Gal Can't Be Kind to Otaku!? - Vol. 7 Ch. 47 - Otaku & Gyaru & Supporting Faves

[Scipo0419]

Did you see me using Mr. or Ms. and stuff like that in the manga?
I knew some people will try to argue with that point, I just didn't bother to go into details, because its quite obvious what I meant after writing the example in my opinion.


Right, imagine trying to cater to a larger number of people and try to give the term some proper meaning for a better reading experience instead of assuming everyone knows what oshi means.


Once again, it's true there are terms that are widely known in the west already, and I do think those things are also better left untouched (see honorifics, or otaku, etc.), but my example wasn't that, and you all read the translation, we kept honorifics and the word otaku and some more terms I can't really remember right now, so not even sure why is everyone going off on me about that.

I can't really fact check you on the "Oshi is becoming a more commonly known word as well", but I personally never really heard it anywhere else except the more recent Oshi no Ko manga/anime, but outside of that I haven't seen anyone ever mentioning the word oshi. I heard IDOL, but not OSHI.

Plus, why do you all assume everyone is like you guys, that "readers must surely know what OSHI means if they read an OTAKU manga?!" The answer is no, not everyone knows that, and I know this because I get a lot of feedback on translations.

I tried my best to localize the word OSHI, and I know its not perfect, but its better than writing OSHI, assuming everyone knows what it means, and then adding a note for each wordplay they make to explain to readers what's happening.

P.S. I guess it was my mistake trying to include all groups of people.


Edit: Sorry if I seem passive aggressive, I was pretty annoyed while writing this comment.

Look, I get it, it's frustrating when your hard work and effort seemed to backfire and I can promise you that the overall consensus is: we appreciate you and your team's hard work in providing these chapters to us.

That being said, the first time I came across "oshi" in a Manga, the translator put a single line note in the margin to explain what the word means the first time it came up, and a more detailed explanation in the afterword pages. I also disagree with your note about "itadakimasu" as "thanks for the meal" isn't really a good translation and it's better to explain what the intent behind this word is than use a ham-fisted localization.

If Oshi was as simple as "idol" or "favorite character", I'd agree that you should just translate it. But it's more nuanced than that. I genuinely thought the word they were using was a slang for "favorite" so you localized it to "fave", but now that I know it's "oshi" I know it's way more nuanced than "favorite".

Ultimately though, you're the translators and you're the ones who make the final call on localizations. I'm just giving my two cents as a reader. Again, I appreciate your hard work and efforts.

 

[Exile]

If Oshi was as simple as "idol" or "favorite character", I'd agree that you should just translate it. But it's more nuanced than that. I genuinely thought the word they were using was a slang for "favorite" so you localized it to "fave", but now that I know it's "oshi" I know it's way more nuanced than "favorite".

Bit it is, its not that nuanced .... its really just a term.

Its not the same as honorifics that have a deeper connection because they indicate the relationship just like the use of first name and surname, it used to be a thing in the west as well.

The problem is more that this is Japanese media created for a Japanese audience and naturally will have Japanese idioms and non-Japanese readers should familiarize themselves with it, I would say this is more of a American problem as they got used to a cultural supremacy were everything they consumed was related to American culture, its only good manners to try to understand Japanese culture instead of asking translators to "localize" it so they dont have to make the effort.

I would even leave Oshi instead of Jav even if anyone should understand what that means at this point because, its really not that hard.

 

[Bornsinner]

Happy Birthday, Otaku-kun!

 

[guygarelard]

Thanks for the TL as always

 

[stephen01king]

Bit it is, its not that nuanced .... its really just a term.

Its not the same as honorifics that have a deeper connection because they indicate the relationship just like the use of first name and surname, it used to be a thing in the west as well.

The problem is more that this is Japanese media created for a Japanese audience and naturally will have Japanese idioms and non-Japanese readers should familiarize themselves with it, I would say this is more of a American problem as they got used to a cultural supremacy were everything they consumed was related to American culture, its only good manners to try to understand Japanese culture instead of asking translators to "localize" it so they dont have to make the effort.

I would even leave Oshi instead of Jav even if anyone should understand what that means at this point because, its really not that hard.

I don't know if you're serious or just being sarcastic, but if you need a whole book to define that one term, as well as the manga making the joke that the term oshi cannot be simply defined by otakus twice now, it clearly shows that it's not just a simple term.

 

[Scipo0419]

I don't know if you're serious or just being sarcastic, but if you need a whole book to define that one term, as well as the manga making the joke that the term oshi cannot be simply defined by otakus twice now, it clearly shows that it's not just a simple term.

Exactly this. A term can be nuanced. A basic off the top of my head English word example is the word "sad". You can be sad for so many different reasons. you're sad because you lost someone (grieving). You're sad because you did bad on that test (disappointed). You're sad because someone called you a name (hurt). You're sad because you got rejected by your crush (heartbreak).

What if a translator took those words (grieving, heartbroken, disappointed, hurt) and localized them to "sad". All the nuance is removed.

Oshi is a bit different because, like schadenfreude, it's more of a term that arose out of necessity to cover a large base and hasn't been broken down into individual words for each nuance (like how sad has been broken down), but localizing it (or itadakimasu) removes any of the remaining nuance because it's a word that can mean different things depending on the context. An music fan may have an oshi from a band. An Otaku may have an anime oshi, Manga oshi, and game oshi. Waifus could be oshis, but not all oshis are waifus.

 

[PreStoneX]

Look, I get it, it's frustrating when your hard work and effort seemed to backfire and I can promise you that the overall consensus is: we appreciate you and your team's hard work in providing these chapters to us.

That being said, the first time I came across "oshi" in a Manga, the translator put a single line note in the margin to explain what the word means the first time it came up, and a more detailed explanation in the afterword pages. I also disagree with your note about "itadakimasu" as "thanks for the meal" isn't really a good translation and it's better to explain what the intent behind this word is than use a ham-fisted localization.

If Oshi was as simple as "idol" or "favorite character", I'd agree that you should just translate it. But it's more nuanced than that. I genuinely thought the word they were using was a slang for "favorite" so you localized it to "fave", but now that I know it's "oshi" I know it's way more nuanced than "favorite".

Ultimately though, you're the translators and you're the ones who make the final call on localizations. I'm just giving my two cents as a reader. Again, I appreciate your hard work and efforts.

The frustrating part is mostly when people are not even trying to understand what I meant by my note, and think I included honorifics in it. Where did honorifics even come from? Did we ever use Mr. or Ms. and such in the manga, or use the word nerd instead of otaku???

Also, why do people assume Oshi is such a widely known term?
I've also been in the anime/manga scene since 2006 yet I barely heard that word, never seen anyone else talk about it either, so why do people think everyone knows about it? (I assume the reason is because they are very active in these communities so they often come across it, but for god's sake, other people exists too beside them)

Not gonna lie, at this point it kinda feels like since they know about the word and how nuanced it is, they think that localizing it is already like a sin. Translation comes with responsibilities, and that responsibility is to make the translation is understandable for a much larger audience than just the ones who already "know", which I had that in mind. Some translators don't care or think differently, but yeah.

I tried my best to make it understandable, added a note to explain a bit more just in case, yet people are so nitpicky they jump at me the moment they disagree with something, simply because "they know".

Same thing with the itadakimasu thing... though this word I also assume most people know about, why would I keep a japanese word in an english translation? It makes no sense to me even if others know about, plus I always thought its cringe when other translators kept these japanese words...