Translation Ni no Kuni Translation [ENG]

[GeBeCluck23]

Gosh DANG it I wish I was better at Japanese! I've wanted this game to be translated since forever ago! I played through it quite a bit, and I understand Japanese enough to get through it, at the very least. But dang, after looking at those Google Docs...that's a lot of kanji. There's no WAY I could translate. Arrgh, that makes me mad!

 

[GaaraPrime]

I sure wish the would continue this project. It would be AWESOME to play this in English.

 

[Mikhmoe]

In the NinoPatcher Folder the english xml was updated 7 days ago well now 8.

 

[Senketsu]

I would love to be a translator I've only just started playing the game( Im up to the first boss), and have fallen for it.I'd like to finish the game once(transcribing the entire script as I go), then on the second playthrough get started. I'll post here every week or so until I finish the game to let you know im still playing.

Update:
No need to post everyweek since everyone can look at the google docs to see the progress.

In terms of Japanese proficiency, I would probably put myself around JLPT N2 level.

 

[GaaraPrime]

How do I check for updates?

I saw the Google Drive Folder, but couldn't figure out where it shows the "last updated date"

 

[zfreeman]

Hit the other layout button in the top right.

 

[Zkarts]

Hit the other layout button in the top right.

I just found that I can edit the link to do just that, so I edited my link in the OP. The grid layout is indeed kind of worthless

 

[GaaraPrime]

I just found that I can edit the link to do just that, so I edited my link in the OP. The grid layout is indeed kind of worthless

Thanx and THANK YOU SO MUCH for doing this translation. I can't wait. THIS IS GONNA BE EPIC!!!

 

[Nikhl]

With the Spanish translation done, is it possible to do a translation through that? I know that a translation of a translation is a terrible thing to do, but would that be the quickest way for the game to be done?

 

[Zkarts]

With the Spanish translation done, is it possible to do a translation through that? I know that a translation of a translation is a terrible thing to do, but would that be the quickest way for the game to be done?

I wouldn't know whether it would be any faster as we have not been looking for Spanish to English translators and we will not, because indeed, you lose a lot of nuance translating from a translation (Google Translate knows that best ) and we want to go for a quality translation.
We've been working closely with the spanish translation, specifically with pleonex and his great tools and I think we should see the Spanish translation as an example: It can be done. The tools are there, we just need people to translate the text.

 

[Nikhl]

But there are so many people who can speak both Spanish/English, as opposed to Japanese/English. Wouldn't the option at least speed up progress?

 

[Zkarts]

But there are so many people who can speak both Spanish/English, as opposed to Japanese/English. Wouldn't the option at least speed up progress?

Again: possibly, I wouldn't know. But the goal is not to get some text in the boxes as soon as possible, but it's to get a good translation without losing the subtle nuances and touches that get lost in translation. The more translations you stack, the more bland the eventual result becomes.

 

[ShadowNeko003]

But there are so many people who can speak both Spanish/English, as opposed to Japanese/English. Wouldn't the option at least speed up progress?

Definitely agree with Zkarts. There are lot of things that will get lost in translations when you go Based Language--> Language 1 --> Language 2. In addition, some things will not translate well and will need something equivalent in that particular language you are trying to translate too. Case in point, "Hong Kong subs" (the illegal ones, not the official releases), the English makes half sense. I can say for the Chinese involve, since I don't speak/nor read Chinese. That's why all translator positions are always Base language --> Language you want the product in. Best to go through only 1 loop then 3 or 4 loops.

This is a good example of what happens. It's a Google Translate of Mulan's I'll Make a Man out of You, where the English is translated into different languages and then translated back to English. Not really the same as JPN->Spanish->Eng, but it's the same effect.

 

[benjamin-klein]

i don't agree i think like nikhl say there are so many people who can speak both Spanish/English, as opposed to Japanese/English
the option at least speed up progress what do you think do you prefer if you have the choice looking for capable Japanese-English translators.
and wait march 2016 to play the game ! or looking for someone
who speaks english spanish and getting this game translated for july 2015 ?

 

[MeisterFenster]

It is not about the speed. The goal of this project is to translate the game in way, that fits the game. That cant be done when you translate a translation, a lot of the charm/game specific jokes etc. could get lost.
If you want a fast translation you can always use google translate

 

[sarkwalvein]

Definitely agree with Zkarts. There are lot of things that will get lost in translations when you go Based Language--> Language 1 --> Language 2. In addition, some things will not translate well and will need something equivalent in that particular language you are trying to translate too. Case in point, "Hong Kong subs" (the illegal ones, not the official releases), the English makes half sense. I can say for the Chinese involve, since I don't speak/nor read Chinese. That's why all translator positions are always Base language --> Language you want the product in. Best to go through only 1 loop then 3 or 4 loops.

This is a good example of what happens. It's a Google Translate of Mulan's I'll Make a Man out of You, where the English is translated into different languages and then translated back to English. Not really the same as JPN->Spanish->Eng, but it's the same effect.

Well, and that is why machine translation sucks.
Come on, with only a one way route of Google from English to Spanish the meaning is already fucked up to the point of ROFL.
Humans don't translate like that at all, it is not a valid comparison.

 

[benjamin-klein]

i think it's not grave ... that's a lot of the charm/game specific jokes etc. could get lost the most important thing that we get an english translation and not waiting to march 2016 to play this game ... so i think you've should be looking for someone who speaks spanish so the translation will be speed up ... and we won't be waiting a long time

the english patch will be realesed in april 2016 is what awaits you if you continue guys to looking for a japanese translator while a translation through the spanish version you don't have to wait april 2016

 

[Zkarts]

Once again, like I said: "the goal is not to get some text in the boxes as soon as possible, but it's to get a good translation without losing the subtle nuances and touches that get lost in translation."
And Sarkwalvein is right in that machine translation is different because it does not have the extra human check (although I coincidentally know that channel since it started with "Do You Want To Build An Ice Man Corporation" and have loved it ever since ), but it does demonstate the issue.
This game, especially, has a lot of character and even for just the Spanish translation, sacrifices had to be made to make it work in that language. There's a reason why "Lost in translation" is a phrase. Layering yet another translation on top of that would not do the game justice and thus, that is not a route we want to take.

 

[GHANMI]

the english patch will be realesed in april 2016 is what awaits you if you continue guys to looking for a japanese translator while a translation through the spanish version you don't have to wait april 2016

Even if eternal damnation itself awaits us... Translation projects don't have deadlines, they're not paid AND them being finished depends on whether the text translators feel like taking from their free time to work on the huge dump of the text. And we're lacking on translators fluent in Japanese. That's just the way the world is.

Japanese is a language with vague sentences and untranslatable concepts (honorifics, politeness levels, no plurals...). Translating from it requires the translator to fill in the blanks with his own interpretation, and for some of this stuff there may or may not be cultural equivalents (affectionate forms for nouns in Spanish, non-existent direct equivalent in English for example).
Any translation from language A to language B is guaranteed almost always to lose something. In the case of Japanese (Chinese, Korean too), this loss will be much bigger. Even if the spanish translation found the exact cultural equivalent for this stuff, translating from it to English will kill that balance, and you end up with a very dry script that's false at many points with no way to check with the Japanese original (you need someone fluent in English for that, and this is just as time consuming as translating from scratch from Japanese to English, so why bother?).

 

[benjamin-klein]

Any translation from language A to language B is guaranteed almost always to lose something. In the case of Japanese (Chinese, Korean too), this loss will be much bigger. Even if the spanish translation found the exact cultural equivalent for this stuff, translating from it to English will kill that balance, and you end up with a very dry script that's false at many points with no way to check with the Japanese original that 's not grave the point is the game will be translated in english since there are a lot of people who speaks spanish

while there are a few people who speaks japanese​