Ok, the local community here in South Korea is pretty hyped up to see new YJ units with Korean background - which we have yearned for obvious reasons - yet one thing that everyone agrees upon (with a cynic humor) is the name itself; 'Daebak' is a term that conveys colloquial meaning, roughly equivalent to 'super duper awesome force' or 'freakin' great jackpot army'. In case of Sulsa, apart from the cool motif itself, its pronunciation largely resembles Korean word that means runny poo, or diarrhea. As a native Korean speaker, the notation which myself and folks out here find more appropriate is 'Soolsa'. Admittedly we are not infuriated, nor finding this offensive; yet, in comparison to the cool name offered for the French folks - i.e., armée d'argent - we do not see other reasons that prevent us from asking if that is really the best option (one of my good friend @ObviousGray actually came up with this cool conspiracy theory, that CB searched off BTS and stole the name of their company, which is actually believable considering the logo) So, yes, I'm largely doubtful that this would change anything, but it never hurts to ask one. While we find the new name really funny, y'all really could have asked our Warcors at least. :P Or finding the motifs from Division names from Korean Army, if I may suggest an alternative. Which again, this little incident is a good incentive for us South Korean players to release some fan-made ideas about Korean themed sectorial (or reinforcement if you prefer that) we have been working on since last year - I will update the details on this thread as soon as it is finalized.
You can Google translate Daebak into Spanish. You will get this. ay dios mío = oh my god. Daebak Force is literally OMG Force!
First of all, yes we really wanted to see such Korean-Themed units (and a spotlight for them!), and much appreciates from our community. Still, as this guy says, at least you could've asked real Korean speakers for their names. Even our national guards got some cool names for their patches and signal codes - I just couldn't help myself from laughing so hard that my belly hurt. Like, come on, we've been playing Infinity for quite a long time, we could ask for some favor for some cross-checks for this hot-delivered mass of hype(and laughter). @Bostria if you may.. :)
I, for one, think 'Super-Duper-Awesome Force' is a super-duper-awesome name for a regiment. Hell, I'd want that in English.
We already have Starmada, USAriadna, and Señor Massacre. CB have been known to play with names before.
I want Fort Kickass! in Ariadna. CB’s record on non-Spanish or English names are not the best. But especially for Yu Jing. My buddy from Taiwan laughed at some of the names. Like Yaokong literally means robot. But some things just don’t translate well into other language wells because it depends on context or how it’s said. There’s not much difference the word for “black cat” and “black pubic hair”. I guess the context equivalent could be 2, two, too, to.
Re: names weirdness, I still don’t know if Jelena Kovač is pronounced “Helena” (Spanish J) or Yelena (majority European J) - either one is pretty believable coming out of CB.
Well... CB had lots of complicated moments in naming of units. In meanings or proper writing, but Korean forces would not be alone. Some Haqq units have problematic naming. Very problematic. Of course I hope for changes... but not sure they would come. Now I am not expecting from them beep research of topic. “Cool, let’s take this word”-methodic...
Oh yes. I really was confused by kempeitai... Ok, I forgot about this one, but I meant khawarij. Not better and it is still a bad word in Islam. Good guys would not be called as dogs of hell (not a translation, but metaphor for khawarij) even in our days. But yes... kempeitai was not better persons, and their dirty story is fresh enough... egh(
I'd say it does remind us (at least those of us who care to check the meaning behind unit names) that Infinity reality is not all pasteel colors and sweet icing. Superficially, it may seem so, but there are dark undercurrents in it. Nasty tropes. Bad stuff. I have a feeling we tend to take a certain other game & its fluff as a point of reference. And compared to the grimdark with grimdark sauce and then some grimdark lightly dusted on it, Infinity may seem to be all cupcake. Superficially. It is not. It is a setting with its own issues (narratively speaking), they just don't have skull motiff nailed on everything in sight. And personally, I like that. Sure, there are some ideas and references I'm not comfortable with. But all in all, the setting is good enough for my taste.
Special forces units using hellish imagery is a common thing in real life. It's supposed to be intimidating and such. There's an infamous police unit here in Brazil who goes all in with the Skull motiff, and they see themselves as good guys even while looking like angrier, black-dressed stormtroopers. Although I'm not muslim, so maybe their culture wouldn't be so keen on doing this kind of thing like people in the western countries do. The problem with Daebak from what I understand is that the chosen word feels a little silly in context? Like, IRL Korean special forces are merely called ROK or 'Black Berets' (which is kinda badass, not gonna lie).
Indeed, such things are possible. Like Hellish bastards, or so. Some squads could have such a names, and be ok. Khawarij are not of that kind, and it is not a translation of word. In the story of Islam it was a guys who killed other Muslims and started civilian war. So, they are called dogs because no respect. And the word itself means rebels, departed or something like that... But of course I feel myself more ok with them now. I just not use them and would not... (We are in fictional future, and far enough to have some words change their meaning. Culture doesn’t stop on one place, context is changing... and so on. But I am sure, that authors didn’t dig in this direction too much. Plus in some moments they made events, like it was a decisions of people from our time than from the future. I should not expect too serious lore. Ah, it is so easier with aliens x))
Khawarij were the first Islamic sect; the word comes from the word "kharaja" meaning "go out" or "leave." They rebelled against the reigning Caliph of the time and started a civil war which ultimately ended in their defeat and the death of said Caliph. Most of what we know of them comes from authors who were decidedly against them, but some modern scholars look upon them more favorably. At any rate I don't think it's particularly strange, though there may be some stigma about the group that caused the first Fitna. It's kinda like using the name "Crusader" for Military Orders, as historically the Crusaders weren't exactly the best of people and even ended up sacking Constantinople once.
I'm anticipating two Lobby Groups from PanO to speak up about the blatant lack of cultural awareness by the YJ Central Military Commission. The Korean Freedom Council and the Korean Peoples Of PanOceania will be putting out a petition shortly I'm sure of it.
As a Yu Jing and Tohaa player, I've always felt that all the names of units should be localized along side their foreign names. It gives the opportunity for the intention of the name to shine through. It also lets them define some of their looser translations with the evolution of language handwaveyness. It's not just chinese, it's future-space-chinese.
