User:Splashman

My mu starts with You!



=What's this schmirdn all about?=


 * Local schmirdn
 * Freelance diety
 * Eater of M&M's
 * Self-proclaimed German lead-translator
 * Kickstarted the Touhou 4Kids concept along with Dancingbug11
 * Always trapped with half a foot in Gensoukyou since 2007

Du Röhre!

=Translation philosophy= My goal is not to create a 1:1 German copy of THWiki's English content, because everybody can do that.

Whenever I'm doing translations, I have a couple of guidelines in mind:

1. Stay as close to the context and spirit of the original as possible. Even though my Japanese is limited, I try to make the most out of NJStar's dictionary. Whenver I don't understand something, I can still use the English version as a reference.

2. Learn how the characters speak and figure out how they would sound in my language. Most of Touhou's dialogue is just friendly casual banter (even in the face of death), so there's no harm in putting a bit of colloquial or local idioms in their mouths here and there. Even more important is figuring out their intention, which literally means reading between the lines. Good example, Youmu in Th07:

"あなたはここで斬られて" "おしまいなのよ"

"I'm going to cut you down here and you'll meet your end."

"Du wirst hier und jetzt geköpft!  ''Das wird dein Ende, kapiert?" ''

With the two lines separated in JP, Youmu makes it clear that she's fed up with Reimu not listening to her, so her intention would be

"I'll kill you here and now to fulfil my duty. You're gonna die here, don't you get it?" ''

What this means is not being afraid of adding new words to whatever ZUN originally wrote.

3. Lastly, this is my biggest aim: Make the dialogue flow and fun to read! I can't stand it when the characters recite each individual line like an instruction book! It sounds boring and nobody talks like that in real life, not to mention you'll have a harder time understanding what's going on. So I always keep in mind the enjoyment of the player, which is ultimately what video games and Touhou is all about. Having fun, right? That, and hardcore danmaku. And the concept of borders. And Japanese mythology. And armpit mikos. And fanart. And memes. And beer. Ok, I'll stop.