ED40-ED9F: Modern Octoling
40-4F: Numerals
50-6F: V(V/n) Syllables
70-8F: Consonants
90-9F: Irregular Polysyllables​
EDA0-EDFF: Splatoon Symbols and Presentation Forms
A0-AF: Alternate Inkling Presentation Forms
B0-BF: Alternate Octoling Presentation Forms
C0-CF: Splatoon Punctuation Extension (For same reasons as alternate presentation forms: in case people want to differentiate from equivalent english punct)
D0-FF: Splatoon Dingbats​
 

Ikaheishi

Bobble-chan
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Oct 14, 2015
Messages
258
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California
@Jonathx It looks spot on to me! :)

(Just a heads up for everyone, but I might not be able to keep up with and weigh in on the topic for a little while. The fall semester started this week for me, and on top of that I have some upcoming medical stuff, and I'll be needing to go to court for a few different matters somewhere in the coming months as well.)
 

EclipseMT

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EclipseMT
So I presume this is the apex of this project?

EDIT: That wasn't all I had to say. When I can fit it, I will do a long-needed rework on my long-forgotten sides of the project. Some words may or may not be edited, but the overall statement is that I would be working through to push Octoling to the state the Inkling language is in now (edit: minus the video lessons), and then I would lay to rest on all business (ofc I will stick around to answer questions).

The main thing that kills my time is rendering the words on the page itself. I have to render the chars in the native script, then romanizations, then the translation. I think the best way for me to save time is to remove rendering in the script, only to add it at a later point, keeping the already-rendered words.

At least I have something to base layout on. It would pretty much be the same as this guide, down to the words in each segment.

TL;DR: Reworking Octoling guide.

ANOTHER EDIT: I might even do some Orwellian retcons to save more time (i.e. rewriting words entirely).
 
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EclipseMT

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EclipseMT
I might have forgot to mention that the character for jo in Calamari is the character for jie in Schoolhouse, and, as a result, the schoolhouse jo character is not used in Calamari.

This was a holdover when (out-of-universe / meta) the guide was like such.

EDIT: How's Octencoding going?
 

Jonathx

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Jonathx
I might have forgot to mention that the character for jo in Calamari is the character for jie in Schoolhouse, and, as a result, the schoolhouse jo character is not used in Calamari.
I'll add a reference to that in the next version of inkling encoding.

How's Octencoding going?
I have a version that's formatted properly, but am waiting on 1. seeing which changes you finalize, since it sounds like you're changing a lot right now and 2. getting good copies of the characters to put in the actual chart and next to the names in the main list. Screencapping at a high zoom level works okay, and is probably what I'll do for the first version (I've just been too busy to go ahead and do it) but I'll probably want to get vector art for the final chart. Actually, if you have vector graphics of the characters, that'd probably speed things up a bit, especially if its in a format that works with MSWord directly (like *.wmf) so I don't have to convert them.

EDIT: The final goal for version 1.0 of all of these charts would be to have the encoding page use a font that uses the encoding detailed in said chart, creating an ourobouros of self-consistency, but I'm not quite ready to make a font right now, and I'll need to come out with SOME version of the chart before anyone supplies said fonts. @Fizzynator , you said you had/made a font using the specs from the Inkling enoding?
 
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EclipseMT

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EclipseMT
I'll add a reference to that in the next version of inkling encoding.



I have a version that's formatted properly, but am waiting on 1. seeing which changes you finalize, since it sounds like you're changing a lot right now and 2. getting good copies of the characters to put in the actual chart and next to the names in the main list. Screencapping at a high zoom level works okay, and is probably what I'll do for the first version (I've just been too busy to go ahead and do it) but I'll probably want to get vector art for the final chart. Actually, if you have vector graphics of the characters, that'd probably speed things up a bit, especially if its in a format that works with MSWord directly (like *.wmf) so I don't have to convert them.

EDIT: The final goal for version 1.0 of all of these charts would be to have the encoding page use a font that uses the encoding detailed in said chart, creating an ourobouros of self-consistency, but I'm not quite ready to make a font right now, and I'll need to come out with SOME version of the chart before anyone supplies said fonts. @Fizzynator , you said you had/made a font using the specs from the Inkling enoding(sic)?
I submitted the final orthography in the first version of the new guide, in its respective thread.

Also, in terms of the font, you might want to ask @theFIZZYnator for the raw vectors. He was the one who put it together. You could also re-encode the font in a program like FontForge and use that.

I have the current font and a chart which maps all characters to their keyboard equivalent, if you want me to add it.

(edited for clarity)
 
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Jonathx

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Jonathx
@EclipseMT

I'll PM @theFIZZYnator to see whether he can get me the raw vectors (for both Inkling and Octoling characters)

but getting the current version of the font would certainly help me get the current version of the encoding up faster if you could get it to me
 

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