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NEWS: Company Seeks Fan Translators


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kusanagi-sama



Joined: 22 Aug 2004
Posts: 1723
Location: Wichita Falls, TX
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 11:41 am Reply with quote
I don't particularly like this idea considering that there are fan translators are just as bad as some of those supposedly bad 3rd party companies he mentions. Also, I bet that those people doing this won't see a cent from their help since they are most likely working for free.

http://www.merscom.com/
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Ioik



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 11:57 am Reply with quote
Acually, I think this is very excellent idea.

Fans who translate for free do a MUCH better job than companies just looking to make $$$.

I hope to see other anime/game companies follow this idea since a lot of anime and games I've seen here have AWFUL "translations".
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kusanagi-sama



Joined: 22 Aug 2004
Posts: 1723
Location: Wichita Falls, TX
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 12:15 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, but where is "here" for you?
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kushiel



Joined: 07 Jul 2003
Posts: 94
Location: Saskatchewan
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 12:54 pm Reply with quote
Sooooo...they are basically looking for free workers that they can gyp off of while they take all the profit?

Uh huh.
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Necros Antiquor



Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 571
Location: Funny in a car crash sort of way
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 1:01 pm Reply with quote
I love how specific they are about the game. "Based on a hot anime property slated for a tentative US release." So...it's some anime they think might be popular that might not even come over here. Most anime based games we get over here are on the 3 main consoles and either GBA, DS, or PSP. This has low-budget written all over it.
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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 2251
Location: Online Terminal
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 1:15 pm Reply with quote
Q1 of 2006 is this October and lasts for 3 months, so says extrapolation from Wikipedia.

As far as I can tell, there isn't anything in the release section that would start in the first quarter.
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kusanagi-sama



Joined: 22 Aug 2004
Posts: 1723
Location: Wichita Falls, TX
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 1:19 pm Reply with quote
That is the when the US government's financial quarter starts. The private sector has a financial quarter that is very different and generally varies from company to company.
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minakichan





PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 1:42 pm Reply with quote
No, I like this idea. At the very least, it shows that the company CARES about the fan opinions of them; if not even that, at least they go through the trouble of PRETENDING to care about the fan opinion.

And exploitation? Sure, it's exploitation. I wouldn't want to do something like this ever. But heck, most fan translators do the work they do for no credit and no benefits; they just do it to spread the fandom and work with what they love. I think some of them (SOME) would WANT to be exploited in this fashion just for the opportunity to have had a great role in promoting their fandoms. If they actually AREN'T fans of this particular game, well, they might at least receive minimal credit. hey, maybe it'll look good on a job application.
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RyoShin



Joined: 19 Jan 2002
Posts: 83
Location: Michigan
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 2:48 pm Reply with quote
Ioik wrote:
Fans who translate for free do a MUCH better job than companies just looking to make $$$.


Perhaps, but how do you know that? If you do know a good deal of Japanese, you can probably tell if they're on the spot or not. If you know a handful of words/phrases, you'll recognize those, but the rest will be (literally) foreign to you, so you won't be able to tell if the translation is accurate or not.

Plus, one thing I see a lot of people forgetting when they complain about translations is lip syncing. You could probably do a direct translation, but then you'd have the voice actor stopping earlier or lasting longer than the lip movement, which would just look clumsy. They have to modify the script so the words can sync as much as possible. Some companies can do this while leaving much of it intact. Others have a harder time. Then there are companies [glares at 4Kids] who just forget there was ever an original script.

This might help the fan translators with practice, but I don't see this as a good thing. The company is basically saving a bundle (if they ask for fan translators, I doubt they're willing to pay close to the regular going rate,) and the fan translators get little else out of it (maybe a free copy of the game, or something.)

While Fan translators may be powered by their fandom to a series (or to anime in general,) I would rather pay for a translator; since s/he is getting paid, they have an outside motive and authority to answer to, so they can't take any 'directive cuts' they may think may make the anime/game script 'better'.
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Sir_Brass



Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 476
Location: Prescott, AZ
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 2:53 pm Reply with quote
Why are you worried about lip synching when the translations we're talking about are for sub-titles. Leave the dubbing translations to those blokes who work for $$, since they sometimes have to butcher the script a bit to get lip synching correct.
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EroKaos



Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Posts: 7
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 3:40 pm Reply with quote
I wouldnt care if there is no money involved, but if there is I'll gladly accept it, but if not then at least I want my name on the credits. Or some other kind of credit where it says I work on that project.
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Sketchee



Joined: 22 Jul 2003
Posts: 65
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 4:25 pm Reply with quote
Ioik wrote:

Fans who translate for free do a MUCH better job than companies just looking to make $$$.


Sometimes. Sometimes not. There are some awful fansubs out there. A lot of fansub groups try to get their translations out within days of airing on Japan. Many of these end up looking so obviously rushed.

It's easier for fansubbers to release a corrected version later than with a company that had a physical product. A lot of these translators are fairly new to Japanese and working on several series a week. It can be ridiculous.

Certain fansub groups are also very nasty about any criticisms of their work. Without receiving any monetary benefit, they really don't have any reason to respond to those who watch their subs.
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minakichan





PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 4:32 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Fans who translate for free do a MUCH better job than companies just looking to make $$$.


Er...Yeeeeeah...It might even be safer to say the exact OPPOSITE...I mean, sure, fans may be more motivated to stick to the original than the big companies, but they might not have the skills or means to do so (there are TONS of translations done by people who aren't even fluent in English, and many that translate from an already translated version, such as the Chinese version.) And companies actually HAVE to have a certain level of quality (I know! Shock!) if they want to be competitive.
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The Xenos



Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Posts: 1519
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 8:22 pm Reply with quote
Anyone else wonder WHAT game/anime property it is? I find it interesting they are not saying. Is it a regular game or an H game? Dating sim or action?

I have to wonder if it's one of teh Type Moon games like the orginal (and H) dating sim or maybe the fighting game Melty Blood. I know there are more out tehre, but I am curious about those.

-Xenos
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MJP



Joined: 06 Nov 2003
Posts: 126
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 9:25 pm Reply with quote
I'd like to see the "Revolutionary" tag applied to Comic Party Revolution and have this be the original ComiPa for PC...

I would die if that happened, because all the people who are rah-rahing fan translations need to point me at some other quality translations of dating sims, other than the 57% translated patch of Kanon. Frankly, if they do a halfway decent job, I'd happily pay money for it if I can play it without Oh! Text Hooker. Anime hyper
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