Guide:Translations

Disclaimer and Note

This is mostly just me, Remi_Scarlet rambling about translations and the methodology in which I use. Obviously, there is no single correct way to translate, though I do believe there are better ways. I understand that opinions may vary, so this is but one of many ideologies on the subject.

Purpose

The purpose of this "guide" is to give a foundation and roadmap to those who translate and the larger ideas behind translating so that people don't get lost in the minutia of it. Translating is a pretty open field where a lot of different ideas as to the reason, method and arguments for different methods exist. This guide will follow the method that I have come up with, having translated both professionally as a freelancer and as a hobbyist translator for 5+ years. Do note however that I do not possess any formal or professional training but rather I translate based on my native background of being a Japanese-American that is fluent in both languages. My primary intuition and reasoning come from trial-and-error as well as standards of methodology that I have come across in my years of translating.

Guide

Translating: What's the point?

The point of translation, to put it simply, is to "get the idea across". To be more formal, the Oxford dictionary defines translating as

To Translate: To express the sense of (words or text) in another language.

This means that the core purpose and idea behind translating is to get the idea, emotion and purpose of a piece of text or words across, whether those ideas, emotions and purpose are explicitly stated in the words or not. Take for example the sentence

"I'm not too sure about that."

This sentence is pretty simple. There's nothing mythical about it and they're all easy to understand words. However, note that there exists a wealth of information in this sentence alone just based on things such as context, tone, subject etc. Maybe someone uttered this message under his breath at himself to convey doubt on the action he or someone else is about to take. Perhaps he's saying it to a friend directly to try and discourage them from doing something. Maybe the speaker is legitimately not sure about a question and is simply brushing it off. This sentence by itself can convey many different ideas, emotions and purposes.

The point of translating, then, is to convey all of these in a language that isn't native to the original.

While I will not cover it in detail, one more aspect of the point of translating I have to bring up is that while it's certainly possible to do what was mentioned above well in many ways, let's look at two examples of translations.

The original sentence will be "マルゴーマル・・・えっ？姉さん達に比べて、出るとこが出てないからいっぱい食べろって・・・？上等じゃない！言い残すことはあるかしら！？", taken from Katsuragi's hourlies.

One example of a translation

5:00... Huh? Compared with my sister, the part that needs to stick out do not stick out, so I have to eat...? Y-You have done it! Any last words!?

My translation is

05:00... What? My body lacks presence in certain areas compared to my sisters so I should eat more? Are you picking a fight with me?! Any final words?!"

Both translations obviously portray the meaning of the original sentence. Whether you read the first one or second one, you can get the meaning across. However, many will likely be inclined to agree that the second translation is better. Why is this so? It's because it flows better.

A terrifically important aspect of translating that is commonly overlooked is the flow and feel of the translation in the non-native language. You can't forget that at the end of the day, you're translating your text to native-level people of the language you're translating into. These people will instantly, just as much as you yourself should, be able to identify "flawed" sentences. Nobody speaks like the first translation does in English. There are many parts of the sentence that makes it so, but I'll let the reader figure it out. Hint: It's not difficult.

Here's a great picture to give an example. This image is a half-joke, but it shows the importance of how many "translations" can all be relatively accurate (relatively) but still give off completely different feelings of quality and accuracy.

Translating in a Nutshell

Translating: How do you do it?

Having covered the previous section on what the point of translating and how to do it well was, I'll cover the process in which I translate in this section.

Translating, like many things, is an art. There are a lot of nuances and minutia that goes into translating words that many people who "translate" unfortunately do not grasp. When translating, there are a few overarching steps that go into doing the translation. Generally, doing this on a sentence-by-sentence basis is sufficient, but for more complex passages it may be beneficial to do this by paragraphs so as to work with better nuances and flow.

Reading or listening for yourself and understanding the content
Identify the key points of the sentence. These could include such things as subject, verbs, adjectives and other words that have importance in the meaning of the sentence. Generally, when identifying these and storing them in your head or whatever, try to be as verbose as possible. For me, I find it easier to identify these points and make them verbose in English. An important distinction here is that you aren't really "translating" the text for a reader. Rather, you're "describing" the translation to yourself. The wording you come up with this section should feel more like a description of the text rather than a translation you would provide someone.
If you have already "translated" the meaning via the previous step in a verbose manner, try reforming the sentence from scratch in a shorter and more natural feel. I'm sure that everyone has paraphrased text before. What do you do when paraphrasing? You're newly constructing a sentence that has the general information based on importance in a new and shorter set of words that still feel like natural English. This step is just like paraphrasing.
- The key point in this step is the natural feel of the sentence that will be constructed. The translation must flow in the new language and the only way you can ensure that is for you, assuming you are a native-level speaker, to be able to naturally formulate the sentence on your own.
Review the sentence you have just created and work on wording and flow. This part is less "translating" and more grammatical checks, though it is still as important a part in the grand scheme of translating.

Let's break the steps down with an example.

Understanding the Content

Let's take for example the original Japanese description accompanying the Ryuusei

艦攻と艦爆を統合した先進的な"急降下爆撃可能な雷撃機"、それが「流星」です。
発動機不調と重量過大に悩みながらも、開発に成功。高い性能を誇る最新鋭の艦上攻撃機です。
先進的な性能を体現した独特のフォルムも魅力的な本機、ぜひ、新型艦戦「烈風」と共に空母に積んであげてくださいね。

For this step, there isn't much to explain on my end. Just read the paragraph and make sure you understand what it means. Obviously, this step and this guide assumes you can read Japanese on a semi-fluent level.

Identifying the Key Points

Let's break the paragraph down to sentences. Here's the first one

艦攻と艦爆を統合した先進的な"急降下爆撃可能な雷撃機"、それが「流星」です。

This sentence's key points lie in the first half of the sentence. This is the description of what the "ryuusei" is. The key in this sentence is the description, or that the aircraft has a combined dive-bombing and fighter capability that have been augmented onto the original torpedo-bombing purposes.

発動機不調と重量過大に悩みながらも、開発に成功。

Here's the second sentence. The point here is that even though the aircraft experienced initial issues, presumably during development, with its weight and engines, it still managed to come out on the other end as a completed craft.

高い性能を誇る最新鋭の艦上攻撃機です。

This sentence simply states that this carrier-based aircraft boasts a high performance.

The final sentence is

先進的な性能を体現した独特のフォルムも魅力的な本機、ぜひ、新型艦戦「烈風」と共に空母に積んであげてくださいね。

This sentence has two components. The first part is a descriptor of the Ryuusei, or that the aircraft has both a distinctive and elegant form that marks and boasts its record of high-performance. The second part states that the player should likely equip the Ryuusei alongside the Reppuu as both are a type of "pinnacle" of high-performance aircraft.

One point I will make here is my translation of 魅力 as "elegant". The reason I did this is because when describing a "beautiful, charming, glamorous or appealing" aircraft, the word people will likely use to compliment the aesthetic and implied goodness of said aircraft will be "elegant". Think of it this way. Have you ever heard someone say "charming" aircraft? Probably not. "Beautiful" aircraft? Maybe. "Glamorous" aircraft? I myself have never heard this. "Appealing" aircraft is something I've heard but it has a different connotation. However, "elegant aircraft" is something I hear quite often when describing military crafts in general. As such, I decided that the use of "elegant" here is more appropriate since it's a more common adjective describing aircraft.

Paraphrase the Verbose Translations

So let's get the four sections together. What does this piece of text give us?

The Ryuusei is an aircraft that has a combined dive-bombing and fighter capability that has been augmented onto the original torpedo-bombing purposes. This craft experienced many issues with development due to its weight and engine problems. Yet, this craft still managed to come out the other end of R&D with pride as a high-performance craft. Finally, the aircraft boasts a distinct and elegant form that symbolizes its success as an attack aircraft. Should the player be given the chance, it is recommended to equip it alongside the Reppuu.

So what we have right now is quite the mouthful. Let's rework it down.

The Ryuusei is a versatile attack aircraft, having both the ability to be a fighter and dive-bomber on top of its torpedo-bombing capabilities. Though plagued by engine and weight issues during development, it managed to succeed as a high-performance aircraft. With its distinctly elegant silhouette being a symbol of the Ryuusei's superior performance, equipping it on your carrier alongside the Reppuu is recommended.

This is much better in terms of flow and succinctness. However, it can probably use some rewording and reorganizing to make it flow better.

Rewording and Editing

This part is mostly opinion based in terms of what grammatically makes more sense, so mostly go about this on your own.

Personally based on what we have at the moment, I would likely reword the last sentence. At the moment, it logically doesn't make as much sense since the first half of the sentence doesn't really flow into the second half. The aesthetics of the aircraft doesn't have much logical correlation to the advice of the player equipping it alongside the Reppuu. Perhaps something I would do is simply separate the two into separate sentences. Let's try that.

Given the sentence

With its distinctly elegant silhouette being a symbol of the Ryuusei's superior performance, equipping it on your carrier alongside the Reppuu is recommended.

We can reword it as something like

The Reppuu's distinctly elegant silhouette symbolizes the Ryuusei's superior performance. It is recommended to equip the plane alongside the Reppuu on your carriers.

This could work. However, now the issues lie in the fact that the first sentence might seem to lack purpose.

IN CONSTRUCTION PLEASE COME BACK LATER

Teehee. <3