Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 13hExtremely funny that the reaction of so many people to hearing that I’m a Japanese interpreter is “You can speak Japanese?!” As it turns out, yes. Yes, I can. You might even say it's literally my job. 1301
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 28/09/2026The list keeps growing: solider, prok, pubishment, entires, commerical, stell, particules, throny, survery Translation truly is learning (about how many words I can't actually type/spell correctly). 1100
Reposted by Jocelyne AllenJenn Odd @jentranslations.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Game devs, this is why it's important to give your translation teams references and allow for time in the schedule for questions from the translators. Help localization help you! igda.org/news-archive...igda.orgHigh Quality Localization? Help Loc Help You! – IGDA 14816
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 27/09/2026The number of times I have shouted to my empty apartment "I can't stand the quiet!" and then proceeded to pretend I am Elina Löwensohn 130
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 26/09/2026In an entirely unsurprising turn of events, I had some things to say about translation! 0153
Reposted by Jocelyne AllenRead Japanese Literature @readjapaneseliterature.com · 26/09/2026#worldkidlitmonth Talking about Colorful—an interview with translator Jocelyne Allen (@brainvsbook.bsky.social) + Holly Thompson “Colorful is funny and hopeful in a way that doesn’t deny or reject the idea that life can be and often is really hard. But it reassures readers that they’re not alone.“glli-us.org#WorldKidLit Month Focus on Japan: Talking about “Colorful: A Novel”Today’s post comes to you from Holly Thompson: Not long ago, I was pleased to be in conversation with translator Jocelyne Allen about her translation of the bestselling novel Colorful by Eto Mori. … 0144
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Brain vs DRAMA!brainvsbook.wordpress.comKiri no Naka no Shojo: Hanamura EikoWhat a month, friends! What a year! I am stunned to realize it is the end of September, and the end of the year is coming up very quickly behind it. They just turned the heat on in my Toronto apart… 144
Reposted by Jocelyne AllenPeow2 @peow.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Go get Hibari kun from The Beguiling if you live in Canada OK!!!! 14810
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Today years old when I realized that the sofabed we had in the basement when I was a kid was not a Hydabed, like some fancy brand name, but merely a hide-a-bed, as in a bed that is hidden. 0121
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Had to check the hellsite for work research. Looks like people are being Entirely Normal over there as usual. 2160
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 22/09/2026I've never seen a more ominous deployment of "good luck". Good luck in your life, buddy (which will be short just fyi)! 450
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Some old-school Kurosawa Kiyoshi films streaming for free on JFF Theatre right now!en.jff.jpf.go.jpCinephile Journey―KUROSAWA Kiyoshi | JFF Theater 0100
Reposted by Jocelyne AllenMarty Cahill @mcflycahill90.bsky.social · 18/09/2026What's a book you love with all your goddamn heart that you believe did NOT get the love and attention it's due? I'll go first, and it's abso-LUT-ely THE CITY IN GLASS by Nghi Vo. There are moments from that book that live in my blood and wake me from the dark. 8137550
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 21/09/2026The Circus of the Earth and the Air by Brooke Stevens. I’ve never met anyone else who’s read it, but it’s a book I’ve gone back to again and again since I first encountered it over thirty years ago. I even wrote about it a decade or so ago! (This post is making me realize I am Very Old.)brainvsbook.wordpress.comThe Circus of the Earth and the Air: Brooke StevensWaaaaaay back in the day, when the Internet was just something my dad did to ruin my life by hogging the phone line with his modem when I really, really needed to talk to my friend about my maybe-b… 021
Reposted by Jocelyne AllenJocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Hey, look! It's me sitting on a stage between Fan Bingbing and Lily Franky. What a wild ride this life is! 3265
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Just submitted my invoice for TIFF, which means it's officially over and my brain is officially jello, so 3130
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Of course TIFF couldn't end without one final curveball: audience question involving The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife. Do you think I know the title of this painting in Japanese? I do not. Do you think I know what painting the English title is referring to? Naturally I do not. #AmInterpreting 2150
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Hey, look! It's me sitting on a stage between Fan Bingbing and Lily Franky. What a wild ride this life is! 3265
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 19/09/2026The perks of being interpreter to the stars: sometimes, they bring you matcha gummy candies as omiyage. 1171
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 18/09/2026I thought 台本 and 脚本 were synonyms until I noticed my brain reaching for 台本 over 脚本 when translating some questions for an actor today. Which made me curious, and it turns out they are not actually perfect synonyms, and I had internalized the difference without even realizing it. 2281
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Praise be to whatever divine forces are acting on this universe today! For possibly the first time in TIFF history, I have received the moderator questions in advance. #AmInterpreting 0130
Reposted by Jocelyne AllenJocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Excellent review of my dystopian translation baby and incredible deployment of "ding-a-ling"!gizmodo.com'Wandering Cat's Cage' Lays Bare the Fault Lines of Gender and Autonomy in a Ferocious Sci-Fi DystopiaAkane Torikai's speculative fiction manga flips the familiar post-male premise to highlight how the continuity of bodily autonomy in patriarchal society is policed no matter who's in charge. 197
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 16/09/2026I have one precious day off from the TIFF interpreting grind, so you know I spent it healing my battered brain in the hallowed halls of the church of my heart, the bookstore. 0140
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 16/09/2026The radio is talking about SixTones, and I am enraged all over again. 0100
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Asked yet again if I do theatre or perform outside of interpreting. Apparently, I am very "expressive". 0100
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Interpreted on a photo shoot with puppies today. All photo shoots should have puppies. I don't know why this isn't standard industry practice. 2190
Reposted by Jocelyne AllenKieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 13/09/2026tbh I’d have said this was most German words, which is why it’s German and not some other language 1142850
Reposted by Jocelyne AllenJetzero Infinity the Snobby Black Weeb @jetzeroinfinity.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Folks, I've been told there's a new MangaPlus survey where they ask about the use of AI translation. You know what to do docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... 6323264
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Excellent review of my dystopian translation baby and incredible deployment of "ding-a-ling"!gizmodo.com'Wandering Cat's Cage' Lays Bare the Fault Lines of Gender and Autonomy in a Ferocious Sci-Fi DystopiaAkane Torikai's speculative fiction manga flips the familiar post-male premise to highlight how the continuity of bodily autonomy in patriarchal society is policed no matter who's in charge. 197
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Everyone loves my stylish vignette of a translation baby! 0111
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Full day of interpreting for the stars, so now I am only doing extremely stupid things until it's time for bed. Lie on the sofa and play my little farming game, bash away at my drums tunelessly, stare at the wall slack-jawed. No brain, only body. 3200
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Extremely wild to open YouTube and see a thumbnail featuring my own self at the top of the page. I guess I made the news in Japan!youtube.com広島出身 西川美和監督の作品がトロント国際映画祭で上映YouTube video by 広テレ!NEWS 1221
Reposted by Jocelyne AllenJocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 07/09/2026This is the goofiest baby I have ever seen committed to the comics page. 3258
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Welp! Two curveballs tonight that I did not see coming at all: Italian Neorealism and director Vittorio De Sica's movie Shoeshine, and an Ozu film neither I nor my director knew the English title of. *sigh* 060
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 09/09/2026The second volume of On Their Frontlines reads left to right, while the first is your standard manga right to left. Such a subtly thoughtful choice given that V2 is set in the US and V1 is in Japan. My brain did short circuit a bit, though, like wait, how do I read books again??? 2217
Reposted by Jocelyne AllenJocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 08/09/2026The best part of discovering the existence of a movie called Onsen Shark 2 is that somewhere out there is an Onsen Shark 1 for me to also enjoy. My week's off to an incredible start.hotspringshark.com映画『温泉シャーク』映画『温泉シャーク』2024年7月5日 全国公開！温泉から突如現れた古代ザメ！日本発サメ映画で、SNS話題騒然、クラウドファンディングの「サメマシマシプラン」で432匹が登場！特撮とCGを駆使した怪作がこの夏、全国の劇場を襲う！まさに、サメの罠だ 金子清文 藤村拓矢 中西裕胡 内藤正記 巻上公一 青柳尊哉 赤星昇一郎 高樹 澪 脚本・監督：井上森人 音 楽：神馬 譲 テーマ曲：Storytelli... 2344
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 08/09/2026I'm at the point in interpreting prep where my head is so stuffed with vocab/info about the films/people I'm interpreting for that I just want to stop. If past experience holds, I will be soon descend into a panic, convinced my Japanese is actual trash, how could I have deluded myself all this time 0110
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Today's book post has brought a devilishly mysterious translation baby! 0120
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 08/09/2026The best part of discovering the existence of a movie called Onsen Shark 2 is that somewhere out there is an Onsen Shark 1 for me to also enjoy. My week's off to an incredible start.hotspringshark.com映画『温泉シャーク』映画『温泉シャーク』2024年7月5日 全国公開！温泉から突如現れた古代ザメ！日本発サメ映画で、SNS話題騒然、クラウドファンディングの「サメマシマシプラン」で432匹が登場！特撮とCGを駆使した怪作がこの夏、全国の劇場を襲う！まさに、サメの罠だ 金子清文 藤村拓矢 中西裕胡 内藤正記 巻上公一 青柳尊哉 赤星昇一郎 高樹 澪 脚本・監督：井上森人 音 楽：神馬 譲 テーマ曲：Storytelli... 2344
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 07/09/2026This is the goofiest baby I have ever seen committed to the comics page. 3258
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Case study in why machine translation is bad. Apparently, Lily Franky just had the one year of success in acting and changed genders halfway through this profile. 090
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 04/09/2026The sucky thing about being a Japanese interpreter at a film festival is that none of your Canadian friends know any of the J-stars and are thus entirely unimpressed by who you're rubbing elbows with. Fortunately, my hairdresser is Japanese, and she was suitably awed when I dropped some names today. 0280
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 04/09/2026The cool thing about interpreting for a film festival is that you get to see all the films (you are working on) before anyone else in the comfort of your own living room. Some great J-films coming to TIFF this year! 0120
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Why not take a break and watch a little horse lady dancing festival in Okinawa?youtube.com那覇・辻の伝統祭り『じゅり馬祭り2026』女性たちの華やかな踊り [takaren 2026/3/8]YouTube video by takaren-so-tv 151
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 03/09/2026You can read this amazing book in English now, friends!! 1137
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 03/09/2026I guess bc my name is associated with artists I translate, I get AI slop spam addressed to them, and I got a doozy of an essay today for Torikai Akane. Over ten paragraphs long, most of it simply regurgitating facts about Torikai with a thick layer of sycophancy. Such obvious trash. 280
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Sneak peek my dystopian translation baby now!! 072
Reposted by Jocelyne AllenDeb Aoki @debaoki.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Read an exclusive preview chapter of “Wandering Cat’s Cage” by Akane Torikai, translated by @brainvsbook.bsky.social - our upcoming @fantagraphics.bsky.social / @mangasplaining.bsky.social print release on @animenewsnetwork.com www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2026-09...animenewsnetwork.comExclusive: Fantagraphics Previews Akane Torikai's Wandering Cat's Cage MangaEnglish version of manga is slated for fall 2026 release 12314
Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Used the phrase "you bet your sweet bippy" and my editor did not take it out. I have won at translation today. 2320
