Shopping Guide
Nowadays, Japanese manga have a wide audience even outside of Japan. However, surprisingly little is known about the translators who are responsible for supporting the spread of manga. The Manga Translation Battle is the first official translation contest to bring these people into the spotlight.
This year marks the third year of the contest, which is put on by the Digital Comics Association, a group started by Japan’s major publishing companies to support the discovery and growth of manga translators. Tokyo Otaku Mode has been managing the contest since its second year.
The contest has been gaining attention as a gateway to success for aspiring translators. In this interview series, we talk with previous winners of the contest about their past and what lies ahead for them.
Part 4: Emily Balistrieri & Juri Ishikawa (2013 Contest Winners)
This pair of translators, made up of American Emily Balistrieri, and Japanese Juri Ishikawa, came together for the first time in the 2013 contest. They were awarded first place for their translation of Saya Saya to. We asked them about their current translation work, as well as the benefits of working as a pair.
━━Have you known each other for a while now?
Juri Ishikawa: We met two years ago through Twitter and quickly became friends. After graduating high school, I studied at an American university for six years, but after returning to Japan, I quickly started losing my English. So at the time I wanted a foreign friend to help me maintain my English skills.
━━Have you always liked manga, Juri?
J: Actually, when I was a child, I didn't know how to read manga. My friends really seemed to enjoy reading manga, but I couldn't get into it at all. But in high school, my manga-loving classmates introduced me to a wide range of series like Cardcaptor Sakura and Yamada Taro Monogatari, and after that I realized how interesting manga really were. But even now I tend not to read them voluntarily (laughs).
━━Emily, have you always had an interest in manga and other aspects of Japanese culture?
Emily Balistrieri: Since I was little, I was into series like Sailor Moon and games such as Earthbound, but at the time I was unaware that they came from Japan. Later, I realized that most of the things I liked were actually from Japan. In high school, I watched my first subtitled anime, and I was immediately captivated by the interesting rhythm and intonation of the Japanese language.
━━What brought you to Japan? What job are you doing now?
E: In 2012, I came to Waseda University to study Japanese. Before that I was in San Francisco working as a freelance writer writing game reviews for magazines like Otaku USA. It was difficult to get by just by freelancing, so I got a full-time job at a company for a while. But I couldn't give up on my dream of becoming a Japanese translator, so I decided to come to Japan to study. I've been working as a contract employee with Kodansha since February of last year. I translate picture books, do native checks for manga translations, and do character licensing for anime-related goods.
━━Juri, what job are you doing now?
J: I work in the editorial department of The Japan Times ST, a newspaper for English learners published by The Japan Times. I mainly write the Japanese annotations for news articles.
━━So it seems like you've both been doing translation work for a while, but what made you want to participate in the translation contest? What brought you together as a team?
E: I wanted to be a translator. The reason we decided to work together is because, in translation, you need a native speaker to check your work. I thought that the result would definitely be much better if we worked as a pair, so I asked Juri to participate with me.
━━Do you ever have any disputes when working as a pair?
E: We haven't had any issues with that yet. Usually, I translate something and then have Juri check over it for me.
━━What made you choose to translate the manga Saya Saya to for the contest?
E: I liked the cute relationship between the teachers and students. Also, while there were unique phrases like, "Go kigen yo" (Good day to you), most of the language was everyday conversation, so out of the four options available it was the easiest one to translate.
━━Did you encounter any difficulties in your translation attempt?
E: There's a scene in which a butterfly lands on the teacher’s head, and Saya sees it and laughs. The teacher says "Boku no atama ni nanika tsuiteimasu ka?" That was the hardest part for me to translate. If I translated it directly as "Is there something on me?", it would sound unnatural. I decided to cut the end of and make it, "Is there something on my...?" I really wanted to make the phrase sound as natural as possible. (Below, the abovementioned scene from Saya Saya to)
━━What was difficult for you, Juri?
J: Onomatopoeic words are really tough. Words like "pocha", "kusukusu", and "fuu (a sigh)." The sighing sound in Japanese can be translated as "sigh" or "phew" depending on the context.
━━What's changed since the contest?
E: The biggest change was that we started doing translation work together. Even after the contest ended, we provided subtitles for anime to be broadcast on Crunchyroll.
━━What sort of translation work do both of you want to do in the future?
J: For the time being, my goal is to expose myself to English more so I can improve my skills. The translation work that I do for my job now is helping me do that. I want to continue doing translation, but also challenge myself with various other jobs as well!
E: Naturally, I want to continue doing manga translation, but I am also interested in novels as well. When I was studying at Waseda, reading Botchan in the original Japanese for the first time was really difficult, but it was also really fun. It would be great if I could translate the works of my favorite Japanese novelists.
━━Are you glad that you participated in the contest?
Ｊ: Yes. Translation requires you to be concise, accurate, clear, and maintain meaning all without going over the character limit. It's tough work. To have my work recognized and appreciated, and to receive an award for it ー I was really happy. I think it also made me have more confidence and motivation as well, so I'm really glad I participated in the contest.
Ｅ: Of course, I'm also glad I participated in the contest. All of the judges are really amazing people. It would be an honor for anyone to be recognized by a group of such talented translators.
Aside from that, you also get the opportunity to get a contract with a publishing company, so it's a great change for anyone wanting to translate professionally. You can become a pro just like that! We'll be participating together again this year. To all our new rival contestants, show us what you got!
＜The Manga Translation Battle is back again this year!＞
This year's works are Kamakura Monogatari, Museum, Nichijou, and Ibara no Kanmuri. Why not take part in this year’s translation contest and test your ability as well?
Submit your entry here!
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.
