Summary
This article will provides tips for the shear beginner to seasoned veteren translator, on how to translate anime for fansubs. It is not, however, in any way trying to replace a textbook or reference, and is only meant as a guide to further resources.
I hope people who read this will find some useful information here, collected in one place.
Preliminary Quiz
First, take this quiz. Translate each of these sentences, WITHOUT using ANY dictionary, kanji or otherwise. Check your answers at the very end of this article. The sentences get progressively more difficult.
- Hajimemashite! Watashi wa Quarkboy desu. Douzo yoroshiku.
- Kono mise no hanbaagaa ga oishisou desu ne.
- Daisuki na mikan ga kono goro yasukunatta no de, watashi wa soko de daasu kaimashita.
- Amerika no guntai ni tsuite no kiji ga shinbun ni deteimashita ga, sore ni yoru to amerika no guntai ni wa onna no hito mo hairareru sou desu.
- Mukashi kara, chuugoku ya nihon de gogatsu itsuka ni shoubuzake wo tsukuttari, shoubuyu ni haittari, arui wa sono tsurugi no you na ha wo mon no ue ni kaketari noki ni sashitari suru no wa, kono shoubu no tsuyoi kaori ga jaki ya byouma wo oiharau chikara wo motteiru to shinjirareteita kara desu.
- (shoubu = iris, shoubuzake = sake made with irises, shoubuyu = bath with irises, tsurugi = sword, ha = leaves, kakeru = to hang, noki = eaves, sasu = to stick, jaki = evil spirit, byouma = illness demons, oiharau = to drive away)
- Issui mo sezu no hazu de aru.
- 春はあけぼの。やうやうしろくなり行く、山ぎはすこしあかりて、むらさきだちたる雲のほそくたなびきたる。
- (feel free to use a dictionary for this one, but don't simply look up a translation, that's cheating)
Count how many of the sentences you could successfully translate, and jump to the appropriately numbered section of this guide.
0. Starting Out
Okay, so you'd like to translate anime, seems fun, right? But one problem: You don't know any Japanese! What are you to do?
First, let me say this warning: Learning a foriegn language is difficult. Learning Japanese is even MORE difficult than most, primarily because of the writing system. Be prepared to study the language for YEARS before you are able to translate anime properly. If you think you can learn the basics in a month and use a dictionary to translate a show, you're only fooling yourself (and the fans that would download it). But the benefits to all this hard work are many:
- You'll learn Japanese! This is a reward unto itself. Talk with that cute Japanese chick/dude who sits behind you in class! Travel to Akihabara and freak out people when you address them in your perfect Japanese! Use your incredible translation skills to get a job and make money! Japanese is an ever increasingly popular language around the world, and learning it (or Chinese or Korean) is going to open up opportunities for you in the future.
- You'll be able to watch anime raw. This maybe is less... philanthropic a reason to become a translator, but hey, when that show you love is dropped by every group, or XXXX-subs is taking 4 months an episode, this can come in handy.
- You'll have (almost) complete control over the anime you'll work on. Let's face it, when you're the translator, you get first say on which projects to do. So if you want the most power to choose, this is the best way to go.
- Satisfaction. Translating is, to me, the most satisfying of all the fansub jobs. It feels a lot more like you are really creating something, like you are helping create the show itself, by expressing it in another language.
So, how should one start learning Japanese? There are really only 2 options:
- Take a course. Preferably one at a college or university. If you are a high school student and it's offered at your school, that's fine too, but keep in mind that a 1 year college course is normally equivalent to 2 years of a high school course. There is no better way to learn than in the classroom, where you'll (hopefully) get practice speaking, reading, writing, and memorizing the basics like hiragana, kana, and some basic kanji. Take as many courses as you can at your school. If you are at a university, take high level courses when you get to them. Take advantage of any resources you have available in your area, make friends with Japanese people and talk to them in Japanese. All the basic things for learning a foriegn language. And, of course, feel free to watch anime without subtitles :). But that helps less than you'd think.
- Read a book (or a number of them). If you live in an area with few Japanese people, and where there are no formal Japanese classes, then you might have no choice but to learn on your own. This is very difficult, and will take even more dedication, but it is not impossible. See the basic resources section below for some books I'd recommend for self study.
Please note that "Watching a lot of anime" is NOT one of the options. Watching anime won't really hurt anything, and can help your listening skills, but you will never learn Japanese from watching anime alone.
1. I know lot's of Japanese!
Just because you know what "itadakimasu" and "okaeri" mean, doesn't mean you know Japanese. Watching anime for 4 years isn't going to teach you even basic grammar. Go to Step 0. :)
2. I've taken a year of Japanese, can I translate Anime?
The short answer is no. Anime uses more grammar than you know at this point, and your small vocabulary will have you looking up every other word. Although it might be possible to translate a very simple show, subtle things will go over your head and
your translations will not be any good. But all is not lost, you are well on your way. At this point you should focus your studies on a number of things:
- Solidify the basics of grammar. Make sure you know your particles, wa ga wo de ni no, and all their common uses. Know all the basic verb conjugations and forms, and make sure you can easily identify the dictionary form of any verb in any conjugated form. I.e. What is the dictionary form of sundeite? (ans: sumu). Know how to speak in both polite (-desu) and plain forms.
- Expand your vocabulary. Don't rush, but keep learning 20-30 new words a week. If you're taking classes, this should be par for the course. Buy a good dictionary (see resources below), and use it to look up any words you don't know, or words you hear in shows that sound interesting.
- Learn Kanji. Some people would say that learning kanji is pointless for translating anime. Those people are probably really crappy translators. Kanji and the writing system have a dramatic affect on the spoken language, and without a solid knowledge of kanji translating at a decent level is very difficult for a non-native speaker. Knowing the kanji for certain words can help in understanding their meanings, AND their pronunciation.
- Improve your listening skills. Although it's out of fashion in schools these days, dictation is a great way to test your hearing ability, and is crucial to being a good translator. Watch your favorite anime, and write down the Japanese that people say. Then try and translate the line and see whether the fansubbers did a good job. It's fun AND eye-opening! Don't be discouraged if the dialogue goes too fast for you to understand, it'll get easier with lots of practice.
At this point you should begin to pick out simpler lines in anime, but more idiomatic lines or complex sentences should be giving you trouble.
3. I've taken 2 years of Japanese, can I translate animé NOW?
Short answer: Probably not. Although you might be able to translate 50-60% of a show's lines okay, it will be difficult to truly do an entire show. You may be able to partner with a more experienced translator, although that seems to be rare in fansub groups. But some exceptional people may be able to translate a simple show, so how do you really know when you're ready?
Simple answer: Try! Take a raw of your favorite simple show, and translate it. Mark any lines you are not 100% sure of, and see what percent you're at. If you have even a little doubt about 50% of the lines, you're not ready. If you doubt 25% of the lines, you might be able to get by with an experienced translation checker helping you. 10% and below is great, and you might be able to translate it on your own, depending on how important perfection is to you in your translations. Also keep in mind the time it takes you to translate. If you are spending 10 hours on one episode, then you are not ready. For a simple show there is nothing that should take 10 hours :). Of course, a very complicated show might take that long for a careful translation, but if you take 10 hours to translate an episode of Doraemon, then you need to study more.
What should be the focus after 2 years of study?
- Solidify advanced grammar. Know all the verb conjugations, passive, causative, potential, causative-passive, helper verbs like -iku, -miru, give and take with ageru kureru morau, basic keigo (honorific speach), advanced adverbs like totomo ni, tokoro, uchi ni, etc... Basically the grammar on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test level 3, and most of the non-literary grammar on level 2.
- Continue to learn vocabulary. This, of course, goes without saying. Try reading a newspaper article and learning all the vocab in the article you don't know. Learn vocabulary in related groups to help you remember them. Study the kanji along with the vocabulary: i.e. don't learn just the reading, learn the way to write the word as well. For animé purposes, try reading the book "Expressive Japanese" (see references below) to learn common idiomatic constructions. Read your favorite manga in the original Japanese, and learn the vocabulary used there. I would recommend against trying to read an actual novel at this point, as the chances are that you do not know enough kanji to make it worthwhile. Read shorter things instead.
- Learn lots of kanji. You should be able to expand the number of kanji you know to around 400-500. You should know every kanji on the level 3 JLPT and a number more than that. Make sure you don't just know kanji, but also know the vocabulary that uses them, otherwise you'll quickly forget them.
- Make sure you have a good dictionary. Go buy one of the recommended dictionaries below. You'll need it, and you'll learn more from looking things up in a book than on a computer.
Sometime during your 3rd year of study you should try to translate some animé on your own to test your own skills. Figure out where you have problems and work on those areas.
4-5. Practice Makes Perfect
At this level, you can probably start to translate simpler shows. Don't be discouraged if it is difficult at first, especially as you get used to the characters and the things they say, translation will get easier. If you have a translation checker (which is always recommended, no matter how good you are), look carefully at any mistakes you make and make sure you understand them. If you join a fansub group and get "real world" experience, make sure you are honest with the group about the extent of your abilities. Tell them the truth, and everyone will be better off in the end. Almost any group would be happy to have a translator at all, even if they're just starting out. Do not try and translate too many shows at once, give yourself time to work on things at your own pace.
Just because you can start doing some simple translation doesn't mean you can stop learning though. There are a number of areas that you still need to study:
- Learn literary grammar. A lot of grammar is restricted to literary use. You obviously won't encounter this in anime that much, but it is still very important to know. Certain literary forms like -zu, or "de aru" can be heard in anime on occaision, and it is an important part of the language.
- Learn even more kanji. Learn the full set of 1000 "Education" kanji. Feel good about being approximately as literate as a 6th grader. Study the history of the Japanese written language a little; know where hiragana and katakana came from, and why some kanji have multiple On readings.
- Learn how to use the Koujien and other Japanese language resources. These can be indispesible when you encounter difficult passages to translate. If you can't navigate the Koujien, figure it out now, because it'll help you.
- Keep studying vocabulary. I'll admit, I've kind of been lazy about this point myself. But you really should never stop learning vocab.
- Visit Japan. Okay, this is pretty optional, but not knowing the language is no longer an excuse. And maybe surrounding yourself with Japanese people just might break through that barrier you've been running up against in your studies.
By the time you complete all of these goals, you've probably have been studying Japanese for 4 years or more. And probably translated at least 20 anime episodes, maybe many many more depending on how active you are at fansubbing.
6. I've been translating anime for a while now, why am I reading this document?
Good question. If you really got 6 of those sentences correct without a dictionary (and I mean EXACTLY correct, not "well I kinda got the idea correct"), then you're probably better at Japanese than I am. So I don't really have any sage advice for you. But, here I will collect a number of highly advanced resources which pretty much anyone might find useful.
Paper Dictionaries
- Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary Amazon Yes, it's $200+ dollars, but it is the best Japanese-English dictionary there is, period. It even has a nickname, the "Green Goddess". Worship her, and become her deciple, and you will reap her bounty.
- Kenkyusha's New College Japanese-English Dictionary Amazon This is the "Green Goddess"'s Little Brother, I guess you could call him the yellow angel or something. In any case, it's the same as the above, except 1/4 the price and 1/2 the entries. But for anime translating it usually suffices.
- The Koujien Amazon The famous encyclopedic Japanese-Japanese Dictionary. It has the same famous status as say, Encylopedia Britanica has in the English speaking world. I've been told that it is said that every respectable house in Japan owns a copy of this book. As a translator, it has many varied uses. Looking up information about famous Japanese historical figures, or festivals, or customs. It is even useful for looking up Japanese idioms. Say you encounter "hito hada nuku"... you might be tempted to translate this as "strip off a person's skin", but you can look it up in the Koujien to get the proper definition.
- The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary Amazon The most complete english language Kanji dictionary. Has a relatively old fashioned lookup system, but also has a universal radical index so you can find things eventually.
- The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary Amazon Very convenient, based on the wonderfully simple and efficient SKIP lookup system which helps a lot at first when looking up kanji.
Online Dictionaries
- SPACE ALC's web Japanese-English/English-Japanese Dictionary http://www.alc.co.jp/ The largest JE/EJ dictionary on the web, hands down. Has a huge number of entries, and an even larger number of example sentences. The one drawback is that the dictionary is based on user submissions, so the traslations are not always... accurate. Still a highly useful resource.
- Kenkyusha's New College Japanese-English Dictionary http://www.excite.co.jp/dictionary/japanese_english/ This is a free online version of the one above. But you should buy the real one anyway.
- Jim Breen's WWWJDIC http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html This is a very useful, simple dictionary with a lot of entires, as well as a powerful kanji lookup page. Definitions are short and lack example sentences, however, so it's only good for looking up nouns or when you need something quick.
Electronic Dictionaries
I don't have any links here, but if you've ever known a Japanese transfer student, you've probably seen one. They range in price from $150-$300, but normally contain a J-E dictionary, at least one E-J dictionary, a E-E dictionary (hopefully you don't need this :) ), and, maybe most importantly, an electronic version of the Koujien, which is VERY useful because you can use the JUMP features to lookup words in the definitions in the Koujien using the built in J-E dictionary. This can speed up looking up complicated things (like, say, what the difference between "botamochi" and "ohagi" is).
Oh, and maybe this goes without saying but: Read the ******* manual! Just 'cause the manual is in Japanese is no excuse :). These things get a whole lot easier to use once you realize all the handy cross referencing features they have.
Basic Textbooks
- Genki, an Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese, volumes 1 and 2 by Banno et al. This is the textbook we used for my college class at the University of Santa Barbara for years 1 and 2. It is a very good, well rounded, and easy to use college textbook. Much better when used in a class setting, however, because many of the important drills are designed to be done in groups.
- Japanese Step by Step by Gene Nishi. This is a great, although difficult and small, self study book on basic Japanese. It covers a lot of ground, but does so in a very structured manner, building up japanese sentences almost like a computer language. It is no replacement for a real textbook, but can be a very useful learning tool.
I can't really recommend other textbooks that are out there. Japanese for Busy People is quite common in book stores, but is not particularly good. Many of the other textbooks have poor or incomplete grammar descriptions or focus too much on drilling certain sentences structures without focusing on the bigger picture. Books that claim to teach you Japanese using manga are fun to read sometimes, but are not really very useful.
Grammar References
- A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar by Makino et. al.
- A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar by Makino et. al. These two books together provide a decent, alphabetically organized reference to a large chunk of Japanese Grammar. They are by no means complete. But they have many example sentences and also have a number of very useful appendices, listing counters and conjugations etc...
- A Reference Grammar of Japanese by Martin. This is the holy grail of grammar resources. There is no other book on Japanese grammar in ANY language (including japanese) as detailed as this. With like, a bazillion example sentences, it breaks down EVERY SINGLE PIECE of Japanese grammar. This book, however, is almost 1200 pages long. It is also organized in a completely inane way, based on sentence structure and some magical whimsy. It is also romanized and contains no kana or kanji, since it was originally published in 1975.
- Expressive Japanese by Maynard. This is not exactly a book on grammar, but more on sentence patterns and the way Japanese use their language to express themselves. For anime translation reading this book is very helpful. It is also well written and easy to just read through, although it functions poorly as a reference. A little known book that is worth picking up.
And of course, there's always that Japanese chick/dude who sits behind you in class. They can be a very helpful resource sometimes, especially with recent slang. (What's an "ikemen"?, etc...)
7. Your guide does not impress me.
I bow to your in depth knowledge of classical japanese literature. Now, please come work for my fansub group :).
General Issues
In this section, I will discuss some more debatable concepts, and express my own views about them.
What is the goal of the translator?
The goal of the translator should be to express in English something which conveys the same meaning as what would be conveyed to someone fluent in Japanese. This, sometimes, is difficult or impossible to do. Problems commonly arise in a number of places, and I will discuss them here.
Japanese name suffixes
It is an on-going and probably never-ending debate as to whether to keep or omit name suffixes in Japanese translation. Fansubbers in general have decided to leave most (if not all) of the suffixes untranslated, and for less common ones leave explanations to a translation note (see below). On a related note, using generic words to refer to people like "onee-san" is also something often left untranslated in fansubs. If you decide to translate them, care must be taken to understand exactly the meaning of the suffixes, and how they represent the status of both the persons involved. Don't forget that no suffix is also a meaningful concept.
Japanese Puns
The Japanese love their puns. And we translators hate them for it. Translating puns is almost always impossible to keep both the literal meaning and the joke intact at the same time. So you are left with a choice: Keep the literal meaning and explain the pun with a translation note, or rewrite the joke with an equivalently funny english pun/joke, with as close a meaning as possible. Neither is a particularly good choice, and you need to decide which is more important to the viewer: the literal meaning of the joke, or the fact that it was humorous itself. This can also apply to japanese idioms as well.
Cultural References
You will sometimes encounter references to things which any well educated Japanese person would know, and yet are completely obscure to most Westerners. One option is to simply delete the reference, or replace it with something similar that a westerner would be familiar with. Fansubbers tend to, instead, supplement the translation with translation notes, to educate the viewer about the custom or tradition. Any japanese kid would understand how to play "Daruma-san ga koronda", but I doubt many westerners know that it's simply a version of "red-light, green-light".
Ancient Japanese/Other languages
Sometimes you'll encounter passages from classical Japanese or even older material, which would be incomprehensible to the normal Japanese viewer. This also applies to the use of other foreign languages in anime like French, Spanish, Portugese, etc... Normally such passages should not be translated, or translated using a translation note. It's good practice to spell things correctly though if it's in a roman language instead of using the romanji version.
On translation notes
The translation note is a last resort. It should be used when there is no other choice, only. If you want to have translation notes with extra info not needed to understand the plot itself, place them at the beginning or end of the episode, and not as large distracting blocks of text at the top of the screen. Your job as the translator is not to educate the viewer on the Japanese language or culture, but to accurately express the content of the show. Sometimes the best way to do that is through a translation note (see the cases above), but mostly it is not. If you find that you have 15 translation notes in a show, then either your anime is filled with obscure references (like Pani Poni Dash) or you need to think about whether they are all really neccesary to understand the show.
Final thoughts
This guide, as it were, is only an outline of one possible path to becoming a translator. It is by no means the only path. You could live in a bilingual household or have been raised in Japan. Perhaps you spent a year in Japan in the JET program, or worked at a hostess club to make some cash. Maybe you're an otaku shut-in with no contact with the outside world who spends all his waking hours watching anime and memorizing the lines. But in the end, the goal is the same: To help bring to the english speaking world entertainment from Japan, because they make some damn fine cartoons.
Quiz Answers
- How do you do? I am Quarkboy. Pleased to meet you. (Or something equivalent)
- This store's hamburgers look delicious, don't you think?
- Because the oranges (which I love) became cheap at that time, I bought a dozen of them there.
- An article appeared in the newspaper about the American army. According to it, it seems that in the American army even women can join. (Note that "women can also join the army" is not as correct in this case. Mo here is emphasis, not comparison, as there is nothing to compare to)
- Since long ago in both China and Japan (and other places), on the 5th of May people make iris-sake, takes baths with irises, or possibly take their sword-like leaves and hang them under gates, or stick them into the eaves, because it was believed that the strong scent of the iris holds the power to drive away evil spirits and illness demons.
- It is unlikely that (he) slept at all.
- In spring, it is the dawn. The sky at the edge of the mountains slowly starts to brighten with the approach of day, and the thinly trailing clouds nearby are tinted purple. (This is taken from the makura no soshi, or "pillow book." And if you don't believe you'd ever encounter something like this in an anime, this exact passage appeared in Pretty Cure, of all places.)
Sources: 1. My brain. 2. My brain. 3. "A Japanese Reader" by Roy Andrew Miller Lesson 23, sentence 14. 4. Lesson 30, sentence 16. 5. Lesson 31, line 10. 6. "A reference grammer of Japanese" by Samuel Martin, page 378. 7. From the Makura no soshi.
