About Anime/Manga translation…
May 18th, 2008Normally, most of people watch (fan)subbed anime and read (scan)translated manga. The problem with fansubs and scanlations is that they are made by fans, so that means that from time to time, we may find some, let’s say, uncorrect translations (if not unreadable). And I can say this as a reader of scanlations and a fansubber watcher (only if I can´t find the raw version, though) and a potential professional translator.
Translating is a difficult task, I may say. It’s not just about translating words. Goods translators have to do their best in order to keep the meaning and at the same time deliver a perfectly redeable text that has to be as close to the original as possible. To give you an example, the spanish translation of “Fruits Basket” manga is so good , that sometimes I find it even more amusing than the original version. All the dialogues are very well rendered into spanish, and even if the translator had to make some little adaptations, they didn´t alter the text in any way.
Japanese is a complicated language. Not only because of the kanji, and the somewhat complex grammar, but also because it tends to be very implicit, and it heavily relies on the context. While reading “X” manga in japanese, for example, I notice that I understand what the characters say, but I would find it very difficult to produce a good spanish translation of the text.
A bad translation can completely ruin a good story, or alter the reader’s/watcher’s perception of a certain character, as pointed by Hinano in one of her posts about Soul Eater’s manga. I know some translators work under pressure because they have to finish the translation as soon as possible and therefore they can’t check it properly for mistakes (specially if they are working on fansubs), but then I wonder if it is worthwhile translating just for the sake of translating. I want to mean, for me translating is like a craftwork: you have to take your time, and put all your efforts and love into it.
Of course, when talking about translations made by fans, I don’t think we can complain at the same level as if they were translations made by a professional, since fan translators aren’t getting any money for their work. Nonetheless, they must at least provide a redeable text (and not like some chapters of Vampire Knight manga, that made little to any sense when I read them, to the point I started wondering if I was starting to forget all my english! XD).
To end with:
| Main Entry: | translate | |
| Part of Speech: | verb | |
| Definition: | To express in another language, while systematically retaining the original sense. | |
| Synonyms: | construe, put, render | |
| Source: | Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. |
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(Bilingual entry, coming soon!)

By the way, Karekano, (or “His and Her Circumstances”) is another example of great translation into spanish (at least the anime version).


