Manga scanlation for an international readership: the role of English as a lingua franca

Abstract

This article examines translation into English as a lingua franca through the theoretical lens of fan translation. The phenomenon of scanlation is here taken into consideration as a case study of informal translation practices into English for an international readership. This article focuses in particular on the translation of the Japanese graphic narratives known as manga into English, and the negotiations that take place between scanlators and their readers. The article first explains the practice of scanlation and the policies that scanlation groups have adopted with regard to the recruitment of translators and proofreaders. Actual examples of scanlated manga are then analysed, with a focus on the translation of social deixis and honorific suffixes. Finally, the article presents the readers’ point of view through an analysis of the results of an opinion poll on the topic of scanlation.

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