35 replies to this topic

[WARCRACK]

This has been bugging me for a while so I've decided to see if anyone in this community has an answer. I would like to know which Chinese character is used for "Liao." It would seem a very glaring omission to have a house that is Chinese, but can't be written in the Chinese language. Don't even get me started on the Yen-Lo Wang bearing the Rising Sun pattern..

Anyways, I can't find that answer anywhere, and I'm also starting to believe that the creators of Battletech never came up with one or decided on one. I imagine the discussion at FASA sort of went like this:

Designer 1: We should come up with a Chinese house for this game but what do we call it?
Designer 2: How about "Liao," that's a Chinese sounding sound right?
Designer 1: Sure, let's go with "Liao."

[Nakamura Takeshi]

辽

Edited by Nakamura Takeshi, 12 April 2013 - 08:31 AM.

[WARCRACK]

But is that official cannon from a Battletech book or product, or are we just picking a character that's pronounced "Liao" (i.e. 料，廖，辽，撩，etc..)?

I wonder if House Kurita has the same problem.

[Edwyndham]

I do not know for certain, but Chinese history includes a Liao Dynasty which ruled over east Asian and Mongolian areas during the time period of the Song dynasty, and uses the character 辽 (simplified) or 遼 (traditional). The Capellan name may be based on that.

However, the Capellans of lore are ruled by a family with the surname Liao, which would suggest a 'surname' character such as 僚 or 廖.

Edited by zwanglos, 12 April 2013 - 11:51 AM.

[XphR]

As the first 料 and last 撩 options you used have alternate meanings of {Material`s, Feed`ing, Respect} and {Tease, Stitch, Lift up, Pull up, Hold up} (assuming Google translate has its glasses on), I would go out on a limb and say: The second 廖 would be of use referring to individuals of the house or the house itself and the third 辽 would be used more as defining the time of reign of house Liao as the {Liao Dynasty, Distant, The Laio, Liaoning Province} but could also be used by a pretentious member of the house referencing him or herself..

But then again Im just a white guy living in a hulled out moon calling myself a 'Merc' so, take it how you will.

僚 <--That works too, Nice zwanglos.

P.S. Warcock, the other night.
You squawked, I meowed, we killed a bunch of stuff...
It was fun.

Edited by XphR, 12 April 2013 - 11:57 AM.

[Edwyndham]

Incidentally, the Chinese-language Wikipedia entry on 'Battletech' lists it as the 'Capellan Federation' ruled by the "Liao家族" (i.e. "Liao family"), so even they don't seem to commit to a certain Chinese character...

Edited by zwanglos, 12 April 2013 - 11:59 AM.

[WARCRACK]

Which really leads me to believe that FASA never set one down. Guess if it comes down to it, we'll just have to let the community decide which to adopt because there is no official FASA canon on it.

[Edwyndham]

...However, the BaiDu (popular Chinese-version of Wikipedia) entry on Battletech says the Capellans are ruled by the "廖（Liao）家族". "Capellan Federation" itself is half-transliterated / half-translated as 堪培拉联邦 ( 堪培拉 - kan1 pei2 la1 - a rough transliteration of "Capellan" and 联邦 lian2 bang1 "federation, federal union, federal etc."

Incidentally, 堪培拉 is also the common transliteration for the city of Canberra, Australia.

So my money's on 廖.

Edited by zwanglos, 12 April 2013 - 12:21 PM.

[Edwyndham]

And by looking at the same sources and others, I am guessing that Kurita is taken directly from the same Japanese name 栗田 (written the same in Japanese and Chinese, but pronounced differently, the Chinese pronunciation being li4 tian2).

Hope that all helps.

Edited by zwanglos, 12 April 2013 - 12:28 PM.

[Lord Ikka]

Whatever a combination for madness and brillance would be.

[dal10]

this conversation makes my brain hurt...

[WARCRACK]

And what exactly are you trying to get at? I think I had a totally legit question.

Edited by WARCOCK, 15 April 2013 - 11:09 AM.

[DEEPFRYER671]

There are several Chinese massage parlors where I live(Guam), I will try to get an informed answer tonight.

[Sir Trent Howell]

I believe the Liao from Battletech likely had it's roots in the historical Liao dynasty during the Khitan empire.
辽 was the character used. It's just conjecture of course.

Edited by Sir Trent Howell, 19 April 2013 - 06:29 PM.

[PremithiumX]

Looking at the hanzi, I'm wondering:
Is that the walking radical emphasizing le, for completion? Could that be a rough sort of interpretation for "accomplished?"

[Edwyndham]

PremithiumX, on 20 April 2013 - 01:04 AM, said:

Looking at the hanzi, I'm wondering:
Is that the walking radical emphasizing le, for completion? Could that be a rough sort of interpretation for "accomplished?"

http://baike.baidu.com/view/65602.htm
http://baike.baidu.c...iew/1165354.htm

The character 辽 is the simplified version (i.e. reformed in the mid-20th century to be easier to write and improve general literacy rates) of the original character 遼, and 尞 is ascribed the meaning 'long, far, distant.' Aside from place names such as 辽东 Liaodong peninsula, 辽河 LiaoHe river, etc., the only meaning that 辽/遼 seems to have is 'far, distant', as in the Mandarin word 辽远. The aforementioned Liao /Khitan dynasty was, I think, thusly named because of the Liao river being within its borders.

[Sparks Murphey]

zwanglos, on 12 April 2013 - 12:20 PM, said:

...However, the BaiDu (popular Chinese-version of Wikipedia) entry on Battletech says the Capellans are ruled by the "廖（Liao）家族". "Capellan Federation" itself is half-transliterated / half-translated as 堪培拉联邦 ( 堪培拉 - kan1 pei2 la1 - a rough transliteration of "Capellan" and 联邦 lian2 bang1 "federation, federal union, federal etc."

Incidentally, 堪培拉 is also the common transliteration for the city of Canberra, Australia.

So my money's on 廖.

So...I've been Capellan all this time and not realised it?

Woah.

[Edwyndham]

Sparks Murphey, on 20 April 2013 - 07:35 PM, said:

So...I've been Capellan all this time and not realised it?

Woah.

Isn't there a city called Capella in Queensland?

Woah.

[Hayden]

WARCOCK, on 12 April 2013 - 11:27 AM, said:

I wonder if House Kurita has the same problem.

In canonical sources the name Kurita has often been visually represented in Katakana.

[DEEPFRYER671]

Well everyone, guess what? None of the ladies at the massage parlor could read the English, had Heard of BattleTech or Mechwarrior, and my attempts to imitate a mech (I thought my Atlas impression was dead on) including sound effects failed to ring any bells. They seemed to think I was drunk or crazy. I have no idea what the Chinese character for Liao or House Liao is.