User talk:Nutcase

To preserve for ongoing consideration

As a personal preference, if I see something that is "very wrong" I try to correct it using the following methods, in this order: Change word forms (eg adverb<->adjective), Change word order, alter grammar and punctuation, add minor word (it/and/the etc), remove words. If it seems really off then usually there's a forum post about it and a consult with the original Japanese. Just my way of doing it, though. Smidge204 08:43, 11 January 2007 (PST)

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To sum up other discussion, I took note of "squeamish" as a word appearing several times in the translation, usually inappropriately in my view. I theorized that it as a "placeholder," reflecting some sort of default interpretation of an underlying Japanese expression with multiple possible meanings. Discussion with Smidge204 on a particular instance from "Lone Island Syndrome" boils down to this:

"Does this mansion have a name?" Haruhi asked, Keiichi-san smiled squeamishly and answered, "Right now we haven't come up with one, if you have any suggestions for the name, I'm all ears."

Nutcase: Why would Keiichi-san be smiling in a "fastidious, easily disgusted way" at this point? Otherwise, he is portrayed as easy-going and tolerant. It's not congruent. "Wryly" is congruent.

Smidege204: The line in question is "ハルヒの問いに圭一さんは苦笑い" in which "苦笑い" means "bitter smile" - so wryly fits perfectly here :)

"Bitter smile" is, on it's face, an expression that invites multiple interpretations depending on context.

"Squeamish" is actually a good choice as a translator's default as long as it is understood to be a placeholder; it's easy to find and usually so incongruent that it obviously needs to be replaced when somebody gets around to it. The author's intention is going to be particularly nuanced exactly on this sort of point, so a translator may well want to bypass it while doing the heavy lifting part of the translation. One wants to finish framing before breaking out the planes and the sandpaper.

This is my view. Since it's easier to get forgiveness than permission, I have acted on this view, examining, with scalpel in hand, all examples of "squeamish." ;)

Lone Mountain Syndrome

I did a very messy job of editing this chapter. It's embarrassing. Oh well, live and learn.

90% is just the usual clean-up stuff, uncontroversial. The entryway layout is somewhat more consequential. I do figure it for double doors as the best explanation for the mixed use of "gates" and "doors."

Another somewhat questionable point has to do with the "What's with you and Yuki" scene; at the end, I first changed "dull" eyes (can't possibly be right) to "brimming," but that seemed out of character - not out of the question, congruent with blinking, but still...so finally I downshifted to "soft." Probably impossible to distinguish "dull" and "soft" in the original Japanese without the context, and "dull" is just so wrong...

Late in the story I noticed Koizumi observing that, "Eutopia and Dystopia are two sides of the same mirror." Hmmm...did he really say that? My ears always light up when I encounter such an interesting mixed metaphor.

Live A Live

This is the one story that I feel was substantially improved upon in the anime compared to the book. Of course the story as written has an unworkably long performance sequence for the anime, but set that aside. "God Knows" in particular is an actually great performance of an actually great song. Hirano Aya belts this one out of the park, and the animaters did it justice. Beyond that, the reaction of the audience is more congruent. Audiences don't reward a stunningly great pop music performance with stunned silence. Also it's more in the realm of plausibility to get solid interpretations for two songs worked out in an hour, rather than trying to construct solid interpretations on the fly for several songs. Finally, I like how "God Knows" can be taken as a "confession." You don't have to read it that way, but I take it as a factor in Kyon's stunned expression.