Glossary
Vertical text (tategaki)
Vertical text, called tategaki in Japanese, is writing that runs from top to bottom in columns that are read from right to left. Most Japanese manga letters its dialogue this way, and older Chinese and some Korean comics do too, which is why bubbles in manga are often tall and narrow.
How vertical text is read
Vertical Japanese is read down each column, starting with the column on the right. When a column ends, the reader moves one column to the left. The opposite style, yokogaki, runs horizontally from left to right like English. Japanese uses both, and manga uses mostly vertical lettering in speech bubbles.
Why manga bubbles are tall
Bubbles are drawn around the lettering, so vertical text makes tall, narrow bubbles. When the translation is horizontal, as it is for English and most other languages, it has to fit into a shape made for columns. That is a main reason translated text can come out small.
What changes in vertical text
- Punctuation turns: the long vowel mark ー becomes a vertical line, and brackets rotate.
- Small kana such as っ sit in a different corner of their space.
- Latin letters and numbers may be turned sideways or set as a short horizontal group.
- Furigana sits to the right of the column instead of above the line.
How RuneManga handles it
RuneManga reads vertical Japanese bubble by bubble with a reader built for manga, and sets the translation horizontally in the same bubble. The text is sized to the largest that fits, so a short translation reads easily while a long one in a narrow bubble comes out smaller. Vertical lettering is still one of the harder cases and is improving.
Common problems and fixes
- Text is very small: the bubble is narrow. A larger scan keeps it readable when you zoom.
- A line reads out of order: check it against the original, and tell us about the page if it repeats.
- Mixed vertical and horizontal text in one bubble: harder to read, so check the line against the original.
Can RuneManga read vertical Japanese?
Yes. Vertical lettering in speech bubbles is read and translated, though it is still one of the harder cases.
Can the translation be vertical too?
Not today. Translations are set horizontally, which is how most target languages are read.