Infinite Stratos

[Teh_ping]

Also, you can still ask Teh_ping to help you with some parts which you don't understand. Just post what you don't know and we will tell you.

...Since when have I become the go-to guy?

Well, Kira's doing 4, Kuroi's doing 6. We'll see how it goes then.

And for the record, I'll ask Big Boss to put this as a main project once there's another chapter translated.

[ShadowZeroHeart]

Also, you can still ask Teh_ping to help you with some parts which you don't understand. Just post what you don't know and we will tell you.

...Since when have I become the go-to guy?

Well, Kira's doing 4, Kuroi's doing 6. We'll see how it goes then.

And for the record, I'll ask Big Boss to put this as a main project once there's another chapter translated.

Supervisor: Teh_ping

Congratulations on the promotion!!

[kuroi_shinigami]

I finish around 5 pages. Please give me a little feedback whether it's on format, too many T/N note, or word choice before I continue ^^.

[rpapo]

I edited about half of what you posted over lunch. Your spelling was good, and the only problem had to do with something that happens in English storytelling: though the story is progressing from present to present, most actions are described as if they had just happened, so they generally use the past tense. This is what in English is referred to as a "narrative". We are peeking a little into "M"'s mind, but that is not because we are seeing the story from her point of view, but rather because the narrator knows everything, and reveals things to the reader as suits his convenience in telling the story.

Of course, if this doesn't work with the story, it can be undone.

Not bad, considering English is not your native language.

がんばって！

[Mystes]

So, will it be considered as a normal running project? From what I saw of our new translator, he is quite talented and will be a great translator after getting a bit of experience. Also, I'll be uptaing at least once per week in the next months. And no doubt that Teh_Ping will translate at least a part one day.

[kuroi_shinigami]

I see. Although foreign language is kind of a hobby to me, formal literature was never my things(I was more of a science guy ) so I never knew you use past tense when you tell something from narrative story (the original narrative doesn't do that, and my native language doesn't have past tense XD). What about direct quote in conversation? Should I use past tense or should I use present tense in that case?

[Mystes]

I see. Although foreign language is kind of a hobby to me, formal literature was never my things(I was more of a science guy ) so I never knew you use past tense when you tell something from narrative story (the original narrative doesn't do that, and my native language doesn't have past tense XD). What about direct quote in conversation? Should I use past tense or should I use present tense in that case?

Depends. Talking about the past needs past. But you don't see a guy say instead of 'Go see a doctor' say 'Went to see a doctor'. The meaning changes, and a lot.

[ShadowZeroHeart]

So, will it be considered as a normal running project? From what I saw of our new translator, he is quite talented and will be a great translator after getting a bit of experience. Also, I'll be uptaing at least once per week in the next months. And no doubt that Teh_Ping will translate at least a part one day.

One entire chapter of relevant length. That is the basic requirement. If you can't even last one chapter, there is no way you can continue translating volumes or series.

Once a full chapter has been translated, simply apply and wait for approval. (There is no reason really to reject it, so its just some kind of formal procedure, just bear with it.)

[kuroi_shinigami]

I'll try to do around 5 pages per day for now, but I can't promise I can maintain the pace once my LN starts to stack up(baka to test 9 last month, spice and wolf 16 and IS 7 next month, oh and Index too XD) but I'll try to at least translate one part each week.

[ShadowZeroHeart]

I'll try to do around 5 pages per day for now, but I can't promise I can maintain the pace once my LN starts to stack up(baka to test 9 last month, spice and wolf 16 and IS 7 next month, oh and Index too XD) but I'll try to at least translate one part each week.

I know how that's like, i am pretty much the same... not to forget theres still school...

And all that is required is the "intentions to continue", even if you slow down, as long as you continue, its better than nothing. B-T can't really choose their translators when there aren't too many to choose from to begin with...

[rpapo]

I see. Although foreign language is kind of a hobby to me, formal literature was never my things(I was more of a science guy ) so I never knew you use past tense when you tell something from narrative story (the original narrative doesn't do that, and my native language doesn't have past tense XD). What about direct quote in conversation? Should I use past tense or should I use present tense in that case?

I'll try to do around 5 pages per day for now, but I can't promise I can maintain the pace once my LN starts to stack up(baka to test 9 last month, spice and wolf 16 and IS 7 next month, oh and Index too XD) but I'll try to at least translate one part each week.

Each of us has his own strengths. I am an engineer by education, programmer by trade, and omnivorous reader by hobby. You can zip through those pages far quicker than I can at this point, after three years studying the language in my spare time, so you've got me beat big time there. Your stuff looks good. It simply needs final editing by a native speaker of the language. Spelling doesn't appear to be an issue, only the precise phrasing.

[Teh_ping]

Supervisor: Teh_ping

Congratulations on the promotion!!

Fine fine, i see Uiharu crying and begging me for me to take that...

I'll take any progress over no progress at all. Just translate to your heart's content, and we'll provide assistance if you need us.

[kuroi_shinigami]

Finished with part 1 of chapter 1. Could I get some feedback please XD. So I can fix my bad writing habit before continuing further ^^.

[Teh_ping]

The echoes of firing assault rifles. The angry roar of sturdy men. The ensemble of army's boots.

This is like taking one step, stopping, another step, stopping, another step... Anyway, the main idea is--don't just use full stops when it comes to the 'three times the charm' expressions. If I were to do this, I will put either , or ;

For onomatopoeia, just use what you see fit. For this, it's better to be gung-ho about it.

During dinner at the dorm, the usual members are having a meal while happily chatting, suddenly Chal's loudly speaks.

It just doesn't look right, doesn't it? That was like jumping from the top of one building to another building, landing on the railing of a student's dormitory and making him go "EHHHH??"

My version:

During dinner, the usual members are having dinner and happily chatting away. Suddenly, Chal spoke loudly.

Note the italics here. Here, I'll show you an example:

Note the difference:

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

and

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

Since Chal already said something, wouldn't it be better to use past tense instead?

Anyway, I sent a message to the guy who was supposed to continue on with SS1 (He was working from Chinese, so I should make an updated on soon):

Spoiler! :

Some points I want to note:
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 doesn'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.

Also, you like to use past tense in areas when it isn't appropriate, like here:

"Accelerator was right-handed."

Of course, this is wrong, because at this point, Accelerator is still right-handed. This is why I prefer the present tense.

(Note: Accelerator has only one crutch on his right hand, so it isn't right to use 'crutches'.)

Of course, some of the editors would be rather picky about this. I have to thank my main translator, EngimaticRepose for his help here. Don't be afraid to make minor grammatical mistakes here, there are editors here to help.

1.1) Informal grammar.

As you noticed, 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, it feels awkward and choppy. You hardly see anyone saying the latter because it feels very rigid.

1.2) Pause whenever you need to.

As you know, English words take a longer time to say than Chinese.

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 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.)

2) Content or grammar? Note that in this sentence: "不过，这个其实不成问题，四周日光灯发出的光线充溢着整个房间，拄着拐杖的他站在里面已经不知道多久了。" You can't translate it all into one sentence directly. Feel free to break up any sentences and synthesize them whenever you want to, as long as it doesn't compromise the content (Yes, I do take many liberties with translation, like in Vol 10 Epilogue, Laura said "Attention please!" while I translated it to "Hello, anybody in?", primarily because I'm not too focused on the dialogue as compared to the expositions, so try your best not to repeat my mistakes.

In this case, you translated it as "(...). But this isn’t becoming much of a problem, light flooded the room and Accelerator has already forgotten how long he has been standing there with his clutches."

For my case, I'll translate it as "... , but this isn't becoming much of a problem. Light floods the room as Accelerator has been standing inside for who knows how long."

Yes, I did a few edits, but you probably get the idea. Try to smoothen the edges as much as possible.

2.1) The content. Make sure you take in as much content as possible, even the seemingly meaningless words. In LNs (especially in TAMNI), minor details are extremely important. It's okay if you take a bit of liberties with the content (heavily not encouraged), but leaving out or adding is not a good thing at all. In particular, Kamachi-sensei pays a whole lot of attention on details (Must I mention that 'Fighting Fanservice' changing scene?), so remember to keep as close to the content as possible. It's a case of balancing grammar and content. The readers out there are sometimes very nitpicky about even the tiniest bit, and flame wars can blow up all because someone forgets to add a 'but' inside. (Sound like an oxymoron when you compare it to the previous point, but it's a case of striking a balance.)

3) 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 translators

(Japanese to English)

http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/145
http://jisho.org/

(Chinese to English)

1:http://www.nciku.com
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

4) Don't put any translator notes unnecessarily!

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).

Either way, it's very well done for a first full project. I know you did synopses before, so I'm not too worried about it.

PS: What can I say? Movie screening in Army camp tomorrow. The movie? 涼宮ハルヒの消失.

[rpapo]

I hope I haven't been clobbering any of your suggestions...