Anonymous Coward · 2mo
Hey Steiner, I've been working on some fan TL projects in hopes of landing a job in the field in the future, and one thing I realized is knowing JP is actually not the hardest part. I'm quite confident in my JP comprehension skills, but I often find myself struggling to convey things effectively in English, and sometimes I spend an hour trying, and probably failing, to deal with specific turns of phrase. Do you have any tips for getting better at this, or is it one of those things that come with experience?
I would advise reading more, if you can. Not just other localizations, but books or written media in general. Try to pay attention to how they're written, how characterization comes across. You're correct, localizing something is more than just having comprehension of the source language. If you can't adequately pen something in your target language then you're throttling the potential of your output. It certainly does come with experience, this much is true, but also be careful not to fall into the trap of getting caught in a same-style spiral. If you consume a lot of older translated media, for example, your own style may end up getting caught in bad habits. I think variety is key here, keep a broad and open mind for what you can do with the text.
