I hate it when translators do this

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by Raven Evernight, May 31, 2021.

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  1. Raven Evernight

    Raven Evernight But they never just accepted me for the way I was…

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    I hate it when they keep changing the name of something as they translate it I was reading a manga the other day and they set the cultivation realm names perfectly than halfway through changed them without clarifying what it was originally so I’m totally confused by that also I feel like sometimes translators try to use fancier words to make themselves look better but choose words that are similar but have different meanings
     
  2. zetsuen_dark

    zetsuen_dark [blue is the color of distance]⚓️

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    yeah. it just gets confusing. also frequently happens when the novel changes tl teams... *sigh* that's why you just mtl
     
  3. Raven Evernight

    Raven Evernight But they never just accepted me for the way I was…

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    If the translation is bad the story loses it meaning
     
  4. Arkantos

    Arkantos Well-Known Member

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    I would rather lose a few brain cells understanding the change than my mind in mtl.
     
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  5. zetsuen_dark

    zetsuen_dark [blue is the color of distance]⚓️

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    join the dark side sweetie. don't reject the real you. come to us, the enlightened ones of mtl-kingdom
     
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  6. otaku31

    otaku31 Well-Known Member

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    As a TL gets more acclimatized to the story and the translating process, they get better, and start thinking that the original translated terms cannot convey the meaning of the source term well enough, so they revise. I actually had a professor who said if given a chance to do-over, he would never have translated his books the way he did before, now that he is much better at it. Or it could be as simple as a case of the TLs changing hands. Ofc, a footnote explaining the changes is a must.

    As for using fancier terms, maybe they believe the simpler term cannot express the nuances of the raw text or match the tone of the narrator. Even synonymous terms may carry subtle differences in meaning and connotation. I will actually need an example to be able to tell who is right here. I've seen readers complain about TLs' incorrect word usages, only to be proved to be the ones in the wrong.
     
    Last edited: May 31, 2021
  7. Deleted member 176237

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    *Stares at the current Webnovel menacingly*
     
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  8. Greater thunder

    Greater thunder Well-Known Member

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    IET(author) pulls this multiple times in same novel without any tl help though.

    You know, there's a name for this realm and that. Cool. But then MC gets there and people on said level call it differently and then you get introduced to 5 other civilizations calling the same level of power with completely different terms.

    Like later parts of Swallowed Star.

    I just gave up on remembering anything outside Normal Undying - Official - Knight - Emperor - 1 to 6 Star Grandmaster because those terms were there for a long time and fuck the precursor races and minority aliens who keep showing up and MC using their terms now.

    Seriously man, it does not need so much entanglement just to try to throw off readers from the fact IET doesn't feel like writing this particular novel anymore and this is the cultivation ceiling that won't break(since it doesn't work, he tried pulling the same thing in Nine Cauldrons).

    As for tls changing terms, depends on how widespread. Sure, a few things shifting around is okay, but half or more terms consistently used being completely different in transitional chapters is too much at once.
     
  9. Owl1412

    Owl1412 Well-Known Member

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    Oh my lord the first time I encountered this phenomenon I was completely baffled. The new translator not only changed important terms, ALL THE CHARACTERS’ NAMES WERE ALSO CHANGED. They said their new names were more accurate than the previous romanization, but we were already 300 chapters in so now every time a name popped up I had to struggle to remember/imagine who it was.
     
  10. ListlessCat

    ListlessCat ࿈༼The Anarchic Witch༽࿈ ⦑⤉notsoGoody Good Shoes⤈⦒

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    I'm a translator. I think there are reasons????????? I really cant speak for them lol

    I don't know.. I'm just a translator who catches dropped novels and will just follow the rythm on what the old translator did.

    If the translator did change the names of the characters without telling why—then that's not good. It should have a reason before they do this and that.

    Also if translator's use fancier words or lengthen some phrases—it's because it feels lacking when translated to english. The impact that it has in the raws we'll change. BUT if the translator just did that JUST TO LOOK FANCY AND GOOD. idk with them—i think they just want attention...
     
  11. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    When I am translating a novel that someone else was translating, I always do my utmost to stay consistent with the terms that the other translator used, even if I personally disagree with them... I mean, it just makes for a better reading experience overall.

    Sometimes I'm forced to make changes though... Like when I found a term that was particularly hard to translate into English because it used two kanjis that did not make a word by themselves, and it was hard to find a meaning that connected both.

    ... The previous translator chose "Honorary Flag" as the translation for said term... I chose "Governing". I won't say that my translation for the term was perfect, but I have to wonder what did the previous translator smoke to choose "Honorary Flag" for that term... At that point I just had to change the translation because it was absurdly wrong.

    There was another term that meant "A mountain of corpses and rivers of blood", and the translator used "Final Battle" as the translation... Like... I get that "A mountain of Corpses and Rivers of Blood" is not a fitting name for a title that a character received, but it's not like Final Battle is a good term either... Like geez, it was a title that meant the character killed so many enemies that it could make a mountain of corpses and paint a river red with blood... You can't simply translate that as Final Battle, geez.
    I chose Harbinger of Death myself, which is like... A Mega Loose translation to say the least, but at least it gives a rough feeling of what the original Japanese term means... Instead of Final Battle, which is just like, totally unrelated.

    So uhn... Sometimes you just have to change things because the previous translator sucked at some of their choice of terms, but more often than not it just makes sense to stay consistent... And well, footnotes to explain changes always help too~
     
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  12. Raven Evernight

    Raven Evernight But they never just accepted me for the way I was…

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    I was reading Banished disciples counterattack and halfway through the translation got horrible and they changed the names of the cultivation levels without explaining it
     
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