Abstract Eden

Yet again, we’re starting off with the title. こだわり (kodawari) has several meanings, and usually I’m able to figure out the intended meaning based on the contents of the chapter (or at least the character it’s centered around). Using obsession/fixation would fit for Tendou, while perseverance/determination would fit for Suga... but unfortunately, the chapter focuses on both of them equally. That means こだわり is likely meant to elicit both meanings. So, I had to dig around in the thesaurus a lot to find something that could work. “Steadfast” ultimately seemed the best option.

Alright, next is less a translation note and more a volleyball-related one. So, when Tsukishima’s taken out of the game, Takeda-sensei says this:

Scorekeeper here doesn’t mean those two guys sitting next to the scoreboard who occasionally provide commentary while flipping numbers. It’s an actual job, and it appeared back when Daichi was substituted out, too.

Wow, been a while since I’ve done one of these. Anyway, this one comes as a result of the HQ!! omake in the recent issue of Jump NEXT.

What is the difference between 流星 (ryuusei) and 流れ星 (nagareboshi)?

Answer:

Whoops, I completely forgot I had this sitting in my drafts folder. Well, better late than never, eh?

We’ll start off with the chapter title for 173. In the original Japanese, it’s 断崖絶壁 (dangaizeppeki), which means “a sheer precipice/a precipitous cliff”. It’s also used to indicate when a situation is in dire straits, so  I opted for the translation “on the edge”, as it points to both meanings.

Next up is this from 174:

Hinata calls him バテ山君 (bateyama-kun). The “bate” part of that means “exhausted/worn out”, and has both a similar sound and the same number of syllables as “kage”. “Frazzle” seemed to be the best choice in translating it to match that. バテ also shows up again in this line here, hence the use of “frazzled” again:

Every time.

Alright, first up, we’ll start with the chapter title. In the original Japanese, it’s 個vs数 (ko vs kazu), which literally means “individuals vs. numbers”. In terms of the chapter, 個 refers to Shiratorizawa’s style of building up each player individually, and 数 refers to Karasuno’s style of using the team’s numerical majority. Thinking back on it, “One vs. Many” might not get that across too well, but it was the least awkward-sounding option.

Next up, this line:

Namely, the second half of the sentence, which I translated as “placement.” The original Japanese had me stumped for a while, as the word used is 嗅覚 (kyuukaku), which means “sense of smell.” In this context, that... made no sense. So I did some digging around and found that it has a different meaning in the context of sports (soccer, mainly): being in a position (on the field) which enables you to score. The more you know, right?

Next, there’s this line:

In the original Japanese, the spectator describes it as a 針の穴を通る (hari no ana o tooru, lit. “threading a needle”) straight. The phrase is used to indicate something that’s insanely hard to do, so I opted for a more direct translation to get that across.

Oh, and a quick translation note for 166 that I forgot to write up last week.

Spoiler-friendly, so everything’s under a read more.

First, regarding this part:

As mentioned in the margin note, “campfire” and “husband-and-wife” are both terms for the same thing (when the ball drops between two players because they couldn’t decide who’d handle it in time). I’ve purposefully been avoiding using the latter, because fangirls find enough ammo on their own. Here, however, it was actually really useful. In Japanese, the word is お見合い (omiai), which would refer to a formal marriage interview in pretty much every non-sports-related context. Given that, you can probably figure out that Washijou is making use of that more common meaning.

Next up is this panel from the same page:

Ukai calls Washijou an oni coach (鬼監督, oni kantoku), and in most circumstances, I’d have translated that as “demon coach.” However, he then describes coaches like his grandfather and Nekomata as 妖怪みたいなじいさん (youkai-mitai na jii-san), or “youkai-esque old geezers”, so I opted to keep “oni” and use “demonic” to describe them, instead. 

First up, I’ll elaborate on something that got a translation note in the margin already. Namely, this:

This is a clever use of Japanese homonyms that sadly doesn’t work in English. As mentioned in the margin translation note, ゲス (gesu) can mean both “guess” and “scumbag.” Furudate-sensei mostly uses the former meaning throughout the chapter, and the word almost always appears in katakana. The exceptions are: Izumi’s confusion, where he thinks the word used is 下衆 (also gesu, but the version which means “scumbag”), the chapter title, and when Ukai is explaining guess blocking (the last two use the actual English word).

Next, this is less of a translation note and more something I kinda liked that didn’t translate over into English. In this scene, where Ukai’s explaining read blocking,

he says that the English word “read” in read blocking doesn’t mean 読み (yomi, “reading"), but is more like 理解する (rikai suru, “to understand/comprehend”). Idk, I just like when characters try to explain things using linguistic equivalents.

referencing (sometimes multiple) translations on the side. Anime makes this easy because I can listen while reading subs, games and VN’s are either easy to find in japanese or have japanese LP’s on sites like niconico, but manga was always more difficult because I’m a very slow reader and japanese scans can be very hard to find. So manga kind of bums me out because I feel like there’s so much i’m missing just due to the amount that’s lost in translation and that I’m not good enough to just read the original. I stopped criticizing translations and started taking issue with the necessity of translating in general, i thought I could never be happy unless I was referencing the original. But reading your work with AC has really changed everything for me. This is the first time I’ve had 0 desire to do more research on my own, the first time I feel as though I’ve really trusted a translation, and I am honestly floored. Though I’m sad you only translated up until 55, I can’t express how grateful I am towards you for letting me have this experience. Your detailed notes and careful consideration made me so elated I didn’t know what to do with myself. You seriously went above and beyond, looking into things because they interested you as well as going through the trouble of sharing them with us. I seriously might read other stuff you’ve done just to read more of your work. Bless you. Seriously, just bless. You are an angel :’) Thank you so so much for everything!!

Sorry for that long ask just now. I went on anon because though i don’t need a response, if you do choose to give one I really want it to be posted publicly, so everyone can see what I said and appreciate how great you are >u<. If you do respond you should reply to one ask and paste the other 3 parts in the answer so anyone can read the whole thing. Of course this is entirely up to you, I just really want everyone to adore you as much as I do!! You really really deserve it!!!