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 Feed from Mari Morimoto's Translating Manga 101 panel at AnimeNext 2008. Transcription: bayoab

17:01:04 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> Waiting for Steve Bennett
17:01:38 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> Mari morimoto is here right now
17:03:42 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> If you want to do it properly, you can't just take a few years of Japanese.
17:03:49 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> The two hardest things are humor and sound effects.
17:04:03 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> You have to be in versed in culture as it relates to anime and manga, not just Japanese culture.
17:04:23 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> If you are just learning your culture through anime and manga, what you know is going to pretty skewed.
17:04:51 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> You need to spend time in Japan, at least a year or two.
17:06:21 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> The money making is in business and scientific articles.
17:06:23 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> (This is off of a question.)
17:06:54 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> Manga and anime is a very interesting field. You are usually paid by page or picture for manga and episode is by the episode or (something).
17:06:57 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> Each company pays different rates. There is no flate rate.
17:07:18 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> (Steve Bennett enters.)
17:08:26 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> (Gives his background)
17:09:20 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> If you don't have any legal background, you will want a friend who is a laywer who knows contracts.
17:10:10 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> There are two types of translators: Those who work in the company and freelance work.
17:10:21 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> There are some clauses about who you can and can't work for in some.
17:10:30 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> Steve takes over...
17:10:46 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> One form of Japanese that really needs to be stressed is Japanese business talk.
17:11:51 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> In manga right now, about 95% of the manga publishers are US companies. They may be owned by Japanese companies. If you go far enough up the chain, you end up with the Japanese companies.
17:13:20 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> Anime companies.. there are a few which have american branches.. madhouse, gonzo (gdh), geneon usa...
17:14:08 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> You need to find a place that deals with your niche in manga if you only want to handle certain types.
17:15:26 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> back to steve...
17:15:27 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> If you are one of those kids in college with 2 years, gear yourself for higher future goals.
17:15:47 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> A lot of the college kids are are like "I love manga" and limit themselves to comics.
17:16:56 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> back to mari
17:16:57 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> The one advantage you have over someone native born/raised, you have a native grasp of english. So take a few english writing courses. People are hiring for editorial and above who are bilinigual. There is nothing worse than working with an editor who changes things without understanding them.
17:17:08 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> The american companies abroad would also love to have bilingual people....
17:18:05 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> Question about how to choose between a literal and an adaptation translation
17:18:31 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> back to steve...
17:19:05 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> Talking about many moons ago, in the beginning of things coming out...
17:19:36 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> mari... there are names... and things like spells and abilities in naruto where people want authentic
17:19:42 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> back to steve...
17:19:52 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> when things came out, people wanted it absolutely pure
17:20:15 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> diamond told them not to footnote the books
17:21:05 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> when it came to the actual speaking dialogue.. it was literal word for word translation... and they kept running against that you cannot do a literal word for word translation
17:22:32 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> the only caveat to that... is depending on where you work for... like viz hires people just to do literals
17:22:34 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> but more and more companies are moving away from it
17:22:52 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> the japanese speakers normally do literals because they are fluent in japanese but not perfect in english
17:23:04 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> and then they have rewriters who have really good english and may or may not have japanese
17:23:16 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> a lot of the sfx viz uses are american comic sfx
17:23:21 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> (went to mari up there)
17:23:34 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> @caveat
17:27:08 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> (talking about stories of white people who speak japanese)
17:27:51 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> steve saying people should learn as much as they can even after they get the comic stuff down...
17:30:25 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> question.. that i couldn't hear...
17:30:52 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> whats most important is .. how much japanese you know, .... how well you write english
17:31:38 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> there aren't really biases right now...
17:31:52 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> experience helps a lot...
17:32:14 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> steve
17:32:25 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> there are a lot of people whose japanese were spot on but english was horrible that we didn't hire...
17:33:18 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> also telling people that "you love anime and manga" causes them to step back
17:33:41 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> they want to hire a good professional translator who can pay the proper amount of detail to all titles
17:33:41 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> mari
17:33:50 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> you need to be a translator first and a fan second
17:33:54 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> you do need to know the industry
17:34:39 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> steve
17:34:46 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> you do need to have your passion, but be a professional first
17:34:46 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> mari
17:34:52 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> take a couple years first
17:34:56 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> study abroad...
17:35:27 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> you should get japanese films or tv with subtitles to train yourself to listening to japanese
17:35:38 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> as you get more confident, turn off the subtitling and see how far you get
17:36:12 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> equivalently, get a series in english, get a series in the original japanese... then read the original japanese and see how your translation compares
17:36:17 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> viz actually says "adaptation" because it isn't a literal translation
17:36:35 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> if you go online, it is great to find out what new stuff is floating around...
17:36:49 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> the reason the anime industry is suffering is because people are going and downloading entire series off the internet and not buying it
17:37:03 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> manga has been doing okay for now... only because people still want to have a book...
17:37:30 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> but we are getting to the point now where, as nice as it is to see SJ pages straight from the pages scanlated...
17:37:33 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> it is hurting the industry you want to enter...
17:38:23 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> (at the manga part, read the english first... wait a while, then do the japanese and compare)
17:38:25 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> (Was what was said)
17:38:32 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> steve
17:38:54 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> someone would have them do j->e->j to see how things get messed up in translation for extercises
17:38:59 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> also, find your local japanese restaurant and apply for work
17:39:09 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> or guest relations staff for a convention
17:39:11 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> and work your way up
17:39:23 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> (mari)
17:39:40 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> young j-rock bands are great because they will be dropping slang
17:39:54 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> you will work your way up from liason to interpreter...
17:40:05 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> there is a difference between translating and interpreting
17:40:13 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> a good translator can adapt and rewrite
17:41:02 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> interpretation requires something different because you are essentailly dubbing tthe person you are interpreting for
17:41:16 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> immerse yourself in it
17:41:17 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> steve
17:41:37 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> mari
17:42:07 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> i read so much shounen manga growing up that my mom was scared that when i would open my mouth, i would speak like a guy
17:42:45 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> ....
17:42:58 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> you should learn from OL and businessman movies.. they probably have more proper japanese
17:42:57 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> steve
17:43:26 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> yeras ago, people who were hardcore japanese would pick up phrases from the anime... and would pick up female monickers
17:43:32 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> mari
17:43:57 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> people getting tatoos where they can't read the language they are getting the tatoo in....
17:44:43 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> also.. those tshirts that they sell in the dealer room... the i<3 hentai, and the i am looking for a japanese girlfriend... do not pack those if you go to japan
17:44:43 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> you will not be taken seriously
17:45:20 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> (does note how funny they are)
17:46:31 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> steve talking about a japanese girl wearing an english shirt and guys approaching her because she didn't get what the english on the shirt said
17:46:48 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> ...and also about the guys doing the kyaaa and kawaiii....
17:47:12 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> mari
17:47:14 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> watch newscasts
17:47:54 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> q: what about the variety shows?
17:48:03 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> mari: they are okay, but you pick up a lot of slang and colloquisms
17:48:13 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> steve: japanese talk shows can be even more boring than english shows
17:48:28 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> mari: depending on where the show is produced, you might pick up local dialetcs
17:49:44 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> (talking about tokyo vs osaka since steve is tokyo and mari is from kansai)
17:50:16 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> mari: if you get 10 translators and 10 interpreters in the room, you might get 2 people with the same method
17:51:31 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> naruto on the other hand.. is produced by viz... my editor works on the manga and a consultant on the anime
17:51:45 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> on saint seiya, we had to use all the dub names and stuff
17:52:19 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> steve: sometimes the japanese company comes along and tells you "we want the name to be this"
17:53:25 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> mari: the question is what happens when im totally stumped
17:53:35 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> there is difference between writers block and getting stumpmed..
17:53:41 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> somtimes i will just fire off to a friend and ask them
17:53:44 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> and ask for suggestions
17:53:52 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> a lot of the time it has to do with humor
17:53:55 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> the other method is sleeping on it
17:55:10 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> if you are going to work for multiple companies, you need to be able to adapt to each companies style
17:55:14 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> viz completely rewrites the sound effects into english
17:55:35 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> tokyopop used to subtitle the sound effects
17:59:46 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> (talking about how many words japan has picked up from other languages)
18:00:17 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> (about using translation notes and origins for words)
18:01:28 <bay|AnimeNext|MangaTL101> END PANEL
Notes: None