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11:56 Jul 20, 2008
Chinese to English translations [PRO] Games / Video Games / Gaming / Casino / MMORPGs
Chinese term or phrase:魔族
What is a proper English translation for 魔族? This type of race/breed is not necessarily evil I don't think. It can form clans and cast magic.
Now via searching around, these are the EXISTING translations I've come across, but I also don't think they are correct because of other names they more commonly go by:
Undead 猎杀活死人 or不死族
Ogre 食人魔鬼 or 怪物 or 像鬼的人 or 巨魔 or 巨魔族
Evilkind 妖族
Troll 巨魔族 or 巨魔 or 食人妖
This is how it's used:
...看着信赖自己的魔族被屠杀的痛苦...
...过去在这里战败的魔族，身上...
...古老的布片上附着着魔族的灵魂...
I'm looking for proper mmo-rpg term for this, and the reason behind it, and proof if possible. The terms I listed above I'm pretty sure are not the translation, for they go by other names, which I put in ().
Explanation: Based on a google image search for 魔族 the term appears to cover a wide range of magical and demonic creatures.
In most (Western) fantasy settings demons exist on separate planes of existence (typically nine levels of Hell). They are highly magical and very powerful. The word fiend is less common, but also used.
There are dozens of different demon types in western tradition:
Barrett's classification of demons
Mammon: seducers
Asmodai: vile revenges
Satan: witches and warlocks
Pithius: liars and liar spirits
Belial: fraud and injustice
Merihem: pestilences and spirits that cause pestilences
Abaddon: war, evil against good
Astaroth: inquisitors and accusers
also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succubus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incubus_(demon)
If the race is less powerful you might call them "imps", which are a kind of minor, more playful demon.
If the race is not evil, only magical, you might call them fey, which is a general term applied to magical forest dwelling creatures, including centaurs, satyrs, pixies, nymphs etc.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 14 hrs (2008-07-21 02:31:43 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
"Demonkin" or "devilkin" captures the Chinese structure nicely. Demonkin are not necessarily be evil, just of unfortunate extraction. Okay. I'll be quiet now.
People who are powerful can be evil when they act injustly, like wizards. Wizards are powerful, but they help when they act properly, for instance, by helping poeple going through complicate procedures/routes.
Hi Michael. Wizards belong to 魔族 as well. When we install a software package, there comes a wizard who/that helps. From "...看着信赖自己的魔族被屠杀的痛苦...," I would rather call them "Wizards" than "Demons."
in which case, the term demon can still be applied (wrongly, inside the game world). It is interesting that western fantasy draws such a heavy line between good and evil in comparison to eastern.
Hi Wenjer- it is hard to capture the ambiguity of Mazoku in English. In apppearance they resemble demons (fork tail, wings etc) but whether or not they are evil is unclear. They are sometimes represented as a misunderstood race,...
sorry, I meant "which I put after the Chinese" - I ended up deleting the () before posting
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
3 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
demon/fiend/devil
Language variant: fey
Explanation: Based on a google image search for 魔族 the term appears to cover a wide range of magical and demonic creatures.
In most (Western) fantasy settings demons exist on separate planes of existence (typically nine levels of Hell). They are highly magical and very powerful. The word fiend is less common, but also used.
There are dozens of different demon types in western tradition:
Barrett's classification of demons
Mammon: seducers
Asmodai: vile revenges
Satan: witches and warlocks
Pithius: liars and liar spirits
Belial: fraud and injustice
Merihem: pestilences and spirits that cause pestilences
Abaddon: war, evil against good
Astaroth: inquisitors and accusers
also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succubus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incubus_(demon)
If the race is less powerful you might call them "imps", which are a kind of minor, more playful demon.
If the race is not evil, only magical, you might call them fey, which is a general term applied to magical forest dwelling creatures, including centaurs, satyrs, pixies, nymphs etc.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 14 hrs (2008-07-21 02:31:43 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
"Demonkin" or "devilkin" captures the Chinese structure nicely. Demonkin are not necessarily be evil, just of unfortunate extraction. Okay. I'll be quiet now.
Michael Lickorish Australia Local time: 19:46 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Awesome, I like demonkin, I'm going with that one. Thanks so much for the suggestion :)
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks so much for the suggestion, but demon, devil, or fiend has many other more common translations that are more appropriate than 魔族, for example 恶魔, 魔鬼, 恶鬼, 妖魔, etc.
Asker: Awesome, I like demonkin, I'm going with that one. Thanks so much for the suggestion :)
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +2
