What a treat to have Matt Alt return as a speaker at the Japan Association of Translators (JAT) Tokyo seminar on Saturday, January 24, after his informative and entertaining “Yokai Attack” presentation in September 2001. Even better, Matt was joined by his business partner and wife, Hiroko Yoda, to talk together about localizing Doraemon, Gundam, and more.
We learned about the many challenges of localization in this field, including working with word restrictions, such as just 10-12 characters for Tamagotchi, translating words so that they fit with the moving mouths of animated characters, and expressing in English those cute sentence endings that distinguish Japanese characters. And, as if that’s not enough, then there are the character names and concepts that are probably unfamiliar to the other-language audience. Think Doraemon, dorayaki, and so on.
Matt assured us that parents shouldn’t worry about kids reading lots of manga and constantly playing video games. They may simply be budding translators familiarizing themselves with their content!
The pair shared numerous tips for translators of all genres. Three that stood out for me:
1. Know your weaknesses and find a business partner who has strengths in those areas
2. Balance flexibility and firmness with clients for best business results
3. Get out there – let people know who you are, what you do, and what you want to do
And there are plenty opportunities to “get out there” in JAT, such as by posting on the mailing list, helping out on a committee, or participating in an event. Hope to see you there!