#Translators

[crazycatsiren]

I think the average monolingual person tends to underestimate the amount of brain work and physical energy that goes into being a bilingual translator.

[redbirdandhersafespace]

[helloree1]

Bro what did she say??

[kafkaesquetwink]

is anyone really good at reading and translating old russian handwriting about civil affairs into english please i need you

[survivetoread]

Learned about a new translator on the block, called Kagi Translate. Unlike Kagi's search engine, this one is free to use.

It's AI-powered unfortunately, but it does support a massive array of languages and it does a shockingly good job of translating nuance.

For example, I put in part of my recent poetry into both Google and Kagi, and Kagi provided not only more accurate and natural translation, but it retained poetic flair.

Text:

तिचा चेंडू कधी इथल्या गटारात हरवलेला, आता या चौकात तिला थांबायला वेळ नाही या शहरात कुठेही जाण्यासाठी लढावं लागतं, तरीच पावलांचं संगीत ऐकायला वेळ नाही

Google:

Ever lost her ball in the gutter here, now she has no time to wait in this square One has to fight to get anywhere in this city, yet there is no time to listen to the music of footsteps

Kagi:

Her ball once lost in the gutter here, now she has no time to stop at this corner In this city, you have to fight to go anywhere, yet there's no time to listen to the music of footsteps

[xenofact]

Not Alone Among The Books

As I mentioned several times before, I like to read various Taoist documents as it helps me build a mental “ecosystem.” That ecosystem helps me understand my meditative work, develop philosophical understanding, and better connect to the world. However, I noted another benefit as of late - a feeling of understanding.

I read of historical figures whose tales border on or are legend, often presented by Taoist writers as examples or cautionary tales. I find some of them relatable, in virtues, in flaws, and in experiences. Across the centuries, the aeons, I feel kinship, even in my own mistakes.

There are authors who comment on their experiences, plans, and desires. There, reading a book from a thousand years ago, I get them. I understand what they’re trying to do, what they’re experiencing, and even their mistakes. Sometimes you learn a lot by going “I understand why you said that” and “been there.”

Then there’s all the advice and observations these ancient Taoist writers provide. Timeless stuff, the same observations, even the same issues, are things they wrote about and things I learn about now. It’s not just that it’s useful, someone wrote it down to help others, someone going through what I went through.

Then when you look at these books hundreds or thousands of years old, you realize that you have it because of a chain of scribes and printers transcribing it. Someone made sure you had this book, dipping their pen into ink, arranging blocks on the press. You have that book because of people who did that - and if you’re someone like me, that’s someone like us.

Finally, there’s the translators, some of whom leave their own notes and commentary, sometimes even their own experience getting the book done. These are the people that made sure you can read the book - and make sense of metaphors, cultural tropes, and so on. They did this for a reason.

All these books make me feel not just informed, but less alone. There’s people like me, people who I get and relate to. Whatever wisdom I gain from their works and efforts, I also gain a sense of camaraderie.

Maybe this also explains some of the thrill I get sharing books that matter to me. A book may find someone who connects to it like I do, and there’s one more person feeling that connected to all those who came before.

-Xenofact

[datlokibumtho]

People on here that speak Japanese, I and someone on a group I follow on Facebook are at a friendly stalemate over English spellings for a character's name. I think we all know it's going to be someone from Demon Slayer. We are debating on how to spell Kokushibou's name. The person I am debating with says there is no u at the end, I am under the impression there is. The end o is a ō and I've seen the ou spelling places before.

Is there a right way, and if so, which is it?

[jeanjauthor]

Okay, gonna send this one out and ask you folks to reblog it, because it's an important area to consider when trying to practice a second language.

If you've been studying a second language, and have at least some proficiency, but want to learn that second language...have you considered translating webcomics & webnovels?

It's not going to be for the brand-new language-learner, but it will help you to immerse yourself in the culture (or cultural assumptions), and learn how to translate from "how they say things in Language X" to "how they say things in Language Y."

While some are free "for the love of it," many of these are paid positions, especially if you can prove you do have some translation chops. There are a LOT of manga, manhua, manhwa, however you want to spell it or say it, etc, that are coming out of East Asia, so you'd be dealing with Japanese, Korean, Chinese, etc.

There are also a lot of these webcomics coming out of South America, which would involve Spanish, Portuguese, and even Dutch (Suriname).

And there are webcomics being produced in many other areas of the world, various European countries/languages, various ones in the many nations of Africa, etc, etc, and there are a lot of folks who would love to read these stories, but cannot due to language barriers. ou can also try your hand at translating from English to another language.

The things I would strongly recommend is to first read a lot of these stories, both in their original language and in the translated versions. Then, when you feel confident you can give it a go, try to either contact the creators directly to ask if you can do it (often something you'll need to offer to do for free; creators rarely make any money themselves), or you will want contact the translation teams doing it (many have Discord chats). I recommend the latter, to ask how to get into this sort of thing. They already the have the experience, and hopefully can give you good advice.

Now, being paid would be nice, but what you want here is to practice the other language, and practice translating into or out of the other language. Webcomics in particular are a fantastic medium because you can often see what is going on, and infer the intended meaning...though sometimes cultural uniqueness may trip up a person.

Either way, it's fantastic practice. Plus, it can add positively to your list of work resumé skills.

(And yes, I freely admit this gets me even more stories to read, in the long run, lol...but then that counts for a lot of us out there!)

[rostbef]

are you kidding me with this

[ahc-au]

What intriguing about the translators are how did that one person translate languages from Kanabo or any other hazardous species and races from another planets

He probably just like "Oh hey look there's a new planet lemme learn their languages first"

Ah the FF translators are fascinating for sure, there's so many implications to them!

But also if I had to explain how they've got the languages of species like the Kanabo, I'd say some sort of mind reading device, or a mind reading alien. Which is a stretch, yeah, and it's just something I made up rn on the spot (not verified by Ade nobody tell him shhhh /jjj) but the universe is vast and surely someone out there is capable of just straight up reading your mind - the device Starlee and Cody made does it! So while that probably wasn't all of it, I'm sure collaboration between numerous species was necessary.

That or someone somewhere far away invented translators AGES ago and the PGA got them already fully functional and with Kanabo language data on there lmao

The Kanabo species themselves definitely didn't care about this lol they can just mind control you regardless of the language barrier.

-- Trauma

[warrenwoodhouse]

Latin is Simple

A simple and effective Latin Translator with a vocabulary library, sentence analysis, trainer, api documentations and more.

[hazbinbabbling4ever]

When you’re watching Nimona in your language and they translated “Metal!” literally, so now Nimona in italian says “Metallo!” which... Doesn’t even make sense?! Didn’t the translators not know that metal doesn’t just mean the material, but it’s also an exclamation like “cool!”? 

[lostapuzzlepiece]

i love reading different manwhas online, esp the ones that dont have perfect translations. thr imperfect translations make it so obvious that its a passion project, and its so cool. they couldve read it and had a good time, but theyve decided to work so others can come to read and love what they already love. so a huge thank you to translators. a huge thank you to those who love something, and move to share it with those who wouldnt be able to share that love otherwise.

[polysprachig]

27.09.2023 | Translation complete, ☆ translator notes not so much given the pleasant turn in the weather ☆

Poem: Sehnsucht von Kaiserin Elisabeth

There has been something of a finger-wagging, something-wicked-this-way-comes, weird-sister-on-the-heath-level doom vibe in the air regarding the future of human translators. And it's not coming from translators themselves, literary or otherwise; at least, that's how it seems to me. Especially as translation is, in my opinion, time well spent trying to capture the fleeting impressions of one mind and tongue in another, a relaying of culture, time and place, experience, mood and idea, form, style and tone—the deepest of readings possible outside of explication or psychoanalysis, oftentimes including both, and many translators know, love and hate this. Even so, it is a most welcome curse to be plagued with.

Translating Sisi, not to mention reading her poetic journal, has led me on a series of journeys to get to know her interests, obsessions, manner of expression, grief and personal hardship in the context of her life. I too have stood at a legendary grave, not that of Achilles, but of the fallen at Marathon, and dwelt on it long after I left. Trying to express that similar sentiment as the empress poet expressed it in my own language—that is the challenge, the fun, the experience, and the purpose of my translation, and I don't know many translators who would give that feeling up.

[the-one-true-joshgold]