Guest Author - Lisa Shea

Manga is a Japanese graphic novel, often involving complex concepts and adult themes. What happens to these novels when they are translated into English?

The most obvious issue is that languages often have 'shades of meaning' that are not translated properly unless the translator is very skilled. For example, the word "iris" in English means the purple flower - but it can also mean a part of your eye. The word could be used in subtle word-play that would be lost if Iris was simply turned into the flower-word in another language. Lowering your eyes can be a sign of shyness in some cultures - but could be a sign of deception in others.

The additional problem with graphic novels is that you only have a limited amount of space to do your translation. If you were translating a normal novel, you could substitute five words to get the proper sense, without it being a problem. In a graphic novel, the translation must fit in the same cube of space, even if you miss out on meaning by doing that.

An even bigger issue is that the US market is much more "squeamish" than the Japanese market. In Japan, issues of death and dying, and of sexuality, are normal to discuss. They are natural parts of life. In the US, for some reason we feel that graphic novels are meant for 8 year olds and that they cannot know about these "adult" topics. Children who only 100 years ago would have grown up on a farm and know all about life, death and sex, are now shielded from these things as unnatural. We therefore super-cleanse any 'bad' material that comes in from overseas. It's almost funny to look at a correctly translated anime or manga series, and compare it to the censored version often passed off as the "original". The entire meaning of scenes can be completely altered.

Sometimes fans resort to sharing translations with other fans, rather than relying on the officially published version. The problem here is that fans are well meaning, but usually not technically proficient in translating issues. They can inadvertantly mis-translate situations to be the literal, rather than meaningful, version of what was said. Subtle word-plays and shades of meaning are often lost.

Of course the best solution is simply to learn the source language yourself, so that you can trust your own mind and enjoy the manga the way it was meant to be read. Learning a new language can take a while, but the rewards are immense and will last a lifetime.

In the meantime, try to get 2 or 3 different versions of at least the first book of your favorite series. It can be really informative to see just how "off" they are from each other, and to get a sense of what this series you enjoy was like in its original language. Remember, manga creators are artists, combining the words of literature and artwork in a robust form. The only way to get a full sense of the impact of their work is to get as close to that source as you can.