tokyo roadkill : Words on the Page. Translate.

You have two options for some of the translations (you'll have it for all of them once my new computer can grok Japanese. For now, though...):

1. Straight translation into English--nothing but my translation of the text.
2. Four-line translation--This is for you hard-core people out there (and also why it may seem like it's taking a long time between translations; doing this format takes a lot of time):
line 1: Japanese text (your browser must grok Japanese for this.)
line 2: Romanization of the Japanese
line 3: word for word English, with the Japanese text and alternate meanings
line 4: straight English

And just so you know--there will be discrepancies between the straight English and the 4-line straight English. There are two reasons for this, and it can all be summed up bythe following: The 4-line will be faithful to the Japanese, and the straight English will be faithful to English. This causes radically different translations some times.
Japanese is ass-backwards from English and English is ass-backwards from Japanese. The 4-line will be a little truer to the Japanese just because of formatting, but that will have the result of being in...strange...English from time to time. The straight English translation will be cleaner English that more closely reflects how native English speakers talk--ie, "Gambatte" translated as "Good luck!" instead of "Do your best!" because, really, when's the last time *you* heard someone who natively speaks English say "Do your best!"?

I don't want this just to be my translations. If any of you out there have translated things, and don't mind them being scrutinized, and are willing to put it in the same two versions as I have done, I'll post them here. Also, if you have translated manga out of other languages that its been translated into, I'll post those here. I'll create a special section for translations of translations--out of the Japanese into French, or German, or Chinese, or whatever, then into English. You'll need to include the original language text, if you have it, with the translation. Also, I am very open to being corrected--in fact, I welcome it. If you see something I've done wrong, tell me. I'll correct it, and file it away in my brain so I don't make the same mistake again.

I am going with the assumption that you have the manga in front of you. Meaning I am just translating the text. I am not going to describe every little event that is happening. Alas, my time is not infinite, my job ESL job has me working 9 hours a day, and they're really random hours, too, and I have no computer of my own anymore. Sorry....

So, I just found out Wish has been licensed and is almost completely out in the US, so off the page it goes. Also, I have completely finished translating Book One of TB and over half of Book Two--and that should be finished next week. I havew a week-long vacation comimg up and no plans, so I'll be typing it up then, as well as starting...the 4-line version! Yes! My computer can grok Japanese again! Yes, yes, yes![12/21]

I have finally gotten off my ass and typed up the translation to the first chapter of Tokyo Babylon: Vol.0 T.Y.O is up and ready in straight English.[10/13]

I have completely translated all of Shirahime-syo. Yes, that's right--I actually finished one! I have also revised the straight-English translation of the introduction to Tokyo Babylon. [10/11]

I have decided to discontinue translating X. It was not an easy decision, mind you, but I have my reasons for doing it. Mainly, I've decided not to translate anything that's had the rights bought by an American company. I only started translating X because Viz lost the rights, but recently, I've learned that they've begun republishing. Even though I hate the translation, that's not reason enough for me to undermine the legality of the situation. I'm really sorry, I am, but it's my morals--it's kinda like, Yeah, hey, fansubs are cool, unless the show is licensed. This is the same thing. I'm really sorry.[8/10]