Double posting because this statement on translation is SO TRUE.

[barbosa2007]

For the people on my F-list who translate actively or do some sort of internal translation whenever you're watching a foreign show, here's what professional translators Ian MacDougall and David Nist had to say:

In translation, the destination language will always require more words than the source language

• This might be old news to professional translators, but this concept hit like a bolt of lightning when they said it. A society will naturally shape their language to make common topics efficient to communicate. So, when these words go into another language, they will require greater verbiage to fill in the context built into the source society’s language.

• An example of how this breaks down is a word like ‘Yoroshiku’. This one word in Japanese becomes oppressively dense in English: I will be kind to you and am requesting that you also be kind to me so we can interact successfully.

If you want to create media, ingest media

• Those planning to work in film need to watch heaps of films.


• Those planning to write, be it scripts or subtitles, need to be constantly reading.

source: The Metropolis

Okay, I've got a plan because nekobot01, my personal librarian, has recommended this lovely book, which I plan to devour this weekend. Good luck, me!

Comments

[clara-maria.livejournal.com]

so true!


have fun with your read! nekobot is the best librarian a woman can wish for <3

[nekobot01.livejournal.com]

So sweet! :D

I haven't had as much time to read as I want recently but I'm trying...

[barbosa2007.livejournal.com]

Agreed! If nekobot had been my elementary school librarian, I would have stayed in the club. XD

[clara-maria.livejournal.com]

yupp! maybe our school library wouldn't have been such a mess (the only good thing was, they didn't realize how much good stuff they were throwing out - half of my collection of poems is from there~)

[nekobot01.livejournal.com]

If you want to create media, ingest media

Those planning to work in film need to watch heaps of films.

Those planning to write, be it scripts or subtitles, need to be constantly reading.

Sometimes I can't believe how few people pay attention to this rule!!!! I love writing about films, so I watch a lot of of them and (more importantly) READ criticism so I can figure out how people are writing about films and what I want to do differently.

You have to learn the rules before you can break them, you know?

And re: Yoroshiku example, it's so true!! I actually prefer when translators don't try to translate things like that directly and either keep it in with an explanitory note or (for a mass audience) just translate the sentiment. So a 失礼します becomes Hello/Good-bye/Pardon etc.

I hope you enjoy that book!

[barbosa2007.livejournal.com]

...just translate the sentiment.

There are pros and cons where it comes to that, but it certainly makes for easier reading! Becky from Taijisubs is a master at dynamic translation (versus literal translation).

[nekobot01.livejournal.com]

It all depends on your audience. For people like us, it's better to translate more literally because we're interested in the original language and culture but for mass audiences who aren't, translating the sentiment is less confusing and makes the work more engaging and less "foreign."

[mariam-7860.livejournal.com]

Are you planning on writing a book?

[barbosa2007.livejournal.com]

Oh no, of course not!

I've hit a writing block in terms of translating. Since, you know, translating is a form of creative writing.

So far I've been trying to improve by watching subbers whom I think are good (not just Arashi shows, but animes and movies subbed by professional subbers), but it's always helpful to have a few guidelines to work with, like this one.

[i-am-zan.livejournal.com]

That looks like a lovely book indeed. I do wish you the very best, and will ask for a personalised autograph when the time comes. I had aspirations too once upon a time, but I let life get in the way, because it was what I wanted more. ^_^

"If you want to create media, ingest media" so very true.

Unfortunately I'm too fussy in my reading to read widely enough, and oft too tired to indulge in films. On Prose's list of writers,

Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, Kafka, Austen, Dickens, Woolf, Chekhov, Philip Roth, Isaac Babel, George Eliot, John Le Carré, Flannery O'Connor, James Joyce and Katherine Mansfield...

I've only ever read Austen, Dickens, George Eliot, le Carre and Kate Mansfield. I have read short essays, or excerpts from Dostoyevsky, Flaubert and Kafka (because Crime and Punishment is a BIG BIG BOOK, and Kafka hurts my brain a little) Dickens, Austen and Eliot are flow like water and for me easy to read. Eliot's 'Mill on the Floss' still hurts like a tonne of bricks, even after so many decades (I first read it when I was 14) and of course, Austen. ^_^ Maybe I just like the Englishness of the words.

Again... long comment is long ... books you see ... can't help it.

(PS- as an unrelated aside they have brought out a manga adaptation of the film/book 'Platina Data'. Also Kino is giving a free poster of the film if you purchase either the book or the manga. Ours is on the girl's wall next to her Jun poster hee hee!)

[barbosa2007.livejournal.com]

I prefer non-fiction writers these days. Prose talks about writing and reading, which is an interesting topic to me. I just haven't read most of the stuff she's writing about.

I have nowhere in my home where I can hang posters, so there's no point in getting the book. XD

[idlesse.livejournal.com]

I just discover your lj so hi! but i really agree about the translation part. I have so much trouble when I translate from Chinese to English because I want to keep the "literal context" but then I end up making a mess. lol and oh I so needed a book rec and I think I just found it so thank you? And hope you won't mind me leaving a comment here.

[barbosa2007.livejournal.com]

Oh, hello! Just curious, how did you come to find this LJ? I'm glad you liked the book recommendation. Nekobot01 is our resident librarian so she has lots of good recs to offer.

[idlesse.livejournal.com]

Honestly, it was because I started to use lj again. Some weeks ago some people decided there will be no consequences if they uploaded my drama subtitle files to dramacrazy and elsewhere. So long story short I decided to move my subbing projects here, decided to become active on lj again, and so I was using google to search for some communities I want to join and stumble upon transitions101. While I was there I was reading about what happened and why membership was close. Then I saw your lj link to it and I thought why not since I am going to be active again, I should talk to some people lol and yea here I am. Sorry for such a long and messy explanation.

[barbosa2007.livejournal.com]

Yikes, I'm sorry to hear about people uploading your projects onto Dramacrazy.

I'm considering opening up membership applications via the referral method but since I'm the one who's processing the applications most of the time, it's really tiring to do it. Not to mention when we have to play detective whenever someone breaks a rule...

I don't mind the long comment! A lot of LJ users just add me as an LJ friend without commenting first, I find that way creepier.

What kind of shows do you sub?

[idlesse.livejournal.com]

It's okay. It's all in the past now, but I still feel a bit sad about it because it defeats the purpose of why I wanted to translate/subbed in the first place, which is to share the drama to people who can't understand it because of the language barrier. However, if people are not going to respect my one rule then measures will have to be taken.

I think the referral method is good to some extend but yea it will get tiring after some point. My comm is closed and there's only 20 people but at least I feel at ease now lol. Ugh, I hate playing detective but because I only subbed drama the #1 place would always be dramacrazy so I guess its easier. I subbed drama from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan. However, I don't understand Japanese so I have to rely on the Chinese subtitles. Still debating if I want to take Japanese though so I can actually subbed it in its native language but I am already struggling with the other 4 language I know (well 2 are dialects). Decision. Decision.

Oh okay, good to know because sometime when I find someone I "click" with I write too much like uhhhh now.