UChi-Con 2024 Slides

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Thanks to everyone who came out to my Anime Translation & Localization panel at UChi-Con over the weekend! You were a great crowd with great questions.

There’s so much we didn’t get to, like how the anime translation & localization models we discussed have changed somewhat in the post-2020 world. Still, I hope you all brought home some information that you’re happy to have.

As promised, here are the slides from the presentation. The video has been removed.

UChi-Con 2024 presentation_no video

Good luck in your studies, and have a great rest of the year!

A word cloud containing the words が、けど、しかし、and それにしても

Japanese Language Corner: When “But” Doesn’t Really Mean “But”

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The Detail Woman here, back with another Japanese learning and translation post.

Have you ever felt betrayed by your introduction to Japanese words for “but”?

If so, I get it. が、けど、しかし、and それにしても are all Japanese words that first get taught to us as “but,” and yet they often seem to mean something else in context.

I’d bet that a lot of readers are already familiar with this issue when the “buts” come in the middle of a sentence. However, my Japanese Phrase of the Month for December will be the sentence-beginning それにしても, and that one is pretty tricky if you don’t already have a handle on the “buts” that occur mid-sentence.

So if you’re a beginner, or you’d just like a refresher on mid-sentence “buts,” I’ve got you covered in this post. And if you already know all about these, feel free to skip to the next post! Continue Reading →

Tech Tip: Converting Smart Punctuation to Straight Punctuation in MS Word

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Welcome to MS Office tech tips: quotes and apostrophes edition!

As this blog has discussed before, different clients have different document formatting and commenting requirements. Most of us probably have some clients who require all “smart” punctuation and others who require all “straight” punctuation.

So, what do you do if you don’t want to turn Word’s auto-formatting on and off every time you switch projects?

Well, it can be tricky. But if you’re struggling, I hope you can use the solution I’ve found to make life easier.

Continue Reading →

Caution sign (English/Japanese)

Japanese Phrase of the Month 復活！！ – November 2023

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復活！ Japanese Phrase of the Month is back!

Welcome to the relaunch of Japanese Phrase of the Month. Now that I own my own business and have the time, this little corner of the internet will be guaranteed monthly for the first time ever!

This month, we start out with something a little different: a dive into the word “stoic,” and how it behaves differently in English vs. in Japanese.

「ストイック」

Have you been translating it correctly?

Continue Reading →

Caution sign (English/Japanese)

Japanese Phrase of the Month – June 2021

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Welcome to the Japanese Phrase of the Month for June 2021!

Yeah, I know it’s been a few months. I did admit from the beginning that this might not be monthly…

This month, let’s talk Japanese pronouns! And in particular about a common pronoun trap in anime, manga, and video games.

I’ll give a pronoun overview for general readers, and then get into some concrete details about the pronoun trap.

 

「手前てめえ」and Friends

Have you been translating them correctly?

Continue Reading →

Caution sign (English/Japanese)

Japanese Phrase of the Month – October 2020

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I kept meaning to do a “commonly mistranslated phrases” type thing for my crew at Funimation, but then I thought, why not do it in my Copious Spare TimeTM instead, so that I can share it both here and there?

Welcome to my (possibly-not-monthly) Japanese Phrase of the Month!

 

「何が悲しくて」・「何が悲しゅうて」

Have you been translating it correctly?

 

You’ve seen this phrase before, but have you dived into its usage?

That 悲しい in there might trick you into thinking the phrase has to do with “sadness,” but you’d be sadly mistaken.

Instead, it’s a “Why me?” phrase. You use it to ask why you have to deal with something you don’t want to deal with, like this:

「何が悲しくてお前と組まなきゃならねえんだ！？」

And some possible translations would be:

Why the hell should I have to pair up with you?!
What did I do to get stuck with you?!
Why do I have to be stuck on a team with you?!
I can’t believe I’m stuck with you for this.

You might be sad about the situation, but there is no sadness in the sentence. ;)

Here’s a great, thorough explanation:

https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1181181636

Tune in next month (or whenever) for the next phrase!