I would like to bring to your attention a translation project that several of my friends have been working on over the past year. While under more favourable circumstances I would be doing this simply because this game's story is extremeley good, the current situation calls for a slightly more urgent call: We are having serious trouble finding a translator.
The project is Saya no Uta, a famous horror game created by Nitro+ (authors of Demonbane and Phantom of Inferno), giving a Lovecraft-like account of the excellent madness of a man lost of this world. The game is relatively short and the language is not extremely difficult, but the writing is more literary than colloquial so kanji abound. Don't expect to be able to work through it easily with only one or two years of Japanese classes behind you. To illustrate, the first 15% of the game has been translated by sebasdoes who had to give up for spending the better part of his time reading dictionaries instead of actually translating.
We have requested help on the project page several times, we have posted calls for help in encubed gemot and we have asked around amongst our contacts for nigh on three months now. We are however still no single step further than before. I would therefore like to ask the following of our readership:
If you know someone who can handle a literary text of Japanese and translate it truthfully to (fair to decent) English, please ask that person if he/she is interested in translating this famous horror story with us. We may be able to supply that person with a free copy of the game in exchange (but not before most of the work is done). It is not absolutely necessary that this person finishes the entire script translation on his/her own, but it IS greatly preferred.
Note that this is not a mirror moon project, but some mirror moon people are involved in it. In fact we have all positions filled, except for the translator. People interested in this job are encouraged to contact Teus (link). Please spread the word, so that we can bring this great game to the English audiences!
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Mon, 26/05/2008 - 21:40
@ Message: this is great!, but don't you think that the project will attract more people if is created a space in the Project's page? By this way more people will see project and what is done and maybe one or another person maybe can join ^^
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»Mon, 26/05/2008 - 23:18
It's not our project, but we could toy with the idea, I guess.
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»Tue, 27/05/2008 - 05:21
I hope this game will get translated soon, I have fallen in love with it since I saw some of its wallpaper on minitokyo.
Here is an example: http://gallery.minitokyo.net/view/263993/
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»Tue, 27/05/2008 - 09:32
I want this game translated too!
I saw some reviews and I´m very anxious to play...
I hope a good translator appear!
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»Tue, 27/05/2008 - 13:56
I've been waiting for this for around a year now, and I've been listening to the OST almost everyday. i just cant get Saya out of my head!
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Saya R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Saya R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
Saya fhtagn, Saya fhtagn!
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»Tue, 27/05/2008 - 22:50
Sweeeeeet~!!!! I was playing this game in Korean for abit but ended up stopping for awhile and never got back to it. English should make it so much easier~ This game has such an AWESOME horror feel to it. Amazing art, story, etc. Had this game for about a lil' over 2 years and I can finally finish~ <3<3 Can't wait!
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»Tue, 27/05/2008 - 23:27
I found a topic in the megatokyo forums with a person translating the Saya no Uta, maybe you guys can talk to him, his nick is "Oroshi".
Topic:http://forums.megatokyo.com/index.php?showtopic=1716728
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»Wed, 28/05/2008 - 03:41
That's actually the guy that started up the project in the first place (and then stopped after he got up to the first end).
http://forums.novelnews.net/showthread.php?t=7274
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»Wed, 28/05/2008 - 05:35
When Misu took over the project, Orochi's translation was deemed too much QUALITY (tm) to work with, and we basically had to start from scratch.
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»Thu, 29/05/2008 - 11:33
Yeah, but if Orochi hadn't started his/her translation, I somewhat doubt there'd be a project for it at all right now. There could be, but I find it less likely.
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»Thu, 29/05/2008 - 12:30
we're all in debt to Orochi for drawing attention to this game.
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»Wed, 28/05/2008 - 11:23
Hi, I've been studying Japanese somewhat intensively for three years now, and I'm in the middle of my second exchange program here right now. I've been looking for a project to which I could contribute for quite some time, and just recently a friend referred me to this post. You can see my email on my mirrormoon profile (registered minutes ago) and email me there if you want to talk.
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»Wed, 28/05/2008 - 21:58
ahaaa... please check your e-mail!
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»Wed, 28/05/2008 - 18:10
Whoa... we got prospective translator... it's samineru, hope you'll got the job !!
I think there's a "test" of some sort in the project page... why don't you try taking it, translate whatever in the test, and send it to the staffs...
@Message: Where have you been dude?? People kinda miss u in the forum (ok, that's a lie)... lol jk... But seriously, drop by in the forum and post something, kay?
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»Sat, 31/05/2008 - 03:48
I have played this game(Chinese version), it's really a interesting game.
I wish I could help
However, problems are that I do not have much spare time as a university student, and my English is not good enough for such a difficult work....
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