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rueyeet — Proof of utter dorkhood
Published: 2006-04-20 22:46:12 +0000 UTC; Views: 14878; Favourites: 303; Downloads: 425
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Description
Problem: I wanted to include Hylian script in my Legend of Zelda fanart, but as it turns out, the Japanese game designers (reasonably enough) based Hylian on Japanese katakana. Thus, to spell anything in English--including some of the character names--caused the same problems as trying to render it in romanji. Example: Link becomes "Rinku", because there's no "L" in Japanese, and katakana is not an alphabet but syllabic, meaning words can't end in consonants.Solution: Create an English localization of the Hylian script, based as closely as possible on the syllabic script. I used the Wind Waker script (modern Hylian) rather than the Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask one (old Hylian) because it's prettier--the old one looks obviously pixel-ish.
This deviation shows my logic in choosing which characters to use for each letter, and the final alphabet.
Request: If there is anyone out there who can make this a font, I would love you forever.
EDIT: =pettyartist , I will love you forever.
Font is here -- [link] Admission: I have GOT to be the biggest nerd on the planet for spending nearly two hours on this.
Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda series and the original Hylian script are the property of Nintendo.
Credits: Source material used for this project can be found at the most excellent Omniglot: [link]
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Comments: 146
Hmmm, so your Hylian doesn't have standardized spelling, that makes sense.
I honestly haven't looked at your take on Hylian enough to appreciate which phonemes are more common and would thus get their own letter.
In making my set, here, I admit that I was mostly looking for convenience, and not having to figure out how to spell characters' names, rather than a serious treatment of Hylian as a language.
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Hehe well back when I first started my project my schedule was out of whack, so I had a lot of free time to work with. I'm also slightly crazy. Haha
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We all have our various crazinesses.
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thank you, I love you forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever. This is so awesome!
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thanks, I will! me and my friends each have a copy of this in our notebooks now that we use to send eachother notes, my teacher intercepted one and then we got yelled at for doodleing lol
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Which means you can read my Hylian variant better than I can!
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lol, I had to use the sheet stapled into my binder for a while.... I can almost read it without it now
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Dude, I LOVE nerds! I'm gonna learn to write in this!!!
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Now that i see this, it reminds me of the Legend of Dragoon script in the beginning screen, mayhaps they used Katakana there too.
I think it's really cool that you did this and I wish I could turn it into a font. Mind if I use it in something? not sure what...but I kinda want to.
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By all means! Use it in anything you like.
It'd be neat if you linked back here when you did, so folks can see and use it too, but I won't demand it.
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I wouldn't think of using it without doing so =^.^=
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*grins*
Ok, you may be a nerd. I'll give you that. But the Japanese language is a language of exceptions. You can have words that end (once translated to romanji) with the letter "n".
When you count:
1 - ichi
2 - ni
3 - san
...
Ok, I haven't dealt with my (uber-limited) knowledge of the Japanese language in a few years otherwise I'd give a few more examples and such.
Either way, killer job on the characters and translation.
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Yeah, I used the ending "n" as my choice for that letter.
I did take Japanese for a semester in college, and tried to learn katakana. It's just that katakana doesn't suit itself to English; heck, you can't even spell "Link" properly in it.
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O.o It took me a while to figure out what you were saying, that might have been because I was reading it fast without looking at the letters for refrence. Yeah, usually you have to put the syllables together and it's a Japanese word so then you have to translate it into english. Good thing you made this. It must havedrove you crazy trying to figure out which character goes where.
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Confession: A large part of this stemmed from me not being able to spell "Vaati" with katakana.
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This isn't a translation -- it's a localization.
The WW glyphs are based off Japanese writing, which is syllabic (consonants are always paired with vowels). It's quite possible to translate everything in WW -- it's just that it's all written in Japanese.
I just hate having to spell Link's name as "Rinku" to write it in Hylian, that's all.
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ah, well, its still amazing~! and that is how his name is pronounced...kinda.... and i still love you for doing this,whether its a real translation or not!
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Dude this is the BESTEST thing i have EVER come accross on deviantart!!!!!
THANK YOUZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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....O3O
.... YAY!!OMGYESS!!
Now I can annoy people by writing in Hylian all the time instead of English!
Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!
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I love this. I can tell you put a lot of thought into it. Truly excellent. ^^
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Ah, so it's not exactly another language here that you put together but just a key right? I'm trying to to learn Katakana, slow going but once you get the gist of the pattern it's not so bad. Nice work here, I was too lazy to look deeper into this. That's awesome!
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wow, this one is so
looks like a crapload of work and research...
and I think, I'll call him Rinku in my next game :3
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Seriously?!? That would be the very essence of awesome, send me the link if you get it done!
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This is so amazing, but my computer's been acting so retarded lately that I can't go into fullview for some reason...so I can't see this properly! ='(
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dude, this is great ^ ^
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This looks like it was a hell of a lot more difficult to decipher than the Zelda Twilight Princess script, (which is obviously English based this time around).
It's so Beautiful! I'm just nerdy enough that I want to see what the various texts around the Majora/OoT worlds say.
....
Dammit I can't read Japanese. *headdesk* D:
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Awesome! I was going to do something like this for my fancomic, but this makes things SO much easier! I love it. ^^
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Oh My Bob. You are totally, completely amazing beyond amazingness. I have to 
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THIS.IS.BRILLIANT!!
I used some of these characters in my drawing which I'm finishing off tomorrow if that's okay?
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THIS.IS.BRILLIANT!!
I used some of these characters in my drawing which I'm finishing off tomorrow if that's okay?
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Ooh, I'm going to use this on something, yes... xD It's very awesome.
I can't think of a better thing to spend time on. Hooray for you!
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Thanks! Someday, I hope to get the font version of this working, too...
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That would be neat! : D If you ever do, I look forward to using it. *geekdom* xD
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That's just fantastic! And I never really noticed before how much the hylian letters actually look like katakana! But now I have engrish!!
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feel free to use this whenever you want! and maybe even link back here so that it spreads!
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gahh! how did you figure that out?!
i must learn that language so i can annoy people with it!
hurray for fellow Zelda dorks!
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*mouth agape* 0_0 That is AMAZING. I'm going to memorize this and write retarded Engilsh-Hylian phrases all over the place, just because I can. XDD
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