October 30, 2012 - July 12, 2016: The End

[touchturnfly]

This is an announcement, but I will begin with some words of reflection.

You probably don't remember when I started translating. I started on my old journal in 2012. But if you do, kudos for your patience. I was about to complete my Japanese studies and consider writing a Ghost Hunt fic for Nanowrimo, but then I stumbled upon Akumu no sumu ie (1994). I wondered why it had been left untranslated after all these years despite having a reasonably sized fandom. So I translated the prologue and somehow ended up translating three full chapters during Nanowrimo 2012. As far as I know, I never touched that fic again.

I started with some very amateurish translation skills, but it really improved along the way. I got a lot more confident when I hit the end of volume 1. I found out I really do enjoy it despite all the struggles. If you’re thinking of getting into novel translations, it's a good way to improve your language and translation skills. I do suggest going back to the beginning after a while: if you spot some mistakes and see things you could have done better, then you know you have improved. Another tip I can give is to translate something you love enough to put your time and effort in for a longer period.

Anyway, these four years took a toll on my GH fic writing output, but I believe it was all worth it. I have to thank the Ghost Hunt fandom as a whole for being amazing - I'm truly grateful for being in this small but faithful fandom! Thanks for supporting me with all your messages, comments, reblog, likes -- Believe me, it helps!

Onto the announcement.

I hope you’ll stick around until I start translating the revised Ghost Hunt series. However, I won’t start right away, because I need a break from Ghost Hunt, and Ono's writing style in particular. Her style isn't the easiest to translate. :P For now I'm inclined to wait until the old edition is completely translated, but I'm not entirely sure of that yet. What do you think? I'll make my decision next year, so you'll hear more about it then.

In the meanwhile you could read my other novel translation project HaruChika. Start reading here. Use the following three weeks to catch up, because I'll update the crap out of that one after I get back from my trip. :P