Is this serious? Jaskier in English is called "Dandelion"? WTF?

[Kiryu]

As a reader of the books (and a huge fan of Jaskier) this bothers me a lot.

[Kiryu]

Początkowo opublikowane przez The Undying:

The german translation is "Rittersporn" and I'm not even certain how I'm supposed to translate that. :D

Quite fitting, especially how spiteful Geralt can say his name.

According to google translator (not very realiable lol) it would be "delphinium". That... doesn't make sense XD

[Manperor of Mankind]

Actually it does! Just looked it up, Rittersporn(e) is also called Delphinium.

Thank god they used the first word. :D

[Kiryu]

Oh, you're right, didn't know that was also a flower. Not a yellow one, though XD

[Neckraon]

Whatever they called it like a flower in a country or in an another, i think a name, or a pseudonyme, must not to be translate.

Jaskier is the original name and it will stay as his name. If you want to know everything about the jokes, the lore, of a foreign book, you have to search fo it.

I hate when a Name is translate for the purpose of a few jokes.

In real life, my name means something in a certain language, but not in English. I will not change my name just to keep the royal meaning of it.

[Zarremgregarrok]

Początkowo opublikowane przez trisstann:

pfff in czech both books and games call him Marigold... which is fine i guess, but it does not really mean anything.. apart from fact when Triss got introduced in books she gonna distinquish herself so in czech she is Triss Ranuncul instead of Merigold... now thats proper ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, thans you very much :)

As far as I know, Sapkowski picked Triss's surname intentionally from the Czech transaltion of Jaskier's name, to troll his Czech translators.

[CeliriaRose]

I'd argue that translating a name is justifiable in certain cases where it fits the creators intent with the name.

For example if a writer makes a point of naming a character after something and that is supposed to be something the audience is meant to be aware of then translating the name is the right call because it maintains the thematic point of the name. Yes it's true that wouldn't be done with someone's actual name in real life but then again it's a story not real life and as such fitting the intent of what the reader/viewer is meant to understand takes precedence over maintaining what the technical original name was.

In this case specifically seeing as Jaskier/Dandelion is the characters pen name and was likely intentionally meant to emulate the name of the flower having a name that suitably presents that same idea in a different language is a fair choice on localization. Likewise if a story had a mobster nicknamed "Tuna" for some plot related reason it would be justifiable to translate it to a fitting equivalent in other languages when doing the localization.

[Shikhar]

Well, at least in the show he is called Jaskier xD. But now people who never read the books (like me) were confused who this new guy who seemed like Dandelion was.

[cansub]

I had to do some searching online to find out what was going on. Earlier this year I listened to a few of the audio books (commuting to work) and knew him as "Dandillion" (phonetically) or "Dandy" as the Witcher called him. I thought "Dandy" was sort of fitting for him. Little did I know that there was more to this when I heard the Witcher call him Jaskier on the show and then reading this thread.

[Medve]

Why not use jaskier in the english version too?

[Crim π]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Sigma:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Ragnarök:

That is what the flower is called in English.

First, Jaskier means buttercup. Second, names shouldn't be translated.

This

[Panophobe]

This may have been said...
But I believe it's changed because Jaskier is his "performance name" or "alias" so to speak.

His real name is Julian Alfred Pankratz. And I'm willing to bet that doesn't change in any translation.

The same way the name Geralt wouldn't typically be changed, but in Mexico they'd refer to him as "Lobo Blanco" or "Carnicero de Blaviken" instead of "White Wolf" or "Butcher of Blaviken".

[Armilus]

In German, he's called Rittersporn

[CupCupBaconBox]

He's called Dandelion in the English books, too. I think it fits him perfectly, but yeah they should have kept it Jaskier.

[V I D A L]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Crim:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Sigma:

First, Jaskier means buttercup. Second, names shouldn't be translated.

This

By this logic the game should be called Wiedźmin, not The Witcher.
It's called adaptation.

[Drevin]

Początkowo opublikowane przez V I D A L:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Crim:

This

By this logic the game should be called Wiedźmin, not The Witcher.
It's called adaptation.

Well, witcher is not a name. Is basically a job title.