The SFX Thread!

[raghu2345]

This website gave me some SFXs which helped me in my translations.

[Porink]

I'm just wondering what these SFX should sound like in English:

1. A flying spacecraft.
2. A piece of paper being grabbed.
3. Fire burning.
4. Windy weather.
5. A hard object crashing.
6. Falling rocks.
7. A working engine.
8. A gigantic falling object.
9. Sound when changing a vehicle's gear.
10. Falling body sound.
11. Bone cracking.
12. Something being grabbed quickly.
13. An automatic door opens.
14. Shattering glass.
15. A large object being crushed.

Thanks.

[Aarowaim]

Here's a few that come to my mind, please note that background effects (sound efects that are a continuous tone) aren't commonly made into phonetic sound effects, verbs are commonly used in these cases, e.g, rumble rumble rumble (earthquake, rockslide, etc)

1. Fwooooooon (deep, low sound of thrusters), Zee (spaceship zooming by, high pitch) *note that noises are technically impossible outside of the spaceship

2. *doesn't really have a sound effect, but following the tradition of using verbs as sound effects in comic books, crinkle. The reason it doesn't have a sound effect is probably because there are many different sounds and they are not very easy to make with your mouth.

3. fuuuuuuu (deep, grumbly crackling of a furnace), snap! (popping of firewood)

4. wiuuuuuu (really high pitched, a whistle if the wind is audible at all. otherwise, it's too low to be heard)

5. thud (dull, muted sound of a crate or similar heavy object), clank (metal on metal), thunk (wood on any other surface)

6. rumble (dull, noise of an avalanche approaching), crack, crash (rocks hitting mountainside; individual rocks), thunk (rocks hitting dirt, especially large rocks)

7. *this one depends on the engine. A smaller one, like a generator, will usually make a whirr. most vehicle engines make a vroom, such as the one when you start up an older car.

8. Phheeeeeeeewwwww/Phiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Waboom (the pheeee is the sound it makes falling through the air, and then some form of collision sound *waboom, in this case. Explosion sounds are often used as collision sounds for huge objects, eg, kaboom *note that boom is generally used for a loud, resounding, but lower pitched collison or explosion.

9. cha-click *put one cha for every gear change and the click is the locking mechanism

10. thuck (mixture of clothing ruffling in wind/on impact as well as thud. if the fall is high enough to break bones, include a crack or two.

11. lol, I answered this one in #10

12. *not often used, nor can I imagine any specific sound, but I would imagine some sort of swish as the sleeve of the grabber's shirt moves during the action.

13. shhuuuuuccckkk (the sliding is the shhhhhuuuuu, the door hitting the frame would be the ccckk)

14. I would use crack if it's only being cracked, but if it is being shattered, crash is a good generic onomatopoeia.

15. depends heavily on what material that large object is. for most, especially wood or something brittle, I would use crack.

As you may have noticed, a lot of these are either made up, or are very generic onomatopoeia (sound effect words). This is because onomatopoeia convey a specific sound, not a specific event.

I am assuming that you are translating a manga, so I would recommend translating it into romaji and leaving a Translator's note saying that romaji and what it represents. e.g, ポン　ポン = pon, pon (tear drops). A lot of scanlators seem to do it, so it seems to be the most common way of conveying it to english readers. for verbs that are sound effects, such as ワクワク, translate it into the verb it represents. In that case, it is 沸く, which means to get excited/to boil. In the previous example, I would recommend "tremble" or "shiver", because they are both verbs that are in present tense that are commonly associated with getting excited.

I personally would recommend that you modify the art as little as possible except to restore quality, as I enjoy reading the sound effects in kana format and imagining them. That is why I recommend a footnote, or translator's note that says the transcribed sound effect (if it's not a verb), so that english readers can enjoy the same luxury.

P.S.
For phonetic sound effects, I would leave a translators note saying for example, "fuan fuan fuan (sirens)" or "poro poro (sound of tear drops falling)"

[mikkih]

I am assuming that you are translating a manga, so I would recommend translating it into romaji and leaving a Translator's note saying that romaji and what it represents. e.g, ポン　ポン = pon, pon (tear drops). A lot of scanlators seem to do it, so it seems to be the most common way of conveying it to english readers. for verbs that are sound effects, such as ワクワク, translate it into the verb it represents. In that case, it is 沸く, which means to get excited/to boil. In the previous example, I would recommend "tremble" or "shiver", because they are both verbs that are in present tense that are commonly associated with getting excited.

Do you perhaps mean ポロポロ(poro-poro) instead of ポンポン(pon-pon)? Pon-pon is not a typical sfx for tear drops. There is a different approach to explain ワクワク(waku-waku, being excited) here if you would like to read in Japanese.

[Aarowaim]

Ah, thank you. Apparently, at the time I wrote that I couldn't recall exactly what the sound effect was. In terms of the article you gave me, I'll do my best to read through it (I'm starting to understand basic sentences without a dictionary) and if necessary, I will correct myself.

And yes, I suppose that was a hastily chosen example, given that I now have an article to read as homework. Not that I really mind because it will give me practice as well as make me more aware of the opinions of native Japanese speakers. As I am quite fluent in English, I would expect them to be fluent in Japanese.

Thanks ^^

[Porink]

I am assuming that you are translating a manga, so I would recommend translating it into romaji and leaving a Translator's note saying that romaji and what it represents. e.g, ポン　ポン = pon, pon (tear drops). A lot of scanlators seem to do it, so it seems to be the most common way of conveying it to english readers. for verbs that are sound effects, such as ワクワク, translate it into the verb it represents. In that case, it is 沸く, which means to get excited/to boil. In the previous example, I would recommend "tremble" or "shiver", because they are both verbs that are in present tense that are commonly associated with getting excited.

I personally would recommend that you modify the art as little as possible except to restore quality, as I enjoy reading the sound effects in kana format and imagining them. That is why I recommend a footnote, or translator's note that says the transcribed sound effect (if it's not a verb), so that english readers can enjoy the same luxury.

P.S.
For phonetic sound effects, I would leave a translators note saying for example, "fuan fuan fuan (sirens)" or "poro poro (sound of tear drops falling)"

Wow, thanks a lot...

The truth is, I'm in the middle of translating a Indonesian language manga and I'm never have any kind of experience in English SFX instead of "Kapoow!" of course.. LoL... So it would be impossible for me to provide the romaji as the one I'm translated is already in Indonesian..

[Ana Clara]

I prefer the japanese sound. If the original sound doesn't make sense, I just make a note