Collaborative translation: 蠟筆小新 Page #2 (Join in the effort!)

October 26, 2005 at 10:44 PM

For more information on what this is all about, visit the original thread:http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/71-interesting-websites91

On to page 2 of 蠟筆小新!

Page 2 of 蠟筆小新 (click for image)

你叫什麼名字? nǐ jiào shénme míngzì?

"What is your name?"

不要在這種地方站著講話,到裏面喝個果汁再聊吧! bú yào zài zhè zhǒng dìfang zhànzhe jiǎnghuà，　dào lǐmian hē ge guǒzhī zài liáo ba!

Lit. "Don't talk while we are standing in such a place, go inside and have some fruit juice and then talk."

Paraphrased: "This isn't the place to talk, go inside and have some fruit juice - then we'll talk."

講話 jiǎnghuà: to speak, to address

果汁guǒzhī: Fruit Juice

你真地迷路了嗎? nǐ zhēn di mílù le ma?

"Are you really lost?"

真地 zhēn di: really, truly

迷路 mílù: lost

名字呢? míngzi ne?

Name?

野原新之助5 歲. yěyuán xīnzhīzhù 5 suì.

"Yeyuan Xinzhizhu (Actual Japanese name: Shinnosuke Nohara), 5 years old."

興趣是 (死在路邊) 的游戲, 喜歡的名詞是(平熱)! xìngqu shì (sǐ zài lù biān) de yóuxì, xǐhuān de míngcí shì (píng rè)!

"My interest/hobby is (to play) the "die on the road side" game, my favorite words are 'no fever'." Mugi - "Here, 平熱 (常温) actually refers to body temperature. Not sure whether this Chinese is the best translation of the Japanese. 平熱 is what a mother says to her child if she has just taken his/her temperature when they're sick and it turns out that they 'don't have a temperature'. Here, I'd suggest translating it as: My favorite words are "no fever". My guess is that he always suspects that he has a temperature, gets his mom to check, but it always turns out that he is okay, hence he is relieved at hearing the word 平熱."

興趣xìngqu: interest/hobby

游戲yóuxì: game

名詞míngcí: noun

我沒有問你這些. 你爸爸交什麼? wǒ méiyǒu wèn nǐ zhè xiē. nǐ bàba jiào shénme?

"I didn’t ask you for that. What’s your dad’s name?"

爸爸的名子... 野原... 什麼來著...

Bàba de míngzi.. yě yuán.. shénme lái zhe...

"Dad’s name is.. Yeyuan (日語 "Nohara").. what was it again?"

那媽媽呢? Nà māma ne?

"And your mother’s?"

奇怪? 唔... 美冴的名字叫什麼來著呢...? qíguài? méi hu4 de míngzi jiào shénme láizhe ne?

Strange? hmm.. what was Meiya's name?

奇怪 qíguài: Strange

野原美冴 yěyuánměihu4

Yeyuan Meihu (not the correct Japanese translation)

電話號碼呢? diànhuà hàomǎ ne?

And your telephone number?

電話 diànhuà: telephone

號碼 hàomǎ: number

0487...

那是這裏的! 我要知道的是你家的電話號碼!　nà shì zhèlǐ de! Wǒ yào zhīdào de shì nǐ jiā de diànhuà hàomǎ!

Lit. "That’s the phone number for here! I want to know the phone number for your house! "

Paraphrased: "That's this station's phone number! I want to know the number to your house!"

這麼說你是要打電話向我家要求(俗金) 囉.. zhème shuō nǐ shì yào dǎ diànhuà xiàng wǒ jiā yàoqiú (sújīn) luō..

So are you going to call my home to demand ransom money?JR says: "Since 俗金 is the same sound as 贖金 when the latter is pronounced without retroflex (common in Taiwan), I think that's what is going on here. Maybe it sounds cute or childish to mispronounce the word? or maybe it's trying to replicate some language joke in the original japanese."

要求 yàoqiú: request

誰來球我呀... shéi lái qiú wǒ yā

Lit. Who will save me!!

Paraphrased: Someone save me!

October 26, 2005 at 11:11 PM

My translations will be semi-literal:

不要在這種地方站著講話,到裏面喝個果汁再聊吧!

Don't talk while we are standing in such a place, go inside and have some fruit juice and then talk.

野原新之助5 歲.

Yeyuan Xinzhizhu [his name], 5 years old.

興趣是 (死在路邊) 的游戲, 喜歡的名詞是(平熱)!

(my) interest/hobby is (to play) the "die on the road side" game, (my) favorite word is "平热(no idea what it is)"

爸爸的名子... 野原... 什麼來著...

(Prelim.)Dad’s name is......Yeyuan.....what was it again...?

奇怪? 唔... 美?(Can’t find this character)的名字叫什麼來著呢...?

(Prelim.)Strange....hmm.....what was Meiya's name?

野原美? yěyuánměi?

(Prelim.) Yeyuan Meiya

這麼說你是要打電話向我家要求(俗金) 囉..

(Prelim.) So are you going to call my home to demand ransom money?

誰來救我呀...

(Prelim.) Who will save me!!

October 27, 2005 at 12:04 AM

Thanks Quest, good stuff. In regards to 平熱, there is a blurb on the page in between the boxes that says the following: 平熱指正常溫的意思. I believe 正常 zheng4chang2 means "normal", and 溫 wen1 supposedly means warm, tepid.

October 27, 2005 at 07:58 AM

常温 means room temperature.

October 27, 2005 at 11:33 AM

Here, 平熱 (常温) actually refers to body temperature. Not sure whether this Chinese is the best translation of the Japanese. 平熱 is what a mother says to her child if she has just taken his/her temperature when they're sick and it turns out that they 'don't have a temperature'. Here, I'd suggest translating it as: My favorite words are "no fever". My guess is that he always suspects that he has a temperature, gets his mom to check, but it always turns out that he is okay, hence he is relieved at hearing the word 平熱.

Also, regarding the names of the characters. Don't forget that they're Japanese. So his name isn't Yeyuan Shinzhizhu, but Shinnosuke Nohara. By way of analogy, no-one would ever translate 美國總統喬治·布什 as U.S. President Qiaozhi Bushi (mind you, this looks kinda cute!) or 日本首相小泉純一郎 as Japanese Prime Minister Xiaoquan Chunyilang.

So, "Dad’s name is something-or-other.....Nohara.....what was it again...?"

His mom's name (美冴) is Misae.

For 誰來救我呀... I'd suggest something a little less "direct translation". Maybe, "Someone save me!" or "God help me!", or if you're a Peanuts fan, "Good grief!"

Below are some pinyin corrections, all to do with 輕聲:

bú yào zài zhè zhǒng dìfang zhànzhe jiǎnghuà，　dào lǐmian hē ge guǒzhī zài liáo ba!

地方 dìfāng = regional

地方 dìfang = place

(although many non-native Mandarin speakers and Taiwanese 國語 speakers will say dìfāng for both meanings/parts of speech)

里面 lǐmian is an alternative for lǐmiàn. Dictionaries usually give the latter (with 4th tone), but I think most native speakers probably pronounce "mian" as 輕聲

個 as a counter/measure word is almost always 輕聲

吧 is always 輕聲

nǐ zhēn di mílù le ma

地 Here "di" should also be 輕聲. In mainland China it would be pronounced "de" and in fact in this situation usually written 的.

míngzi ne?

In 普通話 this is always 輕聲. Taiwanese may pronounce it in 4th tone though. Not sure.

名字 turns up again further down too.

Nà māma ne?

Finally,

(unknown character - I can find 冴 hu4 but the radical should be water, not ice..)

It's the same character, just a different way of writing it. A similar example is the 涼 in 涼快, which can also be written 凉.

October 27, 2005 at 08:18 PM

Thanks Mugi, I just incorporated all of your suggestions/corrections. Great explanation on the 平熱. So is 平熱 ping2re4 actually what the Chinese use, or do those characters only reflect the Japanese phrase meaning "don't have a temperature"?

Also, regarding the names of the characters. Don't forget that they're Japanese. So his name isn't Yeyuan Shinzhizhu, but Shinnosuke Nohara. By way of analogy, no-one would ever translate 美國總統喬治·布什 as U.S. President Qiaozhi Bushi (mind you, this looks kinda cute!) or 日本首相小泉純一郎 as Japanese Prime Minister Xiaoquan Chunyilang.

Haha I have to agree with Qiaozhi Bushi.. somehow that fits perfectly. Question: Would someone in China reading this comic book know the Japanese name when reading the text, or would most simply read it character for character in their own language? I'm wondering if the latter is true we might be better off using the admittedly clumsy Chinese translations for simplicity purposes. (Or perhaps to just leave it in character form would be best?)

地方 dìfāng = regional
地方 dìfang = place

(although many non-native Mandarin speakers and Taiwanese 國語 speakers will say dìfāng for both meanings/parts of speech)

I changed all of these out, I think most people do use neutral tone on the words you mentioned, my personal training has had me leaving a lot of them in but I think that's a taiwanese style of speech perhaps.

October 28, 2005 at 12:01 AM

So is 平熱 ping2re4 actually what the Chinese use, or do those characters only reflect the Japanese phrase meaning "don't have a temperature"?

It's the latter, that's why there is an explanation in Chinese as to what these two characters mean in combination. Although, once again I don't think the translator actually understood what they really meant. A good translator would have simply translated 平熱 as 沒發燒 and avoided any need for a clumsy and ultimately insufficient explanation.

Question: Would someone in China reading this comic book know the Japanese name when reading the text, or would most simply read it character for character in their own language?

Chinese speakers, and especially Taiwanese, would recognize all of these names immediately as Japanese. Older people in Taiwan would also likely pronounce them in Japanese, but for the most part people are going to use Chinese readings.

My strong suggestion would be to put the names in Japanese romanization, as this is an English "translation" not "transliteration". Imagine you're back translating a comic book that was originally in English - you're not going to leave 史奴比 as Shinubi for Snoopy. My suggestion is that you treat the names like you have every other new word. At the bootom of the line in which it first appears give the Chinese characters, followed by the pinyin, followed by the English. i.e.,

野原新之助 - Ye4yuan2 Xin1zhi1zhu4 - Nohara (surname) Shinnosuke (given name)

Note also that when rendered into English, Japanese names follow English order, unless it's a person from the arts and literature world, in which case their name is rendered Japanese order. So in our case here, although Japanese (and Chinese with Chinese pronunciation) actually say Nohara Shinnosuke / Yeyuan Xinzhizhu, he becomes Shinnosuke Nohara in English.

Have I managed to convince you yet??

October 28, 2005 at 07:37 AM

Mugi - I am convinced! I think sometimes I get too wrapped up in learning characters, but I think in the end you can't really learn characters from names.. so direct Japanese translations it is.

October 28, 2005 at 09:10 AM

I agree with Mugi completely. Since the translation is for English readers, names shouldn't be left in their Chinese form (= Chinese pronunciation). This however can become a big headache for the translator, as it requires something more than just his knowledge of Chinese and English.

To put it simply: once a foreign name has turned into Chinese or Japanese, it's very difficult to recover the original spelling or pronunciation when translating it into English; but it'd look decidedly unprofessional to leave it in the Chinese or Japanese form (Translating between Western languages doesn't seem to have this kind of problems). Mugi and others, what would you normally do in situations where you don't know the original names in English and can't find out from the Japanese or Chinese you're translating from?

October 28, 2005 at 04:54 PM

I sometimes read article in adsotrans and come across a japanese name, and it's kind of a pain to look up a name's romanization based on the characters. My japanese ability is far behind my chinese.

Is there any good website that at least has a least of common japanese surnames and given names? or anything else that would be of use?

October 28, 2005 at 05:17 PM

since 俗金 is the same sound as 贖金 when the latter is pronounced without retroflex (common in Taiwan), I think that's what is going on here. Maybe it sounds cute or childish to mispronounce the word? or maybe it's trying to replicate some language joke in the original japanese.

But, there could be something else going on that requires deeper language knowledge.

October 31, 2005 at 02:35 AM

what would you normally do in situations where you don't know the original names in English and can't find out from the Japanese or Chinese you're translating from?

Doesn't happen too often - there are usually enough clues in the text that when combined with some educated guesses allow you to track down the name on the Internet. I also usually ask the client directly - 9 times out of 10 they'll have the necessary names in their original language.

On the odd occasion that I can't track a name down, I romanize it according to the hanzi or katakana, then add a translator's note explaining the situation, and sometimes include my "guess" at what the name is likely to be in English.

since 俗金 is the same sound as 贖金 when the latter is pronounced without retroflex (common in Taiwan), I think that's what is going on here. Maybe it sounds cute or childish to mispronounce the word? or maybe it's trying to replicate some language joke in the original japanese.

I think you're probably right JR. Because Shinchan is a preschooler, he often makes mistakes with "big" words. My guess is that their was an identical "mistake" in the original Japanese, as both 俗 and 贖 are pronounced as ゾク (zoku), although 贖 is more commonly pronounced ショク (shoku).

November 8, 2005 at 08:35 AM

Hi,

誰來球我呀... shéi lái qiú wǒ yā

Lit. Who will save me!!

Paraphrased: Someone save me

I think the translation for who sill save me is 誰來救我啊!, jiou4, not qiu, qiu is to beg.

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Collaborative translation: 蠟筆小新 Page #2 (Join in the effort!)

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