InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Sealing. Sealing."

melancharisbron (melancharisbron) wrote,
@ 2009-06-02 13:49:00

In the midst of exam stress, personal breakthroughs
Not, I hasten to add, breakdowns, okay?

I've not been doing all that well in this period of exam stress - it's the first year of a new year's worth of material, and I knew I would be having trouble at this stage. But knowing that in September, and facing the actual experience of crashing and burning a series of exams now? Well, it's definitely different.

But, in the midst of all this, I'm discovering that I have actually progressed to the point of being able to read some old and treasured volumes, once that I'd acquired at the tender age of 18, when I'd first encountered the anime show Mobile Suit Gundam; this is a veritable classic, beginning a sub-genre of gigantic robots fighting it out, steered individually by pilots riding in the belly of the robot. A rather goofy yet cool blend of high-tech combat and personal champions fighting it out...

Thanks to my contact in the science fiction fandom of the Midwest US, I was apparently in contact with one of the earlier fan groups to have imported this series, which was notable not only for its new take on the fighting robots line but also for a complicated set of political intrigues involving a group of young people from a space colony, caught up in a interplanetary civil war, pressed into service aboard a military ship. (Well, they actually seemed quite willing, but that might be the Japanese group psychology being depicted.) Through my contact with that group, an album covering the 43 original episodes of the show came into my possession. Even though I could only read the little bits of English, sprinkled through the pages like spice, I kept this book through all the moves my life went through after.

And now? In this day and age, I can even find fan-subs of the episodes, so I can hear original language and enjoy the meaning - or just avoid reading subtitles and just enjoy the little bits I can get even on a first listen.

And the very best treasure? Well, I located the opening text of every episode, and - to relieve a bit of my stress - went through it with a dictionary. Scroll past because the rest is a detailed translation project report! Or, if you're still curious but not interested in the Japanese, the very end has my attempt at a translation.

Text and vocabulary list
- 　人類がふえすぎた人口を宇宙に移民させるようになってすでに半世紀がすぎていった。地球のまわりの巨大な人口都市は人類の第２に故郷となり、人々は、そこで子を生み、育て、そして死んで行った。
  　宇宙世紀ダブルオー７９ー地球から最も遠い宇宙都市サイドスリーは、ジオン公国を名乗り連邦政府に独立戦争を挑んできた。この１ヵ月余りのジオン公国と連邦軍は総人口の半分を死に至らしめた。人々は、自らの行為に恐怖した。
  　戦争はこう着状態に入り、８ヵ月余りがすぎた。
- vocab list (not including basic structures like grammatical particles)
  - 人類 - じんるい human race
  - ふえすぎた - increase too much; basic verb 増える to increase, and すぎる to be too much, surpass, or just pass (as in time)
  - 人口 - じんこう population
  - 宇宙 - うちゅう space, universe
  - 移民させるようになって - divided as the following
    - 移民 - いみん - to go out, emigrate, immigrate
    - させる is a form of the verb する, which is "to do," but with this form, it means "cause to be done"
    - 〜ようになって proceeded by a verb means this is a state of affairs that has developed or come to pass
  - すでに - already
  - 半世紀 - half century
  - すぎていった - passed (すぎて is a form of すぎる, mentioned above)
  - 地球 - ちきゅう Earth
  - まわり - around
  - 巨大な - きょだいな enormous, massive
  - 人口都市 - じんこうとし artificial cities
  - 第２ - second (ordinal)
  - 故郷 - hometown
  - 人々 - ひとびと people (in general)
  - 子を生み - こをうみ bear children
  - 育て - そだて from そだる to raise (children)
  - 死んでいった - しんでいった died
  - 宇宙世紀 - うちゅうせいき - "Universal Century"; name of the time-keeping in this series
  - 最も - もっとも most
  - 遠い - とおい far
  - 宇宙都市 - うちゅうとし space city
  - サイドスリー "Side 3"; in the series, the individual stations are called "sides" and numbered
  - ジオン公国 - 〜こうこく the Principality of Gion
  - 名乗り - なのり "proclaimed"
  - 連邦政府 - れんぽうせいふ - Federation government
  - 独立戦争 - どくりつせんそう war of independence
  - 挑んできた - いどんできた came to challenge
  - １ヵ月余り - いっかげつあまり in just one month
  - 連邦軍 - れんぽうぐん - Federation army
  - 総人口 - そうじんこう the entire population
  - 半分 - はんぶん half
  - 死に至らしめた - しにいたらしめた
    - 死に die
    - 至る to go, lead, to reach a stage
    - 〜しめた indicates an attitude, of what exactly I can't make out in my Japanese dictionary. (*sigh*) But it reflects on the entire sentence before, and context, plus my own memory of the translation from the fansub, makes me think it's not a good thing.
  - 自らの - みずから personally
  - 行為 - こうい act, deed
  - 恐怖した - きょうふした terrorized, horrified - した is the past form of the verb する, to do
  - 膠着状態 - こうちゃくじょうたい (a condition of) deadlock
  - 入り - はいり to enter
  - すぎた - past form of すぎる

Translation
- Just for grins, this is the text of the fansub, for comparison:
  A half century has passed since mankind began moving its burgeoning population to outer space. Inside the cylindrical walls of the hundreds of colonies that now orbit the Earth, humanity has recreated its former world. In this new habitat, people are born, raised and die.
  The year is Universal Century 0079. The group of colonies farthest from the Earth, Side 3, have declared themselves the Principality of Zeon, and launched a war of independence against the Earth Federation government. Both Zeon and the Federation lost half of their respective populations in the war's first month alone. Mankind was horrified by the atrocities committed on each side.
  Eight months have passed since the war began, and both sides are locked in a stalemate.