User blog:Headlessnewt/Style of Speech: Part 1, IJN Battleships

Introduction
Japanese is a very different language from any western tongue, and it has a number of interesting elements that are extremely hard to translate. Often a lot of the more complex speech patterns are translated directly, a lazy solution which is nonetheless effective for forcing the reader to try to wrap their head around the difference in culture. However, other elements are impossible to translate directly because they lack distinct meaning and are more of a matter of 'tone.'  Distinct from tone of voice or literal meaning of the words being said, these verbal cues give a significant amount of information about the speaker without actually meaning anything on their own: In short, these are parts of Japanese speech which are essentially impossible to put directly into English words, but have huge impact on how a character's dialogue should be translated. I'm going to discuss them here for as many characters as I can get to.
 * The First Person pronoun:  In most western languages, there are very limited gramatically correct ways to refer to yourself, every other way is not only incorrect but generally sounds childish or uneducated.  In Japanese, there are over a dozen ways for a person to refer to themself, including by their own name, which are not only acceptable but are ways of showing how the speaker views themselves in the social context.
 * Particles:  Particles are one of the trickier parts of Japanese as a language, but suffice it to say that, in addition to the grammar particles, there are a number which are used to convey extra tone at the end of sentences, and that there are a number of variants of these which imply masculinity, femininity and a number of other elements.
 * Verb Endings:  Japanese, like most languages, uses the ending of a verb stem to define how the verb is being used, but it also has the extra element that these endings can convey politeness or formality in addition to simply past tense, present tense and so on, again demonstrating their perspective on the social context they are speaking in.

Nagato and Musashi
These two battleships have almost identical speech patterns or I wouldn't lump them together. Both tend to avoid first person pronouns in favor of referring to themselves as 'この長門' or 'この武蔵’ (literally "This Nagato" or "This Musashi," usually translated as "I, Nagato" or "I, Musashi" where possible), using masculine particles (especially zo instead of yo and na instead of ne) and an informal set of verb endings (da instead of desu, arigatai instead of arigatou, shutsugeki suru instead of shutsugeki shimasu and so on). To me, this gives a military air to their speech, with a bit of rough, masculine edge. In English, this would manifest mostly with the use of the more formal contractions (don't, can't, won't, shouldn't, but not wanna, gonna, whatcha), plus a bit of dramatic 'speech-like' word use rather than a 'conversational' choice of words like I would choose for other ships.

Yamato
Yamato uses a distinctly polite, slightly feminine mode of speech, though not to the extreme 'ladylike' nature that certain other girls do. She uses the gender-neutral polite pronoun "watashi" for herself, as well as exclusively speaking with polite verb endings (-masu, mashou, -mashita). She also uses the feminine ending particle 'wa', though not heavily, making her sound like a well-bred and well-spoken adult woman. In English, I would translate this as using few contractions (cannot instead of can't, do not instead of don't) along with a bit more grammatically correct, slightly upper-class speech (actually using 'must' and 'ought' instead of 'have to' and 'should', and the occasional Big Word to show education and class, though not impenetrable big words that imply over-intelligence).

Mutsu
Mutsu's speech is much more casual than Yamato's, but is more feminine. She uses 'atashi' to refer to herself, which is the 'normal' casual female pronoun, and for the most part uses typically casual verb endings (-ru and -nai forms, arigatou without gozaimasu, onegai without shimasu, etc), and, like Yamato, also uses the 'wa' feminine particle and the feminine question word 'kashira'. In some ways, this casualness makes her easy to translate, as in English she would use all the contractions of typical conversation, speaking 'normally,' but also using the subtle verbal styles of feminine English, which are harder to list out specifically. It's also noteworthy that her casual verb choices imply a certain 'closeness' with the Admiral, that she is comfortable speaking with them in an 'off-duty' tone.

Ise
Ise's speech is on the casual side, though she uses formal forms once or twice with the Admiral. More so than Nagato and Musashi's 'militaryness' or Mutsu's 'womanlyness', Ise uses a fairly 'chatty' speech pattern with occasional formal bits thrown in and little gendered speech, though where it occurs, it tends to be feminine. In her Pre-Kai form she uses the feminine 'wa' particle fairly regularly, in her Kai and Kai Ni she only uses it in her Library description. It's difficult to get a precise lock on how to translate this mixed bag. Combined with her somewhat irreverent personality, she would probably make heavy use of English contractions and 'slang'-y speech, while correctly using formal 'military' phrases during combat: "Open Fire!" rather than just "Fire," "Action Stations" rather than "Prepare for battle" and so on.

Hyuuga
Something of a mirror of her sister, Hyuuga's speech is casual, leaning slightly in the masculine direction. She uses the polite gender-neutral "watashi" like Yamato, but many of the same casual verb forms as Nagato and Musashi, as well as the masculine 'zo' and 'na' particles. Her speech doesn't change from her pre-Kai to her Kai form, though her personality becomes much more upbeat. Her cool, serious personality plus this makes it difficult to translate the masculine parts of her speech in English, she probably speaks in relatively short sentences with lots of contractions, leaving little space to show those elements.

Fusou
Fusou's speech is like Yamato's, but even more formal and feminine, using the very polite 'yoroshiku onegai itashimasu' in her greeting, the full 'arigatou gozaimasu' form of thanks, the feminine 'kashira' question word, the 'wa' feminine particle and she almost exclusively uses the '-masu, -mashou, -mashita' polite forms of verbs. Combined with her slow, measured speech and patient, motherly personality, her speech is easy to translate into English, using no contractions and longer (but not particularly erudite) words, to give a sense of nobility.

Yamashiro
In contrast with her sister, Yamashiro is distinctly less polite, though still fairly formal in her speech, and about equally feminine. She uses 'wa' and 'kashira' and usually uses the formal verbs, but doesn't address the Admiral with the same reverential, "noble" language that Fusou does (she doesn't even use that language with Fusou-onee-sama, instead opting for more casual speech with her, showing an emotional closeness), and she occasionally slips into more casual speech, even her catchphrase, "Such misfortune" ("不幸だわ") uses the casual 'da' rather than 'desu'. Especially next to Fusou, it is easy to show the contrast in their speech patterns in English: Yamashiro occasionally uses contractions and slang (and probably swears under her breath).

Kongou
Oh boy. Kongou's speech is difficult to qualify because she speaks in such a wacky hybrid of Japanese and Engrish. While her pronunciation of both is rarely... 'wrong', her syllable emphasis often is, and her English grammar and word choice (thanks to her Japanese writers) is atrocious. Her speech is typically polite (her katakana de-su and ma-su forms), and has uses the feminine 'wa' once or twice. Translating Kongou is extremely difficult, because English is the language she is supposed to pepper her speech with, so having her pepper her speech with Japanese is inappropriate. Giving her proper British slang terms *might* work, but would require some research to ensure that they weren't misused (or were INTENTIONALLY misused). Of course, a common doujin joke is to have Kongou forget English (usually to cover up the author's own poor English skills), which makes for a good joke when she contacts the ships of the English-speaking nations.

Hiei
Of the Kongou-class sisters, Hiei's speech is the least formal and least feminine. During most of her interactions with the admiral, she uses the -masu and -desu forms, but foregoes both wa (except during her Library entry) and any other feminine particles, though a number of her turns of phrase (yurusanaindakara! after major damage) are distinctly feminine, and she uses 'atashi' as her pronoun. As the energetic, boyish sister, especially next to the impossible-to-translate Kongou, girlish Haruna and intellectual Kirishima, Hiei is easy to translate as slipping into contractions and slang terms more easily.

Haruna
Notable for stubbornly refusing to use a pronoun and referring to herself as "Haruna," which, while acceptable in Japanese still carries a slightly childish tone. Haruna is unflinchingly polite, almost never failing to use -masu, -mashou, -masen forms, but has few other defining characteristics in her speech, using 'wa' only twice (her Library quote and her Night Battle start line), and never using 'kashira'. Her speech is fairly clearly translated into simple, clear English, possibly with an almost awkward lack of contractions (which I would use instead of her Third Person-person speech, as it sounds too odd in English), with a notable lack of 'big words,' to contrast her with her twin.

Kirishima
As the glasses girl battleship (okay Musashi wears them too but she's definitely not a glasses girl personality wise), Kirishima's speech is actually the most 'normal' of the sisters, she uses "watashi," the "wa" and "kashira" feminine particles and primarily uses the formal verb endings like her twin Haruna. She makes use of a number of more unusual words (especially in combat), which overall translates fairly cleanly:  She should use intellectual big words and overall make herself sound smart, though with the occasional slip into casual or even rude speech when angry or surprised (a nod to the 'It's Mike Check Time, Dammit!' fanon element, epitomized in her second Minor Damage line).