Japanese Translation Steps
I was wondering the process people take when translating things from non-Latin-alphabet texts to English. Do you put it into the Latin equivalent first, or just read and translate?
I'm in the middle of translating a Japanese short story and I tend to put things into romanji first before translating to English. I guess it's more of a first read- getting me familiar with the story and text- and gives me a chance to look up kanji that I don't know. I'd say I'm at an high intermediate level; I did translate a light novel for my senior project. Nevertheless, I'd say I still only get about 60% of what I read due to snags.
Would you suggest that I get into the practice of doing it as I go along, or is converting to romanji first an OK thing at my level? It is just a transition until I get better at the language?
How does everyone else go about it?
I'm in the middle of translating a Japanese short story and I tend to put things into romanji first before translating to English. I guess it's more of a first read- getting me familiar with the story and text- and gives me a chance to look up kanji that I don't know. I'd say I'm at an high intermediate level; I did translate a light novel for my senior project. Nevertheless, I'd say I still only get about 60% of what I read due to snags.
Would you suggest that I get into the practice of doing it as I go along, or is converting to romanji first an OK thing at my level? It is just a transition until I get better at the language?
How does everyone else go about it?