The Molokidan Thread~!

[molokidan]

Well, translation theory is a sticky subject, and people have differing opinions, but as for my two cents...

I started out translating being strict about keeping things as close to the original. The more I translated, however, I began to realize that this actually ends up distancing it from English readers even further. Sometimes, the structures of sentences, and the individual words must be altered to get across the proper nuance that is being transmitted in the Japanese text. So it really becomes a balance between the literal sentence being read and the underlying meaning. Good translators strive for this.

One thing I do not approve of, which I am sure many translators also do not, is a translator pushing his or her own personal opinions of what characters should say/how their lines should read in the text. It's masturbatory garbage. As for accents, it's a debatable issue, I think it needs to be taken case by case.

 

[nukumi]

Thanks for your reply. Maybe I should have started off with something easier like, do you like apples? Little too late for that now though. :P

I've always been concerned with how it would come across to the reader, call it my personality, but I'm also never satisfied with the result. I could read it a million times, and end up changing it a million and one. Eventually I just have to walk away from it and never look back. However, practice makes perfect, so I guess I'll just keep on doing the best I can.

I have this interesting ability to actually feel like I've become the character themselves. It's a little scary sometimes, especially if I'm reading about a murderer.. I just feel this evil well up inside of me. But at the same time, happy movies can leave me with a permanent smile for a few hours. It's like my real self disappears somewhere, and I can only see the world through the character's eyes. I'm usually able to see it with ridiculous accuracy, so I try to use that to best portray their feelings. Who knows how well it works though. I'll have to wait until someone tells me I'm wrong. :x

Thanks again for your reply I was worried you had drowned in work, or just generally too busy to check the site.

 

[molokidan]

I'm always drowning in work...but I make time for things I enjoy.

As a reader yourself, I think it's only natural to side with certain characters, sympathize with them, and maybe even feel like you've become them...but as translators, I feel we must be like omnipresences: netural and all-seeing. Notice how I didn't say all-knowing...no one can know everything the author is trying ti get across. But it's a translator's job to get close, and no one can do that with their own emotions/biases getting in the way.

I'm a rather heartless person in real life, so I guess that assists in me in translating as well :P

 

[nukumi]

calling yourself heartless.. I wonder what that really says.. I'm not sure I would bother responding to such futile questions if I was a rather heartless person.

omnipresent, huh? that seems like the writer's job, more than mine. He's the one that makes the world and the characters and decides what happens.. I'm more like the cute little babelfish in the reader's ear letting them in on the secrets of that world.. so in effect, I'm a completely separate entity from the story, ultimately out of the author's reach.. but yet I could never betray him either, as if we were two friends protecting the same dream, both with very different, yet very important roles..

personally, I don't think I could translate something that I had no personal connection with at all. I don't feel like I would be able to correctly portray the character's ideas. I'd sound like some kind of robot trying to narrate a comedy sketch or something. I must commend you if you've come this far without ever having felt a single emotion for your translated subjects.

you'll have to forgive me, or maybe not if you're heartless, as I'm terrible at representing my opinion. having merged with so many characters over the years makes my own self dim in comparison.

 

[tsubaimomo]

Yep, he's an abominable, heartless, translating machine, and what would we do without him...

 

[molokidan]

Oh, there are some characters I've really grown attached to and sympathized with in manga, I'm not saying that never happens, that'd just be strange. What I'm saying is, it's not a requisite for me to make a good translation. I love language, particularly Japanese and English, and more importantly, I love writing and prose. So all I really need are some words and I'll be able to have fun making something out of it.

For example, right now, for a real job, I'm working on subtitles for DVDs that introduce Nara's World Heritage sites. It's pretty dry stuff, but filled with knowledge and lots of complex terms. It's a lot of fun.

And when I said omnipresent, I meant "being everywhere." Seeing everything, looking from all points of view and not just that of your favorite character's. You will never be able to understand the story exactly how the author does, but keeping your eyes open will all you to perceive it in the maximum potential possible.

And to tsubaimono- :P Get back to work!

 

[Darklord_NS]

Master of Translators well i like the most of your translations especially i love Naruto and bleach you are fast and good

 

[molokidan]

Thanks!

 

[nukumi]

DVDs that introduce Nara's World Heritage sites. It's pretty dry stuff, but filled with knowledge and lots of complex terms.

To each their own I guess.. lol just kidding. I actually like that kind of stuff too. I find zero fun in translating if I won't come out of it having learned something new. Unraveling mysteries and solving puzzles is like my fix... haha at least it's cheap :l

In further efforts to "help rescue it from the depths of inactivity" (and change it up from the normal request posts).. what do you think is my best option when I want to ask a question about something I've been translating, knowing the following :
I'm scared of IRC (haha, don't hate :<)
Forums seem... slow? unresponsive?

Or maybe you know somewhere I can go to look up obscure grammar or maybe weird slang/archaic phrases.. I have this book, and sometimes it really saves my ass from random grammar I'd never run across before.. but not always.

I'll be waiting for another "heartless" answer :x
If I'm just a bother I can go pick on another translator thread (:

 

[molokidan]

The best option, I've always found, is to ask *several* Japanese friends you have. Note how I say several...one person may give some kind of strange answer. But if two or three people give you the same answer, then I'd say 95% of the time it's bound to be right.

As a corollary to this rule, don't ask someone who you think is dumb, or generally devoid of knowledge regarding language :P

 

[Wallgate]

I don't know if it helps, but two phrases in the very beginning of Billy Bat c29 actually mean "Good morning" ("Доброе утро") in russian.

 

[molokidan]

Thanks! It was actually something I checked afterwards but forgot to add.

 

[Spaceman-Spiff]

What were the easiest and hardest series you had to translate and why? You can be as technical as you want in answering..

 

[dosukoi7]

I heard you translate professionally. I was wondering how you got into that, and what type of translation it is? I'm very interested in doing that. So far I've only really looked into Patent Translation

 

[Popo]

What is your stance in regard to nomenclature and dialect? For example, Yoshihiro Togashi's Hunter x Hunter is a series that draws inspiration from real world places and events; this latest arc taking place in their world's version of North Korea. I (as a beginner) also attempt to translate Hunter x Hunter weekly, and I occasionally notice some differences in the originals and your scripts. Most apparent is the Royal Guards' constant usage of "Your/His Majesty" in reference to the King, even though the text generally uses 王. Characters like Komugi and Feitan also speak with significant regional patois, but these aren't as apparent in the English translation.

What about character names as well? For example, during your translations for nexgear, you had the character Kalluto listed as Karuto. The royal guards and the King, despite being named after both Egyptian deities (Nefertiti, Shau, and Monthu) and characters from a French picture book series for children (Pitou, Pouf, and Youpi), are transliterated without reference to those meanings. Is this for consistency's sake?

 

[molokidan]

Spaceman-Spiff: Easiest translations would have to be Umezu Kazuo manga. I've had entire chapters of pure screaming. Hardest would have to be...novel translating.

dosukoi7: I translate lots of subtitles for different DVDs, such as World Heritage sites, university tour DVDs, tourism DVDs, as well as business advertising, etc. It's something you have to get into by word of mouth and just doing lots of small jobs over and over again. Recently I've been getting into literature translation, which I greatly prefer.

Popo:
Dialect is something I try to stray away from in translation, because it mostly ends up looking distracting and out-of-place in English, and try to reflect the difference in speech more in actual vocabulary than trying to add a Southern dialect to someone speaking Kansai-ben, which I think needs to be done away with.

Personally I don't ever think I've translated bubbles spoken by Feitan, so I can't comment on that, but Komugi's accent has no English alternative capable of transmitting the same atmosphere, so no attempt has been made to force it as so.

As for "Your Majesty," I think the translator before me started that, and as far as I'm concerned, it sounds much better in English than simply "King!," and considering the Royal Guards' attitudes toward Meruem, fits better. I was aware of the Egyptian deities, but not the French picture book. If I could go back and translate the Chimera arc from the beginning I would change the spelling of the names, but I don't see any real point now.

 

[Wafo]

How about translating someone Osamu Tezuka´s Manga?

How Alabastar or I.L, por example.

 

[molokidan]

I assume that will most likely be scanlated at some point or another, since Osamu Tezuka is so popular in the West. I'd rather do something that has a lesser chance of seeing the light of day over here (like Mephisto, or Fourteen). But thanks for the idea.

 

[Wafo]

Ok. Anyway, in this page have many Tezuka´s mangas scanlated in japanesse:
http://rawscans.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=10413&p=11851&hilit=tezuka#p11851

Thanks for the answres, and sorry for my english.

 

[molokidan]

Cool, thanks!