Question Can I translate novels even though I only know English?

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by nanininanamin, Apr 1, 2021.

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  1. nanininanamin

    nanininanamin Well-Known Member

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    I'm not that fluent in Korean, Japanese or Chinese, but I want to join those recruiting for translator. Can I just use a translator website or app and edit or proofread the translated text?
     
  2. Shiroikaze42

    Shiroikaze42 Well-Known Member

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    Some people do take this approach. If you're looking to join a group, then look for ones that say "MTL welcome" or something along those lines. The important thing with Machine Translating is being able to turn jumbled nonsense into coherent sentences. Best of luck
     
  3. nanininanamin

    nanininanamin Well-Known Member

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    Thanks! I'll try to look for it.
     
  4. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    Technically yes, though do understand that relying on machine translation software to go from Asian languages to English is a lot harder than something like... German to English. The languages are too far apart, so the software makes tons of mistakes.

    I'd recommend learning the basics of the basics of the grammar just so that you can roughly understand how one word connects to another in the raws. Then you can try using machine translation software aided by dictionaries to try translating.

    It'll probably take quite some time until you get the gist of it, but it can work out.
     
  5. nanininanamin

    nanininanamin Well-Known Member

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    Yeah! I did try and it was so tedious. You have to double check if it's the right translation. Thanks btw.
     
  6. Hazel00

    Hazel00 Highland Knight | From Karsuk

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    Oh wow, im not even fluent english, chinese, japanase, and korean, but i want to try
     
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  7. Fluffums

    Fluffums 【R-18 Researcher】【Seeker of Moe】

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    Technically no. If you use a machine translation software, it's the software doing the translation.

    You still need to know a minimum of the target language's sentence structure and be able to search names specifically and have a decent dictionary for the words that don't get translated properly, and you need to be good enough at reading to know who says/does what and figure out what gender each person is.
     
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  8. nanininanamin

    nanininanamin Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, I always have trouble when it comes to gender and pronouns.
     
  9. Bachingchung

    Bachingchung Well-Known Member

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    Some idioms and nuances could be easily lost in translation if you go with MTL apps. Just leave it to native speakers who aren't that fluent in English, then offer them PF services. There are also foreign writers who aspires to be a writer, you could help them edit their books and learn their language at the same time. Life is a nonstop learning.
     
  10. flowingcloud

    flowingcloud Well-Known Member

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    People tell you you can. People tell you to just follow your dreams. Let me give you better advice, just f*cking learn the language. There are plenty of internet resources nowadays to let anyone translate at a proficient level after a bit of learning.
     
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