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So it appears that Viz has taken the liberty of changing Tatsumi's first name from Seiichiro to Ichiro. As can be expected, wank ensues. I agree with both sides - it's not as big a deal as some fen make it out to be - but I feel that the people who are annoyed by the change are justified, because there's no logical reason for it.
It could be a mistake, in which case, it's sloppy translating and editing, and for the consumers, that sucks.
It could have been changed to better fit the word bubbles, but given the amount of editing that needs to be done for all of Matsushita's asides and marginalia, that doesn't seem likely either.
Or it could be that 'Seiichiro' is deemed too difficult a name for Western readers. This is the sort of assumption that always gets my hackles up, because it means that the publishers assume their audience is stupid, and for the consumers, that sucks too.
The purpose of a translation is to convey, as accurately as possible, the meaning and nuance of the original to people who cannot understand the language in which it was first written. In other words, people read translations because they want access to the original story, not something that sorta maybe kinda resembles the original.
I can see how some terms, especially from the Japanese, would need to be explained to a Western audience, but there's nothing that makes 'Seiichiro' any more difficult a name than 'Ichiro' or 'Tsuzuki,' or 'Daniel,' for that matter.
There's nothing difficult about it. After all, how do people acquire new vocabulary in the first place, if not through contextual clues? (Unless one is prepared to believe that most people read the dictionary cover to cover while building their everyday vocabularies. I'm not.) English adopts words all the time. People talk about 'sushi,' not 'vinegared rice,' and a brochure is a brochure. We don't explain it again in 'familiar' Germanic words.
Of course, the name change doesn't really concern me, because I'm not dependent on the English translations of Yami. But I was extremely irked, once upon a time, to discover that Pterry (and Gaiman and a host of other authors') books were 'edited' for American readers, who would evidently be so disconcerted by the presence of a few unfamiliar British English usages that they'd immediately discard the book and never read again OMG!
Changing 'chuffed' to 'psyched' in the American editions of Harry Potter is pointless. No, many Americans have probably not heard the word used before, but as most Americans manage to discern the meaning of 'psyched' from contextual clues, British English should not pose a problem. Assuming that British and American English usages are mutually unintelligible is needlessly self-conscious. It isn't as if readers (of all people!) suddenly lose the ability to learn unfamiliar terms once they reach a certain age, or open a translated manga. And whether it's changing 'difficult' Japanese names in translated manga, or switching British English to American English, I don't see how it in any way adds to the experience of the read.
これで以上です。
It could be a mistake, in which case, it's sloppy translating and editing, and for the consumers, that sucks.
It could have been changed to better fit the word bubbles, but given the amount of editing that needs to be done for all of Matsushita's asides and marginalia, that doesn't seem likely either.
Or it could be that 'Seiichiro' is deemed too difficult a name for Western readers. This is the sort of assumption that always gets my hackles up, because it means that the publishers assume their audience is stupid, and for the consumers, that sucks too.
The purpose of a translation is to convey, as accurately as possible, the meaning and nuance of the original to people who cannot understand the language in which it was first written. In other words, people read translations because they want access to the original story, not something that sorta maybe kinda resembles the original.
I can see how some terms, especially from the Japanese, would need to be explained to a Western audience, but there's nothing that makes 'Seiichiro' any more difficult a name than 'Ichiro' or 'Tsuzuki,' or 'Daniel,' for that matter.
There's nothing difficult about it. After all, how do people acquire new vocabulary in the first place, if not through contextual clues? (Unless one is prepared to believe that most people read the dictionary cover to cover while building their everyday vocabularies. I'm not.) English adopts words all the time. People talk about 'sushi,' not 'vinegared rice,' and a brochure is a brochure. We don't explain it again in 'familiar' Germanic words.
Of course, the name change doesn't really concern me, because I'm not dependent on the English translations of Yami. But I was extremely irked, once upon a time, to discover that Pterry (and Gaiman and a host of other authors') books were 'edited' for American readers, who would evidently be so disconcerted by the presence of a few unfamiliar British English usages that they'd immediately discard the book and never read again OMG!
Changing 'chuffed' to 'psyched' in the American editions of Harry Potter is pointless. No, many Americans have probably not heard the word used before, but as most Americans manage to discern the meaning of 'psyched' from contextual clues, British English should not pose a problem. Assuming that British and American English usages are mutually unintelligible is needlessly self-conscious. It isn't as if readers (of all people!) suddenly lose the ability to learn unfamiliar terms once they reach a certain age, or open a translated manga. And whether it's changing 'difficult' Japanese names in translated manga, or switching British English to American English, I don't see how it in any way adds to the experience of the read.
これで以上です。
