Manga Review: Hotel Africa is Lost in Translations

Poor translations can make even a great manga sound pretty dumb. Scanlations are one thing, since it's by fans for fans -- but in the case of TokyoPop's edition of Hee Jung Park's Hotel Africa, the otherwise deluxe presentation of this book is marred by a sub-par translation that sounds like it came straight out of Babel Fish.

Maybe I'm being harsh. But there were moments when I read this otherwise lavishly-packaged book and thought, "Are there really people who talk like this?" What small amount of effort would it have taken for a talented editor to take the raw translations and take into account conversational style, regional slang, differences in the characters' age, social standing, mood or gender to make each character's lines sound... well, less like a machine spouting literal translations from a Korean/ English dictionary?

Need examples? Here's a few: Rebellious teen: "Mom will suffer forever from sheer amazement." Native American mystic: "I am reprehensible, right?" How many 8-year olds accuse their parents with the words "you're dropping me off like some burdensome piece of luggage?" The intention and meaning is clear, but the word choices just sound awkward and inappropriate for the characters. This dissonance breaks the poetic, narrative flow of Park's artwork, making for a jarring reading experience. Time and again, I had to fight the urge to whip out a red pencil and start marking the book up with proofreaders' notes. It was just that annoying.

It could be just my pet peeve, and one that might not bother you as much -- but check out my review of Hee Jung Park's Hotel Africa Volume 1 and see if these quirks are just a minor detail that can be overlooked by Park's lovely artwork, or a reminder to all publishers that it pays to find good translators.

Image credit: © Hee-Jung Park / TokyoPop