Multiple translators v solo

[Cosign]

Multiple v solo
My bias http://forums.novelnews.net/showpost...&postcount=400
[16:43] <LoSs> Aaerul: I'm not denying large groups
[16:44] <LoSs> but I think that it doesn't really matter if group is small or large
[16:44] <LoSs> since it will change translator's mentality
[16:44] <LoSs> in case of large group it's: "I can translate this bits and everyone will finish the work"
[16:45] <LoSs> in case of small group, the translator usually knows the scale of the project
[16:45] <LoSs> and prepares himself for a long fight

[16:45] <Asceai> the sense of responsibility is more defined
[16:45] <Asceai> people know what they have to do and that they have to do it or the project won't get done
[16:46] <Asceai> whereas in a large group, everyone come in, do anything you like..
[16:46] <Asceai> and then one person does everything




TLC and Editors
TLC is in a way also editing, because they may often need to rewrite sentences. The order should be Translator --> TLC --> Editing
[17:05] <Asceai> SupernaturalDream: I think checking a line for correctness is MUCH easier than translating it
[17:05] <SupernaturalDream> so instead of produce, maybe it should be "verify that the result is..."

[16:55] <VDZ> If people call TLCing editing, they're doing it wrong

[appztetra]

there's the fact that the flow of the translation will change, oh well, who cares?
but being solo makes your outcome worse than the most, so being with a large or small scale of people is not really a bad thing.

One skilled translator is the ideal, but I'd rather have a project with multiple people, if needs be, than have it never finished.

[ultama121]

Originally Posted by appztetra

there's the fact that the flow of the translation will change, oh well, who cares?

Well, pushing out an inconsistent translation project like CLANNAD is both a disservice to the original author and the viewer, and (of course) reduces enjoyability a significant amount. :/

I can say for a fact we've worked on games in both ways. Usually as long as you have one person checking consistency, and divide the work up in distinct parts, such as whole routes, then multiple translators works fine.

But never have we ever dealt with more than 5 on a game.

[Cosign]

Originally Posted by ultama121

Well, pushing out an inconsistent translation project like CLANNAD is both a disservice to the original author and the viewer, and (of course) reduces enjoyability a significant amount. :/

You are quite right. Lots of people bashed on the Clannad project in the other thread too that's why I think this needs to be addressed:

History
January 22, 2007 - Project announcement!
January 23, 2007 - Switched from spreadsheets to Kepago files
January 29, 2007 - Development website posted
New screenshots at the development website!
February 5, 2007
zefgame joins the だんご大家族 club :3
February 9, 2007 - We've hit the 20% translation mark! Thank you everyone for your support!
February 24, 2007 - Translation now stands at 25%. :)
April 14, 2007 - Kyou's route complete, translation status: 42%
May 17, 2007 - Tomoyo's route complete, translation status: 53%
July 23, 2007 - Fuuko's route complete, translation status: 65%
September 17, 2007 - Kotomi's route complete, translation status: 74%
November 9, 2007 - Nagisa's route complete, translation status: 86%
February 29, 2008 - After Story complete, translation status: 99.999%
TL check forthcoming...

This is the project update log taken from http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/in...?title=Clannad
So within 13 months, they were able to translate 99.999% of 100432 lines of text (or 3.16 Mb). While I won't say it is the most efficient beast I've ever seen, I would still commend it for being an exceptional feat.

Yes. The translation quality was not the most consistent. But all I am asking is, 'Is that really what fans want?'.

[NTX]

I recall some of the after-story translations being completely off. Kind of ruined the experience for me, like seeing a hot girl without her makeup on for the first time. It left a pretty big stain on my impression of the translation, now it's the first thing my mind goes to when someone mentions the translation isn't the story or any of the parts they did right; in all the thousands of lines, the one thing I remember the most is the scene that one guy f*cked up.

[drmchsr0]

Originally Posted by Cosign

Yes. The translation quality was not the most consistent. But all I am asking is, 'Is that really what fans want?'.

Sadly, considering the fansub circlejerk, the answer is yes.

[appztetra]

there goes the "it's better than nothing." syndrome...

[Asceai]

Originally Posted by Cosign

So within 13 months, they were able to translate 99.999% of 100432 lines of text (or 3.16 Mb). While I won't say it is the most efficient beast I've ever seen, I would still commend it for being an exceptional feat.

Yes, but it's taken 31 months so far since ten and they haven't finished translating 0.001% of 100432 lines of text, or slightly over 1 line of text, and TL check the whole thing. While that's not the slowest translation I've seen, it's pretty fucking pathetic and shows that while you can produce a poor quality translation quickly with lots of people, turning it into a decent translation takes a teeeeny bit longer. Saya no Uta, that came infinitely close to completion but never got a final high-quality release.. that was in some other form of development hell, I recall. Chaos;Head, wasn't that stuck in a particular final phase and only had a bunch of preliminary releases for ages until the project was killed off by JAST C&Ding the whole shebang? Symphonic Rain, did that ever get a final release? tlwiki says no. As far as I can tell, MOON. and Sharin remain the only completed projects under this model. Don't people want something finished, something polished and release-ready so they can show their friends and stuff?

Whatever people might say about the 'traditional' model employed by mirror moon, now yandere, amaterasu etc. is that at least they finish and polish their projects before moving on to the next, rather than letting them linger around in a finished-but-not-quite-finished state

There was once a time when VN translation was something better. When gp32 was a part of the scene it was an intellectual and technical exercise. Yes, the guy was a pompous ass but at the end of the day something of quality was produced.

Sadly, today the average VN translation is no better than a crap anime fansub.

[Cosign]

Originally Posted by drmchsr0

Sadly, considering the fansub circlejerk, the answer is yes.

See, I think that is a misconception. We are so tight-knit and focused on quality quality quality all the time we get tunnel-vision. We start to think that everyone who reads this wants nothing but perfect translations. I bet hundreds of people are discovering and rediscovering visual novels everyday. As long as the English is readable, Casuals don't care.

Originally Posted by Cosign

See, I think that is a misconception. We are so tight-knit and focused on quality quality quality all the time we get tunnel-vision. We start to think that everyone who reads this wants nothing but perfect translations. I bet hundreds of people are discovering and rediscovering visual novels everyday. As long as the English is readable, Casuals don't care.

It is exactly this kind of attitude that is causing the absolute glut of mediocre translations that are flooding the scene today.

[Asceai]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

There was once a time when VN translation was something better. When gp32 was a part of the scene it was an intellectual and technical exercise. Yes, the guy was a pompous ass but at the end of the day something of quality was produced.

Not by him, though!

Want to see a good eroge translation? I only recall finding one TL error in astcd's translation of ONE and the whole thing reads quite nicely.

[Cosign]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

It is exactly this kind of attitude that is causing the absolute glut of mediocre translations that are flooding the scene today.

I'm not saying we write crap. I'm not saying we go down to quasi-English for the sake of speed. We are not pumping them out like we're a factory. I am only saying that we take a small sacrifice, form teams and translate things faster.

If you are going to argue in that direction, at least address ONE of mine or Asceai's points instead of sweeping statement.