2012-04-26, 18:23 | Link #641 |
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They're definitely a pain in the ass to read, especially since I'm stuck using machine translation. But because the explanations are so in depth, I can actually be decently sure my understanding is accurate when I'm done. One of the reasons I can actually read this light novel with a machine translation is because it is such a detailed series.
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2012-04-26, 20:47 | Link #642 |
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Another thing about this novel is due to the way the lines are structured compared to other series. The author has a tendency to make relatively long sentences with the most important clause, the subject clause or the topic clause, at the back. In other words, one needs a large brain buffer to store the supporting clauses before one gets the key point of the sentence. I'm not sure about the other translated chapters, but for v1 chapter 1, I've pretty much rephrased and rearranged the clauses and content the way it's done in English, so you guys may not feel it at all. In English, because the key actors are at the front, and the key action verbs also appear rather early, somehow, it seems like we don't need to keep them in our brain's RAM, while in Japanese, it seems like we need to hold all the supporting clauses in our mind until we reach that key idea. And this series really go to the extreme in doing it. It's thus pretty much impossible for me to speed-read without getting lost on what's happening. Or maybe I just suck.
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2012-04-26, 21:04 | Link #643 |
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Join Date: Jan 2009
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I actually have more trouble reading Kamachi-sensei work than this novel lol. Probably because kamachi-sensei tend to use more difficult word when explaining the terminology while this novel use simple analogy when explaining the terminology.
Last edited by kuroishinigami; 2012-04-26 at 21:18. |
2012-04-26, 21:55 | Link #644 | |
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In Kamachi-sensei work, the hard point is the terminology which extremely hard to figure out but Kamachi-sensei use relatively simple sentences, if you have a good reference and katakana level, Kamachi-sensei is actually quite pleased to read. |
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2012-04-26, 22:22 | Link #645 | ||||||||
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And I'm not really sure what you mean by explaining terminology. I don't find a lot of complex explanations of mechanics in Index, except for the scientific parts maybe (yeah, those killed me too ). For mahouka, the mechanics are more or less all connected and spread across novels. Of course, the detailed explanations helped a lot if I take the time to read them normally (in fact, I have to make notes ). And overall, I still find Index's sentence structures to be simpler, overall that is, and comparatively (and I agree that some of the words are really tough). There are also many times when dialogue gets interrupted by heap loads of background info before resuming the dialogue again. When I'm forced to bookmark during then, I completely lose track when I come back to it again. What I'm trying to say is that it's pretty much impossible for me to speed-read this series, something I do a lot. I've taken classes on speed-reading a long time ago. Even though it's for English, I had learned to adapt some of my skills to Japanese gradually. This series kept forcing me to hold my reins, to read it word by word, clause by clause, and sentence by sentence. Anyway, that's just reading. Translation is totally another mind-blowing story altogether. I find my English composition and word choice skills tested a lot more than anywhere else...... It sucks to only be able to translate 3 or less pages an hour, sometimes even just 1 page in an hour on some sections. EDIT: @dragon1412 Many Japanese readers actually have the same problem with the hard-to-read detailed explanations. Let me just quote some of the 2ch comments for you (in fact, some considered his level of details to be needless and bad, though I don't necessary agree to some of the comments): Quote:
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Last edited by larethian; 2012-04-26 at 23:08. |
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2012-04-26, 22:56 | Link #646 |
Ava courtesy of patchy
Join Date: Jan 2009
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The sentence on this novel is indeed longer, but you know when in index they start to blabber away how magic or esper power works? Most of the time kamachi sensei uses some hard words instead of simple analogy(especially when explaining esper power) and it took me a long time to read through that part so I cant speed-read index novel.
This novel on the other hand, although the author use longer sentence, the analogies makes understanding the explanation much easier and I can read through the novel much faster than index. As for structures and buffering, I guess I'm used to it already from when I learn English and all those engineering case studies back then so I never have that problem when reading this novel lol. And just like lare said, this is just for reading. Translating is another matter since it will look very awkward in English if the translator doesn't restructure the long sentences due to the differences in Japanese and English sentence structure. |
2012-04-26, 23:14 | Link #647 |
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^ yes, but that's what's cool about Index, and I find the quantity to be much less (comparing volume to volume). Who knows how big the setting and how much more terms we will have by the time this series reaches volume 20 .
I think comment 229 on the 9th page of Mahouka's 2ch thread best sum up my feeling: そして専門用語が多すぎて読みにくい 禁書の悪い部分だけ抜き取ったような感じ |
2012-04-26, 23:31 | Link #648 | |
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I don't understand some of the comment on 2chan though, how can you not expect a lot of 専門語(sorry, don't know the english equivalent word for this). Isn't those words the thing that enrich the fantasy world and make the world more vibrant? |
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2012-04-27, 00:03 | Link #649 | |
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And after browsing a few chapters randomly again, I still find Index to be easier to read. Maybe it's just me, so I'll end here. |
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2012-04-27, 00:39 | Link #650 |
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For me, even if mahouka use some physics jargon, it still warps it ti create the world unique jargon that define the world(for example, there's something like an akashic record in mahouka world that a magician can theoritically access and rewrite) and those jargons are the things that define the unique world of mahouka. The author just decide to take a similar approach to index' magic and made the unique jargons sound plausible to happens as a result of physical phenomenon if the reader does not think about it too deeply. Without those jargons, mahouka world will just be like the real world instead of a fantasy world where magic can be used. That's why I said, how can someone read a fantasy story and expect not to meet lots of jargon. For me, lots of jargon is a must in a fantasy series in order to make the world unique.
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2012-04-27, 01:10 | Link #651 | |
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And also, judging from the English words that the author seems to be using correctly, though he writes them in katakana, he is pretty highly educated. |
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2012-04-27, 02:01 | Link #652 |
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Aah okay, I misunderstand the meaning of 専門語 then. I thought it also encompass words unique to a particular setting. But somehow, I never feel the need to reasearch anything from reading the first 2 volume. Sure, I don't understand what bosson is, but somehow the novel gives enough explanation what it's used for in the world setting if I just thik of it as something unique to the world.
Whether it actually match with real world bosson or not is just a little neat extra trivia that has no impact with the overall story setting(of course I usually end up looking it up out of curiousity lol). It's like, again taking example from index since the approach is quite similar, the reader doesn't need to know how a railgun works beside it's very powerful and use electricity as power, which is explained in the novel, or knowing about string theory to understand how teleportation works beside that it use movement in different dimension to do. Last edited by kuroishinigami; 2012-04-27 at 02:16. |
2012-04-27, 04:18 | Link #653 | |
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To be honest, at first i do look up some some of those jargon, but lately i'm stop doing that, its too hard and im just take that as fact.Btw, just lok up at 2ch comments, i'm really glad that i'm not the only one with this problem, though i can't completly agree with all of them. The reason why most of author try to use the explaination that directly related to the real world, even the one that he's is just make out and in reality didn't exist is that it's make the reader easy to enjoy the novel, sometime you read a manga with completly no explaination or too vague of an explaination about the special power that appear, it's really hard to enjoy it like a detailed one, because the sense of understanding a liitle bit of structure or even if you can't understand but you see the structure make it feel a alittle more real in your imagination rather than a floating image. |
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2012-04-27, 15:07 | Link #655 |
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Join Date: Apr 2012
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Created an account just to stay this: but thanks to anyone who works in translating this. I discovered the manga series first, then eventually found my way to the translation of the LN. It's a very interesting story that seems to blur the line between a lot of very standard genres and blend them in such a way that I enjoy reading it without rolling my eyes. Even if the translation stalls, I look forward to seeing the manga as it is translated and even hopefully an anime in the future.
Thanks again! |
Tags |
action, fantasy, harem, incest, mahouka, rettousei, school life, shounen, siblings |
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