We haven't done a poll related to SFX in about 6 years, so suyouera suggested that we do one now. One huge difference between now and then is the rise of webtoons/webcomics. The SFX is replaced with a translation for most of the official releases. That's one of the easiest ways to see if a so-called "scanlator" just ripped it from an English publisher, as most of the scanlators for webtoons/webcomics don't bother translating the SFX. 3q1a6h

You can submit poll ideas here: https://mangaupdates.sitesdebloques.biz/topic/kilkdnn/site-manga-poll-suggestions

Previous Poll Results:

Question: What type of milk do you prefer in your drinks (standalone or mixed with something (e.g., tea)?

Choices:

• Dairy milk (e.g., cow, sheep, goat, etc., at levels of whole, 2%, etc) - votes: 1319 (59.7%)
• Flavored (e.g., chocolate, strawberry, etc.) - votes: 254 (11.5%)
• Condensed - votes: 40 (1.8%)
• Oat - votes: 151 (6.8%)
• Soy - votes: 69 (3.1%)
• Almond - votes: 85 (3.8%)
• Coconut - votes: 22 (1%)
• Cashew - votes: 7 (0.3%)
• Rice - votes: 10 (0.5%)
• Hemp - votes: 3 (0.1%)
• Pea - votes: 4 (0.2%)
• Other - votes: 27 (1.2%)
• None - votes: 217 (9.8%)

There were 2208 total votes. The poll ended: May 3, 2025

How many of you are lactose-intolerant?

A just ruler amongst tyrants

I think not replacing the original SFX with a translated one is just embarassing. It shows lack of skill and competence. It deminishes the experience and immersion, especially with works that frequently uses SFX; or that use and/or draw SFX in a creative or unusual way.

i've a slightly different take here, but i think a small hole should but cut in the middle of the sound effect and the translated version should be printed into it (or superimposed similar to a watermark)

reason being is that the people who know what the sound is won't need to think too much about the cut, while ppl who have no idea what it is can see it like a subtitle without it being completely in the way.

all the other methods left in the poll do exactly that. it's just clutter at that point.

consider a fight scene with lots of sound effects; does this really need to be erased edited and cleaned again and again? or "placed next to the original" where most s are already working on limited space?

TL groups seem to love watermarking their logo all over the place anyways, might as well make a useful watermark.

Sfx that add to the story and missing/ignoring may mean the reader misses something relevant should be tl'd somehow. Redrawing is not easy not fun. Asking someone to redraw half a to replace a comically large ガ～ン is too much. And if the SFX is creative or artistic, I would much rather keep it as is. Why should the reader be denied what's effectively part of the art just because it's in Japanese?

That's one of the easiest ways to see if a so-called "scanlator" just ripped it from an English publisher, as most of the scanlators for webtoons/webcomics don't bother translating the SFX.

Maybe it's just because I'm picky about my translations and the groups I follow (I absolutely can't stand that magusmanga and the like crappy MTL garbage), but at least from my experience, it's not that rare for groups who scanlate rofan manhwa to redraw SFX. At the very least they usually put a translation next to it/in the margins.

I really dislike zero translation at all, the SFX are often important to the plot, and even if they aren't they're still frequently important to the vibe. I wouldn't be reading a scanlation if I could read the source language, and it's not always obvious what the sound was meant to be in the original, so a translation in some capacity is a must.

For official translations, I think it would be extremely unprofessional for them not to fully replace the SFX with a translation. They're asking people to pay for a product, so it should be professional, clean, and fully translated. If the SFX is particularly huge/important/artistic, a note in the margins is okay, but for normal SFX, they should have a redrawer.

On the other hand, while I really like having the SFX replaced and redrawn, I don't expect it from fan scanlators just doing it for free. That's a lot of extra work, especially when some of them are just one or two person teams, and I'm perfectly happy with them providing a note either next to the SFX or in the margins.

Thanks for the pick.

Iirc, I meant to ask about how to handle the SFX in licensed stuff, not scanlation, because we pay for the books.

I don't know how VIZ is handling the SFX now because I don't read much manga, but when I read Inuyasha, I noticed that VIZ replaced all the original SFX with the same effect in English.

I'm kinda turned off with Yenpress. They are lazy to the extent that they simply put the romanji sfx next to the original sfx. I don't think I need to know what that SFX is read in Japanese, I just want to know what it means. And when the SFX is repeated multiple times in one , they just translate once (@_@) If you forget the meaning, look up/down/to the left/right to check the meaning again.

Either the first or the second, but they definitely should be translated, and at least some creativity should be employed in making them look nice on the page, whether that's replacing the original SFX or being placed next to it in a similar font.

I redrawing used to be standard in the industry, and then Yen Press appeared and just started placing them in tiny font in the margins... (They even had liner notes in the back explaining why when they first started doing it iirc.) That's the kind of thing I'd expect from a scanlation group, not from an official company that had always charged slightly above industry standard for their volumes.

I prefer to keep original sfx to keep the idea that original author had with how it looks... But back in my scanlating days over a decade ago i did put quite many sfx translations into margins, because i do appreciate how it increases understanding for people.

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I feel like official translation must translate the SFX even if the result is not as good as the original to show that they're competent enough to redraw even huge ass SFXmmm...

But as for scanlator, translating in the margin is my preference since original SFX are usually done quite artful mmm...

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So the world can change me mmm...

It is only an issue that I have seen in Mangas, most manhwas redraw and translate the SFX..

If it's a plain text I want it replaced, but any sound effects with "artwork" (I dunno how to describe) I prefer are left as the original artwork with a margin translation.

Redrawing the scene under the sfx take forever. In official releases they usually have the bare s so no redrawing it's needed 😭

I'm all for keeping the original, but whether it's best to put the translation next to it, or in the margins, very much depends. But not translating them, or "translating" them with just romaji, is very much quite unacceptable.

As for replacing/redrawing them... Yes, it requires more skill and effort, but that doesn't mean it's better. You could make the same argument, to say that you should colour the manga (that is originally b&w), as well, but that's always atrocious. Far from being more professional (in the figurative sense), it's extremely amateur in the worst sense of the word.

Very interesting to see the split on this poll!

I think all of the options aside from no translation are viable. Reading English from top to bottom is a little weird for me, so I personally prefer when SFX is noted in the margins or placed next to the original, but I've seen good examples of all of the above.

Quote from VawX

I feel like official translation must translate the SFX even if the result is not as good as the original to show that they're competent enough to redraw even huge ass SFXmmm...

But as for scanlator, translating in the margin is my preference since original SFX are usually done quite artful mmm...

Agree!! Scanlator can do either /or but I like to see The official translation have been good with their artistic /Finding Fonts that Similar to its Original Meaning .

Stay with the flow,not knowing what can show, be the best or the worst, it will make you glow...