#translator's note

ㅤAnd so, this journey of eight years has finally come to an end... I still can’t quite believe it, to be honest.

ㅤIt all started with a simple thought: “I want to translate this!”

ㅤEven though another team had already been working on a translation, I wasn’t satisfied with its quality — I wanted to do it better, bigger, stronger! Back in the summer of 2018, while I was still a student, I nervously sent a message on DeviantArt, asking for permission to translate my very first comic. And my squeal of “I GOT PERMISSION!!!” was probably loud enough for the neighbors to hear x)

ㅤSo much has happened since then. For the first year, I was catching up with the ongoing updates, ended up with wrist problems (no regrets!), spent summer nights translating and drinking ridiculous amounts of tea, all while working on my thesis. Together with Cat, we started our “Translation agency” and took on several other projects. But Stand-in always remained our signature work.

ㅤThen university ended. I continued translating alongside my job, sometimes even asking coworkers how best to phrase something, adapt a pun, or handle sound effects. Some of the comics we picked up got paused or abandoned — but not Stand-in. Every time a new page notification appeared, I’d drop everything and start reading. Sometimes I cried, sometimes I laughed, sometimes I was just overwhelmed with awe.

ㅤThree years ago, Cat stepped away, and I carried everything on my own. He didn’t disappear — he still helps whenever he can — but the flame of translation has been carried on my wings alone ever since.

ㅤAnd now... I’m looking at the final page. I don’t even know how to describe all these emotions. It’s joy, happiness, and a soft, gentle sadness. Sadness that such a huge part of my life has come to an end. That there will be no more “New page” notifications. No more long nights spent translating.

ㅤBut I’m happy. Truly happy. For all the characters, for their happy ending, for the fact that this story was told.

ㅤOver all this time, you can really see how the art style and quality improved. How the dialogue became richer. How the characters grew from their very first appearances. How Chara stopped hating humans. How the biggest mystery of all Stand-in was finally revealed: “How do you keep an eel fresh and alive?!” How Frisk’s story before Undertale was explored. And how much was said about love and humanity in all their different forms.

ㅤTo me, this comic is the purest proof of determination. To walk the entire path from beginning to end. From the very first lines to the final “The End.” Yes, maybe we’ll still get some small side stories… but that feeling tied to the words “The End”... guys, I still get chills from it, and that says a lot.

ㅤI want to thank @the-triangle-cat, so much for never stopping. For telling this story despite all the hardships of life. For showing that something like this is even possible. This level of dedication and perseverance is incredibly rare.

ㅤAnd I also want to thank all the readers. Especially the readers of our translation (into Russian). My dear ones, your quiet support — through likes and comments — over these eight years proved that none of this was in vain. And when, under the final page, I saw comments like “You were a huge part of my childhood”, it made me realize the value of this work a hundred times over.

ㅤI should probably wrap this up. I’ve already written so much... it’s just hard to hold all these emotions in (^_^;)

ㅤDon’t forget to stay determined. Take care of yourselves and your health. I’m sure we’ll meet again on the pages of stories and translations.

ㅤAnd as always:

ㅤSincerely,

I'm reading the point in the novel now where Nino is fully introduced, and though I had my suspicions from the 2nd book's character introductions, I've confirmed something for sure now.

The author of the novels was not aware that Nino was adopted by Sonia, and refers to her as Sonia's birth daughter. I'm going to translate each reference to their relationship to either be ambiguous, or direct in saying that Nino was adopted if I have to.

It is possible that the writer did this on purpose, but... it's much more likely that even he himself didn't read the entire script and remember every detail in an FE game.

1 – Naruto is a work of fiction. Most of the names of places are “talking names” that convey something a mere Romanization wouldn’t do.

I know that, in the real world, nobody in their right mind would translate Tōkyō o sanpo shimashita with “I took a stroll down the East Capital”. But if I followed the general rule of not translating place names in Naruto, then I would have to leave as they are even other names such as Shūmatsu no Tani (Valley of the End), Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire), Shi no Mori (Forest of Death), and Myōbokuzan (Mount Myoboku).

Even the official translation sometimes swings from Japanese names to translated names. I’m not sure about the English dub ‘cause I’ve never watched it, but in the Italian dub sometimes they say Leaf Village, sometimes they say Konoha. I guess it mostly has to do with the fact that using only ‘Konoha’ wouldn’t explain the leaf symbol on the forehead protector, at least not to an average watcher with no knowledge of Japanese. And this leads me to the second reason…

2 – not every Naruto fan has the same level of Japanese skills. There are some fans who cringe when they see Team Taka translated as Team Hawk, but there are others who are forced to look up on the internet every single Japanese name of the techniques if they want to know what’s going on. There are some longtime Naruto fans who are well aware that Icha Icha means “make-out”, but there are people who started watching Naruto from the Shippuden arcs and so they didn’t know what the kanji on Gaara’s head meant until it was made clear in the Fourth Shinobi world war. Then there are ‘specialized’ fans who know by heart all the Japanese names of Naruto’s versions of the Rasengan, but don’t know what Sen’ei Jashu means (Hidden shadow snake hands).

As a translator, I try to please everybody and have no way to know how much you do know about Japanese. Even then, there are various viewpoints on how/how much translating things: Narutopedia’s way (literal translation), Viz’s translation (creatively), the dubbed anime? This gag manga doesn’t have an official translation (that I know of), it hasn’t been turned into an anime (though word on the street is that they’re thinking about it), so it all depends on me.

Translating names (or, well, translating in general) is not something I do for my own sake. ‘Cause squeezing something like “Village Hidden in the Leaves” into a tiny bubble speech sure ain’t easy.

(Btw I had thought, in the past, of making something like a poll to ask you if you preferred translated names over Japanese names, but eeh I kinda gave up on the idea because I thought nobody would care enough to participate.)