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Back by unpopular demand: ME.

This is a long post and I am not sorry about it.

People really liked my Wardship explanation and I want to do this one in the same way- breaking it down step by step so it's easy to follow along and understand. Use the table of contents to keep your place! I tried to keep things as organized and on track as possible. Like my AMA that I closed a while back, this is a LOT of the data from that compiled and sorted nicer.

I am also 25% more meme this time. We meme! Occasional Kaomoji as well. I feel silly today.

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Profile

Chinese Source:

凯亚·亚尔伯里奇，酒业大亨「莱艮芬德」家的义子。

他已很久没有称呼迪卢克·莱艮芬德为「义兄」了。

目前他担任西风骑士团的骑兵队长，是一位可靠的行动派、深得琴信任的人物。

在蒙德这座城邦的范围之内，但凡发生了什么突发事件，凯亚总会是那个收尾善后的人。

Official EN translation:

Kaeya Alberich is an adopted son to the Ragnvindr Family, the renowned wine tycoon.

It has been a long time since he last called Diluc Ragnvindr "brother."

Kaeya currently serves as the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius, and is trusted by Jean .

Kaeya is often the one wrapping things up in every incident that occurs in Mondstadt's vicinity.

Alright just pause before we even get into the details. This looks weird.

Realize that it looks weird coming from an English standpoint. It's okay to admit it. Don't be stubborn and refuse to see the issues because you don't want to admit you missed it or want to fight me over this post in general.

Mistakes happen. This is literally a translation from some of the earliest Genshin points and the game was much, much less funded. So it's not as "clean" or as pretty as the majority of translations are now, years later.

Once it's pointed out you may not be able to unsee it (sorry!).

They repeat his name three times in three sentences.

(𖦹ᯅ𖦹);;! Kaeya Kaeya Kae- are we talking about Kaeya? Are you sure?

There's a comma after Favonius that should not be there. "is trusted by jean" is not a sentence... or is it?

There's actually a chunk missing here. The comma makes sense when you put it back.

"An" adopted son instead of "the" unless.... there's more than one...? (Maybe!)

Call me nitpicky all you want, that missing chunk of a sentence is a thing and makes the world of a difference.

Moving on. Here is a RE-translation, courtesy of me and my resources.

tKetranslation

Kaeya Alberich, the yìzǐ of the "Ragnvindr" wine tycoon family.

Though, it has been a long time since he called Diluc Ragnvindr "yìxiōng."

Currently he serves as the cavalry captain of the Knights of Favonius. He is a reliable man of action and deeply trusted by Jean.

Whenever incidents occur within Mondstadt, Kaeya is always the one to wrap up loose ends.

Not translating the honorifics yet. We will get to it. PATIENCE.

Also note, The Missing Chunk is back. Let's have a look at it.

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Translate-A-Long

Let's break down that sentence that was edited since this may be the first time you have encountered this type of thing in Genshin's translation. I'll color code a bit so it's easier to follow! This part is skippable if you want to get to the meat of this post, but it will help later on to understand in the later parts. It's also just here to kinda prove there really is a piece missing.

You can consider this translator notes for this specific part.

目前他担任西风骑士团的骑兵队长，是一位可靠的行动派、深得琴信任的人物。

We are focusing on this gold part, but it's important to see the whole sentence because it applies to other words in the chunk to give them context (the other colors).

是一位可靠的行动派

是 is a connector word like "is" or "am" - it links to "he" so you can read it as "he is-"

是一位可靠的行动派

一 is "one" and 位 in this instance is a measure word like a unit. "one [unit]" so ... "a" works fine in English in this instance. It's just quite literally saying there is one of him.

One whole unit of Kaeya, haha. ꉂ (´∀｀)

是一位可靠的行动派

可靠 is reliable. Pretty cut and dry there. You check out the Baidu for it if you like? This word can also mean "trustworthy" so it's possible the EN team cut it because they didn't want to say trustworthy twice? Maybe. Who knows.

是一位可靠的行动派

的 is an ownership classifier when it's used like this. Think of it as an 's, 'of', or that the words are joined somehow. Like John's House would be House的John. This word also comes up as an emphasis if at the end of a sentence, but it's not the case here. We will come back to this later!

是一位可靠的行动派

行动派 is all one word or it's two. It can be used to mean "activist" if it's all together or if you do it separately it's 行动 (action) 派 (dispatch). Makes sense if you think about it- a group of people dispatched to an action are "activists." Pretty sure Kaeya isn't an activist though, so this is supposed to be a person dispatched to deal with issues, as the rest of the sentence carries- saying he is a captain. This is why the whole sentence is important. A

So there you go, you may have just translated your first sentence in Chinese. Congrats! ✧˖°.

"he is [a] reliable dispatch person" and if you localize it to be more familiar with EN speakers, "man of action" or maybe "Go Getter" or even "Problem solver" isn't too bad of a choice if you localize a bit. Probably not perfect, but it's certainly better than deleting the sentence outright! We will never know what Hoyo actually wanted to convey in English because it's gone.

The EN version of Genshin is actually notorious for doing stuff like this. They add, remove, and tweak sentences. Sometimes randomly? There doesn't appear to be any reason they do this, they just do. There's TONS of this all throughout Kaeya's story but that's a post for another day (literally too many to go over when we are looking at different things for the most part)

Now for the elephant in the room:

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About the Honorifics

Let me first express that you REALLY need to put your EN prejudice and bias aside to understand Honorifics properly.

An honorific is a title. They are descriptive words and also more direct nouns. You can even see them as Pronouns in a way, because they are emphasis and important. Honorifics come in two forms- where it's attached to another word or name; or they can be completely standalone.

If you want to understand how difficult this is: try to explain what The Pope is to someone who isn't English.

If you've never heard The Pope or even know the concept; this would be very, very confusing.

Pontiff? What is a Pontiff? What's a Bishop?

Honorifics are unique to their language and cannot be automatically assumed to be what the translated version is.

A very familiar example to many of you is probably 先輩 (Senpai) in Japanese.

Senpai, at its core, is "senior." It's someone older that you respect. It can ALSO mean teacher, mentor, role model, or even a close older friend. It is unique to Japanese culture and will never completely translate over to English, only be understood for what it is. Senpai is Senpai. The Pope is the The Pope.

Why am I bringing this up?

Because both 义子 (yìzǐ ) and 义兄 (yìxiōng) are honorifics as well as just words.

That being said, they are TITLES. They are unique to their language and important.

Discarding what they mean is insensitive. Assuming what they mean is also insensitive.

"But that's what the EN says-"

English doesn't have the word yìzǐ. English does not have yìxiōng.

You are looking at substitutions. While it is not wrong to look at the EN and draw a conclusion that the translation is at least somewhat accurate, it is not that simple most of the time. A bit of healthy doubt will do you good when reading anything from another language, especially something like Genshin.

Localizers and translators have a hard job! They are literally giving something from point A that point B would see as complete gibberish a form that they can understand. It's tricky! Mistakes will happen, especially in more touchy, familiar looking things. Assumptions will be made.

Sometimes it's easier to just NOT translate things as a result.

That's why Senpai is a bit of a common word to EN speakers despite it literally just meaning "senior."

As they say: To err is human.

Seeing it From a Different Angle:

This is a thinking exercise, so it's skippable, but I recommend reading it over before we get to translating again.

If I meant to say: "King Blorbo likes Horses" in a language that doesn't have "King" - what would I use?

You'd have to find a word for a high position of authority that is similar... hmmm! Let's try some out!

Is this sentence is the same? "World Leader Blorbo likes horses"

No. It's not. That's... a bit much.

What about...? "Grand Duke Blorbo likes horses."

Still no.

"Little Emperor Blorbo likes horses"

Ehhhh? Kind of? That could work? But it's still not right.is he short?

"CEO of People Blorbo likes horses."

Dude- what? And yet, this is the closest option to the real meaning.

This is just a silly example of how nonsensical it can be to translate titles and honorifics into a language that doesn't have them. It gets kind of goofy and strange, and that's why you need to be flexible with the English words when going to languages that doesn't even use the latin alphabet.

This same logic applies to 义子 (yìzǐ) and 义兄 (yìxiōng).

Like I said before, these words do not exist in English.

Repeat it again: They. don't. exist. in. English.

Repeat it as many times as you need to until you understand these are NEW words you do not have.

So let's see what the actual words mean, hm?

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What is 义?

Main Source: Baidu

The easiest way to understand 义子 (yìzǐ) and 义兄 (yìxiōng) is to understand 义 itself in this context.

义 is an ANCIENT Hanzi. It has a very rich and ancient history. In eons past, it didn't have the dot above the cross and was meant to resemble a ritual weapon for things like an Honor Guard. Like crossed swords in a pledge or oath- so that's became what it represents.

The easy answer is that it means "Of Righteousness" but you can see it as "of loyalty" or "out of honor" as well.

They're all pretty harmonious to the meaning because they get that point across.

The quick way to say it is "Sworn" because it's in the same vein to 'swear' your loyalty, oath, devotion, honor, ect to someone. So whatever this word is attached to is what you swore it to. For the sake of this translation explanation and post, I am PURPOSELY avoiding it and using it's more formal, direct meanings instead- like of loyalty or righteousness.

子 is son, but can also just mean 'child of'

So apply that logic: 义 (of loyalty) 子 (child of)

义子 is quite bluntly and literally, "Child of Loyalty" if you were to take it's direct, exact translation.

But see this is where we run into a small hiccup already: What are you being loyal to?

To pledge loyalty or oath to something- you need a topic or something to say it to.

Yizi has a second half.

Enter: 义父 - yìfù.

义父 is "Father of Loyalty" in the same way as above.

So there you go. You have a pair of characters that are linked.

A Father and a Child of Loyalty.

So what does that mean?

What indeed?

A Yifu and a Yizi are a bonded pair of two people that have an oath or devotion to each other to be like father and son. Note the key word there- Like. They are not actually and not seen that way. It's a respectful title given two people who respect and are loyal to each other like family, but are not. Otherwise the term would be completely different. This relationship is like a deep, deep friendship and born of mutual respect.

The Yifu teaches and guides the Yizi.

The Yizi learns and listens to the Yifu.

Saying this is an "adoptive" relationship is factually off. While it makes sense on the surface and it seems like a good fit, it isn't. It's a substitution for lack of a better word. The "Ceo of People" instead of a "King".

And even worse it's actually lowering the value of how important Crepus is to Kaeya.

I really can't explain it better than siumerghe did, so I'm just going to copy paste some bits here for you.

The same logic applies to 义兄 but SEPARATELY.

If you become close to your teacher, you are not automatically close to their blood related son or daughter. You do not become loyal to each other by proxy. That's not how friendship works. That's not how promises or oaths work.

Kaeya's relationship to Crepus is NOT tied to his relationship with Diluc. They are two very different things. UNLESS Kaeya's Father and Crepus were sworn brothers themselves. That would make Kaeya a "Yizi" by proxy and essentially a godson in EN understanding of the word.

However, if EN was to translate that Kaeya was a godson that would have given away critical lore not available to the Chinese... wouldn't it? ∑(ʘдʘ！

WE DO NOT KNOW if this is the case or not! It could be! It would be very interesting.

I will also say here that 兄弟 itself is an honorific. To be someone's brother is not necessarily by blood. The understanding is similar to the EN concept of "Brotherhood" and friendship of being "like bros". It's literally just friendship. The word has to be used in a very specific way to be actual "siblings" and Genshin has literally never, to date, done it.

It's like saying "We're like siblings" and "We are siblings".

If you want to listen to me almost literally scream about it on a bad day because people refuse to accept that-here's a link.

Here is a post from a Native CHS mainlander breaking it down on twitter.

Here is the portI did of someone else doing it on Reddit. (The URL is censored, so I brought it over)

In addition-

Here is a video on Sworn Brothers that I like that goes over why friends are "brothers" and "sisters" as well.

Very interesting!

Back to the profile translation:

Flashback:

凯亚·亚尔伯里奇，酒业大亨「莱艮芬德」家的义子。

他已很久没有称呼迪卢克·莱艮芬德为「义兄」了。

Kaeya Alberich is an adopted son to the Ragnvindr Family, the renowned wine tycoon.

It has been a long time since he last called Diluc Ragnvindr "brother."

Now let's look at mine again and swap out those pesky honorifics.

Kaeya Alberich, the [child of loyalty] of the "Ragnvindr" wine tycoon family.

Though, it has been a long time since he called Diluc Ragnvindr "[brother of loyalty]."

Now let's pick at this a bit.

Kaeya Alberich，酒业大亨「Ragnvindr」家的义子。

Remember this character? 的 is an ownership.

家 is a family, collective, or house.

It is literally saying that the Ragnvindr HOUSE or FAMILY considers him their child through loyalty.

He's just their little guy. Their little meow meow.

It's important to note that this is the WHOLE HOUSE not just Crepus, nor does this does not make him Diluc's "Brother of Loyalty" however, only that Diluc would recognize him as House Ragnvindr. Part of the clan, per say. You could argue there's a loose proxy, like friend of a friend, but it's not really applicable.

Follow along now for what 义子 means.

> Not blood related.

> Not seen as family by society

> Treated like he was

> Respected and loyal to each other

This checks out. This explains exactly the relationship he has with them as it's own word.- Yizi. All of Dawn Winery and The Ragnvindr Clan respects and cares about Kaeya. There is a loyalty there. It's intense, it's respected.

To call him "adopted" is actually degrading how important this relationship is. Like siumerghe said above, a Sworn Father is above your Adopted Father. They are seen on par with your actual, blood father, but out of sheer respect. You can literally read this as "my closest adult friend in the whole wide world" and "life role model."

Kaeya ADORED Crepus if this is the word he uses for him, and he does in-

Caribert

Not once but twice.

This is the story where he is talking about Crepus dragging him back by the ear. He specifically uses "Sworn" father here. His father of loyalty. He may as well be telling us that "The Man Who I Trusted and Respected More Than Any Other In This Planet" was dragging him back.

Going to point out this line as well, since we are on a ROLL:

刚被晨曦酒庄收养不久。

In translated this as "had just been taken in by the Dawn Winery."

Knowing all of the above context about 义子 - note he says Dawn Winery took him in.

Not the Ragnvindrs. Not actually Crepus directly. The entire house and estate.

He also specifically said "taken in" in the English for a change- which I find a bit personally fascinating because 收养 can also deadass mean "adoption".

养 literally means raised. 收 is a bit harder to explain but basically 'to receive' so it's 'to receive raising'. Makes sense why it's used for legal adoption- that's pretty much what the words mean bluntly.

HOWEVER it wouldn't make sense to be adopted by a winery, if you translate directly, and changing it to Ragnvindr's would change the meaning. So it was left as is, and that would be correct anyway.

But the main take away in here in Caribert was that Kaeya called 义父, reflecting his profile description and how he feels about Crepus now. It's incredibly soft that this is how he references him in a fond memory.

Now what about one of the times Kaeya does a take backsies-?

The Hangout

If you thought I was going to avoid it, think again! because now you have some factual evidence that will make the word choice MAKE SENSE for Kaeya to change tone here.

We are going to be IGNORING Diluc in this sentence.

我是克利普斯老爷的养子, is what I want you guys to look at.

So. He uses 养子 here, which if you remember from the other explanation above is "adoptive/d father" - the man who raised and cared for him when he was younger and brought him up. Set that 'oh he's legally adopted then-' thought aside and go back to the "honorifics are hard" and not make assumptions.

Now remember, he has referred to Crepus as 义 until here and it's seen as HIGHER status socially... so why did he switch?

Because he's talking to a stranger: Guangzhi

义 is not legally recognized for authority. He would be elevating Crepus between social standards but may as well be saying "I'm Crepus's Favoritest Little Guy" instead of explaining why Adelinde called him "Young Master." Rather than going into his entire backstory of "I was left in the rain because my father went to get juice" -- he just took the quick and easy route.

Go back to that mentor/teacher reference. If you are left alone in your favorite teacher's classroom... do you have any authority to go through their desk even if you're close? If you're besties? No. But if you make it clear you are literally raised by them, now you do because you're more recognized.

So he said, in direct parallel to 收养 in Caribert, "Master Crepus is the Man Who Raised Me" and explained that authority he has over Adelinde (though he rejects it constantly) and then said he's Diluc's Sworn Brother as well. While 兄弟 (Xiongdi) can not mean Siblings in this sentence (it grammatically cannot) it CAN mean "Sworn Brothers" because that is a friendship.

The word "ward" also works perfectly here. "I am the ward of Master Crepus and Master Diluc's brother" makes complete sense. It carries all the needed connentations and understandings.

You could also say "I was raised by Master Crepus and am Diluc's bro-friend" and it be decently valid translation.

This is also why Guangzhi reacts by apologizing. (My mistake! I apologize for thinking you were just an employee like Elzer and the others. I do hope I wasn't a rude ass.) It would very rude not to acknowledge someone so close to Diluc! Like oh god- the CEO's battle bestie that also lives here!? The man had himself a moment.

Kaeya then says he misunderstood.

And that he doesn't live there.

Why would that matter if he was "adopted" in an English stand point? Just because an adopted child moves out- doesn't mean they aren't adopted anymore? That's not something different in Chinese to English understanding; it's just the word adopted is another example of a substituted one. More of a condensed one, in this case. It has lots of meanings.

Kaeya speaks this way because he wasn't adopted. He was RAISED by the Ragnvindrs.

He was warded and cared for.

Now that he has became an adult, he has left and that obligation has dissolved- so he is close to the family but not part of it. This is actually shown in the way he spoke of them.

我是克利普斯老爷的养子

Lao Ye which is (gasp) another Honorific! This one is pretty commonly translated and understood, and it's "Master".

It can be used for grandparents (which crepus is not), higher officials, or a lordship. This is the same way that the staff of Dawn Winery talk about Diluc, Crepus, AND Kaeya. In this scene specifically, Kaeya uses it for Crepus and Diluc- thus giving them due respect, lowering himself out of equal stance to Diluc, and clarifying his position--- Higher than staff, lower than the actual Ragnvindrs.

This is where Guangzhi "misunderstood" and Kaeya corrected him.

Kaeya's relationship as being raised by the Ragnvindrs has not changed, but he has moved out and the obligations dissolved... Like ward. The care and respect is still there as a Yizi, but that is none of this dude's business.

But it also explains why Adelinde reacts the way she does to insult he's still part of the winery after the stranger leaves. She's trying to pull him back in and make sure he knows he will always be part of the Winery.

(This line was mildly mistranslated as well! The EN said she was singular, but in Chinese it's plural- WE. And that they have always felt this way.)

Now... Let's go back a bit to the real crisis-

Kaeya's Story Blocks

I won't do a full translation, but there's a couple lines I wanted to bring up. Specifically the ones that talk about Crepus and the terms used for him- because Kaeya flips here too as he questions and doubts his relationship with Crepus and the Ragnvindrs.

As a word of warning, there are a LOT of errors in the EN translation.

So I'm going to do my best to show you the REAL text without translating the whole thing, because tbh that's an entire different post in itself. And one I have saved! Consider this a sneak peak.

Kaeya talks about Crepus a lot in his story. Makes sense especially now that you guys have been filled in that he is Kaeya's Father of Loyalty. This is pretty much the most important person in his life other than his blood actual father or a ruler. Which is where the conflict comes in and Kaeya's major struggles.

Source Chinese

身为养子的凯亚始终陪在一旁，却无法真正融入这场父子惨剧。

当夜，如同**克利普斯一般，蒙德下起了暴雨。

Official EN translation:

Kaeya was Diluc's brother by adoption and was always by his side, but on this occasion Kaeya did not partake in the final moments shared between father and son.

tKetranslation

As a ward*, Kaeya always accompanied him, but could not really get involved in this father-son tragedy.

This is the same word he used before in the hangout and Caribert. "Raised son" doesn't really make sense in an english context, but that is more correct story and socially. It makes more sense to keep it as ward here because of the mention he can't be part of a father-son tragedy.

Also note, it's not there in the official EN. EN changed the line completely. Diluc's name was never even mentioned here.

Let's look at another:

Source Chinese

作为养子，他本该救下克利普斯，却来晚一步；

作为义弟，他理应帮迪卢克分担痛苦，却躲在兄弟背后，思考着那个古老的阴谋

Official EN translation:

As an adopted son, he should have saved Crepus , but he had arrived moments too late.

As a brother, he should have shared in Diluc's grief, and yet as their father lay dying on the ground, he had hung back behind his brother, that ancient plot running through his mind.

tKetranslation:

As an adopted son, he should have saved Crepus, but he was a step too late.

As a sworn (younger) brother, he should have helped Diluc by sharing his pain, but he hid behind his brother while reflecting on the ancient plot.

This part does not exist in the Chinese.

This is a somewhat rarer example of seeing the divide between Kaeya's relationship with Crepus and his relationship with Diluc and how they are seperated.

If Diluc is by proxy of Crepus- he would have been 养 as well.

Instead, he's 义 here. To date, Kaeya has never called Diluc as 养 anything.

This is quite literally and bluntly- because he sees their relationships as seperate things.

In this particular instance, I feel it's actually best to leave it as "adopted." While it is still 'the son raised by this household' in contextual meaning, Kaeya is actively beating himself up for not being "son" enough. Like if we remove the word 'adopted' and just read the sentence 'as a son, he should have saved him' it makes very clear sense that he's berating himself.

In a very loose capture: "Even though this man raised me and took care of me, but I didn't save him. I was too late."

The fact they added adopted is contextual to his relationship to explain it- and one that doesn't exist in English very well. We just don't really have a proper word to make sense in this sentence instead. "As the son raised by Crepus" also doesn't sound very good. EN literally just plops to the ground like a fish to explain these relationships. The concept is quite literally foreign.

Godson or Foster are probably better bets, but take away some of the closeness in my opinion.

Diluc's line in this is also important. He's basically saying that 'as his deepest friend' needed him but he didn't. It's the same doubt. He's literally standing in the audience of the worst day of his life, watching two people he cares very much about suffer and feels relief. So he is berating himself for it.

Now these two lines-

他与迪卢克共同的「父亲」操纵着来历不明的不详力量击退魔物，随即被力量反噬，死于非命。

The power their father had used to successfully fend off the attack backfired, taking their father's life.

The common "father" he shared with Diluc had controlled a power of unknown origin to repel the monster. Immediately after, the power turned on him and killed him.

andddd-

共同的「父亲」倒在了血泊之中。两位少年在这一夜走上分歧的道路。

All while their father lay dead in a pool of his own blood

Their common "father" fell at the center of a bloodbath.

Look- something we haven't seen before, but you will recognize!

「父亲」 is "Father" but see those brackets-? They're quotes.

They need to stay there. So it's not Father. It's "Father" and that is an important distinction.

This should be recognizable that we've reached Fontaine- as Lyney and Lynette talk about Arlecchino in the same exact way and it's fairly obvious a title as a result. The quotes are there to draw emphasis to something, or doubt.

I bring these to you because I literally never see anyone talk about it? Antis or Shippers? Kaeya literally is standing here saying the word 'father' in quotey fingers. He is directly and immediately stating that he does not see Crepus as a father.

When Kaeya speaks in this line, even in the English, he calls him "Master Crepus."

The same 老爷 I referenced in the hangout. Kaeya talks about them as if he was a subordinate, even here.

So why didn't he call him 义父?

That is a very good question and one I actually can't answer. It's conjecture.

But let me spell it out a bit- because to me personally, it's a bit obvious why.

Kaeya felt no guilt when Crepus died. He was felt FREED over the man dying.

The English version said he felt "liberated" which also works, both say he immediately feels shame over feeling that way.

Can you honestly say that is something sounds reminiscent of 'deep and intense loyalty' to a person?

Feeling freedom or relief that they died? Kaeya felt shame. He's ASHAMED to call himself a "son" or someone of loyalty to Crepus... how could he be so selfish?

He had a "oh man, I'm a terrible excuse of a son" moment.

But Crepus did care for him and raise him, so he does acknowledge that.

养 is one way to say "yeah he raised me," and not discredit or remove that context.

But it's not as close and endearing as 义. A distance was added.

(Edit) "An" and not "The"

So remember when I said that it was a bit weird the EN said "Kaeya Alberich is an adopted son to the Ragnvindr Family, the renowned wine tycoon."

Normally EN speakers don't talk this way- an is a singular word, sure, but we'd normally say "the" if they are the only one.... literally like that sentence. "An only one" doesn't sound right but 'the only one' does. See what I did there? haha.

'An' soft implies there's another one.... and just might be, though it involves some speculation!

One of my lovely commenters actually reminded me about this! Elzer!

Elzer baby I am so sorry I forgot your part in this mess as well!

This is the EN dialogue

Note he says, "like a father to me too"... so what did it say in Chinese?

pulled straight from a Chinese Hoyo Wiki

对我来说……可能像是义父那样的存在吧。

That's right. You should recognize those hanzi by now.

Let's translate this! I'll break it down for you.

对我来说……可能像是义父那样的存在吧。

This is a phrasing, something like "as far as I'm concerned" or "to me"

对我来说……可能像是义父那样的存在吧。

Possibly, Maybe, something you're considering a bit.

对我来说……可能像是义父那样的存在吧。

This word means resemble, or to look like something else.

对我来说……可能像是义父那样的存在吧。

This is a bridge word often used like "is" in English. It can be 'are', 'am', 'to be', and similar.

对我来说……可能像是义父那样的存在吧。

Ha! We know this one. It's Yifu! Our Father Figure or mentor role.

对我来说……可能像是义父那样的存在吧。

This is a combo word of multiple pieces, so it's a bit hard to explain; but it means 'that sort of' or 'that kind of;' or even 'like that'. As a fun little tidbit 那 is literally "that'.

对我来说……可能像是义父那样的存在吧。

This is existence, being, or presence.

对我来说……可能像是义父那样的存在吧。

So this is something that English doesn't do, but this is a tonal marker. It means the sentence itself is a presumption or suggestion, as if the speaker is thinking aloud. You can translate it directly as something like "i presume" or "...right?" to get the same effect across in english.

Now if you directly translate this sentence it doesn't make sense because you're missing your subjects. The topic of conversation is Crepus, and Elzer is talking about himself, so you have to add those back in. I'll do it for you here-

So the sentence reads "To me, [Master Crepus] is/was resembles a Yifu presence (tonal: suggestion)."

So localized a little it would read: "I presume Master Crepus was a Yifu to me."

Take it a step further: "I presume Master Crepus was something of a father figure to me."

Which is pretty close to what the official EN said! They actually did a decent job here, but with all the lost translations, the fact this one is done better kind of gets glossed over.

But there you have it. While the relationship may have not been completely mutual, Elzer did consider Crepus his Yifu as well. Like I said before, it's not REQUIRED for a Yifu to take in their Yizi, only for the relationship to be mutually respected. He considers Crepus to be a father figure, but it's not really clear if Crepus considered Elzer the same way and can be assumed he did not, either to being aware of the affection before his death or otherwise.

Note that neither Diluc nor Kaeya call Elzer a brother- because the relationship Elzer has with them is seperated and unique to him and Crepus. They are not inclusive of each other. Elzer also refers to Kaeya as 少爷 (Young Master) exclusively; so they are not on equal terms as far as status goes. Probably due to the fact Kaeya was raised under Crepus-- and he wasn't-- coupled with the one sided Yifu and Yizi relationship, but that is partially assumption on my part.

So is it an or is it the? The EN says "an" so if you want to take the EN to full heart, that means Elzer was a Yizi as well. If we go purely off the Chinese, it should probably have been "the."

Thank you Black Lamb for reminding me to add this here haha.

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Closing Thoughts

Kaeya does care a lot about Crepus. Deeply so.

The fact he called him Yifu is a really big deal to his character. Crepus was the world to him as a younger man. It's so sad! The story is actually incredibly tragic at its core! Kaeya actively discarded the terms of 义 for Crepus at some point, or possibly never called him that while he was alive. (That's a discussion for another day when we get to the actual story blocks fully)

And yet, in Caribert, he called him Yifu while talking about a fond memory...

ಥuಥ I'm fine. This is fine.

Regardless of how you see Diluc and Kaeya this is very important to Kaeya's character and I cannot say it enough.

Calling Crepus his "adopted father" is a demotion and somewhat disrespectful to the relationship they actually had.

The relationship was not familial. It was respect. It was loyalty. Kaeya and Crepus cared about each other in a way that transcended a need for legality or blood. That is what a sworn relationship is. Deep. Loving. Special.

Did Crepus see Kaeya as a "son"? Yes, but not in the same way an English speaker may consider the word. This is a child he chose to have this close of a relationship with and took under his wing. Kaeya was Crepus's chosen. A protégée, if you will.

It's a mislocalization and misunderstanding that could have been avoided by simply calling them what they actually are: yifu and yizi. Or actual translation notes.

At best, Crepus is Kaeya's FOUND Family, not legal.

This does not, however, effect or constrain Diluc to the same feeling. Because, again, they are seperated relationships.

If you want to say he's also Found Family, respectfully say that he is as a DIFFERENT relationship. They are not linked.

If you take anything away from this long post, I hope it's that Crepus and Kaeya had something that was deep and special and doesn't deserve to be watered down because the English language can't handle it.

Here is another postin regards to Kaeya and Crepus, and here is a repost of it on Hoyolab if you can't access GenshinGay/s subreddit due to being under 18.

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If you'd like me to go over any specific thing, or have questions, let me know in the comments.

I do plan to go over the 5 key relationships of Confucius as it explains

how the whole "brother-friend" thing happened in the first place.

I do have aretrospring if anyone is curious enough to ask me things or send me brain rot.

I make no promises on the content warnings or age ratings.