《经济学人》双语：日本漫画VS韩国漫画，谁更强？

原文标题：
Toon wars
Manga v webtoons
Japan’s cartoon books are being eclipsed by the Korean interloper
漫画之争
漫画vs网络漫画
相较于日本传统漫画，韩国的网络漫画略胜一筹
 
The industry’s business model has hardly changed since the 1960s
自20世纪60年代以来，该行业的商业模式几乎没有改变

[Paragraph 1]
LEE HYUN-SEOK grew up in South Korea addicted to Japanese manga series such as “Dragon Ball” and “Slam Dunk”.
李贤锡在韩国长大，但沉迷于《龙珠》和《灌篮高手》等日本漫画系列。
 
As soon as he could, he emigrated to Tokyo to build a successful career as a manga artist and editor.
他抓住机会移民到了东京，并成为了一位成功的漫画艺术家和编辑。
 
Then in the early 2000s came “webtoons”, a South Korean cartoon innovation optimised for smartphones.
在21世纪初，“网络漫画”出现，这是一种针对智能手机优化的韩国卡通创新。
 
Mr Lee was at first unimpressed.
起初，李不为所动。
 
Compared with manga’s inventive graphic styles and sophisticated plots, he found webtoons crude and superficial.
相较于漫画富于创造性的图像风格和复杂的情节，他觉得网络漫画粗糙而肤浅。
 
“I thought: ‘Anybody can make this’.”
“我想:‘普通人都能画出来’。”
 

[Paragraph 2]
Yet Japanese manga is being eclipsed by Korean webtoons.
然而，日本漫画正在被韩国网络漫画所取代。
 
Last year the manga print market shrank by 2.3% to ¥265bn ($1.9bn).
去年，日本漫画印刷市场萎缩2.3%，计2650亿日元，约19亿美元。
 
The size of the global webtoons market was meanwhile valued at $3.7bn—and projected to reach $56bn by 2030.
与此同时，全球网络漫画市场的规模估值为37亿美元，2030年预计将达到560亿美元。
 
Manga is gravitating to digital slowly, in part because it is still designed for print, so awkward to read on smartphones.
漫画正在慢慢地被数字化所吸引，但速度较慢的原因是因为它仍然是为印刷而设计的，在智能手机上不易阅读。
 
The letters tend to be too small and the way the panels are laid out requires constant zooming in and out.
字体太小，而面板的布局方式需要不断放大和缩小。
 
Seeing which way the wind was blowing, Mr Lee abandoned manga for the webtoon industry in 2014.
看到形势的发展，李先生在2014年放弃了漫画，转身投向了网络漫画行业。
 
[Paragraph 3]
Though webtoons such as “Itaewon Class” and “Solo Levelling” have become popular among Japanese consumers, most Japanese publishers have stuck doggedly to manga.
尽管《梨泰院Class》和《单人升级》等网络漫画在日本消费者中很受欢迎，但大多数日本出版商仍在顽守漫画阵地。
 
“The Japanese industry is very conservative,” sighs Mr Lee.“There’s a strong belief that it’s better to stick with precedent.”
李叹息道，“日本漫画行业非常保守，他们有一种强烈的信念，那就是最好遵循先例。”
 
The manga industry’s business model, in which stories are first published in weekly magazines and then in books, has hardly changed since the 1960s.
自20世纪60年代以来，漫画行业的商业模式：漫画故事首先在周刊上发表，然后在书中出版，这些年几乎没有改变。
 
[Paragraph 4]
Their format is also sacrosanct.
他们的版式也是一成不变的。
 
Japanese manga hew to unique templates which require special knowledge of readers, such as the order in which panels must be read.
日本漫画采用独特的模板，这需要读者的特殊知识，比如阅读面板的顺序。
 
“The only people who know how to read manga are Japanese, Koreans and geeks across the world,” says Iwamoto Keita, who runs a cartoon studio.
经营一家漫画工作室的岩本凯塔说:“会看漫画的只有日本人、韩国人和世界各地的极客们。”
 
Webtoons have grown so fast, in part, because they can be read more easily and intuitively.
网络漫画发展得如此之快，部分原因是它们可以更容易、更直观地阅读。
 
[Paragraph 5]
It is tempting to see the way manga traditionalists are ceding the global cartoon market to South Korean innovators as symbolic of a broader malaise: the sluggishness and introspection of too many Japanese firms.
日本漫画传统坚持者将全球漫画市场拱手让给韩国的创新者，人们不禁将这种做法视为日本更广泛问题的象征：太多的日本公司反应迟钝，缺乏内省。
 
Other recent South Korean exports, such as the Netflix sensation “Squid Game” and BTS, a boy band, have taken the world by storm thanks to the same combination of innovation and smart marketing behind webtoons.
最近韩国的其他出口产品，如Netflix的轰动之作《鱿鱼游戏》和男子组合防弹少人团，也因为网络漫画背后的创新和巧妙营销的结合而风靡全球。
 
Meanwhile, the “Cool Japan” strategy of the government in Tokyo, intended to emulate that Korean success, has been a flop. 
与此同时，日本也在效仿韩国的成功，但是东京政府的“酷日本”战略却以失败告终。 
Having run up huge losses, it may soon be abandoned.
由于累积了巨额亏损，东京政府可能很快就会放弃该政策。
 
[Paragraph 6]
And yet, by sticking to what it does best, the manga industry has at least maintained its strengths.
然而，通过坚持自己擅长的事情，日本漫画行业至少保住了地位。
 
Its complicated layouts can convey sophisticated narratives.
它布局复杂，可以传达详尽的叙事。
 
And many manga are artistic wonders, with designs manipulated at the millimetre level.
许多漫画都是艺术奇迹，其设计精细到毫米级。
 
Witness the intricate ink drawings in “Vagabond”, an epic martial-arts series, or the surrealist illustrations of “Berserk”, a medieval fantasy.
看看史诗级武侠系列作品《浪客行》中错综复杂的水墨画，或者中世纪幻想作品《剑风传奇》中超现实主义的插图。 
By contrast, complex plots with dramatic twists are hard to convey in webtoons, which can display only a limited number of words.
相比之下，复杂的情节和戏剧性的转折很难在网络漫画中传达，因为它只能显示有限的字数。
 
“I doubt webtoons would ever trump manga in terms of quality,” says Mr Iwamoto.
岩本表示：“我觉得网络漫画在质量上不一定会胜过漫画。”
 
[Paragraph 7]
With its strong stories and craftsmanship, manga maintains a loyal domestic audience, which gives publishers little motivation to innovate or change.
漫画凭借其有趣的故事和精湛的工艺，在国内拥有忠实的观众，出版商也几乎没有动力去创新或改变。
 
Growth in their core business may be flagging; yet they can still find opportunities to boost revenues through anime adaptations, or by collaborating with businesses that create manga-themed merchandise.
他们核心业务的增长可能正在放缓;然而，他们仍然可以通过改编动漫，或与制作漫画主题商品的企业合作，以此增加收入。
 
Shueisha, the publisher that produced “Demon Slayer”, a recent hit manga and anime, had record sales in 2021.
最近热播动漫《弑魔者》的发行商雪英社在2021年创下了销售新纪录。
 
“There’s not much of a sense of crisis among Japanese publishers,” observes Nakayama Atsuo, an entertainment-industry expert.
娱乐产业专家中山敦夫表示:“日本出版商并没有多少危机感。”
 
[Paragraph 8]
Some still fret about the future.
一些人仍然对未来忧心忡忡。
 
Japan’s manga fans are, like all its population, ageing.
日本的漫画迷，就像它的人口一样，正在老龄化。
 
The average reader of the Weekly Shonen Magazine, a manga anthology for children (shonen means “young boy”) launched in 1959, is now over 30.
《少年周刊》是一本1959年创刊的儿童漫画杂志，目标受众为“年轻的男孩”，而现在的平均读者已超过30岁。
 
“Manga could end up as old people’s culture,” warns Mr Lee.
李提醒道：“漫画可能最终成为老年人的文化，”
 
“Children these days are scrolling through webtoons on their smartphones.
“现在的孩子们都在智能手机上浏览网络漫画。
 
Why not make something that suits their taste?”
为什么不做一些他们喜欢的东西呢?”
 
（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量639左右）
原文出自：2022年12月10日《The Economist》Asia版块。

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Maree

本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
webtoon网络漫画，又称线上漫画，因着互联网特性，网络漫画原则上比正统出版及连载存在更大的自由度，是任何人都可以发布的媒体。网络动漫是高科技技术发展的产物之一。网络动漫的基石是计算机技术和信息技术，其初始并非源于动漫行业，随着网络的普及，计算机技术以及信息技术的迅速发展，这些新技术逐渐被动画领域吸收。网络动漫正是借助互联网的迅速发展，进一步发展起来，其前景相当可观。
 
酷日本(Cool Japan)，是日本“数字好莱坞大学”校长杉山知之提出的，是描绘日本现代文化的新词汇。是把出口“酷日本”文化当成国策，在世界上培养更多的“日本游戏迷”和“日本动漫迷”。日本希望通过发展“新文化产业”，变“产品输出”为“文化输出”，推动日本经济发展。酷日本战略旨在向海外推介以动漫、游戏为首的日本内容产品及食品等领域的国内独特文化。2013年2月，日本首相安倍晋三开始正式推进旨在向海外推介日本食品、动漫及地方产品的“酷日本战略”。安倍把该战略定位为经济增长的原动力，新设相关阁僚并增加了预算。安倍称，希望通过向全球展现日本的软实力来提升对外形象，帮助“重拾日本人的骄傲和自信”。
 
【重点句子】（3 个）
Yet Japanese manga is being eclipsed by Korean webtoons.
然而，日本漫画正在被韩国网络漫画所取代。
 
Webtoons have grown so fast, in part, because they can be read more easily and intuitively.
网络漫画发展得如此之快，部分原因是它们可以更容易、更直观地阅读。
 
And yet, by sticking to what it does best, the manga industry has at least maintained its strengths.
然而，通过坚持自己擅长的事情，日本漫画行业至少保住了地位。