OP4 Rewrite

I may end up eating some of my words by the end of this possibly long entry but so be it. I've had a very interesting time working as part of the Saigoyume Committee.

Yume has gone down the road of fansubbing and after having released a translation of a PV last month, he's released his first dorama. The script has been handled by him and I was drafted in to help with the quality check (QC).

Now in the past I have been critical of some subbers (fan and professional), possibly without fully understanding why I was reaching this conclusion and of the work involved. It's only the first I've been involved in so I expect my thoughts will change again. I'm still in the dark as to some of the processes going on but I at least now have a foundation on which to build on. It is probably best to explain some of this, so as to better inform everyone else.

To me it seemed to be quite guarded and closed up as to how the whole process works, so what I describe may be entirely different to how others operate. I'm willing to bet that what I've been through with Yume on this release is quite removed from a lot of others.

Let me outline a little more on this. I can only really see two phases to this. The first phase of this was for Yume to work on the translation and timing. We looked about for various methods to do this but in the end Yume found a program called Sabbu and used that to time and create the script.

The second phase was the QC which encompassed everything else. I suppose others would break it down further but that's how I've seen our work. I'll be more specific in this part.

The first concern was to ensure what we had was a good translation that would feel natural to an English speaker. Yume did a good job in most cases but there were some lines which were still arranged in a manner more befitting Japanese and others were tougher to translate. For some of these, we just rejigged the sentence around so words appeared at the end and others moved to the start. This meant the sentence was by and large the same but changed to flow. There were times that we were forced to make changes. Some of these were due to timing issues, others were due to words not translating into English easily. What sometimes takes a word in Japanese takes a whole sentence to portray in English. We had to construct sentences that captured the sentiment, that remained true even if it wasn't correct word for word.

I know for sure I've moaned, usually at companies that release anime, that changes have been made that didn't need to. I don't think my mind has changed any on this. Some things should be done for flow and general understanding but there doesn't need to be wholesale changes made to scripts. What would probably help if they released translation notes so we get a better understanding of the decisions they've made and why it was done. I believe this only goes to reflect better on the group translating. You get to see why they made such calls and the fury of not knowing why a change was made can be averted. Rationalising everything and showing the logic behind decisions, it still leaves you open for criticism but it allows for it to be constructive so you know where you made errors or where you could improve to those you are catering for. A lot more on this in another topic.

The second concern we had was checking for spelling and grammar. This is something that is usually rare on tracks by companies but is more common when it comes to fansubbers. It's not something I really concerned myself with too much unless it was really bad and noticeable. When it came to this, we had to become really picky. I ended up going back and looking up as many rules as I could to ensure it was a standard to which I would be happy to release. It may not be perfect down to the smallest rules, but good enough for people to read it and not notice anything unless they sat down with a fine comb.

It's a really gruelling process, especially as we had a 2 hour fansub as our first project (about 5-6 episodes of an anime). There's a lot more text to search and a lot more that can slip unnoticed. Still that was probably due to the way we initially started off with trying to QC. We hadn't a script locked down as a final translation, there were still lines being written and others being retranslated. The other problem may be the familiarity that happens, you sort of learn what is coming so rather than reading properly, you're skimming it. It would probably be best to sort out as much as you can and then give it whole to someone else who has not read it before to go through it in as much detail as possible.


So that's an overview of it all with some discussion mixed in. Quite an untidy piece so far but there are some key points there to take away. Possibly the most important thing to note from all the above is that the two of us had an entirely different focus on what we wanted from the script when we were at the QC process.

Yume can understand Japanese and his aim is to keep everything as close as possible to the original.
I don't understand Japanese and all I want is a script that reads well in English.
He understands my concerns and I understand his intent. Between the two of us during the QC, we tried to obtain a balance between both extremes. No matter how much we nitpick, we'll continuously bring up lines to "debate" and get clarified again and again, it wasn't uncommon for us to go over the same sentence for hours on end. We worked out lines many times over, picking the best bits each time to form new alternatives, before settling on one we both liked.

I'd be willing to say that other fansubbers out there don't really work in this manner. Once they have a translation done, it's pretty much locked down with checks for spelling and grammar rather than how sentences are constructed and fit in. I'm sure there is some work done but mainly by the translator in this respect. In essence, the translation is the final script.

I'm pretty sure Yume will agree that his translation was only a translation, it wasn't the final script despite his constant reworking of lines to fit better. It's probably odd that we consider the process of rewriting and editing as part of the QC process. If anything it's more fitting to be placed in as part of translation. Yet the importance of this aspect is immense as it can really make or break the sub.

To put it simply, the translation is your framework, the QC is where you construct and create. Without a firm frame, you're limited in what you can build and create. You must also not be afraid to remodelled the frame if you find it is not firm; there's no point in plastering over holes.


Well that's probably quite a dense and incomprehensible ramble but that is it straight up. I'd love to see how other people go about this process and how everything integrates. You only need to look at the various sites and the positions they ask for, it all seems very compartmentalised which is conveniant but it doesn't necessarily mean there's a lot of talk across all the positions. It is maybe due to the way that no-one was really willing to divulge how they go about it that led Yume to his methods. It could be inexperience of how we did it but that's something I'll save for another day. For now just an understanding of some of the basics is good, I can go about all the mistakes I've noticed and where I think we went wrong in another entry.

Fairytale of New York

I often worry for the state of humanity and in particular the UK. More and more we seem to copy or be influenced by the USA. I may not openly admit this but there are some good things about them but it's often overshadowed by really silly things that take focus just due to sheer stupidity.

The thing that I've just read now makes me fearful, a big brouhaha over something I love; Christmas. What makes it sillier is it seems to stem from something attributed to Bush (no surprises there then). It's reported that the Christmas cards sent from the White House didn't make any specific reference to Christmas and people have decided to throw a hissy fit over this, despite the same occurance for the past 13 years and various Presidents that have been in office.

For me Christmas time has always been something a bit special. It may be due to the many great and funny memories I have of Christmas or it may be due to something sappier like the whole Christmas spirit and joy we're supposed to experience and embrace. Whatever it is, people seem to be intent on ruining it and diluting the whole season. To the point that people get fed up even before Christmas comes close. Reading something like this only makes your heart sink that there can be so much said about something that seems so minor.

The article makes note of the use of the term "Happy Holidays" but is this really necessary or a step too far towards being overly PC and overcompensating? The term itself is very American and I don't think I've heard people here in the UK use it. The thing is that it just reeks of people with too much free time on their hands.

I'm not Christian and I don't celebrate Christmas because of the birth of Jesus Christ but I do acknowledge it as I acknowledge there are many other celebrations taking place in this season. I could track back and look into why my family started celebrating Christmas but I'm not really sure why. However, we live in a predominatly Christian country where Christmas is one of the biggest celebrations of the year, it's difficult not to notice it or the whole story surrounding it. The thing is my religious belief is not really important here and I don't think anyone else's should be the important point here.

I believe Christmas has taken on a higher consciousness. Far beyond just the birth of Christ. It's now a period of time that gives rise to many celebrations. Be it Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Festivus. To put that simply, Christmas is a period of time when some faiths have important celebrations and where we generally eat too much turkey and give presents all in the company of family and friends.

It all brings us together to share time with each other and just generally be jolly and merry. That fundamentally is what Christmas is about. The birth of Christ brought together people from all walks of life for what was a momentus event.

Regardless of faith, I'm sure this is a message that everyone can appreciate. Don't fight and struggle over little things, embrace the bigger picture. Don't draw arbitary lines in the snow that mean absolutely nothing. Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, whatever it doesn't matter. What does is that you are greeting everyone and wishing them all the best in this season of celebration.