Canned Dogs has sniffed up a very interesting Japanese blog post on the English translation of the Shakugan no Shana novel, which was quite negative in its evaluation, complaining of tedious dialogue and its failure to utilize the strong points of the English language. This is quite a unique chance to read an opinion from a native Japanese speaker on the quality of English translations, and it also highlights one of the ongoing debates in manga/anime translation… readability versus literal accuracy. (Having not read the novel, I’m only assuming this is the issue for the reviewer at Dekadenbiyori.)
One school of thought is that translations should maintain the essense of the dialogue, replacing words and idioms with not-exact English equivalents. The other school of thought is to preserve literal accuracy at all cost, even if the results may be clumsy. The blog review at Dekadenbiyori points out the flaws in the latter style of localization… a literally accurate translation is not actually “accurate” for bilingual people because it often fails to convey emotional context.
The disconnect between readability and accuracy is a common problem for Japanese to English translations. In Japanese (and most Asian languages for that matter), words have a wide latitude in meaning, which is very context sensitive. English, on the other hand, is a very specific and grammatically demanding language (subject-verb agreement, tense, and so forth), yet it offers a much wider number of options in terms of vocabulary and structure. Therefore, a manga that is translated literally may seem flat and repetitious to someone who is fluent in both languages, even if the translation is technically correct.
However, the one thing the Japanese reviewer didn’t (and couldn’t have) taken into account is the expectation of the English audience for a novel such as Shakugan no Shana… the market overwhelmingly wants literal translations. This novel’s translation isn’t written for the bilingual person, or even a mass audience… it’s written for the American manga market, which at the moment happens to value absolute exactitude… in art presentation and in dialogue. And this is something most publishers can’t ignore.
So literal translations aren’t necessarily the most accurate, and heavily rewritten translations aren’t the most desirable in the market (whose taste may yet change somewhere down the road.) And I myself am not taking a stance on the Japanese review, as that would be choosing between taste and commerce, not an easy decision for a publisher… but I bet readability-adherent Toren Smith is chuckling over this somewhere.
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David Welsh/Comic Worlds News has a cool interview with Jim Chadwick and Asako Suzuki of CMX, which imho has weathered the initial storm of fandom hatred with superb releases like Emma. This is also the first interview in ages where a manga publisher says flat out that they’re not working on a BL/Yaoi imprint.
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I have another awful confession to make. As I’ve said before on the blog, I have not read the McMoney tree for Viz that is Naruto, but it’s not because I’m elitist. As much as I poke a little fun at the Naruto fans sometimes, I intentionally avoided it because I knew I’d fall for it like a sucker. It’s derivative, it’s the exact same thing as every other shounen fight manga out there. I’ve read it all before, and I shouldn’t be spending any more money on it. Then someone gave me the first issue last month, and now I have the other 14.
Those bastards have all my money again.
Aaaaanyway… the news is that Amazon has broken street date and are selling all three Naruto volumes originally set for launch in September. I wish I could remember which blog or website I read this on, but I immediately hopped over to Amazon to order a few copies when I read it, so my apologies.
Edit: Now I remember… it was ComicSnob.
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Wacky. Personally I prefer readability. It’s always interesting to see how a translator approaches it that way. What anime and manga fans prefer these days is certainly suprising sometimes.
Also glad to see CMX marches on. Now gimmie more Emma!
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The laughable thing about the “literal translation” devotees is that they are, to a person, unqualified to judge whether or not a translation is accurate. But they do know thing: literal translations make for awkward, stilted English. Therefore, unable to judge the accuracy of the translation, they do the only thing they can, which is work backwards: if a translation is awkward and stilted, it must be accurate. And if a translation is smooth and readable–if it makes you forget you’re reading a translation–then it the translator must be taking gross and unforgivable liberties. The technical word for this kind of logic is “stupid.” But this kind of logic has allowed dozens (hundreds, if you include scanlators) of so-called translators get away with translations that are both wretched to read and inaccurate (and sometimes laughably wrong). Yeah, I’ve got my Irish up over this topic today.
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On Naruto, I hear ya. I bought the first volume ages ago in the limited edition foil cover (very nice looking, I also bought Yu-Gi-Oh and Yu Yu Hakusho #1s with those covers at the time, and managed to snag Shaman King #1 with the LE cover from Amazon this year).
For ages, I didn’t keep track of it, but I slowly started getting back into it, watching the show on CN, and then picking up the volumes as they appear in the used book store for $4 a piece, and then grabbing some more during one of RightStuf’s 20% off instock sales. And then I got all caught up and ordered the whole Naruto Nation thing during the last Viz sale (along with a lot of other stuff).
I just got my shipment confirmation for the first three volumes of the Naruto Nation, which means I should have that, as well as some insanity, cooking, and multiple personality mangas, by Saturday.
You should also check out O-parts Hunter by Seishi Kishimoto, the twin brother of Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto. Sure, it’s really derivative as well (the character design for the main female is basically young Bulma from DB), but it’s fun.
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I think the whole translation issue is rather silly at times. I won’t go so far as to call either crowd stupid. But I feel the problem is solved when ‘Translation Notes’ are included. The reader get’s a, for the most part, nicely flowing read and an explanation of the cultural aspects that were changed for the English reader. Especially when so many Japanese jokes seem to be word puns which have no possible chance of translating into English.
Now with that said, I am DEFINITELY not a fan of heavy-handed rewrites, just ones that smooth things over and make it readible enough that I don’t stumble mid-sentence.
Now for the other part of this post, I read and tend to enjoy plenty of derivative manga, and literature (there are only so many themes out there [claims the struggling author =) ]). That’s pretty obvious if you check out a few of my reviews at AOD. However, after an incredibly annoying run-in with the ‘Naruto Nation’ at Comic-Con years ago, I refuse to watch or read anything Naruto related. Oh I guess I can’t say that, I would probably read some Naruto doujinshi if it found it’s way into my hands =)
Simon, I can’t believe you crumbled!
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Yeah, going wild with rewriting could also mean losing sight of what was intended in the original text. That’s usually what those that prefer literal translations worry about in my experience. I’m okay with it as long as the translator doesn’t go overboard, and uses fitting equivalents that aren’t too reaching. And if it isn’t possible, then that’s what translation notes are for.
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Something along the lines of being trapped in a huge line forever, surrounded by like 50 Naruto Nutbars screaming and imitating fight moves. I could have swore I had just missed the RedBull I.V. machine that had injected, oh I don’t know, maybe 49 of the little bastiches. But maybe it was only like 171 screams, so maybe I’m being to harsh. It’s been so long, now I can’t even remember what I was in line for.
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Ana wrote:
Yeah, going wild with rewriting could also mean losing sight of what was intended in the original text. That€™s usually what those that prefer literal translations worry about in my experience. I€™m okay with it as long as the translator doesn€™t go overboard, and uses fitting equivalents that aren€™t too reaching.
I would argue that is the literal translator who loses sight of the artist’s intention. A good translator strives to recreate the experience of the original native reader; nothing destroys that experience more than a clunky, literal translation that can be completely misleading. Here’s an extreme example. A once-popular fansubber whose initials are S.S. once translated the sentence “Acchi ike” as “Go that way” in a certain animated version of the very first boys’ love manga, which happened to be created by a famous colleague of mine. Strictly speaking, the translation was literally “accurate.” Practically, though, it was so far of the mark that it left viewers puzzled. It should have been translated, in that context, as “Go away.” In another context, with another speaker, it might be translated “Get lost.” In another, “Leave me alone” or “Buzz off.” A good translator both understands the nuances of the original and is able to reproduce them in English. Alfred Birnbaum is often criticized for taking liberties in such translations as Murakami Haruki’s Wild Sheep Chase, but Birnbaum’s translations work because his is a master of English dialog and prose fiction himself, and conveys the spirit of the original far better than 99% of the academics who tend to translate Japanese literature. The problem comes in when you have a translator who really does not understand the nuances of the original, and basically tries to wing it with smoke and mirrors. Every publisher that puts out translations of manga (or fiction) should have an in-house native speaker of Japanese who can interview prospective translators to determine if they are genuinely fluent. And the editors who are native speakers of English should do their job and actually take the translators to task when they come across phrasing that seems unnatural or out of character. And the editor shouldn’t take “It’s a Japanese thing” as an excuse. There’s always a decent solution to any difficult-to-translate “Japanism,” and a competent translator working with a competent editor should be able to find that solution every time. Translator’s notes should be limited to social, cultural, or historical references that would be lost on most Anglophone readers. They should never be used to explain linguistic idiosyncrasies, unless the express purpose of the text is to help people learning Japanese.
In my famously humble opinion.
Of course, none of this applies if the readers of the particular kind of manga you are translating do not bother to look at the speech balloons. (^_^)
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