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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