Scanlation as Teaching Material for Japanese – English Translation
Hiroko Inose (Dalarna University, Sweden)
hin@du.se
Scanlation, or translation of Japanese manga by amateur fan translators is widely practiced, and it is made available online. Though it is deemed illegal by the publishers, it can be used in practical teaching of translation. The present study demonstrates three different ways of using scanlation (or imitation of its system) in teaching of Japanese-English translation. In all cases, it is important to first inform the students about the legally dubious status of the practice.
In the first case, mock scanlation was practiced – students in small groups were given different chapters of manga work to translate. Translation was uploaded in the learning platform, and students were required to comment on chapters translated by others. Although the work of manga to translate had been chosen by the teacher, team translation and importance of feedback from the readers was experienced, similar to that of fan translators. The second case is using scanlation for translation criticism – it is known that scanlation prefers culturally more loyal translation than the official translation of manga, and students who were given excerpt of original Japanese manga and its scanlation version were asked to comment on various translation strategies used, as well as to check the accuracy of translation. The third case is using scanlation works to write a BA thesis in Japanese studies (specialised in translation). Here, the students compared the scanlation and official translation of a manga work to the original version and compare different approaches to translation adopted by professional and amateur translators.