Tuesday, April 21, 2009

small U.S. Market for translation

Every form of media in the United States, not just books but radio, television, and magazines have reached their saturation point where there is more available to watch/read than you have time to watch/read it. That leads to high competition in media markets for a finite amount of consumer dollars. The lack of foreign influences in U.S. media reflects the increased cost/benefit risks for publishers to bring materials stateside. For example, take anime. For the longest time, anime was not imported to the U.S. because there was no perceived market other than a few nerds. Once anime picked up and became popular, many American publishers sprang up to import anime. Now you go into Best Buy and find a whole isle that is just anime and it is all over network television. American companies will pull material from any part of the world if it is profitable, but it first needs to be seen as a safe investment. Any product with high sales will see expansion and diversification- point is, if there is a profit in something, American media and publishers will pay to have it translated and edited regardless of its origins or cultural influences/impacts. Americans have never been shy to take good ideas or products from anywhere and anyone. So if you want to see more foreign literature, go out and support if with your hard earned cash. The cost to companies may be higher to bring it to the states, so you just have to show them that the benefits ($$$) can match the increased cost.

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