Translators

[Itachikun]

I didnt know a good topic for this, but here goes. I was just checking through some old mail and found this and decided to see what people think of the situation. I know it was a con and a stupid mail to send, im going to remove the name for better purposes. Anyway here is the letter.

Spoiler for Letter:

Hi-

I heard on AnimeSuki that you were looking for a translator. Do you still
need one? I'm bilingual and available. ^_^ I graduated from UCLA with a
double major in Linguistics and Japanese, and spent my Senior year in
Japan. In addition, I'm a published magazine writer (ToyFare, BUST, etc.)
here in the States so you can be sure to get top notch quality. No
awkward phrasing or misspelled words.

I charge US$3/minute (about $75/episode) and require payment up front in
US$ cash or money order on a per episode basis. This means that even if
I've agreed to translate episodes 1-4 for you, you only need to initially
pay me for episode 1. As soon as the translation for episode 1 is
completed and approved, you send me the fee for episode 2 and I move on to
the next episode. For this fee, I will provide written translations of
all dialogue, significant on screen text, and opening/ending songs (romaji
and English) if I'm starting a series. Normal turn around time is 2-4
weeks per episode. As soon as you accept my translation, it belongs to
you. I will never double sell it to another fansubber. Also, I'll need
everything in DVD/VCD format. (My computer is currently a little fragile,
so I need to play them on my TV.)

If you're interested, please let me know.

Thanks so much,

As soon as I finished reading it, I was like o_O. Instantly, I replied by saying the following. "Thanks for the interest in it, but no thanks. Fansubbing was made for free, so I really dont see the point in paying. Good luck working with ****** and ******."

Now I know some people charge for the fees, but this is just too much. $75 an episode?! and the fact that I have to pay first?!. I know its a scam, and after this. I started to hate this group, because they think that im stupid.

I just want to get anyones opinion and this, and if its justified.
________
C77

[Enragin_Angel]

It may or may not be a scam... Back in the VHS days, paying translators was common. I dunno the going rate for an anime episode, but translating a volume of manga is roughly $3-7 a page starting (average $500/vol I guess). So I suppose $75 an episode is a steal.

[Itachikun]

lol, but 2-4 weeks/episode is alright with you?
________
VARIABLE UNIVERSAL LIFE INSURANCE FORUM

[Enragin_Angel]

Yep. For a professional R1 company, I'd say that's an adequate amount of time. Maybe cut the time in half...I dunno.

[Gaia]

If you can pay the translator with donations, it's okay, in my opinion, since it's money from fans. Translators are rare and probably the most important part of a fansub group, arent they? So if he's doing a good job (and maybe in need of money), why not. Well, if you have to pay him out of your own pocket, it's probably to expensive...

Aesir

[Rainy]

Paying for a translator? This is certainly the first time I heard of it! It is strange that this fansubber charges money to translate, fansubs are by fans, for fans, free of charge. If he dose translating work for DVD companies like ADV on contract basis, it wouldn't be so awkward.

Instead of paying somebody to translate it for me, I would rather study Japanese myself to save money. I'm just glad not every translator demands financial compensation.

[TougeSil80]

If he's good at translating, that's not a bad price. But this kinda defeats the purpose of fansub. (Providing anime for fans free of charge) For a 26 ep anime, you have to pay him $1950, that's a lot of money, then the group has to ask for donations to pay for the expense.

[TheFluff]

Personally, I'm of the opinion that involving money in fansubbing at all (even donations) is wrong. It's a free service by fans for fans, financed by the fans themselves.

[shinjipierre]

Great, I'll do the same thing when I do a karaoke.

Let's say that a freelance computer graphist earns about 30$/hour...

Great, I'll be rich soon.

[CelesAurivern]

If I was paying that much money, you can be sure I'll be using them for bootlegging DVDs

[Sylf]

I've translated well over 400 eps by now. Dood, I'm a rich man.

Well, if you truly love a show you're working on, and if you absolutely cannot find any other translator, it's up to you to decide if $75/episode is too much or not. A true old show lovers pay up to $60 per volume of OVA. Spending another $75 on it may be reasonable to those hardcore fans.

If you just want more episode of fansubs out under your own name, then $75 may feel like a rip off. And if it feels like a rip-off, then don't do it.

[StarCreator]

It depends from company to company, but most companies pay -far more- than that for contracted translations. Heck, I've been paid more than that for timing work. (Makes me wish I had more paid work!)

The asking price isn't really that much, considering, but 2-4 weeks turnaround isn't acceptable in a commercial context. Most companies will want their translators to work faster than that.

[Deacon Blues]

D:

We had a thread about paying translators back in the day... :S I don't think a common answer was ever made...

[JamesBeardIV]

I hire translators alot myself. Here in the real world, not all translators are fansubbers or sometimes not even fans of the show so I dont see where anyone can have any problems with someone paying a translator. The translator is hiring out his services to a fansubber. Doesnt mean he/she has to be a fansubber also. Not to mention I am not a fansub group so I dont see that hoard of wild translators jumping out of the woodwork to translate my stuff. Anyone else seen those translators around?

$75 does seem to be on the steep end though... especially paying all up front which I dont do anymore unless Ive used them enough to trust them. Id only go half up front myself. You could actually hit up a search engine and find atleast two anime translators who charge the same thing with a 2 week or less turnaround, and they both seem to do good jobs if not exceptional. Not to mention can pretty much accept both .avi files or tapes...

Then again, finding a good translator who will work for under $70 per ep does seem to be getting harder every day for me.

[Circular Logic]

I feel the idea of a fansub is that it's for the fans, by the fans. Paying for a translator just seems wrong....

Nothing wrong with companies paying translators, though, of course.

[exedore]

Originally Posted by StarCreator

It depends from company to company, but most companies pay -far more- than that for contracted translations. Heck, I've been paid more than that for timing work. (Makes me wish I had more paid work!)

Indeed. I know someone who used to translate anime for Viz back in the VHS days, and then they were offering $10/runtime minute (about $250/episode). Nowadays you may see translators getting closer to $15, but they're frequently required to rough time the subtitles or supply timecodes on their scripts, and the turnaround deadline is more like 2-4 episodes/week.

As far as paying translators for fansubs go, we don't anymore, but paid around $60/episode when doing it back on VHS for a translator who provided a known quality and got enough donations to cover about half of it. If you're really doing a big name oldschool show, you can probably find people willing to put in $5 here, $10 there. You won't find people willing to donate $50-60 at a time anymore, though, because the motivation is gone (sponsors were traditionally rewarded with master copies off the LD vs. the 2nd or 3rd gen copies they'd get from most distros). Maybe if you were working with true R2 DVDs as your source and could supply DVD-R...

[LytHka]

Yes, paying money for translations back in the VHS days was common practice since that wasn't your biggest expense with fansubbing. Generator lock devices and original LD sources were a much greater expense. But things have changed and fansubs are as well as the means of production and distribution free of charge. Is that a good thing? I think so.
If you're expecting to make money from fansubbing, you stuck your nose into a wrong era of fansubbing, my friend. But if you're doing this for money (if some desperate soul offered you money to make another speed sub), then you're obviously doing it for the wrong reasons. At times though, I wish some fansubbers got paid (those who sacrifice too much time and their own resources).

[Uska]

Well, i'm too poor to pay for that. Fansubbing for me is just a hobby, if I can't find a translator that's just too bad, i'll work on something else. I'd rather save those 75$ for something that's really necesary, like gas, food, daily expenses, stuff I wanna buy like DVDs or manga and whatnot...especially since the rest of the service I do is free for everyone else. I dunno I guess if I was rich i'd care less about it, I just know I can't afford it and I probably wouldn't hire someone anyway.

[Sukebe]

in my group, donations are used to keep our website up heh

you should have given that TL my email there are some things I wouldnt mind paying for to see released (guess nostalgia is to blame)
but overall, I do not like paying for services, like Uska said, there are more important things in life.

I wouldnt mind donating money to support dificult projects or help afford the raws (on r2 dvds) but that is where it stops for me ^^

[DaFool]

Seiyuus are paid around 2,000-3,000 yen per episode. (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...t=28856&page=2)

Now why should someone transcripting a voice performance get paid more than the provider of the voice itself?