The cnet128 Thread

[Skillachi]

First of all i'd like to say, i admire your work translating and basically you rock to the fullest!

What i'm asking is this. I'm planning to start translating soon, i'm a second year Japanese student (doing it at ma university), i think i'm pretty well off where grammar is concerned however because i dont live in japan and dont have access to many other japanese speaking people (i live in jamaica, people who do japanese here are few and far between), i lack a very wide vocabulary. Which i'm sure i'm gonna need to start translating as good as you.

Anyway my question to you is, how do you find out about stuff like special sayings that the japanese people use (online resources would be great) and can you recommend a good online dictionary?

Oh and when i do my first translation would you mind scrutinizing it for me and show me where i went wrong and what i can improve on, little tips and stuff.

 

[cnet128]

How do I find stuff like that? Well... I have my standard set of online dictionaries to scour through. Denshi Jisho is my first stop for the simpler things, ALC is good for the nastier stuff, and of course there's the giongo/gitaigo dictionary I've mentioned for looking up sound-effects and the like. Denshi Jisho uses the same database as the famous WWWJDIC, basically just slapping a nicer interface on it (particularly when it comes to multiradical kanji lookup, the DJ interface is a big improvement), but still, the original WWWJDIC has its occasional advantages. I tend to use it when looking up names for some reason (though DJ has that database selectable as well...)

If I search through both of those without luck, then... it turns to random trial and error XD Searching Google, Japanese Wikipedia and what have you, to see if I can come up with any examples of the word or phrase... Japanese Wikipedia can be a pretty useful resource for some odd, obscure terms that don't show up in the dictionaries, like names of plants or foods or whatever, because first of all they have the quick-links to the page in other languages at the side, so if there's a link to the equivalent English page, you're sorted... and secondly, of course, it is an encyclopaedia entry, so they're going to have a description in Japanese at least, which can help figuring out some words. No such easy resource for random phrases/expressions that don't show up in the dictionaries, though (although thankfully, the ALC dictionary is heavily phrasally-oriented, so it's usually fairly good at coming up with such things in the first place).

Oh, and there's always physical dictionaries, of course... but for some reason I never seem to think to get those out ~_~

As for checking out your translation and commenting... I guess I could try, though I don't know how much help I'll be (I have the feeling I'll probably just end up nitpicking over English spelling/grammar/style issues >_<)

 

[Gold Knight]

Haven't been in this thread yet, so just basically wanted to say I've really appreciated all the work you've spent on all the various manga series here at MH, cnet. As the above poster said, you certainly rock. Thanks a lot.

 

[s c i p i o 7]

Man u rock ~ I appreciate your work every week I prefer your trans especially in bleach

 

[kaya]

cnet128, I want to thank you personally as you've become my role model as a translator. I love and appreciate your work very much, and I admire your attitude and love towards language and translating.

You mention that you being a perfectionist and nitpicking over English spelling/grammar/style issues but I think that should be the attitude of being a good translator!

It's important to strive for accuracy and precision when translating artistic or literary works.
One problem a translator always faces is the effort to present the thoughts and feelings the author is trying to convey in the most accurate way ever,without their personal views from coloring the translations.
A mistranslation which alters the entire meaning is worse than no translations at all,and is one of the greatest insult to the creator and his/her beloved works.
So that's why I love your way of working very much. You're having so much fun!

So I like to know, how do you judge of a translation being a good one, and any tips on improving translations?

Likewise, how long did you study Japanese and what did you do to improve your Japanese?

 

[HisshouBuraiKen]

lol, it's "just" 200 pages long xD
btw cnet, i do have an One Piece related question...

Do Jap-Eng Translators poop?

xD

I would've said no to this about an hour ago, but man, I just dropped my first deuce in like 4 days. I'd peg it at at LEAST 2.5 courics.

cnet - Liking the new setup with manyou and binktopia?

 

[d4v1d_su]

cnet, what do you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner ?

Spoiler: possible answer from cnet

Breakfast
none // instant ramen // bread + nutella

Lunch
instant ramen // bread + nutella

Dinner
instant ramen // bread + nutella

Releasing one Vol. at once, you never stop to amaze me.

 

[cnet128]

I like to know, how do you judge of a translation being a good one, and any tips on improving translations?

How do I judge if a translation is good? I'd think that's a pretty universal sort of thing... if it accurately conveys the meaning of the original text, and it sounds good in English, then it's a good translation. Simple as that. I don't know about tips... just working with those two points in mind is what it comes down to, really. Making sure that you understand the original text properly, and then coming up with an English version that strikes a solid balance between literal and stylistically awesome

Likewise, how long did you study Japanese and what did you do to improve your Japanese?

How long have I studied Japanese...? At uni, over a year and a half now. Year before that, I took an evening class, but I'd been taking an interest in the language, through online resources and stuff, since well beforehand. As for improving, well, I attend my Japanese classes, of course, and I generally immerse myself in the language - manga, anime, music, videogames... I bought the entire series of Suzumiya Haruhi light novels recently, which I'm working my way slowly through

cnet - Liking the new setup with manyou and binktopia?

Well, it has its advantages. It's nice to be able to get some of my translations out of the way on Thursday instead of it all suddenly piling on top of me on Friday. On the other hand, it also means Thursday evening suddenly becomes a busy one ~_~ (And I don't know what's going to happen these next few weeks, since I'm at home on holiday, and exceptionally unlikely to be able to be online at 1-4 AM-ish on a Thursday evening...)

cnet, what do you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner ?

Spoiler: possible answer from cnet

Breakfast
none // instant ramen // bread + nutella

Lunch
instant ramen // bread + nutella

Dinner
instant ramen // bread + nutella

Releasing one Vol. at once, you never stop to amaze me.

Breakfast: Cereal with milk, shockingly enough. And apple juice.

Lunch: When I'm at uni, almost always sandwiches from the union shop. When I'm at home, toast! Or crumpets! Mmmm... toast... crumpets...

Dinner: When I'm at uni, my staple meal is microwave pizza (Chicago Town pepperoni pizza, to be precise... IT AER TASTY) along with oven-cooked potato waffles... or some other oven-cookable potato product, like potato wedges. That's not my sole meal... but I do have it a lot. Other meals fall into two categories. The first being potato waffles with something else oven-cookable (chicken dippers, chicken burgers, beefburgers...), and the second being MICROWAVABLE READY MEALS! >_<

...of course, when I'm home for the holidays, I have lovely home-cooked dinners courtesy of my mother. Which makes a change from my uni fare XD

So no, I do not live on instant ramen ~_~

Or Nutella.

 

[Skillachi]

Thanks for those resources cnet. I looking for new manga to start translating now (i dont wanna go for the stuff that everybody else is already doing). Its being quite a trouble though, i wanna go shonen but i cant find any... *sigh* oh well i'll find one soon. I'm gonna be having a little more help than you though cuz its like me and 3 of my friends gonna be doing the translations.

@hisshou - LOL i cant beleive you just used courics... damn south park for its stupidity (but i cant stop watching!)

 

[d4v1d_su]

LOL ... this thread is always on top

 

[animalia]

Please check your private messages as I would like an answer to a request I sent you that way.

Arigatou

 

[darklazer57]

Hey Cnet. I joined up this forum just to ask you some things.

When you translate, do you translate the SFXs also, or do you view them as trivial and a waste of your time?
Do you foresee yourself translating for a long time?
Would you say that you are athletic?

I never realized that you liked OP over all the other mangas that you translate, but I don't know what your views are now since that last post was from June. I'm an OP fan too btw.

 

[cnet128]

Well, I'm sure you could've figured out the answer to your first question yourself just by actually looking at my translations But the answer is, in general, I don't translate SFX. In most of your generic shonen action titles, SFX are all over the place, even taking up entire panels or pages at times, but frankly, there's just no need to translate them. The visual integration of the SFX into the art says more than the SFX itself does a lot of the time, and integrating them into a Edited Manga would mean messing around with the art, and replacing it with a translation that's never really going to work very well anyway.

There are a few series in which I do translate SFX. Hatsukoi is one of them - I don't really know why I decided to trranslate the SFX in that one, but the fact is that I did and now I'm in the habit of doing so. It's not an action-based manga, at any rate, so it's perhaps more worthwhile translating the SFX - they're more than just an endless string of crashes and bangs ~_~ And the other series in which I translate SFX is xxxHOLiC, because I feel the SFX are fairly prominent in that series and thus merit translating (even if they don't translate too well).

I should hope that I keep translating for a fairly long time, although of course it's always hard to tell with these things. And no, I'm not athletic. Not in the slightest ~_~

And yeah, OP is great (especially recently, what with awesome arc climax and now the equally awesome new-arc introduction). D.Gray-man is also a series that is really interesting me right now, I think it's pretty damn unique for a shonen action series. But of course I enjoy all the series I translate, else I wouldn't be translating them.

 

[kaya]

It's so interesting to hear your answers, Cnet.
Thank you! I learn a lot from your thread.

I love how you answer about SFX. I also don't translate SFX unless it is important in the series. Some artists make used of SFX a lot but it's pretty uncommon. I agree that SFX in non-action based manga are more worthwhile to translate as they add onto the meanings and enrich the manga. Most people actually don't pay attention to SFX so it's good let others know SFX does play a part.


Hm, so what is your top-5 manga that you love of all times?

 

[cnet128]

Oh, I couldn't possibly choose ~_~

 

[darklazer57]

Since you live in England(?), do you have any personal feelings about the current war going on with Iraq?

 

[cnet128]

Oh, Lord, don't talk to me about wars and politics. Can't stand the stuff. I'm extremely well-versed in taking not the slightest bit of interest whatsoever in such matters ~_~

 

[SoulReaporKoul]

Hey Cnet. First off let me say you are an amazing and awesome translator (and most recently thanks for your Kekkaishi translation of Vol 16). I just wanted to say that I admire the how you decided to start posting your translations for everyone to use, especially translations that are as good as yours, let me tell you from a Editing point of view when typesetting I appreciate your // to help distinguish where the text should go. Also, your funny TN are a nice break from the excessive amount of text that needs to be typeset. I was just wondering if along with your usual WSJ series you have now taken it upon yourself to translate Kekkaishi for the masses? and if you truly have decided to effectively translate Kekkaishi, I happen to have the RAWs up to volume 19 (if you want them, but I daresay you're probably gonna take quite the break after translating a whole volume, but they're here if and when you need them). Also, I was wondering if you've ever seen or read Gintama? It may seem a bit random but from what I gather about you, we have pretty similar tastes in Anime/Manga, and so I was wondering if you didn't know about Gintama. Be sure to give it a try (you can read and begin to correct inferior translated scans from OneManga.com , but I would also recommend watching the Anime on crunchyroll.com, because Like ONE PIECE, Gintama is one of the few shows where the Manga and Anime tend to lend to each other's strenghts.) Warning, reading or watching Gintama may cause you to become addicted to it, so i'd wait untill after finals. So, get back to me on the whole Kekkaishi thing, and tell me what you think of Gintama.

 

[cnet128]

Why, of course I intend to translate Kekkaishi up to and beyond the current chapter if I can manage it ^_^ And if you have tank RAWs for volumes 18 and 19, then yes, I'd appreciate those, since I only have tank RAWs up to 17.

As for Gintama, I did read just a chapter or two of the manga, and watched the first episode of the anime as well, as I recall. I just never actually got into it. I might try it again at some point.

 

[Farfalla]

I just came here to say that rly RLY love u'r work.
I dont know how many times u recieve that kind of msg, but I think sometimes must be nice to read something like that^^ (same way it's always nice to read your translations)