Talk:Suzumiya Haruhi:Volume3 Lone Island Syndrome

References & Translators Notes

Cicadas and Summer in Japan

The sound of cicadas seems to be symbolic of summertime in Japan. Perhaps someone else can fill in why Haruhi would be likely to be hunting for them.

--The naming game 11:33, 10 May 2006 (PDT)

It's a summer pastime of kids and childish adults in Japan. You catch cicadas with big nets (like Western kids catching butterflies) and put them in little cages. Depending on the time of year, there are many different active types of cicada, each with a characteristic song. Some species are specifically associated with the end of summer and the resumption of school with the second semester -- species such as the つくつく法師 (tsukutsuku-boushi semi), which sings from late summer until well into autumn.

--Freak Of Nature 14:41, 10 May 2006 (PDT)

Nevertheless, almost all cicadas in all anime series sound exactly the same. Nowadays, the childish adults would probably just stay home and play bishoujo games.

--Eleutheria 22:40, 10 May 2006 (PDT)

So those are cicadas, I don't know what's gotten into heads of those official Taiwanese translators, but the Chinese term I read clearly said "locusts". I had no idea why Haruhi would "hunt for locusts", but I just translated what I saw, so thanks for rectifying that out.

--Kinny Riddle 20:39, 11 May 2006 (HKT)

I seriously don't get how they can make that mistake. I lived in Hong Kong and Singapore for years, and in both places, the Chinese locals had the same custom of catching cicadas or crickets or whatever and putting them in little cages. You could buy cicadas/crickets in cages, at some of the markets in Kowloon.

So, I can't understand how a Taiwanese translator can possibly miss that reference. Not only is the practice part of Chinese behaviour (in some locations, at least) -- it is also an integral element of Japanese culture, and therefore something that a translator shouldn't miss.

--Freak Of Nature 08:02, 11 May 2006 (PDT)

Koizumi's Mythical Animal

The Japanese text says "ツチノコ(槌の子）", which apparently means "Son of a hammer". My Sharp e-dictionary doesn't even have an English entry for it. The closest definition it gives is "a kind of mythical animal that's like a snake".

What's the Chinese text for it?

--Eleutheria 12:21, 14 May 2006 (PDT)

At first i thought you were talking about the Kirin, but after that description, areyou sure it isn't the Tsuchinoko?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuchinoko

The tsuchinoko (ツチノコ) is a mythical creature (or UMA) from Japan resembling a snake. The creature is also known as "bachi-hebi" in Northern Japan. References to the tsuchinoko legend can apparently be found in the Kojiki.

Onizuka-gto 13:30, 14 May 2006 (PDT)

Note to self: remember that wikipedia is the fountain of all knowledge, and I should just have typed tsuchinoko into Google.

--Eleutheria 04:59, 17 May 2006 (PDT)

More like Wikipedia is God's presence in the internet.

misc: "lunchboxes"

I'm not sure what the original text says, but I have a feeling this is supposed to be "box lunches", not "lunchboxes". But hey, maybe the SOS brigade was eating lunchboxes.

Haruhi's Mahjong

Here's the original text for this part (pages 255-256):

[...]。ルールを曲解したハルヒは自分で勝手な役を考案し、『二色絶一門』『チャンタモドキ』『イーシャンテン金縛り』などの謎の役で次々と俺たちからアガり続けた。まあ笑えたから許してやる。ノーレートだったしさ。

「ロン！たぶん一万点くらい！」

「涼宮さん、それ役満ですよ」

Translation:

[...]. Haruhi distorted the rules and created yaku to suit herself, racking up win after win with puzzling combinations like "Nishoku Zetsu Ichimon," "Chantamodoki," "Stuck at Iishanten" and so on. Well, it made me laugh, so I let it pass. And we weren't playing for money, anyway.

"Ron! That's about ten thousand points!"

"Suzumiya-san, that has an eight thousand point limit."

The 3 Haruhi Terms:

『二色絶一門』- NI'SHOKU'ZETSU'ICHI'MON - Two Colors Stop One Gate??

『チャンタモドキ』 - Chantamodoki - ????

『イーシャンテン金縛り』- Iishanten KANASHIBAri - Stuck at Iishanten??

Normal Mahjong Terms:

役 - YAKU - Special combinations/patterns. At least one yaku is needed before a player can declare mahjong.

イーシャンテン - Iishanten - Declared by player when he/she is 2 tiles away from Ron.

ロン - Ron - Declared by winner when the winning tile is another player's discarded tile, as opposed to "Tsumo", when the winning tile is drawn by the winning player. For Tsumo all the other players have to pay the winner. For Ron, the player who discarded the winning tile is the only one who has to pay.

役満 - YAKU'MAN - Full yaku or "maximum hand." Upon winning, the hand value is calculated. If the hand value is greater than 2000, then instead of using the "actual" hand value, the hand value is reduced to a limit of 2000 points. This limit is multiplied by 4 for yakuman.

ノーレート - No rate - I assume this means they're not playing for money, but a clarification is needed.

Mahjong info from [1]

--GDsMDDLFNGR 20:44, 24 May 2006 (PDT)

Found some info about チャンタ:

チャンタ chanta

- at least one meld (3 tiles in numeric sequence, three identical tiles, or four of a kind) of character tiles

- at least one meld of number tiles

- all number tile melds must contain at least one 1 or at least one 9

- the pair can be 1, 9, or character tiles

- written 全帯

- alternately 混全帯幺九, 'hon chanta yaochuu'

From [2]

--GDsMDDLFNGR 23:48, 24 May 2006 (PDT)

retreating behind and clutching Nagato's shoulders

I turned and saw Asahina covering her mouth with her hands. Nagato stood behind Asahina, who was slowly retreating behind and clutching Nagato's shoulders.

How would you imagine it? Asahina is slowly retreating behind and clutching Nagato's shoulders. Well, Nagato stands behind Asahina-san, so for Asahina to clutch Nagato's shoulders she is to face Nagato at the first place. But that would mean she's looking exact to the opposite direction from the corpse. And by "retreating behind" she would only get close to the corpse, and would not be able to clutch Nagato's shoulders anymore. We're translating this text into Russian and somebody guessed this sentence might mean the following: Asahina-san fainted (and started to fall behind), but Nagato clutched her shoulders and supported her. Unfortunately, my lack of japanese language skills makes it impossible for me to check the guess. -- 91.76.47.83 03:06, 27 May 2007 (PDT)

I assume it means that Asahina came into the room first, followed by Nagato. When she saw the body, she freaked out and retreated behind Nagato. It's just said a little awkwardly (at least in English — I can't read Japanese, so I'm not sure how it is there). -- JadeMatrix, 10 December 2008