I just found out that “Zastava” is a somewhat old russian word meaning something like “sentinel” or “outpost” =)
That’s all very well and good…the character is called “Zustava”, isn’t he?
No.
If wanna get picky his real name is Tsuastaba.
Actually it’s funny that you mention it KFC cause every time I heard Craymen saying “Zastava, leave them be” in the PDS intro FMVscene I pictured Craymen as a russian general or something 
It’s about the accent he used in that precise word…
exactly “Tsuastaba”.
Zastava is just e reproduction of the Katakana word.
but tsu is only a “ts” in japanese ツァ the kana “TSU” plus a small “A” is pronounced as “TSA” and sounds like “Za” in german (it sounds different in english of course). the japanese don’t use a “va”, they often use “ba” instead. that’s a reason how “Verutanthe” (the Norn or Goddess of the Present) became “Belldandy” in Japan.
there is a kana combination for “V” actually, but it is very rarely used. the Lazara for example are called ヴェロクス (Velox, from the latin velocitas = speed) in the japanese PDS.
So, in laymen’s terms, it doesn’t matter how you spell it, it’s pronounced “zastava”. Got ya.
Lazara are called Velox in JAP PDS version?!
How does a name change so much?!
Actually it doesn’t come from the latin velocitas, it comes from the latin velox 
Velox is a latin word as well which means fleet, quick, rapid, swift, fast etc.
[quote=“GehnTheBerserker”]
Lazara are called Velox in JAP PDS version?!
How does a name change so much?![/quote]
I believe this has happened to more than one creature in PDS, the Lathum is another example, I believe it was orginally called “Zeus?” I cannot remember the proper spelling.
[quote=“Al3xand3r”]Actually it doesn’t come from the latin velocitas, it comes from the latin velox
Velox is a latin word as well which means fleet, quick, rapid, swift, fast etc.[/quote]
yeah, velox is the adjective, velocitas is the noun from wich the english “VELOCITy” is derived.
A lot of the time, creature names are changed to reflect their appearance, rather than their sometimes bizarre Japanese names.
While in some cases, it seems a bit arbitrary, in others, it’s quite obvious why the names were changed. Most of the “arbitrary” name changes are to keep a unified style to the naming of creatures, so while the original Japanese may be sufficient, if the style of the name is too drastically different, it feels out of place, so is often changed.
That sucks.
I think it’s good actuallly 
they’ve done great work, I like all the names they came up with. Lazara feels so natural now that I find velox very very awkward for a name
Wasn’t “Lathum” the last name of somebody at SOA who worked on PDS?
No comment 
And Gehn… why does that suck? It’s only natural that somethings sound better in one language, only to sound completely stupid in another.
Yeah but I like consistency.Don’t you feel like you are living a lie?
I mean the game is originaly Japanese…
Damn Japanese->Western translation purists.
ESPECIALLY the Sonic translation purists, who have been calling Robotnik “Dr Eggman” since Sonic 1. Get a grip, people.
Living a lie??
wtf?
The point is that certain things sound good in certain languages, and horrible in others. The whole point of localization is to get the same reaction from the crowd as the original text did. Would you rather have directly translated Japanese jokes and whatnot that make absolutely no sense in English/Portugese/German/etc., or would you rather have dialogue that makes sense in your language?
And what I don’t get is why so many people have problems with slight changes to text in games and anime, but nobody seems to care about mistranslations in things like, oh, the Bible
Are you a fellow Sitchinite?
[quote=“Abadd”]Living a lie??
wtf?
The point is that certain things sound good in certain languages, and horrible in others. The whole point of localization is to get the same reaction from the crowd as the original text did. Would you rather have directly translated Japanese jokes and whatnot that make absolutely no sense in English/Portugese/German/etc., or would you rather have dialogue that makes sense in your language?
And what I don’t get is why so many people have problems with slight changes to text in games and anime, but nobody seems to care about mistranslations in things like, oh, the Bible ;)[/quote]
Don’t got there.I just ate.
Yes I don’t like change.Is that so hard to understand.Ive been identifying things with PD all these years and it turns out they had no meaning…
How so? AFAIK Orta was created based on the english translation of PDS so I think that shows the japanese consider it a good effort as well.
Even if that hadn’t happened, I don’t see what’s wrong with the change, like Abadd said, some things that sound cool in a language sound stupid in another. All the translation/change’s purpose is, is to bring the feel of the game in the english language so words that would be stupid in english had to be replaced with words that gave the same feeling the “stupid” words gave to the Japanese. I don’t see why you have to stop identifying things with Panzer just cos it’s only like that in the english version of PDS.