I guess Iāve come to always do my best to make my translations not sound ātranslatedāā¦ In a way, instead of ātranslatingā, I feel like I do more of a āretellingā of the story in a different language, using words and phrasing that would naturally be said in the target language as much as possible. On top of this, thereās also the need to retain the original style, which concerns things like honorifics, slangs, formal/casual speech, tone and emotions, the personality of the characters involved, and so on. Sometimes there is just no way to translate these things directly; sometimes there might be an equivalent expression in the target language, but it doesnāt work since it wouldnāt fit the characterās personality.
Of course, despite all these considerations, first and foremost my task is to convey the meanings expressed in the original work, so I never want the additional processing/smoothing to twist the orignal meaning. Finding the right balance there is difficult, but I think itās also one of the biggest fun about doing translations.
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[Translation] Ieraishan no Hitsugi, First Night: Rakka Ryuusui
CV: Kawamura Masato
t/n: Since this story is set in ~18-19th century China, a lot of names appear in Chinese but adapted with Japanese pronunciations; for example, from the title, āieraishanā is the romanization of the Japanese pronunciation approximated for what would be spelled as āyelaixiangā in Chinese pinyin. In this translation, I spelled all the names that appear in the CD as Chinese with Chinese pinyin to distinguish them from the rest of the Japanese script.
Track 1: Xiaomei
[market noises]
[footsteps]
Hey! The man over there! Who gave you the permission to do business here? This area is Hudieās territory. I donāt know where you came from, but Iām not gonna be generous enough to pretend I didnāt see an outsider doing business here as he pleases. Soā¦ You guys, show that dumbass how things are done under Hudieās watch.
Heh. [approaching] Now letās see hereā¦ [chains clink]
Lass, where did you come from?
Hm~ Thatās an awfully long trip you had to take. Though, it sure doesnāt look like you sold yourself to that man by your own choice. Did you get kidnapped? Or did your parents sell you off?
Which means now you donāt have anywhere to go.
Can you read and write?
How about arithmetics?
Heh~ Didnāt expect Iād pick up something so nice from the streets.
[comes closer]
Donāt move. Iām just cutting the rope.
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[Translation] Le ThĆ©Ć¢tre, Act 4: Tsukahara Kazuma
t/n: Once upon a time, I listed this CD as a WIP on the blogās homepageā¦ And after two years, I have finally gotten back to it and finished this translationā¦ Sorry for such a long wait if I had kept you waiting!
Scene 1: Reunion
[footsteps approach]
Excuse me! I heard that a PR staff is here?
[MC turns around]
Eh? Youā¦! What are you doing here?
You are Ragnarokās PR? How come? What about your job?
Wait, you quit? When?
Half a year agoā¦ So thatās after we broke up. Well, yeah, of courseā¦ But why are you working for a theatre troupe? I thought you had no interest in theater!
Of course Iād be surprised! [sigh] [chuckles]
Long time no see. I guess itās been a year? Iām glad youāre doing well.
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[Translation] Basuke-bu Ace no Futamata ga Hakkaku shita node Karada de Owabi saseru (with free talk)
CV: Nikaisen Ataru
Thanks so much anon for the commission!
Track 1
[basketball court noises] [whistle blown]
[door opens] [approaches]
Good work, senpai! I finally finished cleaning things up. Did I make you wait? I chose this college because we have a good basketball team here, but making underclassmen do all the clean-up work? Thatās just too old-fashioned, even for a school like this.
Donāt you still have management work to do? Well, you are the one who told me to come here. āCome over to the PE storage room after practiceāā¦ Thatās just basically telling me youāre gonna make a confession! Ah~ Being popular could be a pain in the ass sometimes, donāt you think? Anyhow, I never realized that an ice queen like you would be into a guy like me. Youāre such a good actress, senpai.
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Hi, I'm so glad you're back! I hope you're doing great. =] I was curious about the translation of Le Theatre that you were doing a while back, as I was very excited about it. I wanted to know if it was not possible to complete it or if it was a commission and you were asked not to publish it? Either way, I don't mean to make you feel pressured or ask you to share it if it's not in your plans, I hope it doesn't seem like it!
Hi there, thank you for the ask! Hope you're doing well too :)
I was not able to finish the translation of Le Theatre unfortunately, since I got very busy with school and work, and I just sort of never had the chance to go back to that CD (or managing my blog altogether haha)... The translation I'm currently working on is for a commission, and the commissioner was generous enough to allow me to take my time on it which is why I decided to do it.
I do feel bad that I never finished Le Theatre despite having listed it as a WIP on my blog for a while though, so I'll see if I can find some time to do it justice, perhaps over the summer. (I can't guarantee it though.)
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[Translation] Nemuri Hime no Yuutsu to Katsute Kodomo datta Moribito-tachi
CV: Chasuke
Thanks so much again for the commission, Lisa!
Track 1: My Lovely Sleeping Beauty
(This scene takes place when Visk is 18 and MC is still asleep.)
[reading a picture book] āOnce upon a time, in a kingdom somewhere, there was a princess who could never wake up from her sleep. While the princess was asleep, she didnāt age even a little, although the people around her kept getting older. The troubled king made an official announcement, āI shall grant my permission to marry the princess to the man who wakes her.ā Fighting to wake the princess, there was chaos among men throughout the kingdom. Despite their efforts, the princess did not wake up. However, when an honest young man gave the princess a kiss of true love ā ā
What even is ātrue loveā? Is Aurrie not waking up ācause the feelings I have arenāt true love? Or is it ācause Iām not an honest man? Hey, which one do you think it is?
[stands up] You look so pretty in your sleep. Hey, do you realize? Today marks the fourth year after youāve fallen asleep, Aurrie. I turned 18, you know. I grew a lot taller, and Iām starting to look more like a grown-up man. If you wake up now, I bet youāll be shocked. I mean, I was 14 when you fell asleep at 17, but four years have passed, and now Iām actually older than you. At this yearās flower burial festival, a few girls asked me to give them flowers ā yep, they asked me out.
[comes up] How does that make you feel? Will jealousy wake you up?
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[Translation]Ā Nemuri Hime no Yuutsu to Katsute Kodomo datta Moribito-tachi ~Kinshi Ginshi no Kumo no Ito~
CV: Domon Atsushi, Chasuke, Marshmallow-Yakitarou
Thank you so much for the commission, Lisa! <3
Track 1: Inconsistency
(This scene takes place five years after MC fell into a deep sleep, when Harlan is 15 years old.)
Harlan: [reading a picture book] āOnce upon a time, in a kingdom somewhere, there was a princess who could never wake up from her sleep. While the princess was asleep, she didnāt age even a little, although the people around her kept getting older. The troubled king made an official announcement, āI shall grant my permission to marry the princess to the man who wakes her.ā Fighting to wake the princess, there was chaos among men throughout the kingdom. Despite their efforts, the princess did not wake up. However, when an honest young man gave the princess a kiss of true love, the princess was at last awakened fro-ā [chuckles]
Harlan: Sorryā¦ I failed right before getting to the good part. Aah~ Visk always makes it look so easy when he reads these. That guyās just too goodā¦ Seriously, heās so good at everything.
Harlan: Actually, I had an argument with Visk. Andā¦ He told me to get out of the orphanage. Donāt be mad at Visk. It was my fault. Look, this tattooā¦ It doesnāt suit me at all, right? I know. Visk told me that too. Thatās why we had a big argument.
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[Translation] Rouge et Noir: Under the Gun (å«äøęēæ»čÆ)
CV: Kawamura Masato
t/n: I decided to take this opportunity aka my undying love for Makabe to do both an English and a (simplified) Chinese translation of this CD. Itās also my first time translating Japanese into Chinese, so pardon my mistakes if you spot any!
ā English Ver. ā
Track 1: First to Act
[enters elevator]
[on the intercom]
Newbie, can you hear me?
Sounds like the signal is strong. Fill me in on your current situation.
[leaves elevator, walking]
Roger that. Iāll now confirm our plan with you one last time.
The name of our target is Imari Touno. Heās just an average finance guy on the surface, but in the underworld, heās well-known as a regular at the drug parties. Youāll pretend as the hustler he called in and infiltrate his apartment. Itās located at the end of the 32nd floor that youāre on right now.
A drug addict like him will definitely invite you to join him before he gets started on the business. Once youāve got your eyes on the real stuff, shut the curtains on the west-facing window. Weāll take that as the signal to break into his apartment. Alright?
[sigh] What? Are you nervous?
Iām just standing by on the floor below. If things go south, Iāll come help you right away, so donāt worry.
Alright, letās go!
[rings doorbell]
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kawamuraās free talks always bring me so much joy man
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[Translation]Ā Police Danna-sama āKeishi Ā· Minegishi Makotoā (with cast interview)
CV: Kawamura Masato
Track 1: Wedding Night
[door opens]
[approaches]
I kept you waiting. You look sleepy.
[sits on bed]
No, donāt worry about it. The wedding is nerve-racking enough on its own, and you had to wear uncomfortable dresses and shoes on top of all that. I know youāre tired. Especially because you play the piano and need to use the pedals, youāre not very used to wearing high-heeled shoes, right?
[touches]
Look, you have a bleed under your toe nail. That looks painful.
Really? But just in case, you should refrain from going out and let it heal for a few days. Iāll do my best to take over the housework tomorrow too.
[kisses foot]
You already showered, so weāre all good, arenāt we? Ah, by the way, I set up a late check-out for us tomorrow morning, so we can sleep in till noon.
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working on police danna-sama rn and damn... i knew this was gonna be a challenging one to translate (in many ways lol) but whenever makoto starts giving his possessive police spiel (which is honestly like, pretty much everything besides the rated scenes) my brain just goes brrrrr lmao
literally had to transcribe paragraphs of his lines bc i am just incapable of remembering what he says for long enough to do the translation in my head
and once again, kudos to kawamura-san for pulling off this script
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A bunch of Hanakagamiās works just launched on DLSite and theyāre doing a sale!!! Canāt believe Iām seeing the day Rouge et Noir is sold on DLSite aaaaaa
gogogo while you can layer the 18% off coupon on top of the 20% off sale when you buy 3
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[Translation] Pandemonium ~Volume 1 Akuma ni Miirareta Seinen, Kuroe Hijiri~
CV: Kawamura Masato
Track 1: One-Night Stand
[bar noises]
[ice clinking in glass]
Youāre quite a binge drinker, arenāt you?
[approaches] [moves chair]
If I may, Iāll help myself to this seat over here.
Good evening. I presume you are here by yourself?
[ice clinking]
Hmm. Iāve been watching you for a while, and it doesnāt look like youāre drinking so much because youāre fond of the taste.
You know, people call this ādrinking out of spiteā.
[MC turns]
Heyā¦ [comes up close] Would you like me to help you forget the pain?
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ugh to know a voice so well that you can literally tell who it is from 0.5 seconds of inhalation
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aaaaaaa!!!
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[Translation]Ā Dakarete kara Hajimaru Koi ~Aoba hen~
CV: Kawamura Masato
Story premise:
I kind of remember what happened last night. Thereās no doubt that I got into a physical relationship with my boss... Work was going well, and we got a bit high... Yeah, I totally just went with the flow...Ā
āItās about time to go to work, you know?ā As he hurries me on, I get myself dressed. Thereās no time for me to think everything through. Today is a weekday, so I have to go to work. I have to go... To the same office as him. Finding this situation hard to swallow, I look down on the ground silently. At this moment, he says to me:Ā āDidnāt you have feelings for me? Donāt be so ambiguous... Well, the mistake has been made, and thereās nothing we can do about it now. We both agreed to it yesterday after all. If you could start to like me better from here on, there wouldnāt be a problem, right?ā
read the full translation
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