[X] My Assistant

I've been doing translations for some time now, here's a link to my page on the site. As you can see, I'm a big fan of Maison Ikkoku, but generally my attitude is, if I like the artwork and/or the story enough, I'll go ahead and translate it.

OK first, the standard disclaimer:

I DO NOT DO LITERAL TRANSLATIONS!
I don't speak Japanese above and beyond some simple phrases. I use machine translations and use my best judgement to work in the spirit of the story. If that bothers you, perhaps I'm not for you.

As for the price, you should assume a base of $1.50 per page. This includes not only the translation but typesetting as well. The reason for that is I need to look at the story as it unfolds in order to follow it. The price may go up or even down depending on how complex the story is. We'll agree on a final price and payment method before I begin work.

I use very specific fonts for all my projects, however, if you have a specific font in mind you would prefer me to use, just let me know.

No hard deadlines, please. I have a full-time job and other projects to work on. I will do my best to prioritize the project but I can make no promises for a specific time. When I have the time I can work very quickly, I don't always have the time.

The finished project will either be posted on my page or sent to the buyer for posting on their page (or for their own private use, they bought it, it's up to them what is done with it), that's completely up to them. Unless told otherwise, my name will be in the credits indicating that it was a commission job, if the buyer wants their name listed as the one who commissioned it, that's up to them.

Finally, most important, I have to like the story. This is not about morals: I don't care what the subject matter is, or how taboo it might be, I just have to like the project. If I don't, no deal.

Anyway that's it. Anyone who wants to contact me, please do so via the forums first. Thanks.

-J

Just a heads up to anyone who considered hiring this guy:
He doesn't know any Japanese, what he did are all 100% rewrites:
http://ehentaihip.com/g/1003153/09711706ef/

In that story for example he translated 男子ちゃんと歌うよ as "we want to sing with the boys", should be something like "boys, sing properly!"
then in the same page: でもせっかく行事なんだし　もう少しがんばろ？ as "but this is a big event, we've been waiting a long time for it, a few more people couldn't hurt" that's wrong too, should be "but we've finally managed to attend (the competition), let's try a bit harder okay?"


then he gave up and well full rewrite mode on the second page:

いやー　もうそういのうよくね？: "nah too many cooks"
そうだよガキじゃないんだし: "do ya think we're stupid?"
やりなきゃ　神谷ひとりでやれよ！: "you gals would ruin it like you always do, we'll do it ourselves, us boys can handle it" wut
then he keeps rewriting the whole thing and adds some chauvinism or something, he wasn't even able to read the girl's name "Kamiya Yuri", the whole thing should go: "nah, this is good enough, we're not kids anymore" "if you care so much, do it alone, Kamiya" "Hey, don't bully Yuri, and stop complaining like that, and act like men"

btw above the girl's head it said 喧嘩止めて "stop fighting" and it only says "text" in what he did.

so yeah, lol

Yeah I suspected that when he said...

"I don't speak Japanese above and beyond some simple phrases. I use machine translations and use my best judgement to work in the spirit of the story. If that bothers you, perhaps I'm not for you."

I've been doing translations for some time now, here's a link to my page on the site. As you can see, I'm a big fan of Maison Ikkoku, but generally my attitude is, if I like the artwork and/or the story enough, I'll go ahead and translate it.

OK first, the standard disclaimer:

I DO NOT DO LITERAL TRANSLATIONS!
I don't speak Japanese above and beyond some simple phrases. I use machine translations and use my best judgement to work in the spirit of the story. If that bothers you, perhaps I'm not for you.

As for the price....

Goddammit man, I thought you were a real translator who was down for translating some non-garbage stuff, but now you come out as a total fraud. Ain't nobody gonna pay for a machine translation. Is u srs?

And here I was worrying about a new translator stealing a piece of the clientele pie.

Nice.

So... Make Translating Rewriting Great Again?

He did for sure a better work I ever could've.

I stand by my work.

Apologies if I do offend, but machine translation software is everywhere. I could say that since I know Chinese, and some Japanese is derived from Chinese, that I'm technically a Japanese translator. Which is obviously false, and I certainly wouldn't be able to charge what was it? A dollar 50? for any of my work. I wouldn't be proud of it either. Chinese translators could be said to be secondary to Japanese translators, seeing as we translate something that was translated already, making it a game of Telephone, where the message is increasingly twisted. MTL takes that to the next level, where you trust the words of a machine that literally translates words without any context whatsoever. You think your understanding of the context may be able to bridge the gap, but it really doesn't. Don't be proud of your work. Learn the language. Please.

MTL takes that to the next level, where you trust the words of a machine that literally translates words without any context whatsoever. You think your understanding of the context may be able to bridge the gap, but it really doesn't.

That's only when you're translating from Asian languages. I don't know why or how people do those when you have to OCR the whole thing and Google translates it to complete gibberish. It works fine for translating one romance language to another, as long as you can read and write above an 8th grade level, because hentai plots are anything but smart. That doesn't mean they need to sound dumb though like the way too many translators think.

I agree I don't always get things absolutely correct, but I think if you read my translations with regard to how well the story is told, I think I do a pretty good job. I only really get upset if I miss a word balloon (the infamous "text" lines) or make a bad typo.

My feeling is, the object of reading a story is to enjoy it. Obviously if I could speak fluent Japanese it would be easier to understand not only the grammar but the slang usage, and my translations would be more technically correct. But I still think that even using the awful machine translations available, I do a pretty good job making it readable.

As for doing it for pay, I've already done a couple of projects for pay, and I had been told by members here that $1.50/page is perfectly reasonable for the combination of translating, editing, and typesetting. Actually the typesetting is the hardest part, it takes me longer and is harder work than the translation.

And my price is always flexible, as I said, the $1.50/page is just a base, no reason it won't go down for simpler projects. I don't have to do this to make a living, but it's nice to have an extra buck or two now and then. There are people who like my work, and, if they're paying me for a project, as long as they're satisfied with what I do, that's really all that matters.

-J

The most expensive part of a scanlation project is the translation.
Because you're paying someone with a fluent knowledge of Japanese.

Something you don't have.

No, I get what you're saying. You're saying that your translations are good enough to pass for a JP-EN translation, even though they are MTL. And I've looked through your galleries. It seems even though you use MTL, most of them are well-received. And if one were to look at it from the standpoint of the average hentai reader who only focuses on the art rather than the story, then you would be perfectly justified. The only problem here is you charging money for it. You doing that is pretty much invalidating all the other JP-EN translators and the work that they have done before, because you're getting paid for essentially proofreading a MTL script. People get mad because you're getting paid, and you're actively advertising yourself as a legitimate translator (you said you weren't a translator in a literal sense, but the fact that you charge for your translations would give off the impression of a legitimate translator). If you were paid in credits and hath, then viewpoints might shift a little in your favour, seeing as, while you still would be translating in an incorrect manner, you weren't taking translations and butchering them, then turning around and getting real money for it. Because once again, all you're bringing to the table is your writing skills and proofreading skills, something that at least half the translators here have. It's insulting to those that know the language, and they can't outright refute your translations, seeing as it's being well-received by the masses that don't understand Jap.

I think there wouldn't be as huge a controversy if you advertised instead your editing skills, rather than your translation skills. You have a bunch of galleries you could show off to make sure others get a good idea of that.

Just, don't do MTLs and say that you're translating correctly. The work ends up as being readable, but with none of the original meaning.

His galleries aren't even marked as rewrites.
He's outright fraudulent.

This post has been edited by Striborg: Feb 10 2017, 20:41

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This post has been edited by 1/4-Based Anon: Dec 1 2020, 16:13

Sure, he does say that. But what he did at the very first was link his page, which is filled with well-received works with high ratings, which cements him as a reliable source. He might still be able to get commissions based on the fact that his rewrites are good enough to be seen as a translation. The fact that those doujins might never get a better translation that's true to the original language is a bit unsettling though. I guess we should probably go append Rewrite to all his translations, so that people will see it for what it is.

I don't care if I get any bites at all. For those who might want what I have to offer, I'm there, and my price is flexible. And I didn't come to do this on my own, there were people who asked me why I WASN'T offering my services. So I figured, "why not"?

As for the definition of "rewriting", well, I haven't seen, based on the examples posted here, that my translations do anything to change what the story is trying to say: an individual line may be very different from how I translated it but that doesn't necessarily mean it makes the story different. Of course that's all a matter of opinion...If the mods want to characterize my translations as "rewrites", I really don't care.

I recognize that this is the intertubes and that there comes with any posting a series of people who are just going to be the way they are. For the record, you don't bother me, and you do have some very valid criticisms when you're not being snarky. And of course any of you are free to put up your own translation, I certainly won't stop you. But my offer still stands and anyone who thinks what I have to offer is fair is welcome to contact me and negotiate a price

But the problem here is that people might flag better translations of your works as a duplicate, which is why the rewrite tag should be added to all your "translations". As I've said once and again, you don't understand most of any raw you actually "translate". This will lead to mistakes when you're "translating". Thus, as the rewrite tag is defined as placing your own definition where there is no text/ untranslated definitions, it is justified. I'm fine with you uploading works, but at least use the rewrite tag, not the translation tag. Thank you.

Just don't get hostile towards your critics like CGRascal and listen to advice if you are given them.

/index.php?showt...p;#entry4762153

The ruling is out. He gets to continue labelling his works as translated ones, and profit off of them even though most translators would discourage it. There's nothing much I can do about it, although I maintain that since he does rewrite parts of the translation, he isn't even using the machine translation version at all.

MisterJ167, I don't approve of anything you're doing. Passing off MTL as fluent translations, and then charging an exorbitant amount for what amounts to fanfiction. But the fact still stands that according to the rules of this site, you are still allowed to continue to call your works "translations".

So good luck, I guess. Hope you don't swindle too many people out of money

This post has been edited by tganimation6: Feb 11 2017, 09:29