Here's a little history lesson for a few people whose only exposure to it has been through the Last Samurai and Anime. In 1854 Commodore Perry opened Japan to the west with big ships and big guns. However in Japan there already existed a movement among the youth (particularly of those who's regions had suffered at the hands of the Tokugawa regime... the same people whom lost the battle of Sekigahara in 1600; most notably Choshu and Satsuma) put out to learn anything they could from the Western world, its science, politics, education systems, military and even religion. Through the Portuguese trade port at Nagasaki (the only one open between ~1639-1854) young Japanese interested in the west were able to buy Western books on these topics. They were particularly interested in Dutch books, and would translate anything they could get their hands on.
Among these young reformers was a man named Fukuzawa Yukichi (whose mug graces the largest currency note in Japan, the 10,000 yen bill.) He enthusiastically translated works into Japanese because no such works were available to them. He understood the need for Western knowledge, and furiously pursued it.
His lust for knowledge culminated in his role in the Meiji Revolution/Reformation and is subsequent government, to which he became the force behind the powerful Japanese educational system. He also founded Keio University, the Yale of Japan. All of hits achievements are recorded in an autobiography, which is very readable, informative, and lovingly translated into English. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/023 1083734/103-1385388-4246266?v=glance)
Fukuzawa Yukichi, the father of the Japanese educational establishment was never one for the conformity. He taught through his example never to follow the rules, always to blaze your own trail.
As one who has been involved in the translation of Manga into English for the past six years, i would like to say my achievements have been as monumentous as those of Fukuzawa Yukichi, it would of course be untrue. Where Fukuzawa had been interested in translating Western works on science and society into Japanese for the sake of enlightenment, my role in "scanlation" has been mostly to fulfill my own selfish comforts. But lets not diminish the dedication and love many put into these translations.
There are people in the community who translate several volumes of manga a week... a feet that would boggle the minds of the best professional translators. Why do they do it? Because like in the time of Fukuzawa there is a disparagement. Not a radical disparagement like the educational level of Japan compared with the West, but one that anyone who loves literature would feel pain for. For this i will give an example.
Imagine if Les Miserables had never been translated into English, if Victor Hugo was by some chance relegated to the reach of only a few people in France wealthy or interested enough to read the grand classic on the poverty and deprivation of man. Well to any bilingual person, the desire to convey this story to people outside of France would be great. Just imagine if English companies were only interested in importing works of French only if they made a particular profit margin. Well then the interest in Translating Les Mis (unabridged its a mammoth, almost unreadable length... it rivals the Bible for space on my bookshelf.) would be relegated to a few people with limited resources to translate it for the pure sake of purveying the story.
That in some cases is what "scanlation" is. For the sake of series that will never be translated into English, yet deserve it. And I'm particularly proud that in this spirit i am able to bring to an English reading audience something that is better in many ways than what they will find in the Manga section on the shelves of Barnes and Nobles.
Slashdot Mirror
Here's a little history lesson for a few people whose only exposure to it has been through the Last Samurai and Anime. In 1854 Commodore Perry opened Japan to the west with big ships and big guns. However in Japan there already existed a movement among the youth (particularly of those who's regions had suffered at the hands of the Tokugawa regime... the same people whom lost the battle of Sekigahara in 1600; most notably Choshu and Satsuma) put out to learn anything they could from the Western world, its science, politics, education systems, military and even religion. Through the Portuguese trade port at Nagasaki (the only one open between ~1639-1854) young Japanese interested in the west were able to buy Western books on these topics. They were particularly interested in Dutch books, and would translate anything they could get their hands on. Among these young reformers was a man named Fukuzawa Yukichi (whose mug graces the largest currency note in Japan, the 10,000 yen bill.) He enthusiastically translated works into Japanese because no such works were available to them. He understood the need for Western knowledge, and furiously pursued it. His lust for knowledge culminated in his role in the Meiji Revolution/Reformation and is subsequent government, to which he became the force behind the powerful Japanese educational system. He also founded Keio University, the Yale of Japan. All of hits achievements are recorded in an autobiography, which is very readable, informative, and lovingly translated into English. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/023 1083734/103-1385388-4246266?v=glance)
Fukuzawa Yukichi, the father of the Japanese educational establishment was never one for the conformity. He taught through his example never to follow the rules, always to blaze your own trail.
As one who has been involved in the translation of Manga into English for the past six years, i would like to say my achievements have been as monumentous as those of Fukuzawa Yukichi, it would of course be untrue. Where Fukuzawa had been interested in translating Western works on science and society into Japanese for the sake of enlightenment, my role in "scanlation" has been mostly to fulfill my own selfish comforts. But lets not diminish the dedication and love many put into these translations.
There are people in the community who translate several volumes of manga a week... a feet that would boggle the minds of the best professional translators. Why do they do it? Because like in the time of Fukuzawa there is a disparagement. Not a radical disparagement like the educational level of Japan compared with the West, but one that anyone who loves literature would feel pain for. For this i will give an example.
Imagine if Les Miserables had never been translated into English, if Victor Hugo was by some chance relegated to the reach of only a few people in France wealthy or interested enough to read the grand classic on the poverty and deprivation of man. Well to any bilingual person, the desire to convey this story to people outside of France would be great. Just imagine if English companies were only interested in importing works of French only if they made a particular profit margin. Well then the interest in Translating Les Mis (unabridged its a mammoth, almost unreadable length... it rivals the Bible for space on my bookshelf.) would be relegated to a few people with limited resources to translate it for the pure sake of purveying the story.
That in some cases is what "scanlation" is. For the sake of series that will never be translated into English, yet deserve it. And I'm particularly proud that in this spirit i am able to bring to an English reading audience something that is better in many ways than what they will find in the Manga section on the shelves of Barnes and Nobles.