Mjolnir Mark IV wrote:Thank you, Reichu! That is a very generous offer.

I won't be able to tackle this right away, unfortunately, since your reply came hours before I need to go Away From Forum, with my free time in a precarious state for a month or so. But if I have opportunity, I'll feed you lines here and there, assuming nobody else steps up.

I actually see the missing lines as a secondary priority at the moment, since most of it is background dialog (intercom broadcasts, radio communications, etc.)
My main concern right now is several important lines that are difficult to translate, this one causing me the most grief:

01:22:26,445 --> 01:22:33,844
だけど、ここにいて、生まれてきてどうだったのか、これからも考え続ける。
But I'll continue to think about what it means to come back after what’s happened.

The italics are my own translation, and since I barely know any Japanese, heavy scrutiny is welcome. I want these to be good. If anyone can help explain the original meaning, it would be greatly appreciated.
Note that Japanese dialog is quoted from http://www002.upp.so-net.ne.jp/jsrc/dust/theend.html, so there could be errors.

Only a couple of minor differences in the script version of the line.

だけど、ここにいて [line break]
生まれてきてどうだったのかはこれからも考え続ける。

The grammar on this one is complicated enough (and my own skills shabby enough) that it would take me a while to offer you my own suggestion, so no can do right now. I do remember thinking that bochan_bird's take seemed reasonable.

Thanks for checking that out! After looking at what it actually says, now I'm thinking maybe this would be a better translation (although again, I hardly know what I'm doing here):

But I'll continue to think about my existence since birth.

Even though there are lines like this that are questionable, the set of subtitles I've combined/created is already my favorite translation. I'm really hoping I'll be able to share it with you all soon.

Are you still doing this? I would really like a good translation of EoE. And could someone help me? There is a part (when Instrumentality begins, after the choking) in which Shinji is talking with Rei, and suddenly he says:
Translation 1:"You trampled on my heart!"
Translation 2: "She betrayed me!"
So, is he talking about Asuka, to people in general?
Good luck with your translation project!

I most certainly am! Thank you for the support.

I have another line here that I would like some help with. Keep in mind this is using the same questionable transcript as before, so it may have errors.

01:22:40,105 --> 01:22:41,883
自分が自分でいるために。

The translation I came up with is:
"It's up to me to take care of myself."

But I'm not sure how accurate a translation this is. An interesting thing about it, regardless of its accuracy, is the connection it has to the TV ending's episode name.

Since it looks relevant, I'm too attempting my own translation of End of Evangelion.

Mr. Tines wrote:There is always some information loss in translation as there are different sets of associations between words in the different cultures -- as the Italians put it, "Traditore, tradutore".

Mada mada...

"Traduttore, traditore" (translator = traitor)

or even better

"Tradurre vuol dire tradire" (i.e. translating means betraying).

Happy to hear about Mjolnir's effort. A perfect translation may be an unattainable one goal, but the quest itself is almost always worth the effort.

Believe it or not, this project still has a heartbeat, and it's getting louder. The OCD side of me can't let the release date slip past the year the story takes place, which is of course...oh crap! 2016! That's this year!

I'm writing release notes, but I have no idea how to credit the guy who transcribed the movie here:
http://www002.upp.so-net.ne.jp/jsrc/dust/theend.html

Does anyone know his name, or the name of his Internet persona?

And for anyone wondering about the delay...well, y'know: life and stuff. Plus this project (shameless self-promotion):
http://forum.evageeks.org/post/809813/Neon-Genesis-Evangelion-Digitally-Re-Created-VHS-Subtitles/#809813

Mjolnir, have you checked this:

thread/18332/The-newest-most-accurate-EoE-subs-to-date-are-out/

?

It still needs some review here and there, not 100% perfect (90% I dare to say) but dozens of times better than all the 3 main translation we ever had so far. I've personally put dozens of hours in that and had the help of some people with reasonably Japanese knowledge in it, although it still missing a final review with a proper Japanese NATIVE with good English in it for me to feel it's 100% complete. I know some Japanese, enough to be able to use Kanji dictionaries to all the words I personally didn't know. Most I could correct alone but some doubts still remained (such as the meaning of mukui, see the translation notes).

Not posting this to say "It's already done" but more that I wish that all of us that wanted a perfect EoE subs joined forces and worked together. Further improvements of my script (even tough I've already "officially released it") can still be done.

(Btw, I Marathon is probably one of my favorite Sci-fi games history-wise of all time.)

sephirotic wrote:Mjolnir, have you checked this:

Yes, sir. Somebody directed that topic to my attention recently, noting its relevance. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but I definitely will at some point.

sephirotic wrote:Not posting this to say "It's already done" but more that I wish that all of us that wanted a perfect EoE subs joined forces and worked together.

I think that's a great idea. But because my free time is so limited and because I'm so close to having my project ready to release, the best offer I can make for now is this:

Once my project is released, take whatever you want from it and incorporate it into your own. All I ask in return is that you give credit where it's due, along with a link to my project. It's up to you where you put this, but something like mentioning it in a credits section in the download seems appropriate. I'm not asking that you keep track of every part that's from me and every part that's from you (unless you want to). Simply describing how much of my stuff you use would be enough for me.

And if all of that sounds fair to you, I'll do the same if I end up using something from your project. The only reason I mention including the link is because upon release, new projects such as ours will not be in wide circulation the way existing translations already are, so a name on its own might not be sufficient to find the project.

What do you think of all this? I'm totally open to discussing alternative options.

I think a more traditional collaboration where we compare notes and bounce ideas off of each other would be much more ideal. I hope that's something I'll have time for in the future, but I don't know. I love the idea though.

sephirotic wrote:(Btw, I Marathon is probably one of my favorite Sci-fi games history-wise of all time.)

Nice! Check out Aleph One if you haven't. The entire trilogy has been made open source, so it's now free (legally), and playable on Mac, PC, and Linux. Also, check out "Facts and puzzling things about..." on the Story Page if you haven't. It'll change your life.

The subtitles I've been working on for The End of Evangelion are now complete! You can download them here:
http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/18776/The-End-of-Evangelion-Fansub-Amalgamation/#p853049

I created a separate topic because there's an important distinction between my project and the original topic of this thread. The original topic was my search for the most accurate translation of the movie in existence, which would have been an invaluable resource and a huge time saver for me. My subtitles, on the other hand, are designed to be the end product, and as such have been adapted for English, and localized for the end user.

And while I strive for accuracy with my translation, I don't know Japanese well enough to claim that my subtitles are the most accurate translation in existence (remember, that's what I was looking for, not what I was claiming). What I can claim is that watching the movie with my subtitles is the most enjoyable version I've ever seen, so give it a try!