Confessions of a beginner translator
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 2:03 pm
Yo.
You may think it's weird, that I write this here, in English.
Also the comic I refer to is long posted and up and all.
Ever since I even started considering the thought of translating ... basically, anything ... I guess the job of a translator of a work of art is, to convey the meaning of what was on the author's mind, what the author meant. Basically trying to guess the author's frame of mind, when they were writing it, and translating it to terms that my audience would understand.
Translator of culture.
It's only natural that way, otherwise, any translation would be just fine, just using some automated tool.
This is why e.g. recently, the 'chicken' in the comic with the L33t D|_|d3, where Junko thinks he's peeking under her skirt, got translated to another animal ('swinia' = 'pig') Yah because that what you'd be called out in Poland if you did that (and a few more verbs, adjectives and nouns that are decidedly not SFW or PG-13).
Not even talking about the literal translation of 'Are you OK?' because that is a real context breaker (usually translated to 'stalo sie cos'='did someting happen')
That and that, however is not the one I wanted to call out to.
The one I want to talk about, is the one when Kimiko explains to Piro the history of Erika's first love and how it (was) ended, and how any one has the right to decide, whether they are the person, the other one is really happy with.
It goes on and on, and then, Kimko says
"You find happiness where you can".
That same Kimiko, who is called out for being super-realistic in her acting.
That same Kimiko, who got her acting job after numerous rejections, and was really anxious about that.
Because of her, the writer changed the script.
The same one who calls out the radio hosts for them being insensitive to their audience.
Well I guess the phrase "You find happiness where you can" can be understood like something positive, in English, for that type of person.
In English, it does not reek of desperation to find happiness. In English it sounds pretty neutral to positive.
Not in my language, however, I didn't think so.
In a semi-literal translation, the "You find happiness where you can" ("Szczescia sie szuka gdzie sie da") is more fitting to someone desperately trying to find one. So desperate, that she wouldn't care for what the others feel. Which *I* felt wasn't fitting for a character like her. Someone who 'gave up on that a long time ago', because the real world does not live to what she feels inside.
So I started thinking of a possible meaning behind these words. Warning all the below is highly YMMV and may not fit everybody's expectations.
First of all, the more to-the-letter translation of 'find' would be 'znalezc' (that word is the literal meaning of 'find').
'To find' in Polish is more like, the expected end result of a search, the only result of a search. So it means if you 'found' something, you are sure it is THE result you want. In English it's like, you can 'find' something, and then 'find' something else. Or so I was thinking (well given the usage of 'find' that I was familiar with).
Second problem is, 'find' translated to 'znalezc' it does not fit with the phraseology of 'where you can' in Polish (at least not to me anyway) (literally translated to Polish as an equivalent of 'wherever one can' or 'wherever it is to be found'. Find happiness wherever it is to be found? See what I was referring to earlier? This is desperation embodied.
So what to do...
I wanted to give this phrase a good, positive meaning, especially, that it was something that made Piro grow later. Would the meaning of 'find happiness wherever it's available' be a good thing to say to someone who 'maybe' become your boyfriend? That's self-depreciation... Which in my understanding, Kimiko wasn't doing either (she was trying to stop Piro from self-depreciating, right?).
So the phrase I chose for the meaning, was an English equivalent of...
'The best (kind of) happiness is (one)(what) you have just found'.
'Najlepsze szczescie to takie, ktore wlasnie znalazles'.
It's an uplifting, positive, heartwarming phrase. In Polish anyway.
And one that fits in the translation balloon pretty easily, at that.
And if you wonder why I am writing this, I guess this is what shoujo manga does to you...
(just in the midst of reading Namaikizakari...)
so, yeah. Not bottling up your thoughts is important
You may think it's weird, that I write this here, in English.
Also the comic I refer to is long posted and up and all.
Ever since I even started considering the thought of translating ... basically, anything ... I guess the job of a translator of a work of art is, to convey the meaning of what was on the author's mind, what the author meant. Basically trying to guess the author's frame of mind, when they were writing it, and translating it to terms that my audience would understand.
Translator of culture.
It's only natural that way, otherwise, any translation would be just fine, just using some automated tool.
This is why e.g. recently, the 'chicken' in the comic with the L33t D|_|d3, where Junko thinks he's peeking under her skirt, got translated to another animal ('swinia' = 'pig') Yah because that what you'd be called out in Poland if you did that (and a few more verbs, adjectives and nouns that are decidedly not SFW or PG-13).
Not even talking about the literal translation of 'Are you OK?' because that is a real context breaker (usually translated to 'stalo sie cos'='did someting happen')
That and that, however is not the one I wanted to call out to.
The one I want to talk about, is the one when Kimiko explains to Piro the history of Erika's first love and how it (was) ended, and how any one has the right to decide, whether they are the person, the other one is really happy with.
It goes on and on, and then, Kimko says
"You find happiness where you can".
That same Kimiko, who is called out for being super-realistic in her acting.
That same Kimiko, who got her acting job after numerous rejections, and was really anxious about that.
Because of her, the writer changed the script.
The same one who calls out the radio hosts for them being insensitive to their audience.
Well I guess the phrase "You find happiness where you can" can be understood like something positive, in English, for that type of person.
In English, it does not reek of desperation to find happiness. In English it sounds pretty neutral to positive.
Not in my language, however, I didn't think so.
In a semi-literal translation, the "You find happiness where you can" ("Szczescia sie szuka gdzie sie da") is more fitting to someone desperately trying to find one. So desperate, that she wouldn't care for what the others feel. Which *I* felt wasn't fitting for a character like her. Someone who 'gave up on that a long time ago', because the real world does not live to what she feels inside.
So I started thinking of a possible meaning behind these words. Warning all the below is highly YMMV and may not fit everybody's expectations.
First of all, the more to-the-letter translation of 'find' would be 'znalezc' (that word is the literal meaning of 'find').
'To find' in Polish is more like, the expected end result of a search, the only result of a search. So it means if you 'found' something, you are sure it is THE result you want. In English it's like, you can 'find' something, and then 'find' something else. Or so I was thinking (well given the usage of 'find' that I was familiar with).
Second problem is, 'find' translated to 'znalezc' it does not fit with the phraseology of 'where you can' in Polish (at least not to me anyway) (literally translated to Polish as an equivalent of 'wherever one can' or 'wherever it is to be found'. Find happiness wherever it is to be found? See what I was referring to earlier? This is desperation embodied.
So what to do...
I wanted to give this phrase a good, positive meaning, especially, that it was something that made Piro grow later. Would the meaning of 'find happiness wherever it's available' be a good thing to say to someone who 'maybe' become your boyfriend? That's self-depreciation... Which in my understanding, Kimiko wasn't doing either (she was trying to stop Piro from self-depreciating, right?).
So the phrase I chose for the meaning, was an English equivalent of...
'The best (kind of) happiness is (one)(what) you have just found'.
'Najlepsze szczescie to takie, ktore wlasnie znalazles'.
It's an uplifting, positive, heartwarming phrase. In Polish anyway.
And one that fits in the translation balloon pretty easily, at that.
And if you wonder why I am writing this, I guess this is what shoujo manga does to you...
(just in the midst of reading Namaikizakari...)
so, yeah. Not bottling up your thoughts is important