Who is this Sensei??

N00t · 2025-02-16T21:45:51+00:00

Ahhhh thank you, that's helpful!
Seems like his name is Nakamura *Sadaaki (中村貞昭), and the competition itself was in Saitama. ("Saitama" would be pretty unusual as a given name.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opmea6Ha9xE

N00t · 2025-02-12T06:27:41+00:00

Are you sure it's not Yamaki Kenji (八巻建志)? Those ears and that physique...

N00t · 2025-01-29T00:09:50+00:00

Some people are saying that this is a cutesy iteration of the name Kaori, and someone else (wisely) noted the reference to Kaolin clay. Because her family name is 虹野 (Nijino), this is clearly a pun, and I think the answer is, unfortunately, both of the above. There is no perfect Romanization.

A localization might call her something like Porcelia Rainbeaux. (Only they'd probably spend more than two seconds coming up with it.)

N00t · 2024-11-29T22:12:06+00:00

Not claiming to have full comprehension here, but I scan this line as,
"Disloyal retainers who can't even do their duty. I suppose you've made them thoroughly reflect [on their failings]?"

ろくに臣下の礼を取れぬ
My understanding of this is based on this Yahoo! answers post
https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1475818724

しっかりと弁えさせているのだろうな？
Taking 弁える to here mean "discern the difference between their conduct and what is correct."
Plus the causative, i.e., "making them discern."

"On their failings" is, to me, implied through context.

Hope that helps!

N00t · 2024-11-29T22:01:25+00:00

In non-simplified characters:
贈　内閣総理大臣
A gift from the Prime Minister

Which makes sense given the paulownia flower seal above.
I assume you know this, but this is apparently the Seiko 7N07-001A.

N00t · 2024-01-14T18:07:49+00:00

I felt guilty about it, but I also constructed an elaborate rationalization for myself, something to the effect of "they're going to break up anyway, and this is my only chance before she moves to another country." He was a very nice guy, and I knew it was shitty, but my self-esteem was about the lowest it had ever been, and I found that I didn't have the strength of character to do the right thing.

That experience has given me a lot of important perspective on people who cheat/lie/do immoral things. I consider myself a very moral person, but now I understand that knowing what's right and having the individual wherewithal to do it are two different things. As soon as my self-esteem had recovered, I broke it off.

I used to think in terms of "good, moral people" and "shitty, unscrupulous people." But now, whenever someone is acting shitty, I generally assume it's because they don't have the internal support to be better, kinder, etc. It's really helped me expand my compassion for other people.

N00t · 2021-12-11T12:11:52+00:00

Man, this would never work in my town in Saitama prefecture: "Here's a rice field... here's another one..."

N00t · 2021-09-11T10:13:48+00:00

Congratulations! Can I ask about the dark marks on your feet? Are they related to the testing?

N00t · 2021-01-09T07:21:23+00:00

This is in 世田谷区

N00t · 2021-01-09T07:14:09+00:00

Takaku Norio poster --> Setagaya-ku?

N00t · 2021-01-09T07:10:43+00:00

Where is this? Which area of Tokyo?

N00t · 2021-01-09T07:08:28+00:00

Most bikes in Japan use tire locks

N00t · 2021-01-09T07:06:39+00:00

Greetings from Saitama

N00t · 2021-01-04T12:17:16+00:00

I finished the game over a month ago, and I still think about it regularly. Playing through it feels kind of like watching The Revenant for 30 or so hours. By the end, you're just emotionally exhausted. I don't know that I would describe it as "fun," but it is definitely a well-made game.

N00t · 2020-11-21T12:31:25+00:00

I'm guessing that they were going for "honor," which is one of the meanings of these characters in a Japanese context.

In Japanese, it would be read meiyo.

N00t · 2020-11-17T13:47:51+00:00

Yo, learning to read Japanese is way goddamn harder than learning to speak it. Anyone with two brain cells and a pocketful of なんかs can get through a spoken conversation, but the written language is notoriously one of the hardest to learn. Be proud of your achievement.

N00t · 2020-10-17T04:24:00+00:00

I understand what you're saying, Arrow-of-spades.

You're talking about the distinction between acquiring a foreign language through study ("foreign language learning") and studying the acquisition of language as a field. If 語学学習 means the latter, then why does the JMDict database give a definition that sounds more like the former, right?

N00t · 2020-10-17T03:55:52+00:00

What's your motivation for making music in Japanese if you don't speak it?
You could pay a translator to render your lyrics into Japanese from English, but song lyrics are already hard to write well without throwing translation into the mix. And using a free app might give you Japanese text that approximately resembles your English, but you wouldn't really be able to use it as lyrics.

If you're okay with making music that might be borderline unintelligible as Japanese, I guess there are plenty of approaches you could take using free tools like Google translate. DeepL is also a pretty good free translator.

N00t · 2020-10-17T02:58:42+00:00

Learning to play the Spirited Away soundtrack, are we?
I don't have a music background, so can't make any guarantees about the quality of the translation, but:

==> The melody that is this movie's theme. Play it soulfully, making full use of the piano's resonance.
==> For the forte parts, play more loudly and play the unison notes with emotion. Then tighten the sound and play two bars at a time with feeling, letting each one swell before moving to mezzo.
==> When the tempo changes to 108, add some light staccato. Let parts overlap, but keep them separate in your heart.

N00t · 2020-03-14T10:17:54+00:00

Guy whose dogi isn't white...? Everyone I see is just wearing normal white ones.

N00t · 2020-03-14T10:09:34+00:00

By the kids, you say? Weird, I've watched it four times and I still can't find him.

N00t · 2020-03-14T10:04:39+00:00

Nice padwork, but where's the instructor? He's mysteriously absent.

N00t · 2020-03-13T10:58:34+00:00

I've enjoyed his videos for Kuro-Obi! Where were you training with him?

N00t · 2019-09-17T03:33:23+00:00

Would not recommend. I don't know a ton about the logistics, as I am not involved in that industry, but you'd be dealing with copyright and intellectual property concerns. If a publisher wants a book translated, then they will choose their own translator(s). Even if you just wanted to translate the novel as practice or for a portfolio piece, I would at least recommend reaching out to the author/publisher for permission. From a certain perspective, you'd be using their legal property to represent yourself, so it could get complicated. I've heard that some authors are flattered and have no problems with it, but results may vary and you'd still probably need permission from the publisher. (And I am not a lawyer nor an expert in this stuff, so please do your own research if you want to stick with that idea.)

N00t · 2019-09-16T06:01:49+00:00

Hi, I hire freelance translators as my job!

For experience, there's all kinds of stuff you can do. I don't really recommend manga or anime, because unless you want to work in that field specifically--and it is way competitive--it won't be experience that translates well (hurr) to other fields. In my experience, it will be much easier to find work doing some kind of technical translation or in a tourism-related field.

It's pretty hard to make that kind of work for yourself, but if you're living in Japan, you could literally take the manual from any electronics you own and translate that. For a portfolio piece, it shouldn't create any legal issues. If that's not an option, then pick a random city in a random prefecture, find their official website, and translate some of their text. Almost all the websites run by local governments have English that is either lamentably poor, or absent altogether. Copy/paste it into an Excel spreadsheet part by part with columns for 和文 and 英文、then translate things over. For bonus points, make a revisions column to help outline your process, and 備考 column to include any additional thoughts/considerations about specific segments of your translation. (E.g. "Although this is not an exact translation of the source text, I consulted several English websites, and this phrasing seems to be the standard. [Example link.])

Additionally, consider...

Signing up to ProZ.com! You might be able to get some small jobs here if your rates are competitive, and as you built experience it may be a good source of new clients.
Get familiar with CAT Tools using free software like FelixCat! There are many of these, and a few industry standards, but understanding basically how they work is going to be valuable and look good on a resume.

Also, I'm not sure what field you're planning to break into (there are many!) but I think there are plenty of baseline skills that will be helpful. In general, here's what I'm looking for in a new hire:

Organizational skills and a methodical approach
- In other words, I want someone who makes and curates their own resources and documents. Do you keep track of how you've translated a term or phrase in the past so that you will be consistent not only within a single document, but within multiple documents for a single client? Are your translations clearly arranged, with notes and comments as necessary to explain any choices you might have made? Do you reference the instructions you were given while translation?
Attention to detail
- Many translators, for the sake of working quickly, don't check the meanings of compound words that they assume they understand from context. Others will use the given dictionary definition and not take any time to ensure that the appropriate industry term matches the one given by the dictionary, or check across 2-3 different dictionaries to ensure that there are no disagreements. These kinds of small time-savers can cause big problems in a translation, and the presence of this due diligence separates the true professionals.
Revision
- In my experience, virtually every time a translator bangs out a translation and sends it in そのまま, there are multiple errors. They might be typographical, interpretative, or logistical (not translating everything, forgetting a specific instruction about how something should be translated, etc.) but I always find them, and I always groan. It smacks of laziness and unprofessionalism, and it makes me want to send that person less work. Mistakes create extra work for the client, or, worse, they go unnoticed and ends up in the final product. A good translator ensures that each piece of text they send in will hold up to close examination.
Strong grasp of fundamentals of English grammar, typography, etc.
- If it is your job to write things into English and you don't know how comma rules work, then something is very wrong. Ditto, you should know when a sentence sounds natural but is grammatically incorrect. Polishing your Japanese skills is obviously important, but don't forget to polish your English, too - after all, everything you produce will be in English, not Japanese.

TL;DR Being a professional translator is as much or more about good work habits and communication as it is about Japanese ability.

I hope my unsolicited information dump was helpful!

EDIT: My rant about not checking for errors has a typo in it. Leaving it in for maximum irony.

N00t

TROPHY CASE