Using translations from a book?

[flick]

Hi,
I've recently gotten into the world of fansubbing, but am doing a 'historial' or 'period-drama' TV series rather than anime. As the story line is based on an actual book (that has been translated) and uses some old-style prose (think the Shakespearean equivalent in another language) I don't always understand what is being said in the original language enough to give a good translation.

Thankfully I do have a translation of the book that I can always refer to, and well as it's at the start of the project, I was wondering if there was a protocol or rule about giving credit to the 'author' who actually translated the book, and how it is usually done?

e.g. Do we disclaimer it? Or put it in some translation notes? Or... ?

This is because sometimes looking at their translation, it just seems a a lot cleaner and tidier.

Thanks!

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by flick

Hi,
I've recently gotten into the world of fansubbing, but am doing a 'historial' or 'period-drama' TV series rather than anime. As the story line is based on an actual book (that has been translated) and uses some old-style prose (think the Shakespearean equivalent in another language) I don't always understand what is being said in the original language enough to give a good translation.

Thankfully I do have a translation of the book that I can always refer to, and well as it's at the start of the project, I was wondering if there was a protocol or rule about giving credit to the 'author' who actually translated the book, and how it is usually done?

e.g. Do we disclaimer it? Or put it in some translation notes? Or... ?

This is because sometimes looking at their translation, it just seems a a lot cleaner and tidier.

Thanks!

I would think adding in a "Translation Adapted from XXXX's translation of YYYY" to the credits or something to that effect would be fine. Using someone elses translation in that manner, especially a professional translation, is not making your fansub any more illegal than it already is . But crediting the original translator along with the other fansub credits seems in good form.

If you are only using it for a couple lines in an episode, I wouldn't even bother with that. But anything more than a couple and you should really credit the original translation.

[False Dawn]

When I edited on Romeo x Juliet, I regularly tried to "insert" lines from the original play, which turned out to be a somewhat difficult feat - but when I did find a place, I made sure to reference the act and scene and so forth, as the language itself varied a lot to our particular editing style (not greatly, but enough so as to be noticeable). On some of the more difficult lines, I even attempted to give an explanation of the line, which I thought would be helpful for fans of the anime who didn't really have much of a clue about Shakespeare (or who tried to stay away from it).

Obviously, the two situations are probably pretty different - for example, we were working with an anime adapted from an English play (which it sounds like you're not - or you're translating into a different language which adds more difficulty into it), but that approach is one you could consider.

[flick]

Thank you both for your helpful replies, and apologies for my late reply.

It really is just a couple of lines, but some are quite key to some of the episode so I do feel it should be credited.

Would it be best to add a '*' next to the particular important lines and then right at the end or start, have the extra note with

*Translation Adapted from XXXX's translation of YYYY"

Or would it be better (more traditional?) to have it as a translation note at the top with the same words?

Thank you all again

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by flick

Thank you both for your helpful replies, and apologies for my late reply.

It really is just a couple of lines, but some are quite key to some of the episode so I do feel it should be credited.

Would it be best to add a '*' next to the particular important lines and then right at the end or start, have the extra note with

*Translation Adapted from XXXX's translation of YYYY"

Or would it be better (more traditional?) to have it as a translation note at the top with the same words?

Thank you all again

Actually, I don't think it'd be beneficial to the viewer to be distracted by a note or a *... just put the credit with the rest of the fansub credits at the beginning or the end of the show.

This isn't a scientific paper where you need to put in footnoted references: As long as you notate the original source somewhere that's fine, and I think the average viewer could care less about whether you adapted someone elses translation or used your own, so there's no need to add an * to the offending lines.

[jfs]

If it's the case of some specific lines in the series being quotes from that book you could perhaps have them typeset in a different font, the same way as some people set eg. telephone/radio communication in a different font. It might work or it might not, try it out

[flick]

I never came back to say thank you to everyone, so apologies. Thank you all very much for your feedback! We've gone for adding the title and author of the book into the credits when everyone else is credited.

[getfresh]

Originally Posted by flick

Thank you both for your helpful replies, and apologies for my late reply.

It really is just a couple of lines, but some are quite key to some of the episode so I do feel it should be credited.

Would it be best to add a '*' next to the particular important lines and then right at the end or start, have the extra note with

*Translation Adapted from XXXX's translation of YYYY"

Or would it be better (more traditional?) to have it as a translation note at the top with the same words?

Thank you all again

I think it's best to just have it in the main credits saying. "Original Translation work by: ****"
And below have "Additional translations: ****" for your tler. You should always give top billing to the source. Having a ton of top notes throughout the epi saying "this is from so and so's tl" would get annoying.

[flick]

@Getfresh: Thanks for your reply The main translation was actually all done by the translator(s) but a few sentences (totalling about 30 seconds, but quite key sentences as well) were taken from the translation. Thank you for the tip about 'Additional translations:" it sounds a lot more formal than what we ended up using

'With (additional) thanks to -----'s translation of the ----- novel'.

So I think we will definitely consider using your version next time! Thanks!

[getfresh]

Originally Posted by flick

@Getfresh: Thanks for your reply The main translation was actually all done by the translator(s) but a few sentences (totalling about 30 seconds, but quite key sentences as well) were taken from the translation. Thank you for the tip about 'Additional translations:" it sounds a lot more formal than what we ended up using

'With (additional) thanks to -----'s translation of the ----- novel'.

So I think we will definitely consider using your version next time! Thanks!

Np, and remember in the end it just fansubs. It's very cool that you even supply a source for your references.