vynegar

[vynegar]

Morning Prepation: Lawyers must look presentable.

I also included the colored sketch. I tend to make all compilation works in the same file for sketch and separate them in rendering.

#reblog

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Visiting Luke

#YES my fav luke interaction. that and pulling his necklace <3 #reblog

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My entry in the last TOT fanart contest.

Title:Reunion

Process

#reblog #i will always love lukerosa over the years!!

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Themis: Ponytail

#luv the manga-like style #reblog

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The Art and the Artist

I don't know if do justice in making Marius art,

but Rosa's Art style is super cute and fun to make.

#oh this is SO CUTE!! #great job on marius's art #and also i think it's nice that mc's expression is so adorable here bc in a lot of marius cards she also has a really cute expression! #reblog

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“…and tonight, I love you.”

And like a plant needing shelter, I let you carry me in.

#🥺 #yeah this poem.... #reblog

[vynegar]

What are your thoughts on the Celestial Romance SSRs on ToT?

i actually haven't watched any of them yet 😅 i've been taking a break from watching CN server content, i only just finished one of the Last Dragonbreath cards last week (Artem's, it's very good and probably one of his best AU cards plotwise). i'll post about it if/when i read them though!

#i AM little worried about like. the speaking style and the xianxia setting since i'm not familiar with the genre #always knew that'd bite me in the back someday... oh well i trust in the bilibili comments to explain anything extremely confusing #anon

[vynegar]

lost in translation (ch 11, part 1) + some misc observations

a (non-exhaustive) list of differences i noted down for the translation of chapter 11 (part 1) while watching the chn and eng versions side-by-side. previously i did the same thing for chapter 9 and chapter 10. this also includes random comments and observations i had during this chapter.

disclaimer: i am not fluent in chinese, so keep in mind that there will be mistakes. feel free to let me know if you have questions, concerns, or comments. any alternate translations are my own, and are often especially literal (to show the difference between eng/chn).

Overall: Still nothing I’d consider egregious (ruinous to plot or character). Some omission of noncritical phrases in Chinese, like before. One thing I noticed more of is that the phrasing in English sometimes makes a line ambiguous or confusing, while the intention of the sentence in Chinese was much clearer. I have a few examples of these below; usually you can understand it using context clues, but I’m curious to know if other people noticed the issues when just reading in English. There were also some word choices that just felt a little… awkward? (It’s not here, but a few times when the word “grunt” was used…)

11-01

This may be a reference to Jerome's "preoccupation" with his age, like when he wanted to be called an older brother rather than an uncle (see my prev chapter translation comparisons). However, on second thought, this entire thing of his may be another nod to the idea of the pursuit of eternal youth and longevity? But honestly this is just a thought that crossed my mind, I don't really think that's the intention of the writers.

Based on the Chinese, it seems like Reina is older and Matthew is the younger brother.

The English could be interpreted as a hypothetical question, while the Chinese has Matthew directly saying that Vyn is unwanted. (Upon rereading, this is very minor and I would have left this entry out, but I already had the screenshot so I'll just put it here anyway.)

The Underling refers to Matthew using the suffix for people like presidents of companies (as he is a businessman). (Nothing wrong with the translation here, just again pointing out extra info that can be gleaned from the Chinese text.)

11-02

Marius refers to Matthew also with the same suffix.

This section also contains some references to Marius's previous stories:

Vyn was threatened with being locked dark space, which echoes one of Marius's childhood experiences (mentioned in his "In the Darkness" SSR and his blossom personal story, chapter 4)

Marius still can't hold his liquor, which we first saw in "Fabulous Feast" SSR

Ideally, this fear can extend into another thing --

"Of your own accord" gives the feeling of doing something of your own initiative, and voluntarily. The word used in the original text also implies that the thing was done secretly and/or without permission.

11-06

That last sentence felt like a mild warning, in which I could hear several inexplicably complicated emotions.

So the "complicated emotions" are on Vyn's side, not on Rosa's.

11-08

Rosa paints a very specific simile here but I'm honestly not quite sure what it's supposed to imply or if it's referencing something so I'm just going to put this here for reference. The literal translation says it's as if Marius "has hung a ring of keys at his waist and then forcibly drank 5 kg of puer tea".

11-09

[...] Even from the other end of the call, you can feel the embarrassment quietly spreading.

Not necessarily wrong, but the English sentence could almost be interpreted as the embarrassment is spreading throughout the phone, which doesn’t make sense and could cause a moment of confusion.

11-11

Dr. Richter, you haven’t chosen to believe anyone either, have you?

Note that in Chinese it’s not specified that Rosa is referring to “them” (the suspects in the case). It could usually be interpreted that way from context, but using “anyone” preserves ambiguity in Vyn’s response (i.e. it’s possible that Rosa or NXX are included in those that Vyn says he doesn’t trust).

(Sidenote: The beginning of the chapter emphasized the role of surveillance on NXX’s current actions. Therefore, Vyn might not trust anyone, or he might simply be saying what he wants other people to believe. It’s interesting to note that Marius, on the other hand, openly told Vincent in 11-08 that Rosa is the only one he trusts. Which, again, is likely influenced by the possibility of surveillance.)

11-13

After all, there is no way to detect psychological damage. Sometimes the parties involved are themselves not even aware of it.

11-15

By the time your mind has caught up with the situation, you had already placed yourself in his way without a moment’s hesitation.

I probably made more changes than necessary or literal, but it was to convey the feeling more. Then again, this may be one of those lines that seem fine to other people and I'm just stuck on my own knee-jerk impression of the English translation.

I think the English tries to convey "不暇思索地" with the phrase "you find yourself". However, this combined with the opening clause gave the impression that Rosa got caught up in the flurry of confusion, then just happened to find herself standing between Vyn and Darius. In Chinese, "不暇思索地" means something like “without thinking, without hesitation, without a second thought”. It adds a sense of instinctive protectiveness to Rosa’s action, which comes across in later lines of the English translation but I felt was lost in this line. This line was one of the most character-relevant issues I noticed in this chapter.

He looks over at you with rather undisguised astonishment.

11-16

Afterwards, he leaves them with a half-true threat.

Adds a little more playfulness to how he's threatening them with a lawsuit from Rosa.

If she were truly just a perpetrator, they [people online] would have pixelated the photos to prevent anyone from coming after her.

Subject issue, since it wasn’t explicitly stated in the sentence and it’s implied from the previous line.

11-20

Yeah, but I don’t want to answer that directly to your face just yet.

Probably nitpicky and most likely doesn't matter, but I’m going to point out the details since this seems like a foreshadow-y line.

Then he releases his foot and smiles seemingly gently at the young man.

Most of the time the “seemingly” can be (and is) left out in translation, but I think it’s better to keep it here since Vyn probably isn’t actually being gentle.

11-21

Look man, we didn’t do anything. We’re not gonna go asking for trouble.

Contributes to the idea that Luke’s best course of action is just not getting involved this whole incident and continuing with his work.

…No, even names that haven’t been carefully considered can bear meaning.

Thoughtful = “having a lot of thought put into it” would be fine here, but I feel that the more colloquial interpretation of thoughtful (“kind, compassionate”) would be strange since giving Albie a name is itself said to be a kind action. In Chinese, the word used specifically means carefully considering, deliberating, etc.

...you never directed your thoughts toward that direction.

Actually, I don’t think this would be considered an error in translation. I think the metaphorical phrasing is just almost opposite between eng and chn so it stood out to me. In chn it's more like thinking further in that direction; in eng, it’s more like finding a new position to position yourself, then view the situation and do your thinking from that angle.

I also have an analysis post about Albie's name which also involves comparison across eng/chn! Anyway, thanks for reading this far and feel free to let me know your thoughts ^^

#tears of themis #vyn richter #marius von hagen #tot vyn #tot marius #mo yi #lu jinghe #tears of themis analysis #tot translation #thoughts of themis #hmm i was gonna consider scheduling for the morning but fuck it. i'm posting

[vynegar]

"Albie" (main story 11-21)

At the end of Episode 11 (Part 1), we find out that "Albie" is simply a name that Vyn made up on the spot when Rosa asked. He may have been inspired by his own birth name, Vilhelm Richard Albert de Haspran.

In Chinese, Vyn choose the name "阿明". "阿" is a prefix used to form nicknames, "明" can be a name but also means "bright, clear". In Vyn's Romantic Rail Getaway card "Food for Thought", he tells us the meaning of his name:

You can see the character 明 appear in the word 明亮 ("bright"), although 明 is such a common character that I wouldn't say that this Chinese text alone is enough is sufficient evidence to show the connection between the two names. It's the way that the "Albie" and "阿明" happen to coincide in the name "Albert", which made me take note of Vyn's "careless" choice in name.

If the Chinese name was intended to subtly reference "Albert", I can certainly imagine imagine this as one way to preserve that reference through translation, even if it becomes more obvious. We do have an example of the translation preserving plot-relevant wordplay in a name: Lowe Leare ("Lowly"), originally 萧仁 ("小人", both pronounced "xiao ren" but with different tones). However, there's also an incident of a plot-relevant name being missed through translation, though it was in an event (not the main story) that probably foreshadowed a distant plot point and had infamously bad translation issues.

Anyway, it remains possible that "Albie" is a coincidence. However, after Vyn and Rosa wrap up their conversation about Albie's name, the narration makes a comment on the importance of that moment:

It isn't until the whole case is settled that you are surprised to realize something... You had briefly touched on the key to cracking the case at this very moment.

...which at least gives me enough confidence to not feel silly writing up a whole post about it. We've only seen part of this case, and there's a lot of mystery still surrounding Vyn's behavior so I don't have any definitive hypotheses on why Vyn might have chosen his own name for Albie. Is there something that made Vyn seen himself in Albie? Did the delinquent's attitude remind Vyn of the cruel, stratified world that he was born in? Is he reminded of how people who have imperfections will be tossed aside and abandoned? I guess we'll see when part 2 of this episode is released.

#srb

[vynegar]

oh right happy valentine's day or whatever i guess (<- is filled with thoughts of vyn)

#honestly i cannot think of a more fitting way to spend it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #can't believe everything was timed perfectly like this. nothing says valentine's day like uhhhh searching for tiny translation details to #use as supporting evidence for an observation #tot liveblog

[vynegar]

"Albie" (main story 11-21)

At the end of Episode 11 (Part 1), we find out that "Albie" is simply a name that Vyn made up on the spot when Rosa asked. He may have been inspired by his own birth name, Vilhelm Richard Albert de Haspran.

In Chinese, Vyn choose the name "阿明". "阿" is a prefix used to form nicknames, "明" can be a name but also means "bright, clear". In Vyn's Romantic Rail Getaway card "Food for Thought", he tells us the meaning of his name:

You can see the character 明 appear in the word 明亮 ("bright"), although 明 is such a common character that I wouldn't say that this Chinese text alone is enough is sufficient evidence to show the connection between the two names. It's the way that the "Albie" and "阿明" happen to coincide in the name "Albert", which made me take note of Vyn's "careless" choice in name.

If the Chinese name was intended to subtly reference "Albert", I can certainly imagine imagine this as one way to preserve that reference through translation, even if it becomes more obvious. We do have an example of the translation preserving plot-relevant wordplay in a name: Lowe Leare ("Lowly"), originally 萧仁 ("小人", both pronounced "xiao ren" but with different tones). However, there's also an incident of a plot-relevant name being missed through translation, though it was in an event (not the main story) that probably foreshadowed a distant plot point and had infamously bad translation issues.

Anyway, it remains possible that "Albie" is a coincidence. However, after Vyn and Rosa wrap up their conversation about Albie's name, the narration makes a comment on the importance of that moment:

It isn't until the whole case is settled that you are surprised to realize something... You had briefly touched on the key to cracking the case at this very moment.

...which at least gives me enough confidence to not feel silly writing up a whole post about it. We've only seen part of this case, and there's a lot of mystery still surrounding Vyn's behavior so I don't have any definitive hypotheses on why Vyn might have chosen his own name for Albie. Is there something that made Vyn seen himself in Albie? Did the delinquent's attitude remind Vyn of the cruel, stratified world that he was born in? Is he reminded of how people who have imperfections will be tossed aside and abandoned? I guess we'll see when part 2 of this episode is released.

#tears of themis #vyn richter #tot vyn #tears of themis analysis #mo yi #tot translation #thoughts of themis #was the ''albie'' reference really obvious or not?? i honestly have no idea. but it only clicked for me bc i was staring at both versions o #text side-by-side and i was like. WAIT A MINUTE. #doing fan translations is fun bc even after there's an official translation; you might read something almost 2.5 years later that triggers #some deep memories (bc u took so so long to translate and had to agonize over every single word choice oh my god) #god i did my first translations two and a half years ago. sounds CRAZY when you put it like that #but honestly great experience 10/10 i'm always wishing i could go back to that time. also nothing makes me feel more powerful than when i k #know i have an easily searchable script of certain cards thanks to my own translation. it was SO EASY to find that RRG excerpt #hmm should i crosspost to the themis subreddit. i do have an account but i use it mostly to talk about console otome games

[vynegar]

finally done reading ch 11 part 1!! i have all the screenshots i need for the chn/eng comparison post, but still need to write it up and format so that will take a few days. i don't think there was anything too exciting this chapter. but there's one thing i do want to talk abt that will be its own little post, which i plan to upload tonight ^^

#tot liveblog #vyn is sooooo funny in the main chapters omg. honestly this chapter is moonlighting as a sitcom #need all of nxx to appear at a public event together so that all four of them are lying and being vicious at the same time

[vynegar]

14% of the way through....

#ok i can do like half an hour each day and then i'll finish on the weekend. good pace. we can do this #hopefully tomorrow i can do some reading at work. LMAO. #honestly my bottleneck (aside from my own focus/free time) is the rate at which people upload the main story recordings to youtube #youtube channel polar artem u are my hero. i love you. i hope you have a good day 366x this year #tot liveblog #wow i should translate something again... maybe i've improved (wishful thinking) #but it really has been a while and there are some things i said i would translate that i never did. lol #probably not a card tho (mainly since i haven't been reading the recent cards). maybe an extra thing like interview. i'll probably look for #some fan analyses since we got a main story chapter. idk tho i kinda wanna chew over word choice again. then again i get to be a bit looser #when translating discussion posts.... #EDIT 2/12: post is still happening just. it takes so much focus to read two things at the same time aldsjfklsjlaskej #so much more tempting to read other VNs where i'm like. just reading normally. and not also trying to keep track of a plot spanning mult ye #years while simultaneously trying to consider the implications for characterization in the context of 2.5 years' worth of interaction #it's fine my relationship with tot content is totally normal and healthy and i absolutely do this voluntarily. for Fun #ok but DEF it'll be up by next weekend promise (bc i need to distract myself before dessert de otomate)

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honestly this could be a meme

#matthew richter #tears of themis #tot liveblog

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yes i WILL be back to talk about chapter 11

#when i tell you i INSTANTLY screenshotted this scene in the PV.... #anyway just opened up side-by-side chn/eng videos to watch! we're one minute in and i already have something to say LMAO #hopefully i can finish by this weekend... we'll see... 2.5hr that's just like 2.5 long cards (is trying to pep talk myself) #tot liveblog

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In the Mind of Rosa

I swear my Themis drawings aren’t all joke-y.

#no but this is excellent rosa characterization and i'm not even joking #her (over?)active and sometimes whimsical imagination #reblog

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I've been busy lately but I wanted to draw again. Happy Birthday Vyn!

#reblog