Translator's Guide

This will be an article detailing the conventions used in translating Yukkuri stories and comics, with notes on standard and alternate translations.

This is not the place to debate what the standard translation should be. For that, please go to the Translator's Discussion page.

Names And Pronouns

Yukkuris often refer to themselves in the third person. The convention is to keep that intact in Translations.
Yukkuris will add -san to almost any object or phenomenon. For example, 「雨さん」 (ame-san), 「人間さん」 (ningen-san). These are typically translated as "Mister/Miss ___"; the previous examples would thus be "Mister Rain" and "Mister Human".
Nicknames such as Yukkureimu, Yukkurisa, etc. should be kept intact.
「お兄さん」、「おにーさん」、「おにいさん」, (onii-san). Typically translated as "Mister", and sometimes left as "Onii-san". However the Japanese fans have come up with an alternate spelling for it: 「鬼意山」 (oni-i-san), literally "Demon-Will-Mountain", which does not have a English equivalent, but is intended to emphasize the intimidating and cruel nature of the person. Those referred to by this kanji spelling are always the bullying and oppressive type.
- There are some variations of the kanji spelling, usually using a different kanji in the middle. 「鬼井山」, for example. These are always pronounced similarly, and are usually designed to give off the same "bad person" connotation.
「お姉さん」、「お姐さん」、「おねえさん」、「おねーさん」 (onee-san). Often left as just "Onee-san". Sometimes "Big sis", sometimes "Miss", depending on context.
「じじぃ」 (jijii), 「ババァ」 (babaa), and variants. Very rude terms for "grandfather" and "grandmother", respectively. Translated as "geezer" and "old hag".

Catchphrases

「ゆっくりしていってね！」 (yukkuri shite itte ne!) is "Take it easy!"

「ゆっくりしね」 (yukkuri shi ne) is literally "Die slowly", but the conventional translation is "Drop dead easy".

「ゆ」、「ゆっ」 is left as "Yu", "Yu-".
「ここをれいむの（まりさの）ゆっくりプレイスにするよ！」(kokowo Reimu/Marisa no Yukkuri pureisu ni suruyo!) is "This will be Reimu/Marisa's easy place!", and it is catchphrase of 「おうち宣言」(ouchi sengen), "home declaration"

Commonly-used Yukkuri Slang

「ドス」 (dosu), a giant yukkuri

「ねむねむ」 (nemu nemu), 「すーやすーや」(suuya suuya) "sleep-sleep"

「すっきり」, 「スッキリ」 (sukkiri) "refreshed", relief. Sometimes used with an exclamation mark added in mid-sentence.

「どうつきさん」, 「胴つきさん」 (doutsuki san) lit. "Mister/Miss Has-a-body", bodied yukkuri

「あまあまさん」 (ama ama san) "Mister Sweet-sweets," candy and such

「たからもの」 (takaramono) "treasure", usually a ball or shiny rock for the yukkuri to play with. Not usually associated with yukkuri after the koyukkuri stage.

「すいー」，「スイー」 "suii", a cart or other yukkuri vehicle. Also used as the sound effect for moving via such a vehicle.

「おちびちゃん」 (o chibi chan) "little one(s)", baby yukkuri

「おりぼん」 (o ribon) ribbon (Reimu's)

「おぼうし」 (o boushi) hat (Marisa's)

「あんよ」 (anyo) "foot", said in a cutesy, childish way. Commonly given as "footsie".

「おめめ」 (o me me) "eye", said in a cutesy, childish way. Commonly given as "eyesie".

「ぽんぽん」 (pon pon) "belly", again, said in a cutesy, childish way. Commonly given as "tum-tum" or "tummy".

「とかいは」 (tokai ha) "city-sect," said by Alices; refers to anything/anyone the Alice considers "proper" or "pleasant". Contrast with 「いなかもの」 (inaimono, "hick" or "bumpkin").

「下種」, 「げす」，「ゲス」 (gesu) scum, lowlife; yukkuri (and sometimes humans) who are considered unacceptable by the speaking yukkuri's standards.

「屑」, 「くず」, 「クズ」 (kuzu) waste, scum; used in the same way as the above

「塵」, 「ごみ」, 「ゴミ」 (gomi) garbage, waste, trash; used in the same way as the above

「じまんの」 (jiman no) lit. "something in which one takes pride"; usually translated as "braggable".

「にんーしん」 (ninnjin) "pregnancy" (elongated N sound). Usually translated as "preggers".

「かいゆっくり」, 「飼ゆっくり」 (kaiyukkuri) lit. "domesticated/kept yukkuri", a captive-bred pet yukkuri bought in a pet store. Contrast 「かいぬしさん」, 「飼主さん」 (kainushi san, "Mister Owner").

「餡子脳」 (anko nou) "bean paste-for-brains", a fairly common insult among yukkuri
「ぺにぺに」 penipeni, the "penis"

「まむまむ」 mamumamu, the "vagina"

「あにゃる」 (anyaru) anus

「うんうん」 (un un) poop

「しーしー」 (shii shii) pee

Slurring

「ゆ”っ゛ぐり゛じでい゛っ゛でね゛」 When under stress or pain, often Japanese authors will have them put voicing marks on their speech, even letters that don't have voiced versions. The convention is to slur their speech in English, and make it more voiced or guttural. The example here would become "Dage id Eajy"

Child Yukkuris often slur their speech in a "childish" manner, somewhat like a lisp.

The convention for slurring with voicing marks is this: "Marisa" is "Mwariza", "Reimu" is "Reibu". Sometimes there will be specifically different slurring instead, for example "Bariza".

Places

「ゆっくり加工所」 (kakoujo) is "Yukkuri factory"
「ゆっくりプレイス」(Yukkuri pureisu) is "Easy Place" or "Yukkuri Place"

Common sound effects

Keep in mind that it is commonplace for Yukkuri to use onomatopoeia as verbs or nouns, usually doubled with extended vowel sounds. Ex.: 「むーしゃむーしゃ」 (muusha muusha) "munch-munch", 「すーりすーり」 (suuri suuri) "rub-rub". Either hiragana or the equivalent katakana may be used for sound effects.

「ムシャ」 (musha), 「パク」 (pako) are "munch"
「ピコ」 (piko) is "flap", such as waving pigtails/braids
「ビク」 (biku) is "twitch"
「スリ」 (suri) is "rub"
「チョイ」 (choi) poke

「モグ」 (mogu) munch, gulp (eating messily)

「ペロ」 (pero), 「ベロ」 (bero) lick, slurp (ベロ is noisier)

「ドン」 (don), 「バン」 (ban) bang, slam

「ピョイ」 (pyoi), 「ピョン」 (pyon) boing, hop

「ゴボ」 (gobo) glug (used for drowning noises, liquid pouring heavily from bottles, and such)

「ゴク, ゴックン」 (goku, gokkun) gulp

「バッシュ」 (basshu) heavy splash

「ブチッ」 (buchi-) rip

「バキ」 (baki) snap

「バタン」 (batan) door slam

「ブシュ」 (bushu) psssh, used for pressurized gas emissions

「ブリ」 (buri), 「モリ」 (mori) poo noises

「ドロ」 (doro) ooze

「トロ」 (toro) drip

「ビク」 (biku) twitch

「ゾク」 (zoku) shudder, shiver

「ザック」 (zakku) dig

「ゴロ」 (goro) roll

Controversial translations

「うめぇ！！！めっちゃうめぇ！！！」("Umee!!! Meccha umee!!!") is a catchphrase often used by eating Yukkuri. At first it was translated as "This' freakin' tasty!" but that was soon replaced by "This shit's good!" Around September 2008 some anons started questioning the validity of this (while the Japanese original is described as "spoken with no intention of being polite," the English one adds in profanity and is particularly disgusting), and several alternatives were presented, including "This is fucking good!", but no widespread agreement was reached.
The "Take it easy!" translation itself is something of a minor controversy, due to the phrase "yukkuri" also having the meaning of "slowly"; thus, any word-plays relying upon the "slowly" meaning will fall through without the use of margin or liner notes.