Lets work on blog!project! - ARCHIVED - SEE FIRST POST FOR IMPORTANT INFO AND LINKS

[al kusanagi]

I said nothing about translating every blog. I gave up on that since we don't have any way to bring in new translators with the BBS population. Short of someone going to other places and recruiting them, I don't see any translators coming in.



What I would expect, however "unrealistic" it is, is that once people say "I want to translate this blog," that they do it. If they're on vacation or unable to, that's fine, but tell somebody if that's going to happen.



And I'm not volunteering to translate any blogs because, frankly, I don't want to have anything to do with all the other stuff it entails like pictures and emoticons (which I still think are a waste of time/space when you can link the original blog). Not to mention that I have a job where I'm on call 24/7 and can't commit to it. I can, however, read the blog posts and clean up spelling, grammar, and translation mistakes.

[aine]

The masses will always flock to whoever pops the translation out first, regardless of how shitty their translation may be. I can tell you that from a bitter experience during my anime fansubbing days.



And editor's job wouldn't be re-translating the translator's screw-ups. In the most involved case it would be fixing minor mistakes. But anything above certain threshold would warrant the reviewed post being returned to the translator with a note saying "fix that shit, yo!".



But that would require a) a clear division of responsibilities between the translators and the editors and b) the translators being able to suck up their ego and relinquish total control over the final edit of the post, and last but not least c) both translators and editors being willing and able to assume their works as a responsibility they can stick to for it to work, rather than the completely good-will/free-time thing it is so far.



I would love to see it happen myself to be honest, but I just don't think it is possible with our scale and human resources right now. Unless Al had something completely different in mind that could actually realistically work out. We're open to ideas.

[al kusanagi]

The only ideas I've got at the moment would be:



1. Sending out people that are familiar with places like H!O to see if we could get more volunteers.



2. Regardless of the quality, form a partnership with the people doing regular translations and seeing if we could post their work (with appropriate link and whatnot) on our board.



3. Lock down the regular translators to one or two members they really want to translate and drop all other members completely from the front page (maybe make an archives section) since it reflects poorly for someone to come to the site wanting to read a particular member's blog only to see the last translation is months old.

[eri]

[quote name='aine' timestamp='1309204757' post='102485']

The masses will always flock to whoever pops the translation out first, regardless of how shitty their translation may be. I can tell you that from a bitter experience during my anime fansubbing days.[/quote]



First of all, <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /lmfao.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lmfao:' /> to that photo.



I wonder about timeliness. I don't think blogs are the same thing as fansubbed shows though. People are hungry for videos because they really want to see what happens NEXT and as long as they get the gist of it, it doesn't matter. Also, it seems people are simply hungry for VIDEOS period and thats why they jump to download the first releases. Blogs are way more casual.



But, judging from site stats the vast majority of visitors click on the front page only. This suggests that timeliness is the most important thing. So, if someone is a month behind...fuck it, translate the post from yesterday, you know? I think if Rokun is behind for Takahashi for over a month, it should be a wash and he can pick it up from her last post.



Though, I've been rather good about getting all of Nakky's posts. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /suika.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':suika:' />



[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1309205476' post='102487']

3. Lock down the regular translators to one or two members they really want to translate and drop all other members completely from the front page (maybe make an archives section) since it reflects poorly for someone to come to the site wanting to read a particular member's blog only to see the last translation is months old.

[/quote]

I like this. Otherwise, we can put some kind of notice that these are only sporadically done and that people can volunteer for them.

[tsukinobyouin]

And I'm not volunteering to translate any blogs because, frankly, I don't want to have anything to do with all the other stuff it entails like pictures and emoticons (which I still think are a waste of time/space when you can link the original blog). Not to mention that I have a job where I'm on call 24/7 and can't commit to it.

Like I said, if time is an issue that's understandable. It's even totally understandable for people to simply not be interested in doing translations because of the work it entails. It's this suggestion that bothered me:

A person could do one perfect translation, or a handful of quick translations, and I can go and fix anything wrong in the quick translations. We can turn quantity into quality!!!

This to me sounds like a lot of work for the editor because of all the time involved in looking at the original post and comparing it to the quick translation to find translation errors. Plus, how would you know without comparing every single original post to every single translation that there were translation errors at all? I could only see this working if the translator said "Hey, I did four quick translations can you clean them up?" But even still that seems time consuming for the editor. On top of that, since timeliness is an issue, most readers will likely read the half-assed translation and never see the edits that get made to it later.

But, judging from site stats the vast majority of visitors click on the front page only. This suggests that timeliness is the most important thing. So, if someone is a month behind...fuck it, translate the post from yesterday, you know? I think if Rokun is behind for Takahashi for over a month, it should be a wash and he can pick it up from her last post.

Remember a while back when Berry installed that additional stats counter? She was saying that there are a lot of stats we don't see, so she installed the new stats counter but then had to take it down when the blog was experiencing some issues. I know its in this thread somewhere, but it looked like Sayu's individual page and Saki's page got the most views, indicating people do check beyond the front page. Maybe only for certain girls?



If people really do only check the front page, then really it doesn't matter how timely we are. Let's say I update Sayu translations every hour. They'll be up there quickly, but just as quickly a new translation will replace it. Assuming most visitors aren't sitting there mindlessly refreshing the site, a lot of posts will still never be seen anyway.



Either way, I do agree that if someone is over a month behind they should just start at the most recent post. I'd say about 3~4 days should be the max anyone should go back to catch up on, depending on how interesting the backlogged content is.

3. Lock down the regular translators to one or two members they really want to translate and drop all other members completely from the front page (maybe make an archives section) since it reflects poorly for someone to come to the site wanting to read a particular member's blog only to see the last translation is months old.

I like this. Otherwise, we can put some kind of notice that these are only sporadically done and that people can volunteer for them.

I like this too. Maybe three people per translator, depending on how often each member they have blogs. Especially with certain blogs over entirely, it doesn't make much sense to have them crowding the main page.

[al kusanagi]

When I talk about fixing quickly written posts, I don't mean checking/redoing the translation. I'm more referring to the English aspects of it like spelling, grammar, or maybe making a phrase or two more natural. I tend not to do much to the actual translation unless I've already read the Japanese post and see something that's really off, or when it's a pop culture reference that the translator might not know of.

[maiZe]

[quote name='eri' timestamp='1309190339' post='102463']

Just noticed that the blog visits have dropped. I'm guessing it is because the Serend blogs are done? But, lots and lots of translations are really behind (the regularly translated ones and not like, Tanaka or the OGs). What is going on with Takahashi? We left off in late May.

[/quote]



Hi... Sorry. I've been trying to catch up with Aichan's blog, but seeing how even when I do 5 posts in a day, I'm still so far back, I keep getting discouraged. I'm just going to start up from the last week of Aichan stuff for the moment, and if I have time (which I doubt with the craziness of my schedule for July), I'll get back to older posts.

[eri]

[quote name='maiZe' timestamp='1309223152' post='102499']

[quote name='eri' timestamp='1309190339' post='102463']

Just noticed that the blog visits have dropped. I'm guessing it is because the Serend blogs are done? But, lots and lots of translations are really behind (the regularly translated ones and not like, Tanaka or the OGs). What is going on with Takahashi? We left off in late May.

[/quote]



Hi... Sorry. I've been trying to catch up with Aichan's blog, but seeing how even when I do 5 posts in a day, I'm still so far back, I keep getting discouraged. I'm just going to start up from the last week of Aichan stuff for the moment, and if I have time (which I doubt with the craziness of my schedule for July), I'll get back to older posts.

[/quote]



Ah, don't feel discouraged. I know you are one of the people that really wants to cover every post though. If it really bothers you, I can do all of the back-logged ones so you can focus on the current ones.



Takahashi averages about 3 posts a day but they are always image heavy so its tedious to do hers. So naturally, 5 a day will hardly make a dent and will be annoying.

[eri]

表紙は、白をイメージ



みてくほどに



黒になってきますっ。笑



The last section from

http://gree.jp/nakajima_saki/blog/entry/585612338



Nakajima is introducing her photobook, which has the theme black/white. Either she's saying she got as tan to the degree that the cover is white? Or that her "black" photos are just as black as the front cover is white?



Whats miteku?



<img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... nfused.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[tsukinobyouin]

I'm not sure what form of miru "miteku" is, but judging by the overall context and the comments she's saying "The cover is white-themed, but the more you look at it, it looks black." Meaning the cover is supposed to be white-Nakajima (cute/idol) but if you really look at it, it kind of seems like black-Nakajima (sexy/adult).

[eri]

[quote name='TnB' timestamp='1309399348' post='102673']

I'm not sure what form of miru "miteku" is, but judging by the overall context and the comments she's saying "The cover is white-themed, but the more you look at it, it looks black." Meaning the cover is supposed to be white-Nakajima (cute/idol) but if you really look at it, it kind of seems like black-Nakajima (sexy/adult).

[/quote]



Thank you <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... nfused.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[maiZe]

Can anyone tell me what

が、いらしてました

means in the context of

サプライズゲストとして、

矢口さん、石川さん、そして...秋野よう子さん

が、いらしてました

Aichan's blog post?

http://ameblo.jp/takahashiai-blog/entry ... .html#main



Muchly appreciated!

[eri]

Isn't that just a contracted te form of いらっしゃいました - or, いらっしゃってました, which becomes いらしてました out of laziness?



edit:

http://okwave.jp/qa/q5393015.html

[momoirosaya]

Like eri said, it just sounds like a form of いっらしゃいました.

So it means "attended" or "were there" something of that like.



"Yaguchi-san, Ishikawa-san, and...Akino Youko-san

were there as

surprise guests"

[EmEl]

[quote name='TnB' timestamp='1309399348' post='102673']

I'm not sure what form of miru "miteku" is

[/quote]

You were right about it all, but just wanted to say for future reference that "みてく" is "見ていく". The い gets dropped often just like in words like "見てる"

[EmEl]

I think... I think I can't translate anymore. I can't really find the time to keep up these days.

[eri]

Do you want to take a break or just stop? Do you want to split?



Since rokun does the C-ute blog, I feel like I don't really have to cover Nakky's separate blog...Hmm. I feel like we're going to reorganize things pretty soon (per the conversation above with Al) and I can only keep up 3 blogs until September. Luckily Wada and Maeda blog only 1x per day but I'm worried about Nakky.



The Buono blog is never used anymore except by Staff (which I ignore because who cares what the staff has to say). In any case, the Buono tag should disappear and each entry should just go with the respective girl (like the Cute blog).



Abe is too hard to follow because her site does not let me subscribe via RSS feeder. I'm not in the habit of clicking on her website -> blog - > current day on a regular basis.

[aine]

I haven't been able to prep Sayu's blog today. Gonna try to catch up tomorrow, though I dread the amount. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /ph34r.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':ph34r:' />

[EmEl]

[quote name='eri' timestamp='1309630117' post='102877']

Do you want to take a break or just stop? Do you want to split?

[/quote]

Mano doesn't exactly update every day, and I still feel I can't keep up. If you wanted to do it, go ahead. But I know you have other things to do. Mano's not exactly one of the popular pages I don't think. I also do LinLin, but she rarely updates. So I can keep an eye on her and translate if it hasn't been done yet.

[aine]

[quote name='aine' timestamp='1309816358' post='102990']

I haven't been able to prep Sayu's blog today. Gonna try to catch up tomorrow, though I dread the amount. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /ph34r.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':ph34r:' />

[/quote]

Just FYI it's now up to date starting with the last post TnB's translated.





Em-El, sorry about your melancholy and burning out. I hope it will go away after you take a break and recharge your batteries for some time. Don't feel obliged, but you know you're welcome to start translating again any time. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... umbsup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />





I don't know if it's been said, but everyone is welcome to recommend us the potential translators that you know may be interested, or to just show them to the B!P and particularly this post. With Em-El taking his break and Reina!Project's being gone for the last month again we're understaffed to say the least. The choice is either to drop even more blogs or only do spot translations of the more important posts. Either way, it's spread way thinner than we'd want.

[eri]

I'll pick up Mano until September. I'm going to cut down Nakky to 1/day or less - rokun does her C-ute stuff and her regular blog is boring as hell. This brings me to roughly 3-4 blog translations/day which is not that big of a deal. Maybe after the summer, Em-El will have more free time and he can pick her up again.



When September comes, I think I am not going to have time to do anything though. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... mellow.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':mellow:' /> Not sure yet, of course, but this is my fear.



I've asked in the Nakky thread at H-O if anyone knew anyone to take up the translation. I even "cold called" someone for Nakky but no one is taking it up. I think we should take down the call on blog.project -- people don't even read it because it has been there forever and it has just become parto f the background. Rather, we need to post it once every few months to "remind" people that we'd always appreciate help.

[momoirosaya]

Mid-August I'll have to stop translations too.

Because I'll be going exchange, I won't have the time to keep up, or the internet probably too.

I'll be happy to pick them up when I get back though.

I might be able to keep doing Saki, since she only updates a couple of times a day, but Risa updates several times a day, so I can't keep her. I might even occasionally do Akari, but I'll have to see what my situation is like over there first before I decide what I will be able to do.

[tsukinobyouin]

Whoa people are dropping like flies! <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... nfused.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> Life happens though.



Sadly I'm not sure where else to pimp blog! project to get translators. I don't really know any Hello! Project fans outside of this forum. Maybe we should start putting the word out now at Hello! Online that we could use some more help? I'm under the impression that translators are in short supply in general though =/

[al kusanagi]

One way, which would take a little translation work, but a lot of other talent, would be to get back into video translation. When we were regularly translating Hello Morning, we got all sorts of new people checking the site out. Maybe if we had a small team to work on Hello Pro Time each week, and then credit it to blog-project rather than this place, which still seems to scare people even though we are all nice and shit now. Then we could add something about wanting translators in the title screen or credits.



Probably not doable with who we have now, but it would likely bring in a lot of interest and/or exposure.

[eri]

[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1309896198' post='103052']

One way, which would take a little translation work, but a lot of other talent, would be to get back into video translation. When we were regularly translating Hello Morning, we got all sorts of new people checking the site out. Maybe if we had a small team to work on Hello Pro Time each week, and then credit it to blog-project rather than this place, which still seems to scare people even though we are all nice and shit now. Then we could add something about wanting translators in the title screen or credits.



Probably not doable with who we have now, but it would likely bring in a lot of interest and/or exposure.

[/quote]



Also, imo, translating song lyrics is fairly fun and "safe" because you have the written text to work from. Translating a tv show is much harder due to all the homonyms in Japanese, slang puns, and whatnot. I might be willing to give it a shot depending on the show but someone else would have to set it up because video trans are completely a foreign territory for me.

[al kusanagi]

HPT is probably the easiest thing they've done for translating short of the image videos with 2 minutes of talking. The hardest thing would be the timing and sticking in the subtitles themselves. I'm familiar with the basic process, but have never attempted anything like it.

[strawberryjam]

I've been busy guys, sorry. Em-El, the required amount is 3 posts per week. So it's not toooo demanding. And eri is willing to help so you maybe you should consider it still, this is teamwork afterall.



Anyways, I'm sorry guys, but yeah, I've been busy. It's hard for me to reorganize the site like you guys are asking.



As for translating H!P stuff.. we never finished Bijo gakou thingy. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' /> But I do think the most important thing right now is getting more translators. I found one on tumblr, but I don't know how to contact them. Does anyone know how tumblr works?

[tsukinobyouin]

[quote name='strawberryjam' timestamp='1309943058' post='103076']

I found one on tumblr, but I don't know how to contact them. Does anyone know how tumblr works?

[/quote]



I do. On a person's page there should be a "ask" button somewhere. If they don't have that feature enabled, you pretty much can't contact them. You could try reblogging one of their posts and attaching a message to it and hoping they read it. Or some people enable the reply feature to their posts, which you could use. If you want to link me, I can try and contact them?

[strawberryjam]

http://lovetakahashiai.tumblr.com/



This the link. Thank you, TnB! I hope it works out. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... umbsup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[tsukinobyouin]

Unfortunately that person doesn't have reply or ask enabled :( No method of contact. I feel a little creepy reblogging and asking them to join blog! project, it's a little bit too public for me ^^;; Reblogging means one of her posts would then be published on my tumblr along with my added message of "Heeey wanna come to blog project"? for all of my tumblr followers to see.



If anyone else is brave enough, go for it?