Need a Japanese-speaking negotiator

As mentioned elsewhere, I would like to explore the possibility of bringing some Japanese titles to English legally. I have a freeware game in mind that should be a doable project for me. However, I need to get in touch with the Japanese rights-holder to request permission to translate the game.

My ability to understand the written language is minimal. My ability to WRITE in it is nonexistent. The artist's webpage outright says that English email will be deleted as spam. Babelfish does not make a good negotiating tool.

Is anyone out there who CAN read and write understandable Japanese willing to help with the negotiation stage? I am not hiring for a game translator at the moment, I just want to get the rights.

If you can successfully negotiate the rights to the game for me, I will pay you. :) (Not nearly as much as I'll be paying for the rights, obviously, but I'm not asking this as a favor, this is business.)

Interested parties please write to owner at hanakogames and describe your level of familiarity with the language. Polite emails, please, since if U r FuLl of LOL then you don't sound like a good avenue for business negotiation... :)

Other translators of freeware doujin have been able to "negotiate" without having to pay for rights to release it. It's just a matter of asking permission to translate it and distribute it.

Also, shouldn't you get a translator before asking permission? It would be awkward if you asked, got permission, and stalled the project because you didn't have someone TLing.

[The One Freeman]

Have to agree with the above post.

You should find a translator for the actual project first. Or at least prioritize it first.

... In what world would it make sense for me to hire a contractor before actually knowing if there's a project for them to work on? I'm a (small) business. I'm not looking for the rights to distribute a free translation. :)

[Agilis]

This forum, and the community itself, is primarily focused on releasing things on a not-for-profit basis, out of tradition if nothing else.

There are two big issues involved, first, taking a freeware game and offering to translate it for sale, is relatively novel in this area, and I have no idea how the original creators would react.

Second, none of the translators around here, that I know of, are professionals with any experience in legal, or in many cases, even formal business-level writing. Many of us read better than we write.

While I myself wouldn't hesitate in drafting an email to an author asking for permission to translate a work for freeware release since that's a pretty informal type of encounter, I would go to a translator who handles legal and business issues regularly the second the words 'money' 'contract' or 'licensing' hits the table.

[GreatSaintLouis]

I'm sorry, but what the hell. Why would you even think of attempting to profit--your comment about not being interested in a free translation certainly makes it seem this way--off of a work that the author him/herself didn't feel like making money off of? Considering the spirit of the work we do in this community, you might have a hard time finding assistance on this project out of general principle.

Assuming principles are not your concern, there's also the equally valid point that you have no translator. Historically, most translation projects without a translator do no go off so well, and considering the amount of projects that have quietly slipped into an early grave when the team lost interest or was overwhelmed by real life, I'd think even an intended for-profit work would want to have some means by which they'd intend on completing their project and thus generating said profit.

Finally, since a good amount of the works translated in this community are freeware, you might not find much success in essentially removing a work from the public availability that you might not even begin production on. Most official freeware translations such as those done by insani or the Narcissu 2 project underway by Agilis and Haeleth obtain permission from the author but already have capable translators willing to work on the title. By 'securing the rights' to a freeware work, you would make it unavailable for others in this community to do so while, unlike the above groups, giving us no real assurance that you'd end up releasing the final project.

Strange, I thought people would be interested in a business that might be able to eventually pick up where Hirameki left off as far as bringing legal English translations of non-hentai games to market. I wasn't aware that you were so opposed to licensed games.

If the author doesn't want me to do it, she can just say no. That is exactly WHY I am trying to get someone who can speak Japanese to speak to her before I make any further plans. I'd look like a complete idiot if I had my translators all signed to contracts and promised payment and the author then said "No, I don't want my work sold."

I make a full-time living off the creating and selling of games. I do not intend to buy the rights to something only to tie it up and never release it. (For one thing, that'd be a big waste of my money.) I'm not going to be overwhelmed by real life - this IS my real life.

... bah, I had stuff typed but there's really no point in trying to justify myself here. If anyone is *interested* in helping to bring otome games to market, contact me, if not, don't.

[Minagi]

Licensing a game which is being sold by the creator and then selling a translation of that game to foreign audiences, more power to you and your company. Licensing a game that is being given away for free by the creator and then selling a translation of that game to foreign audiences, we care about. That's what you don't seem to be getting.

We can't stop you from licensing and reselling whatever game it is you want to translate, but there'll definitely be mixed reactions to it, especially in communities like this one where (sometimes free) games are translated for free.

You just did not come to the right place for this.

I don't see any problem here at all. He/she is getting permission from the original creator to sell a translation of their work. If the original creator doesn't mind (which I honestly don't think will be the case), what right do other people have to complain ? If he's going to sell a translation of a free game without permission, then yeah that's despicable, but that's not the case here.

Generally speaking, approaching any Japanese creator about selling their freeware creation for a profit is likely to meet with nothing but (polite) disdain and mistrust. These games are freeware precisely because they were created under the spirit of "not-for-profit." You might tempt a few with promise of riches, but be prepared to be rebuffed 99% of the time.

As Minagi mentioned above, you should, instead, be looking at the "for-profit" side of the doujin game industry. The ones that sell games at conventions or through download websites like dlsite or digiket or both, typically for cheap prices between 700-1800 yen. Rub out all the secondary creations, and there should still be a large catalog of games for you to consider, including an enormous amount of otome games of varying quality and length. I suspect these creators would be more amiable to business propositions, and in my opinion it makes a lot more sense too.

[GreatSaintLouis]

Well put. Nobody here has a problem with an ambitious individual or company coming along to fill the void left by people like those at Hirameki--people who translated commercial Japanese games and released them commercially in English-speaking countries. The problem, as was stated, is with the proposition to sell games that were originally created and distributed under a non-commercial mindset. Japan is a great place, infinitely better than America, to self-publish one's own software creations. Look at events like Comiket. The fact that some circles or individual hobbyists decided to give their works away hardly has anything to do with being unable to sell them. Taking something created in the spirit of making it enjoyable for all and attempting to package and sell it just strikes most of us here as a vulgar act, and rightly so. The translation of commerical works obviously leads to problems like piracy, but the translation of freeware works--sometimes even with the blessing of the original creators--is a great way for the community and fandom to grow in a legitimate manner. Yes, we are the sort of people who would be interested in the 'next Hirameki' (minus AnimePlay DVD, of course), but at the same time some of us are very passionate about the pieces with which we work, pieces which demand respect if for nothing else than the original author's time and effort. As said, nobody's stopping you, but you might want to think on if you really want to build a for-profit business around games that the authors themselves chose to freely give away, and what kind of goodwill that might create for you among your intended audience. And why not check out the doujin market? There's a huge amount of games that are designed with an eventual profit in mind, and one could only assume that the creators would be more than happy to spread their works to a larger audience, especially if it meant more of a chance on a monetary return.

I do agree and I would rather be using a for-profit game for my feasibility test, it's just that the best game I found for my purposes so far wasn't. If someone wanted to help me find better candidate games, that would also be appreciated. :) I am a one-person business and I'm pretty busy, I may have missed a good one somewhere.

What I'm looking for is a non-hentai raising-game aimed at girls written in nscripter. Preferably one with not a lot of text but with plenty of replayability, preferably one with both boy and girl child options. Afaik that's not generally what this community focuses on translating, so I didn't think I'd be poaching on your toes too much.

Here's a list of NScripter games, some commercial and others freeware: http://www.shii.org/translate/nscripter/

If your budget allows or you have a translator who is willing to volunteer his/her services for free temporarily, you can *probably* use the freeware doujin in which you are interested to promote your company - get the community to have a feel for what games you'll be translating and for them to take a look at how you're going to do it.

[Anath]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Here's a list of NScripter games, some commercial and others freeware: http://www.shii.org/translate/nscripter/

If your budget allows or you have a translator who is willing to volunteer his/her services for free temporarily, you can *probably* use the freeware doujin in which you are interested to promote your company - get the community to have a feel for what games you'll be translating and for them to take a look at how you're going to do it.

Having the link with the last slash in it gives me a 404 error :/

This link seems to work: http://www.shii.org/translate/nscripter

[DaFool]

Um... it's better to recruit at a community more open to commercializing otome games.

You must start with a game that was commercial to begin with. Because otherwise people who liked the game, google it, then discover that the original version was free to begin with would be pissed off.

It also would make better business sense if you want to pick up the pieces which Hirameki left. That means already having several candidates for translation. Since you will need a constant release schedule it might be wise to have at least 3 games lined up. Make another division of your company focused just on J-material if that makes any sense.

Hirameki prided itself on all-ages titles and for the most part they were diligent in that image (starting from its license acquisitions). If the aim for this new decision is to create a commercial translated otome games brand then it should be reflected in the titles chosen (in the plural).

Of course I never ran my own business (yet) so just take my words with a grain of salt.