How do I translate a manga/doujinshi into English?

VirusChris · 22615

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Offline VirusChris

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Hello, I'm trying to learn how to translate manga/doujinshi from their native Japanese language to English and I was wondering if there's any good tutorials around to help with cleaning up the pages, how to translate the text without messing up on the images in the panels, and any other advises when translating any manga/doujinshi (besides not being too literal with the words).

I know that wikipedia have the characters for Katahana and Hiragana, but not how to use them to create words and sentences. And Kanji is the toughest one to translate it, but it would help to have something to translate those when I can... I've got three of them down right now; Flame, Book, and Autumn.

There's a few manga/doujinshi I see I like to see in English, but I don't know anyone to translate and I don't exactly want to bother people with them and I don't see anyone translating them anytime soon, or some dropped them altogether, and there's some that were out for a long time there doesn't seem to be anyone translating those anytime soon as well.

So, can anyone help with someone wanting to get his foot out the door and learn how to translating a doujinshi? I'm a newbie, but I'm willing to learn how to!
Any video, written, or anything else tutorials out there I can use to help?


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Offline Rin

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Reply #1 on: July 14, 2012, 07:52:22 PM
http://main.storminheaven.org/guide/main.html
You can find more on google, if this one is not to your satisfaction.
It's about cleaning manga pages and editing in order to scanlate.


In fact, it's all you need for that.

From me, I would say either learn to use programs like Gimp/Photoshop... the former being free. Because most of the [parasitic bomb] you want to do, is best done in those kinds of programs.



Offline VirusChris

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Reply #2 on: July 16, 2012, 08:16:03 PM
http://main.storminheaven.org/guide/main.html
You can find more on google, if this one is not to your satisfaction.
It's about cleaning manga pages and editing in order to scanlate.


In fact, it's all you need for that.

From me, I would say either learn to use programs like Gimp/Photoshop... the former being free. Because most of the [parasitic bomb] you want to do, is best done in those kinds of programs.

I see, thank you for the link.

I have Photoshop so it should be fine, hopefully.

Posted on: July 14, 2012, 20:07:09
Sorry for double posting, but I was wondering... what's a good textbook to get to learn Kanji?

Should I get the Basic Kanji Vol. 1 and 2 books, the Guide to Reading & Writing Japanese: Third Edition book, or the The Kanji Dictionary: Find Any Compound Using Any of Its Component Characters book to learn Kanji? I like to be able to read and understand Kanji as best as I can... I know the Kanji for "Sun", "Origin", "Fire", and "Mountain" now and that combining the Kanji of Sun and Origin is written as "Nihon" for Japan.

So, anyone have a few good suggestions for me?


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Offline Karai

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Reply #3 on: July 16, 2012, 10:43:12 PM
Ummm.... I'm afraid you won't do much without properly learning Japanese. A language is a little more than just a bunch of characters or words. Even if you'll make a somewhat logical-looking sentence, you won't catch subtleties that can entirely change the meaning. Find a real course led by professionals, at least few semesters long (forget about any "language in a week for dummies"), and when you'll feel fluent at Japanese, think about translating walls of text.



Offline VirusChris

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Reply #4 on: July 16, 2012, 11:14:08 PM
Ummm.... I'm afraid you won't do much without properly learning Japanese. A language is a little more than just a bunch of characters or words. Even if you'll make a somewhat logical-looking sentence, you won't catch subtleties that can entirely change the meaning. Find a real course led by professionals, at least few semesters long (forget about any "language in a week for dummies"), and when you'll feel fluent at Japanese, think about translating walls of text.

I've took a Japanese course in College, but it's been a while and I've gotten a little rust but I've kept the notes from my class and the tests as well and I'm somewhat familiar with the sentences. I need some books on Kanji, I need video tutorials on understand Japanese sentence structure and grammar, I need to learn as much as I can with the best possible help. No offense but it sounds like you're saying I should give up or shouldn't bother given from your first two lines even though that's not what it means and sorry for saying it.

I like to know the best options from my position right now to learn more Japanese.


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Offline Karai

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Reply #5 on: July 17, 2012, 12:17:52 AM
Well, since you already took a course, it's an entirely different story. I didn't mean to discourage you, I just thought you have zero background on Japanese, and want to do it in the simplest way. I'm a little oversensitive about languages - I know way too many people that "use" a foreign language in their status updates, or use a Google Translate translation without checking it, and think it's perfect. I just wanted to say "it needs a lot of work", as I know that learning a language is a lot harder than it seems. I use English almost everyday for 15 years, and I still make lots of mistakes.

Eh, back to topic: I can't give you specific titles, I know only that there is a basic set of kanji that are necessary to read most texts. They are in a fixed order, and are divided into blocks, from simple and common to complex and rare. Kids in Japan learn them in that matter, so it should be the best way.
Sorry for wasting your time.



Offline VirusChris

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Reply #6 on: July 18, 2012, 10:24:18 AM
Not a problem, and don't worry I find your posts valuable source of information to make sure do double-check my own and make sure the sentence is perfect or the lines are delivered the why they're suppose to say.

I was hoping these books would help or be a great place to help with learning Kanji.

http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Reading-Writing-Japanese-Third/dp/0804833656
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-kanji-dictionary-mark-spahn/1110912437?ean=9780804820585
http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Kanji-Book-Vol-1/dp/4893580914/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342599741&sr=1-1&keywords=basic+kanji+book+vol.+1

Too bad I still need more Japanese books to help with sentence structure and grammar.

Isn't VixyNyan-sama very fluent with Japanese? She plays a lot of Japanese games and knows the language inside and out it seems to me. Maybe I'll ask her for some assistance.


"Spirit-Soul Fusion! Invoke... VIRUS CROSS!!!" ~ Quote from my Virakins global project
JP PSN: UirusuKurisu
Official Husband of Fox Caster from Fate/Extra <3