Translating Philosophy and Notes About the Books in General
Okay, talking under the cuts
Translating Philosophy
As you're aware, people always hate dubs. Dubs are frequently seen as inferior to the original in every way by most anime fans. I admit to anti-dub bias. Why do I bring this up when translating novels? Because I'm working with translation, and it is difficult to make a good localization of Japanese into English in most cases. Some companies do this with flying colors and notes, notes, notes--others just change the jokes and shut their eyes and hope for the best.
Honestly, I believe (and was taught recently) that translators put a bit of themselves into their translations. A person's mood and personality reflect word choice in situations, resulting in different connotations (such as "taking a break" vs. "lazing around" is one such instance that can pass on a different feeling for a character, or "gorging" vs "eating" vs "nomnomnomming" all are the same activity).
Hopefully, I put my best foot forward with this and attempt to preserve the intended feeling of the works XD;.
You might have seen me say that I sacrifice a bit of the translation to make it workable into English--a little of that happens to EVERY translation made, no matter who you are or what language you're translating into. Word order and placement is tricky at times, but it doesn't mean I'm cutting out parts left and right--there are times when I'll break something into clearer sentences for easier reading.
Notes About the Books in General
...Plus a few stylistic things I just do.
First and foremost, these books are kid's novels. The translations will lean toward being rather simplistic in nature, not some great work of art. There are beautiful moments, but the beauty lies in the simplistic nature and all that jazz.
Second of all, the books are written in present tense. Since most English literature is in past tense, I'm switching it to that, to make it sound a little more traditional. It's a little stylistic, but there are sections where there is first person narration. I will keep those present tense like they are since it is character dialogue in essence.
I'll repeat these as needed per chapter, but:
1. I always leave "Ou-sama" in text as "Ou-sama." In English translation, this is literally "King." But in game it is "King Mickey." After playing re:CoM in Japanese, hearing Riku shout "OU-SAMA!" every twenty seconds in battle, it sounds more right to my ears.
2. Sora-tachi is almost always "Sora, Donald, Goofy."
3. Hayner-tachi is almost always "Hayner, Pence, Olette."
4. "Vexen-tachi" refers to "Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion" and "Marluxia-tachi" refers to "Marluxia and Larxene (and occassionally Axel)." You never hear these in fandom, but they are used in-novel at least once.
5. If there's multiple ways to say something (literal Japanese translation, English localization, or straight up Japanese), I'll put what I prefer in the text, but with notes for the alternatives if the difference is notable. However, locations in game will almost always be described in their English localization. Such as with "Juusan Kikan"--it's literally "Thirtheen Order" but is localized into "Organization Thirteen" (or, really Organization XIII.)
6. Replica=Riku is refered to in the CoM novels as "Riku." I will call him "Replica=Riku," since that is the official name. Plus I wish I had equal signs in my name.
7. In the novels, weapons aren't named. This irks me a little.
I'll add more to this as I think of things of importance.