SmashWiki talk:Twelve and Twenty-Six Translation Project

I really feel like there's a lot of useful information locked in the Japanese of the SSB64 and SSBM websites - things like the official names of "sex kick" and "angling", and in SSB64's case, names for characters' entire movesets. SO I figured we should have some sort of initiative to decode it, and have a hub for putting the information translated out of it. The main problem is getting enough Japanese-knowing people, really. Toomai Glittershine The Inconceivable 14:11, 5 August 2011 (EDT)

That could work. Contact Mato of Earthbound Central. He's a proffensinal Japanese to English translator who did the English fan translation of Mother 3, and Shiegesto Itoi's website among other things. His e-mail is clyde-mandelin@starmen.net BlindcoloursWho ARE YOU running from!?!? 14:14, 5 August 2011 (EDT)

As he replied to your post, BC/Zoom!, he's not particularly available. Miles (talk) 17:31, 5 August 2011 (EDT)

Do people agree with the sentiment that the best way to do this would be to essentially duplicate the page setups of the site? Toomai Glittershine The Eggster 20:01, 21 August 2011 (EDT)

Definitely. The only problem is obtaining someone who has both a) the Japanese translation skills and b) the time/dedication/interest. Miles (talk) 22:22, 21 August 2011 (EDT)

So you guys need mostly names, right? I can't translate entire blocks of text (my Japanese grammar isn't quite up to par), but names of stuff - movesets and so on - I can give a shot. (I guess I could try descriptions of moves, too? Try, anyway...) platinatina 19:25, 25 August 2011 (EDT)

Names are useful, and that's part of what we're looking for, but the main intent of this project is to capture the text. Toomai Glittershine The Incomprehensible 19:37, 25 August 2011 (EDT)

A mere Google Translation of SSB64's website unveals a huge amount of info. They have details on every individual attack, as well as good uses. And the strategies on there aren't just "basic" stuff. It evaluates the pros and cons of each character, and shows the best situations to use their attacks (remember, most of SSB64's techs were intentionally put into the game). Mr. Anon (talk) 22:19, 25 August 2011 (EDT)

You guys, I can actually get in touch with someone who knows Japanese. --RoyboyX (talk) 18:55, 12 September 2011 (EDT)

That would be useful if they're willing to help. Toomai Glittershine The Undirigible 21:14, 23 September 2011 (EDT)

Well

I could try to create a rough translation of Smabura-Ken using basic info and dechipering of Google Translate's hilarious Engrish. Not sure about page setup though.Blindcolours You lose, but so do I. We both win. 21:33, 12 September 2011 (EDT)

See my post above. And translators do stuff to Japanese that is bad. --RoyboyX (talk) 21:44, 12 September 2011 (EDT)

Hey guys, I'm new to SmashWiki

I lurked around the wiki for informational purposes before, but I couldn't help but sign up to help out with this translation project you guys are working on. I think this is a great thing you guys are doing, as the Smash Bros. Japanese websites do indeed have valuable information not found anywhere else. I will first start off by saying that I know a fair amount of Japanese, and I'm willing to help translate these websites and bring the project up to speed.

Not only that, I'm also willing to get in contact with other Japanese people to help me with the translations. I have a good connection with the people at the Nico Nico Douga community, and most of them are big fans of Smash Bros. I'll admit that I'm not a professional Japanese speaker, but I studied 4 years so far and I'm still going at it. Probably most important is that I know a lot of the Japanese gaming lingo, so that will help out a lot too.

The only thing I'm not so sure about, since I'm new, is how to format and edit the pages in the wiki. I honestly feel more comfortable using a notepad when translating, but I'm sure I can figure out where the sentences go as long as the pages are formatted and ready to be translated. I'm sorry I couldn't help out converting the Dojo website format to the Wiki, but again, I'm willing to do as much as I can to help translate.

For now, I'm going to start off by fixing the errors in the translated pages since they are already formatted and editable. --NefariousShyGuy (talk) 18:45, 13 September 2013 (EDT)

Good stuff. Here's what I suggest for not-yet-formatted-yet pages: Do your translation whatever way you like, but use HTML comments to note things such as <!--start blue text-->. I'll then handle the formatting. Toomai Glittershine Da Bomb 19:26, 13 September 2013 (EDT)

A few questions about the background of the project

I want a few answers to make sure I know what you guys want out of the project.

First off, do you want the translation of the site to be as literal as possible, or do you want it more similar to how the Brawl Dojo was translated with its own unique style?

Second, do you have the goal of translating the entire website, or just the most important sections that talk about the gameplay? I ask this because I think other smaller pages such as the preface are just as important since it explains what the website is exactly about: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n01/n64/software/nus_p_nalj/smash/Preface.html

Third, exactly how many people are involved in this project so far? From the looks of it, it seems your resources are a bit limited.

Fourth, do you think the project is progressing well, or slowly? If I'm correct, this project has started since 2011, and you guys still only translated a few pages so far.

Lastly, are you guys willing to drop the sentence-by-sentence translation and the colored highlights entirely? Personally I think it's best to just translate paragraph-by-paragraph since it will allow a much more accurate and smooth translation.

Thank you. --NefariousShyGuy (talk) 18:55, 13 September 2013 (EDT)

I don't speak for everyone, but here's what I think:

1. More literal would be nice. I'd like to see as little translation bias as possible.
2. Gameplay stuff should come first. Things like the preface can come afterwards; I personally consider it more of a "phase 2". The reams of fanmail would be an optional bonus (who knows, maybe something really juicy's in there, but there's so much of it...).
3. Basically, just me. And I don't even know any Japanese, I'm just doing a lot of patchwork with Google Translate and websites that tell me some basic meanings of kanji and the alphabet of hirigana/katakana.
4. Slowly, but not badly.
5. There are two main reasons things are currently translated by-the-line:
   • The rollovers to see the original text aren't too long. (We could always just scrap that, but I think it's useful to readers who happen along and think "hey, I know a better way to put that".)
   • The formatting and line count can be kept very similar.

The accuracy highlights I think should stay even if things are translated in paragraphs, since it warns readers of sections we currently aren't too sure on. Toomai Glittershine Da Bomb 19:26, 13 September 2013 (EDT)

1. Will do. But just so you know I will most likely translate it in a way that's a bit more interesting to read, as if it were a Wiki article or game manual, rather than just doing it in a purely simple manner.
2. Alrighty. In nature I'm more of a "A to Z" type of guy, but I understand if you want the important stuff translated first.
3. Well glad I came here to help, this project could definitely use some support.
4. You were doing a great job pulling all of this off by the way.
5. Okay, if that's how it is then I'll follow the sentence-by-sentence structure as best as I can. Keep in mind though, that there will probably be breaks in-between sentences that may look a bit awkward because of the formatting. I'll try my best to avoid them though.

For the most part I will rarely highlight something that I'm not sure on, but the accuracy system is definitely useful for editing. Now that a lot of Japanese speakers are involved in this though, I don't think it would be as necessary. I guess I'm just very eager to having something official and ready to be published. I'll use this system to my advantage anyway since it's a really useful one. --NefariousShyGuy (talk) 21:05, 13 September 2013 (EDT)

I hope you don't mind that I edited your post to be one block instead of interlaced with mine. It's easier to follow that way. Toomai Glittershine The Incomprehensible 18:10, 14 September 2013 (EDT)

Permission to rewrite the translations

I improved the translation of the first section at the 1st Dojo 64 page, but I just don't like how limited the translation is because of the sentence-by-sentence structure. I understand it's for the sake of rollovers and resembling it to the original page, but it's possible to retain both of those features even if you translate it by paragraph with a bit of reformatting.

With that said, I ask that I rewrite the entire translation to make it more readable and friendlier to English speakers. I plan on translating it in the style of how the Brawl Dojo was translated. Although I can't keep the translation as literal as possible like you want, I will for sure keep the content of the sentences as literal as possible. Meaning, I won't alter any of Sakurai's words or have translation bias. I promise that this translation will keep the heart of the original Dojo 64 website, including the way it looks visually and the way Sakurai expresses his feelings on the subject. So please, can I just translate it in its entirety instead of by sentence?

Thank you, and sorry for the interruption. --NefariousShyGuy (talk) 16:50, 14 September 2013 (EDT)

Let's see how it looks. Toomai Glittershine The Orchestral 18:03, 14 September 2013 (EDT)

I just updated part of the first Dojo 64 page and made it more of my liking. What do you think? When compared to the original website in terms of layout, it's far from being an identical twin, but I think the material and content is pretty faithful to the original myself, and that's more important. --NefariousShyGuy (talk) 2:40, 21 September 2013