Just sharing a kanji horror which makes me wonder if I have a horrible scan, or it really is the best that the scanner can capture because it is such a complicated kanji and the font on the material is too small to have all of its details captured. I'm not lying, this is frequent and common with kanji that has more than 12 strokes and has a structure like that (zooming in doesn't help). All the images are so clean and clear that they don't need any cleaning at all so it makes me lean towards the latter.
I often have to base off my experience of writing chinese script of what the character may look like, researching complicated kanji and know how to distinguish what is a stroke from blobs like the one you see in this uploaded sample I have provided. I also write my idea of how the character may look like on my device so the program on my device bring up a selection of characters that resembles the character the most and match it to what it looks like the most. The rest of the work is proofreading to see if it makes sense, if it doesn't work, rinse and repeat until I get it right. If all fails, I ask a Japanese friend, which has not happened yet, so my method seems to be working and the kanjis,as far as I know, are making sense in the context it is used.
This is actually an interesting experience. Throughout my translations and my posts you're most likely going to see more posts like these because, I sometimes feel like a crazy person doing something crazy, for the love of manga, translating and problem solving and I feel goddamn proud I have not given in yet, judging by the number of these "blobs" that I keep coming across. This series hates english translators and I sometimes feel its resistance to being translated, is a challenge to my pride.
I have considered buying the actual manga to solve this issue but the problem is that I am not in Japan and I honestly am not sure if the kanji would look any clearer without me checking it in real life before buying it. I may change my mind one day. I am not going to ask for donations, that kind of thing makes me feel awkward.
Anyway, chapter 57 of yami no aegis is currently being translated.
I feel for you, really I do. From my limited experiences with trying my hand at translations, I ran into similar difficulties. It almost makes one wish for that ridiculous CSI technology that can somehow depixilate a fuzzy photo. I think the originals must be better, otherwise no one would be able to read them at all. I hope for your continued success.
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DeleteI know the originals are always better,they have to be clear readable kanji and all material text have to be printed clearly, however it doesn't mean the copy of the volume I order and have it sent here, won't be badly printed and have blurry kanji. If that happens, its gonna be hell for me if I try to ask for refunds or an exchange for a volume with clearer characters, considering I would be complaining via online correspondence.
ReplyDeleteSorry I wasn't clear with that in my post, I was on a mobile device and a bit tired from my translating work.
Thankyou for your continued support.