Manga translators walk a fine line between meaning and mayhem

Japan Times

23-05-2025

Translating manga might seem like a dream job — until the フレーミング (furēmingu, 'flaming' or online abuse) starts.
Professional translators for such manga titles as 'One Piece' and 'My Hero Academia' have faced major harassment for their decisions. These highly publicized online feuds can get pretty fierce, especially when identity politics get involved. In one such highly publicized case involving the manga 'I Think I Turned My Childhood Friend Into a Girl,' a cross-dressing character in the Japanese original was rendered as a trans woman in English. In this world, nuance is everything and peace is rare.
And that's before you even get to the truly hard part: the Japanese language itself. From grammatical ambiguity to context-dependent particles that defy logic and Western equivalents, translating manga isn't just a job — it's a balancing act between fidelity, clarity and, sometimes, not getting yelled at online.
So let's break down how the process works, from 翻訳権 (honyakuken, translation rights) to 出版 (shuppan, publication).
漫画 (Manga) dates back centuries — we're talking 11th or 12th century if you count early narrative picture scrolls — but it didn't explode into a full-blown pop culture phenomenon until after World War II. By the 1980s, manga had crossed oceans, entering markets in Europe, North America and continental Asia.
From the action-packed battles of 少年漫画 (shōnen manga, boys manga) to the brooding love stories of 女性漫画 (josei manga, womens manga); from videogame-fueled 異世界漫画 (isekai manga, other-world manga) to the deeply relatable experiences of スクールライフ漫画 (sukūru raifu manga, school life manga), there's now a manga for pretty much every mood, genre or oddly specific niche imaginable.
While there are countless large and small publishers of manga in Japan — ranging from publisher mega-corporations such as 小学館 (Shōgakukan) or 集英社 (Shueisha) to niche publishers and 同人誌 (dōjinshi, self-published zines/manga) — for the most part, only comics from the big Japanese publishers make it into English and other languages. By and large, 海外の出版社 (kaigai no shuppansha, overseas publishers) select manga that are ベストセラー (besutoserā, bestsellers) in Japan and release them alongside their accompanying アニメ (anime). Japanese publishers tend to have established relationships with other big American publishing companies, so small or minor English presses tend to not be able to freely 翻訳権を取得する (honyakuken o shutoku suru, obtain translation rights).
Behind the scenes, of course, there lies another major part of the manga translation world: 海賊版 (kaizokuban, pirated editions). Digital piracy is incredibly widespread for manga due to passionate and dedicated fans, who make new series and releases available illegally online by means of スキャンレーション (sukanrēshon, scanlation), which refers to the scanning, translating and uploading of comics without permission​. スキャンレーションにおいて、新しい漫画が海外で人気になる場合も多い (Sukyanrēshon ni oite, atarashii manga ga kaigai de ninki ni naru baai mo ōi, Through scanlation, there are many cases where new manga become popular overseas).
Once a title is greenlit, English-language publishers typically establish use of a スタイルガイド (sutairu gaido, style guide). These rulebooks handle things such as 敬称 (keishō, honorifics) like さん (san) and 様 (sama), 描き文字の効果音 (kakimoji no kōkaon, hand-drawn sound effects), 氏名の順序 (shimei no junjo, name order) and 吹き出しの句読点 (fukidashi no kutōten, speech bubble punctuation marks). They'll also have rules to answer questions like whether 中学 (chūgaku) should be rendered as 'middle school' or 'junior high,' or how to translate 終助詞 (shūjoshi, sentence-ending particles) like the breezy わ (wa) or the tough-guy ぜ (ze), which can drastically change tone. For instance:
取りに行きますわ (Tori ni ikimasu wa, I'll go get it) might become: 'I'm off to fetch it.'
取りに行ってくるぜ (Tori ni itte kuru ze, I'll go get it) could be: 'I'll get my paws on that sucker.'
Same verb, wildly different vibe. That's the power of 終助詞, as well as the fact that the former uses 丁寧語 (teineigo, polite speech [with ~desu/~masu endings]) while the latter doesn't.
Once the 翻訳原稿 (honyaku genkō, translation draft) is complete, the manuscript will go on for 編集 (henshū, editing) and 校正 (kōsei, proofreading). The 編集者 (henshūsha, editor) will check for stylistic and voice concerns, while the 校正者 (kōseisha, proofreader) checks for grammar issues only.
After that, there is レタリング (retaringu, lettering) or 文字入れ (mojiire, text-insertion), where a lettering professional replaces the Japanese text with English. Often, letterers will have to make difficult decisions about レタッチ (retatchi, retouching) or 画像修正 (gazō shūsei, image correction), involving fixing up text backgrounds, redrawing certain pieces of art that need to be erased to accommodate the English text, or formatting specific types of text like newspapers or shop signs.
The オノマトペ (onomatope, onomatopoeia) used in 効果音 (kōkaon, sound effects) can be some of the most difficult parts to translate and letter in a manga. Large katakana characters such as ダ (da), バ (ba) and ドン(don) can appear on almost any page, covering meanings that range from a dramatic 'da-dum' to a sly 'grin' and an explosive 'kablooey' — all depending on context.
In fact, 効果音 cover three different categories of オノマトペ:
擬音語 (Giongo), which include literal sound effects such as ガタガタ (gata-gata, rattle) and ゴロゴロ (goro-goro, rumble)
擬態語 (Gitaigo), which are mimetic words such as ジメジメ (jime-jime, soaking wet) or ぼんやり(bonyari, vague/indistinct)
擬声語 (Giseigo), which are actual human or animal noises like あはは (ahaha, haha/laughter) or うぎゃー (ugyā, shriek/scream)
Localizing them takes a fine ear, a good thesaurus and a lot of creativity.
Translators say that manga localization is a lot different from how it used to be. 翻訳家 (Honyakuka, Translators) used to translate Japanese very liberally, using 意訳 (iyaku, free translation) rather than 直訳 (chokuyaku, literal translation). But in today's internet-savvy, fandom-literate world, readers want the real deal. Literal translations and cultural notes are in; creative rewrites are out.
In fact, the use of British or American スラング (surangu, slang) upsets certain fanbases for lacking a sense of 'authentic' Japanese-ness. Manga frequently include unusual, slangy speech, making this issue all the more common.
Take a line of text like, よお、にいちゃん、どうだい？ (Yō, niichan, dō dai?, Hey, older brother [familiar suffix], how's it going [casual]?). You could keep it literal: 'Hey, big bro, what's happening?' Or do more to capture the atmosphere of the original: 'Ayyo, big man! What's the word?'
Which approach is better? 焼き鳥 (Yakitori) as 'yakitori' or 'chicken skewers'? お兄ちゃん (Oniichan) as 'big brother' or 'buddy/pal'? It will be up to the next generations of manga readers, fans and translators to find the answer.