Clephas

Title says it all.

*looks disappointed no one has given a loli for him to do terrible things to* Hello, welcome to the forums.

So far, it looks like feelings on images are mixed, whereas a lot of people want to read Marie's intro scene. If I could, I would show you the scene clip, but I'm too lazy to record a video of it running in auto and post it to Youtube (and most likely getting it taken down within minutes for copyright violation).

Incidentally, here are the VN candidates I'm thinking of drawing next week's scene from: Ruitomo (first scene 6-7), Yurikago yori Tenshi Made (first scene 7), Gurenka (mmm, yummy protag 7), Dies Irae (Mari's intro scene , Evolimit (first scene, 7), Jingai Makyou (first meeting with Kaze no Ushiro ni Ayumu Mono 6). I'll also take suggestions and scenes that translation groups are having trouble with (combat scenes, philosophy, mix of old and new Japanese, etc.). I always try to kill two birds with one stone, if possible. Edit: On request, I'll also post accompanying pics and CG's, if that will help. In some cases, it would help with understanding the tone of the scene, if nothing else, lol. Modified the first post with two polls for those interested in helping decide how I do this.

*injects the lolis with a special yuri aphrodisiac and locks them in a room together with the camera rolling*

Using dictionaries to take care of individual words is fine. However, if you have problems with grammar you should probably reconsider, as the machines don't work for grammar.

I thought about competition, but I don't have any prizes they might want on hand, so calling it a competition probably isn't right. I probably should have called it a 'lesson'. As for my qualifications... Telepathy Shoujo Ran (m33w), Dantalian no Shoka (m33w), World Destruction (alias: Sands of Destruction, my first and worst project), Kara no Kyoukai 6 (can't remember the group name, but I did the tlc), Itazura na Kiss(m33w), Special A(m33w), as well as about fifty or so other anime episodes that saw releases for various groups. This included about twenty re-translated episodes of Card Captor Sakura (for a group of enthusiasts), the first nine episodes of Phantom of Inferno for Ayako -before they dropped the project -, all the episodes of Shikabane Hime Aka and two of Kuro, two episodes of the Hellsing OVA that never saw release (that one was a pain), the tlc of two episodes of Kimagure: Orange Road for Live-evil (the original translation on that one was abominable), and the tlc for seventeen episodes of Regios. I worked tlc for about two thirds of these projects, and it became my specialty. My own mentor was Xess from m33w, who retired some time ago (wish he hadn't, because my work became a lot harder once he did, lol). I've also done over a hundred tls that never saw the light of day because of group collapses, which accounts for most of my cynicism when it comes to fantl. When I was fansubbing, I was something of an elitist, so when I first started playing VNs in Japanese, I was surprised at how the language differed in the games I was playing (my first games were: Jingai Makyou, Dies Irae, Devils Devel Concept, and Tayutama, so that is understandable, I think, lol). I mostly want to bring people who have just started translation up to a level where they aren't always guessing at the meaning of a sentence. My translations tend to be slightly more faithful to the original script than some would prefer when I do raw tl, though I'm more liberal when I do regular tlc, as I'm also thinking like an editor when I do it. From my experience, the only ways to learn how to translate (versus just knowing the language) are to translate (hehe) and to pay attention when a translation-checker sends you a report on just what he changed and why. If you just 'know Japanese and know the language in question', it really isn't enough to be a first-rate translator, a fact I learned with some dismay during my first fansub project. The only thing that brings you to that level is translating episode after episode and listening without judgment or defiance when someone corrects you. (working with Xess was an incredibly humbling experience) Edit: Incidentally, I pretty much put down this idea as it came to me without thinking of the wording of the thread title, because I probably would have decided against it if I gave myself time to think about it more. I'm great at talking myself out of things, especially work that isn't giving me moolah. haha Edit2: A bit of advice for people doing tl/tlc on anime vs fantranslations of vns. Form a good relationship with your partner, and make sure you converse with him/her about the tlc/translation. Even if you don't take everything your partner says for granted, you can usually find a new way of looking at things through such interactions. Even during my elitist/jaded/arrogant bastard/etc. days I still had some really interesting conversations with my translation partners, usually learning something new every time. Also, I don't recall ever being completely satisfied with a raw translation, so don't feel bad if you can't find a configuration that you think matches perfectly. That's normal and to be expected. Japanese is incredibly frustrating to translate to English, for a number of reasons: structural, cultural, and conceptual.

*chops up some mystery meat, makes hamburgers, then hands them over as a welcome gift*

*looks sad that no one understood the wonder and beauty of his decoration of the gift-lolis*

http://vndb.org/v11569 This has a good blood-related siblings route (with a seriously messed-up origin). Though, I'll warn you that the characters in this game are pretty messed up and the best girl in the game isn't a heroine, lol.

*injects some of his blood into the lolis, then looks on in satisfaction as they begin eating one another, slavering and screeching happily as gore splatters the walls* Welcome.

The concept behind this thread is rather simple. Once a week, I'll post a scene I picked from a VN, with a difficulty level between 6-9 on a scale from one to ten. Translators, your job will be to translate this scene, then post your translation (with each translated line situated under the original Japanese) in a spoilers box. I will then evaluate the level of your capabilities and tell you what you most need to work on and exactly what level of VN you can translate easily. All the scenes I put on here will be of a difficulty level with a low of Ruitomo (6) and a high of Dies Irae(8-9). I will not torture you by asking you to do the impossible (ie: translate scenes from Kajiri Kamui). All evaluations I give you will be private, using the pm system unless you would prefer to be open about it. On request, I'll ask a mod to delete your post once you've been evaluated (to avoid non-constructive criticism). Understand, this is similar to the method I used to train translators when I was the head of a fansub group, and as such, I'll nitpick... a lot. At the same time, I won't ignore you if you ask me to elaborate on my reasons, but I might take a little while to get back to you on it. A few rules for those who would observe the thread: 1) All posts must be comments on the idea of the thread itself or a translated scene. 2) If you want to give advice to other translators, do so using the PM system, not the thread. 3) This is meant to be an educational thread for up and coming translators, not a place to brag about your capabilities. If you have your own style, in which you are confident, then don't post translated scenes here. However, testing your capabilities is just fine. 4) I will take suggestions about scenes to put up for translation. Simply ask me for my email if you have a scene you want me to consider, and then email me with the scene in question. Getting the community to translate an entire scene your group can't handle is a perfectly legitimate use of this thread, if it is above the threshold. However, I reserve the right to consider which scenes will go up for translation. Now, for the first scene... Translation level 8. Source: Devils Devel Concept Incidentally, I deliberately chose an example of DDC's excessive word-soup, with unusual kanji usage and a tendency to use katakana strangely. Most of DDC is a 6 or 7, but scenes like this I generally rate between an 8 to a 9. Clarification: I will post the scenes every Monday and I will stop accepting new translated scenes on Saturday at noon, US central time. Hints: This is a philosophical monologue by the narrator of the story. As such, this uses a literary form rather than a conversational form. As another hint ’とは’ when coming right after another word, usually means they are going to go into a definition or description of the previous word. This is one of those things that might trip a lot of you up. Comment: I gave those hints because the pms I got were all tripping up over the same spots. 2nd Clarification(10/30/2013): For those who decide to use this thread to help along your translations, I will give you my tlc of the scene, when it is done. So, please feel free to keep me from using up my stock of good scenes too fast (I only have a few hundred).

For bad endings, FSN is a good example, but Phantom of Inferno takes it to extremes. There are a large number of bad endings in the game, and almost all of them are epic

1) Yes, a definite yes. I love sister routes, especially twin sister routes. I have a thing for the forbidden and obsessively passionate relationships when it comes to romance, and sister routes tend to provide that more often than the regular 'I just met you but I love you' sort of VN romance. 2) I don't believe in censorship in literature or complete fiction, though I personally despise rape and am not fond of hard BDSM (anything beyond a blindfold or maybe tying the hands makes me wither, lol). My only stipulation is that one should also understand where pro-censorship people are coming from. In their eyes, fiction is not just fiction, it something a writer could see themselves doing in many cases. Also, you shouldn't underestimate the amount of influence the written word can have on the reader. A half a decade ago, I would have considered it disgusting to speak about my personal fetishes with others, and now I have no problem making jokes about it. That is almost entirely due to my obsessive playing of VNs. It is this influence that pro-censorship people fear, and it is a legitimate fear... though fear is not a good enough reason to ignore the principles of free speech. Vulgarity and the like are matters of subjective perspective, and as such they are not legitimate reasons to suppress the freedom of expression.

Process: Extraction>Raw translation>Edit>translation check>patch Basic skills of a translation-checker: Must be a more skilled translator than the raw translator, must have equivalent or better English skills than the editor (in other words, this is where your veteran translator should be, whereas you should pile newbies onto the raw translation)

I'd really suggest just putting this '...' for each of those first two lines. This is because they are deliberately fragmentary, with no full words. Not to mention that the presence of katakana suggests that some kind of non-Japanese term is in there somewhere. Edit: if you really want to do something with one of those lines, the first one could be 'My... is...' ignoring the katakana. However, the second one you won't be able to do anything with.

Good luck. I'd suggest buying the first book of Yookoso, scanning all the grammar exercises, then putting it back up for sale. A couple of my friends are doing it that way, though it requires a hefty first investment. If you memorize the grammar rules and usages, then watch anime until you feel like a zombie that can only think of moe, you'll probably become good enough to do fansubs, lol.

Well, this is a better one to choose than Koiken Otome, at least. lol

Don't worry. English is an ugly, messy language. It is no surprise that non-native speakers would have trouble with it. Welcome to the forums.

Hahaha... no problem. When I played the first game, I was just playing anything that was even remotely related to weapons, because I didn't know all the cues I needed to look for to find games of the type I wanted (sometimes tags aren't enough). It definitely falls within the ranks of the better charage/drama that I've played, though I have played better. I can't help but wonder why they chose this one to become an anime though... like a lot of seishun drama, a great deal of the pleasure you get from playing is observing the internal growth of the protagonist and other characters....

I played the original some time ago, and I played the fandisc just today (as in, finished it). So, I thought I would share some thoughts on it with those who are thinking of playing the original because the anime came out. First, this game's genres are seishun drama and romance (there are comedic elements, but they are just a spice, rather than a central part of the game). The story is - like all seishun drama - is as much about personal growth, pursuing goals, and overcoming adversity as it is about the romantic elements. There is a certain amount of infodumping on the sport of jousting (the version that exists in the setting) throughout both games, and that would probably make it somewhat overwhelming for someone not used to reading Japanese. If I had to comment on the romantic elements, I would suggest skipping the h-scenes (simply because they are a bit over the top at times for entry-level vn-players), and the deredere romance is fairly straightforward in most cases. As to the quality of both games... while they are definitely within the top 150 VNs I've played, neither of them is what I would call a masterpiece. However, that doesn't mean they aren't enjoyable. If you like seishun drama and romance (along with kyonyuu, lol) they are a good set of games to play.

lol, editor is basically another name for a proofreader, translation-checker is the one who fixes the translation (after editing). Management of groups changes depending on the members (since some groups are just fine without one and others only need reminders or an organizational chief) though it is wise to choose someone who is good at managing people or herding cats, if you have the occasion to choose one. Don't mix up editing with translation-checker, though a tlc must have the same skills as an editor, as he has to keep from creating grammatical errors as he goes... His job is as much fixing needless tl mistakes the editor created as it is fixing the original translation.

"Did something happen?" or "What happened?" This is 'young-people's speech'.

*extends his tentacles, inserting them into the brain of his new slave* Welcome, my child...

Something to look forward to, when Amaterasu gets done tling it, lol. Hinaori Kagome, from Comyu. Welcome to the forums.