Talk:Terraism
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Hey, someone want to let me know what they think of this? (Sorry in advance for the absurd length of this, but i wanted to be thorough...)
Right now we are using 地球教団 as the name of this organisation, but either that comes from Wikipedia or it's used rarely and in dialogue only, because a cursory search through a few Terraism-related episodes doesn't show that particular phrase. Instead i see two different terms used:
地球教, chikyuu kyou, Terraism
This is the term most often used for the organisation in dialogue (cf. 047, 057, 083), and it is also used in the Japanese subtitles for the Grand Bishop and Godwin, as well as for The Headquarters of Terraism.
My understanding is that 教 literally means teaching or doctrine, and that it can be interpreted as the English suffix -ism — e.g., キリスト教 (Christianity) and 仏教 (Buddhism). And since in 054, 058, and 063 it explicitly says Terraism in the Romanised subtitles where it uses that term, i think that's probably a fair assessment.
地球教教団, chikyuu kyou kyoudan, Terraist Church or Earth Church
This appears to be a fuller name for the organisation, and it's used De Villie's name subs all 5 times they appear in the DVDs.
Google Translate defaults to cult for 教団, but i don't know why because i can't find that usage 'in the wild'. JDict gives the much more benign religious organisation, and on Wikipedia the term is most frequently translated simply as church or order. For example, it is used in Japan Holiness Church, Church of Perfect Liberty, Mevlevi Order, Bektashi Order, and so on.
Therefore perhaps the most precise translation, given that 地球教 is already established as Terraism, would be Terraist Church, Terraist Order, or Terraist Sect. (I've decided i dislike cult not only because i couldn't find many instances of it being used online, but also because this is a name that the church members seem to use on themselves, and it's hard to imagine that they would personally consider it a cult.)
Earth Church in particular is not wrong, per se, but it does seem like a more abstract translation given the context.
Official usage
地球教 is by far the most common term used in the dialogue and subtitles, with every character i can find, from Julian to Trunicht to Rubinsky to the narrator, referring to it as such. Additionally, Terraism is used exclusively in the Romanised DVD subtitles — there is not a single instance that i can find where the terms church or cult are used in the DVD or Blu-ray name subs.
Central Anime usage
Central Anime, meanwhile, are not consistent with their usage. Despite all of the examples i found (aside from De Villie's subs) seemingly being translatable as Terraism, they use three different terms interchangeably:
- Terraism (and variations), with 99 total instances in the series subtitles
- Earth Church, with 40 total instances
- Earth Cult (and variations), with 21 total instances
Conclusions
Given the above and the philosophy of choosing the most common name, i think we therefore should rename this article to Terraism and also change the category's name to match. Other terms should be given inclusion in the Name variations section, and i think that when we aren't calling it Terraism we should prefer either Terraist Church or Earth Church.
On top of the above, i think all of this also leads back to what i had suspected earlier, which is that Terra is the official and immutable name for the planet in the LOGH universe, not Earth. My evidence for this:
1. Planet "Terra" is used in the subtitles. The reason this was ruled out as proof in its own right, i think, is that it was considered to be fake-German (which we always translate) rather than a name in its own right. However, i think this is wrong, because (1) there is no other example of the actual name of a planet being translated to something else in the series, and (2) all examples of German planet subtitles in the series (Lügen, Lesing, Westerland, and Goldenlöwe-occupied Fezzan) use the phrase der Planet, which indicates that Planet "Terra" is meant to be literal English.
2. The English term Earth is never once used in the series, despite ample opportunity for it.
3. 地球教 is officially and indisputably translated in the subtitles and on their little banner things as Terraism, NOT Earthism.
Therefore i think we should change Earth to Terra too :) ♥ kine @ 02:59, 26 December 2011 (UTC)
- Agreed. It should be Terra. I think the only reason they did it as Earth in the fansubs at all was for the benefit of those that might not know what Terra meant. Considering the rest of the names in the Sol system, I've always preferred that it match and be Terra even in real life. Iracundus 03:11, 26 December 2011 (UTC)
- K good. How do you feel about the church name? If we're going to change the planet name then obv Earth Church must be out, so i guess our options (unless anyone disagrees with my translation of 教団) would be either Terraist Church (which is more literal) or Terra Church (which maybe rolls off the tongue a bit better). ♥ kine @ 03:26, 26 December 2011 (UTC)
- While I agree Terra Church rolls off the tongue better, I think Terraist Church is better, just as one might say a Buddhist monastery. Saying Terra Church would be like saying Rome Church instead of Roman (Catholic) Church. A Rome Church sounds like a church specifically in Rome, and the same for Terra Church, at least IMO. Iracundus 03:35, 26 December 2011 (UTC)
- I think i might agree. Will update everything accordingly ♥ kine @ 03:41, 26 December 2011 (UTC)
