Remember the manga advice series that got started last year? Well guess what? I’m doing it again! It was well received, so I did plan on trying to do it again. Unlike last year though, it’s been a bit tougher to get in contact with people. I can only blame my scheduling this year. Anyways, ... Read more
I guess this is the only way to celebrate finishing this project
1) Just in case you might have missed it: in a two month span I ended up talking to people in the manga industry:
This post is to reflect on what I learned from starting this series. It’s broken down into two sections: the part where I got in touch with people and they share their thoughts, and what manga stuff I actually learned from this project. If you guys learned anything, you’ll get your chance to sound off in the comments below.
So, let’s keep going!
2) I should have gotten in contact with the publishers. As in, when I originally started this project, I had the bright idea of going through most of my manga series in my bookshelf and look at the credits to find any translators, editors, etc. As I’ll explain shortly, it was fraught with problems. So it only makes sense that when I emailed the general email accounts of certain publishers I actually got in touch with people I probably didn’t think I could. I ended up doing that for editors and adapters. Man, now I personally wonder what the hell I was thinking looking at the back of the manga so much? Now maybe I wouldn’t have gotten in contact with everyone, but it sure beats what I was doing.
3) Man it’s hard to find info on these guys. Which, sure, I guess they don’t have to have their own personal website or easy way to contact them. But I was disappointed that I couldn’t find them. When you do a standard search you’ll see the works they’ve worked on, or for other positions you might not. That’s about it. I was fortunate to find a few plus get some help to find some before I got in contact with the publishers.
The only reason I’m disappointed is because they all hold a wealth of information that not a lot of people know about. And hey, if you have any questions about their work on a series and stuff, you can go to them. As long as you’re respectful and ask good questions, they’ll be willing to help and share. Speaking of respectful…
4) They seem pretty respectful and cool overall. Well, as far as I can tell. They could have easily just said no, especially since for some they could reveal something negative about their company. And well, I did get no response from some, and got a response that did imply it might be something negative or can’t be shared due to company policy (and of course got some late!!!). That was few and far between though. Whether it was the two week lead time (For the most part I gave everyone two weeks, but for translation I think I flubbed on that one and set a deadline) or they just had the time to respond, doesn’t matter. They answered it seemingly honestly and with great thought. Though apparently I have to be careful next time:
@OrganizationASG So I was kind of hoping someone would say something outrageous and provocative, but it was all pretty reasonable.
— Ben Applegate (@benapplegate) March 30, 2014
@OrganizationASG I guess Carl Horn came closest with his comments on piracy, but I still agreed with everything he said.
— Ben Applegate (@benapplegate) March 30, 2014
@OrganizationASG Next time I'LL be the troll.
— Ben Applegate (@benapplegate) March 30, 2014
Editors these days have no shame!!!
5) Overall, I wish I asked everyone the same questions. What I mean by that is I wish I had planned the questions a lot better. Initially I did plan on seeing reader response to the letterers post and seeing what would happen there. Let’s just say when C brought up how to get into manga professionally, I didn’t actually consider it. Or maybe I thought I did, but not really. Then of course came the feedback from the letterers themselves, especially to question #3. I axed that question for a reason, though maybe one day I’ll just do a separate post asking these guys their biggest mistakes.
Assuming they won’t charge me millions for even asking.
6) Before that, big thanks to: Annaliese Christman, Abby Lehrke, Sabrina Heep, Melanie, April Brown, Kameron, Allen, Abigail Blackman, Amanda Haley, Simona Stanzani, Adrienne Beck, Alethea & Athena Nibley, Dan Luffey, Lilly Akabe, Daniella Orihuela-Gruber, Lindley Warmington, Pancha Diaz, Carl Horn, Ben Applegate, Hope Donovan, Rachelle Donatos Lipp, John Bae, Lianne Sentar, Ysabet MacFarlane, Lillian Diaz-Przybyl, Yoko Tanigaki, & Jane Lui.
If this totally feels like the acknowledgements section of your favorite novel than it totally is and you’ll just have to accept it. Now let’s move on.
7) Clearly, if you want to break into the manga industry, join Digital Manga Guild. It’s pretty clear you can break into the industry with those guys, whether the quality of the work is questionable or not. Even scanlators are welcome! Which isn’t a bad thing for some, but probably a bad thing for others. At least, that’s what I sense. Anyways, if you really want to be a letterer, translator, and editor, go check out the site and go from there.
8) You should also be a letterer. There apparently seems to be a lack of or more of a need for those who would like to letterer in the manga industry. So that might be something to keep in mind, even if it can be boring and stuff. Also, if you want to become a letterer at Yen Press, remember to email them your interest at yenpress at hbgusa dot com.
9) LEARN. JAPANESE. I mean, I already figured that you have to learn Japanese to work in this business, but it’s a requirement to learn some sort of Japanese. Hiragana, Katakana, the language itself, etc, you can’t work here without increasing your skills there.
Ok I say that like it’s morbid and true, but the advice series proved you don’t have to learn it for certain positions. BUT IT’D BE EXTREMELY HELPFUL.
10) Also will help to learn Photoshop and InDesign. This is basically the sentiment I got from every manga advice series. Have multiple skills, find a way to be helpful aside from what you’re supposed to do. This basically speeds things up and makes everything run efficiently. And learning how to use Photoshop and InDesign is a great asset.
11) Oh, and yes, quickness is appreciated. Because you gotta go fast…gotta go fast…brb I’m retiring for even trying to link this here I’m sorry!!!
(But no, seriously, if you’re quick, you get more work.)
11) Japanese publishers are like your parents. I mean, literally. You’re born. You end up getting babied for a while. Then you grow up, and before you know it, you get to set out on your own and make your own decisions. The problem is some parents get attached and want to make sure you’re safe, and before you know it, you get nagged on everything, like how late you’re staying out and them hoping to call you at least every two weeks, and all that great stuff parents can do.
In this case, the JP publishers own the rights to most manga (sometimes it’s the authors). They baby it by marketing it in their own country, and for about a year or so, all is good. Then comes publishers from other countries calling to license the title because it’s either popular or they think it will sell, or in this case, your baby’s all grown up. It’s time for it to set out on its own and do some good.
But unfortunately, just about everything has to be checked. Almost everything. Even the smallest of issues it seems. I’m certain there are great relationships between most of the publishers, so in a sense it’s not nearly as dramatic as I’m making it out to be. But I wonder if there wasn’t so much handholding on certain things would the series come out faster? Would it be more faithful to the original? There are a lot of questions to ask here, but chances are I’d hear that as something under the table.
12) There’s a 3 to 1 ratio of there being fans of manga actually working in the industry. This is merely a guess, and doubly so since I haven’t talked to everyone in the industry, but it’s a safe bet that there are fans of manga actually working on manga. There will always be those who aren’t, but there is. There’s a perception, especially when publishers and the people working with the publisher can be very negative when shouting down scanlations, that they’re not fans or they don’t know how I want it, etc. But they are fans. But they also have to deal with working in a business. And that unfortunately can be the difference between getting a manga licensed and not getting licensed.
13) This can be a full time job it seems. It just depends on how you manage your budget and how much work you get. And it definitely depends on what position since–
14) Adapters/Rewriters are on the outs. Harsh, but yeahhhh, it ain’t looking good for them. I think the only surprise is that Crunchyroll has adapters it seems, but otherwise, you need to be doing more than adapting to work in the manga industry and be able to make money.
15) Still need to brush up on your English. Even when you think you know enough, it can sometimes be best to keep practicing what you already know. *Takes out Strunk’s Elements of Style*
16) How small are these budgets??? There’s a lot of positions in a company, and time is of the essence. But I mean, geez, tempted to ask what’s the average budget for a company. I’ll probably never get an answer to share publicly.
17) Scheduling is very important. I picked up a book called “Earn The Right To Win“, by Tom Coughlin, head coach of the New York Giants. In that book is a lot of things that I wish I had did when I was in school instead of doing it now, from preparing to communication, etc. One section was on scheduling. The biggest thing that he had was scheduling for the short term and for the long term. He’s obsessed with scheduling, but at the same time, it’s a routine, and most importantly, it’s there to keep things sane. There will be days where everything goes as planned but then there are days where it does not. But because there was a schedule in place, whatever interruption happened is taken care of, with little change in time. That’s basically it: you plan ahead to get things done without wasting time.
This is half why manga are licensed, but they don’t come until next year. The distributors need time to prepare, and so does everyone else working in the company. There are also other reasons, but this is the sentiment I got from the advice series.
There’s a lot more that I got out of doing this series than least expected.
18)
Realtalk, @OrganizationASG's manga project interviews are super. I usually don't read aniblogs, but it's exactly the stuff I'm interested in
— FEEL SO MOOOOOOOOOON (@zetsubouzhainu) March 29, 2014
19)
@Kami_nomi @kaitou_ace Didn't know interested letterers could just apply straight to Yen Press! I'm kind of tempted to do it…
— Siliva (@Siliva) March 4, 2014
@Kami_nomi @kaitou_ace Thanks. (: I realize I've become kind of a lettering nerd in the past few years… It'd be a dream to actually do it!
— Siliva (@Siliva) March 4, 2014
20) This project has given me a lot of ideas for the future, in addition to continuing to reinforce some of the ideas I had at the start of year.
But I’m curious what you got out of this series. Did anything surprise you in what was said? Did a specific advice post catch your eye? Well, whatever you got, feel free to share below!
So, the project continues right along. Two weeks ago I asked a few manga letterers to share their advice on manga lettering. Today, it’s the translators turn!
I think we all should know the role of a translator, but I bet there’s some stuff behind the scenes (or maybe some translation challenges) you’d like to know. So let’s get to it! I got in contact with translators for companies like Crunchyroll, Seven Seas, and Kodansha USA, so let’s get to it!
How did you get the opportunity to start working as a manga translator?
Amanda Haley (Coppelion, Aria The Scarlet Ammo Manga): I was a first-prize winner for the 2012 Manga Translation Battle, which was hosted on JManga. Although JManga shut down shortly after MTB, the series I’d won for ended up being revived on Crunchyroll Manga. I also joined Digital Manga Guild while waiting for those contest results, but MTB was the biggest opportunity for me.
Simona Stanzani (English: Pandemonium ~ Wizard Village, Italy: Air Gear, Bleach, Steel Ball Run, NANA): I started in Italy in 1992, when being a manga translator was a very new job; I got contacted by Kappa Boys, an editing team that was looking for translators for Edizioni Star Comics, the oldest Italian manga publisher in activity at the moment. We were both from Bologna and had acquaintances in common, so it was a pretty natural process.
Adrienne Beck (Kashimashi, The Sacred Blacksmith, Toradora!, Seraph of The End): Many, many moons ago, I worked as a volunteer translator for a video game news website. I would translate Japanese articles on video games so that the newsies could write up an English summary on them. I even wrote a (very) few articles myself. It just so happened that one of the site’s regular readers translated for Tokyopop. When I mentioned that I was hoping to break into manga translation myself, he referred me to his editor. Tokyopop gave me a test volume to work on, and I guess they liked what I sent back, because they kept sending me more and more volumes after that!
Alethea and Athena Nibley (Negima!, Kingdom Hearts, Nabari no Ou, UQ Holder): The short story is we got an internship at Tokyopop and one thing led to another.
The long version is that we had been translating unprofessionally for our friends at college, and one of our roommates told us Tokyopop was having a survey, asking fans what they wanted to see brought to the US. All her friends were asking for one or both of our favorite series (Saiyuki and DN Angel), and we were like, “No! Those are /ours/! They can’t have them!” Plus, we had recently been severely disappointed in the English dub of the Saiyuki anime, so we were really worried about our favorite series being ruined again.
A few seconds later, we thought, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Are they hiring?” So we checked their website, and sure enough, they were looking for interns. We applied, got hired, and one the rest is history.
Dan Luffey (Give My Regards To Black Jack, NOGI, Wife By Arrangement): I did manga translations on my own as practice for many years before I got my first professional work translating manga. I love manga and I love language, so it was always a dream job to me, and I kept searching incessantly until I finally found a good opportunity.
Lilly Akabe (Digital Manga Translator): I have a friend, she translates for a game company in Tokyo. She told me about this publisher, and I interned there for free for 10 months. I was really happy when I finally got the real gig. It didn’t pay much at the time but it was a start and I’ve been translating ever since.
If there was one misconception you had about the manga industry before you started working in the industry, what was it?
Amanda: Frankly, the translation rates. I hadn’t asked around about it, since translating still seemed like just a pipe dream anyway, but I’d read some old blog posts from manga translators and thought I knew about what to expect. Well, I thought I’d get a little less than what I’d read about, because of course I was new and those figures were from when the manga industry was at its peak…but I definitely did not realize how much they had dropped. If I’d looked for some more recent interviews and articles I’d've known better. Oops.
Simona: Uh, when we started there wasn’t really an International manga industry so I didn’t have any preconceptions.
One of the things that struck us the most (in many ways) was the length of time necessary for negotiations and the necessity to get basically everything authorized by the licensor – all the bureaucracy makes the production process really time-consuming.
Adrienne: Hmm…I don’t think I had one, really. I didn’t have many preconceived notions of how things might work when I started, so there wasn’t much to surprise me.
Alethea and Athena: Not so much a misconception about the manga industry as about the professional world in general. We kind of had this idea that there was this system in place, or something…it’s kind of an abstract concept, but it’s like when you’re a kid, you think your parents know everything about life. We figured the professionals knew everything about manga. And that’s not to say that we found out they were clueless–far from it. It’s just that, when we got into the manga industry about ten years ago, it was still relatively new, and everyone was still trying to find their way around. At least that’s the impression we get, looking back. It probably didn’t help that there were a lot more editors back then who didn’t know Japanese.
On the other hand, while we had this idea that they had everything figured out, we still had this arrogant sense that they would ruin things without our help. I guess that’s a little typical of fans–like, “Yeah, maybe they love manga, but they don’t love it the way I love it–I’m the only one who can truly understand.”
Dan: My biggest misconception was that everyone involved with manga loved the art form known as manga and wanted to further the medium. This is not the case at all. Even in Japan, many people who are deeply involved in the manga industry view comics as “drivel for children,” or would rather focus on derivative works because it’ll mean a fatter paycheck.
Lilly: Translation is pretty dull. I suppose, it’s just like any other job — I try to enjoy it as much you can. I’ve been doing this for so long, so I’m not sure if I enjoy it…or I just do it because it’s my job. Manga translation is a very limited field. There are lots of translation jobs out there, but manga is very very limited.
What’s generally the biggest challenge you face when translating a manga?
Amanda: Getting through the proofreading/editing stage after that initial rough draft. There are so many little details to get caught up on — a 200-page comic may be fast to read, but there’s a ton of text, and a million choices to make. Some of them don’t matter as much as others (will anyone else even notice some of them?), but you’re still trying to make the product as good as you can. Even sound effects can have multiple translation choices (sound effects are actually more difficult to deal with than you might think; no wonder Tokyopop was leaving them out). Editing is easier when you can step away from the translation and come back at it fresh, so it’s the most challenging when you have a tight deadline.
Simona: Romanization of non-Japanese names, especially made-up names; without the licensor’s instructions it is nearly impossible to guess what’s in the author’s head, and to ask for info you have to go through a lengthy chain:
[translator>editor>licensing department>agent (if applicable)>licensor's licensing department>editorial department>if they have time/can be asked/find the right moment not to hinder the author's work/etc. they'll eventually maybe ask the author>back all the way to the translator again]
That generally is too long for your answer to reach you in time. Many licensors just say “Just write it the way it sounds best in your language” but then, if the name comes out in the manga in roman alphabet written differently how are you going to justify that? Thankfully manga that have an anime version generally come with some official info, but more often than not you have to fend for yourself.
Adrienne: Urf, this is a tough one. I think, more than a general overall challenge to translating, each volume will present you with its own unique and individual challenge. Comedy & gag manga are always difficult, because the jokes are so hard to get right in English. Some manga are just plain wordy, or the author has written (worse yet, handwritten) a lengthy afterword, and the challenge is the sheer amount of material to plow through. And sometimes, it can be as straight-forward as trying to translate a certain character’s accent without resorting to giving them the over-done Southern drawl.
Alethea and Athena: Oh, wow, this one’s tough. I think as far as general challenges, like constant in everything we work on, is the challenge of getting to know the work. Different manga authors have different writing styles, and it takes a little bit of time to acclimatize. It’s kind of an abstract concept, so it’s hard to describe, but it basically involves getting to know how the author uses words.
This also includes getting to know the characters and how they talk, because there’s a lot more to it than, for example, “Oh, this character uses desu and -masu a lot, so I should have them speaking politely.” Some characters (taking this example and running with it) use polite verb conjugations while saying very harsh things, so you have to figure out how to balance it.
Of course, it gets easier as you get more experience with the Japanese language, and even easier if the new series you’re working on is by an author you’ve translated before.
After that, each series presents its own challenges, and figuring out what they are and how to deal with them is part of the familiarization process.
Dan: The biggest challenge for me is figuring out what to do when supplemental information is needed. Sometimes, a manga will assume that readers are aware of parts of Japanese history or folklore that English readers may not be familiar with, which means that some kind of note or explanation is necessary. How much is too much? Too many notes on the side, and it will prevent readers from immersing themselves in the story, but too little and they might miss out on everything that’s happening. This balance of information is something that every translator struggles with, I think.
Lilly: Finding the right “genre” to translate. I love to translate current and modern time romance josei manga, erotica and redicomi manga. I can’t translate historical and horror themed manga. It doesn’t interest me and I can’t concentrate. I don’t want to be picky — because work is work — but some just don’t hold my interest.
If there is one thing translators must do when they’re translating a Japanese title to English, what would it be?
Amanda: Always have characterization, tone, and natural speech in mind. It’s most important to capture the original feel of the manga, the emotions behind it. You have to let yourself be creative about it. Translation is an art.
Simona: Make sure that they have all the info they need before they start. Get your hands on Guidebooks, Official Fanbooks, whatever might carry romanization info and also it’s good to have a general grasp of the story; I always tell my manga translation students to read the whole series — or all the volumes that are out if it’s still on-going — before they start the work.
Adrienne: I would say the biggest thing is to remember that a manga is a story that is meant to be read all of a piece. It is so easy to get caught up in translating each separate sentence one-by-one that you can forget that the result should come together as natural, sensible English.
Alethea and Athena: Just one? If we had to pick just one, it would be to make sure to read over your first draft again, and edit it. We didn’t use to edit our translations, and we found out the hard way that that can lead to some embarrassing mistakes. But more importantly, when you’re translating something, on the first draft, you have to think in two different linguistic worlds at the same time. Sometimes the translator’s internal language conversion over-corrects, and you end up in what we call “Japanese mode.” That means you think that a phrase that sounds perfectly fine in Japanese also sounds perfectly fine in English…and it doesn’t.
The most extreme example we have of this is from one of our classmates when we were studying Japanese in college. He had served a Mormon mission in Japan, which means he spent two years immersed in the language. One time he was talking on the phone with someone back home, and, referring to someone who had been sick, he mentioned that person’s “recovery interval.” That’s the literal translation of how you would say “while you/he/she/etc. were recovering” in Japanese, so when he had to come up with a phrase off the top of his head, that’s what he came up with.
That kind of thing can easily creep in to translations for the same reason–it’s the first thing that pops into your head. We also have a habit of deliberately leaving odd phrases in, just to make sure we get all the information in a sentence, and we like to go back and come up with a more natural-sounding way to say it when we have more mental capacity to focus on how things sound, both as far as naturalness and emotion. (During the first draft, our main focus is on conveying information.)
tl;dr: Don’t let your first draft be your only draft.
Dan: One thing translators must do when translating a Japanese title into English is put the focus on what they’re writing in English. If a translator’s aim is to convey the feelings, atmosphere, and enjoyment of one piece of work into another language, then the output shouldn’t sound like a translation. It should sound smooth and eloquent like the original, which requires natural, fluid English. It also means rearranging word order, not going with the standard dictionary definition of certain words, and so on. Translators must keep their English skills honed, and always proofread.
Lilly: Read the book once thoroughly, before you start translating. It makes a lot of difference! Trust me!
What would be the best way for a translator to break into the manga industry?
Amanda: Most interviews I’ve read with this question talk about making contacts with people in the industry, going out to cons to meet and greet, etc. Networking seems to be the advice given to newcomers in any field, because…it’s true. And most people have already heard that, so…the second-best way is probably to find any other translation work you can to build up your resume, and jump on opportunities like MTB and DMG.
Simona: Umm…well, do a lot of practice, become REALLY good and show your goodies.
In spite of my 22 years of experience it can happen that I get replies like “sorry we’re all set” when I ask to translate some titles I like (the author actually told them they wanted me to do it, but not even that was enough!) too, so it’s a rather competitive field and I guess that the ones who are already working regularly for this or that publisher surely don’t want to leave their spot to someone else.
Adrienne: The best way is the one that works, of course!
But in all seriousness, I doubt there is one “best” way to go about it. Networking is always a good idea not just for translating manga, but for any job. You can talk to (and hopefully befriend) many manga editors and manga professionals on various social media outlets, or attend conventions and events to meet them in person. Also, the Digital Manga Guild and the annual Manga Translation Battle contest are great ways to get your work out there and build a portfolio. There are lots of ways to go about it.
Alethea and Athena: Go into lettering, ha ha.
We’re not really on the inside of the whole publishing process, so this is just speculation based on our observations, but it seems like the industry is a little saturated with translators, but it could use more letterers.
But if you want to break in as a translator, it’s mainly about finding the right connections. Conventions used to be a good way to do this, but since the big manga companies only go to the big conventions and don’t always like to talk about job opportunities while they’re there, that’s probably not the best way to go anymore.
So these days, it’s probably better to use social media and network that way. Follow the companies on Facebook and Twitter, maybe try speaking up so they know you exist. We understand a lot of people from the manga industry are pretty talkative on Twitter, so that might be a good place to get to know people.
And once you get in, do good work, and especially be reliable about meeting deadlines. If you can do that, you’re likely to get more work.
Dan: Use websites like proz.com or TranslatorsCafe. If you’re unknown and don’t have much experience, chances are you will have to do some jobs that you aren’t really interested in, but that’s just how it goes. Search every day in new ways for new opportunities and you’ll definitely find one.
Lilly: Well, know the language. I’ve known a lot of people who’s taken JLPT tests and things but those kind of things, doesn’t really matter.
What type of advice would you give to someone who might be interested in this venture?
Amanda: I love this job, but know that it’s tough. Not just the translating part–as a freelancer, you’re a business. You have to schedule your time and balance your work life/home life. There were a few months where I was basically working two full time jobs because I suddenly had so much manga to work on, but was afraid to reduce my hours at my day job by much because it was on short notice and I still needed those regular checks. I hate to admit it, but my husband got the short end of the stick, and I didn’t realize it at first because I was so focused on the job. So on top of working to improve your actual translations, be aware of the challenges of working from home.
Simona: Manga language is ‘alive’, it changes constantly, following the flow of contemporary culture; to deeply understand the language, especially the one used in manga, I very strongly suggest to spend some time studying or working in Japan, preferably both (a student visa allows you to work 20 hours a week if I’m not mistaken) and also read and watch a lot of stuff you like – manga, literature, light novels, magazines, internet news, anime, movies, whatever – just keep practicing without the hassle of doing it as a duty but seeing it as a pleasure. Communication is also very important, so make Japanese friends, online and off, and write/talk to them in Japanese as much as possible. Music is good as well, learn the lyrics and astonish your Japanese friends at karaoke! If you want to be a manga translator, of course it’s paramount to read TONS of manga, also the English versions, so you get used to the various ways to translate onomatopoeia, that’s generally one of the most daunting parts of translating manga (I personally don’t find them that difficult, but many of my students do.)
Adrienne: Keep practicing your Japanese, don’t forget to practice your English and, most of all, have patience. It might take some time for your big break to come, but don’t lose heart. Ganbatte!!
Alethea and Athena Nibley: Practice. The only way to get better as a translator is to translate a lot. Pay attention to what words are said in what context. Use Japanese language dictionaries, because they’ll give you an idea of the Japanese nuance.
The goal is to figure out not only what the word means in a “the J-E dictionary say it means this” sense, but also what it means to a Japanese person. For example, if you look up “urusai” in a dictionary, it will tell you it means “loud, noisy, etc.” But when someone says it, the sentiment is usually “shut up!”
There are a lot of words, phrase, particles, etc. that you won’t want to translate to exactly the same thing in every context–pay attention to that. “Noni” doesn’t always have to be translated to “even though.” That reminds me–also be aware of how real English speakers talk. Sometimes the “noni” sentiment is conveyed naturally without a translation (based on how the rest of the sentence is worded), and sometimes you want to take it in another direction. For example, an English speaker is more likely to say, “After all my hard work!” than, “Even though I worked so hard!”
We could go on and on about this, but it all boils down to this: know how Japanese speakers talk, know how English speakers talk, and be aware of the characters and their personalities–how they’re written in Japanese, and how they can be conveyed in English. The Japanese text will guide you if you look at the spirit of it instead of trying to translate “by the book,” so to speak.
Dan: If someone’s interested in translation, I highly recommend that they practice on their own before attempting to do it professionally. If you’ve translated 100 chapters of manga on your own time, and you still enjoy it, then chances are you’ll be able to handle professional work as well.
Lilly: Have lots of experience. Know what you want. Be ambitious and be aggressive — nobody spoon feeds you work…
[…] Manga | Justin Stroman interviews four manga translators about the joys and challenges of their work. [Organization Anti-Social Geniuses] […]
[…] one of his excellent insider posts up at Organization Anti-Social Geniuses; this time he interviews four manga translators about their work. He also investigates why he can’t read mature manga in the Viz […]