https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Springtime_Charms/Story
Spoiler warning: JUST DO THE QUEST DAMN IT, or you'll miss it in 3 days.
This is part one of the analysis on all the errors and missteps Hoyoverse did in the English translation of the 2025 Lantern Rite event, "Springtime Charms" — and maybe all! SPaG problems are not included. In part one, we're gonna focus on the first stanza of the story quest.
... Does anyone really read my opening lines seriously?
You should this time! Because I'm not saying "Swirling Butterflies", which is the story quest. I'm saying "Springtime Charms", which is the WHOLE EVENT! That means there will be more analyses on side localizations, even texts in the playable contents! I do this because I love you!
But I digress. Let's jump in the quest itself first.
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Oops, it turns out we're not jumping straight in the quest itself. I must point out the excellent wordplay in the titles of each stanza, which is not translatable to be frank:
Stanza I: 璃月港佳节兴，八奇现瘴疠隐
Stanza II: 往生堂三日无主，玉京台遣将调兵
Stanza III: 奇门术息灾平昏寿，护摩法净世定幽冥Do you see it? Each stanza's title contains two symmeritical verses. Both verses of Stanza I is 6-character long, while of Stanza II they're 7-character long, of Stanza III they're 8-character long. What's more, they are symmeritical in grammatical structures too. Taking Stanza III for example, "奇门术" and "护摩法" are both 3-character-long nouns, and followed by two coordinating verbs — "息灾" versus "净世", "平昏寿" versus "定幽冥". How amazing!
Also you may ask, why are they called "stanzas" instead of "chapters"? Well, it's a tradition from the ancient times. When a novel's titles for each chapter are all symmeritical verses like that in here, we call it a "章回体小说" and each chapter is named "回", namely, a stanza. There are a million mountains of references to traditional Chinese culture in this event. 'Tis just the start of them, however, I can't take promise that I can present all of them to you. If you're interested, you can head to the Chinese HoyoLab and search for information there. Or just consult Xingqiu if you can.
Okay now can we really get into the actual plot?
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旅行者：别藏了钟离，我知道是你。
Traveler: I recognize those dulcet tones anywhere, Zhongli.There's nothing too wrong here, but... You used the word "dulcet" and guessed Zhongli instead of Venti? Sacrilegious!
胡桃：[...] 我的语气不够如沐春风吗？
香菱：太沐春风了，胡桃，[...]
Hu Tao: [...] Is it my tone of voice? Not as sweet and melodious as you're used to?
Xiangling: Your voice is as sweet as ever Hu Tao, [...]"如沐春风" generally means feeling pleasant for being around a person, whether because they're exceedingly insightful or morally upright. Hu Tao in the original text seems a little more cocky by saying she's a legendary "good" person. What makes it even funnier is the response from Xiangling. You see, "如沐春风" is originally a metaphor: "feeling like bathing in the spring breeze". Xiangling in the original text takes it further, "your spring breeze is so strong (that it's literally blowing me)".
刻晴：蓝砚师傅有兴趣的话，不妨试一试。
Keqing: If you're interested, Madame Lan Yan, please take a look.A "madame" is a married woman! Probably from France I mean Fontaine! Mademoiselle la belle dame ! You should not give any information, even the slightest hint on a playable character for them to have romance relationship! In the original Keqing calls her a "Master", because that's how you call a well-respected craftswoman.
刻晴：[...] 古岩箓 [...]
Keqing: [...] Guyan Sigils [...]Chinese has relatively few syllables, less if you substract the four tone markers. So what exactly is "Guyan"? A place? A person? Neither, as it turns out. It is in fact an adjective, meaning "ancient Geo-" something. Furthermore, one should not translate "箓" to a sigil because we already have Elemental Sigils every time we open chests in Liyue. A "charm" or even "symbol" will be better. And I've found a rather amusing word for it, though nobody recognizes this meaning and will probably think I'm talking about contents beyond PG-13:
FETISH (noun): an object believed to have magical power to protect or aid its owner.
Hence, "Ancient Geo-Fetish"??? No that sounds stupid. Just use "charm", I'd say.
刻晴：[...] 这位是蓝砚蓝师傅，沉玉谷手工艺工会的大师。
Keqing: [...] everyone, this is Madame Lan Yan, a master craftswoman from the Chenyu Vale Artisans Association.How about give up the "madame" and just call her a "master", then use another adjective for later? Also, a "工会" is a labor union, not just an ordinary "association".
旅行者：你好，蓝大师。
Traveler: Hello, Madame Lan. Nice to meet a master craftswoman.Where did the "Nice to meet a master craftswoman" come from? You made that up? Do you always call other by their occupation upon first seeing them? What's missing in the original should be missing in the translation too. What the localization team do here is not explanatory either, just redundant.
刻晴：[...] 山上有一巨树，是为魔神，名「桃都」。
Keqing: [...] A tree who was also a god, named "Tao Dou."Guess no more, the "Tao" here is the same as the "Tao" in "Hu Tao". Yes the tree exists in real-life Chinese folklores, too, in case you didn't read its wiki page.
刻晴：[...] 岐黄符箓 [...]
Keqing: [...] Qihuang sigils [...]Sigils, charms, whatever. But how did he cast the sigil in particular? It is never mentioned in the game, but a guess can be made if you are familiar with Chinese culture. "岐黄", the Qihuang refers to two legendary pharmacists in ancient times, Qibo and his master Emperor Huang. It is said that they wrote the first book of medicine in China. Judging from this, you can imagine he did the magic in a way similar to Baizhu!
刻晴：二贤其一，名为瓠真人，擅使葫芦，其二名为鉴真人，擅使铜镜。
Keqing: One was Sage Hu, a master of gourd crafts, and the other was Sage Jian, an expert in bronze mirrors."Hu" (瓠) and "Jian" (鉴) are old names for gourds and mirrors respectively. They have no connection to Hu Tao or any person with "jian" in their name as far as I am concerned.
派蒙：没办法呀，就算是重要的节日，他（她）也不能敲着这些工作狂人的脑袋说，你这家伙快给我去休息啊！
Paimon: Well, what other option does (he/she) have? It's not like (he/she) can drag them away from their desks and force them to have fun against their will.The translation is good, but not vivid enough. A more honest version: "Well, even in a big festival like this, (he/she) can't chase afte these workaholics, hit them on their heads and yell, 'GO GET A REST YOU MORONS!'"
[Earlier, just outside the funeral parlor...]I must warn you, in the original text, the dialogue between Hu Tao and An Su is packed with jargons, abbreviations, idioms and archaic expressions. And I mean it. To me it's almost like they are talking with ciphers, not with actual language. The special tone here is not translatable, but I shall say it: this is one of the few places where Director Hu finally shows her professionalism. To extract an example:
胡桃：那便挑金立瓜、金钺斧、金天镫、金兵拳；再选清道旗、飞虎旗、飞鲤旗、飞鳌旗。
Hu Tao: Okay, for the gold weaponry, a four-piece set would be the mace, battle axe, stirrup, and fist, so two each of those. And then we could do two clear passage banners, plus two each of the Flying Tiger, Flying Carp, and Flying Turtle banners.Keep in mind that there are EIGHT proper nouns exclusive to the funeral industry or whatever it's called! I don't even know what they are — nobody does, as a matter of fact, unless they are an expert in Chinese funeral. And they are all 3-character-long in the original! The symmertry! Do you see how long and janky is the English translation compared with the briefness of the original? That they put "clear-passage banners" as an individual object while the original puts "清道旗" in coordinating position to other three types of banners? Furthermore, Hu Tao omits all connection words like "and", "plus", the nouns are stacked upon each other in their bare forms. Her Voice Actor didn't even bother to pause at commas, because Hu Tao would trust the Butler for him understanding the words even without proper phrasing.
It should also be noted that none of the "Master" from An Su refers to Xingqiu. No, it was his older brother. Xingqiu would come for Hu Tao himself if the preparations were done by him.
少顷，你们送病人来到了不卜庐，[...]
Meanwhile, you bring Timaeus to Bubu Pharmacy, [...]What do you mean "while" — mean "meanwhile"? I thought you were together all along! The correct translation should be "short time later". The "you" is plural. It's not that the Traveler or someone else has brought Timaeus while Ying'er and Xiangling is talking.
莺儿：是活蹦乱跳。
Ying'er: It's "fit as a fiddle," dear. As in the instrument, not the finger-twitching.Time for inspecting the slangs to see if it fits the world's setting! A fiddle is a violin, and does violin exist in Teyvat? Yes, if I remember it correctly. The Legatus Golem summons a violin during the fight.
胡桃：[...] 麻烦给我拿三支云岫红尘香好吗？
Hu Tao: [...] could I trouble you for three boxes of Red Dust Under Rolling Clouds?Quantifying particles in Chinese always bother foreign learners. Here she want three sticks, not three boxes. Incense with a special name like this is often quite expensive and not selled in boxes (unless you're so wealthy as Xingqiu's family).
茶博士刘苏：呀呀呀呀！云先生太谦虚了。[...]
Tea Master Liu Su: Nonsense, Sir Yun! [...]The "Sir" here is intentional, at least I think so. Although "先生" is exclusively a title for men in modern days, it can refer to both men and women in the past, expecially ones with respectable traits. The actual English voice-over is not optimal, because any unmarried woman can be called a "Miss". Or one can say "Dame", but Yun Jin is not a noblewoman.
Also, Liu Su just yelled "yayayaya" in the original like a hilichurl. "Nonsense" isn't wrong, but is definitely less funnier!
茶博士刘苏：呀呀呀呀呀！居然是这藤人……怕不是传说中的五鬼藤人吧！
Tea Master Liu Su: Oh, goodness! THAT'S what you're trying to get back to her? But isn't that... a Pentad Rattan!?Gusha buka! Mi muhe mita nye!
Yes that's legit Hilichurlian, look up the wiki if you don't know what it means.
云堇：「桃都三怪」吗？其实她们也被叫做「桃都三仙」。
Yun Jin: Oh really? Well for starters, the Three Beasts of Tao Dou are also known as the Three Immortals of Tao Dou.The original text uses "她们", which implies that all Three Immortals of Tao Dou were female...
云堇：[...] 三为金目乘黄月驹，[...]
Yun Jin: [...] and the Gold-Eyed Celadon Mare. [...]... And the localization misinterprets again! "乘黄" is not a type of color as "celadon" means, but a divine beast in ancient legends. It's back had the fur of a white fox, and it had horns on the head. While this is understandable, the "mare" isn't. Chinese "驹" means a baby horse. From the Chinese context, we can deduce that the beast was a mare instead of a stallion — but the English translation doesn't show us that. It doesn't show us the "young horse" information to us either. It's not a mare, but a FOAL!
云堇：好在传说里，八奇中有位无妄姥爷，他倾心于幽蝶仙子，收拾了她的衣钵，并将其传承了下来。
Yun Jin: But all was not lost. According to the legend, Old Man Wuwang, another one of the eight who looked up to her a lot, took up her mantle and kept her legacy alive."倾心" has an implication of "falling in love". Old Man Wuwang fell in love with the Butterfly.
香菱：再这样下去，我可真要敲着你们的脑袋说，给我好好吃饭了啊！
Xiangling: Keep this up, and I'll have to drag you to the dinner table and force feed you my delicious cooking against your will!She's quoting from Paimon! "GO EAT SOMETHING YOU MORONS!" The localization team obviously have noticed this. I am pleased by this, while I am not pleased by almost everything else I said in this post.
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I was thinking of doing the Stanza II as well but there's not enough space for it as it happens. Well, there will be many parts to this series! Hoorah!
