Anypony in different languages

[Foxy Socks 2,599]

It is one of the most iconic repeated phrases in the show, (there are other similar words like somppony obviously) being a pun for "anyone"/"anybody etc." is clever, but how would it translate in other languages? In English, it is easy to replace "-body" with "-pony," however in other languages it would be morr difficult to have am equivalent it seems to me.

 

I have heard the Japanese version some, and they say "ponitachi"/ "ponytachi" in it, which works very well. Poni is the Japanese loan word based on how it sounds, so it means pony. Tachi is a polite added word to make it plural or rather collective. So pretty much the same, and works just as well for it.

 

Of course not just anypony, but other pony puns would be nice to know. What do you think?

Edited September 11, 2016 by Namae

[vivishy 1,032]

I think it would be rather difficult to translate into another language. But not impossible.

[Solid 1,327]

The Chinese term for anybody is "任何人，” literally translating to "any human." So the Chinese term for anypony would probably be "任何马，" or "any horse/pony" in literal translation.

[Prospekt 11,018]

The only language besides English that I am fairly familiar with is Spanish, so "alguno poni" or "cualquier poni" maybe? I don't know, neither phrase comes across as a pun to me.

[Foxy Socks 2,599]

The Chinese term for anybody is "任何人，” literally translating to "any human." So the Chinese term for anypony would probably be "任何马，" or "any horse/pony" in literal translation.

 

I have not studied Chinese, but don't they have loan words too? Japanese is just ポニ or poni, which sounds like pony. They don't actually use 馬 or uma for it as far as I know. I haven't seen a lot of it and they haven't gone past season 2.

[Fl1cker 107]

I can't think of any decent french translation that wouldn't feel forced at all. I've never watched the french dub too much, but they probably just translate it as "n'importe qui/quelqu'un".

Edited September 9, 2016 by Fl1cker

[Solid 1,327]

I have not studied Chinese, but don't they have loan words too? Japanese is just ポニ or poni, which sounds like pony. They don't actually use 馬 or uma for it as far as I know. I haven't seen a lot of it and they haven't gone past season 2.

In Chinese, there is what is similar to a "loan word," but it's only used on extremely rare occasions, until there is no other means that we could describe the foreign term using our own language, and even then it's usually only for foreign names, like "Bob" translating to “鲍勃" to keep the similar pronunciation.

 

In this case, we do have a word to describe pony/horse, so we use it instead of substituting with a "loan word."

[jorge123esp 912]

The only language besides English that I am fairly familiar with is Spanish, so "alguno poni" or "cualquier poni" maybe? I don't know, neither phrase comes across as a pun to me.

Cualquiera would be the correct one (I'm spanish xD). It also could mean Alguien or Nadie, depending of the context (like Anybody).

Edited September 9, 2016 by jorge123esp

[Lightning Pixel 34]

Russian (I'm Ukrainian, but it's still the same)

Original: Kto-Nibut
Pony Version: Poni-Nibut

[Oleks 1,993]

Russian (I'm Ukrainian, but it's still the same)

 

Original: Kto-Nibut

Pony Version: Poni-Nibut

It's not exactly the same in Ukrainian: khto-nebud' - poni-nebud'. But I've never heard it being used, though.

[Lightning Pixel 34]

It's not exactly the same in Ukrainian: khto-nebud' - poni-nebud'. But I've never heard it being used, though.

Well, kind of same :3

Tho, i had not heard it being used by anybrony...

[Oleks 1,993]

Well, kind of same :3

Tho, i had not heard it being used by anybrony...

 

Also, Ukrainian alternative: bud'-khto - bud'-poni.

 

But all these words sound kinda stupid in Ukrainian and Russian. It's like translating puns - better not.

[Guest]

At least there's the word "jokaponi" that's been used in the Finnish dub of the show. It has the same meaning as everypony, combining the words "jokainen" (=every) and "poni" (=pony). I haven't really seen an equivalent to anypony in Finnish, though. 

[KatonRyu 1,033]

I don't know if they bothered translating it into Dutch, I don't think they did because it would sound absolutely atrocious. I could imagine 'iedereen' becoming 'iederepony' or something, but that's incredibly awkward to say so I really don't think it translates well.

[Ninjaed 526]

It's a recurring problem in translation, and puns are the hardest to translate, but not just them. Easy example with Japanese is the honorifics (-kun, -chan-, -san, and so on) or the speech patterns: ~desuwa for ojou-samas, ~tebayo for Naruto or putting "nya" here and there for catgirls.

 

Taking "nya" as an example here, the way it's usually translated is to have cat puns. It's the purr-fect way to translate this, don't mew think? And for the honorifics and speech patterns, except a few cases where you'd have the character addressed as "Miss", "young master", "Teacher", "Professor" and the likes or the cat puns, just drop them. Other languages have other means to show respect or speech patterns. In English, you have AJ for instance, and swear words (or better yet, colourful expressions) are used to better portray a rowdy character.

 

Besides, it's not like you'll see them squint-eyed yellow-skinned people talk this way. Like, y'know? (couldn't make up anything better, please forgive me ) English also has speech patterns untranslatable in Japanese if kept as is, so it's translated in other ways to make it sound like "natural Japanese" and not "translated into Japanese".

[kaiser5578 340]

okay so if we're going for that than i suppose it would be 

"irgendwelche" in German

[Dust-Shot 122]

Well, here in Romania land of beer we are hearing "Cineva" which means "anybody" which is not modified. But if I'd fan modify it I'd use "vre-un ponei" which is "anypony".

[Lunar Glow 676]

As German is my first language, the full word "Anypony" doesn't translate, but "any pony" would translate to "irgendein" and in this case "Pony." (The German word for pony is Pony )  

And "Brohoof" would be "Bro Huf."