Here you go, moms and dads, another reason why reading comics is actually good for your kids: It might motivate them to learn Japanese, like these youngsters in Saskatchewan are doing.
Naoko Takaya, the teacher interviewed in this article, says that 30 years ago, most of her students were Japanese-Canadian kids brushing up for a trip back home. Now most of her students are there because of anime and manga.
On his blog, Completely Futile,” Adam Stephanides shows us why, with a lengthy post of translation notes on Vol. 12 of Fruits Basket. Translation is not an exact art, and translators must make choices that sometimes don’t resonate with the rest of us. It’s good to be able to appreciate the nuances of a language.
The more my family gets involved with manga, the more we all want to learn Japanese. We’re starting to feel like we’re missing something. When I was overseas I used to watch American movies subtitled in French, and I realized for the first time how much is lost in translation. Recently my husband was watching an old Kurosawa movie and the kids were laughing at the stilted subtitles. (“You woke me! I am cross!”) Now I’m wondering if we’re missing something with the books as well.