Madan no Ou to Vanadis

[lotchay]

Hi thanks for the translations. I really enjoyed this series. I have a question though, why is this not listed in the light novel section? I really want to read this on my phone while at work.

[13olt3]

I apologize in advance if this is a redundant question but what is the difference between the previews and the actual chapters? I'm scanning through both versions of chapter 1 and they both seem fairly similar.

[Gohankuten]

I apologize in advance if this is a redundant question but what is the difference between the previews and the actual chapters? I'm scanning through both versions of chapter 1 and they both seem fairly similar.

the previews were done using a machine translation program so it's not as good as if an actual person went and translated it. Though the quality of these machine translations are much higher than normally found from them and thus can be on par with an average human translation.

[ShadowfoxEX]

the previews were done using a machine translation program so it's not as good as if an actual person went and translated it. Though the quality of these machine translations are much higher than normally found from them and thus can be on par with an average human translation.

I'm curious now, what translation machine did this good of a quality job? I'd like to know

[Mystes]

I'm curious now, what translation machine did this good of a quality job? I'd like to know

A human had to edit all that script. And trust me, it's hell.

[Lery]

O.o
What an incredible work. EnigmaticAxiom translated it all with a machine and then reread it to correct the translation?
What translation machine was used?
Because I know a few of them and being given the amount of mistakes that they introduce, the work behind to get it that nice and clean must be colossal!

[EnigmaticAxiom]

I seem to be getting this question quite a bit more frequently than I expected, so I'll probably update my wiki profile to include what I do, but basically, here's what I do.

Preparation

Spoiler! :

1. Find the raw text or convert Image --> Text with FineReader. There are errors when converting Image --> Text, and it's way more effort to find the errors than not. That's one source of problems with the translation. As a side note, FineReader is a pretty cheap piece of software, so I bought it on sale a few years ago. I'm sure there are pirated versions of it, but I'm willing to fork over $20-40 for an outdated version if it does what I want.
Time: 0 Minutes (Download the raw text) to < 1 Hour (Image --> Text, about 300-400 pages)

2. Convert raw text to a readable format. If I convert Image --> Text, there isn't really an issue. I just copy/paste it and format the document to my liking. If it's raw text, then I have to worry about line breaks which may or may not be there, as well as page breaks.
Time: <1 Hour (Cleaning up Page Breaks from Image --> Text for overflow lines) to <4 Hours (No Line Breaks)

3. Convert all the standard phrases/lines into English with search/find (Names, Terminology) so I don't need to bother with them later.
Time: 0 Minutes

Machine Conversion

Spoiler! :

1. I go through each page and try to translate what I can (now, at least. I didn't for quite a while when I first started), then I go to the machines. I use Translator Aggregator and have Atlas, Google, and Excite on at all times. If I have trouble understanding something, I add in two random machines (like Bing and Babelfish). I read line (not a single line, so to speak, but a single block of text) by line. If I have trouble reading that, then I go sentence by sentence. If even that is still troublesome, I read fragment by fragment (between any bits of punctuation). I compare this to whatever meaning I got from the dictionary translation I did initially and pretty much write what I think is being said. If there's something I feel I took too much liberty with interpreting, something I just didn't get at all, or something that doesn't make sense, even if I feel the JP --> EN conversion was decent, I mark it in some way (highlighting, yay). I generally try to keep an idea of what has happened in the past 3-5 pages or so in the back of my head because it helps with interpreting things.
Pace: 1-3 Pages/Hour if I go through with a dictionary beforehand. Anywhere between 5-20 Pages/Hour if I only use the machines, depending on the complexity of the series.

2. Once I'm done with a chapter (usually I've finished the next, actually, so I'm not tired of reading the same text over and over again), I'll read through the English Converted text looking for places that just don't seem right and paying attention to the places I've marked. This is mostly done for a consistency check to maintain some semblance of coherency. If a character says 1 thing on Page 5 but says another on Page 10, or if something written on Page 10 clarifies something on Page 5, I'll go back to Page 5 and 10 and redo those lines from the beginning. I also use this pass to try and do a quick edit (keeping consistent sentence tenses, changing sentences if I feel I'm using a word too often, just general stylistic issues).
Pace: 30 Minutes to 10 Hour, depending on the length of the chapter. I try to read it carefully so I don't miss too much.

3. Once I'm done with a book, I'll read the entire thing from start to finish and just do a general read through to look for anything that seems glaringly erroneous. I'm a shit writer by nature, so there's a limit to what I can do. I respect the translators not just for their knowledge of the foreign language and willingness to translate for the masses but for their ability to actually write. I rarely find myself looking up words that they use, but I am annoyed that I never think of them myself. I speak specifically of Dreyakis and Seitsuki who have done wonderful jobs w/ MKnR. Their grasp of the English language is quite a bit stronger than someone who pretty much only speaks/reads/writes in that language. It's not just vocabulary or grammar, either, it's style. The most I can do with style is make someone who speaks more formally speak w/o contractions (like I think of Tatsuya, Miyuki, and Katsuto) doing, and others speak in a more normal manner (though, my manner of speaking can be a bit more formal than the average person's, so it still feels a little stiff to me)

I've pretty much spent every bit of free time I have (other than browsing forums) from work and class reading Light Novels in this way for the past year and a half to two years, I think? I've probably spent about 3 months actually attempting to learn some of the language, but since my time suddenly took a turn for the worse, I find myself having trouble making time or too exhausted to even review what I've learned. I've also spent class time and work time studying as well. I took time in the mornings to write out kanji and took them with me to class/work so I could use my pocket dictionary to look them up and write them down. I've been going on about 4 hours of sleep for the past 2 years, so that should give you an idea of the time I've spent doing this.

For those of you who have actually followed me on the forums, you'll have a general idea of what I've read and in what order. I was actually reading a while before I began talking on the jcafe and animesuki forums, but where I started there was pretty much where I started in general. Here's pretty much what I've read through.

Rough Timeline

Spoiler! :

Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Web Novel
Arc 3 - I started in the middle and worked my way to the end, then did things from the beginning. Pretty much, LN Volume 7 --> LN Volume 6, in light novel terms.
Web Novel Short Story: Summer Beach
Web Novel Short Story: Student Council Election
Arc 4 - I finished Arc 3 while whsie did the spoilers for it
Arc 5
Arc 6
Arc 1 - I tried to finish off the spoilers that were left unspoiled. I also read through the epilogue on the Light Novel, since the Web Novel's ending didn't have a bit where Tatsuya and Miyuki go off while holding hands (like the image)
Arc 2 - I put more details into the spoilers. I also read through the Mikihiko introduction and Hot Tub scene from LN 3 and 4 because they weren't there (Mikihiko was introduced in Web Arc 1 but never mentioned again)
As a side note, I have the machine conversions for everything listed above (These will not be uploaded. Those who I'm willing to share it with already have it, so don't bother asking me about them). I didn't do any personal translation because I wasn't interested in learning in such an informal manner at the time. MKnR is also the series which took the longest because it is such a complicated and confusing story. Ironically, though, because of the detail, it was easy to make corrections to anything I had trouble interpreting. Still, the pace for this was almost always <10 Pages/Hour. The part that took the longest is probably where Suzune is giving her presentation for the Thesis Competition. That probably took me about 3 hours just for the 1-2 pages it encompassed to understand the science behind it so I could be somewhat sure of its accuracy.

Madan no Ou to Vanadis
Volume 1 - This was uploaded and made it to the wiki, as you well know. This was a novel I did purely from machines as well. I was getting interested in using Light Novels to help me learn JP, but I didn't have a structured way of going about it, so I didn't do too much with it.

Shissou Suru Shishunki no Parabellum
Volume 1 - I developed a more structured way of learning the language, so this was probably 50-50 on what I did at a slow pace and what I did with a machine. Either way, I had no confidence in anything I knew, so the machines were still the most accurate way for me to do anything. This has been sent to Ero-kun who talked about doing a TLC so it could be put up on the wiki as a proper translation quickly. I sent it to him/her back toward the end of September, I think, and I'm not sure what's going on with that. I wish there would be a progress report or something

Madan no Ou to Vanadis
Volume 3 - I was getting into learning the language here, but the novel was so well paced that I just said "screw it," and used a machine so I could get through the novel more quickly. I did use the dictionary a lot, but probably not as much as things later on.
Volume 4 - I started looking up kanji a lot more starting with Volume 4. Just so you know, Vanadis is a great series to start learning JP because the language in it is very simplistic, but because of that, my kanji knowledge seems limited to things of warfare. Not all that useful, honestly speaking. Even with my dictionary flipping, my pace at this point was probably 5-ish pages an hour, since the language really is quite simple.
Volume 5 - I man cried on Batran's death scene. I thought it was such a tragic and well done death that I did the entire section with a dictionary before I even bothered with a machine (instead of page by page). I spent so much time trying to word it properly so it could convey how much emotion I thought it should. I still feel I did it a disservice, but I'll leave that up to the people that can properly read the novel.
Volume 2 - As most are probably aware, I did Volume 2 last because there was such a detailed summary. By this point in time, my interest was dwindling because 1) I knew what was going on, and 2) I had blitzed through Volumes 4-5 so I could upload everything all at once.

Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Light Novels
Ninendo Sections 0-3
Light Novel 7 - While I was working through Volume 5 and 2 (I believe) of Vanadis, I was reading through Light Novel 7 and Ninendo. I still have Section 4 of Ninendo to read through as well as the new portion which was recently released, but I'm just tired, so I took a break from that. As for Light Novel 7, I went through Chapters 8, 9, and 10 (Up to when Tatsuya goes to war) with a dictionary and the machines, though it was while I was a bit busy, so the machines were more in use than anything else, but I went through and tried to do a kanji check for everything up until that point as well. Like anything else in MKnR, this will not be released by me, though I've sent what I've done to Dreyakis. I know Dreyakis is the type to not use them, but I sent it to him because it includes Suzune's presentation. If his read of it is confusing for him to translate, then he might be able to use what I converted as a reference and save himself a headache or two. Seriously, that part is a total Mikuru to do. As a note, though there was no significant change between the LN and Web Novel versions of her presentation, I read through the LN separately without referring to the Web Novel, so, at the very least, I have a little more confidence in that section. I may pick up Ninendo again once I've taken a break, but plenty of people have spoilers, so it's not something I'll care as much about.

Even with all the time and effort I've put into all of this, my work is far inferior to what is done by people that can actually read the novels, whether they be the Japanese Originals or the Chinese Translations (which are going to be more accurate due to the similarity in language). The moment MKnR LN 1 and 2 were translated by Dreyakis, I thought about tossing the web arc conversion I did, despite how much time I put into it. I ended up keeping it for the sake of "posterity" so to speak. I'm probably using that incorrectly, but I'm sure you can figure what I mean. I also don't regret putting that effort into it, despite knowing a translator was coming along (I was mostly done with MKnR, but I had a feeling there would be a translator due to how much hype it was getting on the boards), because I feel it makes me a better editor for the series than most people. Since I've read the web novels, I can catch little points which don't seem right to me and check the Japanese raws to compare. It's not done much, but it's useful for small things like "Technician Team" vs "Engineering Team," since both terms are used in the JP raws, but Dreyakis used the only one used in the CN raws, for the most part. It also helps with names and things like that. All the effort also let me know that I'm a pretty crap writer, so any edits I do tend to be more grammatical/spelling and less stylistic changes, so it's one less interpretation to ruin the translation.

tl;dr - It took a shit load of time and effort that I don't even regret using, even if I know it is crap compared to what the real translators do. For those of you who read MKnR like I do, go and rep Dreyakis and Seitsuki and show them your gratitude. Bow and worship their fine efforts.

[Lery]

Uuuh !
This is an ... indescribable, unspeakable, colossal work!

Well congrats for your incredible work.
We should bow and worship your efforts, too.


Ahhh, crap! I read the whole post and got spoiledabout Madan no Ou to Vanadis. ^^' My mistake, I should have knew better.

Nice post btw. Thanks you very much for those interessting informations.

[Go0gleplex]

Just a kibitz from the sidelines...but as a reader of what has been done, I'm very appreciative and enjoyed the novels immensely as they stand. Thank you.

[Oblivion 0117]

I completely agree with Go0gleplex, and wouldn't something like this be good for projects that have stalled or are understaffed? Anyway Thanks for doing this it is currently one of my favorite LN's so truth be told I'd be happy with whatever you did as long I can read it!

[ShadowfoxEX]

Considering there's a thousand votes here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=4754
What are the chances that this be made into a official project?

[bemo101]

EnigmaticAxiom your work feels like jap fluent translations if it werent saying machine then i would have never guessed

[Stormbreaker]

Could anyone tell me if Volume 6 will make an apperance anytime soon? I've been reading this series since the day it was started and I really like it, but it just seems its taking too long for a new volume to be posted. I just don't know what is happening right now.

And another question, when I checked the main page for the series the other day, I noticed the pending page on top and read through it, so does it mean that the series will be deleted from the site because something is happening? I really hope I'm just panicking and thinking too much into it because I really enjoy reading this LN and I don't want to see it end so soon.

[Breeze]

Considering there's a thousand votes here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=4754
What are the chances that this be made into a official project?

It depends on whether or not a translator is interested (regardless of how many votes there are)

[KuroiHikari]

Considering there's a thousand votes here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=4754
What are the chances that this be made into a official project?

As high as the chances of some translator vetting one chapter.
The rules for an approved project is simple, just one chapter done. (Maybe, it's time that that rule gets tweaked...)