Sounds and not-sounds
Japanese has two families of these words. Giongo imitate sounds: ドン (don) for a heavy hit, バン (ban) for a bang. Gitaigo describe a state or a manner, with no sound at all: シーン (shiin) is silence, ゴゴゴ (gogogo) is a looming, menacing rumble, キラキラ (kirakira) is sparkle, ドキドキ (dokidoki) is a racing heart.
Korean and Chinese comics have their own: 쾅 (kwang) for a crash and 두근 (dugeun) for a heartbeat in manhwa, 轰 (hōng) for a boom and 砰 (pēng) for a bang in manhua.
So translate the meaning, not the letters: シーン is "silence", not "sheen".
Leave, caption or redraw
- Leave them: no risk to the art and no cost, but readers miss what is happening when the effect carries the scene.
- Caption them: a small English word beside the drawn effect. The art stays exactly as drawn and the reader knows the sound. A common choice in fan and official releases alike.
- Redraw them: erase the effect, repaint what was under it and draw the English in a matching style. The most polished result and by far the most work, and the step most likely to damage the art, because effects often cover characters and backgrounds.
Some releases add a glossary of effects at the back instead. That keeps the page clean but sends the reader away from the scene.
One sound, one English word
The same effect should read the same way on every page: if ドキドキ is "ba-dump" in chapter 1, it is "ba-dump" in chapter 20. Keep effects in your glossary alongside names and terms.
Watch for dialogue that looks like an effect
Small hand-lettered words floating on the art are sometimes not effects at all but background dialogue or a character's mutter. Those are lines, and they get translated and lettered like any other line, in place on the art.
How Panelift handles it
Panelift leaves drawn sound effects exactly as they are and letters an English caption beside them, on every series. The captions come from Japanese, Korean and Chinese sound-effect dictionaries built from curated tables and open dictionaries, so the same effect gets the same English on every page rather than a fresh guess each time. Background dialogue that looks like an effect is translated and lettered in place as a line.
Questions
What does ゴゴゴ mean in manga?
ゴゴゴ (gogogo) is a menacing rumble: it marks tension or a threatening presence rather than a real sound. Translate it as the feeling (a rumble, a looming menace), not as letters.
Should manga sound effects be translated?
Usually yes, at least with a caption, when the effect tells the reader something. Captions keep the art untouched; redrawing looks best but costs the most and risks the art.
What is the difference between giongo and gitaigo?
Giongo imitate real sounds (a bang, a crash). Gitaigo describe a state or manner with no sound, like シーン for silence or キラキラ for sparkle.
