Capitalization in Titles

Why do half the soundtracks I download either only capitalize the first word or just not bother to capitalize anything?

Oh, and for people that care about capitalization.... you're supposed to capitalize "is" in titles.

How ya doing, buddy?

I don't think preference has anything to do with it. According to capitalization rules, you are supposed to capitalize "is".

You do not capitalize articles. That is "a", "an" and "the", I believe.

You do not capitalize "and", "but", "or", "nor", or "so".

You do not capitalize prepositions fewer than five letters.

Originally Posted by Cellius

What about pronouns? I've always been back and forth on that. You, he, me, she, they, etc?

Definitely capitalize pronouns.

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Originally Posted by WarpStar

In the case of Japanese soundtracks with English track titles, sometimes that's actually the way they chose to print them.

So being grammatically incorrect is then correct. That's genius. It's also the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Not directed to you, WarpStar, I know you're just saying how it is.

Originally Posted by CHz

Also, I don't like how you're implying there's only one correct standard for capitalization (although I do use just about every rule you've given). It would be nice if everyone used the same style guidelines, but there are different systems out there (MLA, Chicago, etc.). As long as people are consistent with how they name things, I don't really care, although I'll correct if the capitalization looks really bad to me. And as a few have said, cover capitalization trumps all for me.

You're right about being consistent. If you don't capitalize "is" the world won't come to an end. A lot of people don't. But when every single word in the title is lowercased, it really gives off a feeling of stupidity for whoever tagged it. I've spent days retagging #gamemp3s files because they're all lowercased / uppercased.

How ya doing, buddy?

Everything lowercase looks correct? You're somebody that actually retags syuff but incorrect grammar looks correct? That's literally humorous.

....and thus, people prefer bad capitalization. Bad grammar. Laziness is supported. It's really pathetic.

Not like I can dis #gamemp3s. It has the biggest collection of game music out there and they're pretty darn willing to share stuff around here. Most of my music comes from them. I don't know what I'd do without them. I just wish they would actually capitalize. Or lowercase, when necessary. After all, THE AWFUL NIGHT and RADIANT SOULS is as lame as escape from enemy base. Although, you wouldn't even know what the title was there if you hadn't seen it before.

And yes, "is" is a form of "to be". All forms of "to be" are capitalized; "is", "are", "was", etc.

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That's what who wanted it to look like? I think I get what you meant. You want to keep the "original" tracklist, grammar and all.

The thing is, it's not really the original tracklist. It's a tracklist that somebody translated. I have a hard time believing that anybody would purposely lowercase every word in the title of their song. I don't care how bad your grammar is, any semi-intelligent individual understands capitalization. And if one of them doesn't, can't another one fix it?

In case you didn't know, there is no capitalization in Japanese. So obviously none of the titles are going to be capitalized NATURALLY after translation.

I know this isn't going anywhere, I thought I would just announce how pathetic the majority of the tagging is. It really shows a lack of intelligence. Maybe some people don't capitalize "is", maybe some people capitalize "with" - minor mistakes. But some of the mistakes I see around here.... are just embarrassing. Go look at #gamemp3s' Tales of Symphonia rip.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Spikey

And back to my point- why is it only capitalization that raises people's ire? Surely the moronic translations are more annoying to have, where you can't easily find a track, than one letter capitalised or not.

lol I REEEEAALLY hate bad translations, but that's not something I have any right to complain about in a thread because I'm not somebody who can do any better, so it'd be a bit hypocritical to complain. Now grammar on the other hand....

Originally Posted by CHz

...if you don't have to translate them and their capitalization isn't "proper," so to speak, what then?

You missed my point entirely. SOMEBODY has to translate them. Even if it's the artist! If the artist is Japanese, going from a Japanese title to an English title is a translation. Now, whether or not he actually puts the title in English on the tracklist is irrelevant. It's still a translation, so to speak.

I think you missed the part where there's no capitalization in Japanese. So correct translation seems to be tough for them, or something.

At any rate, if it's lowercased on the original tracklist, I don't see the harm in capitalizing it when it makes it to MP3. I can see some things being capitalized that "shouldn't" be - like, for example, in Baten Kaitos, "Survival from The Force", "the" normally shouldn't be capitalized, but it's almost like a name there. Fine. I kept it that way. But "off ground"? It just looks sloppy. Again, unintelligent. It's like walking off a cliff because the last person did it. Just because he chose that path doesn't mean you have to follow.

Really, if you're not hosting a music server, then tag your own way. It would be nice if the FTP hosts actually used some decent grammar though.

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You go right on ahead. I'm actually interested in knowing what the real name (or something close to it) is. Spikey, for all I know, they ARE fan retitles. I couldn't look at the Japanese and verify.

And just so you know, I tend to fix things like "Encount with Renegades". It should obviously be encounter. But I don't like to change the name entirely.

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Originally Posted by Free.User

Here's a question: What do you guys do in cases where the artist stylistically chooses to change the capitalization? For example, the band the pillows. They purposely spell it in lowercase. I would keep it that way, what about you?

Originally Posted by Trench

In case you didn't know, there is no capitalization in Japanese. So obviously none of the titles are going to be capitalized NATURALLY after translation.

Originally Posted by Trench

I think you missed the part where there's no capitalization in Japanese. So correct translation seems to be tough for them, or something.

I've said it twice, I'll say it again. Go find an English / American band who lowercases purposely. You're giving a Japanese example. Didn't you get the point yet?

And thank you, Tenseiken, for supporting good grammar.

How ya doing, buddy?