After having read through the entirety of Stellar Transformations (after having been introduced to it by He-Man's exceptional translation, which you can see here: http://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthre...ransformations), I have begun reading what I understand is a 'prequel' type novel, 盘龙 - Coiled Dragon, by the same author. I find it enjoyable, so I am going to begin translating it, as I have a 2-month free period coming up. Coiled Dragon is also a 仙侠 type of novel, with both some martial arts and lots of magic and magical beasts. Before I do though, I want to get everyone's input on one thing I haven't made up my mind on:
In this novel, the author deliberately transliterates a lot of foreign names into Chinese characters. I have not yet come a decision on how to translate them back into English, and seek everyone's input. Should I use pinyin? Or should I try and use what I believe to be the original English name?
As an example, there is a character called 沃顿; in Pinyin, this would be Wodun, but the original English name is Wharton. So which would it be? Wodun, or Wharton? As another example, another minor character's name is 兰普森, ie Lanpusen in Pinyin; in English, the name would be Lampson. Which should I use?
If I translate in Pinyin, I would translate faster, but the names would sound weird. If I translate back into English, it would take more time, but the names wouldn't sound as nonsensical.
Looking forward to hearing your opinions. Thanks!