Looking to Translate Something

[Harisenbon]

So, I'm worried that this post might quickly get out of hand, but I'm looking to brush up my translating skills, and thought I'd post a request here.

I get tired of translating stuff for myself, because to be perfectly honest, once I read something, putting it into english just seems kinda pointless. I prefer doing work that serves some sort of purpose.

So, if anyone has anything they want translated into English (from a paragraph to a page) please post or link it here, and I'll PM you the translation. Either way is fine, English > Japanese or Japanese > English.

Thanks. =)

Oh, please no Romaji.

[skrhgh3b]

i'm translating a short essay (when i have the time to spare, which isn't very often) the composer & pianist ryuichi sakamoto wrote for the asahi shimbun just over a week ago (9/10). if you're interested, we can compare translations, or something like that at least. let me know if you're interested and i'll scan it for you, or perhaps you can still find the same edition.

[Harisenbon]

I'll look online for the article. Thanks!

[Kates]

Want to translate a manga?! >_< I got roped into doing this one by the "Recca" artist and I just don't like it much at all. :P I'm kidding though... maybe about half-kidding... or a quarter-kidding... >_> If you're interested.... are you? Probably not.... but, let me know! XD I'd love to shrug this project off if you're really interested in something! (There's about 10 20-ish-page chapters--maybe we could tag-team it?)

[Harisenbon]

Sounds good to me. I've never actually tried translating a manga before. All my experience is in books and manuals. I'll PM you my email addy.

also, skrhgh, I wasn't able to find the article online. Would you mind scanning it for me?

[kenpachi]

Wanna translate this song? It'd be great if could see a real translation of it to compare mine too. It's mostly english though anyway If not I could scan some of my magazines or something else. I'd love to use you, I mean! I'd hate for this opportunity to go to waste! =]

[skrhgh3b]

um, yeah, i'll try to scan that for you and post a link to the image here. i'm sure the author and the newspaper would forgive us. anyway, it's not terribly long, and it's interesting (if you find music as interesting as i do), so it should be a pleasure to translate. it's called, 「なぜぼくら人間は音楽をやるのか」, which i translated as roughly, "why do we human beings make music?"

[Harisenbon]

I'd be much appreciative for the scan. Kenpachi, I'll look at the song tonight when I get back from work.

[skrhgh3b]

as promised.

http://sakurahigh.frenziedsilence.com/skmt_naze.jpg (_ca. 790 kb_)

[aoeuaoeuaoeu]

Harisenbon, would you mind sending me / posting something you have already translated? I'm finishing my first book (Japanese - English stories) and I'm looking for more of that kind of stuff (I try not to look at the translation at first and I check to be sure after).

Did you translated such simple, short stories?

Thank you!

[Christian_]

Posted on 25-09-2005 19:44 KanadaJin Wrote:

[center]This is kinda pointless.. but have any of you heard the milk rap song on tv... its a comericial... The lyrics are..

Staight to your bones from the farm to the fridge we know what you want cause we know how you live we got the big bad bessy (*probably spelled wrong i think it's some sorta cow*) with the M.I.L.K ............ We be chillin

Can any one translate that for me if you can thanks alot I'm just really bored and I keep singing this song... so why not sing it in Japanese.

[/center]

[kanadajin]

Straight * thank you kurisuchan

[Harisenbon]

fuasu wrote:
Harisenbon, would you mind sending me / posting something you have already translated? ...
Did you translated such simple, short stories?

I mainly translate newspaper and magazine articles. I can PM you some news articles and their translation, if you want. They're all technology and entertainment, though.

[Harisenbon]

skrhgh,

Here's the translation of the newspaper article. I'd be curious to see what you got from it as well. Anyone else want to try translating it? It was pretty interesting.

From Ryuichi Sakamoto to You

Ryuichi Sakamoto is a composer. He was born in Tokyo in 1952. He received his masters in music composition from the Graduate program at Tokyo University of Fine Art. After working as a member of YMO, he went live his life abroad. From 1990, he has lived in New York City.

Why do people listen, sing, perform and make music? Why did our ancestors at somepoint start making music? This is the question I've held on to for since I started studying music in my teens. However, even now, at 53, I still don't know the answer. I think that by the time I die, I still wont' know. However, even without knowing the answer, the fact that people make music does not change.

In my early thirties, I started wondering, "Since monkeys are closely related to humans, I wonder if they make music too." Holding this question in my head, I asked zoo keepers at the Ueno Zoo. However, the answer was "No, they don't."

They pound on their chest and howl alot, but the don't do anything that we, as humans, would think of as music. When they make sounds, they have a different purpose from that of music. Looking at that, what exactly is the purpose of music?

We often hear something like this. "When I listen to A's music, I get energized."
or "I get upset when I listen to B's music." Is that really the case? Is music like vitamins? Is that the purpose of music? I wonder about that too.

The 8 major key scale, as well as 3/4 and 4/4 rythms and the Do-mi-re re-fa-ra chords are the same as the ones used by Bach 300 years ago. Who made these cords? Will they continue to be used, never changing, for all eterninty? Will they someday fall out of use? Exactly how much music can be made using only the same scales and chords? Can it be computed?

These scales and chords were created over a long period of time in Europe, and finally imported to Japan after the Meiji Restoration. At that time, Japanese music was restricted from using the antiquated Japanese musical notations. Thus, since then we have all unknowingly been speaking a European language when it comes to music. Isn't that a little unnatural?

By the way, 4 years ago, on September 11th, music disapeared from the city of New York. It was the first time I had ever experienced something like that. People were so surprised, so scared, that they couldn't make music. I thought alot about that -- Music is for enjoyment. Peace, not war, is what is needed.

[kenpachi]

thanks for taking a look at that song.
yea, interesting article. I've wondered that sometimes too. It would take me forever to translate myself but this'll be cool for practice.
What does the article on on the back of that page say though? hahaa that'd be fun to translate.