Starting a Translation company

[Dark Ariel7]

*MASSIVE DISCLAIMER* I was just curious this is not super serious advice. I in no way plan to make this happen. I was just wondering what it would entail IF I did want to.


I was wondering how hard it would be to officially start to translate a series from jp to English with permission from the copyright owners. And more importantly, how would you even go about getting this permission. How much would it cost to buy the rights for a series in a country like the US? For something like Ben-to or Hagure Yuusha that are not massively popular?

[Nosebleed]

Registering your business would be step 1, I am not at all familiar with how any of that works though so I can't help with that much, but I'd suggest actually talking to a state agency that knows about that.

After you have your business set up, step 2 would then be to contact the copyright owners and discuss what you want to do. Pricing and whatnot is not a fixed thing.

For example, if you're only planning on streaming an anime online, it's much cheaper to buy the rights to it than it is if  you want to sell physical copies of said anime.

But all these terms are agreed between you and the copyright owner, there's not really any catalog that can tell you how much it can cost.

Your best bet would be to have some solid funding regardless though. (I guess you can make a shit ton of Kickstarters that seems to have worked for some)

 

I did find an interesting article on ANN about some anime licensing costs and it clearly showcases just how much of a variety of values you can have:  http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-01-30/adv-court-documents-reveal-amounts-paid-for-29-anime-titles

[Clephas]

Before you start negotiating, I suggest you find a few industry experts and experienced individuals (for anime, asking Crunchyroll admins maybe?) and find out what the average is and conditions under which anime vary from that average.  Like any idea of this type, having prior knowledge of what to expect is a good idea.

[firecat]

you need something to convince them, sure anyone can translate a few words but without a good reason or good examples you are left with nothing to offer. if i had the power i would open up to the indie developers in jp, they would totally open their doors to you. thats when you charge people but at the sametime do a little for practice so you can't be seen as greedy. after maybe 100 projects you could ask studios, then websites, and finally the big boys.

 

these takes years to make, don't rush it.

[Pudding321]

you need something to convince them, sure anyone can translate a few words but without a good reason or good examples you are left with nothing to offer. if i had the power i would open up to the indie developers in jp, they would totally open their doors to you. thats when you charge people but at the sametime do a little for practice so you can't be seen as greedy. after maybe 100 projects you could ask studios, then websites, and finally the big boys.

 

these takes years to make, don't rush it.

[CryingWestern]

Looks at SP...okay.

SP expects the community to pay for their wants, hence the reason why they set up a shit-load of Kickstarters.

[Dark Ariel7]

This has been far more constructive than I anticipated. I particularly loved the link to the actual prices. I wonder how the cost of manga or a light novel stack up to those of anime. I would imagine a novel to be much cheaper.

I was laying there waiting to sleep and this question popped into my head. It seemed too interesting not to think about. Its actually surprisingly realistic. (Not that I even know enough to tl at the moment. Barely at manga reading level.) I liked the concept of leveling up. Starting from something like a web novel to get some experience then getting up to the big boys. Seems cool.

What the heck is SP?

[Magicflier]

What the heck is SP?