AlexP-UA

Here I want to describe the situation with KNJ (manga and anime) in russian language. It will be interesting to read about some other languages - if any.


Russian language widely used in Russia, Ukraine, Belorus and Kazakhstan - where over 200 million people lives. Most of them don't know english or any other "western" or "asian" language.

There is a VERY strong unofficial community of translators of manga and fundubbers of anime onto russian language, mostly from english sources.

Russian version of KNJ (manga and anime) known as "Детское время" (detskoie vriemya) that is direct translation from english "Child's time".
Here is (one of the) online russian version - ReadManga.ru - ?????? ????? ?? ??????? - ??????? ????? (A Child's Time: Kodomo no Jikan). ?????? ?????? ???????. ????? 24 ???? ? ?????, 7 ???? ? ?????? - it has almost 350.000 page readings, quite high rank 9/10 and some discussions.

Here Kodomo no Jikan known mostly as "non serious ecchi" anime and sometimes mentioned as "lolicon". Manga is far less known. Generally, there is no strict limitations for such stuff, but there is a risk - some laws may be used very selectively ...

All KnJ manga was translated on russian (except bonus pages) but not always in time - delayed from weeks to half of the year (this is the main reason I started to read it in english and found Moon-Speak). Teams of translators was changed time to time, quality of translation varied from average to very good. Now there are at least two translators of this manga - one team and one person.

That's all for now. I can dig into some details if you want.

PS: I have double fun reading KnJ first in english (slowly, with vocabulary) and after some time - in russian, comparing ...

Ugetsu

I think there are very many other languages. @Dark Samus just posted a site with Spanish language

Kodomo no Jikan 78 — Futae Ikken — submanga.com

I am fairly sure that I have seen French, German, and Italian but I would have to dig around to prove it. Also I have no doubt that there are versions in Korean, Chinese, and Thai. Probably @Katame would be helpful with those, I do hope he comes back some day. He seems to have disappeared when he moved from Japan to China. Also @Nitrogen could probably find a Chinese site if we wanted. It is strange to see a Japanese manga in Chinese, since it is ALL KANJI and no kana, except that like every other language they don't bother to translate all the sound effects that are sort of part of the artwork. I noticed that the Russian version also has katakana sound effects. It kind of doesn't look like a manga without those.

Hmm, I am thinking of some creative Google strategies to find other languages. Biribiri is in Poland, I think. Wonder if he translates it into Polish? Mostly we see his translations into English (including Chu-Bra).

Ugetsu

I am having a bit of trouble finding the MANGA in other languages. One problem is that so many people understand English, that I think Sayo's translation is read around much of the world. But it's a little easier with the ANIME... Here is an interesting chapter, we see Shirai as a schoolgirl, and then Kuro interacting with her mother. The spoken sound-track is all in German, although the subtitles are English.

Weißt du eigentlich wie gleich wir sind? Kodomo no jikan German Fandub - YouTube

And here is the Intro to KnJ in Chinese. The sound-track is Japanese but the titles at the top of the screen are Chinese.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qVC75zRR4Q

And here is part of the manga in Chinese

http://acg-port.com/viewthread.php?tid=8728

Ugetsu

So, Alex, there must be some people in Russia who know Japanese, otherwise there wouldn't be the translations. Do many there know Japanese? Japan and Russia are neighbors. I know a bit of Russian and so I'm always kind of intrigued when I find Russian loan words in Japanese. The two I can think of right now are

イクラ = ikura, from "ikra" -- meaning caviar in both languages

カチュシャ = katyusha, which in Japanese means a headband worn by adolescent girls but has various meanings in Russian including a rocket launcher...

AlexP-UA

Thank you for the discovery, Ugetsu !
I hope it is interesting not for me only.

Yes, some people in Russia know Japanese (and very little in Ukraine which is so far away) but, AFAIK, most of russian anime and manga translations made from english ones.
For example, KnJ manga translator Mont ( Mont Corp. - ??????? ???????? ) uses SaHa translation. I asked him about it personally. And I recommend him to read Dark Samus stuff Have we ask DS about translation ?

Maybe, there is an unique situation in Russia and around where so much people don't know english but like anime and/or manga at the same time.

Ugetsu

Oh wow, if you get "Fishing Trip" translated into Russian, please tell us where we can download it! I told @DS that she was going to be famous around the world...