Negative Reviews And Why You Should Ignore Them

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by Wujigege, May 16, 2019.

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  1. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

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    About a decade ago when I started watching anime, I enjoyed it a lot but I have to admit that I barely understood 50% of what I was watching. If I understood what loli was. I probably won't have watched most and enjoyed them but that's a whole other story.
    Cultural differences, culture shock when reading novels can lead to readers not even understanding 30%. Dao , Taoism etc doesn't help.
    That is why I feel that translators who leave phrases untranslated to keep "flavor" are doing themselves a disservice.
    In a perfect world, Eastern idiomatic expressions will be replaced with Western equivalents instead of phrases that make no sense to a Westerner.
    Oh well, we can only dream.
    Screw you lolicons!!
     
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  2. Kuroguma

    Kuroguma [Cyber Lich] [Aspie] [SOX][Forgotten Perv]

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    So you want translators to use Way and Wayism?
     
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  3. AIm21

    AIm21 Well-Known Member

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    What if words don't have an Western equivalence? It is not like Western and Eastern share a linguistic history that can easily be translated into another. If that was the case Google Translate would be the God of Translation.
     
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  4. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

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    Haha The Way sounds much cooler haha
    4 Kids dub of One Piece comes to mind :blobjoy:
    @userunfriendly
     
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  5. Zackarov

    Zackarov ~ Cheese Bear ~

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    Screw you too!!
     
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  6. Evil_Ginger

    Evil_Ginger 『Lawful Neutral』『Cheese Master』『安德鲁』

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    *can't tell if this is an attempt for people to use more Hobbyist Translation or not*
     
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  7. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

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    It is about the reviews of Show Me The Money, a volare novel.
    The novel seems to be filled with a Chinese puns. Without notes every paragraph to explain, I can understand why people think it's bad.
    When a novel is written for the local population, this can happen
     
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  8. Zackarov

    Zackarov ~ Cheese Bear ~

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    why don't adopt it as it is? it's not like English is pure "English". there are many words adopted from east to west and vice versa.
     
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  9. AIm21

    AIm21 Well-Known Member

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    Yes I agree, but that is not what OP is asking here in this sentence, "That is why I feel that translators who leave phrases untranslated to keep "flavor" are doing themselves a disservice."
     
  10. Nightow1

    Nightow1 Well-Known Member

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    Sure but would people understand these "new" words at all without the context? How many would know what a "Baker's Dozen" is without knowing how it came about? Or "Hobson's Choice"? And this is in English! And what is a Supercalifragelisticexpealadosious? :p
     
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  11. elengee

    elengee Daoist Ninefaps

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    Da wae to loli.
     
  12. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

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    You were talking about idiomatic expressions. I will address that first.
    I said "In a perfect world" before making that statement.
    On the other point, leaving words untranslated, you don't have to take my word for it

    https://forum.novelupdates.com/threads/way-to-read-novel-with-complicated-terms.86083/#post-4917990
    https://forum.novelupdates.com/thre...and-why-does-he-have-a-gong-and-a-wang.58780/
     
  13. LtBeefy

    LtBeefy Well-Known Member

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    Counter 2 that. Many English worlds I dont know about and I'm a native English speaker. Just means I have to either Google it or infer the meaning of the word from the way its used.

    Honestly, if a translator should keep original word or use an English word, to me is an advanced skill. As you need to be able to apply the reasoning for such a thing consistently, know if its acceptable to the audience, and if actually fits.

    Edit

    Also hate asianhobbyist. You turn me off any novels that get picked up by you due to your history of dropping so many novels. Thus now I drop novels or dont repickup novels if they go to your site for I assume they will get dropped a month or 2 later.
     
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  14. jinxs2011

    jinxs2011 [Rebel Against Normality][Writer of the Unusual]

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    I'm terribly, terribly sorry. It's just... Nobody has made this joke yet.
    [​IMG]
     
  15. nobodyimportant

    nobodyimportant Well-Known Member

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    You mean all the 2 and 3 star reviews for a novel that has literally nothing going for it except its humor, but proceeds to spend 75% of the word count explaining terrible game mechanics, monotonously describing fight scenes, trying to make the MC look a badass, and doing everything possible to make the reader hate every single character in the novel, instead of just focusing on the one thing (humor) the author isn't absolutely terrible at?

    I dunno, I feel like I should have paid more attention to the negative reviews before slogging my way through 20 chapters of meh.
     
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  16. Deleted member 155674

    Deleted member 155674 Guest

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    Speaking of cultural differences, I love this meme(which actually happened and still happen, onigiri appearently is jelly filled donuts for some people :hmm:)
    [​IMG]
     
  17. J-Mitch

    J-Mitch ⚖ Tipping the Scales of the World

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    I agree. Puns/idioms that are not explained can just make my mind go blank. I'm like... "ok?" But when translators explain it, it does add some beauty and depth to the story. More importantly for untranslated portions. It doesn't stick with you, and even with an explanation, the meaning doesn't come off as well.

    That is my opinion, at least, as a reader.
     
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  18. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

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    Haha it's a free country internet. You do what you like and I do what is feasible for my website.
    Even Webnovel.com drops novels, reality bites.
    Peace!
     
  19. Karyehs

    Karyehs Well-Known Member

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    I also don't enjoy reading pinyin and untranslated chinese word jokes that don't make any sense in english.

    I believe a translator should try to find ways to express even un-translatable words and flavors into english, even if it takes some effort and an extra sentence (like splitting up 1 long complex sentence into 2-3 shorter once, if necessary).

    And word-jokes should be adjusted to english, or cut away. (jokes which really only exist to make a joke, not half joke, half important stuff)
     
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  20. Lil K.O

    Lil K.O [Loki]

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    The only reviews I ironically trust are bad ones
     
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