Second Fansubbing Project "Young Black Jack"

Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:50 am    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0

Update on the English Subs: I still have about 30 minutes of the video to go. There is a section where the timing is a bit out of sync and then comes back on sync again. I've decided not to fix the timing, because I don't really want to spend time learning how to use the software and I think there are a lot of timers out in fansub world who could do the job better. With some research, the medical terminology is not a problem. Since this is my second subbing project and I'm still studying Japanese on my own, here are some observations I've made if anybody else decides to follow the same path. 1. Choose a project that you're most likely to be interested in because you'll be watching the video at least six times. This explains why some series get oversubbed while others don't get subbed. 2. You have to be competent in the second language in this case Japanese but proficiency in your first language is more important because your audience is English speaking. 3. It helps to be familiar with Japanese culture, geography and history. (I've been to Japan four times already, practised Shorinji Kempo for eight years, read a lot of books and watch jdrama, movies and anime). Good books to read to learn about history and culture are "Musashi" and "Taiko" both written by Eiji Yoshikawa and "Japanese Death Poems Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death" by Yoel Hoffman. 4. With sentence structure and grammar, you will only use about 10% of what you've learn in Japanese class and textbooks. The rest of what you've learnt is used as a guide only because real Japanese spoken under real situations aren't like those in class and textbooks. That is why machine translation doesn't work. ( A good vocabulary range also helps ). 5. Some things just don't translate well from one language to the other, so you have to think what would sound natural for a person in the targeted language would say in that situation because your audience would be the one in the targeted language. Another reason why machine translation doesn't work. 6. It's good to have a native Japanese speaker check your translation but your work doesn't end there because you will have to rewrite the corrections to make it natural for the targeted audience and that the translation fits in with the story as a whole. If you are intending to have a native speaker check your translation then it is another reason to be competent in Japanese because they shouldn't have to do too much work. 7. Fansubbing supplements my study of the Japanese language and because I'm studying through a real world task that has a real audience it becomes more purposeful. It also makes you reflect deeply about your first language.