A dozen of the largest manga publishers in Japan, as well as a corporation linked to the Japanese government, have invested $19 million in a startup that plans to translate 50,000 Japanese manga titles into English in 5 years. Of course, the startup, called Orange, plans to translate manga using AI rather than the grandfatherly way, but the role of translation editor will remain human for now.
According to the company, it takes them a couple of days to translate a full volume of manga, which is ten times faster than traditional translation methods. This summer, Orange plans to publish the first translations in the new Emaqi app. The interest of the publishers themselves is understandable — manga is gaining popularity worldwide, and it is better to capture the international market together and with the help of new technologies.
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