Literary Translation Archives - J-En Translations

Media Translation Link Roundup [2025]

I regularly collect articles that interest me and then throw them together in a translation link roundup when I have enough. I wrote a link roundup last year, which have some great articles. Highly recommend checking that out. I feel

Japanese to English Translation Competitions 2025

How is it 2025 already?! As we roll into another year I try to hunt down another round of Japanese to English translation competitions. There aren’t many new ones (I only found one…) but you still have a few options

Balancing Japanese-English Translation

I recently mused about the career path of an aspiring entertainment translator and the tendency to move from direct word-for-word translation to a creative translation before settling somewhere in the middle. Gauging this “somewhere in the middle” can be tricky

Interesting Localization Articles from the Last Year [2024]

I used to do link roundups, where I shared interesting articles I’d come across. These were very infrequent and I eventually dropped them altogether. But that doesn’t mean I stopped reading cool stuff related to the localization industry. I figured

Writing Tools for Translators – Book Review

Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark If there’s one book all translators working with English should read, it’s Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark. Most translators are not taught how to write and

Japanese – English Translation Competitions 2023

A list of translation competitions for Japanese to English translators in 2023. I’ve also posted a list of articles at the bottom which should help! Japanese – English Translation Competitions 2023 Materials Provided I’ve been keeping an eye on

Translated Books I Read in 2022

One of my goals this year was to read more translated books, so in April I decided to start a reading challenge. Each month had a different theme which acts as a reading prompt to help select books. I only

The 2022 Translated Literature Challenge

I want to read more and a wider variety of translated literature and so I started the Translated Literature Reading Challenge! Whether anyone joins or not, I will try and read at least one translated book a month based on

Japanese – English Translation Competitions 2022

A list of translation competitions for Japanese to English translators in 2022. I’ve also posted a list of articles at the bottom which should help! Japanese – English Translation Competitions 2022 Materials Provided I’ve been keeping an eye on Japanese to

How to Make Entertainment Translation Entertaining!

What makes a good translation depends entirely on the type of text and medium. Technical translations should be fairly direct with wording, formatting, and style appropriate to the type of technical document. Marketing translations often involve complete transcreation, the wording

Literary Translation Link Roundup [Spring 2021]

The World of Literary Translation Why Should We Read More Translated Literature? A discussion on why translated literature is important and how we benefit from reading more of it. There’s a lot you can gain through translated literature! “Reading translated

How Do Judges Judge a Good Translation?

Every year I post a list of upcoming Japanese to English translation competitions. A lot of these competitions are really great for aspiring and experienced translators to practice their skills. But it’s often hard to know what the judges are

Japanese – English Translation Competitions 2021

It is a new year and a new round of translation competitions is upon us! At least I hope they will be! Last year was a bit of an odd one with everything that could possibly going wrong, going wrong.

10 Japanese to English MANGA Professionals – Women in Translation Month

The other week I talked about Japanese to English female literary translators for Women in Translation Month, 2020. But as a counterpart to this, I wanted to shed light on some of the amazing female manga professionals. They aren’t just

10 Must Read Japanese to English Literary Translators – Women in Translation Month

It’s Women in Translation Month! This event, that began in 2014, spans the entirety of August. It brings awareness to the gender imbalance of writers from other languages that are translated into English. But I also saw someone say that it

10 Modern Japanese Authors That Aren’t Murakami

I often get the impression that people interested in Japan and literature only know of Haruki Murakami. Of course this isn’t actually true (at least I hope not), but if you search for “Japanese literature recommendations”, every single one of

My Manga Translation Process

I’ve been thinking a lot about how people go about translating lately. Everyone’s different, we all find our own ways to approach translation. Not just how we translate something but how we translate it; the process from being given a

Japanese – English Translation Competitions 2020

Japanese – English translation competitions are a great way to improve your translation skills and get your name out there. They can be particularly great for people new to the industry for putting on resumes. If you win one you’re

Manga Translation Pitfalls

A manga translation can vary drastically when handled by different people. Not just the translator, but editors, adapters, and of course companies, have their own approaches and preferences (hence why styles guides are a thing). I (Jennifer) teamed up with

Never Assume – The Importance of Research in Translation

One of the best pieces of advice I received as a beginner translator was “never assume”. Never assume a kanji reading or a word meaning. Never assume you know what someone said. Basically, never assume the Japanese and never assume that’s

8 Exercises To Teach Yourself Japanese-English Translation

Novice and aspiring translators are often hit with this seemingly impassable wall when they start. You may think Japanese-English translation is doable as long as you know Japanese, but it’s not that simple… Translation is a skill separate from Japanese

Japanese – English Translation Competitions 2019

[Updated: 14-Oct-2019] Japanese – English translation competitions are a great way to improve your translation skills and get your name out there. They can be particularly great for people new to the industry for putting on resumes. If you win

Kansai Cats Manga – Being the Straight Man – Chapter 5

Kansai Cats Manga – Being the Straight Man – Chapter 5 Artist: MakiART @ccmakiart Translator: J-EN Translations Editor: WaterFlame Original 関西弁にゃんこ Manga

Kansai Cats Manga – Leave it to Chiro! – Chapter 4

Kansai Cats Manga – Leave it to Chiro! – Chapter 4 Artist: MakiART @ccmakiart Translator: J-EN Translations Editor: WaterBlogs.net Original 関西弁にゃんこ Manga Chapter 3 Chapter 5

A Short Exercise in Accents

In an attempt to push my own translation capabilities I want to try translating the same information into multiple accents. Neutral American (more direct translation) Southern American British (upper class) British (lower class) The challenge with this exercise is to

Kansai Cats Manga – Lazy Tora – Chapter 3

Kansai Cats Manga – Lazy Tora – Chapter 3 Artist: MakiART @ccmakiart Translator: J-EN Translations Editor: WaterFlame Original 関西弁にゃんこ Manga Chapter 2 Chapter 4

“The Professor of Magic” by Edogawa Ranpo

I recently won 2nd place in a literary translators competition! The person who held the competition was kind enough to give feedback. Taking his advice on I went through my writing and tweaked it slightly. Here is my translation for

Read Well to Translate Well

Translators are constantly honing their skills. Both in their source and target languages. As such, it is important for any translator to read a lot. Reading can expose us to new ways of thinking, new information, new language in multiple

I got 2nd Place in a Literary Translation Competition!

On March 12th 2018 J. D. Wisgo of Self Taught Japanese announced a literary translation competition for promising translators. (Japanese Translation Contest Announced: Promising Translators 2018.) This competition was for novice translators who are unpublished to translate a short literary

TED Talks On Translation

TED Talks are always great resources for various information and new insights. But sometimes it can be hard to find subjects that interest you. I love watching TED Talks about science, computing, new ideas, learning and, of course, translating. Here

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