I translated a bit of German

When I had more time between jobs, I decided to spend more time on Twitch to listen to electronic music, especially from Germany because I was trying to improve my German while listening to music that was very different than what's popular in Chicago. 

What I've noticed is that American music has been hip hop-oriented while Germany seems to not have focused on such beats or sounds, and what they call "House" really isn't the House that originated in Chicago. It's also interesting when the DJs don't speak much English because they play music that is more European-based, and to me it's both enjoyable and interesting. I haven't been to Europe in several years, so it's like I'm traveling via music. 

One day I was listening to a German DJ and I noticed that his bio was only in German. Even if other DJs don't know English very well, they usually manage to translate their info, even if it isn't so perfect. So I asked him in the chat if he wanted me to translate his bio into English, and he said yes. At first, I didn't see it in his profile, so I figured he didn't want to post it. Then he did, and here it is: 

Meine Leidenschaft zur Musik begann schon vor einer gefühlten Ewigkeit. Mit den ersten Schul-Disco's wuchs die Liebe zum DJ'ing.
Seit 89 war ich dann über 12 Jahre aktiv als DJ in Clubs und Diskotheken unterwegs.
Nach einer längeren Pause bin ich jetzt wieder hier am Start und möchte euch auf meinem Kanal eine Galaxie voller elektronischer Musik präsentieren.
Begleitet mich auf meiner Reise durch die unendlichen Weiten mit elektronischen Melodic und Progressive Sounds, chillt mit Deep-House Music oder tanzt ab bei Special-Sets mit House-Music oder ab und zu bei Sets mit Musik aus 80er, 90er oder Trance-Classics.
Werdet Teil einer tollen Community 

My passion for music began what feels like an eternity ago. From my first school discos, my love of DJ’ing grew. I was an active DJ in clubs and discos from 1989 for more than 12 years.
After a long break I’m back, starting here again, and want to offer you a galaxy full of electronic music on my channel.
Join me on my journey through the infinite expanses of electronic melodic and progressive sounds. Chill out with deep house music or dance the night away to special sets with house music, or sometimes sets with music from the 80s, 90s or trance classics.
Be part of a great community. 

The intro is still only in German, so I'll post the translation that I did here: 

Herzlich Willkommmen auf dem Kanal von Galaxy-Music! Neben spacig-elektronischem Sound aus Melodic und Progressive House, gibt es hier auch irdische Klänge mit Deep-House, House... bis hin zu Special-Set's. Enjoy it and feel the Music und werde ein Teil unserer großartigen Community.  

A warm welcome to the Galaxy-Music channel! In addition to the spacey-electronic sounds of melodic and progressive House, there are also the earthly sounds of Deep-House, House…including Special-Sets here. Enjoy it and feel the music and be a part of our great community.  

My next German-translating endeavor is going to be an article about a German electronica group that I also discovered on Twitch.  

p.s. the e-book version of my debut novel is still at Amazon, and the price for the print version has been reduced: buy at the Eckhartz Press site.

Using Google Translate to report news

I was reading an article in the Miami Herald about an ancient wishing well in Germany. At the bottom of the article it said, "Google Translate was used to translate the news release from The Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection." I was surprised to see that because I hadn't seen such a description before. 

So I did a search and found another Miami Herald article about ruins in China, which states that "Google Translate and Baidu Translate were used to translate the news release." When I clicked on the journalist's name, it linked to The Kansas City Star and says that she works at McClatchy, which is a media company owned by a hedge fund. The ancient well story was there, but it was linked to The Star instead of the Miami Herald. From that bio page, I clicked on another story about an ancient pantry in Germany, and at the bottom it says, "Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the Würzburg District Office."

I've used Google Translate in my free time to understand online content, but I've never used it for paid work. I don't know if this is an issue for journalism. For instance, did someone need to verify the translations? What if the translations are not accurate or don't want to be? Not only do online, AI, and machine translations need to be edited in the target language, but if they're being reported in a news outlet and by journalists, the information should be accurate. 

At least the stories link to the original press release, so if anyone wants to look at the source, they can. I think this can speed up the reporting and content-creation process, but it should be done responsibly. I think it's really cool that we have such technology to connect with information around the world. When I started translating several years ago, it was time-consuming and there weren't a lot of online resources, so I had to buy some pretty hefty dictionaries. 

p.s. e-book version of my debut novel is still at Amazon, and the price for the print version has been reduced: buy at the Eckhartz Press site.

Guest post: How I Turned My Language Skills Into a Business and Career

Note: I was contacted by someone from the translation agency Tomedes Ltd to see if I'd be interested in posting an article of theirs. We went back and forth for several months, and I was either too busy or not interested in what they had to offer (I wasn't being snobby, but it seemed like some articles weren't a good fit). But when they sent me this article by their CEO and founder, Ofer Tirosh, "How I Turned My Language Skills Into a Business and Career," I figured it would probably be interesting for language fans and translators. I haven't posted something by a guest in several years...hope you enjoy it!

I see a lot of people online learning about how to do translation or discussing ways to improve their translation skills. 17 years ago, I wanted to improve my freelance translation skills in order to take my career to the next level. Since then, I’ve gone from working as a freelance translator to running a translation agency that serves clients around the globe. I’m hoping that my story – of how I turned my language skills into a business – will inspire others to do the same. 

Moving from Freelance Translation to Running a Business

Nearly two decades ago, I found myself with no way to make a living. Remembering this seems especially poignant right now, given the vast economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

My personal situation meant that I needed to find a way to make money. I’ve always loved languages, so they were my focus in terms of building a career. 

I realized quickly that freelance translation was the career for me. That meant I was faced with a choice – to be the best freelancer that I could be or take my language skills and values and try and turn them into a business. I opted for the latter. 

It’s funny to look back now, having since published the ultimate guide to freelance translation in order to help others on their journey, and remember how much I still had to learn when I first established Tomedes as a translation agency. Even now, I’m still learning.

My focus was on three areas: outstanding translation, customer care, and embracing tech. With these in mind, I began to build my translation business. 

How to Build a Translation Business 

To build a translation business, you need clients and you need translators. Simple, right? Well, not quite…  

How many translators are there in the world? According to the Translators Association of China, there are around 640,000. Around one in four of them works as a freelance translator. As such, there’s plenty of freelance translation expertise available to those looking to establish a business. 

The problem is that you have to make sure that you find the right network of freelance translators – not just translators who work with the languages your clients need, but those with relevant subject matter knowledge as well. 

I put a LOT of time and effort into building up that initial network of translators. Not only did I need to find suitably experienced linguists, I also needed them to share my belief in delivering outstanding customer care. My initial induction process was basic, to say the least, but it did lay out the principles of service delivery that Tomedes’ clients could expect, which we still remain true to. 

Finding Translation Clients

Of course, building a network of translators was only half the work. I also had to find clients. 

My marketing efforts were intensive. I reached out to potential clients in every way imaginable. It was hard work, it was time-consuming, and it completely paid off. I managed to bring in enough work to show my new network of freelance translation professionals that I was serious. 

Naturally, there was some scrambling to ensure I had the right expertise in the right dialect back in those early days. Thankfully, the advent of social media worked in my favor. Just as I was discovering how important it was to maintain connections around the world when you move from being a freelance translator to running a translation company, technology was making it easier than ever to connect over the internet. 

I embraced the evolving tech. I still do, to this day. I don’t believe that technology can replace the skill and nuance that human translators deliver, but it can certainly help them translate more efficiently. 

Running a Translation Company Isn’t Just About Translation

Over the years, I learned just how much admin is involved in running a business. All those tasks that you don’t receive direct payment for – recruiting translators, marketing, finances…the list goes on and on. It’s a reality of running a successful enterprise. 

That meant I had to put structures in place to deliver the company management while still keeping translation costs reasonable. I took a remote-first approach, meaning that staff could work from home, keeping office costs to a minimum. It allowed me to run a slick, lean organization. 

Technology helped here too. From the increasing use of email to faster broadband, I used everything available to help grow my business. I was an early Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) adopter, meaning that I could connect with clients and translators far more easily. I read recently that VoIP business lines in the US shot up from 6.2 million in 2010 to 41.6 million in 2018. Embracing this kind of technology definitely helped me grow my business faster and more smoothly. 

My advice for anyone considering going from freelance translator to business leader: embrace technology, but also focus on customer care no matter how big your empire grows. Plenty of people provide freelance translation. In my opinion, it’s those who really empathize with their clients’ needs and go out of their way to meet those needs who will be most likely to turn their passion for language into a successful business. 

Translation of a Polish student's personal creative essay

I've been teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) for several years, and one of my students from this past semester gave me a translation of something that she wrote in Polish. Unfortunately, I don't have the original Polish text (maybe I can ask her to give it to me next year), but I have her translation, which she wrote by hand and which I typed out here:

Romeo and Juliet

The end of romance, the end of spoken words, "Moment, please last forever."
Only emptiness is left...a longing for closeness, for the touch of bodies that, despite the influence of gravity, could not penetrate each other, could not become one.
There is only an echo, an echo of memories...of those crazy nights, a subtle shining moon that opened its eyes at the sight of drunk Romeo and wild Juliet--a version from under the bridge.
They were not allowed to die together of love. Someone wrote a new script, a new version of the film in which the characters played themselves--so called sketches of the past.
Romeo is dancing tango with the chosen one of his life--a bottle of brandy. Julia experienced her first death, she buried her feelings. It wasn't she who became dead. Others became dead to her...Dead to make her able to love again, to fill her interior with pleasure, with desire for closeness. She became like his sperm--she exploded with a lust for love for a second, and then she returned to her previous form--a self-sufficient haven.
I think the art fell in love with her. It was the art who opened its mouth one night and whispered words to Julia--"I will be your lover, I will caress your inside and through your visible moans you will let the world know that you feel fulfilled."

A tree without feathers...stands naked, all exposed.
It's watching my window. Maybe it thinks it would be nice to be in my room, warm its nakedness under a warm duvet. I am sure it would appreciate four corners. What about the yellow walls?
The sun would speak to the tree through them. The tree would admire with pride two artificial butterflies. It would say--"They dared to fly to the sun."
Maybe it would do a little redecorating...
Right in the middle of my room it would set its root.
It wouldn't need a window anymore.
It would remind it about naked days, days when everyone passed it with indifference, even the one who opened the curtains from night every morning to make her room a light for a moment...
"The darkness of your eyes awakened me from my sleep. I say, with hand on my heart, that in the whole spectacle they play the main role.
The thunder sounded in my heart!
Lightning, however, has its beginning in your pupils.
Your repugnance will not last forever.
There's something about you stranger..."
They f--- every night.

****

"Only those who went through darkness can see the beauty of the stars."

****

"I curse tradition--thought patterns that attribute immortality to themselves, wanting to serve their people forever. It's not easy to tear this system apart. We would have to become complete darkness for a moment, so that we can turn on our own light...the light of freedom. I thought I had reached this state, that I had completely faded. Damn it! The light is still shining. I will give myself time. I will understand in time that this is all a process."

My first Swedish translation

As I've said before, I'm studying Swedish. My Swedish is honestly awful because I haven't followed my own advice which I usually give my ESL students and which I myself followed when I was studying Japanese: memorize a sample sentence for the grammar point you are learning. And there are other reasons, too, such as not watching many videos, not putting a lot of time into it, etc.

But that's not what this post is about, even though I could write many words about why my Swedish is so horrible. This is to announce to the world that I managed to translate a simple Swedish article because our teacher gave us such an assignment for homework (and another aside: Colloquial Swedish, which we're using in class, is not an appropriate book for total beginners like me who have no clue what's going on. It progresses too quickly and there aren't enough chances to practice grammar, etc. I really think I have to take the class again. But what's great about the book is that they offer free audio--enjoy!)

The teacher told us about Ikea's super-rich and alleged cheapskate founder, who died a couple months ago. At that time, she told us to read an article about him at the excellent site 8 Sidor. Basically, that wonderful site has simplified news stories that you can read and also listen to. I love it! (NHK has a similar one for Japanese news, btw.)

So we read it, and instead of translating some clunky sentences and offering a stilted translation (which we had to do for class to create a close approximation of the original), I decided to attempt to make it smoother. So here's the result...I know he died back in January, but I'm posting it now because I've overcome my hesitation to share it with the world and I now had time to look it over.

From 8 Sidor's Ikeas grundare är död:

Ikea's Founder is Dead

News has spread throughout the world that the famous business owner, Ingvar Kamprad, has died. He was 91.

His company, Ikea, is known for inexpensive furniture that we buy in flat packages. Then we put it together in our home.

Today Ikea has more than 300 stores in 43 countries. 150,000 people work there.

Ingvar Kamprad was known for caring a lot about costs, including having factories in countries with low wages.

Ikea made Kamprad one of the richest people in the world. He liked to show that he lived a simple life, despite all his money. But to avoid paying taxes in Sweden, he lived in Switzerland for many years.

Over the years, Ingvar Kamprad got a lot of flak, including because he liked Nazism when he was young. He had said that he regretted it.

During the last few years, Ingvar Kamprad lived in Älmhult in Småland. That was where he started Ikea years ago in 1943.

Enjoy this "tastiness"

As a lot of people already know, especially people who've lived in Japan, Japanese English can be odd. It's almost like they're using weird phrases as in inside joke, to see if people can tell that the words are dorky or don't make sense for the context. At this point, if Japanese companies want to have sensical English (or English that makes sense), they could easily find a lot of native speakers to help out with such a task. But maybe they're just having fun (like my use of the non-word "sensical"). Or maybe they're making an earnest effort to communicate an idea that would make sense in Japanese. Anyway, there are a lot of examples, and entire websites are devoted to such oddities, such as Engrish.com

So here's something I found in Mitsuwa, which has an excellent selection of Japanese drinks. They're not cheap, but they're good and entertaining. Like the tagline of ハニップＣ. I only bought it because it had a plum at the bottom *and* weird English, thus was worth the higher price. Basically, I've never seen anything like it in the US, and I like novelties.

The label says "Hanippu C" (transliteration of the name), and below the picture of the fruit it says "plum and apple." But then the weird English appears: 

Please enjoy this "tastiness."

So let's deconstruct this for a moment. It's not totally weird English because it makes sense, sort of. American companies wouldn't use the word "tastiness" to describe a drink, but rather "flavor," and they'd use animated adjectives to modify "flavor" to entice the consumer to purchase the delicious drink. Or they'd just simply say the drink is "tasty."

But this Japanese company, プラム (Plum), not only uses "tastiness," but puts quotation marks around it. Why? Are they implying that the suggestion is "tastiness" but the reality is different? Are they using the quotation marks to admit to falling short of flavor expectations? Is it a textual version of a wink and a nod?

Also what's not typical English is the request "Please enjoy..." as if they're trying to be polite yet firm. It would be harsher, of course, to simply say "Enjoy this tastiness," especially in apologetic, self-effacing Japanese culture. Realistically, products don't usually have any kind of request, but boldly proclaim how great they are and how they'll make you feel, which should convince you to buy them. But in this case, the sentence is literal but awkward, because of the combination of words, ending with the quotes. Overall, it comes off as stilted and sarcastic, which was most likely not the company's intention.

Below the English sentence it says "Please enjoy the blended flavor of plum and honey." On the bottom it says "contains honey" on the left and "refreshing drinking water" on the right, though I'm wondering why they say "water" when it tastes like juice. Next to that it says "less than 10% fruit juice." Okay, so it's not technically juice, but it hardly tastes like mere flavored water.

Thus the mysteries are numerous, but it doesn't deter me from purchasing other weirdly-worded products, whose "tastiness" I'm willing to explore. So I might have something else to post on such a topic in the future.

Madrelingua or lingua madre? (Italian translation)

As I referenced in my last post, I found a linguistic blog, or what the the Corriere della Sera newspaper calls "forum," about the Italian language. I discovered it while I was trying to find out what the difference between "madrelingua" and "lingua madre" was. Here's my attempt at translating the explanation:

Madrelingua or lingua madre?

Last February 21, International Mother Language Day was celebrated throughout the world. It was established by Unesco in 1999 to commemorate a revolt that occurred in 1952 in Bangladesh, where many Bangladeshi students were killed in the capital, Dhaka, while protesting for their right to speak their native language, Bengali. 
Many newspapers confused madrelingua and lingua madre, using them as if they were synonyms, though they have two completely different meanings. Madrelingua is "a language that is learned first (Devoto Oli), "a language learned or spoken from parents or ancestors" (Treccani), "language of the native country, learned from birth" (Garzanti); not to be confused with lingua madre "parent of a language family" (Devoto-Oli), "what others are derived from, considered related to them" (Treccani), "a language that developed from another language" (Garzanti). Now here's a question: what is the madrelingua of those journalists?
All the best [many ways to translate this word] 
Ivana Palomba

International Mother Language Day

On the way to trying to figure out if "mother tongue/language" in Italian was "madrelingua" or "lingua madre," I found a post at the Scioglilingua forum/blog (which hasn't been updated for a while probably because linguist Giorgio De Rienza passed away) that said "Lo scorso 21 febbraio è stata celebrata in tutto il mondo la giornata internazionale della madrelingua." [Last February 21 international mother language day was celebrated throughout the world.]

I had no idea such a day existed. The United Nations is the source of the day, and Wikipedia offers a thorough explanation: 

The date corresponds to the day in 1952 when students from the University of Dhaka, Jagannath College and Dhaka Medical College, demonstrating for the recognition of Bengali as one of the two national languages of East Pakistan, were brutally shot dead by police (then under Pakistan government) near the Dhaka High Court in the capital of present-day Bangladesh. 

Luckily, the Corriere della Sera newspaper hasn't deleted the blog/forum (I see it as a blog, but they categorize it as "forum"), so I'm going to go back to attempt to translate the post that explains the difference between those two words.

In too deep: a stilted translation

I saw a post at Madameriri and decided to translate it because it was titled: "I often tell foreigners 'I don't watch anime'." What I should've done is finished reading it before I dived [or dove] in, because I thought it was about a Japanese person who doesn't like anime. So I slogged through it, and by the end I realized that the writer *did* like anime, or at least didn't mind them.

Not only did I spend a lot of time translating it, but my translation ended up sounding like stilted English. And that's the problem a lot of translators have: do you try to stay true to the original text, or do you write/edit it to make it sound really smooth and natural in the target language, thus majorly reworking the original author's word choice?

I've been trying to figure out what to do. I'd spent all this time translating it, plus the title was deceptive, and the original writing seemed sort of vague and circular in how the author was trying to make her point. I was thinking of not posting it because it sounds sort of odd, but I didn't want all that work to go to waste. So I've decided to post the stilted version instead of rewriting the English to sound like a regular blog post. Did I do the wrong thing?! I don't know! But I hope it makes sense. I need to let go and move on! So here it is, the translation of「私は日本のアニメは見ない」という外国人にありがちなこと:

Japanese anime have been popular abroad for a while. But even now, there are a lot of people throughout the world who have a prejudiced view of anime. Japanese anime are for "geeks who like Japan" or they’re what "kids" watch, so I decided to not watch them.

Until now, when foreigners asked me which anime I watch, I’ve usually said, "I don't really watch them." If I had seen any, it was just one of Ghibli’s, or what I'd occasionally watched with my siblings. Basically, I hadn't really seen them--that's because I decided I didn’t like them, and because of the image they have.

When I’d hear people talk, I’d think, "How pitiful." As a result of deciding not to watch anime, I've probably missed out on seeing a lot of great ones. It’s up to the individual to watch or not watch anime. And even if they disappear from society, they'll still live on. But saying, "I don't like that thing" can give the wrong impression, and that person’s life and outlook can seem narrow.

Other than anime, these things have often come up:

"I don't trust raw fish, so I don't eat sushi."
"I've never eaten blue cheese and it seems impossible. I will not eat it."
"Indian movie? I haven't seen one, not interested."
"Since I get along well with Japanese people, I don't need foreign friends." …etc.

A while ago, I met an American foreign student who wanted whatever she ate and saw explained to her. For instance, when we ate champon, she asked questions such as, "How was this soup made?" "What kinds of seafood are in there?" "Is the seafood in here also in America?" "Where does the shrimp come from?" etc. She ended up not eating champon, and I was disappointed that I couldn't introduce her to that delicious Japanese food.

Perhaps if she'd trusted me and tried the champon, she probably would've thought, "Unforgettable Japanese flavor." It would've been good for her to take even just one bite. It would’ve been good to do it, even if it tasted just slightly good.

It’s better to try eating something instead of being afraid. Then someone can decide if they like it or hate it. If someone doesn't eat it, they won’t know how it tastes, so they can't say anything about it. Even if it doesn’t taste good, it's good to understand that it's "bad."

A while ago, I didn't like anime or manga. At that time, after my foreign boyfriend (who's now my husband) pretty much forced me to watch anime, I thought, "Japanese anime are wonderful." Until then I'd decided, "Anime are something kids watch" and thought I was stupid for believing that.

Inside of me there's a subconscious "decision" box that's been cleared, but it's difficult. I really want to protect the box, and by making the box important, I protect myself, though it reverses unexpectedly.

When I try Out of the Box thinking (thinking outside boundaries), the best benefit for me is that I am not like others. And if I don’t like myself, I have to first try.

Maybe I will start to know things my entire life.

Translation: Kyuji Fujikawa's blog post about missing baseball

Today, the day after the Chicago Cubs announced that relief pitcher Kyuji Fujikawa was going to have surgery and miss a year of games, he wrote this blog post about it:

Real thoughts

Everyone, there was very bad news in the morning--excuse me. Also, thanks for the encouraging messages!
I've gotten support for this injury, but I feel disappointed because I haven't been able to live up to the Chicago Cubs' expectations.
I cannot show everyone the place where I pitch, and I can't see the scenery of the batter and game from the mound.
I definitely want to return to the mound to see the scenery again!
Now, I remember where I was on the mound three days ago, and I don't want to forget it.
Of course, I love baseball.
When I read everyone's messages, I wanted to write a bit of my true feelings.

Unfortunately, I missed a great opportunity to break some news. The day before the American media talked about the injury, he did a blog post about it. I saw it yesterday, the day the big news came out. But if I had looked the day before, well...I would've become a sports journalist, even if only briefly :p

Translation: ☆Taku Takahashi from m-flo criticizes the Japanese music scene

Here's a translation I did of the article, "☆Taku from m-flo says, 'Japan's music is 20 years behind Korea's'" [m-floの☆Taku「日本の音楽は韓国に20年遅れている」と指摘]

☆Taku, from the famous Japanese hip hop group m-flo, talked about how “Japan’s music is 20 years behind Korea’s,” which has been making waves in Japan.

Even though the K-POP boom has spread around the world with PSY’s “Gangnam Style,” etc., people are interested in groups that are active in Japan, which has raised questions about how the Japanese environment has ignored Korean music.

Recently, ☆Taku answered questions about K-POP in a media interview. “Korea has started to expand in the world because the scene is not only domestic. Japan currently resembles Korea 20 years ago, but it should be internationally aware. Even in Japan, when you compare it to Korean music, the sound is very different,” he said about Japanese music, which does not have a total advantage.

“Korean idols are good at singing and dancing, but there are people who say critically, ‘K-POP just imitates hits on the American Billboard Charts!’ However, there are many Japanese people who don’t have the ability to imitate current Billboard songs,” he harshly exclaimed.

☆Taku also answered questions about PSY’s popularity. “I think PSY’s popularity is good luck, but luck is simply not the issue. If he hadn’t thought about how his music would sell in foreign countries, he wouldn’t have emerged,” he pointed out.

“Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is a Japanese singer who is becoming more popular internationally. Her music is interesting, but she’s in a totally different league than PSY,” he said about PSY’s total dominance.

“In Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s case, her producer Yasutaka Nakata likes Western music, and he blends Western dance music with Japanese melodies so that they’re hits in Japan and abroad. At first, he wasn’t thinking of doing business abroad, but people unexpectedly liked it,” which was a primary cause of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s success. “Korean idols are mainly kids from their own country, and for people who like American music to be introduced to their songs, they have to continue to be sent abroad. Not only Japan, but other Asian countries need to think of expanding as well. PSY’s success came from always thinking about the international market,” he said.

In ☆Taku’s interview, he said the insular Japanese music market needs to be thrown open. “Japanese singers only stay in Japan, but there should also be an environment of expansion in China, Korea, and Vietnam. Korea has been challenging Japan in that area. At the same time, for singers to come to Japan, the country should be musically open,” he emphasized.

Japanese people's response to ☆Taku’s interview has been intense. Many say it's correct that the music marketplace in Japan is limited, but on the other hand, VERBAL, who's one of the members of m-flo, is Korean-Japanese, so people wonder, “Was VERBAL brainwashed?” and “He's sold out his country.”

Translation: Zuiikin English intro

A while ago, someone told me about some amusing videos from Japan that taught people English with the "Zuiikin Gals". The videos have ended up becoming popular because they seem so odd. Here's what the Fuji TV site says in the introduction (explanation) of that program:

Starting in the Spring of 1992, the Fuji Television network aired an epoch-making educational program called “English Conversation and Exercise” [Eikaiwa Taisou] in which people combined English conversation and exercise! It was a mysterious program that seemed very serious and required hard work, but ended up evoking laughter. As the title says, the program brought together English conversation and exercise. In the beginning, with each movement, as the muscles were trained, they also remembered English conversation! The program was based on that concept. In the beginning, there were short situational plays, and then those scenes of English conversations stopped. Suddenly, the station’s exercise program introduced three “Zuiikin Gals” in leotards on the set, who cheerfully chanted and repeated English conversation in tempo while exercising. The program naturally brought together movement and English conversation to the body. By the way, the rectus femoris muscle was trained the first time.

 

Translation of Anime News: 50th Anniversary of Astro Boy

I did another translation from the "Anime!Anime!" site of the article, "Family Gekijo's special TV program 'The History of Japanese Television Anime Creation' on the 50th Anniversary of Astro Boy." Here's what it said:

In 2013, the television anime "Astro Boy" [Tetsuwan Atomu], which played an epoch-making role in Japanese anime history, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its first broadcast. The 50th anniversary will be commemorated this year with the following schedule. 

First, in February, the major cable company Family Gekijo will present an Osamu Tezuka special, and in March it will feature the 50th anniversary of "Astro Boy". There will be two special programs that will focus on Tezuka's anime. 

Family Gekijo has produced its own special program, "The Manga God: the History of Japanese Television Anime Creation," a 30-minute documentary that explores the birth of anime in Japan. 

The basis of Osamu Tezuka's anime will be explored, as far back as the experiences he had in his childhood. Anime supervisor Daisaku Shirakawa, animation history researcher Nobuyuki Tsugata, and Eichi Yamakawa, the first producer at Toei Animation, will be interviewed. The program is planned for March 10. 

Also, "The Manga God: Phoenix Reincarnated" will air on February 17. These are the same original Family Gekijo programs that aired in 2012, in which Osamu Tezuka can also be spotted. 

In February, Tezuka's special collection, "Black Jack", "Phoenix Houou [Mythical] Hen", "Phoenix Yamato-Hen", "Phoenix Uchu [Space] Hen", "One Million-Year Trip: Bander Book" [Hyaku-man nen chikyu no tabi banda bukku], "Undersea Super Train: Marine Express" [Kaitei choutokkyuu Marine Express], and "Three-Eyed One" [Mitsume ga touru] will be broadcast. 

In March, the HD remastered "Astro Boy" will be shown on television for the first time. "W3", "Vampire" [Banpaiya], "Adventures of Goku" [Goku no daibouken], and "Dororo" are the television anime masterpieces that will be shown from that period. 

Starting March 2, "Osamu Tezuka Gekijo" will be a regular feature every Saturday at 8:00, a powerful push of the Tezuka and Atom 50th anniversary.

Translation: explaining "giri" to French people

During the first year of this blog, I mentioned the book Cent Questions Sur le Japon, which was published around 30 years ago. It teaches Japanese people how to talk about Japan in French, and is written in French and Japanese. I still have the book and read it occasionally because it's a good way to simultaneously maintain my Japanese and French.

Recently, I decided to translate one of the topics, and had a hard time finding the book online. Then I discovered that it's been updated, republished, and renamed to now be Qu'est-ce que c'est? フランス人が日本人によく聞く100の質問 [100 questions French people often ask Japanese people]. I chose the topic of "giri" since that is unique to Japan, thus has to be explained to people in other countries. The original article is here and the translation is below. Since this is written for Japanese people, there is an introduction in Japanese, and then the questions and answers are in French and Japanese.

It is rather difficult to explain giri, a unique Japanese way of thinking. Like ninjo, wabi, and sabi, it's a word that expresses Japanese logic and a sense of beauty. It will be easier to explain if a concrete example is given for this word. 

Q: Giri is often talked about. What is it? 

It could be said that it's an intrinsic part of the moral society of Japan, the principles of behavior. If someone does a favor for you, you have an obligation to return it. This takes priority over ninjo, personal feelings and affections. Literature from the Edo period often showed the psychological conflict between giri and ninjo and the suicides that resulted. 

Q: Has giri always been part of the Japanese psyche? 

Not like in feudal times. But even today, many Japanese people respect the concept of giri. For example, someone can't break off a long-term business relationship with a client, even if there are other clients who seem more advantageous. Also, it's important to give gifts at certain times of the year, such as chugen or seibo to people who have helped us. Giri in modern Japanese society could be considered a cultural restraint rather than an expression of appreciation from the heart.

Translation of Anime News: Be in a Manga

I asked an anime fan if there's anything I should translate that would help fans find out what's going on in that world. He suggested this news from the Anime!Anime! site, so I did a brief translation to give people a basic idea of what is going on. Here's the news:

Mangazenkan.com Campaign: Monthly Shonen Champion Series Will Draw Your Image 

Manga artists can make your dream come true by drawing an image of you. Winners will have their image drawn by eight manga artists from Monthly Shonen Champion (Akita Shoten). Shonen Champion Comics will choose a total of eight winners, one per comic, between January 7 (Monday) and February 5 (Tuesday). 

Participating manga artists are: Ryu Itou from "Sengoku BASARA3-Bloody Angel", Katsuki Izumi from "Oi!! Obasan", Yuu Minamoto from "Kamisama Drop", Masaru Suzuki from "Drop OG", Daishiro Suzuki from "Narikin!", Masayuki Saiwaki from "Chicken", Shingo Honda from "Hakaijuu", and Yoshiji Yamaguchi from "Examurai Sengoku G". 

To enter, purchase a manga and fill out the enclosed entry form. Winners who are chosen will be asked to send in their photo. 

This is a rare opportunity for fans! 

You can purchase the mangas and get more information about this 2013 New Year's gift at Mangazenkan.com

Weird English from Europe

You'd think that Europe wouldn't exhibit any bad English since a lot of people have studied it, and they've been interacting with England, Ireland, and Scotland for years, but I spotted some strange English on the label of this fruit spread when I was in a German store yesterday. It said: "For a superb taste mix fruit on top down into jar."

What does that mean? I understand the first few words, but then the meaning breaks down as the sentence continues. You'd think the French company that puts this product out would find *someone* who can verify that the English is correct. Puzzling, indeed.

Update: upon reading it again a few times, I think they mean that you should mix in the fruit that is on the top.

Update is failed

A really nice guy who I met at an awful place said he "chuckled a bit when I was updating my Blu Ray player and when it was done, it would say 'Update is Failed'.....ahh God bless LG products lol..."

So we have yet another badly translated product from abroad. Please, hire good translators or at least editors who will correct such odd English.

By the way, it's supposed to be "Update has failed".

I can't believe the French would screw up this translation

Arrogant Polyglot said that the English translation of the French label on his duvet is "The White Goose Below", which is certainly a weird translation for "white goose down".

I am surprised the French couldn't translate that one, unless it was manufactured in China or some other country where they don't bother to hire translators for their products.

Funny translator

Weird translation site

After I linked to an article in my previous post that Mad Minerva suggested, she sent me a link to a weird site that does back-and-forth machine translation between various languages. The guy who created it seems like a very smart nerdy type. Below is the mutation of something I really think, which actually ended up sounding like abstract poetry:

Original English Text:
I wouldn't mind being discovered one day.

Translated to Japanese:
I wouldn' 検出されるtの心1日。

Translated back to English:
I wouldn' The heart 1 day of t which is detected.

Translated to Chinese:
我wouldn' 重点检测的1天t。

Translated back to English:
My wouldn' Key examination 1 day of t.

Translated to French:
Mon wouldn' ; Examen principal 1 jour de T.

Translated back to English:
My wouldn' Principal examination 1 day of T.

Translated to German:
Mein wouldn' Allgemeine Prüfung 1 Tag von T.

Translated back to English:
My wouldn' General check 1 day of T.

Translated to Italian:
Il mio wouldn' Controllo generale 1 giorno del T.

Translated back to English:
Mine wouldn' General control 1 day of T.

Translated to Portuguese:
Mina wouldn' Controle geral 1 dia do T.

Translated back to English:
Mine wouldn' General control 1 day of the T.

Translated to Spanish:
Mina wouldn' Control general 1 día del T.

Translated back to English:
Mine wouldn' General control 1 day of the T.