[ SECRET POST #2875 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2875 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 063 secrets from Secret Submission Post #411.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Some official translations change to much though. Like going from noodles to burgers. That is why I sometimes end up reading scantilations anyway.

[(Anonymous)]

Some official translations change names. I'll happily sacrifice perfect grammar for that sort of thing not being messed with.

[(Anonymous)]

That's really rare these days, though -- off the top of my head, I can only think of one fandom being actively translated that does that sort of thing as a rule, and that one's primarily a video game anyway. (Ace Attorney.)

The biggest problem with fan translations is that very often it's not that they use poor grammar in English, it's that they don't have a real understanding of *Japanese* grammar and phrasing. So they'll get the nouns right, and probably the adjectives and verbs, and then just kind of guess at what the rest of the sentence means. They might not be able to tell if a character is saying he did something, he wanted to do something, someone else wanted him to do something, he's going to do something, someone else is going to do something... Japanese can pack a lot of meaning into choice of connective particles and verb endings, and that's the place a lot of fan translators are weakest.

And I've seen a lot of fan translations get names entirely wrong, too, whether by misreading kanji or choosing the most awkward possible reading of katakana (I mean, seriously, Rivaille?) -- and then fans will furiously defend their blunder against the official translations getting things 'wrong.'

I've been tempted to dabble in translation myself, but I know my Japanese is a bit rusty, so I'm kind of waffling over it. I know all too well the traps I could fall into -- and how unlikely it is that most people would ever call me out over them, which kind of makes it worse.

[(Anonymous)]

"So they'll get the nouns right, and probably the adjectives and verbs"

And sometimes it's only because they're using a dictionary so if a word has more than one meaning, they'll probably pick the wrong one.

[(Anonymous)]

To be fair, I don't think that's that common anymore.

I also think people need to realize that fan translations can actually be more inaccurate - because many translators aren't native speakers in both Japanese and English, they can also misunderstand and make mistakes. And considering that Japanese and English don't translate cleanly to start with, there's a lot of room for interpretive translation - and taking that jump on your own, rather than being backed up by a company, can lead to results that are ultimately pretty different than what the official translation comes up with.

[(Anonymous)]

Scantilations do tend to have more notes though. Just trying to explain the different problems/contexts. It all depends on the translation in question.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree it absolutely depends on the scan in question, which is the point. A non-Japanese speaker reading a fan translation has no idea how accurate it is, and there is so much variance. You can get anything from perfect translation to someone who flat out made things up and doesn't understand either language very well, and there's just not going to be a great way of telling.

[(Anonymous)]

Some official translations also have a lot of cultural and translation notes these days. At least Viz does.

[(Anonymous)]

Many official translations aren't done by natives either.

In fact outsourcing is becoming so common when it comes to translation that there's been a "boom" of cheap translations (mostly done in India or China) that need "editing" by a native (willing to work cheaply to correct only grammar, not the translation itself) to be readable.

'm not saying all manga is being translated like that, but I won't be surprised if some are.

[(Anonymous)]

I wouldn't be surprised, but I will say that all the people I know in the industry are in North America or Europe. And most manga... especially anything from the big publishing houses like Viz or Dark Horse or Yen... will be edited by someone who has strong English and Japanese both (there's a lot of Japanese Americans in the industry, actually).

[(Anonymous)]

LOL, are you a butthurt Ace Attorney fan?

[(Anonymous)]

Nah just the first example that sprung too mind.