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lurkingteapot · 1 year

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Every now and then I think about how subtitles (or dubs), and thus translation choices, shape our perception of the media we consume. It's so interesting. I'd wager anyone who speaks two (or more) languages knows the feeling of "yeah, that's what it literally translates to, but that's not what it means" or has answered a question like "how do you say _____ in (language)?" with "you don't, it's just … not a thing, we don't say that."

I've had my fair share of "[SHIP] are [married/soulmates/fated/FANCY TERM], it's text!" "[CHARACTER A] calls [CHARACTER B] [ENDEARMENT/NICKNAME], it's text!" and every time. Every time I'm just like. Do they though. Is it though. And a lot of the time, this means seeking out alternative translations, or translation meta from fluent or native speakers, or sometimes from language learners of the language the piece of media is originally in.

Why does it matter? Maybe it doesn't. To lots of people, it doesn't. People have different interests and priorities in fiction and the way they interact with it. It's great. It matters to me because back in the early 2000s, I had dial-up internet. Video or audio media that wasn't available through my local library very much wasn't available, but fanfiction was. So I started to read English language Gundam Wing fanfic before I ever had a chance to watch the show. When I did get around to watching Gundam Wing, it was the original Japanese dub. Some of the characters were almost unrecognisable to me, and first I doubted my Japanese language ability, then, after checking some bits with friends, I wondered why even my favourite writers, writers I knew to be consistent in other things, had made these characters seem so different … until I had the chance to watch the US-English dub a few years later. Going by that adaptation, the characterisation from all those stories suddenly made a lot more sense. And the thing is, that interpretation is also valid! They just took it a direction that was a larger leap for me to make.

Loose adaptations and very free translations have become less frequent since, or maybe my taste just hasn't led me their way, but the issue at the core is still a thing: Supernatural fandom got different nuances of endings for their show depending on the language they watched it in. CQL and MDZS fandom and the never-ending discussions about 知己 vs soulmate vs Other Options. A subset of VLD fans looking at a specific clip in all the different languages to see what was being said/implied in which dub, and how different translators interpreted the same English original line. The list is pretty much endless.

And that's … idk if it's fine, but it's what happens! A lot of the time, concepts -- expressed in language -- don't translate 1:1. The larger the cultural gap, the larger the gaps between the way concepts are expressed or understood also tend to be. Other times, there is a literal translation that works but isn't very idiomatic because there's a register mismatch or worse. And that's even before cultural assumptions come in. It's normal to have those. It's also important to remember that things like "thanks I hate it" as a sentiment of praise/affection, while the words translate literally quite easily, emphatically isn't easy to translate in the sense anglophone internet users the phrase.

Every translation is, at some level, a transformative work. Sometimes expressions or concepts or even single words simply don't have an exact equivalent in the target language and need to be interpreted at the translator's discretion, especially when going from a high-context/listener-responsible source language to a low-context/speaker-responsible target language (where high-context/listener responsible roughly means a large amount of contextual information can be omitted by the speaker because it's the listener's responsibility to infer it and ask for clarification if needed, and low-context/speaker-responsible roughly means a lot of information needs to be codified in speech, i.e. the speaker is responsible for providing sufficiently explicit context and will be blamed if it's lacking).

Is this a mouse or a rat? Guess based on context clues! High-context languages can and frequently do omit entire parts of speech that lower-context/speaker-responsible languages like English regard as essential, such as the grammatical subject of a sentence: the equivalent of "Go?" - "Go." does largely the same amount of heavy lifting as "is he/she/it/are you/they/we going?" - "yes, I am/he/she/it is/we/you/they are" in several listener-responsible languages, but tends to seem clumsy or incomplete in more speaker-responsible ones. This does NOT mean the listener-responsible language is clumsy. It's arguably more efficient! And reversely, saying "Are you going?" - "I am (going)" might seem unnecessarily convoluted and clumsy in a listener-responsible language. All depending on context.

This gets tricky both when the ambiguity of the missing subject of the sentence is clearly important (is speaker A asking "are you going" or "is she going"? wait until next chapter and find out!) AND when it's important that the translator assign an explicit subject in order for the sentence to make sense in the target language. For our example, depending on context, something like "are we all going?" - "yes" or "they going, too?" might work. Context!

As a consequence of this, sometimes, translation adds things – we gain things in translation, so to speak. Sometimes, it's because the target language needs the extra information (like the subject in the examples above), sometimes it's because the target language actually differentiates between mouse and rat even though the source language doesn't. However, because in most cases translators don't have access to the original authors, or even the original authors' agencies to ask for clarification (and in most cases wouldn't get paid for the time to put in this extra work even if they did), this kind of addition is almost always an interpretation. Sometimes made with a lot of certainty, sometimes it's more of a "fuck it, I've got to put something and hope it doesn't get proven wrong next episode/chapter/ten seasons down" (especially fun when you're working on a series that's in progress).

For the vast majority of cases, several translations are valid. Some may be more far-fetched than others, and there'll always be subjectivity to whether something was translated effectively, what "effectively" even means …

ANYWAY. I think my point is … how interesting, how cool is it that engaging with media in multiple languages will always yield multiple, often equally valid but just sliiiiightly different versions of that piece of media? And that I'd love more conversations about how, the second we (as folks who don't speak the material's original language) start picking the subtitle or dub wording apart for meta, we're basically working from a secondary source, and if we're doing due diligence, to which extent do we need to check there's nothing substantial being (literally) lost -- or added! -- in translation?

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featherquillpen · 2 years

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Gained in Translation

I speak four languages (at varying degrees of fluency) and do translation both for smooth and peaceable family reunions and for fun, with works of literature I enjoy. It's practically a truism at this point that meaning gets lost in translation; in fact, I'm currently reading an excellent book, Babel by R.F. Kuang, in which there is magic powered by the meaning lost in translation. But a topic I hardly ever hear anyone discuss is how meaning can be gained in translation.

Example 1: References

A type of meaning that can be gained in translation is that when you translate from language A to B, you can make references to other texts in language B that the person who wrote the original in language A wouldn't have been aware of. Here is an example from a translation I did of a Pablo Neruda poem:

Yo te recordaba con el alma apretada

de esa tristeza que tú me conoces.

I remembered you with my soul gripped

by the tragic ordeal of being known by you.

These lines in Spanish reminded me a lot of the meme based on the viral New York Times article about how you need to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known in order to reap the rewards of being loved. So I decided to make a subtle reference to that quote in the way I phrased the English translation. This meaning, of course, doesn't exist in the original Spanish; I added it in.

Example 2: Meaningful Distinctions

Meaning is often gained in translation because the target language makes a distinction that the source language does not. The translator has to choose one side of that distinction, and so meaning is gained.

Here is an example from the Spanish localization of the Japanese RPG Fire Emblem: Three Houses. There are two unlockable scenes in which the character Hubert is given a gift as a romantic gesture. Now, I don't speak Japanese, but through reading the analyses and translations done by Japanese speakers, and by checking for consistency in the kanji, I can see that the same word for "gift" seems to be used throughout these scenes. However, in Spanish, there are multiple words for "gift" with rather different connotations, which becomes relevant in the localization.

In Spanish, there is no generic word for "gift" that applies in every situation. There is a distinction made between gifts that are personal, between people who care about each other, and gifts between people who are not close, such as charitable gifts and formal gifts given to a diplomat. The translators of the game had to choose which of these words to use in the Spanish, and they used the distinction to add some very interesting meaning to these romantic scenes.

In each scene, what happens is that Hubert notices the person has a gift and comments on it, thinking it's for somebody else. In these lines, in Spanish, Hubert uses the personal intimate word for gift. Then, when he finds out the gift is for him, and reacts very awkwardly, he switches to a formal word for gift, creating an emotional distance between himself and the romantic token. This is excellent characterization and adds a layer of meaning in translation.

Example 3: Meaningful Ambiguity

Sometimes, the opposite phenomenon occurs, where the target language does not make a distinction that the source language does, and that ambiguity or vagueness adds something to the translation.

I have a Finnish friend who has told me that fiction that plays with gender is often more meaningful for him in Finnish translation than in the source language, because Finnish does not have gendered third person pronouns. Where books like The Left Hand of Darkness or Ancillary Justice have to make a conscious decision about which gendered pronoun to use for characters that fall outside the Western gender binary (The Left Hand of Darkness uses "he" and Ancillary Justice uses "she"), the Finnish translations can just use the default neutral pronoun they use for everyone, and never have to resolve that ambiguity in any direction. My friend has told me that there are some books about non-gender-normative characters that he wishes he'd read in Finnish instead of English because the experience would have felt more authentic in some ways.

What It Means

The reason why I bring all of this up is that the concept of meaning lost in translation is tied to the idea of translation as an act of violence. Indeed, there is a saying in Italian, "Traduttore, traditore," which means "Translator, traitor." I agree that translation can definitely be an act of violence that destroys the intended meaning of a text and warps it to suit the needs of the speakers of the target language. But when we focus only on what is lost in translation, at the expense of what is gained in translation, then we deny that translation can be an act of liberation and power.

I was raised in a bicultural household speaking both English and Spanish, and when I translate between these languages, it makes me feel empowered and proud of my heritage. It feels insulting to me to claim that when I translate, I can only ever deplete the meaning. That is not true. Every translation requires a translator, and we are more than thieves and traitors. We are more, even, than archivists, trying to minimize loss and decay as much as possible. We are creatives and inventors who can add something beautiful and meaningful to the text via our translations.

#translation #on writing

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thebestsetter · 2 months

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Okay, this is something serious now.

As some of you already know, some people are accusing me of plagiarism. And I just want to explain my side of the story first

A while ago, I was scrolling through tiktok and found one of those videos with a minecraft parkour happening in the background and a reddit story being read. I'm a portuguese speaker, so the story I listened to was in portuguese (i don't even have reddit lol). So, I thought "Oh, what a cute story!! I wonder how would it happen if it was with some anime boys!!". So, I started to write it while also trying to translate it AND change the phrases.

Since it was from tik tok, I couldn't really see the user that wrote the og post. I now realize I should've tried harder to find it, and for that I apologize. I'm sorry I didn't put the IB on the post, but someone on the comments told me fhe user of who wrote it first, and after posting this "apologie" I'll put it in the post immediatly.

I also want to clarify what verbatim is, since some people are saying that's the plagiarism I comitted. According to the Oxford dictionary, verbatim is:

1. (Adverb)

in exactly the same words; literally, ipsis litteris.

2. (Adjective)

that corresponds word for word to the source or original text.

"minutes v. of a meeting of condominium owners"

And even though I copied the first phrase, the rest of the text is totally different!! I also had no way of knowing I was writing the same first phrase, since as I said before, it was actually from a portuguese post, so I translated it the best I could.

The idea is the same, though, so I should've tried harder to find the IB. Once again, I apologize for this. I'm sorry about what I did and I hope you guys can forgive me and not view me in a different way from how you saw me before!! I just thought it would be fun to write something, and it was the first fic I wrote after going back to writing (I used to write things during March-April, but I stopped). I swear I have no intetions to steal anybody's work to make myself famous or anything like that.

Once again, I'll try to make things right! Dw, a situation like this won't happen again. Thank you for reading this, and once again, I'm deeply sorry.

I'm putting the xreader tags so this can reach as many people as possible

#blue lock x reader #bnha x reader #haikyuu x reader

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hedgehog-moss · 2 years

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One theory I have to explain some odd choices made by translators (and my source for it is “it makes sense to me” so take it with a grain of salt) is basically that as human beings we share a common limit of linguistic complexity, so that languages that are simple on one level (like an alphabet with just a couple dozen letters) can afford to be more complex on some other level and conversely, a language with a more complex feature like thousands of ideograms or lots of grammatical cases will make things easier for itself in some other way.

A language like English which is quite simple in substance (easy conjugations, few verb tenses and moods, no need to remember the gender of every noun and modify adjectives and verbs accordingly, etc) can afford to be more complex in practise, for instance having a higher tolerance for implied meaning, ambiguity, syntactical flexibility, single-use neologisms, and so on. A language which is more complex on the sentence-making level (or word level, with non-intuitive spellings) will shun extra complications on the meaning-making level and demand more precise and codified phrasings, few neologisms, visible logical connectors, etc.

The example in my last post was really typical (though extreme enough to be funny)—where the English text said “the Haves vs. Have Nots vs. Have Mosts” the French translated the latter as “those who have more than all the others.” English went for 'as concise as possible’ and French for ‘as clear as possible’. You could have said in French ‘ceux qui ont le plus’ (those who have the most) or even ‘les ayant-le-plus’ (the having-mosts) but the phrase with all the meaning out in the open was preferred. And although for specific examples you can argue that something else could have worked better, it still makes sense why each language made the choice it did when you consider the text in a holistic way.

A text translated from English to French gains complexity in some ways that are inevitable (e.g. verbs that are in preterit and indicative mood in English might have to alternate in French between imparfait and plus-que-parfait and indicative and subjunctive moods, with verbal structures that are longer or less straightforward) so the translator ends up lowering complexity on other levels, like choosing to spell out ideas more fully. It may seem like a small mental effort to deduce that “have-mosts” mean “those who have more than all others” but it quickly adds up when every sentence has vague or layered or innovative meanings. At the end of the day both the original text and the translation hit the same threshold of linguistic complexity, but the complexity is located in different aspects of language.

There are times when reading French -> English translations when you can see logical connectors being deleted for reasons that feel baffling to a French person (“it makes the structure of thinking less obvious? why would you do that”) but make sense if the complexity of the text has been lowered in some way that English speakers prefer (eg short, direct sentences instead of long meandering ones). Now that parsing the sentence and keeping track of clauses requires less effort, you can ask more effort of the reader by making meaning more implicit—and if the translator doesn’t readjust things in this way they’d be operating their language below capacity, and the English-speaking reader might feel like they’re getting bogged down in overexplained phrasings instead of walking at normal speed.

So in this light the wordiness of French makes sense for French and the pithiness of English makes sense for English—of course there are many factors at play but there’s one common motivation behind these opposite choices, and it’s balancing the different layers of complexity of each language (some of which are a matter of preference eg sentence length, while others are more hardwired) to try and situate your text at the level of complexity that is both hard enough to be interesting and easy enough to be comfortable for the human brain.

#like clearly it's not the only reason why french is eg hostile to neologisms while english loves them #there are lots of historical and cultural factors but this can play a role too #language tag

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elmaxlys · 4 months

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could you look at the translation differences for "It's better to be hurt than to hurt people?" it's kind of basic, but i've always found it to be a heavy line, though imo it sounds kind of awkward and clunky in english

Good old classic!

After googling for hours I could not find a single source for that phrasing. Even when I checked the anime, the subs I got were (albeit extremely similar) not a word for word of this infamous quote that gets reposted along with extremely wrong quotes like "why should I apologize for being a monster". The dub is different as well - and the manga is another beast entirely.

For the sake of context - as it explains the phrasing - I kept the lines around it. When it comes to the manga, I took the entirety of what Mrs Kaneki says in that first page of ch61. As for the anime, I also grabbed the two lines that come before, spoken by Mrs Kaneki, as they're what comes in the middle of the two famous sentences in the manga, but right before in the anime.

Here are the different phrasings I found:

The Repost: It's better to be hurt than to hurt people. Nice people can be happy with just that.

The line in the manga:

Viz Media: Be somebody who knows pain instead of somebody who hurts others. You don't need to be rewarded if you have love and kindness in your heart, Ken. That's all kind people need to be happy.

Twisted Hel Scans: Instead of a person who hurts others, become the person who gets hurt. It is okay if you lose because of your love and kindness, Ken. A kind person only needs those things in order to be happy.

Leo Scans: Rather than a person who hurts others, become the person getting hurt. It's all right to lose out with love and warm feelings, Ken. A kind person finds happiness in just that.

Glénat: Au lieu de blesser ton prochain, essaie plutôt de comprendre sa douleur. Tu auras tout gagné si tu fais preuve d'amour et de gentillesse, Ken... même si cela semble aller contre tes intérêts. Car à elle seule, la gentillesse permet de connaître le bonheur. (Rather than harming your neighbour, try to understand their pain instead. You will have won everything if you show love and kindness, Ken... even if it seems to go against your own interests. Because kindness on its own makes you able to know happiness.)

The line in the anime:

English subs: (Mrs Kaneki) Ken, it's okay to feel loss. Nice boys like you can be happy with just that. (Ken) It's better to be hurt than hurt others. People who are nice can he happy with just that.

English dub: (Mrs Kaneki) Ken, it's okay to feel sadness from loss. As long as you remember to stay kind, you'll find joy again. (Ken) It's far better to feel pain yourself than to inflict it on others. As long as you remain kind, you will find joy again.

French subs: (Mme Kaneki) Ken, tu peux être perdant. Les gens gentils sont heureux comme ça. (Ken) Il vaut mieux être blessé que blessant. Les gens gentils sont heureux comme ça. (Ken, you can lose. Nice people are happy that way. || Being hurt is better than being hurtful. Nice people are happy that way.)

French dub: (Mme Kaneki) Ken, ce n'est pas grave de perdre. Les garçons gentils comme toi peuvent vivre avec et être heureux. (Ken) Il vaut bien mieux être le blessé que celui qui blesse. Les gens gentils l'acceptent et sont heureux comme ça. (Ken, losing is not a big deal. Nice boys like you can live with that and be happy. || It's way better to be the hurt one than the one who hurts. Nice people accept that and are happy that way.)

So as you could see, they all talk about loss, pain and their relation to happiness - but they do so in different ways. Sometimes the change is subtle, sometimes it's glaringly obvious and makes you wonder if they're translating the same text (looking at Glénat).

To hurt, or not to hurt, that is the question:

This is the main point. What drove Mrs Kaneki to overwork herself, what pushed Ken to accept abuse from her and everyone else. What if he hurts their feelings if he speaks up? Better to shut up and endure. Again. And again. Until he can't anymore (Shironeki). Until it's back (Haise). Until he can't anymore (Black Reaper). Until it's back (Kingneki). Until he can't anymore (Dragon). Until he doesn't care anymore.

The panel will be relevant in the analysis, you'll see! Because both this quote and this panel fuel my understanding of Kaneki's character journey: freeing himself from motherly teachings (all mothers)

[readmore because what the fuck did this become holy shit]

The repost, "It's better to be hurt than to hurt people.", is concise and straight to the point. This is, after all, what makes the best repostable quotes as they're easy to remember. I am unsure where this phrasing began but it's no wonder it's the one that took off and remains in the collective mind The Quote associated with Kaneki (other than made up quotes RIP). This conciseness is probably what makes it come across as clunky: no space for weaving words into something pretty. I want to say it's boring but there are the opposition between the passive and active voice and the comparative that are worth looking into.

For people who don't know anything about grammar or don't have that stuff in their language, in the active voice the subject acts the verb, while in the passive voice the subject undergoes the action of the verb. When transposing a line from active to passive, the subject of the passive is the object of the active.

Example: Donato kills children. -> active voice. Subject: Donato. Object: children. VS Children are killed by Donato. -> passive voice. Subject: the children. Donato? the agent (aka the one who actually does the action of the verb)

You get it? Now let's go back to our sheep goats:

What this sentence says is that, above the verb of "hurt", it's more advantageous to be passive in your own life. Action incurs risks beyond your direct control - but by being passive, you know exactly what's coming at any time.

The comparative is interesting too. It's better. It's a comparative of superiority. There are three forms of comparative: superiority, inferiority and equality. Here, equality wouldn't work anyway as a hierarchy is established between the action and the passivity. But what's interesting about the use of the comparative of superiority here is that it puts passivity on a pedestal, lifts it above the action. It paints it as good. And more than good, better. With a comparative of inferiority, "it's worse to hurt than being hurt", it says that both actions are bad but one is clearly under the other and therefore you should prioritize the 2nd, aka being hurt. It would acknowledge the bad parts of the passivity while saying that there are more bad parts in the other option so better choose that one. Here, it goes the other way around. Being hurt is pushed onto the reader and Kaneki, it's not a reluctant choice by deduction of what's the least bad option here.

Kaneki has no choice here. He didn't even actively choose passivity, it was pushed onto him: that's saying how passive he is.

I'm gonna jump straight at the English subs. Why? Because the phrasing is very, very similar. Probably where the quote originates. As a reminder, "It's better to be hurt than hurt others." What differences? 1) no "to" in front of hurt -> I admit I do not know enough about English grammar to comment this, but I'll still comment the effect it has aurally. 2) "others" and not "people".

Let's start with the first difference. I said I'd comment on the sounds so here goes: "to" is a word comprised of two letters, one vowel and one consonant. That consonant is "t", which is an occlusive (or plosive). An occlusive is a sudden, more or less brutal sound, that cannot be maintained. As a result, it sounds harsh. Consonants work by two: one voiced (using vocal cords), one voiceless (without using vocal cords). Voiceless consonants tend to sound harsher. Compare g and k. Compare t and d. Compare b and p. These are the plosives. K, T and P sound harsher. So let's look at the sentences. I'll put the plosives in red. Repost: It's better to be hurt than to hurt people. EN subs: It's better to be hurt than hurt others.

Do you see where I'm going with this? Removing a "to" and swapping "people" for "others" removes a brutal aspect. And see in what part of the sentence it happens? In the part about not being the one to hurt. Even the language adapts to that. Beautiful.

That overabundance of plosive in the repost probably contribute to the clunky feeling but can also be seen as alliteration to represent the hurt, like it definitely in the subs version, since they disappear when we move from the self onto others.

Speaking of which, what about "others"? The way I perceive it, "others" puts a distance between the enunciator and whom they're talking about, while "people" is just completely general. You mustn't hurt people: don't hurt anyone. You mustn't hurt others: don't hurt people who are not you. So of course, on top of going well with the softening of the sounds, it enhances the message wonderfully. It's okay to be hurt but people who aren't you better not be, you hear me? Don't retaliate.

Additionally, I can't help but think, when I seen "than to hurt people", about what Kaneki says when fighting Furuta: he'll save people, and ghouls too. In which case, people means humans - and that'd go for the repost as well. After all, Kaneki never had much trouble decimating ghouls!

Now we're moving onto... The French subs! as a reminder, "Il vaut mieux être blessé que blessant", aka "It's better to be hurt than hurting." We're starting with a complaint about the English language because hurt can both mean something and its opposite. For real this TG sentence could be "it's better to hurt than to hurt" and I hate that I love that it's a possibility. Language is amazing. Parenthesis closed, let's move on. The first part can be analyzed the same as before with the comparison. But there is more and there are subtleties that make my brain sparkle tho so let's dig!

Literally, "valoir" (conjugated here as "vaut") means being worth. We use it with the impersonal and comparative to mean basically the same thing as "it's better" but the literal translation of "it's better" is "c'est mieux". "ce" -> neutral demonstrative, "est" -> is, "mieux" -> comparative of superiority of bien (good). So why use "valoir", here? Because, unlike "c'est" which comes across as objective, "il vaut" introduces subjectivity. It is worth for the person talking.

Now onto my favorite part of that sentence: the polyptoton!! For people who don't know it's the repetition of the same word root but with a different ending/form/nature. Here? "blessé" and "blessant". They are both forms of the verb "blesser", which means "to hurt" (as in "inflict harm" and not "suffer"). Both are in the participle form: blessé is the past participle and blessant is the present participle. Used with the verbe être (be), they are verbal adjectives (basically adjectives but coming from a verb). And as verbal adjectives, the past participle expresses the action as passive while the present participle expresses the action as active. We already talked about the active and passive so it's the same thing here as before, really, but with a wonderful aural addition, the polyptoton.

Did you notice something with the French subs? There's no object to that second "hurt", blessant. Unlike with the conjugated verb blesser which takes a direct object, here, a complement would have to be introduced with "envers" (toward). There is none. The sentence ends here. So what effect does that have on our sentence? It makes it general. In general, it's worth more being hurt than hurting. No exception. No precision. It sounds like a proverb (which the polyptoton really helps btw lol).

Now that the anime subs are out of the way, let's look at... the anime dubs! French dub first because it's very similar to the subs. "Il vaut bien mieux être le blessé que celui qui blesse." So what differences? 1) the intensive adverb "bien"! 2) substantivated past participle 3) relative clause as a circumlocution of sorts.

We'll start with the intensive adverb "bien". Bien can mean a variety of things and can even be various natures. Most of the time, as an adverb, it tends to express the manner, and as such it can be translated as "well". But here, it's an intensive. It reinforces the adjective that follows it and can be translated by "far", "much" or "way" when followed by a comparative like is the case here (and as "very" when a positive, if you're curious). This sentence is strong. Not only does it use the verb valoir and its subjective lense but also it accentuates it with the intensive. We're not in the proverb category anymore, we're in the moral lessons.

Now for the next change. Remember past participle of blesser? "blessé"? Can be used as adjective and therefore becomes "verbal adjective"? Well this bad boy can also become a noun. This procedure is named substantiviation. It serves to designate a general category of people doing or undergoing the action of the verb. "le blessé" therefore means "the one who is hurt". Now why use that? See, with the definite article, we're reducing the range, we're saying there's only one. We know the conflict we're talking about, we know the kind of person we're talking about. It's no longer a state you're in at that precise moment like with the adjective: no, the noun reduces you to that specific state of being. If you are "le blessé", there's no getting out of that label. You are hurt and you forever will be because it is now your core qualificative.

This is particularly interesting when paired with what comes right after: the relative clause to designate "the one who hurts". A relative clause can be either descriptive or defining: here is clearly the second. But while it does put a label on "celui" (the one), it is not inescapable like a substantive, this is - albeit a defining one - an add on to who you are. You can stop hurting other people, but you can't stop being hurt by others.

This is interesting because "celui qui blesse" and "le blessé", both singular, one substantive, the other demonstrative pronoun, create a dichotomy, but the relative clause can make you question the legitimacy of this dichotomy.

Now, are you getting tired of the passive VS active opposition? Fear not, the English dub doesn't use that! "It's far better to feel pain yourself than to inflict it on others." Two active verbs, we love to see it!

We still find the usual comparative of superiority with the intensive "far", nothing new, so I'll be fast: comparative of superiority paints the action as positive, pushes it onto the viewer, doesn't acknowledge its negative aspects. The intensive pushes that three notches upward and basically paints it as the only viable option, pushing the sentence into the "moral lessons" category.

Okay now let's look at the novelty! "feel pain". There's nothing passive about this. Sure, it's not an "action" as we would ordinarily describe it but the voice isn't passive and that's important. You cannot "be hurt" without an outside force, that's the nature of the passive voice. Here, feelings can happen on its own. It is not necessarily something caused by outside factors, it can be sadness, it can be sickness, it can be twisting your ankle, it doesn't matter anyway: what's important is the resulting action: feeling.

Feeling is something personal, subjective. You can't physically share your feelings. Every individual will feel differently. Dumb example but I'm thinking about the "menstrual cramps simulators" where people who were used to them were like "whatever" while others were writhing on the floor in agony. This idea is reinforced with the pronoun "yourself".

Here's what's fun about "yourself": it implies that the pain you would have inflicted onto others is now inflicted on you and if you don't feel the pain yourself it gets thrown onto others, and not necessarily the people who've cause you this hurt (aka vengeance), no we're looking at the cycle of violence here.

And while "feeling" is a pretty neutral verb, "inflict" is very much not! It's not even trying to be subtle, especially paired with the comparative etc we talked about before. This is a strong sentence, every bit of itself reinforcing the others, this sentence is unshakable, I love it in its structure and the implications are lovely when it comes to characterization: if Mrs Kaneki isn't hurting, it's her sister who is - and the pain she gives Ken is her failure to feel that pain herself. It's the cog of the vicious circle expressed wonderfully in this sentence.

We're now done with the anime, which is the way most people saying that sentence experienced Tokyo Ghoul. But what about the original? By original I mean manga - and not Japanese, that I haven't learnt in the time between starting this post and writing these words.

We're starting with my favorite scan group: Twisted Hel Scans. Here is what they write: "Instead of a person who hurts others, become the person who gets hurt." Boom, we're entering something entirely new and all the manga translations follow that: "instead of/rather than" and not a comparative of superiority. Did the anime not use the line from the manga? I wonder. But this is not our topic. We're discussing the impact of each of them.

What does "instead" bring that the comparative doesn't and vice-versa? "instead" acknowledge the other option. It's redirecting. It sees the path laid in front and says "hey look at that other path over there". It's guiding but not forceful. It gives you a choice by putting the two options on the same level. No moral value put on one or the other.

It's guiding in the sense that it uses an imperative. "Instead" brings to the imperative the notion of tip or counsel, and not an order, especially when we look at the verb used. It's not a random imperative, no! It's "become". It's a stative verb, not an action. It's a change of being. You have the choice to change or not. You currently are either "a person who hurts others" or at the crossroads to decide which one you get to be.

Now here's what I love with this translation: the articles. "a person who hurts others", "the person who gets hurt". There are countless people hurting others, they are faceless, indefinite, we don't care. But there is only one person getting hurt. Implied here is the people who hurt inflict that hurt on The Person. Everyone is hurting the same person, who then becomes the victim, the recipient of everyone else's violence, like a scapegoat. Someone will have to suffer anyway: choose on what side of that suffering you want to be.

Leo Scans says almost the same thing: "Rather than a person who hurts others, become the person getting hurt." The differences are "rather than" and the gerund instead of the relative clause. As far as I could search I couldn't find any difference in meaning between the relative and participial clauses in such cases so that's that.

However, unlike THS, Leo says "rather than" and not "instead of". As I said, "instead" offers you the choice to change - "rather", on the other hand, expresses an opinion, and even more than that: a preference. Indeed, as you can see from the -er suffix, rather is originally a comparative. And what did we say about the comparative? That's right. Subjective. It doesn't behave like "better" we saw earlier, though. In fact, it does the opposite: it pushes one option down, puts it in negative light before elevating the other. Leo phrasing has contempt for the people who hurt others while THS phrasing sounds more neutral.

Are you ready for the official translations? I'm starting with Viz Media because Glénat is pretty different from all the translations until now. Viz Media's phrasing was as follow "Be somebody who knows pain instead of somebody who hurts others." Aah~ do you see it? Difference.

Starting with the first word, because that's how sentences work: "be"! Wonderful, wonderful "be"! Imperative! Stative verb! But not one that expresses a change, like "become" we saw earlier, no! no, it's the OG. It doesn't accept a previous state of being nor a state of becoming, no. This imperative is doesn't call for growth or change, it calls to be. Static, unchanging. Definite.

This time, no substantivation, no article: only indefinite pronoun + relative clause, both times. No difference of treatment grammatically between the two options. Both options are equally represented: there's no power imbalance, no change of meaning hinging on the smallest word, no. The frequency of both parts is the same. The parallel construction is gorgeous and the balance is completed with the somewhat neutral "instead of": giving a hint, maybe already placing you in the other basket and telling you to get out, but placing no preference grammatically.

Another big change is "knows pain" and not "gets hurt" and variations. This one is no passive action: on the contrary it's a call to reflection and knowledge, an invitation. Is the knowledge physical as implied in all the other phrasings we've encountered? Is it an academic kind of knowledge as Mrs Kaneki cultivates her son's love for reading? Is it a matter of empathy?

While Viz lets us ponder the meaning of that "know", Glénat is definite in its answer: "Au lieu de blesser ton prochain, essaie plutôt de comprendre sa douleur."

We immediately focus on the second part of the sentence "comprendre sa douleur" (understand [your neighbor]'s pain) because that's what we stopped on the previous one. Glénat doesn't give Mrs Kaneki the benefit of the doubt: it makes her completely reasonable. She insists on empathy. She doesn't mean "oh yeah go be bullied no problem", she says to try to understand people, what makes them the way they are, what is hurting them to cause them to act that way - and so Ken understands his mother's pain and therefore understands why she's so violent with him. This one is not a call to passivity at all. Interestingly, it doesn't actually say anything about action.

"au lieu de" is "instead" pretty much word for word, but it's paired with "plutôt" which is "rather" pretty much word for word again. So there is an insistance on the imperative.. And what does that imperative say? "be"? "become"? No. Not a stative verb this time. No passive either. We have "try". This is important as it allows failure. You can't always understand people who hurt you and that's okay but you should always try to understand what hurt them. Active and, I want to say, way more difficult than the passivity the other ones called for.

Then there's "ton prochain"... I translated as "your neighbour" as "ton prochain" is almost only ever found in religious context nowadays "aime ton prochain comme toi-même" for example and the way I keep finding that sentence in English is "love your neighbour as yourself". So Glénat's translation is loaded with religious subtext. And may I remind everyone what a religious "neighbour" is? The one who helps you in your time of need, the one that takes pity. This is no random "others" or "people" like the English translations, no this is very specific: don't hurt people who mean you well.

Glénat's translation is diametrically opposite to the others, as Glénat does: no notion of experiencing the hurt, no notion of not hurting anyone, no absolutism. Basically love your neighbour 2.0, with a added subtext that mommy is the neighbour and if she hurts you then you'd better try to understand why before you make it worse.

Glénat's translation is the one that made me add this picture of Kingneki talking to Furuta, dismissing his hurt, his reasons, to act the way he does: in that moment, Kaneki discards the motherly teachings and doesn't try to care anymore. He doesn't care to be hurt either. He doesn't care not to hurt others. He's already killed countless, what's one more. He takes priority on his "neighbor" indeed but he doesn't try to understand them and their pain either (leaving Touka on the sidelines again and again and over again for example).

This feels a tad jumbled for a conclusion but hey! this is a conclusion jumbling all 9 translations, give me a pass, will you?

#tokyo ghoul #tg meta #i guess?#tg translations #kaneki ken #i. have not reread it entirely yet. i reread the previous part each time i started a new one tho so hopefully there's nothing aberrant #if you read to the end please please leave a like even if you tought it was stupid or something #i need to know if people read posts this long #because there are two more parts hopefully to come to this thing

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pricechecktranslations · 1 year

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hi there! I just wanted to ask a question since I've been getting into song translation recently and I respect your translations a lot. take this more as a curiosity than anything :)

I notice how many different translators have their own "style" of translation, so i wanted to ask, what's your opinion in creative liberties in translations? I know obviously when dealing with something like Evillious where the little details matter you'd probably want to be as accurate to the source material as possible, but like, sometimes being literal can make something even less clear even when not dealing with idioms (something I feel like I remember you talking about before) and there are also plenty of songs that aren't as story heavy and are more about meaning. so I was just wondering if you have any thoughts on like, your philosophy with how much translators should stray in the name of keeping the same meaning/intent rather than the literal translation?

like, i was working on a translation where I write the line "また言いたいことを殺す" as "I'm holding my tongue again", because I feel like given the context of the song that conveys the same meaning as "I'm killing what I want to say again" in a more concise way, even though there are probably more direct ways to say "I'm holding my tongue" in Japanese. It does lose some of the nuance (言いたいことを殺す definitely sounds more visceral) but the actual meaning and intent conveyed (the singer has given up on saying something she wants to) is more immediately registered to an English speaker, and I've been wondering to myself how I should weigh those two.

Hazuki no Yume's translation of Iiya/118 is another translation that takes a lot of these types of creative liberties to convey intent I feel like. I honestly really enjoy their translation of that song, it's one of my favorites, but I get that some might prefer a more direct translation that only changes things when completely necessary. Personally I know there is a limit for me because I dislike when people add unnecessary extra words that were never present either in the actual text or through context just to add flavor, but I'm not the best at judging these things.

Obviously I know every translator is different, and I'm the type to make a ton of translator notes anyways so I'll probably include the more literal meaning in there regardless. I was just curious about your own thoughts and I thought it'd make an interesting question :)

My thought on that is…it's really a case by case basis. There's no right answer (though there's certainly a wrong answer, that being "I just made something up because I don't care about the original work"), because ultimately translation is a frankenstein craft that requires as much creative writing skills as it does language knowledge. It varies by work, and it varies by person. So, I can share my opinion, and how I personally do things, but as long as no one is outright misrepresenting another's work, either intentionally or through lack of skill, I try not to quibble too much.

Personally, I trend more towards the literal. There's two different attitudes that I think people go into translations with--to make something as appealing a creative work in English, or to just report what the Japanese means for others to understand. I see myself as doing the second one. I'll take liberties sometimes, especially when translating novels, but these are done mostly to keep the reading experience from being obtrusive or distracting. If I were an official translator, I think I would be more comfortable with doing more "localization" type things (like changing character titles, using more colorful language, for example), but because everything I'm doing is unofficial, without permission, I've thought of my role as a translator to be more like a language patch than someone making an "English version" of the works I translate.

There's also the fact that I often enjoy the way the Japanese text phrases things, so I like to share it with other people. And, my cultural knowledge can be a little lacking at times, so there are instances where I'm not confident I understand the sensibilities behind it enough to make a "localization" without misconstruing the words.

So, to discuss your example, I would not choose to change the wording that way. However, I can't call you wrong for doing so because every translator has their own view of what makes an accurate translation of tone and intent, and what you've done preserves the meaning with that in mind. I'm reminded of a (possibly apocryphal) anecdote about Japanese author Natsume Souseki, who supposedly encouraged an English student to translate "I love you" as the phrase "The moon is beautiful tonight, isn't it?", because he felt a direct translation into Japanese was not in line with Meiji cultural norms (where open declarations of affection are pretty much unheard of). This is not something I would have ever come up with, nor would I do so myself, but he also had a perfectly valid point that the phrase would not at all have the same tone and intention in Japanese that it did in English.

To try and put my stance in brief--cultural translation is definitely a valid approach, but because I am working unofficially, and because I often enjoy the way things are phrased in the original work, I personally prefer not to do it unless I feel it will cause a significant amount of confusion/disruption for the reader otherwise (such as in the case of idioms, metaphors, common phrases that aren't common in English, etc).

There's a song called Slow Motion that has a popular translation by wingarea. I do not like this translation, not because I think it's bad (it's a perfectly fine translation), but because I would have chosen to stick more closely to the original wording choices. Meanwhile, there's a translation of Delusion Girl by damesukekun that I think snips out a lot of the evocative tone of the song in how bluntly it's translated. So--again. Case by case.

#basically my stance is just as long as you're always making an earnest effort to accurately represent another person's work #then it's really just about the skill level and discretion of the translator #i think there are a lot of people who are way too comfortable completely changing the work to put their own spin on it #but some degree of creative input from the translator is necessary when translating a creative piece #there's no way to have a hard and fast rule about how much is acceptable

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falseandrealultravival · 2 years

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Lao Tzu(老子), All chapters bibliographical ~ ~ Part 1(1/3) :Essay

Lao Tzu(A paperback book cover:Chuko Bunko)

The Chinese classic "Lao Tzu(老子)" is a short document consisting of a short sentence fragment and 81 chapters (5,000 words), but its meaning is very deep. From now on, I will divide it into three parts and list the keywords and key points of each chapter. It is written as @ 1 = Chapter 1. 81/3 = 27 chapters each. The source is from "Lao Tzu" (Tamaki Ogawa, translation: Chuko Bunko). Above all, this blog makes sense to index and organize the Lao Tzu in me.

@ 1: "The true way cannot be told (free translation: the original text is" the Tao(way )to say is not the usual way "" & "difference in presence / absence / superiority of nothing to presence" ...・ From the beginning, one of the most difficult chapters in Lao Tzu.

(Note) The phrase "what the way should say is not the usual way" and "everyday = immutable" are not "immutable" ways if the way can be told (in Mr. Ogawa's note). ... is said to be. However, instead of the concept of "everyday = immutable road, principle", the meaning of the word "everyday" is taken to another meaning, and it is called "everyday = ordinary", and the way in general is called "way". It seems reasonable, too, so I said, "The true Tao(way )cannot be told," in the sense that it contains both contradictory meanings of "always."

As evidence of this, Zhaozhou was asked, "What is the way?" In a question and answer with a disciple of Zen Buddhist priest Zhaozhou Congshen, which was established under the influence of the Daojia idea. "Is it a way? If it's a way, it's straight to the city." It looks like the metaphysical questions have been rejected in advance. I think that more concrete words than abstract metaphors are appropriate for the teaching of "reality-based" Lao Tzu. The understanding of Zhaozhou Congshen's way is also valid. Even so, if "remarks about the usual way are meaningless", then one volume of "Lao Tzu" would be meaningles.

@ 2: "Relativity of beauty and ugliness, elimination of binary opposition" (everyone in the world regards something as "beautiful"At that time, it was already ugly. ) ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥ ‥

@ 3: "Don't make heavy use of wise man" & "Don't value hard-to-find coins" (Don't value and don't ask for hard-to-find items) & "If you ”do　do nothing” it won't never settle down, "Don't do anything" ... One of the fundamental concepts of Lao Tzu. However, spending lazy days is not called do nothing.

@ 4: "The function of the Tao is that the pot does not run out of water" & "Wako Doujin(和光同塵)" (Saints do not exert their inner power and light (Wako) and live like ordinary people . (Same dust))

@ 5: "Just like there is no jin(kindness) in the heavens and the earth, there is no jin in the saint" & "Don't talk too much" (In this case, jin is the basic concept of the Confucian family = the kindness of the human heart, and is a human being. This is the reason, but Lao Tzu denies it.)

@ 6: "The goddess of the valley (where water gathers) is immortal."

@ 7: "Since the saint does not have itself, It will complete its personal affairs."

@ 8: "Water is close to the Tao" "It is in a place where everyone despises, not fighting for all things" "Greatest good is like water": Lao Tzu praises water.

@ 9: "I should stop holding things that are impossible"

@ 10: "(Chapter that wrote about a kind of meditation)"

@ 11: “Nothing “has great uses.

@ 12: "Don't get lost in external stimulation" & "Hard-to-find coins" (@ 3)

@ 13: "It care about the evaluation of others because It has its own body. If It doesn't have a body, what harm will attack it?" "Only for those who value only their own body, we can

trust the nation. (See the contradiction-filled chapter, @ 7.) The only people who can do this will be those who have near-death experiences.

@ 14: "What you can't see, what you can't hear, what you can't catch: It's the work of the Tao to recognize these."

@ 15: "Write the state of an old man."

@ 16: "Even if all things flourish, they will definitely return to their roots." "← Those who know this truth will reach the Tao."

@ 17: "Four classifications of kings" (The best king only knows that there are such people.

The king of the next rank was praised by the people ... and so on.)

@ 18: "The Tao(way) is gone and there is a righteousness. ← Relativizing the fundamental concept of the Confucian family .: The virtues of Jin (仁)and Gi (義)are born after the Tao is lost." (See @ 5)

@ 19: "Abandon the sacred and wisdom, abandon the jin and righteousness, and the people will benefit and be filial." & "Araki: Wood as it is cut out. "Is the state before it is processed into various parts and used, and Lao Tzu praises this.

@ 20: "What is the value of learning?" & "People seem to have floated at a banquet, but I'm like a baby who hasn't laughed yet. I'm cheerfully fed by the breasts of my mother's way. It’ s a good

@ 21: "The great virtue" & "Ecstasy:" Etymology of ecstasy "

@ 22: "The twisted one remains completely."

@ 23: "It is against nature to be chattering at any time. The same is true of natural phenomena." (Hyofu: heavy wind does not end the morning, and showers (heavy rain) also end the day.

@ 24: "Unreasonable behavior does not last long."

@ 25: "The Tao was born before the heavens and the earth."

@ 26: "The great person doesn't act lightly." Even if I t encounter a wonderful scenery while traveling, It doesn’t get out of the car.

This situation is called "Swallow stand still absolutely". Because it knows its importance in the world.

@ 27: "Those who win things do not leave a mark of their actions." & "Saints do not abandon anyone." "Masters ... teachers and disciples(師資).": From the perspective of saints, Almost everyone is imperfect, but it hone itself (capital(資��): this is the same usage as capitalism today).

(Note: The anecdote of Zhaozhou at @ 1 is sourced from "Zen: Living in the Present: Kazuyoshi Kino, NHK Publishing".)

#Lao Tzu #all chapters bibliographical #81 chapters #5000words #the way #Zhaozhou #Zen #reality-based #Tao #Relativity of beauty and ugliness #essay #Rei Morishita

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financeadvisor1 · 3 months

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"The Hidden Challenges of Legal Translation and How to Overcome Them"

Legal translation is a specialized field that demands a high level of precision, expertise, and attention to detail. Unlike general translation, legal translation involves translating documents that are often complex and filled with legal jargon. Any mistake in legal translation can have serious consequences, including legal disputes, financial losses, and damage to a company’s reputation. This article explores the hidden challenges of legal translation and offers strategies to overcome them, ensuring accuracy and reliability.

1. Understanding Legal Terminology

One of the primary challenges in legal translation is understanding and accurately translating legal terminology. Legal terms are often specific to a particular legal system and may not have direct equivalents in other languages. This can lead to confusion and misinterpretation. To overcome this challenge, it’s crucial to work with translators who have specialized knowledge in both the source and target legal systems. They should be familiar with the legal concepts and terminology used in both languages to ensure accurate translation.

2. Maintaining Precision and Clarity

Legal documents require a high degree of precision and clarity. Any ambiguity or error in translation can lead to misunderstandings and legal disputes. Maintaining precision involves accurately translating every detail, including dates, names, and numbers, and ensuring that the meaning remains clear and unambiguous. To achieve this, it’s essential to use experienced legal translators who understand the importance of precision and can convey the exact meaning of the original text.

3. Navigating Different Legal Systems

Legal systems vary significantly from one country to another, and this can pose a significant challenge in legal translation. Navigating different legal systems involves understanding the specific legal requirements, practices, and conventions of both the source and target languages. Translators must be aware of these differences and adapt the translation accordingly. This requires in-depth knowledge of both legal systems and the ability to interpret and convey legal concepts accurately.

4. Cultural and Contextual Differences

Legal translation is not just about translating words; it’s about conveying the correct meaning within the appropriate cultural and legal context. Cultural and contextual differences can affect the interpretation of legal terms and concepts. For example, certain legal practices and principles that are common in one culture may be unfamiliar or irrelevant in another. Overcoming this challenge involves cultural sensitivity and awareness, as well as the ability to adapt the translation to fit the cultural context of the target audience.

5. Handling Confidentiality and Security

Legal documents often contain sensitive and confidential information. Handling confidentiality and security is a critical aspect of legal translation. Translators must adhere to strict confidentiality agreements and ensure that all documents are handled securely. This includes using secure methods of communication and storage to protect sensitive information. Working with reputable translation agencies that have robust security measures in place can help ensure the confidentiality and integrity of legal documents.

6. Ensuring Consistency

Consistency is vital in legal translation to maintain the integrity of the document. Ensuring consistency involves using the same terminology and style throughout the document. This is particularly important for legal documents that may have multiple sections or references. Using translation memory tools and glossaries can help maintain consistency by providing a reference for commonly used terms and phrases. Additionally, having a second translator review the document can help identify and correct any inconsistencies.

7. Dealing with Complex Sentence Structures

Legal documents often feature complex sentence structures that can be challenging to translate. These structures may include lengthy sentences, multiple clauses, and intricate legal language. To accurately translate such documents, translators must have strong linguistic skills and the ability to break down complex sentences into clear and concise translations. This may involve restructuring sentences while preserving the original meaning and legal intent.

8. Managing Tight Deadlines

Legal translations are often required within tight deadlines, adding another layer of complexity. Managing tight deadlines while ensuring accuracy and quality can be challenging. To overcome this, it’s important to plan and allocate sufficient time for each translation project. Working with a team of experienced legal translators can also help distribute the workload and meet deadlines without compromising on quality.

9. Adapting to Ongoing Changes in Law

Laws and regulations are constantly evolving, and legal translators must stay up-to-date with these changes. Adapting to ongoing changes in law requires continuous learning and professional development. Translators should regularly update their knowledge of legal terminology, practices, and regulations in both the source and target languages. Staying informed about legal developments can help ensure that translations are accurate and relevant.

10. Collaborating with Legal Professionals

Effective legal translation often involves collaboration with legal professionals, such as lawyers, paralegals, and legal consultants. Collaborating with legal professionals can provide valuable insights and ensure that the translation is accurate and legally sound. Legal professionals can review the translated documents, provide feedback, and clarify any ambiguities or uncertainties. This collaborative approach helps enhance the quality and reliability of legal translations.

Conclusion

Legal translation is a complex and demanding field that requires specialized knowledge, precision, and attention to detail. By understanding the hidden challenges and implementing strategies to overcome them, you can ensure accurate and reliable legal translations. Working with experienced legal translators, leveraging technology, maintaining consistency, and collaborating with legal professionals are all essential steps in mastering the art of legal translation. In a world where legal accuracy is paramount, these strategies can help you navigate the complexities of legal translation and achieve success in your global endeavors.

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translationwala · 6 months

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Fluent Communication: English to Gujarati Translation Experts

Today’s world is very linked, and it’s very important that people can talk to each other clearly and effectively across countries and languages. This is especially true for Gujarati, a lively language that more than 60 million people speak around the world, mostly in the Indian state of Gujarat and in other places. English to Gujarati Translation experts are very important for helping people understand each other better when they speak English or Gujarati.

Why Choose Professional English to Gujarati Translation?

It may seem easy to translate between languages, but you need to be an expert to do it quickly and correctly. It’s important to use professional English to Gujarati translation services for the following reasons:

Maintaining Nuance and Impact: There are a lot of funny sayings, cultural references, and phrases in the Gujarati language. A good translator does more than just change words word-for-word. They carefully catch the core of the original English text to make sure that the translated text makes sense to people in Gujarati and has the same effect as the original.

Accuracy Across Domains: There are many areas that need English to Gujarati translation, and each has its own specific terms and details. Legal papers need accurate legal translations, and medical reports need accurate science translations. Professional interpreters know a lot about certain subjects, so they can make sure that the terminology is correct and consistent throughout the whole text.

Cultural sensitivity: Language and culture go together. Professional interpreters know a lot about both the English and Gujarati societies. They are very good at changing words, puns, and jokes so that there are no mistakes and the translated text sounds normal to people who read it in Gujarati.

Formal and Informal Registers: Like English, there are different levels of politeness in Gujarati. Professional translators can figure out the right register from the source text (like a business report, a social media post, or a piece of literature) and use that register correctly in the translated Gujarati text.

Applications of Professional English to Gujarati Translation

Translation from English to Gujarati is useful in many areas, such as:

Business and Industry: In today’s international market, it’s important to be able to communicate clearly. Professional translation of business papers, marketing materials, and contracts makes it easy for English-speaking companies to talk to the Gujarati market, which encourages growth and cooperation.

Government and Legal Affairs: Legal papers, government laws, and court processes all need to be translated correctly. Professional translators make sure that communication is clear and straightforward, following the law and giving Gujarati people fair access to information.

Science and Technology: Clear communication is necessary for science and technology to move forward. Translators who are good at their job make sure that people who speak Gujarati can access important information and new technologies by translating technical instructions, software platforms, and study papers.

Media and Entertainment: Communication that works well is key in the media and entertainment business. Professional translation of movies, subtitles, news stories, and social media posts lets Gujarati viewers enjoy global leisure and media, which promotes cultural understanding and exchange.

Finding the Right English to Gujarati Translation Expert

Finding the right English to Gujarati translation is very important because the need for high-quality translation services is rising.

Qualifications and Experience: Look for translators who have either proven they know a lot about translation or have a lot of experience translating in your field (law, medicine, etc.).

Translation Process and Quality Assurance: Ask the service company about the steps they take to translate. Reputable companies use a multi-step process that includes translation, reviewing, and editing by trained professionals to make sure the work is correct and flows well.

Technology Leverage: There are computer translation tools, but professional services use them along with human knowledge to get the best results.

Cost and Timeline Transparency: Get quotes that are clear about how much the project will cost and how long it will take. Companies with a good reputation set clear prices and stick to reasonable deadlines.

Conclusion

English to Gujarati Translation well, you need to do more than just change the words. It’s about bringing people from different countries together, making conversation easier, and making sure everyone can get information. If you hire professional translation services, you can be sure that your communication will be clear, accurate, and sensitive to different cultures. You can get what you want with this. If you have the right translation professional by your side, you can open up a world of possibilities and feel safe navigating the world.

Source: https://translationwala.wordpress.com/2024/04/10/fluent-communication-english-to-gujarati-translation-experts/

#English to Gujarati Translation #English to Gujarati #Gujarati Translation

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kamreadsandrecs · 1 year

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By Daniel Hahn

In “Where the Wild Things Are,” the boy Max finds himself sailing off, in a private boat, “through night and day / and in and out of weeks / and almost over a year,” to the eponymous land. There are about a thousand little components that combine to make “Where the Wild Things Are,” for me, one of the greatest of American books, and among them is that brief phrase “in and out of weeks.” It is entirely new, yet comprehensible, positioning the reader right in the middle of that experience of time passing.

Another writer might express a roughly similar idea in more predictable terms, of course. But Maurice Sendak was a genius, and any paraphrase will always diminish him.

Over its 60 years, “Where the Wild Things Are” has been translated into several dozen languages. I’ve looked at many of the translations, and I have yet to find one that makes that line as interesting as Sendak’s. The translators seem to assume that dull simplicity is good enough (it’s only a children’s book, after all), that “in and out of weeks” is essentially no different than “for several weeks” and that, in short, blunt meaning trumps everything.

The inadequacy of the world’s “Where the Wild Things Are” translations is one of my pet peeves. (We translators can be demanding.) Sendak’s book is marvelous across so many dimensions, and I feel the losses keenly — more keenly than is perhaps reasonable. But I believe my job as a translator is to preserve all the dimensions of a book, not just one of them. When I find complexity, my job is to keep complexity, or more accurately to reconstruct it. And some of the most complex books I’ve reconstructed have been children’s picture books.

But with so few words, most of them kid-friendly, how could that be?

In a good picture book, there’s a symbiotic relationship between the words and the images. But this doesn’t mean an illustrator’s job is merely to produce decorative pictures that “match” a text. (Text says “Once there was a blue turtle.” Insert picture of blue turtle.) Words and pictures can operate in tension, or reveal slightly different things, cleverly talking to one another. A picture book should feel organic, as though words and pictures were born in the same moment — a single, crystalline, utterly unified hybrid.

Imagine trying to translate song lyrics without hearing a melody, without knowing the tempo or whether it’s supposed to sound choppy and syncopated or ballady and soaring. Pictures can soar, too. Translate the text in isolation and you’re missing a dimension — sometimes even vital clues to a book’s meaning.

Let’s say we have a story in which Alice is teaching her brother Jesse how to make a cake. She wants to show him how to use a whisk. “Así!” she says. I might translate that as “Like this!” or as “Like that!” Knowing which option to choose doesn’t depend on my facility with Spanish, nor with English. It depends on my being able to see a picture that tells me who’s holding the whisk at the moment of speech. Without that image, I’m missing vital data; the functioning of the text depends on the two dimensions working together.

I’ve done some books where I’ve ended up translating the pictures more than the text, where the pictures have been the main source dictating what I’ve written. How my new text integrates with these pictures matters to me much more than how it relates, on its own, to prior text in another language.

Maybe I’ve got a picture of a smiling grandmother standing in the rain and I need to caption it pithily (there’s not much space on the page), with humor and in rhyme. The relation to the French words doesn’t concern me; what concerns me is the effect.

Yes, sometimes conveying specific information from the source material is important. But sometimes preserving a sense of sheer untethered silliness matters more.

The Brazilian picture-book maker Roger Mello is responsible for some of the most gorgeous pages I know. In our most recent collaboration, “João by a Thread,” young João makes a dreamscape out of his blanket’s patterns. (As with Max in “Where the Wild Things Are,” imagination helps João to process his dark emotions.) When translating the book, therefore, dreaminess was high on my list of tonal priorities.

My first-draft opening line looked like this:

Before falling asleep, the boy pulls up his blanket. “So, it’s just me now, alone.”

In fact, my Brazilian source text has João saying something closer to “alone with myself.” Could I get away with that? It’s what Mello wrote, and he’s not a sloppy writer. Odd phrasing, no doubt, but “alone with myself” and just plain “alone” are a little different, to my mind and ear. Sure, there’s an apparent redundancy of meaning, but I don’t care. Snappy concision is not on my list today. And sounding strange is a plus, not a minus.

“Before falling” doesn’t work for me, though. I’m from London, so London is the voice I use to test things for sound. I don’t pronounce the “r” in “before” (try it in an English accent — you’ll see), which means that before falling contains a disagreeable echo.

So this is where I end up:

Before he falls asleep, the boy pulls up his blanket: “So it’s just me now,” he thinks, “alone with myself?”

The words must appear, quite small, at the bottom of an otherwise empty double-page spread. Night is drawing in for João. The text must sound quiet. The words are being thought — or, as I imagine it, being said in a whisper.

Because here’s the other thing: The most common mode of picture-book consumption is reading aloud. As the pages are turned, young children might be reading the pictures with their eyes, but they’re receiving the words, via another reader, into their ears.

I can’t think of any other kind of writing that’s created specifically to be spoken by people who aren’t necessarily in the habit of reading aloud. So I should make it as easy as possible for them to animate this reading. (And I don’t know where in the world they will be, so I have to allow for the possibility that they’re, say, people who don’t pronounce the “r” in “before.")

That’s why the “he thinks” is there, by the way. It’s not in my source text, and was added only later, once the publishers had set the words on the page. It helps to guide the reading.

Occasionally, my language skills fail me; either that or the English language itself fails me. And then I need to go back to an illustrator and ask them to retrofit some pictures for the new language. “Hey, Eric, could you swap out that potato for a pineapple?” (I needed a fruit with an “n” in it. Don’t ask.)

For our edition of “João,” Mello returned to the hero’s blanket and rewove his illustration multilingually. The words of my translation became a part of those pictures — the most delightful words-and-pictures hybrid a translator could wish for.

The multidimensional nature of great picture books is endlessly fascinating for translators. It’s our challenge and our joy. I’m currently writing a book about Shakespeare in translation, about the demands he makes on a translator who wants to preserve the myriad features crammed into each 10-syllable line. His work is so mind-bogglingly intricate. Shakespeare really knows how to put pressure on a language. Sometimes I think he’s almost as tricky as Sendak.

#art #books #language #translation

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kammartinez · 1 year

Text

By Daniel Hahn

Another writer might express a roughly similar idea in more predictable terms, of course. But Maurice Sendak was a genius, and any paraphrase will always diminish him.

But with so few words, most of them kid-friendly, how could that be?

Yes, sometimes conveying specific information from the source material is important. But sometimes preserving a sense of sheer untethered silliness matters more.

My first-draft opening line looked like this:

Before falling asleep, the boy pulls up his blanket. “So, it’s just me now, alone.”

So this is where I end up:

Before he falls asleep, the boy pulls up his blanket: “So it’s just me now,” he thinks, “alone with myself?”

That’s why the “he thinks” is there, by the way. It’s not in my source text, and was added only later, once the publishers had set the words on the page. It helps to guide the reading.

#art #language #translation #books

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buypiner · 2 years

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This may be useful if both you and the other person are viewing your mobile device, or you need a translation for something other than a real-time conversation.īefore you can use this option, you may need to install the keyboard for some languages. You can also use your keyboard to translate between languages. Next, tap the field that says Enter text and start typing the English word or phrase you wish to translate. Tap the name of the language on the right and select Italian as the target language. Tap the name of the current language on the left side and select English as the source language. Let's say you want an Italian translation of an English phrase. Plus, you’re able to save translated words and phrases for future use.īeyond English, a small sampling of the many languages supported by the app include French, Italian, German, Spanish, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Arabic, Russian, Hebrew, and Yiddish. Offline translations are also available for many languages. You can translate typed text among more than 100 different languages, see translations of images in around 90 languages, translate bilingual conversations on the fly in 43 languages, and draw text for translation in 95 languages. Both versions offer roughly the same features but with somewhat different layouts. iPhone and iPad users will find it at Apple's App Store (Opens in a new window), while Android users can snag it from Google Play (Opens in a new window). Google Translate works on iOS/iPadOS and Android devices.

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hua-fei-hua · 2 years

Text

the main reason i don’t take “i’m a native speaker of the source language” as the be-all, end-all for translation arguments in fandom specifically (as in, between fans who are not professional or even hobbyist translators) is bc, well. sometimes.......... native speakers............ are bad at their own language, too.

#we're on tumblr. we've seen the reading comprehension on this site which is mostly americans whose native language is ostensibly english #alternatively i don't take 'i asked someone who is a native speaker of the source language' as the be-all end-all of t/l arguments #like yes ofc native speakers opinions should be considered. and if i didn't speak any of the source language then fuck man #i'm not qualified to argue with them LOL. but this post is mostly me thinking abt things w/cn origin #bc i've been told my whole life my mom is Very Highly Educated in chinese language arts and speaks appropriately #and it's still pretty frustrating when she tries to make me speak in the same kind of language bc i just don't hear it around that often #but i think it has at least taught me to *think* abt things in that kind of Highly Educated highly-referential/symbolic way #even if i lack the knowledge base of references/symbols to utilize it myself i can go digging for them when t/l from cn --> en #which i think is pretty interesting bc it places me in this kind of 'historically this is what the word has meant' pov #which is just not smth we really do/consider in english esp when looking at modern texts but i think is rlly necessary in chinese #even when looking at texts written in the modern day! and thinking abt it that's probably the source kernel for some gnshn discourse #bc cn is such a context-heavy language; context which goes beyond the meaning of the bare words on the page #bc en doesn't consider historical context of words we're not used to reading into words w/different historical nuances #and since deciding whether the historical or the modern connotations should apply in a certain context is a Skill #the arguments end up sounding like 'historically it has meant x' 'so what? it means y in the modern day'#'yes but the historical meaning adds depth and nuance that changes the interpretation in this context' 'why should it tho?'#and the answer to that is just bc that's how it goes in the language!! Sometimes Other Languages And Cultures Do Things Differently!#anyway this kind of thinking definitely also affects how i write; with all the highly deliberate word choices #and occasional referential nature of my phrasing and whatnot. i like to imagine i have a somewhat chinese writing style in english #like not entirely. i don't craft my native english sentences the way i would craft an english translation of a chinese sentence #the latter of which i typically try to keep similar to the way cn sentences flow which is Different from good en sentence flow #but the extremely specific wording at times and trying to pack a lot of meaning into a few choice words using external context/references #that feels like something i can bring into my english writing and have it read as an english work w/echoes of another language hidden under #花話

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domeyashiro · 3 years

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Not to stir the pot or anything but I’ve been seeing so many posts on tumblr of some group that is posting “another translation” of Saezuru. These people keep talking about demanding that the publishers re-release a “perfect” translation. As a former JA>EN translator I have my own thoughts on this one but I was curious to know what you thought. (Also, I’d love to know more about what kind of translation work you do!)

Sigh. I don't even have to look up that blog to know who you're talking about. And I think "another translation" is a very fitting term for what they do. ;) From what I saw, they're a prime example of the Dunning-Kruger-Effect. If translation were as simple as exchanging words from the source language into their dictionary translation of the target language like a robot, there wouldn't be tons of books on translation theory out there. I feel a rant coming up, so please bear with me, because what I’m about to say will be nothing new to you.

First of all, there is no "perfect translation". Give the same source text to ten translators and you'll get ten different results. All of which can be perfectly valid. Ideally they all convey the same meaning, so it's not like you wouldn't notice that they were translated from the same source text. But the wording will differ. One person will find a better translation here, another person will find a better way to phrase things there. It's not like one translator gets everything right and better than everyone else, unless you have people with vastly different skill levels. Often it will be simply a matter of personal preference which translation you like best.

The person who runs the blog you mention has a very literal approach to translation. They think sticking as closely as possible to the phrasing the author chose will achieve the "perfect result". But that's a typical beginner’s mistake. They're getting the facts right, I'll give them that. Being a native speaker does have advantages. But getting the facts right is the bare minimum we try to do as translators. (I say "try", because we're human and everyone makes mistakes here and there.) What's more important for a good translation is strong writing skills in your target language, which is why most professional translators translate into their native language, not from their mother tongue into their second or third language. Because it's incredibly hard to develop the same feel for what sounds good and natural in a language you didn't grow up with. It's not impossible, but very few people achieve this level of skill.

I'm also an ESL speaker, so I won't judge other people's English, but let me explain why I think that translating too literally is a beginner's mistake. First of all "literal translation" is a total myth, because where you draw the line between what is “literal” and what is not is always a deliberate decision made by the translator. Strictly speaking, if someone claims to be using only Sensei's own words, they would also have to drop subjects and pronouns where they're missing in the Japanese original, as they do all the time. I doubt anyone would go this far, but let's roll with this example to emphasize my point:

"iku?" (Go?) is a perfectly natural thing to say in Japanese. The info who is going and where they want to go is usually clear from the context and doesn’t need to be explicitly stated. So the Japanese reader gets a normal sentence, whereas the English reader gets an ungrammatical one. The sentence needs a subject at least: "We go?" Understandable English, but still not a grammtical sentence. "Should we go?" Now we get the same information the Japanese speaker got from just "iku?" in the context I pretend it was said in. I added two words that aren't there in the original, yet my sentence is a) easier to understand b) correct English and c) conveys the same meaning as the original, while the "literal translation" is lacking in all three aspects. Now please imagine a whole text written like: “Go?” “Yes, go!” Would you honestly think that the translator did a good job by giving you a text in broken English that's barely understandable when things get more complex than this? The Japanese audience gets a perfectly well-written story, while you’re barely even able to understand what’s going on. So your reading experience doesn't match at all, despite sticking religiously to the source text.

I’m exaggerating of course. No translator would go this far. But this example shows that even the most “literal translation” doesn’t get away with wording things exactly as in the source text.

And then we get into more complex territory: If I translate a joke, is it more important that I give you the exact words the author used, although you're missing the cultural context to find the joke funny, or is it more important that I make you laugh like the author intended? If there's a dialect, how do I go about it? Is it important enough to risk alienating my audience (because we're not really used to seeing written dialect)? If yes, which English dialect could work? There is never a perfect equivalent, because dialects are so tied to the region where they're spoken. So do I substitue a Japanese southern dialect with an English southern dialect? Or do I go by the image the dialect evokes in the Japanese reader’s head? Urban or rural? Or maybe I should create a fictional dialect? But then it doesn't evoke any image at all and might simply sound stupid. Or how do I "literally" translate all the different ways to say "I" and "you" in Japanese? There is simply no one and perfect way to translate something. Some ways are objectively better than others, but most of the time it's a case by case decision. What works well in one situation, might be the wrong approach in another one.

So if you try to approach everything with "literal is best", your result won't even be good. You’ll end up with awkward English: flat dialogues that don’t flow, clumsy idioms, unnatural word choices, characters who don't sound like native speakers, jokes that don't land, shifted nuances, weird sentence structure and so on. All this makes the text harder to read, harder to understand and almost impossible to enjoy. If you can’t create a text that reads as effortlessly and beautifully in English as it does in Japanese, all you’re doing is make the author look unskilled (and yourself too ofc).

Proper translation aims to recreate the unique features of each source text and the individual style of the author with the natural means of the target language. You’re allowed to be creative and find original ways to do so, but you're not supposed to cripple the target language by pressing it into the structure of the source language. Because the readers don’t see “the beauty of the Japanese language” in your supposedly faithful translation. They see clumsy or even wrong English.

Coming back to the "another translation" blog. If we're talking about the same person, they like to label everything as "serious mistranslation". Yes, there are many actual mistakes in the scanlation, and probably in the official translation too (I haven’t read it tbh), but 90 % of the things I saw them point out aren't even minor mistakes. They're just "correcting" perfectly natural English into English that says exactly the same, just worse or longer. Speech balloons have limited space and sometimes a sentence simply doesn’t fit in if you don’t shorten it a little. That’s not a mistake! And if I have a Japanese sentence like "I'm doing this for the first time", it's not a mistranslation to turn it into "I've never done this before", because the meaning is exactly the same. I just chose a phrasing that might sound more natural in English in the given context. This is a made-up example, but this is the level of nitpickery we're talking about. Not to mention that it's incredibly rude to drag someone else's translation publicly like that, especially when your criticism is solely based on your own lack of knowlege.

(Regarding your last question: I translate manga professionally but that’s all I can really say on this blog.)

#saezuru tori wa habatakanai #translation #saezuru fandom #questions

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chouhatsumimi · 3 years

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Hi! I am trying to become a japanese to English (& vice versa) translator. I can't find any sources to check the English to Japanese translation. It is difficult to get which grammar must be used since I am not a japanese native and don't know any natives to ask either. I have studied till N2 level but have no experience and must start freelancing to get experience so I need to figure out how to translate on my own. I can only use free translation software but I am not sure about it's reliability. I have seen questionable translations when it's for Japanese to English. Do think you can give any suggestions or anything that might be helpful?

Hi! I did put in a little time searching for the kind of tools you might have had in mind.

It seems that there are many that function in the exact same way but have different interfaces. Here are two of them. Many others can be found by searching "日本語文章校正ツール" or similar keywords. https://dw230.jp/kousei/

https://so-zou.jp/web-app/text/proofreading/

While they can point out some things to look out for, from the testing I did with them, they overlooked some pretty obvious errors, while also catching some things that I couldn't figure out why it thought it was wrong/sounded bad, or how to fix it.

There was one more I found that I didn't try, because it involves downloading software. This page explains the software, and another page on the site offers the download. The webpage is sponsored by a university, so I think it's safe to assume its trustworthy, but it might be a hassle and I can't say for sure if it works.

https://www.pawel.jp/outline_of_tools/tomarigi/

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That said, it's most common for translators to work from one language INTO their native language. While interpreters often have to go both directions (J <--> E), translators typically work either (J -> E) [English native speakers] OR (E -> J) [Japanese native speakers]. If you grew up bilingual, maybe you can translate both ways. But if English is your native language and you learned Japanese as a second language (which is true of my situation), it's pretty much not going to be worth bothering to do E->J translation, unless there are extenuating circumstances. The reasons for this are 1) You can't be sure that the translation you produce reads smoothly or is error-free 2) While you might think, but yes, if I do a really thorough check and compare it against native Japanese examples, I can be pretty darn sure it's perfect, the amount of time it takes you to do that is not going to be cost-effective. Like anything else, people purchasing translation as a service usually want the end result to be done well, in a timely manner, and as cheaply as possible, so it doesn't make sense to hire you for E -> J when they could hire a native Japanese speaking translator, or send their work to an agency to find that translator for them.

If you ARE translating into Japanese and are not a native speaker of Japanese, it is a good idea to have a fellow translator who has the opposite native language you do (in this case Japanese & English), and ask them to check it over for you (which, considering that's part of their job, you'd probably pay a small fee for). They could do the same to have you proofread their translations into English. Some translators consult friends/spouses, etc., but I think this can get old for them sometimes, so it's advisable not to rely on them for your job. You mentioned not having any native speakers to ask right now, but this is still an idea you can file away for in the future when you meet more people and get to know other translators.

In short, if you're aiming to become a translator working with Japanese but are not a native Japanese speaker, don't worry about translating into Japanese. Just focus on translating from Japanese into your native language.

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Translation software: let me make a distinction here between "machine translation" and "CAT [computer aided translation] tools".

Machine translation is Google Translate, DeepL, anything like that. There are times when they work well, but particularly with a language like Japanese that likes to imply a lot of information instead of stating it directly (such as who is doing the action described in the sentence), they're pretty much always going to miss something. In any situation that someone is looking to pay a translator to do work, it's because they already know machine translation won't cut it. One thing that's becoming more common is MTPE (machine translation post editing), where a translator "fixes" what's wrong with a machine translation (or more often than not, just re-translates it from scratch because what the machine came up with is mostly useless).

CAT tools, on the other hand, are widely used by translators. Paid CAT tools such as Trados, MemoQ, Memsource, etc. can be very expensive, and are often provided by a translation agency to their translators. (Also, most of them require a PC operating system.) There's more I could say, but since I haven't been in any situations that require them, I don't have any personal experience. I do have experience using OmegaT (free, works on Mac) and Felix (free, I use it on Windows). They both take a little tinkering to figure out how to use effectively, but basically what they do is, once you've translated a segment of text, they store the original segment and the translated segment, and for each new segment you go to translate, the CAT tool compares it to segments that you've previously translated to see if you can re-use any of what you came up with before. They can also have a built-in dictionary function, but that's basically just having your typical web-based dictionary but more automatically and in a more convenient location.

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For going into freelancing, I have a few recommendations.

Apart from CAT tools, some resources that I refer to frequently are http://nihongo.monash.edu/cgi-bin/wwwjdic?9T (basically looks up all the words in a sentence at once), http://thejadednetwork.com/sfx/ (if you're doing anything with sound effects, like manga), https://tsukubawebcorpus.jp//search/ (this is a corpus, I have another post on how to use it -here-, it's probably going to be your best bet when it comes to checking grammar), https://books.google.com/ngrams (for when it comes to figuring out what turns of phrase are commonly used in English), and https://yomikatawa.com/ (for figuring out the readings of names in Japanese, though there are other sites that work similarly).

When it comes to practicing, contests are a good place to start. The two I know of now are run by JAT in October (https://jat.org/events/contests) and JLPP deadline of 7/31 (and they're long, so it's probably too late for this year unless you're free between now and then: https://www.jlpp.go.jp/en/competition6/competition6en.html ) You can also practicing doing translations for fun. Any kind of media you enjoy (manga, video games, variety shows, newspaper articles) is a good target for doing a practice translation. Just be wary that it's not a good idea to post your translation in a public location on the internet, because it could be infringing copyright/licensing agreements, etc. Finally, there are websites like Gengo, Conyac, Fiverr and others where you can do gig translation work. They can be useful for practice, but also have the pitfall of paying, like, 5% of the rate you should be getting. This is an ongoing debate because on one hand, you can get practice while still getting a little money for it, but on the other hand, if customers can get people to do that work for 5% of a livable wage, that makes it harder for aspiring and working translators to find enough work that pays well enough to support themselves doing only translation for a living. Entertainment (primarily manga) scanlation groups also a significant enough force to merit a mention here- many aspiring entertainment translators find themselves a part of such a group. Practice is practice and developing your skills is important, but they also have many many of the same problems associated with them as I mentioned above, namely infringing on copyright and contributing to the inability of anyone to turn entertainment translation into a livable full-time job.

Another recommendation I have is to join some J/E translation-focused groups. This page lists a number of them: https://shinpaideshou.com/translation/ I can personally vouch for JAT as I am a member and I got my current job by being part of their directory. They run an online training program (eJuku) once a year around April, and applications only stay open for a few days, so if you're interested make sure you keep your eye out. Another one not listed on that page is https://swet.jp/ which is not entirely about translation, but it is heavily related and they host some good events. Twitter is also a very good place to be if you're getting into J/E translation. I prefer to keep my tumblr and twitter separate but if you DM me, I can give you my handle so you can see who I follow and who among that seems worth following to you.

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In closing, I see you say "I have studied till N2 level but have no experience and must start freelancing to get experience so I need to figure out how to translate on my own." I'd say, give yourself some time. Even at N1 there's still going to be a lot you don't understand (or at least there was for me, that's why I started this langblr). I'm sure there are differences in our situations, but it was about five years ago for me that I started diving into translation- I think I was between N2 and N1 then. I've done a lot of translating and gotten a lot of experience since then, but I also have and am experiencing a lot of burnout. (In fact, I'm procrastinating right now by answering this....) Many translators have a job and translate on the side, and it's also common to gain experience with a company or agency before diving into supporting yourself on freelance work. I'd encourage you to take a breath, get experience when and where you can, and remember that if you keep at it long enough, you're sure to get there- just don't wear yourself out or worry to death in the meantime!

OH and definitely keep track of what projects you do, how long they are, and how long it takes you to do them! Knowing your speed is important when it comes to setting your working rates. I am always doubting these, and they differ from person to person, but my current estimates are that I can do 600 moji (Japanese characters) per hour, ~10 min. of audio per hour, and I try to aim for $45~$60 per hour. Generally the lowest acceptable standard rates are $0.05-$0.06 per moji and ~$5 per page of manga. You'll definitely get requests lower than that, so remember your sanity and don't be afraid to say no, there are plenty of opportunities out there!

#translation #Japanese translation #nanikanamae #JE translation #a day in the life of translation #day in the life of translation #if you or anyone has questions feel free to ask #I am absolutely swamped with things to do right now and this probably took over an hour to write so it might not be soon but I will see it

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