For all the new readers here wondering about why I post different versions of the chapters at the same time, let me explain it here. The main difference between the so called Japanese-ish and the Englisher chapters are the way they’re edited. Now, both of them are properly edited of course, but one prioritizes my own translation preference while the other prioritizes the less Japanese oriented readers that want to read this work.
The differences are mainly:
- No honorifics.
- Except for Butagami and doujinshi, as one is used as a name and the other is really a bit culturally unique, I’ll translate it all fully into English.
- You can’t comment in the Alternate Translations.
For the reason why I do this, let me just paste my translation policies from chapter 5.
First of all, the reason I leave some of the terms (ossan, DO-TEI, probably oni-chan ever comes in) is because the can be more concise and specific in relaying the information to the readers. For example, ojou-sama refers to a daughter from a rich or well off family. Its equivalent would be lady, milady, and such. However, the term ojou-sama gives me a better grasp at the kind of character that is referred to. These equivalents tend to lack a bit of information for me. Calling someone lady would just make me imagine the one speaking as either a polite gentleman or a flirt. The term Ojou-san also means lady but, this is the one that specifically paints the gentleman or flirt image in the original Japanese material. In short, the original terms give me a better image of the characters while giving me less work to do, as I expected the readers to know the meanings of the terms used.
Next, the vocalized meaningless noises. I opt to not translate them for most of them can be understood by the context clues or just by reading it out itself. Everybody makes noises in similar ways. It’s not like some people scream differently than the others. It’s just that the way they are expressed, written, or heard are just a bit different from one language to another. However, as some of them cannot be guessed just by context clues or vocalizing,those ones are translated to their closest equivalents. In short, I don’t translate what I don’t need to translate.
Now lastly, commas and sentence structure. This whole novel is in first person perspective, therefore most of the times, the protagonist is speaking to herself. The sentence structure is mainly spoken sentences, and spoken sentences mostly ignore a lot of rules due to how the human’s train of thought can be interrupted at random times. So here the commas function as pauses to our little succubus’ train of thoughts, as sometimes she may try to explain herself to her imaginary audience(us of course) and so, may pause for a bit before showing off her brilliant ideas(as most evil villains or hammy actors usually do). And not only commas, everything is restructured in a way that may be sound natural rather than look natural. In short, I press emphasis on the spoken aspect rather than the written aspect of the work.
All of these and other factors influence how I think the work would be more easy to understand while I keep most of the original author’s style and charm. Some parts are inevitably sacrificed for the sake of the whole, however, this and that are different things. Works are translated in order for it to reach other people, and my main reason for translating this is no different. As there are people who have certain preference about what they read, I’ve done the minimum work I can in order to accommodate as many people as possible without changing too much. Anyways, it’s just how I work, so just remember that there’s only minor differences between the chapters. So just go and find yourself something to read. See you later.
Lyly's Novel Translations 