manga artist and scanlation issues

[~SnowAngel~]

never knew about things like this going on x-x I can't really think of an easy answer for it either. of course, I don't have the whole picture yet but still.


http://www.teleread.com/copy-right/manga-scanlations-hold-up-digital-manga-licensing/
http://www.subfurther.com/blog/2012/05/15/apple-should-get-out-of-the-manga-piracy-business/

soo a short version: scanlations are one answer to a demand for english manga, and in a way it hurts the artists/businesses that create the originals. There's also apps that provide it for free or paid services, of which the scanlators have provided freely x-x

 

[corocoro]

Anyone claiming scanlations are any sort of competition for proper translations doesn't know about the average scanlation's quality.

 

[HatoriTakaya]

Okay, I actually read that article relatively quickly (I actually read a lot, be it academic or fiction so speed and accuracy is not a problem). The thing about those two article majority refers to the same concept of business failing to keep up with technological advances and localization problems (or more like the more niche the manga, the less likely it will make profit outside of Japan). Plus a side reference to Apple who gets profit per app sold and there's apps that support reading it off a site.

My thoughts are fairly simple to businesses. If you want to reap profits, then localize it yourself. Deliver it on some sort of timely basis and don't bicker saying that lost revenue that hasn't brought to the market. People who don't want to buy it will always use other means to achieve the same result of experience. Just like reading a book from the library and having that book shared and accessible to thousands of people in the community.

Normally localized goods are markets toward that local area and there's no doubt that is something is translated, you will be lucky to retain 80% of the spirit of that language. Most games that been localized in English now from Eroge that I have played several years ago does not translate panting and moaning. Usually they refer to it in a sentence. You wouldn't know it unless you left it on auto for some games and honestly, some of the meaning is lost but TL team have attempt to retain as much of it. So I believe.

Now regarding to Scanlation Quality vs Official Translation. I feel that there's more times where Official Translations tend to over translate things and change it into Western Context of things. This annoys me often enough which usually changes how you view a character persona. More often than not, there's no equal in terms of meaning between the two languages simply because it gives a different meaning overall. Like how Japanese uses their same sounding words as a pun to have it misinterpreted via hearing. Translating that into western context without using TL notes are rather difficult.

I have read some Scanlations and some had some decent translations and others was rushed. Same for some Official translations when you can compare both to raw and reading off the bat. Same thing goes for many animations, Official Translation tend to be rather forced and have the entire thing based on Western Context rather keeping it close to the original. Like I don't like when おにちゃん gets translated to Brother. It's correct but you'll find it rather rare to hear that in a Western situation. Often they get called by their names or nicknames. Which ends up them putting something on the line of the character name which is wrong in translation but right in Western Context Culture. Simply, if anything, I like it if they kept it Oni-Chan and kept it simple. Correct me if I'm wrong about Western Context though.

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Closer to the point, Manga Artist that intend to limit the release in Japan should keep combating piracy in Japan. Companies that want to Combat it intentionally should first publish that product then complain after proving that reading English Manga in a Library is killing their sales. The difference of reading it off rough scanlation (or good ones) online and reading the official at a library almost amounts to one purchase. If the fans love it, they will buy it to support your product.

If you cut of piracy right here in absolute manner, then funnily enough Bootlegs in certain countries tend to be the next popular cheaper alternative, cut that and you still won't see profit based on the fact it still costs money. Only the privilege with disposal income can buy it and other people will move on to something else. In the end, some people can only enjoy entertainment if it's free otherwise their income won't support that habit. Others who have the disposal income has options to go either way.

 

[Will98]

Scanlations plox. Official translations suck dry. Either censored, dumbed down or words/sentences re-written entirely.

 

[Ignis]

Oh look. Another instance of licensors/rightsholders blaming piracy over a customer base they would never have anyway.

Local publishers handling official localisations need to know that most manga readers are weeaboos who like to see some authenticity intact in their beloved Japanese media, including things like words, references and honorifics, instead of seeing Japanese-style faces having American names. (Yes, they're trying and 2013 isn't comparable to the 90's, but they're still not there.)

Where I live, people still do buy physical, licensed manga at brick-and-mortar stores despite also reading scanlated stuff. Official localisations in my language feel even weirder than English, but they still do buy them. The market is definitely there. They just need to try harder, instead of endlessly decrying piracy and having reactionary-minded executives in charge. Or just give up and do something different.

I mean, if they feel that the activities of some loosely knit Internet users with (mostly) no financial incentive and (mostly) no hard-cash rewards are threatening their business that is backed with amounts of cash those Internet users would likely never see in their lifetime, why bother doing business at all? If all that capital they have can't produce the same quality -- in a loose definition that caters to their consumer base -- as the so-called "freeloaders" or better, why not hit the road? I mean, you can't compete with free, right? /s

All that said, I'm not trying to defend scanlations either. Personally, I've more than scratched my head over the translation (and particularly editing) quality of scanlated works, and that's to say the least.

 

[bbseno]

I mean, if they feel that the activities of some loosely knit Internet users with (mostly) no financial incentive and (mostly) no hard-cash rewards are threatening their business that is backed with amounts of cash those Internet users would likely never see in their lifetime, why bother doing business at all? If all that capital they have can't produce the same quality -- in a loose definition that caters to their consumer base -- as the so-called "freeloaders" or better, why not hit the road? I mean, you can't compete with free, right? /s

thou speaketh the truth

official translations suck, period

also,as with the majority of fan translations, what is there to compete if the goods aren't even available in the market to begin with