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M, FB, Plus, 7, 7Gin, D7, F

Illustrated by Fudiroh

Caption: The Zentraadi, who continued only to fight for 500,000 years, had a language optimized for military service. Although there are few words concerned with everyday life, they functioned as the foundation when the Zentraadi accepted Earth's culture.

The Zentraadi
The Necessary Minimum Of "Culture"
The Zentraadi didn't have culture before the First Interstellar War. Even now, when many months and years have passed since the great war*, the same thing can be said about the Zentraadi who haven't come into contact with races that have culture, such as Earth's mankind.
However, the Zentraadi weren't a completely uncultured race. The Zentraadi were created by the Protoculture as a combat race, and as such, they must be able to have a strong mutual understanding of each other in combat, so the Protocultures arranged a language and letters for them and gave it to the Zentraadi. As language and letters are things that establish the foundation of culture, one could say that the Zentraadi language and letters existed as the groundwork that received Earth's culture.
However, their language and culture is specialized in simplification, or military affairs, as the Zentraadi didn't create an advanced culture themselves (the language and letters are assumed to have been based on the Protoculture language and culture).
In reality, words that aren't directly related to military affairs don't exist in the Zentraadi language, such as "love", "marriage", or "mother". This is thought to have been caused by male and female Zentraadi living separately, and new Zentraadi being produced by cloning technology.

* Translator's note: in the original, it was: "Even in 2059, (...)".

Related Matter: The Zentraadi Depicted In Movies
[Ai] Although the male and female Zentraadi usually lived separately, their normal chain of command was united under that of the overall commander of a main fleet. However, in the movie "Do You Remember Love?", which was released in 2031, the male type Zentraadi and the female type Meltrandi are depicted as warring factions, and it was assumed that fierce fighting had unfolded between them over a period of 500,000 years. The technology and weapon designs they each possessed differed, in addition to their body structures.

Up: Zentraadi
The male type giant race for combat. The armaments they possessed had biological forms and mechanisms.

Up: Meltrandi
The female type giant race for combat. With such things as optical nerves, they had cyborg-like traits.

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Zentraadi Letters And Numbers
The Zentraadi letters and numbers, which are referred to as pivotal letters, are very close to those of Earth. The letters correspond to the 26 letters of the alphabet, and one can comprehend numerals as they are written with the decimal system. Also, an underline is drawn under the letters that correspond to capital letters, and even though the crowning numbers in two-digit or larger numbers are enclosed in a circle, they don't have any additional meaning beyond being treated as something close to a definite article. Also, the letters feature such things as attached phonetic symbols.

Caption: Letters that indicate the unit name are written down on the battle pods, battle suits and so on. In addition to being confirmed on Zentraadi armaments after they were admitted into the Unified Forces, they were even observed on some VFs.

Caption: The letters that were left inside parts of the Macross resembled Zentraadi letters. It seems that the letters of the Inspection Forces also have a similar ancestry to those of the Zentraadi.

Caption: Zentraadi letters are even used in the equipment and the computer terminals of machinery for Zentraadi that belong to the Unified Forces.

Comparison Between The Zentraadi Language And The Alphabet
Black: Earth Language (Unified Letters)
Red: Zentraadi Language (Pivotal Letters [Printed])
Orange: Zentraadi Language (Pivotal Letters [Cursive])

* The pivotal letters of Zentraadi basically don't distinguish between upper and lower case. A line is drawn under the letters that are considered to be upper case ones in order to differentiate them. (Example on the left)

Red: Zentraadi Phonetic Symbols
(left column / right column
pronunciation is enlarged / pronunciation is reduced
pronunciation is extended / pronunciation is reduced
pronunciation is raised / pronunciation is lowered

* Pronunciation is supplemented by adding various symbols above the letter. (Example on the left)

Black: Arabic Numerals
Red: Zentraadi Numerals

Zentraadi Words
Although the Zentraadi language has grammar that's close to that of the languages that originated in Latin, it is simplified and specializes in military affairs, as previously stated. Although the meanings of the words are not necessarily abundant, the margin for error is small as it is an uncomplicated language, and is suitable for military use; which should reliable convey orders and information.

Caption: Even in 2059, when the Zentraadi co-habitation with Earth's mankind has deepened, the Zentraadi seem to have often conversed with fellow Zentraadi in the Zentraadi language.

Zentraadi And Earth Language Side-By-Side Translation
(Zentraadi : Earth Language)
Zentran : man
Meltran: woman
maikuraan: my-clone, human/mankind/humanity
deburan : enemy/rival/opponent/foe
gadora : weapon/arms(armament)/ordnance
kaaruchuun : culture/civilization
miizoon : song/poetry
arukesu : to exist/be
gadorasu : to fight/battle/combat/struggle against/wage war/engage in contest, battle/fight/combat
merukesu : to appear/arrive/make one's appearance
karuchaa : wonderful/splendid/magnificent
horuto : new/novel/fresh/recent/latest/up-to-date/modern
puroto : old/aged/ancient/antiquated/stale/threadbare/outmoded/obsolete article
yakku : such (about something; something close to the speaker (including the speaker), or about ideas expressed by the speaker)/like this,
what/how/whatever
fodantsu : also/as I thought/still/in spite of/absolutely/of course
a : at
te : and
fo : future clitic (as in future tense marker)
pure : past clitic (as in past tense marker)
de : negative (form)/negation/denial/repudiation, negative prefix

The My-clone Device
My-clone Devices are installed in Zentraadi space ships and so on. After concluding the First Interstellar War, this device was frequently used in order to allow the Zentraadi to interact with the lives of Earth's mankind. Space emigration fleets, such as the Macross Frontier Fleet, have also brought the device aboard.

The Noputi Baganisu 5631's Apparatus
My-clone Devices are built-into the Noputi Baganisu 5631, which was the flagship of the Buritai Fleet. The model of My-clone Device that was built-into each ship were models from the same series as those in the Noputi Baganisu.

Caption: Although My-clone Devices were also placed in the cities of Earth after the war, incidents occurred where rebelling forces seized them.

Frontier Fleet S.M.S.'s Apparatus
As the S.M.S. of Macross Frontier also employed Zentraadi personnel, it maintained Micronization Devices. They were also built-into the Macross Quarter.

Caption: The Micronization Device was indispensable for Pixie Squadron to belong to S.M.S., as it was composed only of Meltrandi.

The Bitter Enemy Of The Zentraadi: The Inspection Forces
The Inspection Forces are the organization that are regarded as the opponent that the Zentraadi battle. The Inspection Forces, who are giants just like the Zentraadi, use an armament system that looks like that of the Zentraadi, and they have continued to battle each other for 500,000 years.

The Inspection Forces As An Organization
The Inspection Forces are referred to as an armed organization that the Protodevilun organized. The Inspection Forces are organized from brainwashed Protoculture and Zentraadi, and even after the Protodevilun were sealed and the Protoculture were destroyed, they continued fighting because they were brainwashed.

Caption: As their equipment are such things as giant war vessels and battle pods, the SDF-1 Macross also was originally referred to as an Inspection Forces Space Warship.*

* Translator's note: "SDF-1" added in the revised edition.

Left: The Macross is also considered to have originally been an Inspection Forces Medium-sized Gunship. The chart on the left is an illustration of the anticipated original state of the SDF-1.

The Inspection Forces And The Zentraadi
At the end of of the Protoculture Era, the Zentraadi were ordered by the Protoculture to fight against the Protodevilun as well as the Inspection Forces. Thereafter, they continued to intermittently fight with the Inspection Forces, who had mainly lost the war.

Caption: The Zentraadi, who bravely and resolutely fought against the Inspection Forces, harboured fears toward the Protodevilun.

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© Aaron Sketchley