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Gegege no Zack

26 Nov, 6 tweets, 2 min read

Translation discourse: If you leave words in Japanese you should have a VERY FUCKING GOOD REASON. "Ni-chan" and "Ni-ni" and (sorry) "senpai" have no business being left in English. (Again, unless you have a VERY FUCKING GOOD REASON). The default should always be 100% English.

As many have said, manga and anime translation suffers from a legacy of bad translations choices. There was a time that language was used as a bar to clear to enter the fandom; you needed to learn the lingo to enjoy. That time is long gone.

Manga and anime are no longer niche fandoms. They are literally the BEST SELLING COMICS IN THE WORLD. They are being read by people who couldn't care two figs about "fandom." This is Good. This is what we all wanted all along. So past time to raise that bar on translation.

I have always wanted my translations to be as accessible as possible to every readers. That means "no sans, no chans." That has put me at odds with some readers and editors, but I don't want to translate for otakus. I want to translate for readers. All of them.

Oh, and finally, manga and anime are there to entertain. They are NOT there to "teach you about Japanese culture." Doing that is a disservice to the original creators. They are creating entertainment, not lessons. If you want to learn about Japanese culture take a class.

Read a book. There is a whole bunch of resources out there to teach you about Japanese culture. But that is not what manga and anime are designed for, no more than AVENGERS: ENDGAME is there to teach you about "American culture."

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