I was perusing my local bookstore when I came across xxxHolic: AnotherHolic by Nisioisin and thought, "Wow! A xxxHolic novel! I'll try it!" because I enjoyed Nisioisin's previous work, Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases. However, I totally forgot that Del-Rey does the translations for xxxHolic.

You know what that means - SHODDY TRANSLATION TO THE MAX.

I was right. Honorifics and footnotes for jokes and terms abound when it could be translated properly. Take the word hitsuzen (p.33) for example; there's a note it means inevitablity when you could put that in writing. Don't give me the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis because in this case, English DOES have a word for hitsuzen - it's called FATE. Or DESTINY. Take your pick! There's also no notes on what the honorifics mean but there is a footnote on what a ninja does (p. 49). I think everyone knows what a ninja does. Not just because of Naruto either. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, anyone?

I was going to be disappointed in the work of the translator, Andrew Cunningham, but then I realized the name was awfully familiar. He also did the translation for Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases which was well-written and DOESN'T have honorifics. Well, except when Ryuzaki uses them, but it's a strange nuance I notice he has in the manga, anime, and movies to give him an eccentric factor different from the other characters, so I guess it's forgivable. But more impressive is he makes obscure Japanese references work. Take the page and "Holy Up!" references from Akazukin Chacha (p. 59). If he can do THAT, he can translate anything.

So why the huge translation difference? Unless Mr. Cunningham was hit by a bus and totally changed his translating style due to brain trauma, it's editors and what the companies demand from their workers. Obviously Viz and Del-Rey differ on opinions and Mr. Cunningham simply complies. It's not his fault, I'm sure he has his own convictions on what proper translating is, but in order to find work and survive in this world, he does what he has to do.

I forgot about this, and I want to apologize that I thought so poorly of the individual doing the work. That's not the case, is it? We all have our own opinions, but no matter how reasonable they are, sometimes they get drowned out. I understand this myself, because when my school was doing a production of Grease and the art team I was a part of wanted to make a backdrop with music notes, the lead artist drew the eighth notes on the backdrop BACKWARDS (upward notes had the tails and heads on the same side). I said it was wrong and even offered to grab sheet music 7 feet away from us to prove it but she insisted that it looked better that way, so we had no choice but to comply.

The musician in me died a little that day.

Moral of the journal? Voice your opinions, even if they get squashed. Hopefully others listen eventually and we change for the better. Be open, because even we need a "slap in the face" honest opinion to set us straight too.

P.S. Del-Rey gonna kill me one day.

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Originally ~Sakura-Star, this artist has improved quite a lot. His (her?) gallery consists of a nice collection of original works and fanart from nostalgic and modern anime. Oooh yeah! I highly recommend checking out his (her?) watercolour works and the original comic, Chiqua Defenders. Now if only I could be certain about a gender...

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