TheFoxsCloak

Originally Posted by Petrikow

The talk we had earlier about 濾過異聞史現象 (on NA: Felling Theoretical Phenomenon) in relation to 剪定事象 (on NA: Pruning Theoretical Phenomenon) as well as their translations really got me thinking more about what the hell is going on here.

At first I was just thinking about the whole theoretical thing, but eventually I realized this misses the point. The real reason why especially the translation for 剪定事象 is bad is not because of that, it's because of "phenomenon".

剪定事象 is not a phenomenon. It is not an "actor". It is not "something that happens"

It is "something that has happened".

When Arai first translated this in 2016, he rendered it as "Pruned Events" (and 編纂事象 as "Compiled Events"). This is the correct way of thinking about this word.

At some point (for example: in Moonlight/Lostroom's materials translation) people started calling it a "phenomenon". This is the incorrect way of thinking about this word.

For whatever reason, it appears this is what has stuck, and it causes ridiculous problems whenever it appears. The NA localization, perhaps inspired by earlier translations (the above, for example) took the same stance. This creates some truly bizarre translations.

JP:

マシュ
わたしたちの歴史に残る宮本武蔵とは異なる、
剪定事象の存在かもしれない、女性の宮本武蔵さん。

NA TL:

Mash
Unlike the historical Miyamoto Musashi, this one you encountered was a woman.
Perhaps from a world of Pruning Theoretical Phenomenon.

MY TL:

Mashu
Unlike the Miyamoto Musashi from our history, she's perhaps something from a Pruned Event; a female Miyamoto Musashi.

Unlike the official TL, we don't need to add a bunch of words to make sense of this all of a sudden. Because there is no such thing as a "world of Pruning Theoretical Phenomenon". 剪定事象 are worlds in and off themselves. They're "possibilities that have been removed"

Another example:

JP:

(Narration)
後世に続く事なき剪定事象に属する『別人』として、
彼は、我知らず多くの世界を渡ってきた。

NA TL:

(Narration)
With his name never going down in history, this separate version of Amakusa Shirou from a
Pruning Theoretical Phenomenon traveled across many worlds unbeknownst to us.

MY TL:

(Narration)
As a changed man belonging to a Pruned Event that could not continue onto the future,
he unwittingly passed through many different worlds.

Partially because of this term, and partially because what appears to be a lacking translation, this one has been completely mangled.

One last example from Shimousa...

JP:

天草四郎
穢土城の本格起動が成された時こそ
この世界は終わる！　泡の如くして儚き剪定事象
いずれと言わず刹那のうちに暗黒へ落としてくれる！
そして！　すぐさま穢土城ごと異郷の地(カルデア)へ
そう、我が復讐は此処で終わりはせぬ！
カルデア在る編纂事象、正しき人理をさえ砕こうぞ！
この異なる結果、敗れしものたちの未来を、
必ずやまことの世に浮上させよう！

NA TL:

Amakusa Shirou
Once Onriedo Castle's activation is complete,
the end of this world will be close at hand!
In an instant, this frail alternate history shall be consumed by darkness! And from there...this entire castle shall travel to the distant land of Chaldea!
My revenge will not end here! I shall destroy the Chronicle Theoretical Phenomenon where Chaldea resides; indeed, it shall even destroy the true humanity itself!
Thus shall I bring about a future
for those history has left behind!

MY TL:

Amakusa Shirou
Once my [Onri]edo Castle's full activation has been achieved this world will come to an end!
In an instant impossible to tell when, it will sink this ephemeral Pruned Event into darkness!
And then! Immediately arrive together with [Onri]edo Castle in the foreign land of Chaldea! Indeed! My revenge will not end here!
I shall destroy the Compiled Event; the Proper Human Order in which Chaldea resides!
This differing outcome; this future of the defeated... I shall make sure it emerges in the real world!

Now you avoid this odd "frail alternate history" and even provides some extra context to what the hell he's trying to do here.

Here's how its described the first time in Part 2:

JP:

ダ・ビンチ
基本軸である『幹』から離れすぎた世界は、
たとえ理想郷であろうと『打ち切り』になる。
これを魔術世界では剪定事象といい、
この機能がある事で、我々の宇宙は今も問題なく
広がっている、と魔術協会では考えられている。

NA TL:

Da Vinci
If a world, even a utopia, strays too far from its base axis, it gets the clippers, so to speak.
In the magecraft world,
it's called the Pruning Theoretical Phenomenon...
...and it's what allows our universe to keep expanding unimpeded. That's the Mage's Association stance, anyway.

MY TL:

Da Vinci

Worlds that stray too far from this stem which acts as a main axis--even utopias--are cut down.

In the magecraft world, we call these Pruned Events.

Within the Mages Association, it is thought that because of this function, our universe can expand without problem, even now.

Because of the perception around this as a "phenomenon" they've bound together the second and third line in a way that's a bit awkward.

Another example from early on in Part 2:

JP:

宮本武蔵
ここは異聞帯。
違う世界……剪定事象がなぜか続いているロシア、と。

NA TL:

Miyamoto Musashi
This place is a Lostbelt... A different world where the Pruning Theoretical Phenomenon is still taking place.

MY TL:

Miyamoto Musashi
This place is a Lostbelt... A different world; Russia, a Pruned Event that for some reason is still continuing.

Now this one is a banger, and where you can see how this "incorrect" conception of 剪定事象 has REALLY confused the translator. There is no "Pruning Phenomenon" that is somehow "still taking place"; the Pruned Event IS the world, and for some reason is still going on, when normally it would be pruned!

There are of course way more example (剪定事象 appears in 21 different places in this script) but I think that's enough to get the point of how this translation has misled people.

But then how does all this parallel world stuff work, and why did it get so confusing to begin with. That's probably a harder question to answer properly, but let's try, shall we:

Fundamentally, you can view the parallel worlds as belonging to a central stem. This is the base unit. This "stem" is one world. Upon this stem, some events are Pruned, and some are Compiled. Compiled Events are many in numbers, so eventually these "branches" are "trimmed" and compiled into a Quantum Timelock (which is called a Human Order Cornerstone more generally).

The Pruned Events are not a part of this process. Pruned Events are discarded immediately as soon as it becomes apparent they hold only one future. To become a Pruned Event means that the future there is so certain, that it cannot birth more possibilities (more parallel worlds), but instead only heads towards one determined future.

It appears many people have the conception that these processes (Pruning/Compiling) are the so called 剪定・編纂事象 rather than what these terms actually mean: the result of Pruning/Compiling.

And like always; thanks for coming to Petrikow's TED Talk.