Welcome / Quality Control

[ZeaLitY]

Note to all: a script with all code tags intact should be on the way. This may facilitate reading somewhat.

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Welcome to the forum; you are here because you expressed interest in helping with the retranslation of Chrono Trigger from Japanese, and we are very grateful! Since this effort will primarily be done by a few individuals in close contact with each other, this forum may not get much use. It is here in case any questions must be directed to the other members of the team, or if any other relevant info pops up.

As a translator, remember that you are free to translate as little or much as you wish; the Chrono Trigger script is very hefty, and it would be a hell of a lot of work for just one person. Thank you again; we are poised to penetrate mysteries that have been buried for ten years.

http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Retranslation

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If you ever hit a stumbling block, like a tough-as-nails dialectical nuance or something plain bizarre, just post it at the forum.

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Before you begin, please give an honest opinion of your skill in translating Japanese. If you would like to test your ability, please translate:

スペッキオ「ツンツン頭のおまえは『天』。
　このポニーテールのギャルは『水』の力。
　こっちのメガネのネーちゃんは『火』の力。
　てなぐあいに、魔法だけでなくすべてのものは、この4つのバランスでなりたってる。
　『魔法が使いたい～』とねんじながら、ドアの所からはじめて
　この部屋のさくにそって、時計回りに3回まわる！

And just post it here. We can make comparisons based off that. Try not to look at the others translations before you do your own!

Welcome again!

[Soraya]

Spekkio:
First off, pointy-head there is "sky".
This pony-tailed gal is "water".
The girl with the glasses is "fire".　　　　　
Tenaguaini, not only magic but the entirety of things are, these four balance naritatteru.
Starting at the door, walk clockwise around the room three times while thinking, "I wanna use magic!"

 The fourth line's start and end is the only thing that screwed me up. Too bad there aren't more kanji in there.  

[ZeaLitY]

Okay, it was:

 This girl with the ponytail has the power of "Water".
And the chick with the glasses over here has the power of "Fire".
The condition of everything in the world, not just magic, consists of the balance of these four.
So keep thinking, "I wanna use magic," and starting from the door,
walk around clockwise along the [wall] three times!

So you pretty much nailed it. We've got about 5 volunteers now, so I'm sure we can help each other out on tough spots.

[Soraya]

I saw "guai" in there and was thinking the word "condition" should be in the sentence, but since I didn't know what "tena" would be by itself I just let it be.

 Can you tell me what "naritatteru" was? XD I figured it was some weird conjugation of naru.

[ZeaLitY]

Oh, I have no idea. I'm getting this from someone who translated a few lines about a year ago; it was just some Spekkio dialogue.  

[Fenris Wolf]

I've only got access to basic sentence structure right now, and since I haven't started on kanji yet, I'm afraid most of this is beyond me.

I'll stick to the items/technique lists if that's okay.  I'll leave the dialogue to someone with more experience.

[Soraya]

Just wonder, how literally translated should it be? Should the speech sound completely natural, as if it were really going into a new ROM?

[ZeaLitY]

I would say, whatever best conveys the original meaning. We can proofread and copyedit all we want later, so if working on readability conflicts with the meaning, you can leave it as is. The primary mission is to just poke at the raw truth.

[Kawaru]

Ok, I just joined the group, so here's my attempt at a translation of that quote.


Spekkio: You with the spiky head, you're 'heaven'.
This pony-tailed gal has the power of 'water'.
The lady over here with glasses has the power of 'fire'.
That's how it is. But not just magic, all things consist of a balance of these 4.
While thinking, "I wanna use magic~", start from the door and walk clockwise along the fence around this room three times!"

[ZeaLitY]

Well, that was perfect! Start with whatever you like.

[Senescence]

hey everyone, I just joined up and gave this a good shot without looking at anyone else's entry. This is verbatim what I've come up with.

Spekkio – “The spiky-haired one, you are heaven.
This pony-tailed girl has the power of water.
The one with glasses over here has the power of fire.
Well now, the 4 of your not only have magical powers, but you all keep an even balance with such power.
While thinking to yourself “I want to use magic…” begin from this door here and encircle the room clockwise three full times!”

It seems to be on target, let me know what you guys think.
Sen

[ZeaLitY]

Well, the fourth line seems to be a little different from the others. Did you notice any difficulty while translating it? I'm not sure how easy it is to err on that line; perhaps it's difficult -- can someone elaborate? I'm just interested in if you can tell when something's hard or vague. We can always help each other out in tough spots.

[Senescence]

other than the honest mistake I made with Spekkio saying that "Not just magic, but all things consist of a balance of these 4", I had an issue with てなぐあいに because Ive never heard it before and I couldnt find it in any of my dictionaries which is odd because I have nearly 10 different types of dictionaries. Other than that, the part where I translated "...All things consist of a balance of these 4" was an honest mistake that I just caught.

Again, its up to you guys if you want me to help out. Ive got the free time for sure, but my accuracy is something that you'll have to judge. I appologize for screwing that up.

[ZeaLitY]

Oh, it's fine. I'm just poking away because I myself have no knowledge of Japanese, or the pitfalls involved.

I'd say you're good to go (damn, ten dictionaries...you certainly have the equipment!). Good luck.

[Soraya]

other than the honest mistake I made with Spekkio saying that "Not just magic, but all things consist of a balance of these 4", I had an issue with てなぐあいに because Ive never heard it before and I couldnt find it in any of my dictionaries which is odd because I have nearly 10 different types of dictionaries.

 I had exactly the same problem. I have a similar number of dictionaries, including slang ones, and none of them had "tena" in them.