New Poll - Translating Food

8 years ago
Posts: 10901
This week's poll was suggested by 8-3. Should we translate food items?
You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903
Previous Poll Results:
Question: Do you own any Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies?
Choices:
Used to, but not anymore - votes: 179 (3.1%)
I started fairly recently - votes: 169 (2.9%)
Yeah, I've been investing for a while now - votes: 149 (2.6%)
No, but I might get some soon - votes: 617 (10.6%)
Nope, not interested at all - votes: 3931 (67.3%)
I'm actually short-selling it instead - votes: 35 (0.6%)
What's Bitcoin? - votes: 758 (13%)
There were 5838 total votes.
The poll ended: January 27th 2018
I had to look up what short-selling means.
A just ruler amongst tyrants

8 years ago
Posts: 374
Voted for "only the uncommon ones" but not translating any of them and adding a note on the side is also fine.

8 years ago
Posts: 113
I would have voted for "not translating any of them and adding a note on the side".
8 years ago
Posts: 36
There needs to be a "don't translate but add a note on the first page it appears on" option. Voted for "only uncommon ones" for now.
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." --James D. Nicoll
The best one is ofc not translate any of them and add a note somewhere mmm...
But for now I guess translate none of them seems to be the best choice, even translating "kiritanpo" will be very weird, just as weird as translating names mmm...
I will change this world mmm...
So the world can change me mmm...
Only the uncommon ones but i also mean it in the form of a note.
No one tried to sell us on Bitcoins, weird.
I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

8 years ago
Posts: 421
No, translate none of them.
Adding notes or references outside margin or at the last page with credit wouldn't be bad, if the translators/editors/groups feels like doing that extra bit.
Images are disabled Images are disabled Tv Tokyo - Anime & Manga ~ MinatoAce

8 years ago
Posts: 454
Oh, an interesting topic, I never really thought about it.....yup, the names of specific dishes, a good question.
Translate none of them, I'm a firm believer in a uniform, consistent approach to whatever problem/issue, if you start picking and choosing on this kind of thing you're just setting yourself (and the readers) up for problems/confusion/just unnecessary bs down the road.
And yeah, if you feel really strongly about it (as in it's not already glaringly obvious what's being talked about, I mean this is manga, there's no reason to say "it's food on a stick" if you're looking right at, you know, a picture of food on a stick 😀 ), yup, hit it with a translator note.
8 years ago
Posts: 213
No, translate none of them, if possible translation notes. If a person really cared about the informationn about the food then they can google it. Rice with vegetables is never gonna compare to an actual detail summary of what bibimbap is. Anyway, that my opinion.
Internet Lurker At Heart

8 years ago
Posts: 402
As is customary with such polls, none of the choices presented are reasonable.
The rule of thumb I use is translate if I can fully express the meaning in two English words or less, and if the term isn't generally known among the fandom. Otherwise, transliterate and add a tl note if I'm not lazy.
8 years ago
Posts: 144
Voted for "uncommon ones", but the meaning I put into it is exactly the opposite:
takoyaki, as unique, region-specific food is the uncommon name that shouldn't be translated,
while ebi fry is a common in many cuisines fried shirmp so it should be translated as such.
A separate - and very big - problem is with loanwords-named food, i.e. "hamburger", that in Japan means a completely different thing from our regular burgers.

8 years ago
Posts: 402
"Hamburger" is a mistranslation. It is properly translated "hamburg", short for "Hamburg steak". No confusion here.

8 years ago
Posts: 159
If it have an english equivalent than yes translate them, but if not i think it's fine to keep it in japanese.

8 years ago
Posts: 167
The ambiguity of takoyaki if you don't know what it is is probably better than seeing "octopus balls" 🤣 🤣 🤣
8 years ago
Posts: 4
Food items mostly should never be translated since it would make it hard to look them up if I were to want to order them. If it must be done, leave it in the translator notes somewhere to the side.