Translation Chat

Season 2 - Episode 10/10

Janet Hsu localization director that has worked in the video game industry for almost two decades.

Janet chats about the English localization of the Nintendo DS Game Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors by director Kotaro Uchikoshi from Chunshoft. Localization by Aksys Games with translation by Nobara Nakayama and editing by Ben Bateman.

"Nine Hours: You only have 9 hours before Junpei and the other 8 kidnapped drown. Numerology, music composition and logic puzzles are just a few of the 32 plus obstacles that stand in the way of their freedom.

Nine Persons: Uncover the mystery surrounding the lives of the 9 captive characters and how their blurry pasts reveal a disturbing future. Help all the characters escape but beware! A wrong decision or careless mistake might put their lives in jeopardy.

Nine Doors: Each hostage is cursed with a digital watch that displays their special number. These numbers are the keys to unlocking the 9 doors. Explore your surrounding for clues to unlock the next door by picking up and examining objects.

You must use everything in your environment and personal experience to get out."

Janet Hsu's Capcom Dev Blog

A podcast where professional Japanese to English translators and editors chat about their favorite translations.

Hosted and edited by Jennifer O'Donnell

Music by Alex Valles

Logo by Katherine Soldevilla

Season 2 - Episode 9/10

Wesley O'Donnell is a freelance Japanese to English translator living in Japan. He's worked on a variety of manga and light novels with penchant towards fantasy and comedy.

Wesley chats about the amazing characterization and comedy in the English localization of Nindento's Paper Mario and the Origami King.

"The kingdom has been ravaged by an origami menace! Join Mario and his new partner, Olivia, as they battle evil Folded Soldiers, repair the damaged landscape, and try to free Princess Peach’s castle from the clutches of King Olly in this comedy-filled adventure."

A podcast where professional Japanese to English translators and editors chat about their favorite translations.

Hosted and edited by Jennifer O'Donnell

Music by Alex Valles

Logo by Katherine Soldevilla

Season 2 - Episode 8/10

Taylor Drew is a translator, writer, and manga proofreader based in Tokyo. She writes book reviews for her personal blog A Basket of Words and also does interview translations for Febri. Passionate for all things written and everything to do with Northeastern Japan, she chose to talk about the award-winning Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri and translated by Morgan Giles.

"Born in Fukushima in 1933, the same year as the Emperor, Kazu’s life is tied by a series of coincidences to Japan’s Imperial family and to one particular spot in Tokyo; the park near Ueno Station – the same place his unquiet spirit now haunts in death.

It is here that Kazu’s life in Tokyo began, as a labourer in the run up to the 1964 Olympics, and later where he ended his days, living in the park’s vast homeless ‘villages’, traumatised by the destruction of the 2011 tsunami and enraged by the announcement of the 2020 Olympics."

Websites:

A Basket of Words

Book and Bao

Tokyo Weekender

Twitter: @mollymay5000

A podcast where professional Japanese to English translators and editors chat about their favorite translations.

Hosted and edited by Jennifer O'Donnell

Music by Alex Valles

Logo by Katherine SoldevillaTranslation Chat 18 – Taylor Drew chats about Tokyo Ueno Station

Season 2 - Episode 7/10

Erica Friedman is the Founder of Yuricon and has run the world's oldest and most comprehensive blog on Yuri, Okazu, since 2002. She has edited manga for JManga, Seven Seas and Udon Entertainment, most recently Riyoko Ikeda’s epic historical classic, The Rose of Versailles.

She chats with us about the English translation of the manga for Whisper Me a Love Song, by Eku Takeshima, translated by Kevin Steinbach, edited by Tiff Ferentini, with lettering by Jennifer Skarupa.

"An adorable new yuri manga for fans of Kase-san and Yamada and Bloom Into You.

One day, high school girl Himari sees a girl, Yori, sing in a band, and it awakens feelings she doesn’t understand… but Yori does!"

Website: Yuricon

Twitter: @OkazuYuri

A podcast where professional Japanese to English translators and editors chat about their favorite translations.

Hosted and edited by Jennifer O'Donnell

Music by Alex Valles

Logo by Katherine Soldevilla

Season 2 - Episode 6/10

Stephen Meyerink is a freelance Japanese to English translator, writer, and author who has worked on video games, books, albums, manga, and more. He is a massive fan of video game music (in terms of both a historical practice and a listener), loves cooking (and eating) all kinds of food except meat loaf, and Final Fantasy.

He joins us to chat about the English localizations of 1998's Final Fantasy Tactics and 2007's updated localization Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, which was translated by Tom Slattery and Joseph Reeder.

"In days now long past, the War of the Lions rent the land of Ivalice in two. And it it here that two young men of note first stepped onto history's stage.

The first is a man named Delita Heiral, the hero who would draw the curtain on the War of the Lions, this dark act of Ivalice's history. The other, whose role is now forgotten is a man by the name of Ramaz Beoulve.

Peer through the eyes of these two young men, and uncover the secrets that lie hidden within history's darkened folds."

Website: Stephen Meyerink

Twitter: @sjmtaelus

A podcast where professional Japanese to English translators and editors chat about their favorite translations.

Hosted and edited by Jennifer O'Donnell

Music by Alex Valles

Logo by Katherine Soldevilla

Season 2 - Episode 5/10

Alexander O. Smith—who goes by Alex—is a translator, writer, and photographer living in Kamakura, Japan. As a translator, he's worked on games like Final Fantasy 12, novels in the fantasy, sci-fi, and mystery genres, and manga. He's written for Magic: The Gathering, DeNA mobile games, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and is currently writing at game studio Camouflaj on an unannounced VR title.

Alex chose to chat about the sci-fi novel—which later became a blockbuster movie staring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, Edge of Tomorrow—All You Need Is Kill, by Hiroshi Sakurazaka and translated from Japanese by Joseph Reeder and edited by Alexander O. Smith.

"When the alien Gitai invade, Keiji Kiriya is just one of many raw recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor and sent out to kill.

Keiji dies on the battlefield, only to find himself reborn each morning to fight and die again and again. On the 158th iteration though, he sees something different, something out of place: the female soldier known as the Bitch of War.

Is the Bitch the key to Keiji’s escape, or to his final death?"

J-EN Translations translation review of All You Need Is Kill

Website: Kajiya Productions

Twitter: @aokajiya

A podcast where professional Japanese to English translators and editors chat about their favorite translations.

Hosted and edited by Jennifer O'Donnell

Music by Alex Valles

Logo by Katherine Soldevilla

Season 2 - Episode 4/10

Keith Spencer is a visual artist and translator based in Kyoto. His artwork has been exhibited in the US, Japan, and Canada, while his translations have appeared in artist books, galleries, and numerous art-related online publications.

Keith chose to chat about the novel The Emissary (also known in the USA as The Last Children of Tokyo), by Yoko Tawada and translated by Margaret Mitsutani.

Japan, after suffering from a massive irreparable disaster, cuts itself off from the world. Children are so weak they can barely stand or walk: the only people with any get-go are the elderly. Mumei lives with his grandfather Yoshiro, who worries about him constantly.

They carry on a day-to-day routine in what could be viewed as a post-Fukushima time, with all the children born ancient--frail and gray-haired, yet incredibly compassionate and wise.

Mumei may be enfeebled and feverish, but he is a beacon of hope, full of wit and free of self-pity and pessimism. Yoshiro concentrates on nourishing Mumei, a strangely wonderful boy who offers "the beauty of the time that is yet to come."

In this episode we mention a few articles and books.

Website: Keith Spencer

A podcast where professional Japanese to English translators and editors chat about their favorite translations.

Hosted and edited by Jennifer O'Donnell

Music by Alex Valles

Logo by Katherine Soldevilla

Season 2 - Episode 3/10

Mercedez (Meru) Clewis (they/their) is a Japanese to English translation and localization editor working primarily with light novels and visual novels, such as Idea Factory’s Cupid Parasite. They’re also a pop culture critic, anime and manga reviewer, and a freelance journalist, contributing to websites like Anime Feminist and the Anime News Network.

Mercedez chose to chat about Spring 2021’s Super Cub, an anime produced by Studio Kai based on the Super Cub novel by author Tone Kouken.

"A lonely girl's eyes are opened to the many possibilities when she buys a Honda Super Cub. In her old life she had nothing, but now she has a Cub and many opportunities before her."

In this episode we discuss Mercedez's articles on Super Cub for Anime Feminist and Anime News Network. You can read them here:

Twitter: @pixelatedlenses

Portfolio: Pixelated Lenses

A podcast where professional Japanese to English translators and editors chat about their favorite translations.

Hosted by Jennifer O'Donnell

Music by Alex Valles

Logo by Katherine Soldevilla

Season 2 - Episode 2/10

Kaylyn S. Wylie (she/they) is a Japanese to English media localization specialist working primarily with video games. You can see her work most recently in Ender Lilies and Artesnaut. If you’d like to catch what she’s up to, you can find her on Twitter where she gushes about Quagsire, shares her gaming hyperfixations, and frequently talks about the topics of accessibility and equality in the industry.

"Welcome to a new world! Take on the role of a hunter and slay ferocious monsters in a living, breathing ecosystem where you can use the landscape and its diverse inhabitants to get the upper hand. Hunt alone or in co-op with up to three other players, and use materials collected from fallen foes to craft new gear and take on even bigger, badder beasts!"

Twitter: @kaymozone

A podcast where professional Japanese to English translators and editors chat about their favorite translations.

Hosted by Jennifer O'Donnell

Music by Alex Valles

Logo by Katherine Soldevilla

Season 2 - Episode 1/10

Christina Rose is a video game and manga translator who enjoys demystifying the J-E media translation industry and its practices for people new to the field or looking to break in.

Final Fantasy XIV is a sci-fi/fantasy MMORPG that has been running in some form or other since 2012, making it nearly ten years old! The most recently released expansion at the time of this podcast is Endwalker, and the expansion right before that is Shadowbringers. Christina discusses the Shadowbringers content, with only minor spoilers.

"Warriors of Light, embrace the darkness and forge a new fate!

Ala Mhigo is at last free from imperial rule, but that liberty may prove fleeting as the Empire moves to both reclaim this bloodied nation and subjugate all of Eorzea. In their hour of need, however, they cannot turn to the Warrior of Light. Nor to the Scions, who yet slumber, their souls adrift. The realm is left to struggle without its saviors, for they have been beckoned beyond time and space─beckoned to the First."

Twitter: @dramata1

A podcast where professional Japanese to English translators and editors chat about their favorite translations.

Hosted by Jennifer O'Donnell

Music by Alex Valles

Logo by Katherine Soldevilla