Resolved Haraguro in These Dangerous Girls Placed Me in Jeopardy

Discussion in 'Novel Discussion' started by Zaroz, Oct 22, 2019.

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Is it okay to use Japanese slang terms in the translation of a Chinese web novel?

Poll closed Nov 19, 2019.
  1. Yes

    20.0%
  2. No

    10.0%
  3. Don't care

    70.0%
  1. Zaroz

    Zaroz Existential Lurker Demonic Calamity

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    Hello, everyone! Today, I started reading These Dangerous Girls Placed Me in Jeopardy. While I was reading, I came across the japanese term "haraguro".
    After googling wtf it was, I found
    腹黒 (haraguro) – to be shrewd or calculative to cheat other people or hide the real him/her

    This made me question the differences between haraguro, and the Chinese terms White Lotus, and Black-Bellied.
    After looking up definitions, this is what I got:
    腹黑 (fu hei) 'Black belly' – someone who is secretly quite evil/sly/manipulative, but openly hard-working and honest

    Can someone clarify for me, is haraguro supposed to be the Japanese equivalent of Black-Bellied, since the characters (腹黒 vs 腹黑) for both literally translate to "Black-Belly"? Or are there some special nuances that separate them?

    Also, the novel TDGPMJ is a chinese webnovel, but the translator used Haraguro, which is a Japanese romaji term. I don't know what the raws were like, but if someone does know, was the original term 腹黒 or 腹黑?
     
  2. EnuoFH

    EnuoFH Well-Known Member

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    well haraguro isnt just hard-working or honest, the character can be friendly,innocent,kind but deep inside can be cruel,manipulative,sadistic,mean,cunning

    But i'm not sure if black belly would also have those same things but from your definition its a bit different from haraguro
     
  3. Zaroz

    Zaroz Existential Lurker Demonic Calamity

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    That's why I'm confused. Both the Chinese 腹黑, and the Japanese kanji 腹黒, literally translate to "Belly Black/Dark"....

    Also, I just copy-pasted that definition for black belly from google. If I had to put it in my own words, I would say Black bellied=two-faced.
     
  4. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    These two terms are identical (although they may not always be applied the same way). Baidu says that it entered China from Japanese media so that should explain the origin. I've seen several terms like this so it's part of a pattern. I still think that it's a mistake to translate it using Romaji - that should be saved for much more familiar terms like moe or yuri.
     
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  5. Zaroz

    Zaroz Existential Lurker Demonic Calamity

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    I agree. I think they should have used Black-Bellied in this case since the context was "Haraguro-Type BroCon". Personally, I feel like "Black-Bellied BroCon" sounds better anyway.....