Newmans or Numans?

It's not spelled incorrectly, just differently. It's an adaptation for the target audience, just like a lot of the other name changes. We'd probably still have "Numan" in the more recent games if Sega of Japan hadn't taken translation duties for PSOnline.

Dorrinal wrote:

So it's the same word but it's better for English speakers because it's spelled wrong? Don't take your crazy pills before posting -- then again people revel in poor spelling out here on The Internet. You are going to have to accept that the name is "new man" and it makes perfect sense given the origins of the... species?

The point is that "new man" is more awkward in English than it is in Japanese. The problem comes when translators have to deal with Japanese developers' unabashed disregard for sensible English. Newman is perfect for Japanese gamers because it combines two simple words that everyone knows into a single word to describe a unique race. But it looks a bit off in English; it seems like a rather lazy cop-out, like Tolkien naming Sauron "Bigeyeguy," or Square naming Crono "Timeboy."

I personally think that Numan looks better then Newman in spelling. I also have to agree with pitohui that Newman does look awkward in our language, anyway.

pitohui wrote:

it seems like a rather lazy cop-out, like Tolkien naming Sauron "Bigeyeguy," or Square naming Crono "Timeboy."

I'll have to agree with you 100% there. "Newman" sounds/looks really awkward to English speakers.

Lemina wrote:

pitohui wrote:

it seems like a rather lazy cop-out, like Tolkien naming Sauron "Bigeyeguy," or Square naming Crono "Timeboy."

:rofl: I'll have to agree with you 100% there. "Newman" sounds/looks really awkward to English speakers.

Let's not forget that there are many PS players which English isn't their native language and have to play the English version as well.
In those cases (or at least for me) it doesen't sound awkward (or too much awkward). I think the preference (in those cases) is usually based on the first word that one saw.

Anyway, I think it is pretty much the same thing (newman = New Man / Numan = New Human), the latter is just an agglutination. The problem with Numan is that we (almost) loose the track for the "NM-xxx" meaning (although that only appears in CDdrama).

I prefer the look of Numan but the Newman theory makes sense. I suppose they can always say it's how the name ended up being as it was passed down from generation to generation.

Thoul wrote:

It's not spelled incorrectly, just differently. It's an adaptation for the target audience, just like a lot of the other name changes. We'd probably still have "Numan" in the more recent games if Sega of Japan hadn't taken translation duties for PSOnline.

The word "new" is not spelled "nu."

Dorrinal wrote:

The word "new" is not spelled "nu."

That's irrelevant. Authors make up alternate spellings all the time (see: every work of fantasy ever published); in this case, the freedom extends to localizers. It's like getting angry because Square was forced to use "Crono" instead of "Chrono." It's not the traditional spelling, but who cares? It's only a name.

Oh, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu_metal

wikipedia wrote:

The term was first used for a review of a 1996 Coal Chamber concert in Spin magazine in the form "new metal".

Languages are constantly changing and evolving. Shock, awe.

And finally, if you still don't buy that, [N]ew + H[uman] can also yield Numan. Ta-da!

Well said, pitohui. It's nice to see someone recognize that language is a flexible, evolving thing. I wish that happened more often.

Thoul wrote:

Well said, pitohui. It's nice to see someone recognize that language is a flexible, evolving thing. I wish that happened more often.

Great excuse for bad spelling!

pitohui wrote:

Dorrinal wrote:

The word "new" is not spelled "nu."

That's irrelevant. Authors make up alternate spellings all the time (see: every work of fantasy ever published); in this case, the freedom extends to localizers. It's like getting angry because Square was forced to use "Crono" instead of "Chrono." It's not the traditional spelling, but who cares? It's only a name.

Oh, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu_metal

wikipedia wrote:

The term was first used for a review of a 1996 Coal Chamber concert in Spin magazine in the form "new metal".

Languages are constantly changing and evolving. Shock, awe.

And finally, if you still don't buy that, [N]ew + H[uman] can also yield Numan. Ta-da!

Yeah, still not buying it as valid just because someone made it up. In fact, that's as close as it gets to the definition of wrong.

But I digress! It seems that in my nerd rage I didn't spot the obvious combination you pointed out. I'll leave the thread this way >.> ---->