Manga Translations

[kimthemangagirl]

I'm wondering where the manga translation comes from. Is it personally translated by someone here?
I can tell it's not the official English translated one because the names are all wrong. That kind of bugs me. Also, in the official English translation, they don't use honorifics. I usually don't read manga online because of that reason. When you've already read the official translation and then read the online translations, they're completely different. It bugs me.

[kalla]

(I know this is old but I'm bored so I'm going to answer it anyway.)

If you are referring to a scanlation that you read online, no that is not an official translation. They are done by people who speak Japanese who may or may not be paid to translate it depending on where you read it. The official translation is adapted for whatever country it is being sold in.

The reason certain things like honorifics and such are not translated in scanlations is because there is not a direct translation. It sounds abnormal to read a modified version so they leave the original. However, when they say Mrs/Ms/Mr/Lord/Sir/etc. those are honorifics they could translate...but they don't carry the same connotation that they do in Japanese, thus some translators leave the Japanese.

Also, some things are lost if you "translate" them. When Allen says bakanada that is a play on words in the Japanese and while it was translated into jerkkanda it loses some of its humor if you know the original Japanese. (Although that is a good translation of it.) I laughed when I saw bakanda, I did not when I saw jerkkanda because it wasn't the same. Or when I have seen the cutesy names added in English--they have always been absolutely horrible. Towards the end of this they started saying Crowlykins or something and I cringed every time because that is very much NOT what was said. It's like translating your name; it usually stays the same regardless of language. Moreover, Lavi is a rather forceful personality and would never use something cutesy in that manner. (He says it to tease Crowly, but it does not come off in the Japanese that Lavi himself is trying to be "cute" by saying it. More like he's giving Crowly crap.) In Japanese, the word conjugation and choice of words denotes the personality of the speaker. This is something English at least is weak on, which is why some translators choose to leave it closer to the Japanese--it is a conscious choice to stay true to the character at the expense of a very minor translation. (They leave the -chan or -kun or whatever, say what it is in a note, but don't translate that so they can maintain the character's personality.)

The biggest thing on how it is translated is the translator. The translator's job is to decipher the meaning and say it in the target language--sometimes that modifies the sentence and sometimes not. Sometimes that means something like a name is not translated. Sometimes it means the actual words are changed completely, as in the case of an idiom, or that they add a note, as in cases of historical/social references. So yes, they are different. Why? Because of the translator(s). The key is to find the best and most accurate way to portray all the information from the original while expressing it in a completely unrelated language.

[shonen]

You definitely nailed it kalla. It's impossible to have a direct translation from japanese to (lets say) english because there are certain terms/phrases that the english language doesn't possess. Personally, I enjoy all the little honorifics and katakana/hiragana/romaji/kanji that are left behind. It has made me learn more about the japanese culture and language and allowed me to appreciate the humor expressed through its use.

And as far as translators go, there are definitely good ones and bad ones. But its just another element that makes manga interesting for me. Because the word choice and editor notes give the stories another dimension, almost another character entirely.

The only thing I can't stand is bad typesetting.

[kalla]

Yeah, bad typesetting...ugh. But definitely good and bad translators out there. I think especially online because people take a year or so of a language and think they can just look up individual words and translate that way and while you can do some things that way, you really aren't doing the original justice. They are also still thinking in the target language rather than the original, so they are missing/overlooking some things unintentionally before they even get out the dictionary. It does get easier with each additional language I think, just because you know what you are doing and don't make the same assumptions, but still...you have to know when you're getting in over your head. In some ways manga is more difficult to translate because it is more colloquial and breaks the "rules" of formal sentence structure as opposed to say...a manual for a DVD player or textbook excerpt.