July 14, 2006

SWET Newsletter, Number 112

Contents

The Fan Quest for Authenticity, by Jessi Nuss, Meghan Strong, and Amanda Te
The fan translation done by fans of anime, manga, and video games for their own satisfaction and desire to share seeks to render the originals “authentically.” Trends and approaches from fan translation can influence “official” published translations and afford ideas for professional translators.

JLPP Update: New NPO Established, by Lynne E. Riggs and Sahara Ako
Update on one of the most ambitious translation and publishing projects for Japanese literature so far, funded by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and launched in 2002 (see SWET Newsletter, No. 103; also found at SWET Newsletter, Number 103. Details about the project may be found in English and Japanese at the Japanese Literature Publishing and Promotion Center website.

SWET Events

Sustaining Credibility (Stephen Lacey)
On March 25, 2006, SWET on Saturdays took up the topic “CSR/Sustainability Reporting: Proof of Healthier Corporate Values, or Corporate Doublespeak?” The meeting, moderated by organizer Adam Sorkin and featuring Yamaguchi Tomohiko, CSR consultant at Cre-en Inc., provided valuable background on SR reporting in Japan, a genre of interest to many translators, editors, rewriters, and copywriters who service corporate clients.

Anime as Cross-Cultural Interface (Damon Shulenberger)
University of Texas Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Professor of Japanese Studies Susan Napier, whose Anime: From Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle is regarded as the authoritative work on the subject in the United States, spoke to SWET on April 22, 2006 about the role of anime in transmitting Japanese culture and explained her forthcoming work relating the nineteenth-century Japonisme movement to today’s fascination with Japanese pop culture.

Foray into Electronic Editorland (Lynne E. Riggs)
On May 26, 2006 SWET held a workshop for experienced editors wanting to master the advanced editing functions of Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat Professional 7.0. led by technical editor/writer and documentation specialist Hugh Ashton.

SWET Member News

Special Needs in Translation (Esther Sanders)
Editor and translator Esther Sanders introduces her recently published translation, Different Croaks for Different Folks: All About Children with Special Learning Needs (London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2006).

A Better Paper Dictionary (Peter Sharpe)
Author of the recently published Kodansha’s Communicative English-Japanese Dictionary (Kodansha International, 2006; ¥5,040), Peter Sharpe explains why a paper dictionary may be more effective for language learners than the electronic variety and how the product of his 16 years of labor is different from the rest.

Self-Publishing in Japan (Kathy Morikawa)
Kathleen Morikawa, who learned the hard way how to self-publish an English book in Japan, has put her experience onto paper to save others similar tribulations. Self-Publishing in Japan: What You Need to Know to Get Started is the second self-published book from her very own Forest River Press.

Threads on SWET-L
Linguistic Hygiene by Torkil Christensen
SWET-L for Winter 2005/­2006 on how to polish and extend a career, how to write for the Web, and matters of linguistic hygiene and propriety. Is DNA just in our genes; how should we name decades in a new century; which is it, “rat” or “rats”; and what to do with “*1” as footnote indicator were among the posts.

Book Reviews

The Meaning of Tingo,by Adam Jacot de Boinod; Bloomsbury Good Word Guide, ed. by Martin H. Manser (Torkil Christensen)
Words Words Words, by David Crystal (Charles De Wolf)