Talk:Turret Opera

Easteregg Video
I found a video on youtube showing the hole orchestra part of the easteregg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSD2aGVlUnU Mayme someone could link it also in the article? 77.5.70.200 00:59, April 26, 2011 (UTC)

Last line of the Opera.
I'm pretty sure I distinctly hear "O cara, care a mi", which translates to "Oh dear, dear to me". Can whoever changed it to "cara mia" or someone that thinks that's what is sung explain why they think that, please? -HawkeyE 21:39, April 23, 2011 (UTC)

I'm the user who signed with IP 79.44.69.103 about "la mia bambina cara" yesterday. "Care a mi" is not Italian (and that would be "cara a me") - the "E" you hear is the way the singer (Ellen?) pronounces the R in "cara" (she does it the same way earlier in the song) and the "mi" sounds to me like it's the truncated "mia" (since the sung part is fading away when Chell is reaching the door out) Roby31 ITA 08:29, April 26, 2011 (UTC) Unless of course the lyrics are in both Italian and Spanish (the "Qué làstima" dilemma) a language I'm not qualified to speak about. Roby31 ITA 08:31, April 26, 2011 (UTC)

YouTube Video
What was the point of changing the YouTube video? They both have 1080p options for viewing it and are basically the same video, so what was the point of changing it? -HawkeyE 00:59, April 24, 2011 (UTC)

O cara mia, Addio!
The English translation reads "Farewell to my dear", though, shouldn't it read "My dear, Good bye!", to fit with the grammatical sequence? Just putting it out there. --Modoru 21:21, April 24, 2011 (UTC)

Que Lastima vs. Che la stimo
That was a significant change and should have first been talked about on the talk page. While I, too, initially though "que lastima" was spoken, and still think it kind of sounds like it and makes (some) contextual sense. However, its being Spanish when everything else is Italian makes no sense. Furthermore, "che la stimo" also fits pretty well, is Italian and makes, in my opinion, more contextual sense. I really don't want to recommend that the page be protected, but at least talk about such a significant change before asserting that is the case and changing it of your own accord. -HawkeyE 07:53, April 25, 2011 (UTC)


 * "Che la stimo" isn't correct. In italian word endings must have la concordanza, so you would never pair "la" with a word ending in "o"; it would be "stima".  Listening to it again, though, I'm convinced it's not "Che la stima" (which doesn't really make a lot of sense grammatically - that would be "that's the estimate" or "that's the esteem"), but rather "che la schema" - "That's the plan", which fits narratively and for bonus points makes grammatical sense.  I think a combination of autotuning and presuggestion (once you read "que lastima" you're inclined to hear that nonexistent 't' sound) explain the confusion.  Close your eyes and listen to it thinking of the word "schema" and you'll hear that, too. Peterb1201 01:45, April 26, 2011 (UTC)


 * First off, sorry for assuming you didn't first use the talk-page. Very few have before making changes to the article.  However, allowing some discussion before making changes probably wouldn't hurt.


 * Anyway, I don't know much Italian so I left the che la stimo/la stima distinction for others to fix. However, I did re-listen to the song after I saw your alteration, and I really don't hear "la schema" in the slightest; all I hear is "la stima".  Also, why that was the plan makes sense given the context of the whole game (kind of sorta, GLaDOS only realizes she's Caroline at the end, from what I gathered), its placement in the song makes little sense.  She says my darling beauty, baby girl, etc., then that was the plan and then farewell to my dear?  What was the plan?  It just seems random there, to me at least. -HawkeyE 03:10, April 26, 2011 (UTC)


 * Well, I'm only speculating, but it seems to me that the plan was for Caroline to save Chell's life - by sending her far away from science. I do speak Italian, and I hear "schema", but I agree that reasonable people can disagree.  I sent a pointer to the youtube link to some native speakers who are not particularly interested in videogames and asked them to weigh in on what they hear.  Peterb1201 05:16, April 26, 2011 (UTC)
 * Got my first reply from a native speaker: "The words are too computerized to be able to understand clearly what’s being said." That suggests to me that we want to be careful about asserting with too much confidence what the line is - if native speakers have trouble understanding it, then we are definitely in "You might hear what you want to hear" territory.
 * In the meantime, I've written to Valve asking them if there are 'official' lyrics. That might be the easiest way to cut the Gordian knot. Peterb1201 11:57, April 26, 2011 (UTC)


 * I'm a native speaker, too - see my elaboration underneath and my concerns about the writer's knowledge of the language. Roby31 ITA 12:18, April 26, 2011 (UTC)


 * I'm pretty certain it's "que lastima." It fits with the grieving, wistful tone of the song better than the other options, and operas have been known to mix Spanish, French, and other Romance languages into the standard Italian, so it wouldn't be totally out of the question to switch to a different tongue there, especially for a phrase as poetic as "que lastima." --74.240.99.217 21:28, April 27, 2011 (UTC)

"La mia bambina cara" is not sung at all.
The line "La mia bambina cara" (before "Perché non passi lontana?") is wrong. It sounds more like "Ah mia bimba cara" or "O mia bimba cara" which hold the same meaning. 79.44.69.103 12:21, April 25, 2011 (UTC)


 * This sure sounds like "mia bambina" to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kPyGvqNn4Y&t=47 -HawkeyE 17:29, April 25, 2011 (UTC)

Different translation
A person named ElectroWaffles posted a more correct translation (as it sounds to me anyway) in the youtube comments:

Cara bel, cara mia bella. Mia bambina, a﻿﻿ tra che la stima che la stima.

(My dear, beautiful darling, my child that i admire.)

A cara mia, addio! Mia bambina cara, perche non passi lontana si﻿ lontana da scienza?

(To my dear, farewell! My dear girl, why not walk far away from science?)

Cara cara mia bambina. A mia bel. A mia cara. A mia cara. A mia bambina. A cara, cari a mi!

(My dear, dear girl. To my lovely. To my dear. To my dear. To﻿ my child, My dear, dear to me!)

Frankly, the Chell reference in the current displayed version seems false as it doesn't sound anything like it. Link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBCE539v2JM --SilentShadowLT


 * It's an interesting take on it. To be honest, I can hear both "a tra" and "o ciel/chell" when I presume it's one or the other.  "A tra" sounds like another possibility, but I don't speak Italian and I'm not personally sure how well it fits.  I'd also like to say here that I'm pretty sure it isn't "que lástima, as the accent is not placed their in the song.  It really does sound like la and stima are split as two different words.  I also agree with the Ah->A change, as I think "ah" isn't as common in Italian as it is in English, especially in written lyrics.  The "to" also makes sense as this song is dedicated to her.  Actually, I agree with everything in that translation, I'm just less sure about the "a tra"/"o ciel" part.  We could really use someone fluent in Italian to say that they are here on the talk page and help us out. -HawkeyE 23:03, April 25, 2011 (UTC)


 * "Ciel" is indeed pronounced "Chell" in Italian (really, more like "chee-ell", but if you're saying it fast an English speaker would hear it as "chell"). It does double duty here as a joke, because "Ah, ciel!" is a very operatic phrase, and one you wouldn't be surprised to hear in an aria. Peterb1201 01:48, April 26, 2011 (UTC)


 * I don't think anyone was saying it doesn't sound like ciel/Chell or that it doesn't fit with the rest of the lyrics, but rather that it also sounds like she could be saying "a tra" which may or may not make contextual sense with the rest of the lyrics (I'm no expert on Italian, so I'll defer such a judgment to someone that is.) -HawkeyE 03:15, April 26, 2011 (UTC)


 * "Tra" is not pronounced that way (like Ackbar's "trap!") unless you're a southern Italian stereotype, I'm sorry. My "different" translation which could make sense would be "Oh ciel che la stima, che la stima" - meaning "oh heavens that admire her"; it would make sense both in grammar and meaning (like the singer is talking about how heavens gifted Chell of her stubbornness) and solve in a way the Spanish/Italian duality ("Qué làstima" sounds exactly like "Che la stima" as far as I know, and has this total different meaning of "what a shame/ what a pity". This would however require a decent knowledge of Italian by whoever wrote the song: I can't be sure about how much efforts were made to have grammatical and lexical correctness.

Another part of the lyrics I'm not really agreeing with is the "Mia bambina cara, perché non passi lontana, sì lontana da Scïenza?" (when pronounced that way -as a linguistic hiatus- it requires the "ï"). "Mia bambina" doesn't sound like that (it is iterated elsewhere in the song and you can hear the proper pronunciation with a different amount of syllables) and even what I first thought was "mia bimba" (it bears the same meaning with a stronger note of endearing) can't really be it based on how it's sung. I have a theory that the lyrics recite "Ah mia vita cara, perché non passi lontana [...]", with the very same meaning - when you love someone so much thet you call him your life (Italian = vita); or even in a more "egoistic" point of view on the singer's part (and please follow my thinking process on this one) the lyrics could be "La mia vita, cara, perché non passi lontana [...]" which would mean "Oh dear, why don't you go spend MY life far away, so far away from Science?": Chell has caused so much trouble in the life of GLaDOS that the IA now "only wants her gone" - GLaDOS herself says it in the final credits (also stating "when I delete you maybe I'll stop feeling so bad"; she'll delete Chell from her memory and stop mourning her beloved friend/enemy's loss). This is pure speculation on my part of course but I tried to explain it the best I can. I'm Italian, I went to a language high school and that's the best I got until now. What sets me back the most is the fact I don't know how much who wrote the lyrics knows Italian. Roby31 ITA 09:23, April 26, 2011 (UTC)

The "Soprano Turret"
Just an FYI, according to the official guidebook for Portal 2, the "fat" turret is called the "Soprano Turret". This turret also makes one or two other appearances earlier in the game (like here). -- Commdor (Talk) 01:45, April 26, 2011 (UTC)


 * Thanks for that; I'll see if I can squeeze that somewhere into the main article, and, if not, then in the trivia. It actually gives even more credence to the "it ain't over 'til the fat turret/lady sings" (not that many were disputing it), as that phrase was originally attributed to female sopranos. As for her being seen earlier as an easter egg, that is already noted in the trivia.  EDIT: I'll try to add it to the section on the 'fat' turret.  Can you provide the page number of that for the reference? -HawkeyE 03:14, April 26, 2011 (UTC)

The Easter Egg occurance of them
I was sure I heard the 'fat' turret singing in the Rattmann den. Maybe not using words like the endgame, but just singing... I hear it in the video provided and I didn't think the regular turrets were making it. Could someone elaborate? 05:22, April 26, 2011 (UTC)

Yet another note.
Someone posted
 * Also note that "chell" (heavens) is a pun on Chell's name.

...Isn't that supposed to say:


 * Also note that Chell's name is a pun on the word "ciel" (sky, in this case, the heavens, hence "Oh, heavens").

No?

—Whoops, forgot to sign. --Modoru 03:49, April 27, 2011 (UTC)

'''...And yet another thing, I'd like to note that the Soprano Turret, next to the 4 turret group you find in a Rattman Den, is not singing at any time. What sounds like the "voice" in that music is purely the work of the third turret [from right to left].''' —Modoru 04:28, April 27, 2011 (UTC)

Soprano Turret
I'd just like to let you guys know the thicker turret was dubbed the "Soprano Turret" [Source: Portal 2 Official Guide].

Zoronii 04:04, April 28, 2011 (UTC)

Fat Turret Egg
Not sure if this is an egg or not but earlier today I was about to go up the lift but when I was heading down the stairs I saw an elevator going up with the fat turret inside it. I only saw it for a few seconds. I think it was in chapter 2 or 3. If anybody else sees this please tell me. I haven't got an account yet so leave it on this page.

Fat Turret Egg
I was playing in chapter 3 on the level that introduces hard-light bridges when I noticed the Fat Turret. I saw it just as I was headed downstairs to the lift. I saw an elevator go up just before mine appeared with the Fat Turret. I'm not kidding, have a look for yourself. Just thought it was a bit out of the blue.