#i'd try translating it myself but like i said‚ i suck at hindi

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

so there's no hindi version of phoenix wright but it absolutely SHOULD exist because it would be so good listen-

(i am fully "localising" this because if the english and french versions of the game were allowed to then so am i, dammit)

it would take place in some big city in india, probably mumbai so that the steel samurai stuff can be connected to bollywood

the last time i was in mumbai i literally saw a japanese temple like down the road from my grandparents' building so the japanese influences aren't even that out of place. it's a big city okay, it could totally work

kurain village can be a "gaon" (village) somewhere in the maharastrian countryside. the fey manor even feels a lot like the big family houses you get out in gaon, though with a lot more japanese influence of course

the thought of pearl calling maya "maya didi" is melting my heart omg ("didi" means "big sister" but you can also use it on people who aren't literally your sister)

maya can still be called maya, it's a common name in india

and morgan would get so mad whenever phoenix doesn't call maya "maya-ji" ("ji" is a respectful suffix like "-sama" in japanese). he'd be like SHE'S MY BEST FRIEND, WHY TF WOULD I CALL HER "MAYA-JI"

edgeworth and gumshoe would have THE jai dixit and ali bhai dynamic from dhoom. without the motorbikes, of course. gumshoe would call people "yaar" instead of "pal" (it means the same thing).

larry is circuit. i don't know how else to put that. if you understand then you understand and if you don't, you don't.

speaking of, furio tigre would ABSOLUTELY refer to himself with the pronoun "apun" (a first-person pronoun often used by mafia-type characters) and call people "mamu" ("sucker")

OH AND WOCKY WOULD TOO. wocky would speak in the most munnabhai slang you ever heard. he would also mix english, hindi, marathi, gujarati, punjabi and bengali all in the same sentence. nigh incomprehensible.

lotta hart... while it makes sense to make her from south india, i feel like they get negatively stereotyped enough as is and they deserve better. so you know what? she can be gujju. lotta is from surat now and she talks like it. she's got that "hurati" accent. morgan fey hears her with her પાણી instead of पानी and ગોળી instead of गोली and is immediately like "get out >:("

wendy oldbag being one of those desi grannies is absolutely brilliant lmao

sister bikini being a desi auntie is even better

me and my brother have been calling hindi manfred von karma "manoj karma" for funsies so i've decided to keep it (the word "karma" is of indian origin so it works perfectly)

i haven't come up with pun names for people yet but phoenix, apollo and athena can keep their english first names. seriously, in mumbai you see places with those names all the time. especially apollo. it is inescapable.

^see? i was DYING. anyways

MAYA'S TRADEMARK FAVOURITE FOOD SHOULD BE PANI PURI ("gol guppa" for you dehli peeps), NO I AM NOT TAKING CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM

khura'in, being likely in the himalayas somewhere near bhutan (based on their climate and culture), would still be a few hours' plane journey from mumbai so it still works. a lot of the khura'inese characters can keep their same names too, eg "nahyuta sahdmadhi" already sounds very very sanskrit to my ears (sanskrit is the south asian equivalent of what latin is in europe). and also have you seen how he dresses because it's clearly a sherwani (indian/pakistani formal clothing) and amara's idle animation is clearly inspired by art of hindu deities and rafya's middle name is literally padma and oh my god there is so much shared cultural influence they are CLEARLY countries that border each other

(the "kh" sound strongly present in the khura'inese language is also giving me south asian vibes...)

me and my brother already joke about how shah rukh khan would totally make a great mr reus/roger retinz. LISTEN okay he absolutely would. he's got that villain swag.

you don't even need to change the other guy's real name ("manov mistree") because that already sounds like an indian name. do you know how common the surname "mistry" is in some parts?? do you know how many gazillions of people i personally know who have names that sound exactly like that??? and roger retinz is the ratings rajah. RAJAH (king). i've already been headcanoning him as desi since the first time i played aa6. anyway shah rukh khan character vibes

(but then again amir khan has literally played an evil magician in a bollywood movie before, so he could pull it off too i think...)

hindi has informal ("tu"), medium ("tum") and formal ("aap") second-person pronouns. you could have SO MUCH FUN with those. franziska would call literally everyone "tu" to assert dominance while edgeworth would call literally everyone "aap" to keep them distant. siblings amirite

franziska referring to miles as "mera chhota bhai" is actually killing me oh my god. that's her chhota bhai you guys skjdhkjfhldjssdrgse

feenie calling dahlia "dollie" works really well because i have like seven relatives with the nickname "dollie" so i'm presuming it must be common

oh yes, and mumbai does occasionally get earthquakes so the DL-6 incident still makes sense

india also has an active space programme so the UR-1 incident does too

and there's a monsoon season with storms so the SL-9 incident does as well ahahhahahhaa this is sO GOOD (okay in all fairness the monsoon season is not in february, when the case takes place... whatever whatever it's FINE i can make it work somehow)

you can use three scripts for the one translation -- english romanisation (for NRIs like me who suck at hindi...), the devanagari script commonly used to write hindi, and the urdu script so that urdu speakers can play too (for the most part the languages are mutually intelligible, you wouldn't need to change the dialogue at all, only the writing system)

if anyone out there is better at hindi than i am and wants to make a fan translation please do, it would be so iconic