Speech Patterns
Discussed before in (SNES Character Names and Personalities), characters in Chrono Trigger were imbued with unique speech patterns for the purpose of attributing intriguing personalities. Within the Nintendo Dual Screen (NDS) script, two characters, Johnny and Frog, especially witnessed drastic changes to their previous linguistic patterns. These alterations ultimately colored the two characters in ways that contrasted with their previous portrayals. The narrative, as a result, was inherently distinct, influencing a new generation of gamers with updated iterations of Johnny and Frog.
Johnny, a robot found in the future (2300 A.D. era), hosted speech patterns much like the other robots found in the Japanese iteration of the video game. All robot-speak was influenced by the usage of katakana (a Japanese syllabary) for certain words, with some robots speaking with less katakana characters than others. These characters are typically used to help read words of foreign origin, and because of this very nature, they are inherently harder to read when compared to other Japanese characters. Johnny had less of these katakana errors and used expressions that personified him as tough. Because of his language, it was very simple translating his speech patterns, and as such, Johnny’s speech is nearly identical between the original Japanese and English scripts. However, during the NDS retranslation, Slattery chose to identify Johnny with extra speech characteristics, like the usage of “hafta,” and “‘cause,” in order to give him the impression of “macho-ness”:
アニキ「待タセタナ！！
Johnny then refers to you as “shiny axles,” which was previously never alluded to in either the original Japanese or English script:
Bro: Thanks for the intro, boys!
Robots: Bro!
Bro: You lowlifes can call me Johnny. I'm the leader of this pack. Now listen up.
The ruined highway up ahead's the only road you've got. You wanna reach the other side?
Then you're gonna hafta ride—in a race against me, that is!
Johnny: I'll let you use that jetbike, 'cause that's the kinda guy I am.
Don't sweat it—and don't you dare chicken out, babe!
アニキ「待タセタナ！！
Boss: SORRY TO KEEP you WAITING!!
THE MAN: Like, thanks for the intro, babe!
ロボット「アニキ！
Robots: BOSS!
ROBOTS: ...the MAN!
アニキ「俺ノ名ハ…… ジョニー。 コイツラノ頭ダ……。 ムコウノ大陸、通リヌケタキャ コノ先ノ、ハイウェイ跡デ 俺ト、ショウブダ……。 ソコノ『ジェットバイク』ヲ 使ワセテヤル… ビビッテンジャネーヨ！ バリバリダゼ！ ベイベー！
Boss: My name IS... JOHNNY. I'M THESE GUYS' boss... YOU WANNA get THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE continent, YOU GOTTA RACE me ON THE HIGHWAY ruins ahead... I'LL LET YOU use THE JET BIKE THERE.... DON'T CHICKEN OUT! SCREEEECH! BABY!
THE MAN: You lowlifes can call me Johnny. Now listen up. Part of an old highway leads through these ruins. Think you can beat me in a bike race? Use that "Jet Bike" and... don't chicken out, babe!
Johnny then refers to you as “shiny axles,” which was previously never alluded to in either the original Japanese or English script:
Johnny: So… Do you shiny axles know how to ride?
Besides this robot, Frog (Kaeru in Japan) experienced the brunt of the changes featured in the NDS script. His once flowery Elizabethan speech (unique to the first North American release) was reverted back to a very similar iteration of Frog’s original Japanese linguistic patterns. However, the reason for this change was not so that Frog, as a character, would be more authentic to the original Japanese rendition (see SNES Character Names and Personalities), but instead, it was because of the amount of time Slattery was allotted for retranslating the SNES script. In a recent interview, Slattery discussed this decision:
Regardless of his rationale, Slattery indefinitely altered the way Frog is perceived, and strikingly, this interpretation is far more authentic in terms of accuracy to the Japanese script. The following is a list of examples that best represent this fundamental shift in Frog’s speech patterns:
「まあ、こんなナリをしていては 信用しろと言っても無理か……。 いいだろう、好きにしろ。 だが王妃様は俺が助け出さなきゃ ならないんだ……。
カエル「ああ。きっと、この部屋の どこかに、かくし通路がはずだ。 そこから奥へ行けるだろう。
カエル「そんなバカな…… 何のためにここまでして……。
カエル「ふ、ふざけるな！！
“There are things I would have liked to have done, like applying Frog's Elizabethan speech patterns to the rest of his time period, but I simply didn't have the time to study up on Elizabethan English and get to a place where I would feel comfortable writing in it. Instead, I had to kill his existing style of speech — knowing some fans would be upset — and go with something closer to what we had used in [Final Fantasy] Tactics so that there would at least be consistency in the way people spoke throughout the Middle Ages.”1
Regardless of his rationale, Slattery indefinitely altered the way Frog is perceived, and strikingly, this interpretation is far more authentic in terms of accuracy to the Japanese script. The following is a list of examples that best represent this fundamental shift in Frog’s speech patterns:
Frog: I suppose I ought not expect you to trust me, looking as I do.
Very well. Do as you please. But I must save the Queen.
「まあ、こんなナリをしていては 信用しろと言っても無理か……。 いいだろう、好きにしろ。 だが王妃様は俺が助け出さなきゃ ならないんだ……。
Frog: Well, given how I look I guess there's no point in telling you to trust me... Fine, do as you wish. But I've got to help the Queen out...
Frog: My guise doth not incur thy trust... Very well, do as thee please. But I shall save the Queen.
Frog: And you as well. This room must conceal a secret passage. Let us search every corner!
カエル「ああ。きっと、この部屋の どこかに、かくし通路がはずだ。 そこから奥へ行けるだろう。
Frog: No problem. I'm positive there's a secret passage somewhere in this room. I'll bet we can get in the back from there.
Frog: Mayhap a hidden door lurks nigh? Let us search the environs.
Frog: I'd remain here no longer than we must. Let us be gone.
カエル「そんなバカな…… 何のためにここまでして……。
Frog: It can't be... What did we do this all for...?
Frog: 'Tis folly... To hath travelled so far.
Frog: Are you mad!?
カエル「ふ、ふざけるな！！
Frog: D-don't mock us!!
Frog: Treachery!!
Works Cited:
[1] "Inside Gaming - Interview with Former Square Enix Translator Tom Slattery." Interview by Michael A. Cunningham. RPGamer. RPGamer, n.d. Web. 28 July 2015.