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Why do you say it is "oddball"?that oddball Japanese in the HP books
Why do you say it is "oddball"?
I don't agree with the latter statement. In fact, 翻訳調 "translatese" often has a negative nuance. There might be a tendency like the former one, but it's not always so especially in literature. The translation of the book indeed sounds translatese-like, but not too much to me. That's a "normal" translation of foreign language.Thanks for taking the time to look at it Toritoribe.
1. So, apart from one small error, would you say that it is normal and natural Japanese for a story of this kind written at a fairly simple level for young people?
2. Also, I found a statement at another forum:
In Japan the norm is to translate quite literally and maintain sentence/paragraph structure as much as possible, resulting in obviously foreign sounding texts. [...] Something that is localized to the point where you couldn't tell it was originally written in English would be considered a bad translation.
Would you agree or diagree with this statement generally, and would you agree with it in the specific case of what you see in the preview of this book?
Thanks, would you be able to give any specific or typical examples of "translatese-like" language in the book, and help me understand why it is "translatese-like" and how it differs from the more native way of saying it?The translation of the book indeed sounds translatese-like, but not too much to me.
While I haven't read any EN→JP translated stuff, I have read a lot of JP→EN "abominations". You know, the cringe worthy awkward and overly literal sentences. I'm guessing it's no different for EN→JP.Thanks, would you be able to give any specific or typical examples of "translatese-like" language in the book, and help me understand why it is "translatese-like" and how it differs from the more native way of saying it?
I don't think it'll make anything harder, you'll just know odd slang and some 敬語 a lot better than some other stuff.Also, do you think that getting too accustomed to this style might make it harder for me to eventually graduate to native Japanese literature?
For instance;Thanks, would you be able to give any specific or typical examples of "translatese-like" language in the book, and help me understand why it is "translatese-like" and how it differs from the more native way of saying it?
No.Also, do you think that getting too accustomed to this style might make it harder for me to eventually graduate to native Japanese literature?
I too find translation/localization quite interesting, but from my experience (mostly entertainment works; anime/novels/games etc.), the English side of things is generally not so good.I do admit I find translations of things I've already read/seen in English interesting. There's always going to be a little awkwardness, I think it's inescapable, but it's fun to see how people decide to handle things which don't map easily from one language to another.
For instance;
とはいえ、警察がイライラしながら言っているように、恐怖が死因だなんて話、誰が聞いたことがあるというのか?
フランクのほうは、子供達が自分を苦しめるのは、その親や祖父母と同じように、自分を殺人者だと思っているからと考えていた。
プリベッド通りは、土曜日の明け方に、郊外のきちんとした町並みはこうでなければならない、といった模範的なたたずまいだった。
常々ハリーをなるべく惨めにしておきたいという思いがある上に、ハリーの力を恐れていたので、ダーズリーたちは夏休みになると、ハリーの学校用のトランクを階段下の物置に入れて鍵をかけておいたものだった。
It's hard to point out where the oddness is come from exactly, but the flow of the sentence is awkward, especially comparing to デューク.Could you give some hint as to what it is about these sentences that makes them "translatese"? Making inferences from the comparison of texts that you offered is not possible for me I'm afraid.
A pattern that is quite common in these books is to have some dialogue 「 ... 」, followed by a fairly long phrase explaining something else happening at the time this was said, finally followed by an indication of who said it. For example:It's hard to point out where the oddness is come from exactly, but the flow of the sentence is awkward, especially comparing to デューク.
@killerinsidee
You might find this interesting: Skyrim公式日本語版の誤訳悪訳珍訳 - The Elder Scrolls Wiki 日本語版 - ウィキア
The one I remember being well-known and also an obvious mistranslation that a translation checker ought to have caught is "最初の仲間" for "First Mate" (in the marine sense). This isn't a tiddlybit indie game company here, either!
Not at all.A pattern that is quite common in these books is to have some dialogue 「 ... 」, followed by a fairly long phrase explaining something else happening at the time this was said, finally followed by an indication of who said it. For example:
「あぁぁら、それは悲劇ですこと」フラーが玄関ホールのほうに出て行くのを見ながら、ハーマイオニーがピシャリと言った。
Is this style at all awkward or "translatese-like"?