BUMP. Please refrain from reviving old arguments that you were not a part of. Ok, with that said, the new sub-topic: As anyone can see in this thread, I am probably the biggest advocate on the site for keeping haki untranslated. When I say "biggest advocate," I am referring to people who actually have a valid argument, not weeaboos. So, that aside, let me sum up. The word "haki" is a term in Japan that probably has more etymology and (translatable) meaning than I can really describe, so if I were to put it into the simplest of terms, it would basically be referring to ambitious nature, being full of spirit, having a personal drive, vigor, etc. It isn't referring to some_thing_ in particular, but a state of being or state of mind, if I am understanding it properly. That's not that important though. Typically it would be for mentioning someones aspirations and goals. Anyway, I see it as a pun in One Piece, having been used in two ways: 1.) a skill set, technique, ability, martial art, what-have-you and 2.) the actual Japanese term. The pun being that the underlying theme of the story is having dreams and fulfilling those dreams; that is having an ambition, and therefore Oda made the name of this mysterious art form after that underlying theme. Since it is used in two ways, and since one of them appears to be a martial art no different than rokushiki, karate, kung-fu, jiu-jitsu, etc, etc, I do not think it MUST BE translated.
However, and this is the real topic I want to bring up, the term "haki" sounds stupid. It is incredibly annoying to say and read for me, and I know I am not alone on this front. Now, technically speaking, there is no real defined way of handling terms like this, so far as I know, so it cannot really be said that it MUST BE untranslated. Since Oda is more or less inventing his own martial arts form and giving it a name, I think the respectful and proper approach would be to leave it untranslated. Buuut, given the term itself, I am at a metaphorical brick wall of sorts. I know it probably shouldn't be translated, and yet I know it really doesn't matter that much as long as the meaning isn't lost. Why? Because it is an "invented term" specifically for this series, and is used in a way that it plays off of the meaning of the word and the effective role within the story. In order to more accurately portray that word play, translocalization is required. So a big sighhhhh from me here, as these are two conflicting view points of mine, in which case the translocalization argument has more favor since there is no defined rule for translating terms such as these. Have a headache yet? Still awake? No? Dang…
TL;DR
My question: Considering the word play. I repeat, CONSIDERING THE WORD PLAY, what term would you prefer for the translation? And why? I believe that whatever term is chosen, it should be different from the other scenarios in which the actual word is used. That's confusing, so let me explain. Blackbeard has used the word "haki" twice so far. Maybe more. Most of the other uses have been for the…urr, technique. Given that, when Blackbeard says it, I would say "ambition." When everyone else says it, I would use the other term. So far I have seen these suggested, and I really don't like any of them personally. I would opt for a more rare word, so that people pay it more attention since it is a KEY word. Leaves less room for confusion. So the few suggested: spirit, aspiration, ambition, willpower, will, drive, and vigor. I cannot think of many more. Also, this creates a problem of differentiating between how and what it is used, but I think that would be better addressed later on.