This week's poll was suggested by mlemaudit. You a scanlator? I used to be...

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: The glass is
Choices:
Half empty - votes: 1029 (47.1%)
Half full - votes: 1157 (52.9%)
There were 2186 total votes.
The poll ended: November 11th, 2023 6:32pm PST

We did the same poll back in 2010, and the results are pretty similar both times

A just ruler amongst tyrants

I always wanted to be part of a scanlation team but I'm not sure if I have the skills to help, I draw in digital but I don't have much experience on drawing manga style 😢. Also english isn't my first language so I'm not sure of being helpful on the translation part 😅

☆’ ﾟ･::･｡･::･ﾟ’★,｡･::･ﾟ’’ ﾟ･::･｡,☆

I did help with scanlation like 10 years ago, but now I am just reader...

I am envoy from nowhere in nowhere. Nobody and nothing have sent me. And though it is impossible I exist. © Trimutius

I feel like the people who answered "neither" and at least half the ones who answered "just scanlator" are trolls

Like yeah, there are a decent number of fluent (or outright native Japanese) translators who help with scanlations but don't need to read scans by other groups because, of course, they can just read the raws. But it's not 4% of the site.

Edit: the number of scanlators-only has been reduced to 2.3% (it was over 4% when I posted this comment originally), and that's like almost believable. The 4.8% neithers are still almost entirely trolls.

Why would anyone be on the site, if they honestly answer "neither"?

I'm a reader. Although occasionally I MTL something if I'm impatient and can find the raws. Mostly just leeching off everyone else's hard work. Thank you scanlators 🙏 🙏 🙏

...Hop!

Did scanlation years ago, but not really now mmm...
But yeah, the neither option and the scanlator option are kinda weird if you're here mmm...
I never met a scanlator who doesn't read a manga, and why would you be in this site if you're neither mmm...~?

I will change this world mmm...
So the world can change me mmm...

I chose neither because I buy everything I read now. But I used to devour scans and watch fansubs when I first got into (BL) manga, and I even helped scanlate a couple chapters. Now, I don't even look at scans. I just wait until it's licensed.

And MU is good for all types of readers, not just those who read everything for free via scans, haha...

떡대수 supremacy

Because they read legally and use MU for tracking and finding out information, such as the publisher, author, etc so they can purchase it. That's what I do. A lot of entries, especially manhwas/webtoons, have links to the official translations. It's very helpful.

떡대수 supremacy

A question for you Jessica, what’s the main reason you prefer to exclusively wait for series to be licensed?

Well, it's because I don't think scans are that good for the stuff I mainly read, which is Korean BL. Also, most Korean BL series are licensed fairly quickly so there is no need to read the scanlated version.

Also... it feels right to support the author by buying their work and not reading it for free. Even when i did read scans, I always bought the actual book through a legitimate Japanese retailer so the creator would get compensated for my enjoyment of the unofficial free translation. It's true that many things won't ever see a license in English, especially with Japanese BLs, but I think there's more than enough available in print and digitally (like Renta, Manga Planet/Futekiya, etc) to sate my appetite.

떡대수 supremacy

Quote from Jessica_desu29

Well, it's because I don't think scans are that good for the stuff I mainly read, which is Korean BL. Also, most Korean BL series are licensed fairly quickly so there is no need to read the scanlated version.

Also... it feels right to support the author by buying their work and not reading it for free. Even when i did read scans, I always bought the actual book through a legitimate Japanese retailer so the creator would get compensated for my enjoyment of the unofficial free translation. It's true that many things won't ever see a license in English, especially with Japanese BLs, but I think there's more than enough available in print and digitally (like Renta, Manga Planet/Futekiya, etc) to sate my appetite.

I see, that makes sense. Thanks!

Quote from Jessica_desu29

Because they read legall

Obviously you should buy the manga you read, as much as you are able to, so I get buying manga, after reading scanlations ...but not bothering to read anything, until it gets a commercially released translation? Not reading anything, that doesn't get licensed?
And I get buying raw manga, sure, but...
Buying commercially translated manga?

So you prefer to read the worst of translations?
Translations, were the aim isn't to provide a faithful translation, that reflects what is said in the original, but where it is, instead, full of intentional changes, censorship, bits that are completely skipped, and the the like. (and this applies to more than just the text)
...and often done by quite pathetically unskilled translators, as the companies tend to not give a damn, about translation quality. (really bad scanlators, can be worse than the average professional translators, and the worst scanlators are worse than bad professional translators, but... outside of obscure series, you tend to be able to find a scanlation that is more skilled than the average pro translators. Is the average scanlator less skilled than pros? Yes, because there are very many really bad, and atrocious, scanlators ...but that is irrelevant. You can typically either find a better translator ...or it's a series that wouldn't have any other translation, if not for that terrible scanlator)
Though, of course, a scanlation with mediocre/bad skill, is far superior to a highly skilled pro translation
...as the former tries to translate, cannot be trusted to not change things.

Though professional translation, tend to always have proper and natural English, which isn't always the case with scanlations ...but that usually doesn't tend to cause any significant problems, in understanding what is said. It does, however, tend to give some hint, to the original Japanese, which is a bonus.

All I've stated, above, in regards to scanlations vs commercially translated manga, is of course equally (or maybe more) true of fansubs vs commercially translated anime.

You may make some interesting points(opinions?) about translation quality, but all your concerns are from a reader perspective. Will the reader get an accurate rendering of the original content? Should a reader have to buy allegedly inferior commercially licensed comics?
A reader's ultimate satisfaction...

But what about the creator?

This question is rarely, if ever, considered by most readers of scans/users of reader sites. How can a creator make money if people choose to read, either through scans or uploading officials on reader sites, for free? They can't.
I'd say over 90% of these types of readers don't buy a thing, not even a single book or worse, a single digital chapter. So, the net effect is the creator does not see a single red cent coming from all these readers from all over the world who are enjoying their work.

And that's extremely foul, in my opinion. It lacks empathy. These artists and writers don't work for free. This is their job. They oftentimes struggle with their health because of the strict deadlines of serialization. Why should they go through all of this just to have people reading it and not giving them proper compensation?

And it should be said that most creators, from Japan and especially those from Korea, are pretty explicit about not translating their works illegally. They do not want it. Why not respect their wishes if you like their work?

All of this is even more salient with respect to small or unknown creators. They depend on the license to generate income. So what happens if people decide to not pay for the English licensed translation and instead either read it illegally or read a scanlation? They get nothing in return.
I remember a famous BL mangaka said she doesn't care about scans because she would read them, too. Her comments were rightfully condemned. Why? Because it's easy for someone with many overseas print contracts, followers on social media, and well known books to be properly compensated. That's incredibly less true for the small creators with no name recognition.

I read BL, and I'm incredibly envious of the amount and diversity of manga licensed in France. They say French publishers don't have to compete with illegal translations so they can license almost anything and see a return in their investment. It's less risky. While I'm sure there are finer points as to why their market is so large, I can't help but see truth in that explanation. Because there are TONS of unofficial
English translations. And most readers want free, which sucks. If only they'd buy the raws every time they read something... but most will not.

And I ask: How much comics do you have to read? There's more than enough content to read legally, especially with Korean webtoons, that I don't feel the need to read scans. I still have 600 comics on my old "to read" list on Mangadex, sitting there gathering dust. There's no way I will get through them with everything going on with my life. I barely have time to read all my updates on Lezhin, Tappytoon, Tapas, and all the manga I've favorited on Manga Planet! Not to mention stacks and stacks of physical manga on my shelf!

Anyway... you can have your opinion about whether or not professional translations are inferior to scans. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. I'll continue to wait on official translations (which are better to me) because my support of them supports the author and hopefully encourages more licenses.

떡대수 supremacy

I use to be a typesetter. It was fun. I tried my hand at redrawing/cleaning but it was hard. I also helped quality check, english grammar/sentence structures, text size/type comments...
The only thing I didnt do was providing raws and translating.