[X] My Assistant

I also feel some of the most popular ones who charge more and who have been doing them for a while have gotten lazy and become used to reusing the same phrases over and over...like their choice word for the taboo parts, or sexual slang. It's almost like they're translating on autopilot, just fitting in whatever obscene phrase comes to mind while knowing they won't be questioned, which is why I'm glad more people are now doing commissions. This happens because there isn't enough constructive criticism in this community of existing translations.

I actually wish this was the case, but it's not. If translators were just lazy, that could leave room for change, but while we are lazy (at least me), the dialogue isn't always our fault. As ultimaflaral said, the words used during sex are just plain repetitive, and the artists writing the stories don't seem to be that creative. Hell, most plots for doujins and H-manga are cliched in the first place. In each H-manga or doujin, it is essentially guaranteed that you will see "はいってる" in some form about 3-5 times. Towards the end, you also see "イく！！" or "でる！！" another 3-5 times. Basically, you see in each doujin or manga "It's going in!" and "I'm cumming!" very, very often. There's only so many ways to translate it before you just give up on trying to be creative and go with what's easiest.

This post has been edited by Kamikakushi: Sep 23 2014, 17:06

Typing out the same moan 100 times is boring.

I concur.

I actually wish this was the case, but it's not. If translators were just lazy, that could leave room for change, but while we are lazy (at least me), the dialogue isn't always our fault. As ultimaflaral said, the words used during sex are just plain repetitive, and the artists writing the stories don't seem to be that creative. Hell, most plots for doujins and H-manga are cliched in the first place. In each H-manga or doujin, it is essentially guaranteed that you will see "はいってる" in some form about 3-5 times. Towards the end, you also see "イく！！" or "でる！！" another 3-5 times. Basically, you see in each doujin or manga "It's going in!" and "I'm cumming!" very, very often. There's only so many ways to translate it before you just give up on trying to be creative and go with what's easiest.

Same.

I'd probably have to say that by far my favorites have been, for years, are both SaHa and N04h.

Reviving this thread just to weigh in on the repetitivity issue, since I really felt it heavily after translating an entire tank by the same guy.

I swear, and I'm sure all translators can back me up on this, that even in the original Japanese script, at least 3/4 of speech is the same all across the board, with not a single character being different.

Multiple times I debated with myself if it'd be efficient to have macros on my keyboard to automatically type stock phrases, because the average doujin has dialogue indistinguishable from the other thousands published alongside it.

This post has been edited by Striborg: Aug 22 2017, 15:39

^+1

so this is the thread where you pay to get things translated?,from what ive seen how would that work?

so this is the thread where you pay to get things translated?,from what ive seen how would that work?

This thread was not for that, just go to the thread of the group you want to commision from, send a pm to them with what you want translated, and go on from there.

I feel the op has done and read enough commissions to answer his own question. Some of the translators listed here really aren't very accurate at decoding, but at least make it flow in English and are then praised by simpletons for making a good translation. Conversely, others are more accurate at decoding the Japanese, but are either not writers or are not totally fluent in English and could benefit from a proofreader to make it flow in English. I think its good to look at their existing work, and if possible compare their translations to the originals. Then decide whether accuracy or flow is more important to you, and finally compare their prices.

I also feel some of the most popular ones who charge more and who have been doing them for a while have gotten lazy and become used to reusing the same phrases over and over...like their choice word for the taboo parts, or sexual slang. It's almost like they're translating on autopilot, just fitting in whatever obscene phrase comes to mind while knowing they won't be questioned, which is why I'm glad more people are now doing commissions. This happens because there isn't enough constructive criticism in this community of existing translations.

Let me chime in too, with a specific example at the end. Maybe I'm beating a dead horse, but I'd like to get this off my chest.

Here is a deeply seated belief of mine: While I have the privilege (prerogative, maybe?) of ad-libbing here and there to make things more pleasant to read, it is very much not my job to fix "mistakes" that the author has "made". In the repetitivity issue in particular: I don't usually come across it a lot, which probably says more about my tastes in H than anything. However, I recently translated a doujin where the word "tamannee..." ("Amazing...") was used about seven times in as many pages. When the author is so demonstrably lazy, what incentive do I have to make improvements?

This post has been edited by Kusojijii: Dec 10 2017, 02:27

When the author is so demonstrably lazy, what incentive do I have to make improvements?

IMHO it makes the translator look just as bad. People are going to question your choice of words just as much if not more than the author. For me, it's the latter, because besides being lazy, disinterested or dispassionate, it shows the translator's lack of eloquence in my language as opposed to a foreign author's eloquence in their own. Which I don't know or even care about. The language you're translating to is more important than the one you're translating from.

I'm not blaming anyone though. As an editor, I don't believe in redrawing for artists who use excessive air text.

This is where I think localization persons can contribute.

If there are 7 amazings in 7 pages, IMO there are at least 5 "English proofreaders" per TL that'd be willing to change those 'amazings' into [www.thesaurus.com] http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/amazing

The vital characteristic the community wants from the TL is the JP -> ENG. the real meat of the context, as i would put it - the actual story

'amazing' is more/less the same as a moan. it's just hard for the non TL's to identify compared to say 'ah' 'ha' 'mm'

tl;dr in my projects i don't expect my TL's to translate moans. this is asking to burn them out. if i was able to identify "amazing" i'd have the TL's ignore that too. but the only "amazing" i can identify is すごい

edit: i guess same could be said for the 'i'm comings'

This post has been edited by Slobber: Dec 10 2017, 03:16

what incentive do I have to make improvements?

I don't know about "incentive", but you are making this your project/product now, it's not their product once you lay your hands on it and put out your version of it.

Most of us are just doing this as a hobby, so "incentive"...? Well, just trying to make it the best it can be for your own personal satisfaction for the most part I'd say (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

And yeah, seven "amazings" in a page, jeez, yeah, gotta do something with anything like that, that's just terrible.

well if you zoom out a bit, amazing is basically just a moan in a word. it's no different from an Ah! Mnah! Oh god! Yes! Wow! Hah! Ahh! Ohh! More! (ok maybe it's different than More!)

no matter which form of the above i can't help but think the reader would be like "ok so she likes the sex, gotcha"

[deleted]

This post has been edited by lHenTie: Dec 16 2017, 23:06

IMHO it makes the translator look just as bad. People are going to question your choice of words just as much if not more than the author. For me, it's the latter, because besides being lazy, disinterested or dispassionate, it shows the translator's lack of eloquence in my language as opposed to a foreign author's eloquence in their own. Which I don't know or even care about. The language you're translating to is more important than the one you're translating from.

I'm not blaming anyone though. As an editor, I don't believe in redrawing for artists who use excessive air text.

After I've translated a few more chapters, I can now give a more detailed answer than previously.

Changes like this, that depart slightly from the original in order to make the text flow better, constitute a kind of "polishing" of the script. Polishing a gem makes it shine; polishing a turd, well...

With that in mind, I'd like to ask you this: Suppose you're translating something, and you're left with the impression that the author is "lazy / disinterested / dispassionate". Would you take it upon yourself to change that? Or would you present the script as it seems to you?

And yeah, seven "amazings" in a page, jeez, yeah, gotta do something with anything like that, that's just terrible.

Er, no, that was seven "amazing"s in seven pages. Still, it gets grating quite fast.

depends on the art too. if their art looks like they put in the time then the "lazy / disinterested / dispassionate" is probably a misconception by the TL. most of these artists need to do the art + the script. if artists are drawing like hunter x hunter (the recent chapters) + have a shitty script then it's fair to question their motivation

told ya to just treat the 'amazing' as a moan. because for all intents/purposes, it is.

With that in mind, I'd like to ask you this: Suppose you're translating something, and you're left with the impression that the author is "lazy / disinterested / dispassionate". Would you take it upon yourself to change that?

I'd flat out drop the project entirely. If there's not something compelling me to finish, like a paycheck, it's not worth my time and effort.

I'd flat out drop the project entirely. If there's not something compelling me to finish, like a paycheck, it's not worth my time and effort.

That only applies to stuff you're doing out of your own will, of course.
I've been translating several hundred pages every single week for years now, and I will never get tired of repeating this: doujin writing is ASTOUNDINGLY lazy.

Repetitive doesn't even begin to describe how doujin are written. Couple it with how Japanese is not exactly a creative language when it comes to the choice of words used in intimate situations, and you have a recipe for boring copypasted text all over.

There's also the matter of much of the Japanese flair being simply impossible to translate. To compensate for the lack of different verbal forms or expressions, spoken Japanese often uses distortions from the 'proper' written way, and overly emphasizes emotion on phrase ending words.

The former doesn't exist in English and ends up untranslatable, and the latter doesn't exist in text.
Even when the author tries to put some flair in there, English just doesn't HAVE any of the tools needed to make it show through, leaving even the most creative of translators at a loss on what to do, aside repeating the same exclamation for the billionth time that day.

Japanese and English just aren't compatible.
If you want a 意訳 (natural translation) instead of the 直訳 (direct tl) that everyone seems to be so fond of, there's often no choice but to reformulate things to the point where it starts to resemble a rewrite.

This post has been edited by Striborg: Dec 16 2017, 09:21

doujin writing is ASTOUNDINGLY lazy.

Repetitive doesn't even begin to describe how doujin are written. Couple it with how Japanese is not exactly a creative language when it comes to the choice of words used in intimate situations, and you have a recipe for boring copypasted text all over.

Trust me, I know, you don't have to be a translator to realize that. It's no wonder the average translation always sounds boring and stiff as shit.

There's also the matter of much of the Japanese flair being simply impossible to translate. To compensate for the lack of different verbal forms or expressions, spoken Japanese often uses distortions from the 'proper' written way, and overly emphasizes emotion on phrase ending words.

The former doesn't exist in English and ends up untranslatable, and the latter doesn't exist in text.
Even when the author tries to put some flair in there, English just doesn't HAVE any of the tools needed to make it show through, leaving even the most creative of translators at a loss on what to do, aside repeating the same exclamation for the billionth time that day.

The first part doesn't sound all that different from slang. The latter sounds like it could be done through different font styles for emphasis. (Bolded or Italicized) Can you give an example of such speech?

That only applies to stuff you're doing out of your own will, of course.
I've been translating several hundred pages every single week for years now, and I will never get tired of repeating this: doujin writing is ASTOUNDINGLY lazy.

Repetitive doesn't even begin to describe how doujin are written. Couple it with how Japanese is not exactly a creative language when it comes to the choice of words used in intimate situations, and you have a recipe for boring copypasted text all over.

Repetition is the hammer to the back of the head and this is coming from a guy that has to slap "Ah!" 500x a page while making it appear interesting and different.