Re: Professional translation of Mirage of Blaze volumes into English
I received an email on Friday from a new fan of Mirage of Blaze asking whether I'd be interested in doing a Kickstarter-funded translation of the work; here is my response:
Hello! Thank you so much for thinking of me for this project; I am delighted and honored that you consider my translations professional enough for inclusion.
I've actually been wrangling with an answer to your email all weekend, because while I'm "interested" in that I love Mirage of Blaze (and am working on translating the next book, albeit slowly due to other commitments), I'm unsure about the idea of being a paid translator for the fandom. I am not a professional Japanese/English translator, and honestly I think that if you're going to throw money at it, you might as well get an actual professional translator.
The other concern I have is about the legality of being paid to translate a copyrighted work with the intent to distribute. I think I and the other fan translators have gotten a pass so far because we've kept a low profile and our works free--true fan works. I'm very cognizant of the fact that Shueisha could legally shut down my translations at any time, and having money involved likely makes that probability way higher.
So although in my fantasy world I would be jumping up and down to be a part of this project, in real life I must regretfully decline.
Hello! Thank you so much for thinking of me for this project; I am delighted and honored that you consider my translations professional enough for inclusion.
I've actually been wrangling with an answer to your email all weekend, because while I'm "interested" in that I love Mirage of Blaze (and am working on translating the next book, albeit slowly due to other commitments), I'm unsure about the idea of being a paid translator for the fandom. I am not a professional Japanese/English translator, and honestly I think that if you're going to throw money at it, you might as well get an actual professional translator.
The other concern I have is about the legality of being paid to translate a copyrighted work with the intent to distribute. I think I and the other fan translators have gotten a pass so far because we've kept a low profile and our works free--true fan works. I'm very cognizant of the fact that Shueisha could legally shut down my translations at any time, and having money involved likely makes that probability way higher.
So although in my fantasy world I would be jumping up and down to be a part of this project, in real life I must regretfully decline.