http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/khpprize/

It's a small text so anybody can give it a try. I think that some of the more advanced learners might be interested in trying.

The prize money is pretty insignificant, but I wonder how much the previous winners earn from the publishing royalties...

It's probably best looked at as something to put on your resume. Maybe I'll give it a shot if I'm bored. The text is really short and seems easy, so it's really just a matter of how well you can write English prose.

I wouldn't call 30 000 yen insignificant. Should pay for a good lunch at least.

Jarvik7 Wrote:The prize money is pretty insignificant, but I wonder how much the previous winners earn from the publishing royalties...

So, do you employ a full time monocle polisher, or does he just work weekdays?

In a couple of years, I'll enter this competition. Until then I'll use it as motivation.

I might do a translation for fun, but I will definitely not submit it.

JimmySeal Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:The prize money is pretty insignificant, but I wonder how much the previous winners earn from the publishing royalties...

So, do you employ a full time monocle polisher, or does he just work weekdays?

Look at it from Jarvik's point of view: he's a professional translator. That means he knows the going rate for translating material of this size. He's made the suggestion about a previous contest where this is a business trying to get a translation done on the cheap, though that may not be the case here or even there.

As for what amount of money counts as insignificant, that will change from person to person and over time. A topic for another thread though.

Basically I would make almost as much money translating & proofing a text that size without having to gamble on winning a contest. 3man isn't a lot of money (definitely not enough to hire a monocle polisher, at least not a certified one). Translation prizes are normally a lot bigger, but this publisher has a grand total of three employees so I guess you can't demand too much. I believe you have to give up 10-20% tax on that too depending on what country you live in.

However, the winning translator gets royalties (how much it doesn't say) on publication, so it might add up to a decent sum (likely not).

Like I said, it's good as something to put on your resume and to get your name published (in most other translation you're uncredited). There is very little money in translating fiction (relative to the work required) since there is virtually no market for translated books, but if it's an industry you want to get into (most fiction translators do it for the love of the source text, as a side job/hobby)...

Where are the kanji on the first page of the source material? The whole thing is written almost entirely in hiragana... Is this on purpose so it's harder to figure out the exact meaning?

Raschaverak Wrote:Where are the kanji on the first page of the source material? The whole thing is written almost entirely in hiragana... Is this on purpose so it's harder to figure out the exact meaning?

It's pretty clear once you've read more than a page or so why it's that way. I suspect that one of the trickier bits of translating it properly is coming up with a good way of representing that in the translation without it looking awful.

(incidentally, did anybody else think the bit in the rules about "translators are requested to purchase the book" was a bit off?)

Wow I was just going to post something about this! I received an e-mail the other day from an old professor about this.

So did anyone read the story yet? I just checked it out, but I can't say I found it particularly interesting unfortunately. I actually found it a little lame. Oh well, I'll still translate it and see if I even have the slightest chance of winning.

I quite liked the story actually. (I also was amused by the way the dog knows how to start a formal letter with seasonal reference and everything...)

Maybe I was too upset by all the hiragana to care what the dog was saying. Not that it made it difficult to understand, just surprising difficult to read. It took me at least 3 times longer to read through the hiragana portion than it did the portion with the kanji. It was irritating.

Hard to read sideways. Didn't care enough to see if there's some kind of flip button.

I always wanted to ask this question, how do I get into the translation business if I can't get a translation job b/c of having no translation experience?
Obviously I'll wait till I get fluent. But just in general.

I think the same can be applied to how some people have no work experience in there field but expect to get a job in that field.

Ryuujin27 Wrote:Maybe I was too upset by all the hiragana to care what the dog was saying. Not that it made it difficult to understand, just surprising difficult to read. It took me at least 3 times longer to read through the hiragana portion than it did the portion with the kanji. It was irritating.

same here.

ta12121 Wrote:I always wanted to ask this question, how do I get into the translation business if I can't get a translation job b/c of having no translation experience?

This web page, which collects some answers to that question, is getting on for a decade and a half old now but I don't suppose that things have changed much.

pm215 Wrote:

ta12121 Wrote:I always wanted to ask this question, how do I get into the translation business if I can't get a translation job b/c of having no translation experience?

This web page, which collects some answers to that question, is getting on for a decade and a half old now but I don't suppose that things have changed much.

thanks really helpful.