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Japanese comics have become so widely loved around the world that they are often referred to by their Japanese name, manga, regardless of the language. However, the manga translators that work behind the scenes to bring these beloved series to foreign audiences, often go unnoticed.
The Manga Translation Battle is the first official translation contest directed specifically at manga translators. This year will be the third time the contest is held. It’s the only official manga translation contest held by the Digital Comic Association, a group started by Japan’s major publishing companies, to support the discovery and growth of manga translators. Tokyo Otaku Mode will be managing the contest for the second time this year.
In this interview series, we talk with previous winners of the contest about their past and what lies ahead for them as manga translators.
Amanda Haley, who was born and raised in Ohio, USA, translated Coppelion for the 1st Manga Translation Battle, and magnificently enough, her work was chosen for Best Translation Prize. She has been working as a manga translator in America since. We interviewed her via email about how she’s been spending her days.
━━Why did you decide to participate in the contest?
I saw the information about the contest on an anime news site, and I wanted to test my Japanese, so I decided to enroll. Since it was my first translation, I wanted to learn through comparing my translation with that of the prize-winners. I didn’t think I would be one of them.
━━How did the translation go?
Translating onomatopoeia was surprisingly hard. It was also hard to express the different personalities of each character.
━━How did participating in the contest influence your life afterward?
I became extremely busy. The managing company of the contest introduced me to a translation agency, and I started working as a freelance translator. As my manga translations gradually increased, I was able to quit my part-time job.
━━What are you up to these days?
I’m translating Coppelion and GTO: Paradise Lost which are distributed through Crunchyroll Manga. They have really tight deadlines (laughs). And every day, I make efforts to polish my translating skills.
━━What do you do every day for honing your translation skills?
I actively try to read English novels in order to strengthen my power of expression in English. I also read English translations of various manga and think about why the translator chose that exact expression. And I think it’s also very effective to re-read manga I translated in the past, and see if there’s something the current me could improve, if there is a shorter, more appropriate expression.
━━How did you become interested in Japanese manga?
Influenced by my older brother, I’ve been interested in Japanese RPGs and anime since middle school, but it was only in my first year of high school that I first saw a Japanese manga in a nearby video store. Although the mecha anime my brother loved so much were interesting, too, I fell in love at first sight with the cute pictures in shoujo manga. At that time, I was especially a big fan of Arina Tanemura’s and Koge-Donbo*’s works.
━━Why did you become interested in translating manga?
Ever since I learned to read Japanese, I developed the habit of thinking, “How would you translate these lines into English?” when reading manga. I realized that translation requires all kinds of difficult skills, but that just made me want to challenge it all the more.
━━How did you learn Japanese?
I studied Japanese for three years at an American university. After graduating, I spent a semester studying at a Japanese language school in Shinjuku, then I became self-taught.
━━What learning methods did you use when self-studying?
At first, I used JLPT textbooks and Anki, which is a flashcard program. I would select the unknown words and difficult example sentences from the textbook, make Anki cards with them, and repeat the expressions every day by looking at the cards. It’s very effective, especially for learning the readings of kanji. Later, I started to read online novels, too. It was fun, plus I was able to learn a lot of expressions that weren’t in the textbooks. In the end, for me, the most effective method of studying was extensive reading.
━━When translating manga, does it often happen that you struggle for the right expression?
There are many expressions I find hard to translate in manga, for example, natsukashii (nostalgic), shikata ga nai (there’s nothing you can do), or otsukaresama deshita (good job). When translating expressions like these, you have to choose the most appropriate English expression from a whole bunch of possibilities.
━━Lastly, are you glad to have participated in this contest?
Yes. The impressions of the contest’s judges were very valuable; I’m really happy that I entered. And most of all, through participating in the contest, I was suddenly able to become a professional translator. I think it’s a very good opportunity.
This year’s Manga Translation Battle is on now!
Four works have been chosen for this year’s contest: Kamakura Monogatari, Museum, Nichijou, and The Crown of Thorn. Will you test your limits in this year’s Manga Translation Battle?
Sign up here!
