My Animorphs translation project (Spanish to English)

[paul1991]

Hello all,
I am just going to post what I wrote over at my minty fresh blog.

I am working on translation the Animorphs books into English!

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Fool!, The books already are in English!” and “Is that the proper place for an exclamation point in a quote?”
 

To the first part, let me give you some background. I have been taking Spanish classes for 7 or 8 years now. I most recently took a translation class from my university. I did fine in the class, but I would like to keep practicing. Thus, this project. I am going to translate as much as I can into English until I get tired of it.

I believe that I currently have the largest collection of Spanish Animorphs (Spanimorphs?) books in the world! How many do I have? Well… 8. The first eight. These books are really hard to find. I have been looking for almost a year and these 8 are the only ones I have been able to find, barring duplicates, which I do not buy. There were versions published in Spain and Latin America. I am working and collecting with the Latin American version. (Shipping from Spain is a killer.)

To the second part, I must say I’m not really sure. Probably not.

 
Here are the ground rules for myself:

1. I cannot check my answer against the English version.

2. I cannot use google translate to do any of the work for me.

3. I can use a dictionary. (I’m not that good.)

I will add more if I think of them.

Here is post 2:

I am ashamed to say that this took me almost 3 hours to complete. I am not discouraged, though. It was fun. The “a-ha” moments when you realize what an idiom means or what a sentence was trying to say is great.

It was especially fun the give the Animorphs my own voice.

I would like some feedback. However, I have some rules:

1. No spoilers. (Ex. That paragraph was trying to say “x” not ‘y’)

2. Yes to suggestions. (ex. “You messed up the subject in the paragraph about Jake and the basketball team”, without giving away the correct subject!)

This is just a rough draft of the first part. After I finish the Chapter, I might go back and re-edit, or I might move on and review later. Depends on how I’m feeling.

Download:

    http://ubuntuone.com/0GY4hfQxpsQSUnTt4lkKJf

I will post the text below.

[paul1991]

My name is Jake. That's just my first name, of course. I can't tell you my last. It would be too dangerous. The controllers are everywhere. Everywhere. And, if they knew my full name, they could find me and my friends, then... well, let's just say I don't want them to find me. What they do to their enemies is too terrible for words.
   I'm not going to tell you where I live, either. You will have to take my word that it is in a real city, maybe even in yours.
   I write this so that others know the truth. Perhaps then, the human race can find a way to survive  until the Andalites come to rescue us, like they promised.
   Who knows.
   My life was completely normal. Was... Until last Friday night. I was with Marco, my best friend, in the mall. Like always, we had gone to play videogames and to look around the comic book store. The usual.
   Marco and I ran out of money just as he pulled into the lead with a ton of points. You could say that we are pretty evenly matched. I have a Sega at home, so I spend hours practicing. But Marco has the ability to analyze games and find little tricks that help him level the playing field. Today, I only won a couple of times.
   Maybe the reason was because I couldn't concentrate. I didn't have a great day at school. I tired out for the basketball team, but didn't make it.
   It's not it was a huge deal, just that Tom, my older brother, was sort of a legend when he was on the team. He is still the best basketball player in High School. Everybody thought that I was going to make the team. Sadly, this was not the case.
   Like I said, no big deal, but I still couldn't get it out of my head.
   Recently, Tom and I weren't spending time together like before. I thought that, well, you know, I thought that if I got his old spot on the team...
   Anyway, like I was saying, we were out of money and were about to leave when we ran into Tobias. I have always thought that Tobias was... well, all things considered, he is a strange kid. He was new to our school, but he didn't exactly look tough, so everybody picked on him.
   When Tobias and I met, he was on the receiving end of a swirly. Two big guys were laughing quite loudly while Tobias' disheveled blond hair spun around the bowl. I rescued him from those bullies and ever since, Tobias has considered me a friend.
   “What's up?” asked Tobias.
   I shrugged. “Not much. We were just heading home.”
   “Yeah, we kind of ran out of money.” added Marco. “Some people still haven't learned that the Evil Troll appears right after crossing the Nether Fjord, causing us to keep losing games and money.” Marco pointed in my direction a few times, leaving Tobias with little doubt about who “some people” was referring to. 
   “Maybe I could walk home with you guys?” asked Tobias.
   I said sure, why not.
   We were heading to the door when I saw Rachel and Cassie. Rachel is pretty, or so people say. She's my cousin, so I don't really know. She has blond hair, blue eyes and a very clear and graceful look  to her. She's the kind of person that knows what to wear in any occasion. She looks like she just walked off the cover of one of those magazines that girls like so much. She is also thin and elegant because she does gymnastics. She is always saying that she is too tall to be really good, though.
   Cassie is just the opposite. She is always wearing jeans and a plaid shirt, or some other casual look. She is black and always wears her hair very short. She let it grow out for a while, but then cut it back to her usual length, which I like much better. She is quieter than Rachel and much more calm, as though she is contemplating the world from a different, more mystical point of view.
   You could say that I have a crush on Cassie. Sometimes, we sit together on the bus, but I never know what to say to her.
   “Going home, ladies?” I asked Rachael. “Maybe it would be best if you didn't go alone. Two girls walking alone around here...”
   I had made a huge mistake. I have to be sure to never insinuate that I think Rachael is weak or defenseless. She might seem like a supermodel, but the truth is that she thinks she is The Master of the Universe.
   “And what do you think you could do, Superman? Come with us and be our protector?” She retorted, “Do you think that we are in danger just because...”
   “I would like for them to accompany us.” interrupted Cassie. “I know that you aren't afraid of anything, but I am.”
   There was nothing more to say on the subject. That's Cassie for you: always able to find the right words to end an argument without hurting anybody's feelings.

http://anitraslation.wordpress.com/

Well, I'm off to bed. It has been a late night.
I hope this community is a bit softer in its criticism and scorn than some of these others.

[Gankhruun]

I think you would get more coverage if you didn't provide the "goods" as a download, especially a doc file as it could lead to viruses.

My sugestion would be to use paste bin. It lets you dump text and gives you a hyperlink so we get to see it. I would suggest you do that instead.