Manga Library

Manga Translation Workshop

Event Session for February 2009

Event Report by Katherine Pickhaver

The Manga Library hosted two Manga Translation Workshop sessions during Monash’s O-week, enabling students of Japanese to warm up their skill before semester began and a group of Japanese exchange students to practise their English, through manga translation. The result of our efforts formed the beginning of an English reader for the first two chapters of Osamu Tezuka’s famous Black Jack series. When finished, we hope people who speak little to no Japanese will be able to read the manga with the English translation beside them and enjoy this popular story of a surgeon ‘with the hands of God’.

One of the most difficult – though fun – aspects was the translation of sound effects, or onomatopoeia. Japanese has many more words for sound effects than English so it was interesting trying to get to get to grips with the nuances of each situation and translate the sound effects into something meaningful.

Regular MTW sessions will commence Thursday March 12th and run fortnightly 1-3pm at the Manga Library. Please check the dates in the “Upcoming Events” box on the website’s index page as we will avoid holding sessions during holidays and the exam period. We hope to see you there!

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