Good evening, morning, afternoon, dawn and dusk.
My name, is WhiteSamurai, founder and Project Administrator for <<Pacem Community Translations>>
For the community, I shall now describe the process that has been developed by the Pacem team over the course of our existence in which we translate material.
The process we use is called the [Three Stage Translation]
Stage One
The first stage is the Raw to English Raw translation process.
This is the MOST COMPLEX of the three. While debatable for the Third Stage, the better the job on the first, the easier the third becomes.
To begin the First Stage, you must get this program
https://versetranslations.wordpress.com/translation-app/
It is the staple of every Pacem team. While Google translate can be used, since GT is actually in this program as well, it is required by us since this program increases the accuracy of the content released.
Once you have gained this program, you will be able to begin translation.
[JPaser] [Atlas] [Honyaku]
These are the three translation programs on the Aggregator that should be used, all others are fine to use as reference, but these three are essential for the translation process.
This is a complex process that requires many double, triple, and quadruple checks.
First begin by highlighting a single line of the Foreign language, for this example, I will use Japanese Kanji as the reference.
Kanji is quite tricky if you are used to just highlighting the entire passage at once and translating everything.
When you highlight the LINE, hit Control-C, this will send the data to the translation program and will be translated into however many programs you have activated. Note that not all programs on the software will work for Kanji.
Once this is done you will have multiple versions of the line you have just sent to the program.
Paste several versions which look right onto your wordpad, word, or notepad.
Now compare these lines together, and splice them so that the best sounding sentence is created.
You are writing this yourself, do not write over any of the sentences. These sentences you just translated are to give you a perspective on what this sentence means, not to translate it for you.
After you have the sentence/ line, you can proceed to the next line and repeat.
Once you have finished this process for several lines, now comes the next part.
Highlight every one of the passages of the RAW that you have already highlighted, this is generally 5-8 lines, and send it to the program. The reason this is done is because in Kanji, the symbols from other lines can affect the meaning of previous and latter lines. Now do the same process with this paragraph as you did the lines.
Your paragraph you just made is also a reference point, not something that you are editing with these new versions.
After you have done this and have your paragraph, proceed doing the same line by line, then paragraph by paragraph with the rest of the piece.
This is Stage One, this process takes the most amount of time if you are doing it correctly.
Stage Two
Stage Two is one of the easier parts of the process, but the work done by this stage is vital for accuracy and readability.
This stage is where the names of locations, names of skills, and the names of characters are double and triple checked. This stage also sees secondary checks on the paragraphs to see if any lines have been left in by accident, or if paragraphs are out of order. For this, you need to consult the individual who has done Stage One. Stage Two is roughly only this, but the necessity for a keen eye and eye for detail is very important to the final stage.
Stage Three
Stage Three is the cleaner's phase.
Here is where the Head Editor of the group receives the final product of the first two stages, and rewrites the entire piece.
This person requires great ability with words and writing in order to take this position.
This stage is where the Head Editor, while using the rough draft, makes the dozen or so paragraphs that have been made into a readable final version.
There are no real tricks for this process. I myself take into consideration of the Author's voice and the character's personalities when writing. This is so that while i'm changing the flow, there are no conflicts with how characters have behaved.
To make it simple, you are changing the words, while the story is untouched.
The Head Editors walk a fine line during this process, the more careful you are, the better the final product.
NEVER FABRICATE OR ALTER THE STORY.
If at some point you discover that you made a mistake, fix it immediately. While mistakes can always happen, if ever discovered that someone has fabricated parts of their Project on purpose, they could seriously be banned from Pacem. I personally have a very low tolerance for people who do not respect the Author's words and choices in their story. It is their's, not ours, thus we are not permitted to change how the story progresses for our own purposes.
EVER.
If ever, actual translators appear to pick up projects under Pacem, be it for members to their own Translation group, or to help out with Pacem projects.
All that is required is an Editor and a Manager to assist them. A translator basically covers all three stages, and thus is able to bypass the whole need for Machine translations.
With that, you know all you need to in order to find your place in Pacem.
Serve the Community well everyone, and enjoy the show!
Stay Tuned~
~White