I’d say it isn’t completely on you for not catching it. Much of what makes sarcasm so good when spoken is lost when you try and put it in text. If this were not so, the phrase “… he/she said, his/her voice dripping with sarcasm.” would not exist in literary works in the English language.
Well, I finally got an answer to this. They said the script will be given in txt or doc format. You don’t need to worry about code (though there may be some left over in the script that you can ignore since they only signal scene changes and such).
I asked them this too and got a reply. They said the job involves basically doing the tasks of both a copy editor and a proofreader, which is a lot of work. 
I’ve been assigned Suika, but I’d rather do Da Capo because I wanted to play Suika. 
The amount of rewriting needed is so much that the pay needs to be better, but I’ll do it just for the good of the genre here. 
Judging by the translation in Da Capo, many sentences need major or complete rewriting (almost all their translations are too wordy and unnatural), and sometimes I had to refer to the Japanese to verify what they were trying to say in English. :lol: They haven’t actually begun the translation of Suika yet. I’m advising them on some general tense rules so the initial translation should be better. Hopefully it’ll trickle down to any games you guys do.
Da Capo has also been assigned to some British guy that I’m begging them to replace after I saw a sample of the script. He either has the worst English skills I’ve ever seen for a native speaker or he’s not trying at all (and if so, I’ll be pissed if he’s being paid close to what I am). MG really needs better quality control on their proofreaders. There needs to be some way to verify they can actually write coherent English, and judging from some people who are applying for the proofreading job now, I’m scared if they don’t.
When I hear this, I wish they’d hurry up and write back to me. This is my forte; the actual script writing. I’ve always recieved lots of compliments on my short stories, and even won a couple competitions back when I was in school. Maybe I should’ve included that in my resume.
They really don’t seem to be replying to people after the initial applications right now. I just happened to be some weird exception. It’d be nice if we could actually have people who could actually write well be proofreaders, but I don’t know how they’ll ever check for that.
And are you sure you can handle doing a translation and proofreading this? I think you’d need to put the translation project on hold. :lol: The deadline for MG is pretty tough. Suika is about 790k characters in Japanese and I have about 6 weeks to do it (though I’m asking for more time after seeing how much I need to rewrite).
I probably shouldn’t post much of the sample script from Da Capo I received, but I’ll point out the most egregious one I saw while skimming it:
???
[color=#FF0000]I take a sigh resting my cheek on my hand.[/color]
[color=#0000FF]I take a sigh, resting my cheek on my hand.[/color]
Red is the original translation. Blue is the proofread one. Anyone who’s a native English speaker should have alarm bells going off in their head once they read “I take a sigh.” Either the proofreader is not a native English speaker (even though he supposedly is one) or he’s not putting any effort into it.
My version would be:
Resting my chin on my hand, I sighed.
You see why I’m scared now? There needs to be at least a rudimentary check on the proofreader’s writing. I hope it’s not too late for my pleading to change the proofreader for Da Capo.
The problem is that, without a solid knowledge of English, one cannot judge the quality of a proofreading. It’s a “snake devouring its tail” kind of problem. They could get some insurance by hiring professional translators, but, then, wages would probably be higher (can’t say for sure since I don’t know how much they pay you).
Really, if one had followed a bit the many threads or blogs here and there from people complaining about MG’s lack of proofreading, one couldn’t but hide a smile since many of such people weren’t able to write correct English. Personally, I think many were just psittacistic. 
One solution would be for MG to send the applicants a test of sort, preferably one with the commonly found mistakes, such as mistaking “whom” for “whom”, “it’s” for “its”, “you’re” for “your”, not capitalizing the “I” pronoun, inverting the “i” and the “e” in words such as “receive” or “believe”, adding suspension points after “etc.”, etc. :roll:
At last, English and American English differ, not only on the spelling of some words but also on the usage of some expressions, so what would be perfectly correct in the former may sound weird or awkward in the latter.
You’re right… there’s also Australian and Canadian (Newfoundland) English as well. I feel that MG needs to pick one form of English and be consistant with it across the board.
Of course some companies are able to use the various different forms of English to their advantage (see Dragon Quest 8)… but MG isn’t one of them. 
Either way… so long as the translation is clean and handled efficiently, I could honestly careless if a game is American/Australian/British/etc - so long as the entire game is uniform with a single dailect. Going through the three versions every other 15 minutes might be annoying.
They still might be able to get away with it, but it would be done on character basis and would require assigning characters to people. They would still require scenes to be done by one standard though.
I’m still extracting script, which is an entirely different process from translating. Doing this would actually be a ‘break’ for me. Besides, I’m doing the translation by myself, in my spare time; I can put it on hold whenever I want without inconveniencing anyone else.
This kind of stuff doesn’t scare me. I’ve beta-read fanfiction. :roll:
If you think you can influence them to change the proofreader, ask for Amanda.
WHAAA!?! Now they’re seeking game testers!?!
Why arent they using the people who emailed them, like myself, as game testers then!?! Talk about a slap in the face! First they seemingly ignore my emails, only to send me a copy pasted email weeks later. Then some poorly spoken British guy was picked over me to translate a game like Da Capo? Are you fu**-ing joking me? I see how it is. Since they’re touting these games are “available in Europe,” they want British people who spell “color” as “colour” (I’m not trying to offend British people, I seriously think MG wants this in their translators, since Europe is their target market.)
I sent them a polished email giving them all the details they could possibly want AND I was one of the first to inquire about their webpage offer for translators! I sent my email on Jul 30, 2008 at 8:11 PM after they had refreshed their homepage with the announcement. I’d love to hear what time everyone else sent their emails. You know what, I’m going to post the email I sent them. Tell me if you’d hire me for a translation job:
SUBJECT: Hi, regarding your recent webpage announcement for proof readers…
Hi, I’ve been tracking your webpage and I noticed your hiring proof readers. I haven’t purchased any of your games, but judging from others on gaming forums, I noticed the qualify of your translations is in need of improving. I’m always supportive of anyone looking to invest time, money, and energy into the eroge gaming industry, so I’m interested in lending assistance. Before I do, I’m curious what you’re looking for in a qualified proof reader and what would be expected from me, if I were to accept.
A description of myself: I don’t have experience translating games and I know only basic Japanese; however, I’m proficient with English. I’m an American college student with flexible hours. In my spare time, I enjoy writing game reviews (I can share my reviews with you, if interested). Despite my limited Japanese, I’m aware of Japanese customs, including titles, such as -sama, -san, etc. I’ve played dozens of hentai titles translated into English from other gaming publishers.
If you’re interested in sharing more and are interested in me, email back, thanks.
~David Scott
Manga Gamer Response
David,
Thank you for your offer!!!
Please let us know the following information. We’ll put you in our list
of the proofreaders. You might have already provided some of the
information requested by us. Sorry for your incovenience.
*Your name
*Email Address
*Nationality
*Your address & phone No.
*Age(Over 20 years old?)
*Can you speak, write or read Japanese?
*Educational Backgraound
*Experience of proofreading(Editting)
*About your PC
O/S? Version? Which Browzer?
*Can you accept the company check issued in US with US$?
Thank you for your support!
My Response Back
Hi, thanks for the response regarding the proofreading inquiry. I supplied further details about myself. If you have any other questions, let me know. Thanks for your interest!
Q. NAME?:
A. David James Scott
Q. E-MAIL ADDRESS?:
A. davidx4@gmail.com
Q. NATIONALITY?:
A. American
Q. ADDRESS & PHONE#?:
A. ::deleted to preserve confidentiality::
Q. AGE?:
A. 23
Q. CAN YOU SPEAK, WRITE, OR READ JAPANESE?:
A. I know basic spoken, written, and read Japanese, but not enough to qualify me as a Japanese translator. I primarily use translation software to play Japanese games.
Q. EDUCATION?:
A. I’m a 4th year Fine Arts major of both Indiana Purdue University and Saint Francis with experience in webpage processing and computer art (my created webpages are available upon request). I have a minor in media production. I’m A+ certified in computer hardware and software.
Q. EXPERIENCE PROOFREADING (EDITING)?:
A. I was a tutor for young college students attending English courses. I offered advice and helped type term papers and essays. I’ve written game reviews and helped others proofread there own (my reviews and term paper examples are available upon request).
Q. ABOUT YOUR PC:
A. System specs:
cpu…Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @2.40GHz, 2.41GHz
ram…2gb DDR-2
video card…ATI Radeon HD2600 XT
hard drives…Primary: 20.9gb free out of 114gb; Slave: 205gb free out of 298gb
sound card…Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS
power supply…Cooler Master Real Power Pro 750W
Q. O/S & BROWSER:
A. Windows XP Home (SP2). I use Firefox as my preferred browser, but sometimes use Internet Explorer 7 in the event a site is incompatible with Firefox.
Q. CAN YOU ACCEPT THE COMPANY CHECK ISSUED IN US WITH US$?:
A. Yes, U.S. dollar currency would be great.
No response back as of yet. I’ll admit, I know only basic Japanese, but when they’re picking people with questionable English skills, even if they happen to know Japanese, then that’s disturbing. Unless being American is an issue, I see no other weaknesses in my emails, but if there is, I encourage anyone to tell me. If they think a bad British translator is better off translating Da Capo (or any of their games for that matter) then fine, go ahead.
::Curls up into a fetish position::
I keep feeling guilty for not volunteering, but I just don’t have the time.
Yea judging by what Reikon said, the hours seem pretty harsh, so it’s probably only good to accept if you have a flexible schedule. Well Papillon, you could always inquire about their recent ad for testers, although don’t be surprised if they ignore you like they did me and several others :roll:. Since they hired the British guy, maybe they’re wanting Europeans instead of Americans, so if you tell them you’re from England, they may accept you (I’m not trying to be funny, I’m serious).
Btw, sorry about my rambling post from earlier. When I noticed their webpage ad seeking testers, it really hit a nerve inside me. They should NOT need any more volunteers… they have PLENTY of them already who were ignored requesting to be proofreaders :|. Plus, I know for a fact Japanese shouldn’t be required to TEST a game.
I’m in the US and I got accepted (though they didn’t ask anything about me until AFTER they accepted me). I have absolutely no idea where the British guy came from (but he’s apparently a Cambridge student :lol:). It seems like they’d rather have the proofreaders be in America if they ask whether you can accept payment in USD or not.
Honestly, I’m probably going to screw myself by taking this job. School is about to start and I’m an engineering student at one of the top 5 engineering schools in the country. :lol: I guess I should be used to having no free time by now.
And Remedy, your emails are so much more formal and thorough than mine. I wrote pretty short emails in a very casual tone. I doubt that has anything to do with it. It’s more like I’m surprised my casual emails were fine.
i may try to reapply for this. I have done beta testing for games so I might have better chance than someone else, and i have a scedule that will allow me to do this.
Well, OK. You did ask for it, but you probably aren’t going to like my answer. See the items I marked in bold. No, I wouldn’t hire you as a translator (after all, for a translation job, you specificaly disclaim either experience, or qualification) and, given what I marked in bold … I have to say, I’d give you a pass for an editor position as well.
You admit not knowing anything firsthand about their work, but think you can do better. Granted, under the circumstances, this is not unwarranted, but from their perspective, they have no way of knowing that you aren’t as bad as the guys they already hired – after all, they hired them, and got crap work. You think the hacks they already hired said “yeah, we’ll take your money, and give you barely-comprehensible output that barely meets minimum standards and butchers the work’s subtleties”? No, they said they’d take care of everything, they quoted a cheap price, MangaGamer didn’t ask too many questions, and they got burned.
Your professional experience is weak, it seems like you’ve included many things tangentially related in an effort to puff yourself up. While this is natural for anyone to do, there is a limit to this. Writing is not proofreading, but it is justifiably related – but you didn’t sell that connection. And neither is ‘computer art’ related to proofreading at all, that I can see.
And there’s no polite way to say this, so I’ll just say it … Making grammatical mistakes in an email applying for a copy-editing job is like spelling your name wrong on a resume. See above. I’m not claiming everything I marked is a valid criticism (some are debatable) but definitely the typos are incorrect.
Yeah, me too. In fact, I’m in almost exactly the same boat as you are: I considered it, but just can’t. Not enough time.
I’m somewhat kicking myself for not trying to apply for the proofreading position, but I honestly didn’t know what proofreading an translation would require - knowledge of the original language, knowledge of code, etc…
I’m going to apply for the game-testing at least, though I’m not sure what skills would be required for that, and also ask if they’re still accepting proofreaders for future games.
edit: Not to mention I’m kind of leery of the whole ‘80 hours a week proofreading’ someone mentioned earlier. But my apprehension was because I was under the impression that proofreading would occur later, when school was about to start for me.
Well okay, so my email isn’t perfect, but then again, I suppose it doesn’t have to be. It would take a qualified English writer to notice the minor errors, like the redundancies, in my email. MG doesn’t have the talent, time, or energy to proofread my email when they could be proofreading games.
Regarding experience, It’s hard to list strong proofreading experience, at least from a workforce perspective. Paying money for proofreaders is one of those things employers rarely desire, unless the job offer is overseas or if it’s related to writing books. Under the circumstances, I think writing reviews, helping others with college papers, and putting detail in my email should have sufficed as “experience.”
Thanks Nandemonai for pointing out my grammatical flaws. I feel better now there’s something valid I could have been rejected over :).
Maybe I put TOO much detail then? I probably should have summarized mine better, oh well. Just out of curiosity Reikon, what time did you send your email, according to your outbox?
Eye thunk depending only in spell check can result in same bad affects.
July 30, 1 PM PST
It’s 80 hours total, though I’m going to estimate low to mid 100 since I basically have to write the whole script, not just proofread. I guess it mainly depends on how much effort I want to put into it.
And for everyone who didn’t get a reply, I wouldn’t get so upset. It doesn’t look like they’ve replied with an offer to anyone who applied after reading the website message except me (the British guy seems like he started working before, though I’m not positive), and I seem to be an exception since my thread of emails is much different from everyone else’s.
I wonder what the game testers do. If they just get to play through the game to spot bugs or typos, I’d be jealous. :lol: I don’t actually get to play the game I proofread. I’m sure the difference in compensation (if the testers even get anything) is huge though.