Translations

[Mr March]

I'm getting the bug to work on some mecha profiles recently. I figured I'd at least give it a shot and see how well I do. Looking over the available Macross information online, it's come to my attention that aside from what is posted at the Macross Compendium, there is very little "official" text on the Valkyries, the SDF-1 Macross, and other military materiel for the Macross universe. Mostly, you get RPG crap and conjecture.

So, I'm curious if anyone has any translated text on the Macross mecha, literature that you notice is missing from the currently available online sources. Any historical/technical paragraphs or any such thing available on the Macross mecha? I'll write the stuff myself if need be, but being as faithfull to the franchise as possible I'd like to see if I can find anything official first.

Thanks.

Edited November 11, 2006 by Mr March

[Mr March]

No catches huh?

[Zinjo]

I've got the untranslated stuff...

I'm particularly interested in Miyatake Kazutaka's notes about the Macross 7 capital ships...

[Mr March]

I've got the untranslated stuff...

So do I. I own Macross Perfect Memory, Macross The Movie (Gold Book), and both Kawamori Design Works. Unfortunately, I don't read japanese so I only have the Macross Compendium to go off and the odd translated trivia that I've remembered from my time here in MW.

It's not much and I need more.

[briscojr84]

So do I. I own Macross Perfect Memory, Macross The Movie (Gold Book), and both Kawamori Design Works. Unfortunately, I don't read japanese so I only have the Macross Compendium to go off and the odd translated trivia that I've remembered from my time here in MW.

It's not much and I need more.

It's too bad we can't find some one to translate it and then maybe put it up as a pinned thread or a section on someone's web page or something like that.

[Mr March]

I don't think I'd need the whole of the books translated, though naturally I wouldn't object if someone did. I'd like translated text on just the sections about mecha and ships, since those are the subjects on which I want to work. Still, I know it's a tall order even to get one page translated. But it couldn't hurt to ask.

[briscojr84]

I don't think I'd need the whole of the books translated, though naturally I wouldn't object if someone did. I'd like translated text on just the sections about mecha and ships, since those are the subjects on which I want to work. Still, I know it's a tall order even to get one page translated. But it couldn't hurt to ask.

Oops, I didn't mean the whole books either sorry.

[Nied]

Nanashi (or whatever he's calling himself now) occasionally posts stuff like this, but then he'll put up his new "coming soon" banner on Macrossmecha (or whatever he's calling it now) and it all disapears. I love that he goes through the trouble (both in time and money) to translate the stuff but it's frustrating how he doesn't leave it up.

On a related note, I seem to remember a project from a while back to translate some of the text accompanying the various Valkyrie color schemes in TIA:M+. Whatever happened to that?

[Knight26]

The semester before I graduated I had a friend who spoke and read Japanesse who volunteered to translate the whole of my Gold Book and Perfect Memory. Unfortunately it would have taken him the whole of the summer and I had to move for my job, makes me want to find someone here on base who is fluent and ask them.

[Mr March]

Nanashi (or whatever he's calling himself now) occasionally posts stuff like this, but then he'll put up his new "coming soon" banner on Macrossmecha (or whatever he's calling it now) and it all disapears. I love that he goes through the trouble (both in time and money) to translate the stuff but it's frustrating how he doesn't leave it up.

I have thought about that, but there are problems I can foresee...

• This is a free, fan based project that I hope will be posted on the MAHQ. Credit is given to whoever works on it, currently just myself, but hopefully a second member. From what I vaguely remember, Nanashi had some odd demands regarding scanned pictures and translated text that he declared his own. This would not work for a fair-use fan project that's shared online, as it would be if Chris G. posts my contributions on the MAHQ.
• Nanashi was apparently angry with criticism of his above policy and critics noting his lack of any completed work during his time here on MW. There was also apparently some forum battle between Nanashi and Egan Loo over "accurate" translations and the difference between canon and japanese "fan works" that kept creeping into Nanashi's work. So there is apparently some bad blood between Nanashi and MW, so I doubt he'd answer to a request for help from a MW member like myself.
• Don't even know where to look to get a hold of him. That old website you quoted is no longer there.

On a related note, I seem to remember a project from a while back to translate some of the text accompanying the various Valkyrie color schemes in TIA:M+. Whatever happened to that?

I'd be very interested in this. Maybe this thread will dig up some answers.

Edited November 16, 2006 by Mr March

[Roy Focker]

Well besides trying to make friends with a Japanese person you always hire a professional to translate it.

[Mr March]

Well besides trying to make friends with a Japanese person you always hire a professional to translate it.

I'm between jobs myself at the moment, but I've considered that and may be worth doing once I'm working again.

[yellowlightman]

[*]Nanashi was apparently angry with criticism of his above policy and critics noting his lack of any completed work during his time here on MW. There was also apparently some forum battle between Nanashi and Egan Loo over "accurate" translations and the difference between canon and japanese "fan works" that kept creeping into Nanashi's work. So there is apparently some bad blood between Nanashi and MW, so I doubt he'd answer to a request for help from a MW member like myself.

I think it was less of a "battle" and more Egan Loo coming in and correcting a whole bunch of his posts for accuracy. That said, he wasn't doing the translating himself (I believe he had a friend or was hiring someone to do it) so asking him might be a moot point anyways.

Another option might be to have members make a donation towards getting oa book or two translated. Probably out of the realm of possibility given MW's general apathy towards ambitious projects, but if the chance arose I'd certainly kick in some money to help it along. Smaller donations of $5-$10 certainly wouldn't be much of a strain for MW'ers either, but I have no idea how much such a translation would cost.

[sketchley]

Translations really depend on the availability of other translators in the area, and difficulty of the text.

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=ja&q=translation+costs

The first link that I accessed gave a rough quote of $0.25 USD per word, for most European languages (with a discount for more than 75-100 pages ordered.)

The other thing to take note is that the translations will vary depending on the translators knowledge of Macross. If you check Egan Loo's website, there are even contradicting translations. Try a google search on his site for Supervision Army and Inspection Army. We all know that they stem from the same Japanese word, yet they both appear in his site, in different places.

I have done Macross translations before, but due to running into individuals that demanded B/S 'translations in triplet'* and other headaches mostly involving denial and disbelief, I decline to do any more (plus I'm busy with baby, and getting my own manga off the ground.)

You'll be able to find some of the translations I've done in the statistics discussion forum of this PBP-RPG: http://macrossroleplay.org/forums/index.php?board=8.0

as well as my own translations (mixed with stats from the Macross Compendium, and some RPG conventions):

http://www.macrossroleplay.org/Sketchley/Statistics/VF11.htm

http://www.macrossroleplay.org/Sketchley/S...ai/VF11DKai.htm

http://www.macrossroleplay.org/Sketchley/Statistics/VF22.htm

and http://unsd.macrossroleplay.org/untamed.html (though I revised the translations, and sent them to the author of the page, and he hasn't revised it.)

All are as is (it's safe to say that most of the background description isn't canon. Refer to the Compendium for more accurate background descriptions.)

If possibile, I can try to answer any questions about them, but it has been a few months to years...

Re: Nanashi - his policy of claiming rights over images under someone else's copyright is a bit too much, IMHO. Asking for credit where credit is due (a la Egan Loo's policy with the Compendium) is more than enough, IMHO. As it's all material that is under someone else's copyright, claiming ownership is, well, violating a law, somewhere.

That said, I thought the biggest greivance with him is his lack of citing his source material(s) in some kind of a bibliography. I may be mistaken mind you. Internet and hearsay, et al...

* by three different people

[Mr March]

I think it was less of a "battle" and more Egan Loo coming in and correcting a whole bunch of his posts for accuracy. That said, he wasn't doing the translating himself (I believe he had a friend or was hiring someone to do it) so asking him might be a moot point anyways.

Another option might be to have members make a donation towards getting oa book or two translated. Probably out of the realm of possibility given MW's general apathy towards ambitious projects, but if the chance arose I'd certainly kick in some money to help it along. Smaller donations of $5-$10 certainly wouldn't be much of a strain for MW'ers either, but I have no idea how much such a translation would cost.

I don't know the details and I'm not really interested anyway. Point being, it was worth considering for all of the five minutes it took me to fully analyze all the problems with contacting this person and the idea was already rejected by default.

I want to try to do as much of the work myself since group projects have a way of dissolving over time. I know if I set a constraint for the work, I can get it done, just as long as I do it within a reasonable time frame (currently, nor more than 4-5 months). My only big problem is my lack of a scanner, since I own so many of the books that contain the lineart. The translations are something I MAY be able to solve on a limited basis; one of my roomates speaks and reads japanese. But for a large portion of the text I require, I can't rely on him. The sharing project sounds great, but like you said, getting people to act would be problematic.

Good suggestions regardless.

[Mr March]

The other thing to take note is that the translations will vary depending on the translators knowledge of Macross. If you check Egan Loo's website, there are even contradicting translations. Try a google search on his site for Supervision Army and Inspection Army. We all know that they stem from the same Japanese word, yet they both appear in his site, in different places.

I have done Macross translations before, but due to running into individuals that demanded B/S 'translations in triplet'* and other headaches mostly involving denial and disbelief, I decline to do any more (plus I'm busy with baby, and getting my own manga off the ground.)

I've already thought of that and it's not a concern. If I comes down to hiring someone, I can provide any given translator with a fan bible to aid any potential translation, detailing Macross terms and their context.

Sources of Macross information in rpg game format with fan conjecture is precisely what I'm trying to avoid (as per my original post in this thread). I have no way of distinguishing between what's canon and what isn't. Right now, the Macross Compendium is the only reasonably accurate benchmark I can find and I need similar sources of information. I'm sorry for your past problems with other fans, but they really are your problems and if you're unwilling to help with future translations there's not much that I can do about it.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[briscojr84]

I've already thought of that and it's not a concern. If I comes down to hiring someone, I can provide any given translator with a fan bible to aid any potential translation, detailing Macross terms and their context.

Sources of Macross information in rpg game format with fan conjecture is precisely what I'm trying to avoid (as per my original post in this thread). I have no way of distinguishing between what's canon and what isn't. Right now, the Macross Compendium is the only reasonably accurate benchmark I can find and I need similar sources of information. I'm sorry for your past problems with other fans, but they really are your problems and if you're unwilling to help with future translations there's not much that I can do about it.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I've got a ton of the pages from the various books scanned in at 600 dpi, if you can give me a book and a page number I can send you scans.

[Mr March]

I've got a ton of the pages from the various books scanned in at 600 dpi, if you can give me a book and a page number I can send you scans.

The resolution sounds perfect, but I need dark, quality two-color (black and white only) page scans in a compression-less format (preferably .tiff). The intention is to add color and rudimentary shading to most of the lineart, so I can't use jpegs.

I own Macross Perfect Memory, Macross The Movie (Gold Book), and both Kawamori Design Works. I'm basically looking for all the mecha (a broad definition, meaning vehicles as well), capital ships, and accessories (missiles, guns, close-up head units, etc) pictures for Macross, DYRL?, Plus, and Zero. I usually don't need the interior shots, unless it's a cockpit, HUD, or cross section close up. I'm also looking for any and all "official" schematic diagrams of any mecha or capital ship. Five-views, three-views, top/side only, anything I can get my hands on.

If you can help, PM me.

Edited November 17, 2006 by Mr March