Light Novel Translation

[Black Aeronaut]

Okay, this kinda bugs me.  What, you may ask?  I'll show you - a snippet of a translation for Book 1 of the Log Horizon Light Novels.

After Henrietta joins in, the 4 of them talked about
their experiences so far and summarize their situation... But it has
only been half a day, they don't really understand what is happen.

This is an exact quote copy/pasted from the pastebin site I found it on.  While the translation itself seems to be accurate... it leaves something to be desired by a native English speaker like myself.  Unfortunately, sentences like these are typical from what I've seen so far - not only in Log Horizon, but also in other projects as well.  (The translations I've seen for the Infinite Stratos Light Novels are particularly horrid.)
I know that translating a light novel is different from translating the voice script of an anime or text balloons in in a manga.  There's a lot more words and the author is also stuck describing the scenes.  However, even with the additional workload factored in, that should only translate to longer periods between releases.  So why on Earth is the quality so poor?  Is it really that hard to localize the stylistic differences?  Or is this some bass-ackwards sense of preserving the author's style?

[nemonowan]

Are this translations official or fan-made?
I know that a lot of translators of light novels are not native English speakers, and worse, they often translate the Chinese translations. That goes a long way to explain this lack of quality

[Black Aeronaut]

Fan translations. Demand for light novels here in the US is pretty low - something has to hit insane levels of critical mass before a publisher feels motivated to bid on rights to publish a LN here in the US.

And yeah, I was wondering about the translators not being native English speakers myself. It seems they could desperately use some people that are native English speakers just to correct the grammar and spelling. Wouldn't hurt if they knew how to compose prose as well. :p

[ECSNorway]

http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index ... og_Horizon

This is where I go for all my LN translations. Much better quality.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Black Aeronaut]

*Goes and takes a look* Yeah, it is better, but I wouldn't have minded if they took a few minor liberties with the narrative to make things flow better. Here's a bit quoted from the Baka-Tsuki translation:

Henrietta and Maryele's conversation made Naotsugu flinch.

"What is it, Naotsugu?"

"Nothing, just that this is so sudden, I'm not sure what to do."

Naotsugu denied in a hurry when he heard Shiroe's question. He was always making dirty jokes but seemed so weak to direct attacks.

"Is Naotsugu-yan weak against breasts? Want to touch?"

Naotsugu averted his eyes at Maryele's words, although he still took a peek. Breasts held the hopes and desires of men after all.

(Mary-nee is a beauty with a big bust after all, I can understand.)

Shiroe agreed in his heart.

I haven't altered any of the line breaks at all. Kinda jarring, I think.
EDIT: This is how I would have written it out.

Naotsugu flinched at Henrietta and Mayele's conversation.
"What is it, Naotsugu?" asked Shiroe.
"Nothing," the tank replied in denial.  "Just that this is so sudden.  I'm not sure what to do."  It only stood to reason: Naotsugu was always cracking dirty jokes.  However, when confronted directly with the subject matter it turns out he's weak against such attacks.
"Is Naotsugu-yan weak against breasts?" asked Maryele coyly, picking up on his weakness like a shark scenting blood in the water.  "Want to touch?"
Naotsugu looked away, but not before he got a good look.  After all, being offered such a temptation is the hopes and dreams of all men.
Mary-nee is a beauty with a big bust, afterall, Shiroe thought to himself.  I can certainly understand how he feels.

Ahhh.  So much better.  Granted, I'm pretty sure there's subtle nuances that didn't make it through from the original Japanese version.  Kanji is notorious for its homonyms .  (This how we get the joke in Tenchi Muyo GXP when Seiryou names the flagship of the Lucky Pirate Fleet 'Unko'.  The kanji Seiryou is using is the rarely used one that basicly translates to 'Great Fortune'.  Unfortunately, there is a different kanji that is much more commonly used for 'unko' that translates roughly into 'poop'.  Therefore, you have everyone's WTF when Seiryou proclaims the ships name to any and all within transmission range.)
Honestly, I would love to do this sort of work for Baka-Tsuki, but there are two concerns of mine:1) This would probably severely cut into my writing time for BYiS... and to say nothing of rebooting DSKS...2) In its own way it'd probably be a hassle for the folks at Baka-Tsuki since they'd probably have to QA my edits to make sure they maintain the spirit of the translation.

[Mamorien]

I wouldn't have minded if they took a few minor liberties with the narrative to make things flow better.

They probably think that makes the baby Haruhi cry. ^_^