So this translator who has worked with Dark Horse a good amo

> I add context and create bridge sentences that might not have been in the original.
I understand why they do this, but I really don't like it in fan subs or scans. I don't mind dry, uninspired language as long as I'm not reading an amateur translator's opinion of what the author was trying to say. I don't want to get the wrong idea of a character's personality or a relationship dynamic based on nuance they've added unintentionally. Puns and honorofics and things should be explained in translators notes if necessary, because it's assumed that the audience is already somewhat familiar with the medium.

It's a different story for professional translations, since I trust them to get it right and because their audience might be getting introduced to anime/manga for the first time through that work.

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Commie-tier translator. I bet he inserts memes too.

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>reading the text
Oh god, it's even worse than I thought.

>>138373753
nothing will top Eoten bullshit

>its
>Alot
You make very little effort to demonstrate that you could never understand why.

>I figured the closer I got to the published version, the better I was doing.
That's a pretty completely flawed mentality.

Right, so this is the guy who did Showa. Some of those fucking TL notes and the inconsistencies. I have to say I at least respect D+Q and Dark Horse for at least hiring people who aren't completely incompetent. But this guy still isn't even close to some of the better translators.

>>138374045
>You make very little effort to demonstrate that you could never understand why.
I wasnt saying he was good anon i was just talking about what he was saying. My Jap is pretty mediocre at best exaggerations

>>138373566
>produces unreadable gobbledygook.
>gook
Das racis

>>138374045
>its
That's correct there, anon. Did you mean to quote the missing apostrophe in "cant"?

>>138373566
It seems very much like it was supposed to say 'it is pretty good'. How is that correct?

>>138374209
Meant to quote >>138374138

>>138374209
Stopped on the first its (its nuances) for some reason. Sorry anon.

>>138373566
>Along with translating the words on the page, I add context and create bridge sentences that might not have been in the original. I fill in gaps that would have been apparent to Japanese readers. And sometimes I rewrite things entirely. That’s the Rule of Rubin in action.
This is good. As long as the original meaning of the author is kept.

>>138373737
Literal translations can also give you the wrong idea and connotation as well. If you're relying on shoddy translations to begin with, you're going to lose either way

>I saw a fellow translator say on Twitter that what we really do is write new English scripts to match the existing artwork.
I've seen those rewrites on sadpanda too.

He doesn't sound like a detestable person.

You could have it worse with who ever works at Funimation, NISA, or some of the random idiots in the LN translation stuff.

>>138373566
>I add context and create bridge sentences that might not have been in the original. I fill in gaps that would have been apparent to Japanese readers.
So he is calling me a retard because he assumed I am unable to understand a medium that 85% of the time uses stock lines?

>>138373566
The whole thing was AWFUL.
If a Japanese joke doesn't make an American laugh, maybe it is because he is not a Japanese and there is nothing he can do about it. It is his job to make me laugh, his job is to enable me to understand a piece of a different culture.
The example he used makes the whole thing even more absurd, because he assumed every reader is more interested in laughing at a joke instead of reading a manga to learn something more about a culture he - the reader - is not part of.
It also assumes the translator has the best understanding of the author and work's meaning, which is something I would never bet on.

I wonder how he would localize in Japanese an American comedian's work, which requires an understanding or knowledge of political or cultural facts to be enjoyed. If he had to translate a joke about abortion or Vietnam in Japanese, how would he approach it? By making a joke about the Emperor and China?

>>138375539
>It is his job to make me laugh
It is NOT his job to make me laugh

>>138375589
It is if substance can be preserved better by changing the form.

>>138375668
I disagree, at least in most scenarios. If there is an obvious pun equivalent, then that's one thing (though I'd still like a note telling me what the original was), but if it's simply a cultural reference that someone in the West might not get, he should not alter that. I think an easy rule of thumb could be that if a reader's misunderstanding could occur in the same form if it were a book in their native language/dialect but from a different cultural background, then it is not something you need to translate.

>>138375882
> not something you need to translate
Not something you need to localize, I meant.

>>138375882
I think we're talking semantics now. I basically agree with you, I'm saying that if a very strict translation turns even jokey characters into boors, a more loose translation would preserve characterization and tone better. I'd never advocate changing cultural references, and in fact the translator in OP preserves them (such as in Showa 39-44 pg 488, where he preserves a reference to graveyard scraps when he could easily have just used "food from the ground.")

>>138376120
page 40 I mean.

>>138375539
>It is his job to make me laugh

By this logic you better start changing everything remotely politically incorrect into it's SJW format because there's definitely a lot of faggots waiting to rage on any material possible that triggers them.

Oh wait.

>>138376120
Okay, yeah, I think we're agreeing. I guess I was just misinterpreting/overreacting to the translator's suggestion that it was his job to reshape cultural context. Syntax/exact wording is obviously up to his judgment as to what's essential for the sentence's effect.

I'm not sure how I feel about his mention of thesaurus-plundering for Oshii, though. I guess I should finally read Seraphim before really judging it, but something about that seems a little haphazard to me.

>>138376168
1) What?
2) Go back to /pol/.

>>138376413
You retarded bro? Rhetorical question, of course you are.

>>138373737
>I don't mind dry, uninspired language

So you don't actually care about whether you're going to enjoy the thing or not, only how "pure" you perceive the script to be?

It never ceases to amaze me how people who rely on translations to enjoy a work in a language they wouldn't otherwise understand completely fail to realize the importance of good writing in the translation itself when it comes to how much they're going to enjoy the work.

>>138375539
>he assumed every reader is more interested in laughing at a joke instead of reading a manga to learn something more about a culture he - the reader - is not part of.

Newsflash: Anime and manga are entertainment. Their purpose is to entertain people, not be Japanese culture and linguistic lessons for foreigners.

>>138373566
Manga translators are low tier translators no matter how big their ego is.

The real Japanese to English translators on the other hand work on translating shit like Japanese Medical or Law Books or work for the United Nations or extremely technical manuals.

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>>138378204

Japanese is a beautiful language. Sometimes less words tell you more. Like a guitar solo by David Gilmour. Majestic.

>>138378165
Newsflash: Americans are not Japanese, it's normal and logical that they have different cultures.
Your enjoyment and your laughter doesn't excuse a process and method to erase the cultural roots of a work. "What is funny funny in Japan should be funny in America" is not a law of physics.
If you are not interested in reading a piece of another culture, then read comics. Those are written for Americans by other Americans and you won't need anyone to explain what you are reading.

>>138374045
>But this guy still isn't even close to some of the better translators.
Probably that's the reason he isn't working with them anymore.

>>138378709
No thanks, I'd rather consume well translated Japanese media instead. If you claim to be that interested in understanding the ~Japanese meaning~, then you should go learn Japanese and read the original untranslated work instead of demanding botched translations that lets you play make-believe about understanding a language that you actually don't.

>>138378750
You won't learn anything if you read the same shit all over again. Muricans...

>>138378709
>Your enjoyment and your laughter doesn't excuse a process and method to erase the cultural roots of a work
What? You clearly don't get what the translator was getting at. The times things are changed are the actual literal wording and maybe puns and shit. Actual cultural implications and background tends to get preserved, like anon points out here: >>138376120

What the translator is trying to emphasize is that translations, especially Japanese ones, are not actually presenting you with what the original writer wrote. Primarily because that's impossible. The only thing that's actually what the author wrote, is what the author actually wrote. An English translation needs to take into account differences in language and cultural understanding in order to get the same meaning and feeling across, which includes the cultural tones. No ones arguing about removing, say, the Japanese understanding bullying, around dating, around water melon smashing or whatever. But the ideas needed to communicate this concept may be different than literal, one to one word use.

Look at, say, Usagi Yojimbo. A western comic that is steeped in Japanese, if a bit historical, culture. It's entirely in English, aside from a few trivial sounds and the typical untranslatable term, and that's the original language too. But it's entirely possible to understand what's going on and why just from the work itself. Nor does it read like a literal translation of any Japanese written work.

>>138378750
> understanding a language that you actually don't.
It's about the culture, not the language.
I don't need to study Italian and German if I want to watch a European movie set during the '40s. And I assume you wouldn't like a localization that swaps fascists with KKK and Slavs with black minority.

>>138373566
this whole story was trash. being a famous director does not mean you can write manga and this proved it.

>>138379154
Is Usagi any good? It's apparently quite popular at my local library.

>>138380609
The quality can vary from chapter to chapter, but it's a very solid wandering Samurai story. Lots of HONOR and fights and character motivational conflict. The side characters that show up, even those just for a single story, are all great on their own too. It can also get pretty humorous. The art style ends up refined after the first few volumes (Usagi's face becomes less detailed but more expressive, for instance). The first volumes also have a bit more weird stories than it eventually settles down into (there's a brief Godzilla parody that's entirely a set up for a pun on that name). While not every story ties into a plot, there is a consistent background going on and Usagi ends up moving into and out of various political shenanigans. There's also several stories that are "this is how such and such thing was done," like Sake or kite making because Stan Sakai is utterly in love with the period it takes place in.

If you can actually borrow it from your library, I'd recommend checking it out that way first.

>>138376168
Is this the same guy who brings up /pol/ and SJW shit constantly on /a/ in discussions where it is completely irrelevant or are there more than one of these site-ruining idiots?

>>138378206
How much do professional translators make anyway? I can't imagine having to go through an entire textbook. That practically demands that you live in the source country and keep up with the field in question.

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>>138379154
>Look at, say, Usagi Yojimbo. A western comic that is steeped in Japanese, if a bit historical, culture. It's entirely in English, aside from a few trivial sounds and the typical untranslatable term, and that's the original language too. But it's entirely possible to understand what's going on and why just from the work itself. Nor does it read like a literal translation of any Japanese written work.
I remember reading Usagi Yojimbo and in one panel he and the Rhino guy drank sake together and said "kampai" and it had a little note at the bottom of the panel that explained that it means "cheers".

>>138376413
>1)
>2)
Fuck off back to tumblr or whatever shithole you come from.