Forum - View topic

Answerman - Why Does The Same Title Get Translated Differently For Anime Vs Manga Releases?

If you think translation pays poorly, you may want to research it more. It can be quite lucrative depending on what project you take on. Those novels you buy? Yeah, that costs a hell of a lot to translate. $8000 for a volume on the low end of the spectrum for character count and $12,000 on the high end (based on a 200,000 character volume that is). There's no reason to help out the next translator if you're only working on one volume... why? That's a contract you don't have to make money on.

When I was talking to Ed Chavez recently he said that they paid the Kizumonogatari translator over $50k for his work on that. And that it took him just a little over 6 months, if I remember right. that's not bad at all. And now that guy has a long stream of future Monogatari and Nisioisin works to work on.

relyat08 wrote:

When I was talking to Ed Chavez recently he said that they paid the Kizumonogatari translator over $50k for his work on that. And that it took him just a little over 6 months, if I remember right. that's not bad at all. And now that guy has a long stream of future Monogatari and Nisioisin works to work on.

I'm honestly surprised that he would divulge that amount. I guess it all depends on whether they locked him into a packaged deal or not too. Sometimes if translators are guaranteed a string of work then they'll knock the cost down a bit... Either way, since that novel retails for about $14, Vertical would have to move over 3500 units alone just to pay the translator. That doesn't include editing, layout and printing. I guess that's also why he said (if memory serves me) that they don't have a huge cash revenue. This is why it's vital for fans to go out and purchase things!