Peter
Administrator
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2018
So, with the recent coverage from journalists getting more and more Shenmue 3 information, we have seen a few times that a location called "Niaowu" has been mentioned. This has begun to cause some confusion, so I reached out to Esra KRabbe for some extra information. A super friendly guy, he has been able to clear up a few things, which I will explain as best I can. But all credit goes to him for this.
So basically, its assumed that Choubu was always going to be called Niaowu from the beginning. The reason for this is because Baisha and Bailu are both pronunciations of the characters in native Chinese, and Choubu is not. Choubu is the Japanese pronunciation of Niaowu. The reason why Choubu is the only one of the three being written in its Japanese pronunciation, is probably because its a fictional town, and the developers didn't know how to write it down in Chinese.
When speaking to Yu-san in Japanese, he will use the name "Choubu", but when it comes to the actual localization, it will be Niaowu. It would be very weird if it would be called Choubu, as no other Chinese locations or characters have had Japanese pronunciation so far in Shenmue.
Another thing to note, is that in the English voice recordings, the director says that all Chinese words will be spoken according to Chinese pronunciation:
Now that the western media is starting to promote the game, its probably the case that they have been told to use the native "Niaowu", for example, in the EDGE article.
One final fun fact from Esra, is that "Niaowu" might be something you recognize, if you remove the last 2 letter from the name...
Niao in Niaowu, is the same Niao that's in Niaosun. "Niao" means bird, and "Wu" means "dance", so combining the two together, gives you "Bird Dance". Sound familiar?
"Hotel Bird Dance"
So basically, its assumed that Choubu was always going to be called Niaowu from the beginning. The reason for this is because Baisha and Bailu are both pronunciations of the characters in native Chinese, and Choubu is not. Choubu is the Japanese pronunciation of Niaowu. The reason why Choubu is the only one of the three being written in its Japanese pronunciation, is probably because its a fictional town, and the developers didn't know how to write it down in Chinese.
When speaking to Yu-san in Japanese, he will use the name "Choubu", but when it comes to the actual localization, it will be Niaowu. It would be very weird if it would be called Choubu, as no other Chinese locations or characters have had Japanese pronunciation so far in Shenmue.
Another thing to note, is that in the English voice recordings, the director says that all Chinese words will be spoken according to Chinese pronunciation:
Now that the western media is starting to promote the game, its probably the case that they have been told to use the native "Niaowu", for example, in the EDGE article.
One final fun fact from Esra, is that "Niaowu" might be something you recognize, if you remove the last 2 letter from the name...
Niao in Niaowu, is the same Niao that's in Niaosun. "Niao" means bird, and "Wu" means "dance", so combining the two together, gives you "Bird Dance". Sound familiar?
"Hotel Bird Dance"
