Translating is easy, that’s what every bilingual person must have thought of at least once. I can finish reading a chapter in 30 minutes, I should be able to finish translating one chapter with just the same amount of time.

However, it is not that easy in reality. The words don’t get automatically translated in your head, the structure of the sentence is different in both languages and you have to think of the most appropriate words to use in order to translate each sentence without losing its meaning. One sentence which can take you 3 seconds to read will take you 3 minutes to translate. One chapter that can take you 10 minutes to read can take you 4 hours to translate.

I have a friend who told me he could translate a single chapter in 30 minutes, so I gave him a project and asked him to translate it for me. I asked him the next day, he told me it’s not done. I asked him again the day after the next, he’s still not done. And this process repeated for a month and he’s still haven’t provided me with a single chapter.

Translating sound like an easy job, but it’s actually not. You have to stop whenever a new term come out and do some research to see if there’s an official translation of said terms and if there is not, you have to think of how should you translate that word. I especially hate any words with the “神 (literally: god)” character in it. Any terms with that “god” character attached may come in several meanings and is very ambiguous. To name a few, it can be “consciousness”, “mind”, “spiritual power”, “shikigami”, “eyesight”, “temple”, “expression”, or literally “god”.

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• • Volume 1 (Second Arc): Chapter 5

Rain is a blessing from heaven. I almost died from heatstroke at work just now, no kidding. It was so hot I could feel the heat getting into my head. Why can’t the weather play nice and lower the temperature to a moderate degree! Don’t you just hate summer? It’s so hot to an unreasonable degree! What’s worst than summer is that you are in a tropical country where summer is prevalent 365 days a year.

Thoughts of the day:
I wish spring would come to me, in both meanings. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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• • Volume 1 (Second Arc): Chapter 4

Yes, I guess many of you have been wondering why I haven’t been posting on Ziru’s Musings. There are various reasons but I guess the main reason had to be this: It’s just not worth the hassle.

What? That wouldn’t cut it? Okay… here goes the nagging.

Thoughts of the day:
Wow the author literally used a Japanese character in this chapter’s title.

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• • Volume 1 (Second Arc): Chapter 3

Wao… what just happened? The site just went “Error 520” for the entire day and got me panicked at work. After I got back and spent a few hours trying to fix it, and then without really accomplishing anything in the end, the site health just went back to normal. What gives… I wasted all day worrying and trying to find out what is the issue and it just up and fixed by itself…

What an unproductive day it is… I am already as busy as I can get, yet this site was toying with me for an entire day 🙁

I’m thinking that maybe it’s time to move this website to another server soon. I just don’t have the time to take care of this site while working full-time and translating simultaneously. It is better if I just move to a managed server so I can have professionals looking after my site for me while I do my own thing, even if it is a lot more expensive than unmanaged server…

Correction:
Changed Bathrobe to Yukata (Suggested by IB)

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• • Volume 1 (Second Arc): Chapter 2

Well, this is nothing new as it’s always been this busy at work every year from February to April. Anyway, just a heads up. Starting from this week, I will be required to work even during the weekends until the end of April.

Since I do not translate during the weekends, I doubt it will affect the current release frequency. But who knows, translating is still considered a “work” no matter how nice you try to put it and there’s a possibility I will need to work overtime during weekdays as well. There’s also the chance that I might have another mental breakdown from overworking and go into a slump. Anyway, I will try to keep up the translation without putting too much mental stress on myself.

Thoughts of the day:
What do you guys think of Progressive Web App (PWA)?

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• • Volume 1 (Second Arc): Chapter 1

This is the last chapter of the Night Arc of Volume 1, the next chapter will be the beginning of the next arc. I have no idea what’s the actual translation of the next arc yet mainly because the title remains as ambiguous as ever, so I’ll just leave the arc name as blank for now until we read deeper into it and figure out the content of the following arc.

Though if you insist, the literal translation would be Rising Moon Arc I suppose? Rising Moon eh, looks like we can expect something related to the moon in the next arc…

P.S. And no, this is not the end of Volume 1. There’s still many more chapters to come in Volume 1. The first volume has been separated into many different arcs, and each arc comes with at least 30 to 50 chapters.

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Chapter 30 Mysterious Runes

The answer to the thoughts of the day last week; what’s the biggest taboo for a translator? I’ve gotten a lot of interesting answers and the taboo varies from person to person.

But personally, to me, I think the biggest taboo for a translator has to be indulging in reading a novel or manga. Whenever I picked up a new series to read and get attached to it, I’d forgo everything else and indulge myself in reading throughout the days and weeks until I finally finish all the chapters. That includes my full-time work, translating, and even sleep.

When I picked up a new novel to read, I always find myself reading EVERYWHERE, literally everywhere, when I’m in the car, at work, at home, at a restaurant, at a party, in a meeting, and even on the bed. It be like I’m totally possessed by something that propels me to read until the end as soon as possible.

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Chapter 29 First Battle: One vs Four