前回の更新からだーいぶ空いてしまいました。そうこうしているうちに2023年末をもってホストのAdamはOpenLanguageを卒業*1し、以降はJennyの10年来の知己であるJasonが新たにホストを務めています。
中国のゲームメーカー游戏科学が6年半の開発のすえ全世界にリリースした『黒神話：悟空』が、発売後わずか4日で1000万本の売り上げを記録したと聞きます。我々日本人ならよく知る『西遊記』をベースとしたゲームなわけですが、なぜ世界でこれほど売れたのか、潘吉Jenny告诉你が独自の観点から語ります。（2024年8月30日配信）
《黑神话：悟空》横空出世，缔造世界游戏神话。今天，Jenny和Jason就要带你了解这款国产游戏何以赢得全球玩家的心？
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| Jenny: | 你挑着担，我牵着马*2，今天我和Jason就要跟大家说说全世界gamers不仅是游戏玩家，现在好像基本上人人都在聊，人人都在觉得“哇，太厉害的一个中国游戏”。 |
| Jason: | That’s right of course we’re talking about Black Myth: Wukong. |
| Jenny: | 《黑神话：悟空》啊。那当然对于我们中国人来说，《西游记》孙悟空是我们从小可能最早接触的中国古典四大名著之一。啊，现在看到全世界的人民都发现这是多么了不起的一个作品。而且特别这一次，深圳 based game company，they really make this 不仅是商业上很成功赚很多钱，而且玩家的口碑特别好的一个游戏。 |
| Jason: | Yeah this game has exploded across the globe, right? Everybody’s playing and it’s breaking records getting awesome reviews, |
| Jenny: | Exactly. So, hey, are you game*3 for it? Are you game for today’s show, Jason? |
| Jason: | That’s right I am, I’m very game. |
| a | b |
|---|---|
| Jenny: | 对那英语里面，如果你说you’re game for something，意思就是你非常想做这件事情 you can’t wait. |
| Jason: | That’s right you’re ready to do it, you’re willing to do it, you’re excited. |
| Jenny: | 好。那我们今天呢，会跟大家聊很多跟《黑神话：悟空》相关的英语。其实Jason还好今天节目有你。因为就这种游戏，我玩过的就是玛利奥。真的就是我十岁的时候好像那个时候我爸妈就给我买一个掌中宝。You know the Game Boy. |
| Jason: | Ahh , it’s a classic console though. |
| Jenny: | 自从那个以后，三十年了吧。我就没有玩过这种游戏。But I know you are quite game for gaming, and actually是Jason建议我说“哦，最近有一个游戏特别好，我们要说结果到社交媒体国内社交媒体一看才发现oh yeah, Black Myth: Wukong,” right? |
| Jason: | That’s right yeah, this game is kind of breaking out of just the game’s world right everybody’s talking about it. |
| Jenny: | Yeah, yeah. 所以你刚刚用了很多的说法来形容一件事情，一个东西非常的火爆非常的受欢迎。你用了比如爆炸那个词，是吧。 |
| Jason: | Yeah, that’s right. You can say a game or a movie exploded meaning like it went from not being released to coming out and boom it explodes all over the world, or all over the market. |
| Jenny: | 对，然后，你跟我说其实你四年前就看了它的预告trailer。 |
| Jason: | Yeah, there was a trailer for the game a demo that showed off the graphics and everybody saw it and thought “wow, this game looks beautiful, incredible, stunning” but you know who knows, is it really going to turn out that well, but there’s been four years of everybody waiting for this game to come out. |
| Jenny: | 哦，所以它四年前那个预告片就built a lot of excitement。但当时，也有一些玩家就很紧张说会不会只是trailer预告片特别好。But hey the actual game is even better. |
| Jason: | Yeah, often they’ll make these trailers, right? And it’s not really in game footage, it’s just kind of like a movie showing off the game, but this game turned out they were showing the actual game because now that it’s released, it looks just as good as that trailer. |
| Jenny: | 对。So it not only live up to*4 its expectations, to live up to expectation就是你达到了那个预期，它还超过了呢。 |
| Jason: | Yeah exceeded expectations. |
| Jenny: | 嗯，对对对。然后它现在是一个全球的一个大的global hit。 |
| Jason: | Yeah this kind of game we can call a AAA title, which basically just means it has a huge budget almost like a movie. |
| Jenny: | 哦所以它这个三A就是说这种投资非常大的，然后场面非常大，就最top tier的游戏，是吧。 |
| Jason: | Yeah unlike an indie game, or a low budget game, which might also be really cool, but a AAA title is going to be something with a huge budget and lots of expectation. |
| Jenny: | 诶，因为我有看外网就些说 this is the first, real first world class AAA game from a Chinese company. |
| Jason: | Yeah, I think so. And they did an excellent job. |
| Jenny: | 但你跟我说就是很小的团队然后你说budget才花了，不能说才了就是什么四千万美金，他们现在已经赚了两亿多美金了，是吧。然后by comparison, 你说一些美国的游戏公司它，AAA的game都花几亿美金的预算。 |
| Jason: | Yeah, for comparison this other game called Cyberpunk had four hundred and thirty-five million dollars in its budget so more than ten times the amount of money put into it. |
| Jenny: | 好而且我觉得最重要就是这个this game, has brought so much joy and pride, to us Chinese people. 不管有没有玩游戏。 |
| Jason: | Yeah that’s right, it’s sharing this awesome story, right? With the rest of the world this very Chinese story. |
| Jenny: | 对，对就是给我们带来很多文化自信啊。 |
| Jason: | Yeah lots of cultural confidence, right? |
| Jenny: | 对，对。因为我们这样一个古老的。But you know really true and tested 经过几百年时间考验的，我们的这个引以为傲的cultural heritage。现在全世界的人都可以来分享包括and it’s being done in such a contemporary form, right? In the form of a PlayStation game. 它后面也会出其他版本，是吧。 |
| Jason: | Yeah I’m sure they’re going to release other versions of this game because it is extremely popular. |
| Jenny: | 对所以就不仅，I think it’s not only you know the pride and confidence in our traditional heritage, cultural heritage, but also the confidence in what you know contemporary Chinese companies and like world class Chinese talents can do. 我们做游戏我们做软件，我们做各种各样的常见可以做到全世界最最好。 |
| Jason: | Yeah absolutely. I think at least in the gaming world for sure, now Chinese gaming developers have earned a ton of respect from their market. |
| Jenny: | 没错。好那我还是想回到sourced material就是取材的《西游记》。Jason，对于一个普通的美国人来讲。他知道有《西游记》他知道有孙悟空吗？ |
| Jason: | I would say an average American no. They probably do not know about the Monkey King. However people interested in Chinese culture or even gamers, because this fantasy setting has been used before they’re probably familiar with it. |
| Jenny: | 好，那我们来讲讲跟《西游记》相关的英语啊。So this classic novel, 它的英语翻译是？ |
| Jason: | We’ll just directly translate this as Journey to the West. |
| Jenny: | 嗯，对。其实，它有不同版本的翻译。就好像红龙梦*5也有不同版本的翻译但是会有一个公认的版的比较好的。Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t do my research, 下次补充给大家啊。 |
| Jenny: | 好。那，在《西游记》里面整个的故事是讲去“西天取经”。这个西天，我们刚讲就是the West, right? 那取经，这个“经”英文怎么说啊？ |
| Jason: | Yeah we can use a little more formal way of saying it “obtain the sacred sutra.” |
| Jenny: | 噢，对就比较elegant啊，obtain取得，然后这个sacred it means “holy”, right? 就是神圣的。然后sutra就是说的“经”，是吧，经文。 |
| Jason: | Yeah, the word sutra refers specifically to Buddhist scriptures, though. We wouldn’t use that to describe like a Christian or Western religious scripture. |
| Jenny: | 对对对。Scripture是比较通用的不管什么宗教。比如说，我是基督徒嘛，然后我们的圣经the Bible, it’s the Christian scriptures, right. |
| Jason: | Exactly yeah. |
| Jenny: | 好那当然故事围绕着四位主角其中最详细的and there’s an entire game dedicated to him is of course 悟空, 英语里面你们就叫他猴子王是吧，猴王？ |
| Jason: | 对。I’ve only ever seen him referred to as the Monkey King in English until this game came out. So now I think people are going to learn you know his name is Wukong. |
| Jenny: | Right, right. And all of their names has Buddhist, meaning and connotations*6, right? 那讲到美猴王哈，前面要用the的，the Monkey King，不是monkey king. |
| Jason: | Yeah not just a monkey king right, this is the Monkey King. |
| Jenny: | Right the best. The one, right? |
| Jason: | The one and only. |
| Jenny: | Yeah, yeah. 然后呢，他有一个很厉害的就他会七十二变。I think more than seventy-two transformations, 然后他还有一个很厉害的金箍棒，他平时藏在耳朵里面的。 |
| Jason: | Ah yes, his magical golden staff. |
| Jenny: | 啊？ 这个金箍棒叫什么golden staff。金色的员工啊。As s-t-a-f-f。 |
| Jason: | Ha ha... Same spelling, same pronunciation, but different kind of staff. |
| Jenny: | 哦，对。因为staff这个词呢，还有一个意思就是一根杖，也不能说拐杖*7，but you know like这个棒子, right? |
| Jason: | Yeah a stick used, a long stick used for fighting. right? |
| Jenny: | 对，对。然后, in this game, they’ve kept this very important element. So he still has the golden staff, and this is all powerful tool. |
| Jason: | Very cool. |
| Jenny: | 好那，孙悟空要护送唐僧，唐三藏，这个英语叫什么？ |
| Jason: | I think we just call him Tang Sanzang, we just take the pinyin and pronounce his name like that. |
| Jenny: | 哦，我还以为是什么Monk Tang, like Master Tang, or just like 三藏. |
| Jason: | That’s a good question, it probably depends on the translation, they might have, you know, chosen other ways to say it but I think Tang Sanzang is pretty common too. |
| Jenny: | Yeah. 那都很好奇猪八戒你们怎么翻译？ 怎么Pig Eight Taboos吗？ |
| Jason: | Ha ha ha... That’d be pretty cool, no usually it’s just Pigsy*8, which is a lot less interesting. |
| Jenny: | 哦所以不是英译而是翻成了英语。但是不是pig而是Pigsy。 |
| Jason: | Yeah kind of gives it this cute kind of whimsical*9 fun feeling, |
| Jenny: | 嗯right，因为他就是的， |
| Jason: | The comic relief. |
| Jenny: | 没错，没错，给人带来欢笑的啊。 |
| Jenny: | 好那最后一位沙和尚，沙悟淨。 |
| Jason: | This one we often see as Sandy*10, which is another funny kind of cute version of the name. |
| Jenny: | 嗯但这个感觉蛮好的，因为沙嘛 like sand, right? And also sand和沙听起来也有点像。 |
| Jason: | That’s right, exactly. |
| Jenny: | 好。从原著我们再说到游戏。So Jason, you are a quite upon all the you know tweets and on Reddit, what people or gamers are saying and they’re loving about this game. 你觉得最主要的一些，海外玩家那么喜欢这个游戏的原因是什么。 |
| Jason: | I think it’s a combination of two things, right? It’s the incredibly beautiful stunning graphics, which are just mind blowing very realistic visuals, and just a beautiful setting in this cool rich fantasy setting. |
| Jenny: | 哦，你说的那个graphics和visuals就是说视觉上是吧，是非常让人震撼的。 |
| Jason: | Yeah. For example, in that trailer everyone’s mind was blown by how realistic the snow looked of all things. |
| Jenny: | And for me, 我看了这个预告片，我就觉得你就身临其境*11。It really takes you to that world. 然后英语经常会说，啊像悟空或者很多的game甚至game of thrones是吧，人家喜欢看就是因为它的整个给你组造出来一个世界是，很真实的。Like this world building. |
| Jason: | Yeah, world building, where you really feel like you’re a part of this world, there’s a lot of little details spread throughout the game or the show that make it feel very realistic. |
| Jenny: | 对，就是那种很带入是很沉浸式的。 |
| Jason: | Yeah we could say it’s “immersive,” right? You feel like you’re immersed in that world. |
| Jenny: | 对对，就是沉浸式的感觉啊。 |
| Jenny: | 好，那 that’s number one, which is very important for a successful game, and also goes to show you just the capability and talent of Chinese game developers. |
| Jason: | Yeah that’s right. |
| Jenny: | 好。So that’s number one, what’s the other key reason? |
| Jason: | The other biggest reason is probably the engaging combat system. So how you control the character and fight as the Monkey King just feels so cool and satisfying to the players. |
| Jenny: | 啊，OK就是它里面那个打斗的一些，它的设计，是吧。 |
| Jason: | 对。Like “how can I beat this boss,” right? So you have some really difficult crazy looking dragon boss or something like this and you have to fight them and you have to come up with a strategy and jump around the screen, and use your staff, and that combat system everybody seems to really like it. |
| Jenny: | OK so “打斗”当然 it’s a fight, right? But, a better more elegant word就是“combat”。 |
| Jason: | Yeah. A fight you think of just one person or one character fighting another one whereas combat you’re referring to the system of fighting the bad guys in the game. |
| Jenny: | 对对“战斗”啊。然后，它的这个combat特别流畅。Also very original moves, right? |
| Jason: | Yeah lots of like kung fu inspired he’s flying around the screen doing all kinds of unique movements. |
| Jenny: | Yeah yeah and it’s so fluid, 就是流畅. It’s not clunky, it’s not 那么很粗糙的打, it’s art, right? Because Chinese martial arts is a form of art. |
| Jason: | Exactly and in a game like this you feel like you’re doing it yourself, right? It’s designed so well that as you’re controlling this character you like “oh I’m using martial arts,” right? |
| Jenny: | 对，对。那你看到很多gamers对于悟空对于Black Myth。How do they feel about the story itself? 因为这是一个很东方的故事吗，很中国的故事。 |
| Jason: | Yeah I think people really like it and I think one of the biggest reasons is that we’ve all seen the typical Western fantasy game with knights and swords and kings and queens and all that stuff so many times so it’s really refreshing, right? To have this brand new fantasy setting. |
| Jenny: | 嗯，我们有句话说越民族的就是越世界的嘛。Like the more specific, the more specific to culture to an ethnic group, the more universal, actually. 因为 I think a lot of it goes down to it’s about fundamental human emotions, human frustrations and human dreams. 就可能那个其实是非常common的across humanity。 |
| Jason: | Yeah and think about how long this story has been so popular in China, right? So it’s no surprise that it applies those same reasons it’s popular in China that it applies to everybody else, right? It just hasn’t gotten enough exposure maybe or a cool game like this yeah. |
| Jenny: | 是，是。诶 who doesn’t want to root for*12 an underdog? 就是我觉得全世界的不同的文化，不同的民族，都是觉得一个，啊，就是我们说草根的吧。是个猴子，对吧。半人半猴的然后他经历各种各样的setbacks*13、challenges、而且还经常被misunderstood。但是他就是，you know he has a good heart, and then he has all these original beautiful moves and tactics. 然后最后他能够去，战胜看似很强大的敌人，or as you call them boss, 是吧。 |
| Jason: | Yeah this is a 口语 expression that has become the way to refer to like the last character the big bad guy, you have to fight at the end of a section or the whole game, we call that the “boss.” |
| Jason: | By the way, I want to mention I think what you just described I think about the Monkey King story, and the Journey to the West, is a great metaphor for that game developers, right? They’re the underdog, nobody expected them to do such an incredible job of this game. |
| Jenny: | 对，你刚说的那个underdog啊。在英语里面它形容的就是不被看好的，对吧。中文我们说黑马。但是英文你们不太说black horse, right? It’s the underdog. |
| Jason: | Yeah. An underdog is usually in a competition or of course something like this, a market for something where you don’t expect them to do well. Everyone thinks they’re not going to do so great, and then they do really well right, of course that’s what we want to see. |
| Jenny: | 没错因为它可能是很新的，没有什么人知道的很不起眼的，right？ |
| Jason: | Yeah or maybe they have some sort of quality that makes it harder for them to succeed so they’re the underdog. |
| Jenny: | 嗯，yeah。我就前两天看到一个游戏玩家国外网友的评论说“this game blows my mind. And it’s the most magical awesome 就用了好多好多sublime是最好的”。然后他最后加一句 “I’m not even exaggerating.” 他说，你们肯定看过很多夸张的游戏review他说但是我说的全是实话 I’m not exaggerating. |
| Jason: | Yeah just one look at the reviews especially from the players themselves too and you can see it’s clear that people love this game. It’s blowing people’s minds, right? |
| Jenny: | 对，对。然后其实真的对于我们很多中国人来说，就前面讲到的啊。让全世界看到我们当代的中国talents。非常有才华有能力的这些game developers。How they honor the source material? 他们很懂古典援助。They’re able to bring the modern sensibility, right? Making it into such a compelling successful global game. |
| Jason: | Yeah, exactly it’s this combination of this awesome traditional fantasy story with super modern storytelling techniques and technology that I think makes it so special. |
| Jenny: | 对，对。然后我想不仅是我们所有的中国人像Jason热爱中国文化，热爱中国语言的很多外国的朋友。你们也觉得很骄傲很自豪，对不对。 |
| Jason: | 对。And I’m super excited to play it. I’m definitely going to play it in Chinese too when I do. |
| Jenny: | Ah, OK. 因为你没有PlayStation，是吧。所以你还没玩。 |
| Jason: | That’s right I’m on an Xbox. And the Xbox isn’t as powerful so the developer said we have to wait for the Xbox version. But it will come. |
| Jenny: | Yeah，万众期待啊。 |
| Jenny: | 好，那我们今天的节目就到这儿。不知道大家，诶，你有沒有玩儿《黑神话：悟空》？ 然后，你觉得这个游戏最吸引你然后让你觉得最耳目一新最自豪的元素有哪些。欢迎大家在留言里面跟我们分享。 |
| Jason: | Yeah, let us know what’s your favorite thing about this story and what you think about this game. We’d love to hear it. |
| Jenny: | 好，那今天的节目就到这。我们下次再见。 |
| Jason: | 好，下次见。 |
