Why writing Reviews is pointless!

Though I understand what you're getting at, that's a poor metaphor, as the visual effect is still there. This would be missing in the case of a poor translation. I'd say it's more like the movie was drawn with a crayon in a flipbook instead? You kinda get what the story is doing, but the environment and characters aren't seen or described well. It's also inaccurate because you miss a few of the flipbook pages occasionally. That's bad translation, and it should be noted, as a bad review to an otherwise good story is a shame.

 

I agree with Shio, it is similar to reviewing a movie base on bad subtitles. I've seen bad translations, in fact I believe that on the occasion a better version is available, the bad translation should be taken out from NU because it is often misleading. Take the case of "Immortal God Emperor" http://www.novelupdates.com/series/immortal-god-emperor/?pg=13. When you go to the novel page and decide to read the first chapter, what NU offer you first is the bad version from [Rebirth Online World] group. The translation quality from them is so bad, you'd want to dig your eyes out. No surprise if people decide to drop the novel. BUT, if you decide to stick around, you'll find out that further there exist a better version translated by [Aran Translations]. So i'm pretty sure many people have missed out on this novel because of the first bad translation available. Kind of like if google search gave you the link on the bad materials first, and the good ones are further down at the bottom.

 

Yeah, but unfortunately if we go by your analogy, we only have the subtitles here. So we can only criticize the ones we can understand. If you want a real review of the novel, then you would have to read it raw.

Well I do agree in not bashing the translator, however, criticism isn't always bashing. When it asks for a review, it doesn't say "review the story", it just says "write a review" or "Write your review", which can be mistaken as an overall review of everything, much like how some movies are viewed. "Review" is a general term, you can basically interpret it as any type of review

Side note:

Pretty sure most people are just afraid that translators gonna go drop the novel if they get criticized that's why they are overly sensitive about reviews. But then again, a few weeks ago, iirc, people were criticizing TMW's authors "slow" progression then lots of people defending him too saying "stop complaining or drop the novel." So we can't criticize the novel, nor the translations. What a world we live in.

I know you guys didn't say this but I'm just pointing out that people are over sensitive about the criticism other people have for authors and translations.

 

There are many novels like that and RMJI is a perfect example of this. Although I dont remember who did the original, I do remember that I dropped it after a few chapters. Later on I saw Ren's post about Bad translations making series look bad and he used their translation as the example. I picked it back up when it hit 100 chapters and was pleasantly surprised with how good the series actually is. To be fair I think it is fair to give a series a bad rating due to a bad translation but if someone else picks it up and retranslates it I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and either give it another try or remove your older rating.

 

Well my point was, reviews about translations should be allowed and since you pointed out its like subtitles, because someone thinks that it shouldn't be allowed within the review section. He even thought that reviews criticizing the quality of the translation is for the translator exclusively, not even considering the fact that these reviews are mainly for would-be readers.

Then I pointed out that we can only review what is in front of us (what we can read/is available to us), but now we have that this reviews are only for this one specific review. Okay then. I'm tired of these mental gymnastics. Have fun with whatever

 

When people debate your opinion, it does not necessarily mean that you cannot criticize. It just means that if you want to state a certain opinion, you have to be prepared to argue for it with people who don't agree with you. That's indeed the ideal that world we live in today seek: for everyone to be able to convey their opinion freely, responsibly.

"Can't criticize" is true if critics invites jail or death punishment, or the burning of books like in the Shi Huang Ti era, or the closure of mass media in the Indonesia's New Order era, the physical punishment toward a certain blogger from Saudi Arabia, or in case of online forum, the related person was banned for life, or such. In this case, the OP's initial complaint was true (NU mod indeed ban criticizing), if only the OP didn't cross the caveat, that "responsibly" part.

Granted, there are no written rules now about reviews, so people do it blindly. But considering the abundant amount of reviews that got passed, that could actually help would-be readers, I think the majority of reviewer here already know about how to review responsibly (I'm not saying that a guide isn't necessary). Because it's very simple really, like the examples that was written in previous posts in this thread: there are many ways to criticize translators without bullying them, and those reviews that do so can be found in many places in NU so it is certainly allowed.

It's not absolutely about people being afraid a translator gonna drop the novel s/he translated. It's also about systematic risk: this community was built based on voluntary activities. Regardless of how it is now, that "voluntary" clause is still in effect. And the quickest way to destroy a volunteer community, after legal actions, is by allowing rampant bullying.

 

Just a minor point regarding quality of translation. That is up to half the value of the series. A series can have the best idea ever and decent characters. If the writing (either original or translation, we can't tell) is bad it can still make it a chore to get through.

A case where I would critique the writing is the fan fiction Terror Infinity Side B, things like the name being wrong 50% of the time until a proof reader started helping out. Those are the kind of things that make me drop novels, if the language is bad I don't want to start it. I will end up dropping it. Doesn't matter to me why it is bad, it just isn't enjoyable to read.

There is a reason I don't put the original text in Microsoft Translate and read it, it simply isn't fun.

 

Btw I just noticed this new review by @Dream Seeker

Dream Seeker rated it
A Certain Middle-Aged Man’s VRMMO Activity Log
May 19, 2016
Status: --


This honestly is really good slice of life web novel series. The character feel somewhat life in these episodic chapters. The plot of this story is life and how to spend your leisure.

Didn't @Tony say that 1-2 liner reviews are eventually going to be taken down?

 

Though it is in bad taste to outright insult or attack a translator or translation group, I do feel the need to point out that the quality of a translation directly affects the story you are trying to perceive. This doesn't mean that I agree with the op, but I wish to address this new elephant in the room.

Going from the bad subtitle analogy, you can have good ones, ones that try but don't translate perfectly, or even half assed subtitles that barely reflect the story. If we are to review a novel, it stands to reason that commenting on if the translation quality affects the experience of reading it is absolutely relavent in a review.

The caveat to mention though is that if it is brought up in a review, it has to be respectfully referenced, and rating has to reflect the story and not be biased from the translation quality; thus, if a review reflects on a negative that makes it unreadable, a respectable review (critique) with an n/a rating would be an acceptable alternative. I have translated in the past, and am an avid reader of various genres and series of other languages (not just Asian). So I'm also writing in considerations of both sides of the isle.

 

Proper reviews...hard work.

 

It's the same for Zhanxian, I started with the LordOfScrubs translation and wasn't even able to understand it. Whereas starting with the actual BlueSilverTranslations chapters was fantastic. Didn't understand the hype when the translation was so awful. There are also a ton of reviews for many novels that are given poor ratings based on the quality of translation coupled with grammar.

That said I feel my reviews that I have written aren't a reflection of the translation, they focus more on the content of the story and more often than not if I'm writing a review it's because something about the plot struck me, and not because I'm a grammar nazi bashing the translation. The translation can get to the bones of a story, even a bad translation is capable of that, so saying reviewing a translated work because it's not in the original language/context is sophistry. As long as you're reviewing based on the story, and not the translation then it makes sense.

That said, there are many novels that are borderline unintelligible as a result of their translation so the experience is ruined but there are many fantastic translations out there that seem to have a good representation of the original work that can totally be subjected to criticism or praise.