What interests me so much about the translating ‘scene’ I helped create is the fact that it was one of the few fully independent scenes started here on the internet, and therefore having kind of a communism to it.  As the web has started to show us, the barrier between buyer and seller is weakening.  People can now contact authors online, and now more than ever before, the public has a chance to compete or at least appear as professional as the companies they could previously only gleam upon.  Translations fit into an odd groove in this situation; they exist perfectly within the framework of the internet since it is world-wide based and there is little or no hardware involved. This provides an easy and quick means of exchange between people, one that is replacing business meetings and formal industrial conduct.

The most important feature that the internet provides to us however is the fact that it is nothing more than a hobby.   Under any other conditions, the means to produce a translation just as a hobby would take many man hours of development over meeting or at least phone conversations.  But in this case, since everything is handled electronically, the average hacker can converse and exchange ideas as easily as talking with a friend in real life. Therefore, the capacity to undertake tasks such as this falls into the domain of being a hobby.  People like me put a few hours a week into a translation for the love of doing it.  What we get out of it is the respect and admiration of the people we do the translations for, again amplified by the universality of the internet.

Oddfully enough, the concept of money fits in nowhere in the translation scene.  Almost like communism in a sense, there are the providers (us) and the takers (the public).  Because our work is regarded as a hobby and nothing more, we don’t expect any money from it. If we were to charge for the translations, people would only pirate them anyhow, since now more than ever it’s obvious everything is being pirated. I personally would rather keep my roots by staying freeware with the public by avoiding the situation altogether.

Unfortunately, communism never worked out for real life, but seems to be taking full effect in the internet, almost as if by instinct. Why? Because there’s no end to supply. I can copy any file on my hard drive easily, but in real life noone can just ‘copy’ an ear of corn.  True, there are some people in the world that enjoy farming corn and would gladly provide for the rest of us, but there simply aren’t enough of these people in the world to sufficiently say that they could provide for us. So, we need money in the real world to convince them to provide corn for us.  An internet community, on the other hand, is much more prosperous because just one translator (me) can provide a translation for anyone I want, simply because the file can be copied over and over, effectively reaching every person who wants it. So, only a few dedicated people can fuel a large scene on the internet, where a real life business would have failed due to business and commercializing costs.

So where does this leave me? Well, without getting into a scene like this I probably would have never learned these things for myself.  Although the concept of money isn’t a variable in my work, I’ve learned a lot of things about ways to treat people and tactics about getting work done.  Not only that, the japanese I’ve learned is something I’m going to try to apply to a career once I get out of college. Experience is the best teacher and although what I do may be considered technically illegal, it has already put me miles ahead of anyone else I know taking bland japanese courses at school.  If anybody out there reads this that would be willing to offer me a job or commission based on the skills I’ve presented on my page, I’m open. =]

The translation scene is something that really gets me right now because it’s one of the last few relics in this world. It seems everything out there, at least to me, is either being pimped or not worth being looked over at all.  I’m on the web, seeing either shit warez pages with zero thought behind them, or faceless corporation pages with terrific looking graphics, but again empty because you know it’s all been bought.  I see myself and my scene right in the middle.  By actually providing a service to society, I can put myself above any page which simply offers opinions, art, or news.  Still, by not collecting any money from it, I am forced to place myself under any corporation’s establishment.  This leaves me with the fact that this is a scene driven by people with knowledge. Knowledge is power; this is one truth I always try to emphasize to newcomers.  A person simply can’t enter the translation scene and expect to have it with them; it’s more of a philosophy / art than a skill.  It takes a certain type of person – someone with introspection like me – to be able to realize and grasp what a delicate balance is being held upon us in this scene today.

I really meant it when i said knowledge is power. it's scary to see what a bit of knowledge can do to affect a person.  It seems that everywhere i look, ideas, companies, art, and everything else has sstemmed from some central idea. that idea being some root or catalyst of creativity, which people immediately try to pimp. Take sports for example.  The players do their thing, but they're regarded very highly by everyone around them.  That individual talent they posess is something noone can copy or take away from them; that is their power.  People around them such as news reporters and fans kiss their ass. some would even say the work of the mass of people surrounding the talent is greater than the talent itself, but still only the power is ever recognized.  For me, my translations are my power. they give me my individuality and give depth to my presence. noone can take that away from me because they were a product of my own ingenuity and creativity. people everywhere seem to be amazed at my work; but it's nothing special. i would kill myself before becoming a follower like that - a person who dedicated his time thanking others rather than making something of himself.  Even just a little creativity will do you good. it seems like anyone anymore that comes up with an original idea has mas success brough on him in one way or another. if the idea sticks, run with it. it may be your destiny.

I’m a big fan of the old c64 intro/demo scene. I was never into c64 when I was a little kid – I had an apple IIc instead. I’ve only recently discovered the scene through emulators, and from what I see it was a terrific scene; one untouched by time..  it’s obvious the people driving it were highly intelligent. They seemed to be able to do anything with those shitty little disk images.  This is the kind of intelligence I hold the most respect for and try to mold the translation scene after.  My work can be considered a kind of living dedication to the kind of timeless breed of people that fuel such great art before me, and to inspire the future people to become what I have just entered in to.