Thank you.
Really thanks ah
really savior

Really want to write more
But my English is not good
But still want to write
Really thank you

>>2270616:

I understand what you mean; I feel the same way when I visit Japanese artist blogs! :)

While I agree with most of your friend’s points, I’ll point that even if you don’t know Japanese, the title in romaji has one use: it can be used as an identifier for a given work, that will be readable (though gibberish) even for a westerner. (Just refrain from trying to pronounce it)

Let’s look at it from e-hentai’s point of view:
1. Use the translated title for raws and scanlations (what you suggest): it means that for every raw that is submitted to e-hentai, someone proficient in Japanese must translate it correctly. You have to hope that the eventual translator will choose the same title. And it falls apart if you want a multi-lingual site.
2. Use the translated title for scanlations, and the transliterated title (=title in romaji) for raws: it breaks apart the link between the translation and the raw – it makes finding the translation harder than necessary.
3. Use the transliterated title everywhere. It will be gibberish for westerners, but they can copy-paste that gibberish on other places in the internet to find it.

In concrete terms: if I find a work on a japanese website that interests me, and I don’t know much about it, the most probable query I’ll try will be the transliterated title. Thanks to e-hentai, I’ll be able to find it with that information.

Of course, in an better world, the identifier should not be the title in romaji, but in kanji. However, most westerners don’t have the necessary software to use kanji, and they would make a lot of mistakes, and even with the generalization of Unicode, encoding problems can still appear.

>>kalngor:

Obviously it’s not possible to get translated titles for everything. I’m not actually arguing that. However, romaji should be seen as a poor substitute, or a stopgap measure until it can be translated (even if that day never comes). However, WHEN translated titles are available, that should be preferred.

Another issue with using romaji is that there are multiple methods. A good example of this is in Koshow Showshow tankoubons. His name is listed alternately as “Kosho Shosho”, “Kosyoh Syohsyoh”, “Kosyou Syousyou”, and “Kosho Sho Sho” (with the long vowel marks over the o’s). As you can see, in this instance, searching for any one of those forms will cause you to miss the rest. Honestly, this is the reason multiple fields and a better database structure are so valuable (the DoujinDB does a reasonable job of keeping a lot straight, although it has flaws of its own). To be honest, anyone who isn’t searching the simplest unique identifier (usually the artist or circle name) and then using the cover to find what they want is doing themselves a disservice.

I suspect that your feelings are not too far from what I feel when I see people go to an internet website by typing its name into Google instead of using the address bar.

However they don’t care what they are losing in correctness – as long as it works, and they find what they want in an acceptable time, they are satisified with their method, and won’t be convinced by anyone’s arguments to change.

>>kalngor:

Not making the argument is accepting defeat without trying to persuaded anyone. I’m not willing to do that.

>>kalngor:

Oh, another important point. A number of my translator friends have pointed out that the common romanizations you’ll find are sometimes just plain wrong. The romanization of Motchie’s Mai doujin (the one I just released) is a good example.

though, some translated titles can still end up being effectively gibberish =x

>>Zwagon:

But the main ideas will still be conveyed, even if it sounds really strange.

Just curious: if you prefer to translate titles, is there a particular reason “Monogatari” was left as is (aside from the fact that it’s written in Roman letters on the cover)?

>>Anonymous:

Basically, if the author has included some form of an English title, I’ll use it, even if it is only partially English or poor English.