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Bilingual Manga? Legitimate?




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noblesse oblige



Joined: 22 Dec 2012
Posts: 277
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 2:46 am Reply with quote
I recently came across an ad for a "Bilingual Edition" Chihayafuru manga by Kodansha and it seems they've released quite a few other series in Bilingual Edition as well. Does anyone know anything about these releases? Is it english and kanji crammed into the panels, or is it just English footnotes? Are these solid translations or hack jobs? Is Kodansha the only publisher who does this? I can't wrap my head around why a Japanese publisher would make bilingual editions, but it's cool if it's legit. Any info would be greatly appreciated!
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Princess_Irene
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Joined: 16 Dec 2008
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Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 6:57 am Reply with quote
I haven't seen these particular ones, but yes, there is a legit bilingual manga line - I have a Doraemon and a couple of early Kindaichi Case Files volumes. They're intended to be learning tools, with both the English and the original Japanese text to facilitate reading fluency.

And if there's a Chihayafuru edition, that is awesome!
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hyojodoji



Joined: 08 Jan 2010
Posts: 583
PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 9:20 am Reply with quote
noblesse oblige wrote:
I recently came across an ad for a "Bilingual Edition" Chihayafuru manga by Kodansha and...

I don't know about the quality of the translation for Kōdansha's bilingual edition Chihayafuru, but it was done by Stuart Varnam-Atkin and Toyozaki Yōko of Birmingham Brains Trust, who 'have more than 20 years’ experience of translation work.' Stuart Varnam-Atkin had also appeared in an NHK TV programme in English about Japanese culture for a few years.

Shōgakukan, too, published bilingual manga.
http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4092270119/


Princess_Irene wrote:
And if there's a Chihayafuru edition, that is awesome!

You can buy them at Amazon Japan.
http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4062501503/
http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4062501511/
 
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Dessa



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 9:49 am Reply with quote
To explain the layout question...

Each panel has the Japanese text replaced with English, like you'd find in a US translation, but the Japanese text are in side-notes on the outside edges of panels/pages.

When Kodansha originally started, they were actually given a cease-and-desist order from Tokyopop, because TP's contract gave them worldwide control to release an English version (in essence, Kodansha's bilingual books were legally copyright infringement). I've got a handful of the Cardcaptor Sakura books, as well as a volume or two of Love Hina.
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noblesse oblige



Joined: 22 Dec 2012
Posts: 277
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 1:54 pm Reply with quote
@ Princess_Irene, hyojodoji, and Dessa: Thank you all so much for your responses! I now know more about bilingual manga then I ever thought I would!

Quote:
When Kodansha originally started, they were actually given a cease-and-desist order from Tokyopop, because TP's contract gave them worldwide control to release an English version


Lately I've been wondering if programs like MangaBox and Comic Walker will illicit a similar response. Esp. w/ ComicWalker, it seems that Kodansha has set it's sights on cutting out the middleman by getting to the American market digitally. I think the only thing different about today's manga ecosystem that might dissuade a cease-and-desist letter, is the fact that American publishers now have almost exclusive relationships with 1 or 2 Japanese publishers, so would they risk burning their only bridge?
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Vertical_Ed
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Joined: 01 May 2009
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Location: New York, NY
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 10:15 am Reply with quote
noblesse oblige wrote:
Does anyone know anything about these releases? Is it english and kanji crammed into the panels, or is it just English footnotes? Are these solid translations or hack jobs? Is Kodansha the only publisher who does this? I can't wrap my head around why a Japanese publisher would make bilingual editions, but it's cool if it's legit.


Are they legit? Yes.

Generally the page is shrunk a bit, bubbles have English text with a column towards the spine of the Japanese text.

Are they hack-jobs? Not really. However, at times English are not the native language of the translators so some colloquialisms may be off. At times Brits or people from Oz are translating these books so spellings can be a little different. I have a copy of one of the first bilingual manga - Urusei Yatsura by Shogakukan - and it features Lum with a cockney accent!!

Kodansha, Hakusensha, and Shogakukan have done these. And their purpose is to help Japanese readers practice English. They are not generally to be sold outside of Japan.

Also note, that because these collections do not sell well in Japan, few series are ever completed. So while there might be a couple volumes of ChihayaFuru or Fruits Basket, it is not likely all 20+ volumes will ever be released.
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hyojodoji



Joined: 08 Jan 2010
Posts: 583
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:27 pm Reply with quote
Vertical_Ed wrote:
I have a copy of one of the first bilingual manga - Urusei Yatsura by Shogakukan -...

I conjecture it is Eiyaku Urusei Yatsura, whose Volume 1 was published in 1983.

Vertical_Ed wrote:
...and it features Lum with a cockney accent!!

Perhaps Professor Saitō and Professor Wilkerson chose cockney with intention of making it reflect the stylistic feel of Lum's Sendai dialect expression '-datcha'?
When a piece of Japanese discourse to be translated into English has a special stylistic feel, probably it can become a thing which the translator racks his/her brains over, if he/she notices the stylistic feel and tries to find an English 'equivalent' for it.
 
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