(Japanese) (I can speak a little.) Lost In Translation!

[DeviFoxx]

Before Final Fantasy XI came out, I used to be into Anime Fansubbing.

Of course, my group kinda folded basically when we couldn't locate a
static translator. T'was a tad dissapointing, really.

Well, in any case, I'm thinking of getting back into that as a side-project
or something like that, but instead of trying to find a Translator, I'm
trying to self-teach myself Japanese.

True enough some might say that I should seek out a Japanese class
or so... While that might be the case, I don't think I really have a whole
lot of time, nor a stable means of transportation to such a class (which
would most likely be at a state university). So I've spent roughly $300+
(and probably will end up spending even more at some point or another)
on textbooks, study guides, etc.... Engrossed myself in Non-Subtitled,
Non-Dubbed Japanese anime and literature, as well as associating with
JP players in-game. And it's actually producing results.

I even befriended a Japanese Woman who plays as a Hume Female
RDM named "Nemissa" in our server. She's actually quite nice, and
became my friend after I treated her nicely (She was stuck in Fei'yin
as a RDM/NIN, so I jumped on my WHM, swung by, and picked her
up. After I invited her to EXP with me, mind you). It's a bit funny, she's
actually helping me by correcting my speech syntax and grammar,
plus teaching me a few new words I don't know yet.


(I still think it's silly that players like Lucifar have become the "Avatar"
of the typical NA-hating Japanese player. But that's just me, I'm a
lover, not a fighter.)
...

So... I spend all this time learning Japanese, and I decided to put my
skills to the test.

I wanted to try my hand at translation & fansubbing just to see how I do,
and I'm using you as sort of a "Test Audience".

My friend obtained a copy of the Japanese version of the PS2 game
Namco X Capcom (A "Final Fantasy Tactics"-ish strategy RPG featuring
characters from famous Namco & Capcom games. I.E. "Tekken",
"Street Fighter", "MegaMan", "Xenosaga") .

So basically, I've read this and added in my text. Since the opening
song is sung at such a frequency I can't make all of it out, I obtained a
Romanji transcript of the theme-- Typed in Japanese (Using my computer's
IME) put in the Kanji, Hiragana, & Katakana-- and finally translated it.

Here's the Video of the opening FMV to Namco X Capcom if you'd like to see what
exactly I've done. I could use a bit of your feedback to atleast SEE if I'm
on the right track or not.

You'll have to pardon the timing of the Karaoke; That was the first time I
had ever done any kind of Karaoke. Also, please forgive if I mis-translate
any lines, or if there's any typos.

...

Minor Notes:

It's been zipped up with WinZip and the video itself has been encoded
with the XviD video codec.

...

I wasn't sure if this belonged in "Fan Works" or "General Discussion", but
I thought it'd be a nice gesture to share this with you.

 

[Lyrai]

If you need help with Japanese, let me know. I'm going to be in my third year once school starts up. I'm not very good, but I've learned a lot in my LS which is JP, and just having generally conversations with other Japanese players. I'm also going to try to get an LS member of mine to join QCDN, his english is amazing and I'm sure he can help give you critisism as well.

 

[DeviFoxx]

Alright.

I'd appreciate that.

...

Anybody else?

 

[Rhaddy]

If you used to be into subbing... (what group?) i'm sure you have a hardcopy script somewhere as well as the romaji script? it might be easier for some of us to look at the txt scripts instead of actually downloading the video (can't at the moment.)

It would be really neat to create a social LS based around helping JP and NA players improve their language skills. At least I think it would be a fairly unique cultural use of a MMORPG as well as an interesting net-cultural experiment. I'm sure many people would benefit from it, though the majority of individuals who already have such interests seem to have used FFXI to persue these goals by themselves already.

 

[DeviFoxx]

Aye, I agree about the LS idea.

I only befriended Nemissa out of sheer coincidence. And the way It all happened
was like it was out of some cheesy anime series.

Speaking of Anime, the Fansubbing group I lead was called "DVP"
(Devimension Visual Productions). The group came into being a little after
the anime series Sonic X was released in Japan. As far as
Anime series we've done... It's only been two. The first episode to Gungrave,
and the first episode to F-Zero GP: Faarukon Densetsu (Falcon Legend)
Both of which based on video games. Why only the first episode? Simple.
After we completed the first episode to both (counting like 2 days after
the Japanese Raw Episode dump was available) both series got licensed
in the blink of an eye. Gungrave was put on DVD and the "G4techTV" channel,
while F-Zero GP was put on the "Fox Box", along with "Sonic X", and "Kirby:
Right Back At Ya!"

We tried doing the first episode of RockMan.EXE AXESS, but around
that time is when our translator vanished.

But about the .TXT, yeah, I can do that. It'd have to be in Unicode,
or I could copy & paste (or re-type it) straight into here. Sound good?

...

Note: Jaredfromsubway asked me last night what exactly I did to the
video. Basically, it was a subtitle-less video of the anime intro to Namco X Capcom.

Kanji / Hiragana / Katakana : My Input
Karaoke Effect : My Input
Spellchecking : My Input
English Translation : My Input
Romanji Text : Online Resource

Give me a while to get the TXT.

 

[DeviFoxx]

Alright, here it is, I posted the .TXT into a quote.

Here's three screens of how the video would look.

So... Uhhh... yeah.

View the video whenever you can.

　
　成熟の街　ゆらぎに満ちて
Seijuku no machi yuragi ni michite.
[Within a City that's pulsating with ripeness...]

　道標さえ　丸で幻
Michishirube sae marude maboroshi.
[Even the guideposts are almost like illusions.]
　
　求め手も　焦がれ手も
Motome temo, kogare temo.
[Seeking for it... Longing for it...]

　掴めない　遠い空は
　Tsukamenai tooi sora wa.
[...and yet the sky's still too far to reach.]

　全てを抱き止めて染めあげてゆく
Subete wo dakitomete someagete yuku.
[All the dying is being held back, and has stopped.]

　世界分かつ空にみみを済ませば
Sekai wakatsu sora ni mimi wo sumaseba.
[The call of the world can be heard throughout the sky.]
　
　BRAVE NEW WORLD
　["A Brave, New World!"]

　招く声が響く
Maneku koe ga hibiku.
[The sound of the voice echoes...]
　
　世界わかつ空を　振り仰ぐとき
Sekai wakatsu sora wo furi aogu toki.
[While looking up at the sky, the world begins trembling.]
　
　BRAVE NEW WORLD
　["A Brave, New World!"]

　ドラマは幕開ける
　DORAMA wa makuakeru.
[The Drama's curtain opens up.]

　交差する新世界ひかれあう
Kousasuru shinsekai hikare au.
[As the new world crosses over and meets this one,]

　光も闇も　やがてとけてひとつになる
　Hikari mo, Yami mo, yagate tokete hitotsu ni naru.
[Both Light and Darkness, over time will unite into one.]

　遠いこの空が　世界を別ち
Tooi kono sora ga sekai wo wakachi,
[This world and the sky are divided far apart,]

　そして　生まれる秦世界
　Soshite umareru shin sekai!
[And finally, a new world is born!]

　世界わかつ空を　振り仰ぐとき
Sekai wakatsu sora wo furi aogu toki.
[While looking up at the sky, the world begins trembling.]
　
　BRAVE NEW WORLD
　["A Brave, New World!"]

　ドラマは幕開ける
　DORAMA wa makuakeru.
[The Drama's curtain opens up.]
　
　だから今は迷い払い　まは不利から得ずに
Dakara ima wa mayoi harai, ma wa furi karaezuni.
[And so you pay up, without turning back,]

　歩きだそう　続く空へ
　Arukidasou tsuzuku sora e...
[you just follow the path to the sky...]

　腕に力　胸に祈り 風に心　散らさないで
Ude ni chikara, mune ni inori, kaze ni kokoro, chirasanai de.
[Praying, with your heart for strength and ability; scattering it in the wind,]

　あすの夢と願いだいった新世界をともに駆けよう！！
asu no yume to negai daitta, shin sekai wo tomo ni kakeyou!!
[Wishing and Dreaming of tomorrow, we all run together to the Brand New World!!]

　
-----------------------------------------------

Writer's Notes:

This Translation was written by me, Ron "DeviFoxx".
This is my first Japanese-To-English translation ever, so please
forgive me if there are some inaccuracies here and there. Enjoy.

[email protected]
http://www.devimension.com/

 

[Asplode]

The song doesn't fit that game at all, but I want to play it.

Other than that, from an amateur inspection, good job Devi!

 

[Rhaddy]

OK

1st: sorry if this seems sorta blunt, this is the second time writing through so i was going for more speed than courtesy. Its really cool that you started a group by yourself, that's quite a project. Especially if you were the one doing all the timing, editting, QCing, etc. At least with this project you are pretty much doing everything huh :O.

2nd: some stuff fyi so you can decide what to take with salt. I'm an english native speaker and I usually go for more literal translation over feel so a lot of the retranslations i've done are just to show the literal translation vs the translation you give, though i really have no idea if you've already gone through the literal translations.

3rd: the song does end up fitting the game since its a VS game and talks about 2 worlds divided dissolving into one

　
　成熟の街　ゆらぎに満ちて
Seijuku no machi yuragi ni michite.
[Within a City that's pulsating with ripeness...]

pulsating with ripeness/maturity might be more something like trembling about to expire since the song talks about a New World and the fusing of two worlds into one..

　
　道標さえ　丸で幻
Michishirube sae marude maboroshi.
[Even the guideposts are almost like illusions.]

marude is stronger than almost, more like "exactly like"

　
　求め手も　焦がれ手も
Motome temo, kogare temo.
[Seeking for it... Longing for it...]

　掴めない　遠い空は
　Tsukamenai tooi sora wa.
[...and yet the sky's still too far to reach.]

motometemo kogaretemo: despite seeking for it, despite longing for it, even though you seek it, even though you long for it...
tsukamenai tooi sora ha: the unreachable distant sky.
With the japanese putting the subject at the end, i see most subbers keeping that format even though translating for english coherency would usually suggest you put the subject in the beginning. the ~~temo shouldn't have the kanji for te there.

　
全てを抱き止めて染めあげてゆく
Subete wo dakitomete someagete yuku.
[All the dying is being held back, and has stopped.]

This was a line that sort of troubled me when I was going through the first time. Anyways... here's the literal translation.
Subete wo dakitomete: Everything will be restrained and...
someageteyuku: will be completely dyed.
it might be better to find another english translation of someageteyuku... it doesn't seem to fit with the english literal translation.

　
　世界分かつ空にみみを済ませば
Sekai wakatsu sora ni mimi wo sumaseba.
[The call of the world can be heard throughout the sky.]
　
　BRAVE NEW WORLD
　["A Brave, New World!"]

　招く声が響く
Maneku koe ga hibiku.
[The sound of the voice echoes...]

A literal translation might be
The sky dividing the world, if you let it finish in your ear, Brave New World, the inviting voice resounds.
A paraphrased translation?
If you let the divided world end, you will hear an inviting voice calling you to the Brave New World.
Sumaseba is literally "If you let it end, if you make it end"

　
　世界わかつ空を　振り仰ぐとき
Sekai wakatsu sora wo furi aogu toki.
[While looking up at the sky, the world begins trembling.]

there's no literal mention of trembling, just of looking at the sky dividing the world.

　　
　BRAVE NEW WORLD
　["A Brave, New World!"]

　ドラマは幕開ける
　DORAMA wa makuakeru.
[The Drama's curtain opens up.]

　交差する新世界ひかれあう
Kousasuru shinsekai hikare au.
[As the new world crosses over and meets this one,]

Kousasuru shinsekai: the new world crossing over
hikareau: retreats and meets... something like waxes and wanes?

　
　光も闇も　やがてとけてひとつになる
　Hikari mo, Yami mo, yagate tokete hitotsu ni naru.
[Both Light and Darkness, over time will unite into one.]

yagete: is more literally soon than over time
tokete: dissolve vs unite... feeling is different.

　
　遠いこの空が　世界を別ち
Tooi kono sora ga sekai wo wakachi,
[This world and the sky are divided far apart,]

　そして　生まれる秦世界
　Soshite umareru shin sekai!
[And finally, a new world is born!]

tooi kono sora ga: this distant sky that
sekai o wakachi: divides the world and...

　
　世界わかつ空を　振り仰ぐとき
Sekai wakatsu sora wo furi aogu toki.
[While looking up at the sky, the world begins trembling.]
　
　BRAVE NEW WORLD
　["A Brave, New World!"]

　ドラマは幕開ける
　DORAMA wa makuakeru.
[The Drama's curtain opens up.]
　
　だから今は迷い払い　まは不利から得ずに
Dakara ima wa mayoi harai, ma wa furi karaezuni.
[And so you pay up, without turning back,]

　歩きだそう　続く空へ
　Arukidasou tsuzuku sora e...
[you just follow the path to the sky...]

these lines are annoying ;/
dakara ima ha mayoi harai: That's why right now you pay hesistantly
mahafurikara: the time is unfortunate therefore
ezuniarukidasou: the arukidasou is really screwing me up here. it is said to walk without being able to win, without being able to get it? the subject of what you aren't able to get (ezuni) is really ambiguous... unless i'm translating it completely wrong.

　

　腕に力　胸に祈り 風に心　散らさないで
Ude ni chikara, mune ni inori, kaze ni kokoro, chirasanai de.
[Praying, with your heart for strength and ability; scattering it in the wind,]

　あすの夢と願いだいった新世界をともに駆けよう！！
asu no yume to negai daitta, shin sekai wo tomo ni kakeyou!!
[Wishing and Dreaming of tomorrow, we all run together to the Brand New World!!]

Kaze ni kororo chirasanai de: the naide is a command form to not scatter it in the wind.

asu no yume to negai daitta shinsekai o tomo ni kakeyou!: The shinsekai is being modified by the asu no yume to negai daitta... so something like, Let's run together to the new world that held our dreams and hopes for tomorrow.

 

[deathsvengeance]

As far as Japanese language goes, I can't help. But as a frequent downloader of fansubbed animes, I can tell you now, that the font you are using (italicized) sucks and I would find another source to download from ^^

 

[Elemmire]

What's so bad about it? it's just for songs as I've seen with most fansubs.. it looks a lot more crisp than other fansubs I've seen x.x

 

[deathsvengeance]

What's so bad about it? it's just for songs as I've seen with most fansubs.. it looks a lot more crisp than other fansubs I've seen x.x

eh, I'm just really freakin picky lol I'm currently downloading Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid and there are 3 fansub groups I won't download from because I don't like their font choice lol

 

[Elemmire]

Wow.. that's.. just.. odd XD

 

[deathsvengeance]

Wow.. that's.. just.. odd XD

why is it odd? Its something I have to read on my PC screen, I don't know why people choose to use small fonts or fonts that have narrow letters, it makes it more difficult to read.

 

[Elemmire]

I dunno.. it isn't that big of an italicized font. It's pretty crisp and easy to read. Good coloring.. I dunno.. just nothing I have a problem with x.x

 

[DeviFoxx]

Thank you, Rhaddy.

I really do appreciate your feedback.

There were a few sentences that I was confused about how exactly I
should translate them.

I already know for a fact that more than anything I need to get a better
understanding of the Japanese grammar system and sentence structuring.

But, yes.

This was just a first attempt~~ And the first step is always a bit shaky
isn't it? First step at translation, that is.

That's why I consult people like you, Nemissa, & Jaredfromsubway. In
the hopes of increasing my understanding of what it is I'm studying.
Little rules like how the word wa is spoken as "wa", but when written
in Japanese, they use the letter "ha".

I hope to speak, read, and write Japanese fluently within the next 2 to 3
years, give or take some months. So keep helping me out here.

...

And Death, as far as fonts go, for the English translated text, I used

for the Romaji:

By default, the Japanese text is:

For the opening credits I used two fonts.

and also...

...Now, I have quite literally about 2,000+ fonts in my total collection.
Including the font:

Hahahahaha, do you have any other fonts in mind? You may be onto
something; I'm a bit curious. And like I said; I appreciate any suggestions
as to ways I can improove.

 

[Rhaddy]

Thank you, Rhaddy.

I really do appreciate your feedback.

There were a few sentences that I was confused about how exactly I
should translate them.

I already know for a fact that more than anything I need to get a better
understanding of the Japanese grammar system and sentence structuring.

But, yes.

This was just a first attempt~~ And the first step is always a bit shaky
isn't it? First step at translation, that is.

Yeah its always important to do a bunch of revisions... One of my tutors told me to translate once for literal translation then try to restructure and change for style and feel.

Since you have your own unorthodox approach towards learning Japanese it's pretty interesting to see a translation like this. There are a lot of lines that I'd be unsure about w/o a dictionary (and still unsure w/ one.)

That's why I consult people like you, Nemissa, & Jaredfromsubway. In
the hopes of increasing my understanding of what it is I'm studying.
Little rules like how the word wa is spoken as "wa", but when written
in Japanese, they use the letter "ha".

I hope to speak, read, and write Japanese fluently within the next 2 to 3
years, give or take some months. So keep helping me out here.

yeah there... are some small rules that end up making a difference. conjugation of verbs can get really annoying for translating. If you don't have a grammar dictionary, i'd recommend getting one... I have one that I bought from school, despite never using it since all the grammar was covered in class, though I can see it being very useful for translating something that might be normally out of one's league. Small things like ~~zu=~~nai or something like tabenaide vs taberuna vs tabenasai can change a sentence's meaning dramatically.

keep up the hard work.

edit: fonts: i prefer fatter fonts normally but not so much to impact. text heavy series like GITSAC tend to get subbed w/ gothic fonts... or the arial you SS-d... IIRC LMF uses a gothic varient? IDK... I've never encountered a real problem with the width of letters though.

 

[Arctyrael]

Wow - You have no idea how jealous I am that you are taking this feat upon yourself. I really want to learn Japanese but I'm taking the easy way out and just waiting to take classes in it next fall.

Keep up the good work - you can do it!

 

[Lyrai]

Like I've said before, I'll be starting my third year of Japanese soon, but I've learned a lot more real-life Japanese in FFXI and from the friends I've made through it. Recently, a JP FFXI friend of mine invited me into this community, http://mixi.jp There are a few English members, but I haven't come across any of them yet. It's mostly just a Journal/Community site. I did a search for English communities, and there are tons, of just Japanese wanting to learn English.

Well, I use the Japanese IME for Windows ME though the XP version is better. It helps me with my kanji recognization. Though usually I type something out, then run it through a translator to check for mistakes. There's a lot of things in Japanese that can't even be translated though, and it can be a little frustrating. It's even harder sometimes, to interpret literal translations.

But it's a little odd sometimes for me now, to type something in Japanese and choose kanji and whatnot, then to look back on it, and say "Wow, I UNDERSTAND that."

How are you going about learning Japanese exactly, is it just through doing translations, or are you learning how to form sentences yourself? It's hard to get a hold of the language through just translations. I reccomend picking up a kanji dictionary for your own use, not just using online ones because they can make you lazy. And also this book "Japanese for Everyone" published in Japan for the US by Bokken I believe. I use this textbook in school, and it's really good. Because it's printed in Japan, sometimes there are some errors in the English, but generally it's amazing and easy to use.

But contact me any time if you need help!! 、（＾ー＾）／

 

[DeviFoxx]

Thank you. Thank you kindly for your encouragement.

They say Japanese is about as easy to learn to speak as French, Spanish,
German or Italian. The only difficult part is reading it.

I noticed in Japanese, there's alot of words whose definitions change based
on the context of the sentence they're used in. This is why it's VITAL for
me (and anyone else learning) to study the language's grammar.

So far, I have a thick +3,000 page "Kanji Dictionary" that has every
Kanji character in existance. >_< ... Plus several coursebooks from
LivingLanguage.com ... A +400 page book on "How to speak in Japanese
with emotion" (Hehehehe, I learned a few curse words thanks to this
book, hahahaha).

I'm still not done... This is going to take a bit of cash... There's this
grammar book that I should get, like Rhaddy suggested. And I also saw
something nice at the "Borders" bookstore... Kanji Flash Cards!
Wee!!

Time to hit the books.

...

By the way, anyone have any more suggestions?

Spell-check? Fonts I might want to use? Etc. Etc.

 

[DeviFoxx]

How am I learning it?

It sort of started 2 to 3 years ago. Watching unsubbed and undubbed
anime (mostly DBZ on the "International Channel". This was before they
actually FINISHED the English series). Looking at the situations unfold,
and both playing "Phantasy Star Online" with JP players, I learned Japanese
basically word-by-word.

When I listened to a Japanese conversation, I pretty much listened and
heard words I recognized, or words that I haven't learned yet, but with
suffixes that I recognized (like "-nai"), and I had the "gist" of the convo
that way.

Now I'm basically learning proper use of the words "no", "ga", "wa", "ni",
"to"... So I can understand better.

When I talk with Nemissa, I introducted myself to her as a "nihon-go no
seito" (Student of Japanese Language) who is "Onamae wa 'Ron' desu"
(My name is / My title is known as Ron.) and that "Watakushi wa Amerika-jin
desu" (I am an American. [proper form]).

She's teaching me in small steps. I learned her age, and name... of course
when I asked her, she did the /blush and /smile emote a few times; Haha,
maybe she thinks an American has "come-a callin'" to ask her out on a
romantic evening. I told her how old I was and my name.

Then we had your basic friendly banter, and I was actually learning new
words in the process.

*Translated convo*

Nemissa>> Hello, Devi-kun! How are you?
Devifoxx>> What's up, Nemi-chan.
Devifoxx>> I'm fine.
Devifoxx>> It's all good.
Devifoxx>> And yourself?
Nemissa>> I am fine. Thank you for asking. ^^
Devifoxx>> I am glad.
Nemissa>> ^^
Devifoxx>> What time is it over there? It's [Current Time] here in California.
Nemissa>> Really? It is [Current Time] here. JP Time.
Devifoxx>> Augh!! I am a student of the Japanese Language.
Devifoxx>> I have so many books.
Devifoxx>> My *Misspelled word for "Dad"* shouts: "study your books. complete college / university!"
Nemissa>> *dad
Devifoxx>> Thanks alot.
Nemissa>> /smile
Nemissa>> Do you find learning my language difficult?
Devifoxx>> a little. but nothing I can't handle!
Devifoxx>> aaa... my brain... is hurting... is hurting...
Devifoxx>> studying too much!
Nemissa>> Come on! Don't give up!
Nemissa>> /cheer! /cheer! Go, Devifoxx, Go!
Devifoxx>> Thanks Nemissa. You're always so kind to me. Let's be friends forever.
Nemissa>> I would like that very much, Devifoxx. ^^
Devifoxx>> You're in (Sanctuary of Zitah). Mind if I join you? Want to Relax.
Nemissa>> OK. I'm getting (Synthesis Materials).
Devifoxx>> (All right!) I'm on my way.

Hahahaha, that's basically what we talk about.

It's kinda cute. Actually not hearing people scream out "fuk all JP" and
stuff like that.