The 'good' news is that the novel is completed , so as long as they keep up any constant pace at all, they'll eventually get there. Remember the rabbit and the turtle competing against eachother. A rabbit translator might take on too much and then burnout / feel unappreciated and then just quit, whereas a turtle translator (nothing specific towards the most 'famous' turtle translator) will eventually actually finish it.
Just saying, but it's not a universal rule, the turtle translator can also take so long that he never finishes, getting bored of translating (in general or that specific novel), losing interest in the novel, changes in Real Life, the author/publisher getting ideas and sending a C&D. And in the defense of rabbit translators, Ren from wuxiaworld finished Coiling Dragon super fast and did a good job with it.
I haven't finished that yet.....got to the part Linley got to the higher realm with his wife and buddy mouse
binge that mofo, who needs sleep. ahh, man, to get that feel of discovery again, you look back on those moments with nostalgia, whether with CD or ISSTH, MW, or even KoG.....
Agree with you the translation speed sucks Wish it was translated by someone with a better translation speed Its one of the best xian xia s out there an awesome mc who is both smart and sensible with a mix of clan building a fun read in all Maybe ill try reading the mtl s at the current translation speed it will take decades to be fully translated
A little iffy about what you're saying here. I think most people prefer a rabbit translator. I would rather have the novel changing hands with a relatively consistent/fast pace than wait 10 or so years for the novel to finish.
meh, i think it would be best if translators stick to one or two novel series, and then be consistent. much better than taking on too many different works, and then getting burnt out and feeling unappreciated -- or being to slow and getting all the hate, cuz damn i need mah fix
Hey don't slander turtle there exist super fast turtle! her name is rainbowtrutle! I wonder what Yang chen find on that beast place cuz he seem really surprised
True rainbowturtle is fast but its a pity he probably does't know chinese Also i didn't even know Zhan Xian s translator was named turtle at all My only problem was that at its current speed of 1 chapter a week that's 52 chapters a year 520 chapters in 10 years 1040 chapters in 20 years It will take 20 years to translate the full novel when i see so many average novels with a translation speed of 7 chap a week it makes me a bit sad that Zhan xian s translation speed is so slow wish i could read chinese But since i can't Google Translate is the next best alternative
Frankly, if a novel is having a consistent pace of translation, it's unlikely that they will be changed, irregardless of how quick that pace is. And if the novel changed hands despite that, a) other somewhat slow translators would be afraid the same would happen to them b) who determines what slow is, and why would they be allowed to do so? c) they're willingly and freely spending their own time to translate it, if someone just told them 'Stop, we're taking over, you're too slow' a to be quite frank 'shitstorm' would rage. Not everyone can become a successful rabbit translator due to various reasons. And if they try and burnout, they switch novels / quit translating altogether. And they're not a successful turtle translator unless they eventually finish / get told to stop translating before then.
Let them be afraid then. If someone else can pick up a novel with the same or better quality, then I hope they do. Who determines what "slow" is? Hmm... Let me see. What about the readers, whom are reading the series? Why are readers allowed to determine that? Well maybe because without them this whole TLing thing would be completely pointless. Yeah the TL could be doing it just for fun, but then allow for someone else that wants to take it more seriously do it if they want. I have nothing against slow translators, but to say that waiting 10-20 years is okay to wait for reading a novel is absurd.
On one hand we have to respect the translator's wishes and the fact that they live their own lives too... But on the other hand it's hard to deny that faster translations tend to be more successful, why? 1) Novel never finishes = no conclusion I personally will not sponsor or donate to a novel that can't be completed at the current pace within 2 years, why? Because I don't like reading 100 expositions and 0 endings, which is pretty much what the current TL scene is. Also, if it takes longer than a couple of years to finish, the enjoyment value of any novel goes down the drain. While TLs have their own lives, so do readers... What interests you in 2 years may not be what interests you now, so why would anyone spend money on something that they might find unenjoyable by the time it's finally finished? 2) Translators lose motivation due to number 1 and the loss of readers While many translators regardless of how many donations they get, for the vast majority of translators, more donations = faster releases. If you start off with a translation schedule of 1/2/3 chapters a week, it doesn't really matter how good your translation is, you'll have a hard time getting people to sponsor you. (with very few exceptions) Especially considering how introducing the setting usually takes 10-20 chapters in most Chinese novels, that's almost 2 months before readers get a rough idea of what's going on in the story world. This just turns into a viscous cycle until the entire project is dropped. 3) Regardless of whether the TL sees its conclusion, slower TL = less enjoyment. Many novels, especially novels like ZX have plot lines driven by momentum. Chapters concerning cultivation/refining need to be driven by an objective. If you release 1 chapter a week, and the author spends 4 chapters describing the process, how many readers will remember what the objective is an entire month later, what about the significance of accomplishing said objective to the storyline? In the end readers lose interest when they can no longer answer the question of "why is this this guy still in a cave"? 4) Faster TL = More popularity More popularity = more motivation for the translators = more income = more motivation, etc, etc And this is a fact, go to the series filter and filter for novels with more than 30 releases, sort by release frequency, then sort by # of readers. To no one's surprise many of those in the top 50 are the same titles. Faster TL = More readers. There are many reasons why faster translation is better for both the TL and the readers. Readers are happier, translators are more motivated, because of interest, money and other reasons too. Zhan xian is a great work, I've read ahead in the spoilers and read some of the raws too (takes me 1.5-3x longer to read chinese than english). I honestly think it's one of the best cultivation novels out there, the MC has a decent personality, good character development, including the side characters. Unlike most novels where the male MC goes to cultivate for 400 chapters then comes back so we get 5 chapters with the female lead, Zhan xian continually develops the male MC and all his harem members. It also has good world building and a side of "business/clan management". It has something that everyone likes and most importantly they're connected/developed in a well written plot. To be honest, if Zhan Xian gets dropped, chances are it'll get picked up by another group within 2-3 months. So do the math... 1 chapter per week for 1100 more chapters = 1100chapters/52chaptersperyear = 21+ years (why would I spend a penny on this) Dropped for 3 months, picked up at 5 chapters a week = 1100 / (5*52) + .25years dropped = 4.5 years (still a pretty long time) I'm grateful for all the translators who do this out of the kindness of their own hearts but... If you took 20 years to build an orphanage, what's the point... all the kids would've starved to death by then. If dinner took 2 years to cook, no one would be there to eat it. If novels took 20 years to be translated... no one would... you get my point
yes. which is why we have a community. if TL's are open to getting assistance, and expanding the team, then why the hell not? Wele has been around for a while, would be great to see that getting expanded.
except this is the current situation: Thanks for your concern! Sorry for the slow releases recently, there have been a few arguments and fights within the Immortal Executioner team and we also have to deal with some trouble with our ad network. This has been taking up a lot of our time. no where on the site are they saying they want help or are even accepting help. With that statement posted by their editor it's hard to imagine that they want more people to add to the mess. But I agree with what you say, not all translators have lives that allow them to pump out 5+ chapters a week, it's great to have groups of translators that rotate chapters. But unfortunately most people don't like this tag team set up, translators have this attitude that once they start on a project that novel is "theirs" to translate. There a numerous translation groups out there, but usually it's 5 slow translators translating 5 different novels (of the same genre and very similar to each other) instead of 5 translators working on a single piece of work. The current meta in translation is not sustainable as it is, especially in the chinese novel area. I know some jap and korean novels which have finished (mostly due to their low chapter count) or are caught up to the raws, but very few chinese novels are at that stage. why do you think qidian was able to enter the market without issuing any C&D notices? why do you think all the novels on the english qidian site have a MINIMUM update frequency of 5/week? Rather than working for Qidian like it's a job, many translators enjoy the freedom to translate as they wish. However if they keep trying to strut it out like they are now with independent works and slow releases, sooner or later they'll come to realize that they no longer have an audience because I know I that if i'm going to spend money, I'd rather pay a subscription that lets me read all of a novel, instead of sponsor a chapter to a novel which may never see its conclusion. Just food for thought...
if translator become work like translator on qidian and ren from ww they bound to duty~ CN webnovel is looooooooooooooooooong story and many chapter lel~ translator who not bound to duty can do as they please~