Translators Unite: Translator Interview #2
Going in-depth with the translators of DLsite's "Translators Unite"!
For our second interview, we talked with the translator "Planet 9".
DLsite Staff: Could you introduce yourself?
Planet 9: I'm a 90s kid turned corporate drone (laughs).
DLsite Staff: Is that so! When did you start studying Japanese?
Planet 9: Truthfully, I've never studied it in school or anything, but even as far back as elementary school, I loved anime. In junior high school, I got hooked on otome games, which was the impetus for me to start studying it.
DLsite Staff: I see! So you studied by yourself and built up your translation experience from there. About how old were you when you translated your first work?
Planet Nine: It was around high school, but even in junior high school, I was posting translations for things on forums. Looking back on it now, my translation quality at the time was pretty bad...
Dlsite Staff: Is there an otome game you'd recommend to everyone?
Planet 9: The first one I played, "Hiiro no Kakera." Recently, I've been enjoying "JACKKEANNE."
DLsite Staff: What was the reason you started using DLsite?
Planet 9: Actually, I didn't even know about DLsite until around the end of 2021, when I saw a post about "Translators Unite."
DLsite Staff: Interesting! As a user of DLsite, what types of works are you interested in? How do you like using the site?
Planet 9: Putting aside the financial aspect, I enjoy wholesome love stories that aren't too complex. From a usability perspective, I like that DLsite has very specific genre tags.
DLsite Staff: Thank you! I want to ask you more about "Translators Unite". To begin, where did you see that initial post about it?
Planet 9: I'm part of a translation community on weibo, and they happened to retweet DLsite's official post on it.
DLsite Staff: Interesting, a retweet of an official post! I've heard that you usually choose from among popular works when deciding on a translation, but do you have any other criteria?
Planet 9: Sales are definitely the main determiner. However, compared to manga, with voice works it can depend on both sales and the circle and voice actor/actress.
DLsite Staff: Do you have any favorite circles or voice actors/actresses? How about favorite works?
Planet 9: I like the circle "laminapla_net" because their works all tend to have internal monologues. For voice actors, I like "Renya Koitsuda." As for my favorite work, I will introduce it at the end.
DLsite Staff: What makes Renya Koitsuda special, in your opinion?
Planet 9: He has this mature, crisp voice, and even in free talks, he never stumbles over his words. It's cute how he always talks in that listless voice.
DLsite Staff: A lot of translators have trouble with translating free talks. Are there other aspects of translations you personally find difficult?
Planet 9: The translation system was hard to use at first, but I'm used to it now. However, currently, we can only upload images one at a time, so I wish we had a way to upload all of them in one click. I also wish we could adjust fonts and font size settings for an entire work all at once.
DLsite: True, it would be convenient to be able to upload everything at once. How do you feel about the voice translation system?
Planet 9: I think the limits on subtitle lengths should be removed. It was very short at first, and though it did get extended, it didn't change much. I'd also really like features for easy translation editing, and cancellation.
DLsite Staff: Thank you for your suggestions. We've received similar feedback from other translators as well. What aspects of "Translators Unite" do you find convenient?
Planet 9: The manga translation system automatically removing the original text from text bubbles saves me a lot of time and stress.
DLsite Staff: Returning to our discussion on translations, are there any works in particular that left a deep impression on you?
Planet 9: I would say "In Belief of a Thousand Year Long Love." It's about a human man and an elven woman. I won't spoil anything, but I was very moved by the story of their lives. I cried once when I first read it, then again when I translated it.
DLsite Staff: We'll add a link for that work for any interested users. Please check it out!
DLsite Staff: You've translated a lot of works and received a lot of great reviews. Have you read any particularly interesting reviews?
Planet 9: Well, I'd always been a more reserved and roundabout translator, but after receiving a review saying, "I loved how hot the translation was", I was able to get away from that and go all-in on changing my style (laughs).
DLsite Staff: Finally, do you have any final words you'd like to share with our users or us?
Planet 9: First, I'd like to express my appreciation to DLsite for providing an official platform for releasing Chinese-language fan translations without users having to deal with the author rights aspect. I'd also like to give a big thanks to the users who buy my translations. Seeing comments about my translations or the works themselves makes me happy. That fills me with motivation, so I hope you all continue to write lots of reviews! Thank you!
DLsite Staff: Thank you for providing translations for so many great works. To end, here is Planet 9's favorite voice work, and one of their upcoming translations.
For any potential translators out there interested in partaking in "Translators Unite", you can find more details about the service below! You can also check what works are available for translation now!
↑Available languages: Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean.
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