連載翻訳の途中交代の苦労

マンガ又はノベル連載の翻訳依頼を引き受ける際、けっこう苦労するのが「途中交代」。普通に１巻からやるのなら、自分の翻訳スタイルですぐに始められますが、２巻以降からの途中交代となると、前の翻訳者がしたことをまず理解しなければなりません。いろいろな理由で翻訳者が交代されるので（スケジュールの困難、私情、出版社の要望など）それはさておき、連載の続きをどうやって翻訳するかが課題となります。

翻訳者が代わったと言う事をできるだけに読者に気づかせないつつ、原作を違う言語で正確に伝えなければならない…と思います。（翻訳者は主役じゃないんで。）前の翻訳者は各キャラクターのセリフやクセをどう訳したのか？例えば、メインキャラのＡ子はよく「ありえない」と言う娘で、前の翻訳者が１巻でそれを「unbelievable」と訳しました。私は本当は「no way」と翻訳したいと思うけど、では２巻からその決めセリフを変えちゃっていいの？それとも前の翻訳者の選択を尊重すべき？明らかに前の訳が間違ってたら問題なく自分の新しい訳を使いますが（めったに無いんですが）、このようにどっちも的確だと選択が難しくなります。

最終的にはケースバイケースで判断するしかないんですが、その苦悩の末、ごくまれですが、全く理解しないリライターが内容を簡単に変えられる時、へこみ倍増です。(T_T)　

翻訳者の思考錯誤は続く…

The challenges of changing translators during a series
When I receive a translation project offer of a manga or novel series, one of the challenging issues I come across is "changing translators midway." If I translated a series from volume 1, I could jump in right away with my style of translation, but if I took over a series from volume 2 or later, I first need to analyze the previous translator's work. There are various reasons for changing translators during a series (scheduling conflicts, personal reasons, publisher's request, etc.) but I'll put that aside for now. The issue here is the challenge of how to take over the translation of the series.

The translator needs to convey the original work in a different language as accurately as possible, and not let the readers realize that the translation changed hands midway as much as possible... I think. (I believe translators shouldn't be in the spotlight.) How did the previous translator handle each character's voice and habits? For example, let's say main character Girl A always said, "Arienai", which the previous translator translated it to "unbelievable" in volume 1. But if I wanted to translate it to "no way", do I change Girl A's key phrase to my version from volume 2? Or should I stay in line with the previous translator's choice of words? It's easy to make the change if the previous translator obviously mis-translated (which doesn't happen often), but if both versions are accurate, the final choice becomes difficult.

Ultimately, one can only determine on a case-by-case basis, but in some rare cases, after all that thinking and careful selection, the rewriter might change the final wording without much thought, which would end up doubling my depression. (T_T)

The translator's trial-and-error experiment continues...