Being able to find and convey character voice properly is so important when you're working with dialogue translation in anime, games, manga, etc. https://twitter.com/dramata1/status/1342212417581965314

Since I mostly work w/ anime, I probably won't change as much from the original Japanese as much as if I was working on games or manga because of the possible dissonance it may cause the viewers if they understand both languages.

Even then, the lines sounding natural is crucial.

PS, the above is just my own way of translating my work. I'm not saying that's how others should. Every translator has their own process and what they want their work to sound like and I will respect that.

I've talked about this before, but depending on what medium you're translating, you automatically have different things to consider.

For example, with manga, you've got to worry about "Will this paragraph of a line I'm trying to write fit into that bubble?" Nope. Gotta chop.

When you're first learning a language as well as when you're getting into translation, you will probably break down a sentence very literally, and that's fine at first because the point is to understand what you're reading.

But if you're actually trying to translate, for example, anime dialogue, you have to at least consider, "Would this character say this in English(or other target language) this way?"

I'm not saying the whole thing needs to be rewritten, but character voice needs to be considered

But if you're translating anime (this goes for other mediums too but I'll just stick with this for now), you have to understand the characters, and of course, that includes understanding their personalities and how they speak.

But I also try to make sure I'm matching the character, not myself. You usually don't want a delinquent character speaking in a refined manner (unless they do in the Japanese), but a student council president probably would.

Another thing I ask myself is "Would this character even know this word? "

For example, I was going through the i7 story with friends for fun the other day and I almost had Tamaki say "hypothetical" but changed it to "what if" lol I love my pudding son.

I love my pudding son very much and by far, he is the most preceptive emotionally but he's not always the brightest

I think about this for Asta all the time, too. Or the Matsus.

tl;dr Just because a translator is not translating completely literally, it doesn't mean they're automatically trying to add in some personal agenda. I just want whatever my characters are saying to sound natural and actually like themselves but in English.