On the translations of various terms

[Firesong she/her]

Hey, I want to see to foreign users who have read the foreign translations of cosmere books on the words used for different concepts throughout the book. 

Such as like, Stormlight. I only know the Spanish is Luz tormenta. But I don't know what it is in other languages. I am especially curious about this due to how some languages really mistranslate things, like how German translated Edgedancers into Dancers of the Abyss. Which sounds epic and like something about of some cool dark fantasy, but it is very far from the intended meaning of the name. 

I am mostly looking for translations of stormlight right now, but I will accept anything, it is interesting to learn. 

[Argent he/him]

The Bulgarian editions of Stormlight translate Shardblade and Shardplate as... magical swords and magical armor respectively (though the word use is not the one that shares a root with "magic", maybe enchanted sword/armor is closer). Spren are just "spirits" (but in a diminutive form, which infuriates me, it has very much Casper the friendly ghost vibe). Odium is just "Evil". 

I know they are making updates to some of this, but some of the term really grind my gears 

[alder24]

13 hours ago, Firesong said:

Hey, I want to see to foreign users who have read the foreign translations of cosmere books on the words used for different concepts throughout the book. 

Such as like, Stormlight. I only know the Spanish is Luz tormenta. But I don't know what it is in other languages. I am especially curious about this due to how some languages really mistranslate things, like how German translated Edgedancers into Dancers of the Abyss. Which sounds epic and like something about of some cool dark fantasy, but it is very far from the intended meaning of the name. 

I am mostly looking for translations of stormlight right now, but I will accept anything, it is interesting to learn. 

I'm mostly content with Polish translation as it's quite literal and fitting English words. I don't really remember any big mistranslations, it helps a lot that most Cosmere books were translated by the same person almost from the beginning and she does it very well. Stormlight is "Burzowe Światło" (I forgot to wish you good luck with pronunciation) which literally means "storm light". Investiture is translated into "Napełnienie" which means "something that fills" (I personally often use the word "inwestytura" which I think has the same meaning as English "Investiture" - giving ranks and titles - I don't know why this word wasn't chosen). Fused are "Stopieni" which means "fused/melted person".  Shadesmar is "Cieniomorze" which means "the sea of shades". 

Names of Shards are the same for Honor and Odium (the same to the letter), while Cultivation is translated to "Pielęgnacja" which is used as a word that means "caring of plants/people to make them grow/better", not literally cultivation as that's the word "uprawa" and is used more in the context of farm and field work - but translations of cultivation are similar in both cases. Other Shards are also almost all directly translated so I won't talk about every one of them (unless you want it).

Spren is spren. No weirdness here. Radiant orders are translated well, but not literal, often simplified. Windrunners are "Wiatrowi" which kind of means "people of the wind' or something like that (-runners part isn't included, I can't imagine it being included as it would just sound wrong). Skybreakers are "Niebiańscy" - "people of the sky/heaven". Edgedancers are translated directly as "Tancerze Krawędzi", Lightweavers as well as "Tkacze Światła" and so are Bondsmiths who are "Kowale Więzi" and Truthwatchers are also literally translated to "Widzący Prawdę". Stonewards are "Skalni Strażnicy" which is "stone guardians". Elsecallers are "Przenosiciele" which means "those who transfer/carry". Willshapers are "Kształtujący" which means "those who shape". Dustbringers are "Pyłowcy", which means "people of the dust", and this is still very close to the word Voidbringers, which is "Pustkowcy" - "people of the void". I love that those words are even closer than in English version. It's usually very close or at least fitting to the order. For all the "High-something" like Highstorm or Highprince we use the prefix "Arcy-" which I think would fit the best for the "Arch-" like in "archangel" word (personally I like arcy/arch much better then high, it sounds more epic). Chasmfiend is tricky, it's "Przepastna bestia" - the word "przepastna" means "very deep or wide" but it's very closely related to the word "przepaść" which means "chasm". "Bestia" means "beast". So those togehter kind of means "a beast of chasms" or something like that. Soulcaster is "Dusznik", which is a similar to the word "dusza" which means "soul". So this kind of means "person of the soul"? Maybe? Hard to tell. Something with the soul, there is no word "dusznik" in Poiish (I've just google it, there is, "Dusznik" is archaic word, it means "a person who has been offered to the Church along with the land it occupies, in exchange for prayers for the donor's soul", it fits quite well, I had no idea...). Soulcasting is "Dusznikowanie", it's a simple verb of "Dusznik".  Most other names I can think of right now are translated rather literally.

Mistborn is easy. Mistborn is "Zrodzony z Mgły", which is direct. Allomancy, Feruchemy and Hemalurgy is just copied into "Allomancja", "Feruchemia" and "Hemalurgia", and the same with people Allomancer, Feruchemist and Hemalurgist - "Allomancer", "Feruchemik" i "Hemalurgik". Twinborn i think is "podwójny" which means "double", and names of each Twinborn are rather directly translated. Names of different types of allomancers and feruchemists are quite direct. "Coinshot" is "Monetostrzelny" which is exactly the same, Tineye is the same - "Cynooki" and others are even easier to translate directly. I think we don't have a word for Bendalloy so it's just "stop bizmutowy" which means "bismuth's alloy" (and that's correct as bendalloy is 50% bismuth). 

The biggest troubles are in Warbreaker (which was translated by a different person) - it has 2 different titles depending on the edition of the book. At first it was "Siewca Wojny" which means "a person who starts wars" but the newer edition later changed it into "Rozjemca" which means "a person who unites/ends conflicts" (which I have to say, change of titles fits to Warbreaker/Vasher so well, that's hilarious). Awakening is directly translated into "Przebudzenie". Returned (literal translation "Powracający") names are hard to translate and are all over the place, but still at least half of the name is there. Lightsong is "Dar Pieśni" which means "song's gift". Nightblood was at first translated into "Szpon Nocy" which means "night's claw" later changed into "Krew Nocy" which means "night's blood". Blushweaver is translated into "Poranna Rosa" which means "morning dew". Calmseer is "Kojąca Mądrością" which means "calming with wisdom". Allmother is “Wielka Matka” which means “grand/great mother” (not grandmother).

SP3 spoilers:

Spoiler

Virtuosity translation was a surprise for me. It's "Mistrzostwo" in Polish, which means "mastery" and is more broad and can be used for every craft and skill. I was expecting it to be the same word "Wirtuozja" or "Wirtuozeria" which more or less means the same, a great artistic skill. Not used as much these days, except to call very talented and recognisable classical instrumentalists "wirtuoz" but I guess it's the same in English and with the word "virtuoso".

[Firesong she/her]

1 hour ago, alder24 said:

I'm mostly content with Polish translation as it's quite literal and fitting English words. I don't really remember any big mistranslations, it helps a lot that most Cosmere books were translated by the same person almost from the beginning and she does it very well. Stormlight is "Burzowe Światło" (I forgot to wish you good luck with pronunciation) which literally means "storm light". Investiture is translated into "Napełnienie" which means "something that fills" (I personally often use the word "inwestytura" which I think has the same meaning as English "Investiture" - giving ranks and titles - I don't know why this word wasn't chosen). Fused are "Stopieni" which means "fused/melted person".  Shadesmar is "Cieniomorze" which means "the sea of shades". 

Names of Shards are the same for Honor and Odium (the same to the letter), while Cultivation is translated to "Pielęgnacja" which is used as a word that means "caring of plants/people to make them grow/better", not literally cultivation as that's the word "uprawa" and is used more in the context of farm and field work - but translations of cultivation are similar in both cases. Other Shards are also almost all directly translated so I won't talk about every one of them (unless you want it).

Spren is spren. No weirdness here. Radiant orders are translated well, but not literal, often simplified. Windrunners are "Wiatrowi" which kind of means "people of the wind' or something like that (-runners part isn't included, I can't imagine it being included as it would just sound wrong). Skybreakers are "Niebiańscy" - "people of the sky/heaven". Edgedancers are translated directly as "Tancerze Krawędzi", Lightweavers as well as "Tkacze Światła" and so are Bondsmiths who are "Kowale Więzi" and Truthwatchers are also literally translated to "Widzący Prawdę". Stonewards are "Skalni Strażnicy" which is "stone guardians". Elsecallers are "Przenosiciele" which means "those who transfer/carry". Willshapers are "Kształtujący" which means "those who shape". Dustbringers are "Pyłowcy", which means "people of the dust", and this is still very close to the word Voidbringers, which is "Pustkowcy" - "people of the void". I love that those words are even closer than in English version. It's usually very close or at least fitting to the order. For all the "High-something" like Highstorm or Highprince we use the prefix "Arcy-" which I think would fit the best for the "Arch-" like in "archangel" word (personally I like arcy/arch much better then high, it sounds more epic). Chasmfiend is tricky, it's "Przepastna bestia" - the word "przepastna" means "very deep or wide" but it's very closely related to the word "przepaść" which means "chasm". "Bestia" means "beast". So those togehter kind of means "a beast of chasms" or something like that. Soulcaster is "Dusznik", which is a similar to the word "dusza" which means "soul". So this kind of means "person of the soul"? Maybe? Hard to tell. Something with the soul, there is no word "dusznik" in Poiish (I've just google it, there is, "Dusznik" is archaic word, it means "a person who has been offered to the Church along with the land it occupies, in exchange for prayers for the donor's soul", it fits quite well, I had no idea...). Soulcasting is "Dusznikowanie", it's a simple verb of "Dusznik".  Most other names I can think of right now are translated rather literally.

Mistborn is easy. Mistborn is "Zrodzony z Mgły", which is direct. Allomancy, Feruchemy and Hemalurgy is just copied into "Allomancja", "Feruchemia" and "Hemalurgia", and the same with people Allomancer, Feruchemist and Hemalurgist - "Allomancer", "Feruchemik" i "Hemalurgik". Twinborn i think is "podwójny" which means "double", and names of each Twinborn are rather directly translated. Names of different types of allomancers and feruchemists are quite direct. "Coinshot" is "Monetostrzelny" which is exactly the same, Tineye is the same - "Cynooki" and others are even easier to translate directly. I think we don't have a word for Bendalloy so it's just "stop bizmutowy" which means "bismuth's alloy" (and that's correct as bendalloy is 50% bismuth). 

The biggest troubles are in Warbreaker (which was translated by a different person) - it has 2 different titles depending on the edition of the book. At first it was "Siewca Wojny" which means "a person who starts wars" but the newer edition later changed it into "Rozjemca" which means "a person who unites/ends conflicts" (which I have to say, change of titles fits to Warbreaker/Vasher so well, that's hilarious). Awakening is directly translated into "Przebudzenie". Returned (literal translation "Powracający") names are hard to translate and are all over the place, but still at least half of the name is there. Lightsong is "Dar Pieśni" which means "song's gift". Nightblood was at first translated into "Szpon Nocy" which means "night's claw" later changed into "Krew Nocy" which means "night's blood". Blushweaver is translated into "Poranna Rosa" which means "morning dew". Calmseer is "Kojąca Mądrością" which means "calming with wisdom". Allmother is “Wielka Matka” which means “grand/great mother” (not grandmother).

SP3 spoilers:

  Hide contents

Virtuosity translation was a surprise for me. It's "Mistrzostwo" in Polish, which means "mastery" and is more broad and can be used for every craft and skill. I was expecting it to be the same word "Wirtuozja" or "Wirtuozeria" which more or less means the same, a great artistic skill. Not used as much these days, except to call very talented and recognisable classical instrumentalists "wirtuoz" but I guess it's the same in English and with the word "virtuoso".

Thanks, this was very interesting to read. 

And yeah, I knew about the Polish Warbreaker, which was the exact opposite of the intended meaning, and they made Vasher look like some weird edgy vampire from an emo or death metal band, and made Nightblood into some weird Buster Sword thing. It was awful to a comedic degree. 

But the new name and cover are rather accurate, yeah. Although Vasher is lighter than the book describes, but that is an issue with basically all Cosmere covers (especially Stormlight ones). 

Makes sense to not have a word for Bendalloy, it is such an obscure alloy the first thing that comes up is Coppermind before the Wikipedia page on it. Though I feel it makes more sense to translate as Cadmium's Alloy, but Bismuth does make up most of the metal, so it isn't inaccurate at all. 

Is there some cultural thing with Poranna Rosa that doesn't make sense to English speakers? Or was it just a weird decision. 

[alder24]

10 minutes ago, Firesong said:

And yeah, I knew about the Polish Warbreaker, which was the exact opposite of the intended meaning, and they made Vasher look like some weird edgy vampire from an emo or death metal band, and made Nightblood into some weird Buster Sword thing. It was awful to a comedic degree. 

Yes, that's the thing. Brilliant description. As they say don't judge a book by its cover, you wouldn't recognise Cosmere in that thing  

29 minutes ago, Firesong said:

Makes sense to not have a word for Bendalloy, it is such an obscure alloy the first thing that comes up is Coppermind before the Wikipedia page on it. Though I feel it makes more sense to translate as Cadmium's Alloy, but Bismuth does make up most of the metal, so it isn't inaccurate at all. 

There is always the official name, "Wood's alloy" I think, and it's the same in Polish. But that doesn't fit with books that much so it's better this way. 

11 minutes ago, Firesong said:

Is there some cultural thing with Poranna Rosa that doesn't make sense to English speakers? Or was it just a weird decision. 

Nothing that I'm aware of. I think it would be rather hard to literally translate Blushweaver in a way to make it sound right and represent her character. But finding a fitting name just around the "Blush" part shouldn't be that hard and it would accurately describe her beauty. Poranna Rosa has nothing in common with blush, but it's a bit poetic representation of beauty so it somehow fits, but it could be better.

[Firesong she/her]

3 minutes ago, alder24 said:

Yes, that's the thing. Brilliant description. As they say don't judge a book by its cover, you wouldn't recognise Cosmere in that thing  

There is always the official name, "Wood's alloy" I think, and it's the same in Polish. But that doesn't fit with books that much so it's better this way. 

Nothing that I'm aware of. I think it would be rather hard to literally translate Blushweaver in a way to make it sound right and represent her character. But finding a fitting name just around the "Blush" part shouldn't be that hard and it would accurately describe her beauty. Poranna Rosa has nothing in common with blush, but it's a bit poetic representation of beauty so it somehow fits, but it could be better.

Of course they could use Wood's Metal, but as you said, it doesn't fit as Wood didn't exist in the cosmere, so it wouldn't make much sense. 

And yeah, I guess it fits with beauty. It still communicates the same idea, even if tangentially. 

I wonder, what are the names for different Shards in Polish?

Edited August 12, 2023 by Firesong

[Firesong she/her]

On 8/12/2023 at 0:45 PM, alder24 said:

Yes, that's the thing. Brilliant description. As they say don't judge a book by its cover, you wouldn't recognise Cosmere in that thing  

There is always the official name, "Wood's alloy" I think, and it's the same in Polish. But that doesn't fit with books that much so it's better this way. 

Nothing that I'm aware of. I think it would be rather hard to literally translate Blushweaver in a way to make it sound right and represent her character. But finding a fitting name just around the "Blush" part shouldn't be that hard and it would accurately describe her beauty. Poranna Rosa has nothing in common with blush, but it's a bit poetic representation of beauty so it somehow fits, but it could be better.

What was the True Desolation translated as?

I know Spanish is Auténtica Desolación. But I am curious on what else it would be translated as. 

[alder24]

9 minutes ago, Firesong said:

What was the True Desolation translated as?

"Prawdziwe Spustoszenie" - literal translation.

[Firesong she/her]

27 minutes ago, alder24 said:

"Prawdziwe Spustoszenie" - literal translation.

Thanks!

What are the translations for Voidlight and Honorblades, if that isn't an issue? And the Radiant Oath as well, I am interested to see how they translated the First Ideal. (Again, sorry if I am annoying, translation decisions just fascinate me)

Quote

while Cultivation is translated to "Pielęgnacja" which is used as a word that means "caring of plants/people to make them grow/better", not literally cultivation as that's the word "uprawa" and is used more in the context of farm and field work - but translations of cultivation are similar in both cases.

Also on this, I love that, as that is exactly what Cultivation meant in the name of the Shard. That fits so perfectly, better than the English. 

Also, are you saying that Honor and Odium are just not translated? Ah, looking it up, it does seem that they are the same word in Polish. Interesting. 

Edited August 16, 2023 by Firesong

[alder24]

1 hour ago, Firesong said:

What are the translations for Voidlight and Honorblades, if that isn't an issue? And the Radiant Oath as well, I am interested to see how they translated the First Ideal. (Again, sorry if I am annoying, translation decisions just fascinate me)

Oh boy. I've been spending so much time on the forum writing in English, that I have troubles remembering Polish terms  All literal translations:

Voidlight - Pustowe Światło
Lifelight - Życiowe Światło
Towerlight - Wieżowe Światło
Honorblade - Ostrze Honoru
Shardblade - Ostrze Odprysku
Shardplate - Pancerz Odprysku
Shardbearer - Odpryskowy (plural Odpryskowi) (translated by the same rules as Windrunner is, but I've no idea how this word would literally translate to English. This word exists in Polish, it's an adjective of the noun "odprysk" (shard) but in the context of the book it's a made-up word, just like Wiatrowy etc.)
Knights Radiant - Świetliści rycerze (singular form: Świetlisty Rycerz)
Surgebinders - Mocowiązcy (moc = power, so it's "power binders")

Oaths are as close to English as possible, literal translations, they all mean the same as in English, no weird choices were made here. I don't know why I gave them to you, when for you "it's some kind of elvish"
1st Ideal - Życie ponad śmiercią, siła ponad słabością, podróż ponad celem.
Kal's 2nd Ideal - Będę chronił tych, którzy nie mogą ochronić się sami
Kal's 3rd Ideal - Będę chronił nawet tych, których nienawidzę. Dopóki to właściwe.
Kal's 4th Ideal - Akceptuję to, Ojcze Burz. Akceptuję, że będą tacy, których nie będę mógł ochronić!

No ketek from Polish titles:
The Way of Kings - Droga królów 
Words of Radiance - Słowa światłości
Oathbringer - Dawca przysięgi
Rythm of War - Rytm wojny
Edgedancer - Tancerka krawędzi
Dawnshard - Odprysk świtu

 

Edit:

1 hour ago, Firesong said:

Also, are you saying that Honor and Odium are just not translated? Ah, looking it up, it does seem that they are the same word in Polish. Interesting. 

Yes, those words in Polish are the same as in English. 

Edited August 16, 2023 by alder24

[Underwater_Worldhopper he/him]

Quote

Oaths are as close to English as possible, literal translations, they all mean the same as in English, no weird choices were made here. I don't know why I gave them to you, when for you "it's some kind of elvish"

Almost, and yet, It's simply so fun to throw these at my Polish friend who knows exactly nothing about Brandon Sanderson and the Cosmere and see him struggle to even begin to understand what they mean or why I'm asking him to translate them for me. One of my cousins is also Polish, and his confused screaming trying to figure out what on earth "Stormy Bright" is supposed to be is endlessly amusing to me.

Besides that, it's actually quite interesting to go through the words. Linguistics is another area of interest of mine, and what's weird is that while there are very few English, French, or other western European language cognates that I can find, there are actually one or two near-cognates from south Asian languages that, although distant, can be etymologically traced back to one another. It's something I noticed when I started branching away from European languages and focused on learning less widely-learned languages, such as south asian ones like Urdu or Hindi. Why is the word for teeth the same in both Urdu, which is spoken in Pakistan, and French? A Proto-Indo-European language, filtering through into everyday words this far into the future? Words with similar roots and semantic ties in Hindi and Polish?

It's incredibly interesting what you can learn from just reading the words of a different language, even if you have no idea what they mean or how to say them. Some languages, like Dutch, are very easy to understand even without knowing the language, so long as you speak English.

Edited August 16, 2023 by Underwater_Worldhopper

[Firesong she/her]

4 hours ago, alder24 said:

Edit:

Yes, those words in Polish are the same as in English. 

I guess it makes sense with Odium. As Odium is directly taken from Latin, instead of being a word that naturally evolved into English. A dead word adopted into a modern tongue. So it makes sense it would be the same, it is just taking it from a different language.