Translation errors

As with any work translated from one language to another, The purpose of this article is to record these discrepancies between the Japanese and English versions of Phantasy Star Universe.

Mistranslations

These are the ones that are just plain wrong, and cannot be attributed to simple typos or Japanese language quirks.

English	Japanese	Suggested Correction	Details
Rod	ロドウ	Rodou, Rodoh	Applies to all Yohmei Rods (i.e. Ulrodou, Rayharodou, and so on). GRM Rod, added in Ambition of the Illuminus, is simply Rod (ロッド) in the Japanese version.
Lumirus/Kaos Knight	ルミラス/カーズナイト	Lumirus / Cursed Knight	"Chaos" (カオス), as the English name would suggest (and misspells, presumably to fit the item's name into the provided space), is incorrect.
Jao	ジャッゴ	Jaggo	The names of these room items should match the name of the enemy, as they do in Japanese. Contrast with Cushion Jaggo. "Jaggo" itself is an intentional alteration of "Chao" (チャオ) from Sonic Adventure. Also see specific notes for Chao Staff within the inconsistent translations section.
Relaxing Jao	リラックス・ジャッゴ	Relax Jaggo, Relaxing Jaggo
De Rol Le	ヂィ・ロレイ	De Rolei	The Japanese name is a deliberate alteration of the PSO boss De Rol Le (デ・ロル・レ) and does not match. Compare Delsaber and Delnadian.

Typographical Errors

These are minor spelling errors which are more likely than not unintentional.

English	Japanese	Suggested Correction	Details
Ank Bico	アンク・ピッコ	Ank Piko, Ank Pico	A reference to the "Piko Piko Hammer" weapon used by the Sonic the Hedgehog series character Amy Rose. Similar to Toy Hammer from Phantasy Star Online.
Assasin	アサシン	Assassin	The board for this weapon is spelled correctly.
Neddle Cannoc	ニードルカノック	Needle Cannoc	The board and GRM version of this weapon are spelled correctly.
Barada	バラタ	Barata	All Shotgun bullets.
Regrant	レグランツ	Regrants	Consistency with technique Grants in previous games.

Deliberate Changes

With these, the original Japanese has been deliberately set aside. The names of the items in English do not resemble the original Japanese.

English	Japanese	Approximate Romanization	Details
Fortetecher	フォルテクター	Fortecher	An extra "te" was added to make this type syllabically consistent with Fortefighter and Fortegunner.
RCSMs	シャドゥーグ	Shadoog	Known as both ranged combat support machines and R-Mags in English, but consistently Shadoog in Japanese.
TCSMs	マドゥーグ	Madoog	Known as both TECHNIC combat support machines and TECH-Mags in English, but consistently Madoog in Japanese.
Grav	グラブター	Gravata	Shortened for the ground elemental bullets of Rifles, Laser Cannons, Twin Handguns, Handguns, and Machineguns.
Dark	ダークネス	Darkness	Shortened for the dark elemental bullets of Rifles, Laser Cannons, Twin Handguns, Handguns, and Machineguns.
Fury	フィーバー	Fever	For all Machinegun bullets, "Fever" (Burning Fever, Frozen Fever, and so on) was changed to "Fury" in English version.
Shifta	アグタール	Agtal	Name changed to match a similar technique in previous games. Interestingly, in the Japanese version of Phantasy Star Portable 2, its effect is merged with Retier's TP boost to create a new TECHNIC called Shifta. Also see notes for Agtaride in the inconsistent translations section.
Jellen	アグディール	Agdeel	Name changed to match a similar technique in previous games. Interestingly, a new TECHNIC called Jellen with an added TP lowering effect replaces Agdeel in Phantasy Star Portable 2.
Deband	デフバール	Defbal	Name changed to match a similar technique in previous games. Interestingly, in the Japanese version of Phantasy Star Portable 2, its effect is merged with Zodial and Retier (MST boost) to create a TECHNIC called Deband. Also see notes for Defbaride in the inconsistent translations section.
Zalure	デフディール	Defdeel	Name changed to match a similar technique in previous games. Interestingly, in the Japanese version of Phantasy Star Portable 2, its effect is merged with Zoldeel to create a TECHNIC called Zalure.
Reverser	レジェネ	Regene	Named changed to match the name of a technique in previous games; however, the effect of Reverser in previous games does not match, and its Japanese name is actually rather close to a technique present in Phantasy Star IV anyway: Raja's Regen (レジェネス/Regenes).

Inconsistent Translations

While many of these are technically correct, they are translated inconsistently within the game itself or against a previous Phantasy Star game's translation.

Characters

English	Japanese	Details
Obel Dallgun	オーベル・ダルガン	The seventeenth President of the GUARDIANS, his first name is often seen as "Ohbel" instead.
Orson Waber	オルソン・ウェーバー	Referred to as "Olson" in earlier story missions, most notably Valley of Suspicion 2.
Reyna	レイナ	The receptionist at the Ohtoku City GUARDIANS Branch, her name is often seen as "Reina" instead.

Items

English	Japanese	Alternative	Details
Durandal Replica	デュランダル・レプカ	Durandal Repca	Inconsistent with Agito Repca.
Hard / Night	ハルド/ナイト	Hard / Knight	Part of the "Knight" series of arm units. This mistranslation is carried over to the French and German translations as well, where "Nocturne" and "Nacht" are used instead of "Chevalier" and "Ritter" respectively.
Agtaride	アグタライド	Shiftaride or similar	Derived from the TECHNIC Shifta, whose JP name is "Agtal", which matches in the same way Retier, Zodial and Megistar match their item names. Alternately, Shifta could be corrected to Agtal. See notes for Shifta in the deliberate changes section.
Defbaride	デフバライド	Debanride or similar	Derived from the TECHNIC Deband, whose JP name is "Defbal", which matches in the same way Retier, Zodial and Megistar match their item names. Alternately, Deband could be corrected to Defbal. See notes for Deband in the deliberate changes section.

Enemies

English	Japanese	Alternative	Details
Badira	バジラ	Bajilla	Bajilla would be technically correct. Alternatively, Go Bajilla could be changed to Go Badira for consistency, but would make both equally incorrect.
Go Bajilla	ゴ・バジラ	-
Tengohg	テンゴウグ	Gohg or Goug	Half of this family of monsters uses "gohg", while the other half uses "goug"!
Onmagoug	オンマゴウグ
Zoal Goug	ゾアル・ゴウグ
Alterazgohg	アルテラツゴウグ

Equipment Sets

These items together form a set bonus have matching names in Japanese, but were translated seperately and different in English and do not match.

English	Japanese	Suggested Correction
Jitseen	ジートシーン	Forgo "Jitline" or "Zeetseen" and instead change both items to "Jitoshin" and "Jitoline" respectively instead.
Zeetline	ジートライン
Nafli-zashi	ナフリザシ	Change either the dagger to "Nafri-zashi" or the line shield to "Nafli-senba".
Nafri-senba	ナフリセンバ
Rayharod	レイハロドウ	Change either the rod to "Reiharod" or the line shield to "Rayha-senba". Also see Rod in first Mistranslations section.
Reiha-senba	レイハセンバ
Lidra	リドルラ	Change line shield name to "Lidra-senba".
Ridol-senba	リドルセンバ

Inconsistent with Previous Games

The Japanese names of these items match those of their counterparts in other Phantasy Star games, but are translated differently in Phantasy Star Universe.

English	Japanese	Alternatives	Details
TECHNIC	テクニック	Technique	Reasoning unknown; similar to other fully capitalized in-game terms such as RELICS, or GUARDIANS.
Bardiche	バルディッシュ	Berdysh (PSO)	Phantasy Star Online's original naming is a rather horrible mangling of an actual weapon term for a long poleaxe.
Stag Cutralli	スタッグカットラリ	Stag Cutlery (PSO)	A double saber originally from PSO.
Neiclaw	ネイクロー	Nei's Claw (PSO)	Known as "Nei's Claw" in English versions of PSO. Neiclaw is actually the most accurate.
Falclaw	ファルクロー	Rika's Claw (PSO), Rikaclaw	Known as "Rika's Claw" in the English versions of PSO. "Fal" is the Japanese name of Phantasy Star IV's Rika.
Sonichi	ソニチ	Soniti (PSO,PSZ)	A Mag from Phantasy Star Online, now a RCSM. Like PSO, Phantasy Star Zero uses "Soniti".
Chao Staff	チャオの杖	Striker of Chao (PSO)	Known as Striker of Chao in the English versions of PSO. Note that Chao, and not Jaggo, is correct here and only here.
Shato	シャト	Sato (PSO), Chato (PSZ)	A Mag from Phantasy Star Online, now a TCSM. Confusingly, Phantasy Star Zero, released later, uses a third spelling.
Yasminakov	ヤスミノコフ	Yasminkov (PSO), Yasminokov (PSZ)	Reference to the Yasminkov series of weapons from PSO. "Yasminokov" would be the most accurate translation.
Jigo Booma	ジゴ・ブーマ	Gigobooma (PSO,PSZ), Gigo Booma	A familiar enemy from the forest area of PSO.
Dark Falz	ダーク・ファルス	Darkfalz (I), Dark Force (II,III,IV), Dark Phallus (Saturn Collection bonus material)	The Japanese name has been mostly consistent throughout the series' entire history. "Dark Falz" is the most common variation now, even after bundling expanded versions in the series (e.g. Blue Burst, Ambition of the Illuminus) with their originals.

Japanese Errors

A mistake made in the original Japanese, usually stemming from incorrect use of Anglicisms, essentially translating English to Japanese and back to English again.

English	Japanese	Suggested Correction	Details
Vullseye	ヴァルズアイ	Bullseye	V and B are often confused/interchangeable in Japanese. The proper spelling for "bullseye" would be ブルズアイ instead.
BT Lovers	BT・ラバーズ	VT Lovers	The "BT" is supposed to stand for "Valentine", and thus should probably have been VT. Also, conjecturally, rendering it "VD" (for "Valentine's Day") would probably have been problematic—"VD" also stands for "venereal disease," an older term for sexually transmitted diseases.
BT Box	BT・ボックス	VT Box