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French's translation of Evelynn story sounds weird and unfitting

Necrozard··4 votes·1,714 views
Evelynn - Champions - Universe of League of Legends

Evelynn is a demon, maybe demons don't have a defined gender and only take the best shape to seduce their victims.

But Evelynn is clearly feminine, she looks like a demoness and a succubus. The fact that she might be " agender' is not her main asset.

But in the french translation : "A demon" is translated to "Un démon" Which is word used to describe males (like "He" in English)

It's EXTREMELY unsettling to hear all evelynn story narrated as if she was a guy. Lore-wise it makes half-sense , but because of her theme/gameplay/visual it makes no sense.

> The guys of the French translation did a good job, but this is just too much weird to ignore it , seriously.

Evelynn can't be a trap because that would make her either "gay" or "not gay", but Evelynn isn't bound to one sexuality ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

EDIT : tried to add some clarity

  • Evelynn looks feminine => female (kisses, boobs , pink, etc)

  • Evelyn is a demon => don't have a gender (agender)

  • Demon is "masculine" word in french => male ("un démon")

33 Comments

Lady Faceless4 votes

While I understand why this bothers you, the translator did just the right thing in this case. The german translation has the same problem, since the german word for shadow (der Schatten) is masculine as well and reference Evelynn the whole time as he. There is literally no way the translator can use female pronoun corretly.

In the end, Evelynn isn't even really female. She just choice this form to attrace her prey and probably can even shapeshift into a male form.

Necrozard1 votes

I expected other language to have this problem too.

But this feels weird because they had a choice !

  • a demon => "un démon" => male (weird)
  • a demoness => "une démone" => female (good)

Evelynn's story is CLEARLY inspired by Slaanesh from the Warhammer franchise (And that's a cool thing actually)

But when the texts of lore from Warhamer are translated in french to describe demons. Because these demons wear "visible feminine" attributes (even if they have both genitals)

They are translated as female demons, in the text and in the pictures

Lady Faceless2 votes

However, in the first paragraph they describe Evelynn as shadow, which is masculine in the german and french language. Ofc, they could have picked after it the german world for female demon (die Dämonin), HOWEVER the sudden change of pronoun would hurt the reading flow even more. It does make sense they keep the same male pronoun, even if it does sound weird.

Tbh, some german translation are pretty misleading and they are lot of tipping errors. I have no idea who does the german translation, but he really doesn't do a good job, sadly.

Necrozard1 votes

In french we use "une ombre" (feminine) to translate "a shadow".

So for Eve it's fine .

Even for Nocturne , it feels ok to use a femine word to describe him. Because he's usually referenced as "HE". There is no identity problem

Ho i didnt read the german translation. I have no idea how much it's good or bad

Lord Phazanor 1 votes

{quoted}

I expected other language to have this problem too.

But this feels weird because they had a choice !

  • a demon => "un démon" => male (weird)
  • a demoness => "une démone" => female (good)

Evelynn's story is CLEARLY inspired by Slaanesh from the Warhammer franchise (And that's a cool thing actually)

But when the texts of lore from Warhamer are translated in french to describe demons. Because these demons wear "visible feminine" attributes (even if they have both genitals)

They are translated as female demons, in the text and in the pictures

"une démone" doesn't exist though, so no, they did the right thing there. And it's "démonette de Slaanesh" in french. But Warhammer creating a word doesn't make it right to use.

Necrozard1 votes

https://fr.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/démone

"Une démone" exist tough.

They didnt even need to steal the words warhammer is using.

I just wanted to show that alternatives were possible.

Lord Phazanor 1 votes

{quoted}

https://fr.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/démone

"Une démone" exist tough.

They didnt even need to steal the words warhammer is using.

I just wanted to show that alternatives were possible.

Eh my bad, guess my dictionnary is too old. That said, the use of the word "démon" really didn't bother me, as in french we mostly use "démon" anyways. I actually never read "démone" anywhere. And since the translators are professionals, I'm pretty sure the choice was deliberate. In most litterature and stories, "démon" is used for both genders and I find it especially fitting to Evelynn since she's not really a woman, she just understood that the best way to lure people is to look like a smexy woman.

DeadUnborn2 votes

Think about it. When you talk about animals in french I presume you always refer to animals by a specific gender. You call all Dogs male if you don't know their gender, maybe you call all bees female and so on (at least that is the way it works in spanish). when talking about Evelynn as a demon (creature) it would make sense to me to refer to it as, well, an it. since spanish and french don't have an it form, male is the closest thing

KoKoboto3 votes

Wait so Evelynn could potentially be a trap? Dx

Though anyways that's a good point and it's why I'm kinda disappointed with her shadow form / ultimate. Although both are so badass for all skins it's supposed to be Evelynn's true form right? Well it doesn't look very true-formy tbh. Just spooky shadow version of normal Evelynn kinda like Kayn when using Shadow Step or Zed's Shadows, etc.

Necrozard1 votes

Trap is a guy appearing as girl , so it's unknown

Maybe she don't have male/female genitals

Maybe she can have both

Too much missing information x)

midnight oil242 votes

I'm sorry, I'm just a little confused by what you mean when you say: "Evelynn is clearly feminine, she looks like a demoness and a succubus. Her 'asexuality' is not her main asset."

Just a little confused. I don't mean to sound rude, I'm not trying to make you look intolerant. I just don't fully understand what you mean and would be very happy if you could give a bit of clarification please.

Necrozard2 votes

No problem, i'll do just that

  • Evelynn looks feminine => female (don't you agree ?)

  • Evelyn is a demon => don't have a gender (assexual)

  • Demon is "masculine" word in french => male ("un démon")

So all of this is weird when you read the french translation of Eve's bio

midnight oil244 votes

Asexual means doesn't experience sexual attraction. The word I think you might be looking for is agender, not identifying with either gender (yes, this is a thing). Though she does strike me as asexual, as she doesn't regard anyone with any real attraction (attraction is different from sex), and her idea of a good time is killing the person, not doing the dirty deed.

I was just a bit confused by you saying that her asexuality isn't her main asset because she looks feminine, but this clears up my confusion, so thank you!

Necrozard3 votes

agender

You're correct, i need to change some words

[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

midnight oil242 votes

Thank you for not thinking that I was getting offended or anything. I don't particularly care about what people say about my orientation (as long as it's not something like, "well you're just wrong"), I was just confused and needed some clearing up.

Cheers to you!

[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

DeadUnborn1 votes

boobs =female

midnight oil241 votes

Beyond that not always being the case, I was wondering why he was saying asexual. The word he was ultimately looking for was agender, which is a thing. Please don't say it isn't. Besides, when Eve is in her shadow form I don't think she has breasts.

DeadUnborn1 votes

In purely biological terminology, asexual means sexual reproduction without the need for a specific sex. For example, polyps are not male nor female, they reproduce by themselves. Since in Spanish we don't have a distinction between the word sex and gender, is hard for me to follow what exactly you are upset about, sorry

Also 99.7% of the times Women have breasts, so it is a safe association to make I presume. Alternatively no man unless they have genetical abnormalities (.001% of the population) will have breasts, therefore I don't see why the attribution would be conflicting

midnight oil241 votes

I know what asexual means in the pure scientific sense. What I'm referring to is the sexual orientation of asexual, where you do not feel sexual attraction towards others.

DeadUnborn1 votes

It can mean both lack of sexuality both as an organism or orientation. Where do you think the word is derived from in the first place?

EDIT: Also aparently your word is bullshit... it only applies for people that identify as not having a sex, not organisms that do not have one. You are using it wrong XD

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/agender

midnight oil242 votes

Yeah, agender is people who don't identify as any gender. You were talking about asexuality as the scientific thing. I was saying what asexuality the orientation meant. I was confused. No need to be rude. I was the one who informed the guy who made this post that agender was the word he was looking for.

DeadUnborn1 votes

it wasn't though

Evelyn is a demon => don't have a gender (agender)

the correct word in the context he was using IS asexual. also how was I rude? XD

The fact that she might be " agender' is not her main asset.

a·sex·u·al āˈsekSH(o͞o)əl/Enviar adjective 1. without sexual feelings or associations. "she rested her hand on the back of his head, in a maternal, wholly asexual, gesture"

midnight oil241 votes

I'll try and respond later because I've had a stressful day and I think I'd say some things I'd regret.

DeadUnborn1 votes

what? Dude I'm not being offensive

Te OP was referring to Eve's lack of sexual interest for people not being her main thing. That is asexuality. Nowhere in the lore piece is there any direct inference to Eve identifying as an specific gender or not

midnight oil241 votes

It wasn't because of that. It's because over the course of the day I've had a number of people insulting me and belittling me and it's been making me agitated and I don't want to say something aggressive.

DeadUnborn1 votes

i don't know what your personal story is but IMO fuck what people think of you. Use whatever criticism you think could help and whatever else is bull. That is the way I look at it anyhow

midnight oil241 votes

That being said, he was pointing out that being agender or whichever is not her main trait due to the form she takes. It wasn't about sexuality, it was about gender preference, at least the way I see it.

DeadUnborn1 votes

hmm I guess it can be interpreted both ways. Pretty sure I'm right still XD

DeadUnborn2 votes

https://universe.leagueoflegends.com/es_MX/story/champion/evelynn/

In Spanish when referring to her as a demon they use the masculine article (which can also be neutral). When they refer to her as evelynn they use the feminine version though. I would assume French to be the same given the similarities between the languages. If that is the case I see no problem with it

Muzét2 votes

Hi dude,

French here too. But I'll speak in Enligh so everyone can get me. I can't get your point. I mean... I understood you but still. You know that in French some job fits women just like men. (Like Docteur). Same goes for demon even if it has a feminine noun. Furthermore, even though Evelynn use a female human appearance, and she refers as a She. We don't know how the demon realm and their inhabitants see themselves as. Yeah on Earth she's considered as female - exactly why Evelynn is refered as She. BUT, demons might not have as much sexual definition as humans do. By using the male noun, which is PERFECTLY correct, translator won't make a mistake if one day or another Riot stated that Evelynn is a male or hermaphrodite or unisex.

I read both English and French translation and it didn't strike me at all. And, now that I think of it I'll find it weird if they'd choose the female noun. Simply because it's feels like we know her... When you actually don't. Evelynn is a demon yeah but as I said you don't know how she really looks. She appears female yet only demons probably know about her real face.

Necrozard1 votes

Hey !

I already understood "Why" they are doing it , and it's fine. They have good reasons.

But years of seeing evelynn refererenced as a female made it weird for me to accept it naturally

Muzét1 votes

Oh alright you'll accept with time maybe.

TheGreatRasputin1 votes

Well, Evellyn is referred to as a succubus. Succubi are not automatically female. They also can take a male form called an incubus. So, it is perfectly possible to call Evellyn a "he", if she/he/it were seducing a woman.

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