Translation of the title "cold steel"

[BeastSlayer]

The more I got into the story, the more I think "cold steel" is a typical case of lost in translation.


If we look at the previous titles, we can see each of title not only has some deeper meaning, but also reference to the most important object in the story. For example, Trails of Sky, the Japanese title is "空の軌跡", the kanji "空" have more than one meaning, it can mean sky, it also means "space"/"empty", which is one of the element that connects to the most important object in Sky SC.


The title for the Crossbell Trail of Zero and Trail of Azure are pretty straightforward, thus can be easily translated into English. However it is not the case for sen no kiseki "閃の軌跡".


The straightforward translation should be something like "Trails of Flash", but it does not sound very cool in English I guess. Personally, I would probably go with "Trails of Blitz", which should go very well with the theme of fast mech warfare.

"Cold steel" is a title that sounds cool, but does not have much deeper connection to the story and lore. Not to mention "Steel" is the nickname of Arianrhod which make it sounds more confusing.


In CS3 Rean recieved a letter from his master, telling him that the sword skill he taught Rean is unique, and it will bring flash of light to the endless darkness

For "Sen", the word must have more connection to the most important plot device in CS4 the final chapter of the arc, unfortunately, most English speaker are not going to find out.

[Erpy]

Here's the official word on the title by XSeed:

Why the name Trails of Cold Steel?

Longtime fans of the series know the game as Sen no Kiseki, which roughly means something like, “The paths/trails of a flash/flicker.” It’s typically meant to represent that glint you see on a blade being drawn as it catches the light. It’s clearly not a very easy word to render in English and still make sense with the current “Trails” moniker, so we dismissed the more literal “Trails of a Flash” and other similar titles rather quickly.

I suggested Trails of Cold Steel for several reasons:
• The story is based around Thors Military Academy, a place in Erebonia where many young political upstarts balance school life and war tactics as part of their daily curriculum. Conflict and weapons are something of a theme in Cold Steel, and I wanted words which were specifically reminiscent of steel blades.
• The term “Sen” is a fairly serious word—"Steel" alone wouldn’t have set the right tone, but “Cold Steel” together helps reflect the strain of Erebonia’s intensely classist, military powerhouse society.
• Being a big fan of the Trails series myself, I’ve bought every single soundtrack related to the series. Even before we had the rights to Cold Steel, I’d bought the soundtrack. Hell, I bought it day one! And the main battle theme (which is a killer track, I might add) is called “The Glint of Cold Steel.” The second I saw it, I thought, “Well, that has quite a nice ring to it!”
• When Ken and I were in Falcom’s office and proposed the English title, they immediately smiled and said, “Actually, we once considered using the word ‘Steel’ in the title ourselves, so that’s perfect. We like it.”

So, there you have it. As of now, the official English name of Sen no Kiseki, completely endorsed by the original developers themselves, is Trails of Cold Steel.

[BeastSlayer]

Originally posted by Erpy:

Here's the official word on the title by XSeed:

Why the name Trails of Cold Steel?

Longtime fans of the series know the game as Sen no Kiseki, which roughly means something like, “The paths/trails of a flash/flicker.” It’s typically meant to represent that glint you see on a blade being drawn as it catches the light. It’s clearly not a very easy word to render in English and still make sense with the current “Trails” moniker, so we dismissed the more literal “Trails of a Flash” and other similar titles rather quickly.

I suggested Trails of Cold Steel for several reasons:
• The story is based around Thors Military Academy, a place in Erebonia where many young political upstarts balance school life and war tactics as part of their daily curriculum. Conflict and weapons are something of a theme in Cold Steel, and I wanted words which were specifically reminiscent of steel blades.
• The term “Sen” is a fairly serious word—"Steel" alone wouldn’t have set the right tone, but “Cold Steel” together helps reflect the strain of Erebonia’s intensely classist, military powerhouse society.
• Being a big fan of the Trails series myself, I’ve bought every single soundtrack related to the series. Even before we had the rights to Cold Steel, I’d bought the soundtrack. Hell, I bought it day one! And the main battle theme (which is a killer track, I might add) is called “The Glint of Cold Steel.” The second I saw it, I thought, “Well, that has quite a nice ring to it!”
• When Ken and I were in Falcom’s office and proposed the English title, they immediately smiled and said, “Actually, we once considered using the word ‘Steel’ in the title ourselves, so that’s perfect. We like it.”

So, there you have it. As of now, the official English name of Sen no Kiseki, completely endorsed by the original developers themselves, is Trails of Cold Steel.

Obviously Xseed had no idea how CS3 and CS4 would turn out, so they would have no idea what is the significance behind the word "sen", neither do us.

I just want to point out there are a lot of stuff lost in translation, even the title of "Sky" lost some original meaning.

[Oguzhan]

I don't know. The word "steel" is used a lot in this series especially by Osborne , not to mention the railroads. Not to mention as the series continues on erobonia becomes more and more cold and all about strenght rather than art. Hell in CS 3 thors gets an upgrade.

With sky , the term "trails" is used a lot. Liberl is all about airships. And the liberl arc lets not forget about. I remember hearing falcom actually uses the name "trails in the sky" as advirtisement at times but thats just something that i have heard.

They did a perfect job with the naming honestly. Cool names , the makers like it and has meaning in terms of lore.

[Mizufluffy]

Originally posted by BeastSlayer:

I just want to point out there are a lot of stuff lost in translation, even the title of "Sky" lost some original meaning.

I can completely agree with stuff being lost in the translation but I don't mind too much about it. Having a literal word to word translation as a game title might not make much sense to players who have never heard about the original title or its meaning. In my opinion it wasn't a bad thing the game got a title that makes sense regarding the game's theme but also sounds cool to the English speaking audience if it helps the game sell more copies. If some of those players get interested in the game's origins they can look up the original title and what it means.

This discussion does make me just a little bit curious how many of those players who had never heard about the Trails series and the Cold Steel was their first their first Trails game would have bought it if the title had been something like "The Legend of Heroes: The Glint You See on a Blade Being Drawn as it Catches the Light". It would be a mouthful to say the very least and I hope I'm not the only one who likes how easy the title "Trails of Cold Steel" is to remember.

[ZWabbit]

The theme of the Erebonian arc is not mech warfare. It runs far deeper than that. The mech warfare that you do see or participate in is only the surface of a much deeper theme, something that you, as someone who is supposed to be playing through CS3, should be well aware of. For that matter, Cold Steel arguably captures the deeper theme in a far more relevant way since it can cover so many of the different symbols that permeate the game. The railways, the tanks, the organizations and people that incorporate steel into their names and titles. And then the Steel itself in CS3/4.

[Oguzhan]

Originally posted by Mizufluffy:

Originally posted by BeastSlayer:

I just want to point out there are a lot of stuff lost in translation, even the title of "Sky" lost some original meaning.

I can completely agree with stuff being lost in the translation but I don't mind too much about it. Having a literal word to word translation as a game title might not make much sense to players who have never heard about the original title or its meaning. In my opinion it wasn't a bad thing the game got a title that makes sense regarding the game's theme but also sounds cool to the English speaking audience if it helps the game sell more copies. If some of those players get interested in the game's origins they can look up the original title and what it means.

This discussion does make me just a little bit curious how many of those players who had never heard about the Trails series and the Cold Steel was their first their first Trails game would have bought it if the title had been something like "The Legend of Heroes: The Glint You See on a Blade Being Drawn as it Catches the Light". It would be a mouthful to say the very least and I hope I'm not the only one who likes how easy the title "Trails of Cold Steel" is to remember.

Whenever I tell people the name of the game they go "waoh that is a big title" and that is with the localized name.

[BeastSlayer]

Originally posted by ZWabbit:

The theme of the Erebonian arc is not mech warfare. It runs far deeper than that. The mech warfare that you do see or participate in is only the surface of a much deeper theme, something that you, as someone who is supposed to be playing through CS3, should be well aware of. For that matter, Cold Steel arguably captures the deeper theme in a far more relevant way since it can cover so many of the different symbols that permeate the game. The railways, the tanks, the organizations and people that incorporate steel into their names and titles. And then the Steel itself in CS3/4.

Personally I think CS series has more to do with warfare than any other trails game. And most of the battles or wars shown in the games ended very fast, so IMO I think "blitz" would fit. You are right, steel probably has deeper meaning, but either way, the translation changed the original meaning of the word "sen".

[BeastSlayer]

Originally posted by oguz.gungor96:

Originally posted by Mizufluffy:

I can completely agree with stuff being lost in the translation but I don't mind too much about it. Having a literal word to word translation as a game title might not make much sense to players who have never heard about the original title or its meaning. In my opinion it wasn't a bad thing the game got a title that makes sense regarding the game's theme but also sounds cool to the English speaking audience if it helps the game sell more copies. If some of those players get interested in the game's origins they can look up the original title and what it means.

This discussion does make me just a little bit curious how many of those players who had never heard about the Trails series and the Cold Steel was their first their first Trails game would have bought it if the title had been something like "The Legend of Heroes: The Glint You See on a Blade Being Drawn as it Catches the Light". It would be a mouthful to say the very least and I hope I'm not the only one who likes how easy the title "Trails of Cold Steel" is to remember.

Whenever I tell people the name of the game they go "waoh that is a big title" and that is with the localized name.

I don't think the word "sen" is just about blade being drawn at all. If you look at all the previous titles, they all make reference to the most important plot device/ object in the final chapter. But we don't know for sure until CS4 is out.

[BeastSlayer]

Originally posted by oguz.gungor96:

I don't know. The word "steel" is used a lot in this series especially by Osborne , not to mention the railroads. Not to mention as the series continues on erobonia becomes more and more cold and all about strenght rather than art. Hell in CS 3 thors gets an upgrade.

With sky , the term "trails" is used a lot. Liberl is all about airships. And the liberl arc lets not forget about. I remember hearing falcom actually uses the name "trails in the sky" as advirtisement at times but thats just something that i have heard.

They did a perfect job with the naming honestly. Cool names , the makers like it and has meaning in terms of lore.

You reminded me that "cold steel" actually sounds negative, while "sen" or flash of light should be mostly positive. Interesting


I don't blame Xseed, they did a good job with the translation. They would have no idea what the significance of the word "sen" until CS4 is out.

The thing with kanji, or chinese characters, is that they always have multiple sometimes ambiguous meanings, making translation difficult.

[=Skleebz=]

Originally posted by Mizufluffy:

This discussion does make me just a little bit curious how many of those players who had never heard about the Trails series and the Cold Steel was their first their first Trails game would have bought it if the title had been something like "The Legend of Heroes: The Glint You See on a Blade Being Drawn as it Catches the Light".

I busted out laughing when I read that title, bravo.

Also, with the Crossbell games. I think it should be translated as "Trails to Zero/Azure" and not "Trails of" beause of the context as to what Zero/Azure means in those games (not gonna spoil anything).

[Shunsatsu]

Originally posted by =Skleebz=:

Also, with the Crossbell games. I think it should be translated as "Trails to Zero/Azure" and not "Trails of" beause of the context as to what Zero/Azure means in those games (not gonna spoil anything).

Not sure if it fits in the story (which I highly doubt so), but I think it would be kinda cool if it was Trails FROM Zero and Trails TO Azure
From Zero, to Azure

[Ellipsis]

Originally posted by =Skleebz=:

Originally posted by Mizufluffy:

This discussion does make me just a little bit curious how many of those players who had never heard about the Trails series and the Cold Steel was their first their first Trails game would have bought it if the title had been something like "The Legend of Heroes: The Glint You See on a Blade Being Drawn as it Catches the Light".

I busted out laughing when I read that title, bravo.

Also, with the Crossbell games. I think it should be translated as "Trails to Zero/Azure" and not "Trails of" beause of the context as to what Zero/Azure means in those games (not gonna spoil anything).

The Geofront team working on the Zero translation decided to go with "Trails from Zero" and "Trails to Azure".

[Gearmos]

It could be related with the public transportation networks of each country. Since cities in Liberl are connected by airship, whereas in Erebonia most people prefers to take the train.

[明星ヒマリ]

Will "Legend of Heroes: Trails of Glimmering Steel" be better?

[Meeg]

Trails of Cold Steel is a good name. My first thought on hearing "cold steel" is guns but playing the game you think about the railway that is so important in Erebonia (much as airships are the prefered method of transportation in Liberl). Plus it sounds badarse