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 Words of Truth and Wisdom Special Feature: So You Want To Be A Translator
Written by Alethea and Athena Nibley
Athena and I started up a web community once to give advice to people aspiring to be translators. One of the things we did in that community was type up a little guide based on our own experience getting into manga translation, for people who would like to go into the same career but don't know how. Since Manga Life is all about manga, we thought it would be appropriate to post it again here.
The first step, of course, is to learn Japanese (or any other language that could help--Korean manwha is pretty popular these days). That's what classes are for, so let's skip ahead.
The next step is to translate. Translate anything. Songs, your own personal manga collection, doujinshi, websites--anything that you can change from one language to another, do it. Practice a lot. This does a few things. First of all, it's good good practice. We learned a lot of things about the Japanese language just from translating it. We weren't always right, but the more you expose yourself to the language, the better a feel you get for it, and actually translating it is different than just reading or listening to it, so you'll want practice with it all. Second of all, it helps you build up a stock of translation samples. These could come very much in handy in future steps. Third of all, it'll help you realize whether or not translation is really for you. If you start translating stuff and realize you can't stand doing it, you might want to change your career plans.
All right, now that you have lots of practice and you're ready to get started professionally, the next step is to offer your services. The manga companies probably won't come to you, so you have to go to them. Most companies don't post on their websites when they're looking for translators, either, so sometimes you do have to just contact somebody and say, "Hey, need a translator?" (only maybe a little more businesslike).
Some companies do list when they're looking for translators, and then they list who to contact and how. That makes things very easy. But since you can't always be that lucky, sometimes you have to go through other means. In our case, we applied for an internship at TOKYOPOP. Internships are awesome in many regards (except for the not being paid thing). First, they help you get to know the company, and vice versa. When the company knows you, and you've built up a good relationship, it's pretty easy to get translation work. Of course, you have to let them know you're interested in translating, but since co-workers talk, that shouldn't be too hard. Chances are they'll test your translation ability by asking for samples and/or asking you to translate something they have on hand.
If you're unable to get an internship for any reason (you've already graduated college or you live too far away), there are other ways to find out who to contact. One is to go to their website. Just because they don't tell you they're looking for translators doesn't mean they aren't, and there should be some contact info in order to find out. This is where having those samples will really come in handy, because once you've offered your services, they're going to want to know if you're any good (or in other words, proof that you have a grasp of Japanese as well as English).
An important thing to note is that most manga companies use freelance translators, so you can live anywhere and still translate for them.
Another way to make contact, in case you'd rather talk in person or something, is to go to conventions. Chances are there will be a booth in the dealers' room of at least one manga translation company. Just make sure to stop by, let them know you translate, and ask if they could use another translator. Having a business card helps, but from how things went down with us, we don't think it's entirely necessary. What happened in the case of us and Del Rey and CMX is they said, "Yes, we are looking for translators. E-mail this person." Then they gave us an e-mail address. When we went to Viz, they took our card and said they'd give it to the person in charge of translators, but we never heard from them, so we're thinking a wiser strategy would be to check back until you catch that person.
And of course, if you want to e-mail a company and just don't know who to contact, if you know somebody who works for them, chances are they could give you the info.
All right, now that you've made contact and you've sent in your samples, they seem interested, but chances are you heard, "We don't have anything for you right now, but we'll keep you on file." Don't give up! Just check back every month or so, and eventually they probably will have something for you to translate. Just don't let them forget about you, or it could go to someone else.
And that's basically how it seemed to work when we did everything. And we lived happily ever after. Or something.
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22 July 2008
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Words of Truth and Wisdom: WorkreationManga Bulletin: July 2nd, 2008
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