On Translation vs. Interpretation (Repost)
This is a repost of my essay “On Translation vs. Interpretation,” which first appeared on my site on 11/03/2006, and has been featured in a couple of other places since then. On Translation vs....
View ArticleWham, bam, pow! And Scarier Sounds in Translation
“Hey guys, does anybody know what doom sounds like?” On Friday I came across a perfect example of a classic translation challenge in Japanese fiction. It all started when an editor reviewing a TV...
View ArticleThe Curse of the Unfunny Joke
“Children always know when company is in the living room—they can hear their mother laughing at their father’s jokes.” —Source unknown1 One of the questions I get the most as a TV translator is,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Nameless Terror
When is a personal name more terrifying than a word? I’m sure most teachers taking attendance on the first day of school have stories about name-terror… and so do translators, sometimes. For a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Happy International Translation Day, or I
Happy International Translation Day! Today is the feast of St. Jerome, patron saint of translators, and therefore the day we celebrate International Translation Day. When I visited Florence and Rome...
View ArticleThe Sorrow of the Lost Examples
Today I bring you some possibly useful facts if you work in Japanese, and a passionate eulogy you don’t need any Japanese to understand. I think many people will agree with me when I say that it’s not...
View ArticleATA Conference Notes from a Buyer’s Perspective
I saw and learned so much last week at my first American Translators Association conference that it will definitely take some time to process it all! But I had the unusual experience of attending for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Life Dreams (Translator-Goggles Edition)
I expected my next post to be about ATA 54 from a freelancer’s perspective, but a recent Intralingo post spotlighting literary translator Peter McCambridge sent me in another direction. Mr....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Translator as Holiday Navigator
We translators spend most of our working time critically examining the question, “What did this person mean by these words?” Maybe that’s why over the years I’ve noticed myself at company meetings or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New simulcast: Nobunagun (FUNimation version)
© Masato Hisa/ EARTH STAR ENT./”Nobunagun Committee”Licensed by FUNimation® Productions, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. A new year, a new anime season, a new simulcast. Just started my new show, Nobunagun....
View ArticleWhat Good Is Literature?
Today, one of my advanced and highly motivated students embarked with me on his first foray into Japanese literature: we started reading the short story 「神様」 (“Kamisama,” or “God”), by Hiromi Kawakami....
View Article2013 in Review, Part 1 – Filthy Lucre
Learning from the past is good for us! Which is surely part of why one of the popular topics each January is the “Year in Review” post, like those I recently read by fellow translators. Two favorites:...
View ArticleFAQ #1: How Many Languages Should I Study?
Here’s a truth of my life: I get a lot, lot, lot of emails from aspiring translators with questions. That’s cool, in that aspiring translators should ask questions! That’s a lot of why I wrote So You...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Demon Parades and Career Beginnings
The contemporary: Kurama, the fox spirit from Yu Yu Hakusho. (see alt text for copyright) The old: New Year’s Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, Ōji by Hiroshige Though I didn’t manage to post about it...
View ArticleBacking Up Your Records in TO3000 Version 10
Most of us translators realize that one of the worst things that could happen to our businesses is a hardware failure, theft, or other event that wipes out all our data. We’ve all been told, “Back...
View ArticleFAQ #2: What About Scripts?
Time for a couple more frequently asked questions! Two that I get often are about scripts for the anime shows/films that I translate. When you do an anime do they send you a script or do they send you...
View ArticleTwo Quick Word 2013 Tips
If anyone out there is like me and just now switching (or just about to switch) from a previous version of Office to Office 2013, you may find yourself wanting to flip the table at a few of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Simulcast: Ping Pong
©Taiyou Matsumoto, Shogakukan / PingPong The Animation Committee.Licensed by FUNimation® Productions, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Well, I’m a little late posting it this time, but yep, I’m doing another...
View ArticleRecommendations: Anime on Sale
Yoinking a great idea from the Fandom Post: Why not recommend some DVDs/Blu-rays that are on sale right now, so you can discover new things on the cheap? Right Stuf, one of my favorite online retailers...
View ArticleWord Usage Quiz for Writers
It’s easy to read advice about commonly confused words, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get them right later. Yesterday I started wondering whether seeing the two next to each other and making an active,...
View Article