Translation Resources
This is a list of useful translation resources from which I have somehow benefited and continue to use as references. This is purely a resource for translation, not (really) for learning languages. Donโt be confused.
Most of the resources are for Jp-Eng, but as I find useful Kor-Eng resources that are helpful to me, I will list them here too.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any resources for Chinese to English because I’ve been speaking Chinese as a second language since young, it’s native to me. The only thing I’d recommend is the ‘Pleco’ dictionary app, and if there’s anything you don’t get, searching on BAIDU will get you there, and you can also ask DEEPSEEK questions. Deepseek is a Chinese made AI, if you got language questions, even slangs, you’re going to get a better answer from it than the other AIs.
By the way, I do not earn any affliates bucks with any of these links. Just simply sharing resources.
Japanese Translation Related
- The Society of Writers, Editors, and Translators (SWET) guide for writers, editors, and translators (Eng)
- Yakuaru (J-E glossary found in various media from manga, novel, anime, etc)
- Numan (You want explanation of otaku slangs? You got it here. In Jp)
- Japanese-English Translation: An Advanced Guide by Judy Wakabayashi (Eng book)
- Making Sense of Japanese: What the Textbooks Don’t Tell You by Jay Rubin (Eng book)
- A Handbook of Japanese Grammar Patterns for Teachers and Learners (Eng book)
- Translation and Translation Studies in Japanese Context by Nana Sato-Rossberg and Judy Wakabayashi (Eng book)
- Proverbs dictionary series by Aoyama Yuki targeted at Japanese elementary students. (In Jp) Even though it’s for elementary students, it’s very useful because it’s easy to digest and remember!
Korean Translation Related
- The Routledge Course in Korean Translation by Jieun Kiaer
- Naver Korean-English Dictionary
- Namuwiki (Korean Wikipedia equivalent). Very useful to find some obsecure information sometimes, especially on slangs.
- Saeguk Glossary Terms used in historical Korean dramas, applicable to historical novels set in historical Korea/Joseon/Goryeo as well
- Bonus: If your grasp of Japanese is good enough, try searching for explanation about Korean words in Japanese. This has surprisingly helped me more than trying to find their meanings in English…
Writing/Editing Related (English Materials)
- The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B White (4th Ed) (book)
- How to Write a Romantic Novel by Paul Tomlinson (book)
- How to Write Dazzling Dialogue: The Fastest Way to Improve Any Manuscript by James Scott Bell (book)
- Translation and Creativity by Kirsten Malmkjรฆr (book)
- Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide for Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer (book) If you get this, you deserved this as an audiobook
Disclaimer: I don’t own the audiobook, but the author’s saltiness oozed from every word even in print form, so I can just imagine how the audio version might sound - Once Upon a Time It Was Now: The Art and Craft of Writing Historical Fiction by James Alexander Thom (book) If you’re into translating manga and novels with a historical setting, I think this will be helpful. That was my purpose of getting this book.
- If I [Was] You… And Alot More Grammar Mistakes You Might Be Making by Lauren Sussman (book) *The book title just screams ‘Me’ ๐
I grabbed it for free on Amazon. Also, one can never have too many grammar books. - Oxford A-Z of Grammar & Punctuation by John Seely (book) I’ve been concerned by proper punctuations lately ๐
- How To Write Erotica by Rachel Kramer Bussel (book) Translating smut is hard! But there isn’t really much (make that any) guides out there regarding translating smut, so I’m turning to guides like this as inspiration.
- Translation: The Basics by Juliane House (book) Well, this doesn’t really belong to this section, but it isn’t targeting any specific languages, so I’m putting it in here. Anybody that’s actually browsing this list, even if you’re just an MTL, not some language zealot like me, THIS BOOK WILL HELP YOU!
- SEXY LEXIS Dictionary / Synonym for all those body parts and sexy terms if you’re also translating smut and erotica
Grammar / Tone / Common Mistakes
My grammar is questionable, but these are some of the common mistakes (even in official translations) that I’ve noticed reading translations from other translators (Will update as I go along)
From ‘Bear to ‘Bare’
Is this an American English thing? However, even when I googled for a concrete definition, I discovered that the American spelling is also ‘Bear’ (def. To endure [an ordeal or difficulty]). This has become something of my pet peeve. ‘Unbearable’ is spelt with a ‘BEAR’, so why would you spell ‘BEAR’ as ‘BARE’?!
Example sentences:
- Please bear with me (NOT ‘bare’, unless you really want someone to be nude together with you).
- He will bare it all (It means this person wants to divulge something. Can be used figuratively and literally).
- He will bear it all (It means this person will endure things come his way).
Using ‘You all’ in the dialogue
This was something I noticed a lot from official translations of webtoons from Tapas, Tappytoon. Please, it’s ‘all of you’ or ‘everyone’ not ‘you all’ (used in the same sense as y’all). Not when it’s in a fantasy setting and the speaker are aristrocrats, kings and queens, etc… Just no…
Unless specifically stated or styled by the author that the character speaks that way, please don’t use ‘You all.’
Translating ‘์ญ์’ (yeok-shi) / ‘ใใใ’ (sa-su-ga) to ‘AS EXPECTED’
When you do that, I automatically write you off as someone with low understanding of Korean or Japanese. Or you’re simply using MTL.
Because of similarity in language structure, both ‘์ญ์’ (which is Korean) and ‘ใใใ’ (which is Japanese, and sometimes you might come across them written in kanji as ‘ๆต็ณ’) share the same nuances, and there’s definitely more to them than their ‘literal translation’ of this fucking ‘as expected’. Of course, sometimes it makes sense to translate it as ‘as expected’, but I can 100% tell you, 99% it isn’t ‘as expected’. So, please. Just no.
This is truly my biggest language pet peeve.