To Aru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Discussion (Archives)

[shmaster]

Do not for get the part in SS as well. Who could have guess the washing machine become her best friend!!

[Suzuku]

Originally Posted by Flere821

What about the possibility of them animating Vol14 and 16 as well? And maybe put Vol15 as a OVA or something.

Ha, no way in a 24 episode adaptation. We'll just have to wait for season three to see that. I see them making an OVA out of the SS1 novel next year while Shana III is airing though.

[zeniselv]

i hope they dont go too far this season, i think we all know what happens when jc staff gets ahead of the original story....

[Suzuku]

Chances of J.C.Staff going over Index original story anytime in the next 4+ years is almost nonexistent.

[Hell_ping]

We're talking about an author who released three volumes in just one year (and counting), there's too much content in Index. And to top it off, the author's working on 'HEAVY OBJECT' as well...

And just checked the poll. 695 voted?

[pikachuwei]

Originally Posted by shmaster

Do not for get the part in SS as well. Who could have guess the washing machine become her best friend!!

that part was so heartwarming T_T

[SanctusRecto]

Hello everyone, I chose and translated a bit which wasn't yet done from Volume14 Chapter1 page16,my question is, is it accurate enough to be used or am i too novice(never translated L.novels) :

Spoiler for Volume14chapter1page16:

In Academy city's third district,there are several International Exhibition Centers.

The second and third districts are connected directly by rail,the district has many facilities above the outside world,
hotels and other grades are the best in Academy city, guest facilities are located way away of focus for second and
third districts from the airport, although the noise brings attention from the airport to the hotel.

A number of events are to be held in such third district.
Motor Show with the collection of best automotive technology and Robotics Show,what mechanical engineering has
come to accomplish. These exhibitions are planned just for mere entertainment, rather than a strong fitting promotion
of Academy city´s cutting-edge technology.

[Hell_ping]

Originally Posted by SanctusRecto

Hello everyone, I chose and translated a bit which wasn't yet done from Volume14 Chapter1 page16,my question is, is it accurate enough to be used or am i too novice(never translated L.novels) :

Spoiler for Volume14chapter1page16:

In Academy city's third district,there are several International Exhibition Centers.

The second and third districts are connected directly by rail,the district has many facilities above the outside world,
hotels and other grades are the best in Academy city, guest facilities are located way away of focus for second and
third districts from the airport, although the noise brings attention from the airport to the hotel.

A number of events are to be held in such third district.
Motor Show with the collection of best automotive technology and Robotics Show,what mechanical engineering has
come to accomplish. These exhibitions are planned just for mere entertainment, rather than a strong fitting promotion
of Academy city´s cutting-edge technology.

Well, you can post it on B-T, since the editors will help you out. But if you want me to critique this, I'll be direct here. It's a bit unsatisfactory.

1) Use conjunctions like and, but to continue with the story. Make it flow. It's like filling up a cup of water. You don't fill a bit, stop, pour some more, stop until the cup is full; you fill the cup continuously.

2) Informal grammar.

For me, I would add several apostrophes like "He's holding onto a gun."

This is because I'm treating this as a narration, rather than a text.

Using the above example, would you say "He's holding a gun." or "He is holding a gun."?

Though the latter is grammatically correct as well, it feels awkward and choppy. You hardly see anyone saying the latter because it feels very rigid.

3)Pause whenever you need to.

As you know, English words take a longer time to say than Chinese and Japanese. Some words have up to 4 or 5 syllables.

Try reading this non-stop:

"Japanese girls wearing German uniforms exploring a Japanese music school in a Spanish town full of French people celebrating Chinese New Years in Switzerland shooting North African owls while piloting multi-legged talking demon slaying cloakable AMAZING GRACE SINGING 500mm coil gun firing "son of the god of fire" supertanks from the future."

Thank you, are you reading a tongue twister?

Pause whenever you need to, honestly. Add punctuations whenever necessary, especially fullstops. It's easier in Chinese and Japanese to have twenty words per sentence because they have only 1 syllable, but what if it's in English? It'll be a disaster. I recommend only a maximum of 3 commas in a sentence.

(If you're wondering, the description above is about an anime called Sora No Woto.)

4) Don't translate word for word.

Mix around the order of the words if you need to. I see that you're translating word for word here. Don't. You have to edit about to make the text suitable for the language.

Some points I want to note, for translators in general:

1) Past tense or present tense? Normally, my style is to incorporate as much of present continuous tense or present perfect (I followed the advice of a fellow translator). It's very hard, since Chinese and Japanese don't have any tenses, but try to keep to one tense as much as possible. The only exceptions when past tenses are involved is when something has just happened or a dialogue.

Note the difference:

I say, "Let's go to the party!"

and

"Let's go to the party!" I said.

There's a lot of difference in this one. Because of the order differences, I have to change the tenses appropriately. You can have your own style. In fact, many translators prefer to use past tense exclusively because of how easy is it to translate it like that, but I got too used to this style that I just don't like to use past tense exclusively.

2) If unsure, use a machine translator for phrases, or maybe a dictionary, or check out some other sources.

Remember, even if we're translators, we are not walking dictionaries. Machine translators may not be as accurate as one would like, but they're quite good for short phrases. Some of our fellow translators have compiled a list of machine translators. These are supposedly all free, but I haven't checked them out.

For Chinese to English:

1:http://www.nciku.com (Recommended by ShadowZeroHeart, Kaze no Stigma translator)
2:http://translation.babylon.com/
3:http://en.bab.la/
4:http://translate.google.com/translate_t
5:http://dictionary.reverso.net/
6:http://dict.cn (Recommended by Zyzzyva165, ex-Zero no Tsukaima translator)

Japanese to English:

1:http://jisho.org/ (By Trabius)
2:https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/145 (By Smidge204)
3:http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/
4:http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html (These two are from our admin: Onizuka-gto)

3) (FOR CHINESE) Don't copy any translator notes or comments unnecessarily! And don't include yours unless you want to give some reference.

Very few people would like that in a dialogue, since though we're not professionals, we have to act like them (yes,it's very weird, but that's the class that people want to see).

For TAMnI, most of the information is already given, but if you want to elaborate more on the point, you can. Recently, I added a reference about Sodom and Gomorrah in Vol 11 Chp 4, and that can work. But not something like: "OH GOSH! NO!!" (That was also mine, in Vol 7 Chp 1 before it got deleted. Think some pdfs still have that version.)

4) Keywords! Keywords! Keywords!

It's okay to remove a few conjunctions or paraphrase it (In fact, translating is like doing a 150-word summary, for those doing O and A levels), but like summary, the important key words cannot be left out. Most of the time, the keywords are nouns and actions, so you have to be careful with them. For idioms and whatsoever, maybe you can use something that gives the same meaning. In TAMnI, Kamachi-sensei focuses a lot on the details, so you have to do your best and make sure not to skip any of them.

Anyway, I have my version of the page here for reference.

Spoiler for My version:

There are many International Exhibition Arenas in the 3rd district of Academy City.

There are many railways linking this district to the 2nd district,which serves as a gateway to the outside world. Thus, as a school district that has more facilities that cater to the outside, the hotels are top notch for Academy City's standards. To have so many facilities for visitors far away from the airport in District 23, maybe they have considered how the noise from the plane would affect living conditions.

In this third district, there're many activities going on.

(Not going to continue)

I'll be honest here. I'm not trying to put anyone down here, I want a minimum standard in language for my work. It doesn't have to be flowery or whatsoever, but it has to not just be readable. The text has to flow like water. As I mentioned to another to-be translator, a lot of guts and motivation is required to do this, more than manga and anime translation. (And concentration, since you're going to work with this for a long time.)

PS: When you're done, just upload it. If you want me to check through your work, PM me together with the text, I'll use red text for extra edits. (This
is becoming like Umineko...). If you feel very uncertain about this or have any violent objections to it, we'll talk it out.

PS2: Yes, about 60% of this text is part of a PM to that translator.

PS3: Before I forget, parts 3, 4, 5 of Vol 11 Chp5 is done. 45% complete.

[Master Assassin]

Originally Posted by shmaster

Do not for get the part in SS as well. Who could have guess the washing machine become her best friend!!

I-I see... she must be really lonely then without Index.

[Miraluka]

It doesn't help when half country is talking about her tastes about certain boy.

[Phibrizzo]

Head knight leader is as playful as tsuchimikado I mean he basically left the rummor of kanzaki is on young guys, and then twist aqua letter to Villan.

Such a gentleman.

[Miraluka]

Originally Posted by Phibrizzo

Head knight leader is as playful as tsuchimikado I mean he basically left the rummor of kanzaki is on young guys, and then twist aqua letter to Villan.

Such a gentleman.

I still want to read the exact words from William which Knight Leader twisted.

[Ashaman]

Huh? Kanzaki is 18, right?

And touma 16?

Then there should be no problem.

remember kids, age of consent in Britain is 16.

[outerelf]

Originally Posted by Ashaman

Huh? Kanzaki is 18, right?

And touma 16?

Then there should be no problem.

remember kids, age of consent in Britain is 16.

... Really? So that means technically Kanzaki could 'convince' Touma to go out with her, and no one could say a word. I have noticed something though- a lot of people from the European/American nations have trouble telling what age/nationality a Asian person is. So they might think she's hitting on someone slightly younger...

[Phibrizzo]

Well normally asian women tend to look far younger than her age... like that mangaka thats 29 and looks 14 (chinese mind you).

[Miraluka]

Also Touma doesn't look too young next to Kaori.

Originally Posted by Phibrizzo

Half of is its already on Railgun, and the other points I cant comment due to fear of the banhammer :P.

As I said in the other topic, two episodes are fine, while only 1 will be the epitome of rush. Oh, I almost can see a group whining for the next two episodes arc for the lack of time of certain character.

[Ashaman]

Kanzaki is eighteen but looks older though.

I'm not really sure about Touma.

I suppose, if someone didn't know their actual ages. people may think the gap is bigger than it actually is.

Should note that in Japan, age of consent is 18. sorta. Yeah. Anyway, both Touma and Kanzaki are of Japanease descent, so.... well, you get the picture.

[Phibrizzo]

Originally Posted by Ashaman

Kanzaki is eighteen but looks older though.

I'm not really sure about Touma.

I suppose, if someone didn't know their actual ages. people may think the gap is bigger than it actually is.

Should note that in Japan, age of consent is 18. sorta. Yeah. Anyway, both Touma and Kanzaki are of Japanease descent, so.... well, you get the picture.

Considering the picture I have of Touma dad, and the airhead of his mother I ocnsider they would give him permision right away.

Oh yeah saten and mikoto fans are kinda... well forgive the word dump.

[Miraluka]

Originally Posted by Ashaman

Kanzaki is eighteen but looks older though.

I'm not really sure about Touma.

I suppose, if someone didn't know their actual ages. people may think the gap is bigger than it actually is.

Should note that in Japan, age of consent is 18. sorta. Yeah. Anyway, both Touma and Kanzaki are of Japanease descent, so.... well, you get the picture.

Touma is 16 or maybe around 17.

Touma is/was in Academy City which has different set of laws compared to Japan.
Kanzaki is japannese since born but them moved to England so she actually is english after spending a good time living there.

[Hell_ping]

Well, looks don't define age. Look at Komoe-sensei.

As for Kanzaki, name one teenage boy that looks older than her (except Stiyl).

I believe for people to get English Citizenship, you have to stay in the country for at least 5 years, right? (That's what I inferred from Football Manager)