If you want to translate novels then read a lot of novels in Japanese before you begin translating them. Then perhaps join a scanlation group for further practice? Do you want to translate manga? Then find some raws and work on translating some chapters by yourself. And you should avoid doing it in any old subject, but pick a subject or type of translation you enjoy and are interested in. Some of the best advice I ever read for translation was something along the lines of “Don’t charge people for your translation until you’ve done at least 30 pieces that are at least 500 words in length on that subject.”īasically, you need to practice a lot. – The aim is for it to not sound translated in the first place! TIP: Give your translation to someone who doesn’t know Japanese so they can read if it sounds fluent in English or not. The more you do this with translations the faster you’ll get, the better your comprehension will be and the less you’ll need to do this. TIP: Reading the original over and over, and then re-reading your own translation over and over will give you a better understanding of the original and a better translation. Don’t just assume that you understand it, especially if you’re a lower level of Japanese.Īs I mentioned you should avoid translating word for word, this is the same as sentence for sentence as sometimes a text might sound better with different sentence structure. Double check that you have! Ask a Japanese friend or someone online if you’re unsure. If something sounds strange go back to the original and see if you understood it correctly. Does it make sense? Are there parts that sound strange? Not only should you re-read it, but re-read it out loud. And are you translating this for a company? Or to show people how weird Japan is? (I’m thinking of adverts in this case).Īs I mentioned, y ou can see the style of writing for various texts by researching what’s already out there. An advert will vary greatly compared to a manga, or novel, as will a technical document. Who your target audience is will vary on the type of text. How much does the target audience understand? Would they prefer you completely domesticate the text (i.e take out everything Japanese, which was popular in the 90s with the removal of onigiri for sandwich) or would they prefer keeping some Japanese cultural elements in there? You don’t need to go 100% one way or the other, but try to think of the most appropriate wording for your audience. Think About Target Audience/Culture and the Text If you were to directly translate this it would read oddly to a native English speaker. Try and portray the same feeling or sense of the original.įor example, in manga うるさい gets used a lot, which although it means “noisy” the most natural translation for the situation is often “shut up”. Try to translate the meaning of the sentence. The word for word translation you did will give you a better understanding of the text, so when you translate it again your newer version will flow better in English and portray the original better. Starting out it might be helpful to translate word for word, but then drop that translation and start again. You might be tempted to but if you then gave that text to a native English speaker who doesn’t know Japanese, they will probably tell it’s a translation, and it will read strangely. This was one of the first things I learnt when I began translating, don’t translate word for word. Read the text again before you start your translation. It also helps to research similar texts in English to get an idea of what kind of language is used. At this point you should research into the subject area they’re talking about I.e Deep sea diving. Read the original again! As you read it again look these words up. Don’t start translating until you’ve read the entire text!Īs you read it make some notes of words you don’t understand, or sentences you think you understand.
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