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Post by Darthtabby on Sept 14, 2013 14:51:24 GMT -7
I'd been discussing another anime series called Allison and Lillia with a fellow anime fan recently, and when I mentioned that it was based on a pair of light novel series rather than a manga he mentioned that he'd been put off light novels by his experience with the FMP light novels despite the fact that he was a fan of the FMP anime.
Now it's been a while since I last read a lot of FMP, but I did notice that there were some bits in Tokyopop's first novel that seemed awkward. I've also noticed there were bits that seem kind of off in Baka-tsuki's translations of Sword Art Online and Hataraku Maou-Sama. This has led me to wonder... do the people who think light novels are low quality literature have a point? Is the problem inherent to the format? Or is it more of a general translation issue with things that sound perfectly find in Japanese seeming strange or awkward in English with its different structure?
This might be kind of a hard question to answer, but is there something wrong with the original writing in light novels (possibly related to the limitations of the format and the way its standardized) or do the people who translate them just need to put in more work and/or be less literal with their translations.
Just relating to that last note -I tend to dislike it when the meaning of something gets lost in translation, but I also dislike it when translations are phrased in ways that don't sound very natural in English.
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Post by Misha on Sept 14, 2013 19:48:53 GMT -7
It's definitely a translation thing. Japanese grammar is a LOT different than ours in many ways, and one of them is that, taking this sentence right here for example, you can't really put many clauses in a single sentence in Japanese (or at least you never really see it done), so if you translate it directly, it has a very staccato tempo.
Translators need to be more willing to combine sentences and paragraphs, because they split them up very differently in Japanese than we do. It's hard though, too, because I've been on multiple sides of it. Trying to decide how to translate it, editing another person's translations, and just plain reading the translations. It's not an easy process, and making the decisions where to change things is tough.
What they need, really, is for a WRITER to edit it after. Maybe even preferably one that doesn't speak Japanese. They just look at the English for what it is and go "This would sound better like this" and so on, knowing how to keep the original meaning while making it sound better and more natural. When I read a translation without looking at the original Japanese, I find it a lot easier to think of how to reword everything than if I'm trying to compare it. Being an outsider on it is a LOT easier.
I would also say that the style and quality of translators that work on light novels (both fan and professional) are different than those that work on other literature. I haven't tried reading any non-light novel Japanese books, but I would imagine that there's a lot of things similar in the basic idea of writing, even if the style varies by author and genre. But I feel like translators for these types of work approach them differently. I suppose more "serious" literature would be handled more seriously by a different kind of professional, who would want to make sure it reads as beautifully in the new language as it did in the original. Meanwhile, translators for light novels are probably used to working on manga, since they're the same companies for the most part, I'm ASSUMING they're the same translators, so they aren't used to working with prose, only dialogue and the occasional narration.
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Post by the_kumatei on Sept 14, 2013 21:02:39 GMT -7
I've tried reading a few books that were originally japanese, and its definitely the translation thats the issue. I've heard it from others as well. (The particular book was Battle Royale) The book I'm currently trying to read is Shiokari Pass in english. Its translated very literally and becomes pages full of (then he did this, then she did that).
I've also noticed in the 12th book (I keep forgetting that I'm still reading that) and others where characters do some VERY japanese-specific things, or say things that otherwise would not happen because they aren't japanese, but it was written by a japanese person, and its taken for granted. No doubt that happens in any culture, but its one more thing that could get in the way.
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Post by Misha on Sept 14, 2013 23:45:36 GMT -7
They also don't have as many synonyms as we do. It can very easily become 'he said, she said' when translated lazily. There might be an adverb here and there, but unless it shifts to shouting, there's really only one word for 'say' in Japanese. You have to make the decision to change 'softly said' into 'mumbled' or some such thing, depending on the dialogue and mood. There's nothing wrong with using the simple word 'said,' but when it's the ONLY thing it becomes a problem.
There's a whole bunch of other common words that we have many synonyms for that the Japanese don't really, but 'said' is the one that comes to mind first and foremost. It can sound pretty repetitive if you translate it exactly, but somehow it never really sounds that way in the Japanese.
As for the Tokyopop translations, they definitely needed a better editor. The amount of typos, grammatical mistakes, and the horrible formatting needed some serious work...
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Post by Darthtabby on Sept 15, 2013 14:41:38 GMT -7
Haha, yeah, there were some bits in the Tokyopop translations where I could easily see ways things could have been improved. (Though there were also bits I think would have taken more thought to rework.) I do seem to remember feeling that their worked improved somewhat later on though.
Yeah, having a writer involved in the process would probably be a good idea. The translator who did Boku-tachi's version of Ending Day by Day actually commented in an afterword that the project was as much about writing as translating.
TK, it's funny you mention Battle Royale because that was translated by Viz's Haikasoru label and I seem to remember their translations of Yukikaze, Good Luck Yukikaze, and the first twoRocket Girls novels being quite good. And Good Luck Yukikaze does not strike me as the easiest novel to try to translate.
Speaking of Yukikaze, apparently a Hollywood adaptation starring Tom Cruise is in the works. Wonder how that one's going to work out...
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