Tips for translating

so I was wondering, do you guys have some tips for translating?^^ I have one: think twice before translating names of cities/people/pets/groups/titles! And other advice: try to do justice to the original book/movie/song that you're translating. Don't translate word to word but try to get the same feeling with different words^^

Now is your turn to dazzle!

I usually read the whole paragraph first, to get the general message in my head and then work sentence to sentence. A direct translation is an automatic failure, so I don't know... guess the correct sentence just flows in my mind XD hahaha

@Sound ; I totally agree with you!

I did this thing too, read the whole sentence before translating, when I was working on Winter Cicadas^^ It was hellish So many difficult terms related to war and army ranks I do read the whole sentence when translating something in general but with WInter Cicadas I needed to do it several times x3

THIS IS TO ALL OF YOU: phrases are the worst ones!! I hate them because when translating a phrase for example "Rolling stone gathers no moss" you need to know the Finnish one (or whatever is your native language), NOT translate it as it would be translated word to word, it'll sound odd.
When I was translating this sentence: "I'm going to pound that fact into the very marrow of your bones." This is a phrase too or at least it can NOT be translated word to word. I translated it like this: "Väännän sen sinulle rautalangasta." The meaning is same, but said with other words

One tip yet: if you're not sure what some terms mean, check them out. Always search for information first if the historical background or the things happening at the moment in a book/movie/OVA are unfamiliar. When you know what is happening, the culture and consequences, it's much more easier for you to translate, you can be more artistic with your translating and when a person who reads it, she/he understands it and gets the main ideas^^ Searching for information and being aware of the situation and cultural things are important things to pay attention to when translating^^

And of course, check your translation few times after you're ready!! There might be some funny paragraphs used or something you didn't notice the first time.^^

tip 3, buy and have a thesaurus XD hahaha (so handy when you just cant completely grasp the word with it, you just look up for a similar word that might just do the trick ^^)

@Sound ; this is a VERY humiliating and stupid question but what exactly is a thesaurus? O.O some software which search a synonym to you?

tip 4: if you're not certain of what some word means, for example if it has some preposition after it, use your dictionary (I hope you guys have one xD I've 3). For example these verbs: apply and apply to sth, these mean totally different things. and also... just standing (stand straight up) and stand surety for someone, are totally different things^^ When you see some verb or adjective, look carefully what the context is, it may mean something totally different than you first thought, depending on the context and words around it^^

nothing humiliation about not knowing what a word means XD hahaha if i should be ashamed of asking what words mean i would be nearly everyday XD (I live in UK atm, not my home country so i come across a lot of words that is still dont know)

a thesaurus is a

synonym dictionary. it works better then some soft ware and points you towards other words as well, Word has it as well as 'synonym' but its not a wide range and it doesnt give you explanations of the meanings of different words.
so definetly get one of those ^^ I got one for Dutch and English XD

@Sound ; thanks for enlightening me!! now I understand what you're talking about^^ So it's not a software which is downloadable from the Internet or usable in Internet but a book, like every other dictionary and it must be bought?

You live in UK now, cool! I'm sure you'll learn English much then^^

to all, this is tip 5: if possible, find yourself a BETA (aka proofreader), it helps your translating when you get your translation back and see all the mistakes you've done or lines you didn't translate yourself because they were too tricky but they've now been translated by your beloved proofreader^^ my BETA has helped me a lot now that I finally found one When she points out my mistakes, or suggests some other way to translate some line, in the same time I see if I have improved in translating^^

If you're looking for a BETA, I suggest to look around the forum, maybe there's a thread in which people search BETA or would like to start to be one to someone^^

Yeh revision is important. Even before you send them to your Beta, or to your client, re-read the things with a fresh mind. If you don't need to send the stuff that same day, then re-read it the next day or the other. You'll find out you can rephrase things much better and/or catch small typos and other mistakes you made when you have a clear mind. If you have to send stuff that same day... then take a break, go eat something, do something else and go back only after you cleared your mind a bit.

About phrasal verbs and idiomatic expressions, I think you guys have said enough about it. There's several online phrasal verb dictionaries, so it may be worthwhile to have a look at them. If that proposition (or the verb itself) doesn't ring right in the context, then for sure you have a phrasal verb. English uses it a lot. * Idiomatic expressions and sayings, try to find out what they want to say from the context and see if there's a similar saying or idiomatic expression in your own language that means the same. That's the one you should use; if not, translate it in a way that feels fluent, how would you say it yourself?

Tech terms, don't trust wikipedia 100% in but it can help a lot. But also try to find out an official and/or trusted site (e.g. university, tech magazine, etc) and have a look at it, their specific terms, jargon, etc.

Finally, some tips for funsubbing or professional subtitling, both for the translator and the editor/revisor...

- WATCH the video as you translate, don't translate from the script alone. It takes more time but this means you will see what's happening: context, if there's one or more people involved (remember YOU can be singular or plural), female and male characters, etc. I've seen several translated things on TV that had this type of mistakes and you immediately knew whoever did it didn't even bother to look at the video. :P

- If you're gonna take over someone else's translation work (e.g. in a long series), have a look at previous episodes to see the style they use - try to keep a similar style. Style can vary a lot from translator to translator and you can improve it, of course, just don't do a 180 degree swing with it in the middle of the series, it would feel strange for the viewer. Also, and this is very important, ask if is there any list of official terms, how names are written, etc... for instance in Bleach, I've the swords been named in different ways, but if you start it calling it a Zanpakutou, then keep it like that until the end, or the keep the term Shinigami even if if you think Soul Reaper would be better; the same with Japanese names, keep their original order, etc. Consistency is the key here.

- Finally, if you're in doubt with what they're saying or what is happening at some point, and the series has a manga... well, just go check it. Consider the manga your official script, it has usual more detail and stuff happens slower, so we know what's going on, the character's correct name, etc. The same with the official sites, blogs, etc.