Hiya!!

I'm looking for websites i can practise translation with. Preferably with some complex grammar and boring subject matter i might not have all the vocabulary for.

There's plenty of things i could try if i wanted to translate interesting stuff like TV or literature, but that's not really what i want to do right now.

The main problem i'm having is finding boring stuff with the English translation to compare... there's sites like wired.jp, but then, they're translated from english in the 1st place, and aren't hugely complex.

Anyone know any good websites?

Sorry, don't know any.

Probably you already know, but ALC offers you some nice example sentences (with the respective English translation). You may simply search for "interesting" words...many IT sentences, stuff about law and science may be found that way...

How about:

作用が異常に強いか、あるいは毒性又は予期せぬ薬理作用のあることが知られている分解生成物については、その分解生成物をコントロールすべきレベルまで分析可能な定量限界／検出限界を持つ分析法を用いる必要がある。

For degradation products known to be unusually potent or to produce toxic or unexpected pharmacological effects, the quantitation/detection limit of the analytical procedures should be commensurate with the level at which the degradation products should be controlled.

source: http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E4%BD%9C%E7%94%A8

PS: I can't recall any specific title, but there are lots of books on this topic. japanese-english (and vice versa) translation that is...

Also interested here. I actually bought "the routledge course in japanese translation". I'm now reading and it's pretty good. It has exercises, but when I have no computer around me can't do them because sometimes there are words I don't know.

@CarolinaCG and IceCream: Tried http://yaqs.co.jp already? They have considerably difficult texts to translate, I think. I tried and I'm waiting for my test-results now
Good point: if you're good, you can get paid Check it out at any rate!

You should get this book. It has a ton of exercises, but it covers a ton of topics that'll make you consider things you've probably never thought about before. It made me appreciate the fact that there's a lot more to translation than being bi-lingual, so it's well worth studying it a bit.

Javizy Wrote:You should get this book. It has a ton of exercises, but it covers a ton of topics that'll make you consider things you've probably never thought about before. It made me appreciate the fact that there's a lot more to translation than being bi-lingual, so it's well worth studying it a bit.

qft. This is the book I was talking about. Still reading it, slowly. Since I'm taking a master in japanese-portuguese translation, I might as well go with some basics already nailed down.

Maybe try watching anime fansubs. The good translators are really good. There's definitely Anime that are super difficult to trAnslate For whatever reasons

http://8ths.in/fantranslation-guide/

Cool, i bought that Routledge one the other day, waiting for it to arrive . So if it has tons of excersises that's great!!!

ALC is a good idea too, i hadn't thought of that... the sources are linked, so there should be some helpful stuff there.

Or maybe i'll just practise on Breaking into Japanese Literature until the Routledge book arrives... it's soooo hard to convince myself to do something boring lol.

@Tori: Yeah, i applied for YAQS earlier this week. And then regretted that i hadn't practised 1st or checked it over before pressing send, because i made a couple of silly errors, hahah. Nothing too serious, so hopefully it'll slide through, but yknow, if it doesn't, it's a real waste of an opportunity. The test wasn't particularly difficult, or horrifically boring. So now, i practise!!!

CarolinaCG Wrote:

Javizy Wrote:You should get this book. It has a ton of exercises, but it covers a ton of topics that'll make you consider things you've probably never thought about before. It made me appreciate the fact that there's a lot more to translation than being bi-lingual, so it's well worth studying it a bit.

qft. This is the book I was talking about. Still reading it, slowly. Since I'm taking a master in japanese-portuguese translation, I might as well go with some basics already nailed down.

Sorry, I jumped straight in with my recommendation. It's a useful book

I'm very tempted to buy that book but it it's pretty expensive so I'm wondering if it's worth it. Can someone tell me what the the answers to the practice questions are like? Does it give detailed explanations as to why it's been done that way, or just provide an example translation?

@IceCream or others who have taken the yakusu test:
Could you kindly tell me how much time they give you for such a trial translation? 5min, 10? and what about the text length? Is it half a page or just a few lines...?

Thank you.

it's not timed, so there's really no excuse for mistakes lol.

It's not particularly long or complex, (i don't know whether you're assigned a random one) but mine was just a product description that seemed like it could be from Rakuten or somewhere like that.

@Shinichirou/IceCream: I had to translate something for a rice cooker.. I had a native check my translation afterwards, too E-J translation is somewhat easier for me, I'm pretty losing hope in accomplishing a good J-E translation.
If it was timed, then it would have been even more difficult, but I took like 3 days to accomplish it

why not look for places to do Japanese - German?

As far as i understand, you really shouldn't ever try translating into your 2nd language (unless of course, you're really really truly native level fluent). If it's just for fun, it's no big deal, but certainly not professionally...

Splatted Wrote:I'm very tempted to buy that book but it it's pretty expensive so I'm wondering if it's worth it. Can someone tell me what the the answers to the practice questions are like? Does it give detailed explanations as to why it's been done that way, or just provide an example translation?

It has some good tips in the answer section. The gold is in the theory and explanations. So many avoided pitfalls without the embarrassment/frustration of learning through error. You might be able to get it cheaper on The Book Depository. It had about 18% off when I bought it and I had a 10% coupon. Ended up paying under £18 I think. It's quite a decent sized text that covers a lot of material and takes some studying, so I think you get your money's worth.

J-E translation is not easy but it's not hard (depending on the text). The hardest problem is making it sound natural in English and correct. I'm doing a translation for a friend and the trouble isn't decoding or breaking down the Japanese but making the overall feeling of what it means in Japanese and conveying it in English. I'll definitely be reading books on this.

Hope we can all get translation jobs (I'll definitely be trying for a few pretty soon).

ta12121 Wrote:Hope we can all get translation jobs (I'll definitely be trying for a few pretty soon).

Yeah glgl everyone!!!

btw, does that Routledge book also cover literary translation btw? I decided i'd have a go at translating Read Read Japanese Essays, got to the end of the 1st chapter, then realised i have no way of assessing whether the translation i'd just done was any good or not. How is literary translation assessed?? I really have no idea...

Actually the book covers mostly literary translation. I myself am way, way more interested in business translation.

oh really?? That's kind of odd... i mean, i know there's a lot more to literary translation and everything, (personally, i find it more interesting) but it seems there's practically no real way of making a living out of it either. So you'd think there'd be a quality book on the market about translating business japanese... apparently not...?

Javizy Wrote:

Splatted Wrote:I'm very tempted to buy that book but it it's pretty expensive so I'm wondering if it's worth it. Can someone tell me what the the answers to the practice questions are like? Does it give detailed explanations as to why it's been done that way, or just provide an example translation?

It has some good tips in the answer section. The gold is in the theory and explanations. So many avoided pitfalls without the embarrassment/frustration of learning through error. You might be able to get it cheaper on The Book Depository. It had about 18% off when I bought it and I had a 10% coupon. Ended up paying under £18 I think. It's quite a decent sized text that covers a lot of material and takes some studying, so I think you get your money's worth.

Thanks, I think I'm gonna buy it. I do feel it would be good to have some kind of guidance as to what constitutes a good translation.

@IceCream, Tori-kun: Thanks for sharing this information.

...I think I'm also gonna buy this book, though it IS expensive.

Will buy this one eventually


http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E8%8B%B1%E6%97%...048&sr=1-1

I've been thinking of ordering some books on translation for a while, and with the advice from this thread, I've gone ahead and ordered the Rutledge book. I also went ahead and ordered this one, 'cause it had a catchy title and some good reviews:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/That-Fish-Your-E...512&sr=1-1

CarolinaCG Wrote:Will buy this one eventually


http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E8%8B%B1%E6%97%...048&sr=1-1

Looks interesting, and it has some example translations with annotations available with Amazon's look inside feature as well. They're probably worth doing even if you don't buy the book.