Me and my japanese class are actually going to translate a japanese manga to english. Since this is my first time I thought I needed a couple of tips what programs to use and what to think about.

The situation: I have only studied japanese for this term so I am kind of a newbee. I found this program called Wakan. It really gives help but on the other hand it gives a lot of alternatives. How can you pick the right ones? The chance to pick the wrong one most be like a 90 % chance, especially when it's a unknown manga.

Gimme all kinds of tips. Feels like everything can help me right now.

Last edited by Hayabusa at 5:18 am, Oct 29 2007

programs as in learning japanese or what?? Photoshop??

Ooh, Wakan looks pretty nifty.

IMO, it can be a little tricky picking out the correct translation, especially without a minimal grasp of grammar. I would suggest looking at context (pictures and the rest of the sentence[s]) when trying to pick out the right one. See if the sentence makes sense as a whole and whether it seems natural if it's part of a conversation.

How easy/hard it is would depend on the genre of the manga too. For example, I would think a hentai manga would be easier to translate than some mecha manga with a lot of technical terms in it. Maybe try translating a less wordy manga?

Like lime123, I'm a little confused as to what programs you want us to recommend.

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Its = possessive form. It's = It is.

Only studying for 1 term? That doesn't seem like enough to translate manga, but what do I know

Really useful site: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html
For SFX: http://kyoh.monkey-pirate.com/

A J>E dictionary is also good. I use Kenkyusha Lighthouse J>E Dictionary 4th Edition (around $100AUD), and two grammar dictionaries. I also have a kanji dictionary (Compact Nelson's $40AUD), but WWWJDIC seems to cover pretty much the same kanji.

As for words with multiple meaning, it depends on the context. When I translate, I usually read through quickly first to get an idea of what's happening overall. Google and Wikipedia can also be useful.

As for programs, I don't usually use anything other than Notepad and Opera.

I don't think you can properly translate manga after just one term of Japanese. That's all just the basics. Picking the right translation requires a lot of experience on the language, you have to had at least read/heard the Japanese language enough times to know what this word means in what context.

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“What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.”

Sorry for not answering back.. I had given up the hopes of being helped, but thanks really much for answering. So the problem remains and the fact that my japanese teacher is in Japan ain't making it easier to advance.

I totally agree with all of you saying that one term is way to little to have this kind of task. But hey... I wanna try it out. I also understand very well that the genre makes a big difference but first this is schoolwork so to translate a hentai manga would feel.. wrong. We were also given out a manga from his own keep (so it would be harder to cheat I guess.)
Emiru Kuronikuru Onrain Gaiden Deruta Saga is mine. Two volumes are out in japan and no translations in sight. Check it out.. It's a classical shounen and looks nice.

I have noticed some things too. I need some sort of Kanji dictionary as roxybudgy were speaking about. They had some tricky kanji in some places... But I guess thats up to me to buy one.

As for programs.. http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html seems to be what I was looking for. Wasn't really sure when I posted last time myself ;P
Gimme more tips if there is something more that can help.