I'd go with using tan/chan/kun/san/sama/hime/etc rather than the EO suffixes simply because it's more authentic and keeps closer to the orignal tale. A small appendix or key could 'translate' the suffixes in a credits or contents page that is distributed with the rest of the translation.

My biggest problem is - how do we transliterate Japanese names? I was thinking just using normal Romaji (e.g. "estas Shana-chan!" rather than "estas Sxana-cxan") because that seems to be the system of transliteration that the Japanese prefer.

Also if you EO-icise manga names/terms too much you'd end up with Icukio, Mikuruo, Nagatoo n' Kyono which would make many die hard Haruhi fans like myself cringe more than we did during the animated version of endless 8.

I have no problem referring to 'Valkyria Chronicles' as 'Valkiraj Kronikoj'

ceigered:I'd go with using tan/chan/kun/san/sama/hime/etc rather than the EO suffixes simply because it's more authentic and keeps closer to the orignal tale. A small appendix or key could 'translate' the suffixes in a credits or contents page that is distributed with the rest of the translation.

We're on opposite poles on this one. I'm sorry, but I have this "purist" tendency. Although I really appreciate the honorifics [my friends sometimes call me "Izen-kun" and I really love it], I think this would be a great opportunity to somewhat "Asianize" Esperanto. Well, it's only my opinion.

ceigered:My biggest problem is - how do we transliterate Japanese names? I was thinking just using normal Romaji (e.g. "estas Shana-chan!" rather than "estas Ŝana-ĉan") because that seems to be the system of transliteration that the Japanese prefer.

Also if you EO-icise manga names/terms too much you'd end up with Icukio, Mikuruo, Nagatoo n' Kyono which would make many die hard Haruhi fans like myself cringe more than we did during the animated version of endless 8.

We must remember that the translations are for Esperantist manga/anime fans. But of course, it's also a matter of aesthetics. And yes, to spell Yuki as "Juki" makes me cringe. But then, we should discuss this in a congress, the IJK, perhaps, and seek the opinion of the Japanese themselves. Or maybe, we should ask the Academy.

ceigered:I have no problem referring to 'Valkyria Chronicles' as 'Valkiraj Kronikoj'

I say "Mortkajero" instead of "Death Note" in the tujmesaĝilo. "Tutfera Alkemiisto: Frateco" sounds as nice as "Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood", in my opinion. I also see no problem about this.

patrik:

ceigered:I'd go with using tan/chan/kun/san/sama/hime/etc rather than the EO suffixes simply because it's more authentic and keeps closer to the orignal tale. A small appendix or key could 'translate' the suffixes in a credits or contents page that is distributed with the rest of the translation.

We're on opposite poles on this one. I'm sorry, but I have this "purist" tendency. Although I really appreciate the honorifics [my friends sometimes call me "Izen-kun" and I really love it], I think this would be a great opportunity to somewhat "Asianize" Esperanto. Well, it's only my opinion.

I disagree with what is in my view leaving random words untranslated. "Haruhi-ĉan" gives an illusion of translation, but it does nothing for those not familiar with Japanese honorifics. Looking it up in an appendix to find out what it means does not carry the same power as using a word that, while not a perfect translation is immediately recognizable.

I think that some approximations could be:
San - Sinjor(in)o
Kun - -ĉjo/njo
Chan - -njo, -et
Senpai - Suproklasano
Sensei - Instruisto, Majstro
Sama - Moŝto
Shi - Kara fremdulo
Dono - Monsinjoro

I'm not really very familiar with the whole manga genre, but it seems to me that, at the very least, the spelling of words should be esperantized. Romaji is clearly a spelling system geared toward English speakers, and the digraphs (like all digraphs) are kludgy. If you want purist, leave them in the original hirigana/katakana/kanji. Otherwise, use the EO spelling system.

Throwing the -o on the end, though, is a different story. There's no reason why we should be doing that with names and the like.

Hm. Mixed views on that. Even if we go with Esperantizing the honorifics, I'd appreciate a chart before the beginning of the translated series explaining which Esperanto words replaced what honorifics, and an explanation of the meanings of the original honorifics.
I'm sure without that I'd be wondering why girls were constantly calling other girls "big sister" even with it translated into Esperanto instead of remaining "Onee-chan".
Assuming I were a newby to manga/anime and Japanese honorifics, of course.

I don't like manga and have read hardly any of it, so I am not familiar with the general conventions.

But when starting something new, it's a good idea to look at what has been done before, and how it came out. There are at least a couple Esperanto translations of Japanese comics. I recommend buying one (or both) to see what choices the translators made; they were both translated by native Japanese.

"Nudpieda Gen" and "La Flambirdo" are available from the US Esperanto book service and presumably from other book services as well.

I think the honorifics chart in front is a good idea, if only to explain the translation choices. I agree that names should be written according to the sounds in the Esperanto alphabet, but without fully Esperantizing them.

Pharoah:I'm not really very familiar with the whole manga genre, but it seems to me that, at the very least, the spelling of words should be esperantized.

Manga is not a genre. Manga refers only to where the graphic novel was made (although in Japanese, manga refers to any comic.) There are manga genres, like shojo and shonen.

By the way, how will joseigo be represented?

I have to go with "Leave the honorifics" there IS no real way to translate them as -san doesn't indicate "Mr." or such it indicates a form of politeness, as well as -sama CAN indicate "Mr." as well, as well as having NO honorific is VERY important as well. Most of the good manga I read keeps those in, and explains them.
(Also, in the case of Kuro Shitsuji the honorific becomes a pun on the name, Sebastian, Sebe-chan sound very similar and translating it as Sebyweby would kill the pun.)

As for names of people, keep them in Japanese romaji. In all the subs I've seen they keep the Japanese romanization. It's how the name is spelled and it's a proper name. This is a part of Esperanto that I disagree with, EOing names.

As for the Japanese titles, if the Japanese title is in English as it title "Death Note", "07-Ghost", "Sailormoon" etc Keep the title as "Death Note", "07-Ghost", "Sailormoon". It again is a proper name. However if the title can is known for it's English name over the Japanese one, then translate it. Though really, most people I know that do anime and manga keep the Japanese title in Japanese. "Kuro Shitsuji", "Natsume Yuujinshou", etc. If the name gets translated it becomes harder to find it as your searching for the Japanese name.
(Took me the longest time to find "Mamotte Lolipop" as I was looking for "Mamotte Lolipop" and didn't know the English name.)

@Oŝo-Jabe:
Whats Joseigo? Related to josei at all?

I'm not sure I understood your post about honorifics but I'll try and reply to it anyway .
The problem with honorifics and translating them is that it feels even more unnatural. In a way the honorific is essentially tacked onto someones name as if it is part of the name, especially since a speaker will tend to always use the same honorific after the same name. To combine non-japanese titles with japanese naming conventions feels unnatural.

However your translations would be good for introducing newbies to manga naming conventions - and there's always the TN - translator's note - that could be shoved underneath all cells where a honorific is used, at least for the first time it shows up.

@ Maverynthia:
I'm not entirely sure what you've said, but I take it your saying in a nutshell that if the preferred name in Japan is an English name, keep it as is, however if the preferred name (e.g. Valkyria Chronicles/Senjou no Valkyria) is Japanese in Japan but translated in other countries then translate it?
Forgive me if I'm wrong, this is a slow day for me

@ Erinja:
I'll like to find a copy of nudpieda gen esperante. It's got my interest on many occaisions

@ Zafur:

Exactly. The onee-chan is one thing that's hard to translate. I reckon a translator/editor note under a cell containing 'Onee-chan' would be a good idea, explaining the practice. That way people learn something too

And personally I prefer hearing 'Onee chan' as opposed to 'big sis' - it only makes sense to me in Japanese

@ Pharaoh:

The prob with EO'ising (is there a proper word for this? ) japanese words is that if someone learnt Japanese transliteration outside of Esperanto and then read a manga using EO style transliteration, it'd make it very confusing. Even if it's geared for English speakers, it's also geared for Japanese speakers and all the people who know romaji even if they speak German. And then there's the Japanese dialect situation (where Eo-style rendering might be better).

But the kansai vs. kantou dialect list of differences is a tale for another day haha.

partik:We're on opposite poles on this one. I'm sorry, but I have this "purist" tendency. Although I really appreciate the honorifics [my friends sometimes call me "Izen-kun" and I really love it], I think this would be a great opportunity to somewhat "Asianize" Esperanto. Well, it's only my opinion.

Mi ne tute komprenas - don't you mean 'Esperantocise Asia'?

Maverynthia:I have to go with "Leave the honorifics" there IS no real way to translate them as -san doesn't indicate "Mr." or such it indicates a form of politeness, as well as -sama CAN indicate "Mr." as well, as well as having NO honorific is VERY important as well. Most of the good manga I read keeps those in, and explains them.

Translation is an art not a science. No two words from different languages mean exactly the same thing. Round about translation may be bad form, but let's look at this example where a butler is talking about a maid (Mori) and their employer (Yukata.) Note the honorifics:

"I had asked Mori-san to go check Yutaka-sama's room."

Context is important here, and I think that the following sentence has approximately the same meaning:

"Mi petis ke Sinjorino Mori kontrolu la ĉambron de Sinjoro Moŝto Jutaka."

Maverynthia:(Also, in the case of Kuro Shitsuji the honorific becomes a pun on the name, Sebastian, Sebe-chan sound very similar and translating it as Sebyweby would kill the pun.)

Puns are always hard to translate. So Sebestian sounds like Sebe-chan? Then a translator should use a different name, which works with a similar pun in the target language. For example, in the English translations of Tintin, the detectives' names become Thomson and Thompson, to preserve the pun in the French names Dupond and Dupont.

Changing a character's name to preserve a pun from another language is not the end of the world, although it may not always be an option if the name has plot significance beyond the pun. Yes these are proper names, but you must remember that these are fictional characters. The plot can happily ignore their names in most cases.

Maverynthia:As for names of people, keep them in Japanese romaji. In all the subs I've seen they keep the Japanese romanization. It's how the name is spelled and it's a proper name. This is a part of Esperanto that I disagree with, EOing names.

It's not how the name is spelled! Japanese names are spelled with Japanese logographs, not the Latin alphabet. The Akademio de Esperanto, gave the guideline (there are no "rules" regarding names) that if the name is written with non-Latin characters, it should be given a sound approximation using the Esperanto alphabet. This has been done with, for example, Russian names, even ones that already had common romanizations.