Letters to a Young Translator, Part II: Tacticians and Strategists

Posted by Seung Park on May 30th 2006 to Production Process, Letters to a Young Translator

Dear X,

It has been some time since our last correspondence, and I hope this letter finds you well. You say that you have spent a good deal of time reading through the piece that you hope to translate, and for this I applaud you. All the time you spend in this lonely task, straining to see and hear all that which is most unseeable and unhearable about a piece, will prove its own reward. For there is no art save that which is found in solitude, no goodness in translation save that which you find in yourself. I know you will smile at this, and say to yourself, knowingly, condescendingly, that there is a target audience, and that translations are made for the purpose of being read.

In a sense, you are right. (more…)

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The Work of the Sixth Day

Posted by Seung Park on May 29th 2006 to Translation, French

A short parable (?) by Marie Noël
Translated from the French by Seung Park
(more…)

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An Old Oil Lamp, Part II

Posted by Seung Park on May 29th 2006 to Translation, French

A short story by Hugo de Haan
Translated from the French by Seung Park
Part II of II
(more…)

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So You Want To Be a Hacker? Part II: The Hex Editor

Posted by Edward Keyes on May 29th 2006 to Production Process, So You Want To Be a Hacker?

Let’s get started, then. Today we’ll be looking at a simple example archive format, as a springboard to talk about the “standard” parts of a game data file. Keeping this sort of template in mind as you gaze at an unknown format will be a great help to try to make sense of the random-looking bytes you run across.

The game we’ll be looking at for the moment is Cross+Channel (the trial edition download link is at the bottom of that page), which has a translation project already in progress. So, grab a copy if you like, and let’s take a look. (more…)

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An Old Oil Lamp, Part I

Posted by Seung Park on May 24th 2006 to Translation, French

A short story by Hugo de Haan
Translated from the French by Seung Park
Part I of II
(more…)

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So You Want To Be a Hacker? Part I: Abilities and Responsibilities

Posted by Edward Keyes on May 24th 2006 to Production Process, So You Want To Be a Hacker?

“I want to translate games, but I don’t know any Japanese.” If I had a byte for every time I’ve heard that, I could replace my hard drive…

Fortunately, there is another path than that of the translator — a skill-set completely different from juggling kanji and wondering where all the pronouns went. And yet, the job is equally valuable, for how can a translator translate without the script that you provide, and how can a graphic-editor edit without the images that you extract, and how can a player play without the very game that you put back together for him?

So, the question becomes, do you want to be a hacker? (more…)

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Letters to a Young Translator, Part I: The Initial Read

Posted by Seung Park on May 23rd 2006 to Production Process, Letters to a Young Translator

Dear X,

In your last missive to me, you spoke of getting together with a few of your friends and starting a group to translate a visual novel or two. I was glad to hear it; I have found translation to be an enjoyable, challenging, and fulfilling hobby, and I am always excited to see new blood coming in to fill the ranks. I thought, then, that I should give you some encouragement, some tips and tricks of the trade that you might find yourself wanting in the near future. These are lessons that I have had to learn — mainly the hard way — and I hope that you do not end up making some of the mistakes that I have made in the past.

But we get ahead of ourselves. Let us begin at the beginning. (more…)

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