Sakura-chan to Amane-kun - Ch. 6

[MangaDex]

 

[Hexxy]

In which Sakura-chan is still a precious cinnamon roll and Amane-kun is still a hella rad trans guy.

 

[koikun]

so both are gay for each other which means they are straight?

 

[shyevsa]

Sakura-chan just so cute!!!!

 

[Shayne]

It's back!

 

[descending_angel87]

Can we all just take a minute to talk about how cute Sakura-chan is in that uniform. Also that last page.

 

[himechan]

Ahh the precious children are back! Thanks for more neutral pronoun usage as well!

 

[Kaarme]

This doesn't work in my opinion. Since English is an unfortunate language with no gender neutral singular third person pronoun, I also use "they" occasionally in written text when the gender of a person or character is unknown. But can you actually imagine Sakura using it like that in a conversation like that, to refer to a person present right there and then? Obviously in the original Japanese it wasn't any issue, but in English it looks unnatural. As far as I know, it's meant to be used when the gender is unknown, not... I don't really know why it was used here. It's not like Sakura wouldn't know Amane's gender (whether it's the biological or desired) or couldn't choose a pronoun that wouldn't sound strange in the big sister's ears, to avoid trouble. If you imagine this conversation actually happened in English, wouldn't the big sister be slighty confused by that "they/them"?

Still, I'm naturally extremely thankful for the translation, so pardon my criticism, should a member of the scanlation team visit this comment section.

 

[CoolOtamegane]

@koikun I never heard that logic before 🤣

 

[rhodiridium]

@Kaarme I agree the conversation sounds unnatural but unfortunately that's what we're stuck with thanks to the peculiarities of English. I'd prefer that the translators stick with the gender neutral pronouns though since that's more important to the story than having a conversation flow naturally, plus I think most of us reading would understand why the translation uses gender neutral pronouns.

 

[mirewitch]

@kaarme it's a bit of a problem either way. If Sakura referred to Amane as "she" it sounds better in English but is inaccurate as a translation, since in Japanese Sakura deliberately does not refer to Amane in a female way. So while I get your point, I prefer "they" since in a trans story pronouns are a story element, so correct translation is more important.

 

[SpriralSoul]

Didn't think I'd ever see this again! Thanks for translating

 

[Intelpldtdell]

Thanks for translating wqs a good read ty!

 

[Hexxy]

Note to everyone: we're caught up with the raws and this story is very slow to update sadly. If you don't see another chapter for several months, it's because one just doesn't exist yet. Hopefully the next chapters will be quick. Also thank you all 💜 I'm glad we could bring this chapter to you.

@Kaarme It's like what everyone here was saying, it was more for story purposes. During typesetting after being given the translation by our lovely friend from SKS, I tried to avoid any pronoun usage at all around Amane-kun (not to avoid singular they but just to flow more naturally at certain parts) but there's only do much you can do in English. That and we're staunch believers in singular "they" as a proper pronoun.

Plus, in a trans-inclusive story like this, it's probably for the best since often times pronoun usage is at the discretion of the translators when it comes to Japanese. It isn't really inaccurate given Japanese is an almost entirely gender neutral language by default but I understand it looks a little weird, particularly when Amane's older sister is right there.

Thank you for your concerns though, we do read the comments (at least most of us do I think from what I noticed) pretty much exactly for this.

 

[Kaarme]

@rhodiridium @mirewitch @Hexxy I'll confess I didn't spend the time to think if those lines could have smoothly been written without pronouns. I come from a gender neutral language country (apart from old words like "fireman", where the "man" is a part of the word), so I don't tend to think about it so much. English should just take a lesson from Swedish and come up with a third, neutral singular third person word. I have nothing against "they" as a gender neutral singular in a different kind of usage scenario. I use it myself in that role. Perhaps over time its role will adapt, and I will adapt, unless English introduces a new pronoun. But as conservative as both the British and the Americans are, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Anyway, I only read this for the funny and interesting setting, I personally couldn't care less about any societal or political messages, which is why I experienced the, in my opinion, unnatural dialogue so strongly. I guess it can't be helped, in the end. I won't keep complaining about it in the future.

 

[FieryKathy]

Nice chapter!

 

[VadimZap]

Thanks for the update. 😘

 

[AgentKuga]

oh
thx for translating

 

[mbs357]

The gender neutral pronoun stuff is killing me. Not only is it grammatically not correct, the characters themselves aren't even indicating they want to be referred to any other way than what they are.

 

[youkari]

@mbs357 use of language is descriptive, not prescriptive. Usage of words change over time naturally. So ascribing to the textbook mentality of using a prescriptive approach, and saying that using a singular they is incorrect is pointless, as that doesn't actually reflect its usage in real life.