Question Is it just me or the translator fault

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by daildaros, Oct 13, 2019.

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  1. daildaros

    daildaros Well-Known Member

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    I found that in some of the novel and manhua that I read, the translator somehow translated the currency that supposed to be Yuan to Dollar even though we know that the rates for both currency are different. So, it's not like Yuan will turn into Dollar just because you translate it from chinese to english right?
     
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  2. otaku31

    otaku31 Well-Known Member

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    Bet the Chinese govt would love for that to happen... Yuan turning into USD (1:1), I mean. :blobwink::blobwink:
     
  3. nonononononono

    nonononononono NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO

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    if you are talking about exchange rate. Then no, China doesn't want 1:1. They want to depreciate Yuan value.
     
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  4. otaku31

    otaku31 Well-Known Member

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    Why? Can u plz explain? :aww:
     
  5. nonononononono

    nonononononono NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO

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  6. Lazriser

    Lazriser Well-Known Member

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    I see, so it's like reversing China back to it's golden age of trading?
     
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  7. tak

    tak ignorant but well-meant

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    Probably in attempt to localize things, like translating spy name as "Black One" and "Black Two", translating game username, translating measurements to international standards, etc.
    But, i do prefer currency and measurement explanation in TL notes, not converted directly.. Just to preserve the world building.
     
  8. daildaros

    daildaros Well-Known Member

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    Basically, it means that Chinese product are cheaper to import when the value of Yuan are lower than other foreign currency.
     
  9. daildaros

    daildaros Well-Known Member

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    Pffftt, currency aren't something to be "localized", it's doesn't work like that.
     
  10. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

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    I read and watched, well mostly watched when value of things sky rocket or depreciate. Especially, when the countries have their own dollar eg Taiwanese dollar
    Something can be $900 in one scene and $9,000 in another.
    No one wants to read 3.333 cm though. It's annoying when worse when they keep zhang , cun etc
     
  11. daildaros

    daildaros Well-Known Member

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    Well metric system are different, normal people only use kg, meter, and celcius. :blobpeek:
     
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  12. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

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    This is why Western fantasy Chinese novels are more popular.
     
  13. Kemm

    Kemm Custom title

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    I don't know if it has something to do with anything, but the currencies of many countries have their origins in the spanish dollar (more known in its own country as "real"), including US dollars. AFAIK there was once a currency called "chinese dollar" (which would be why Taiwan calls its own as such), so either perhaps they used the same character for both the old and new currency and the translators have both meanings on their dictionaries but choose consistently "dollar", or they are both the same currency.

    Some caution is needed when transating numbers, both magnitudes and units, since I've seen 億 (100 millions) being translated consistently as "billions", which gives as things as a chinese population of 15 billion (instead of the 1.5 billions they are, about the same as India).
     
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  14. Cupcake Ninja

    Cupcake Ninja [Kind Sage][Lord Benevolence][ The Great Paragon]

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    I mean that is true...but in the end does it matter than much? Can just ask for it to be yuan from then on if it bothers you. But personally? As a reader? The currency doesn't. matter to me at all.
     
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  15. zhainan2157

    zhainan2157 『Villager No.2157』『Kawaii Connoisseur』

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    That would be an amazing superpower now that I think about it. To change one currency to another (aka turn 1 dollar in another currency into 1 dollar usd).
    I could go exchange 1.00 usd to a 100,000 rial at a bank and then turn that back into a 100,000 usd with my superpower.
     
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  16. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    Some things shouldn't be translated, and if a translator is doing conversion of some kind, then they're probably doing it wrong. If a particular figure is important for the audience to grasp immediately, it's not exactly hard to just add a translator note in parenthesis.

    It can because it's easy for translators and because that's not actually what the author wrote. Some people don't mind translated names either, but it's almost certainly a mistake. Also, not every reader out there is American so a translation to US dollars will only help out a small part of the audience anyways. This is especially galling when converting metric to imperial units.
     
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  17. Cupcake Ninja

    Cupcake Ninja [Kind Sage][Lord Benevolence][ The Great Paragon]

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    Meh. Currency, i feel, isnt important as it pertains to the story itself. It's names and measurements that I'm more a stickler for. But yeah it is an easy fix. Not sure why the translator would choose dollars over yuan. But again its just one of those things i think readers don't really notice or care about.
     
  18. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    That is somewhat true if you're dealing with currencies like the Japanese Yen where the exchange rate is close to the actual value of the currency. It's less true with something like the Indian rupee where the difference is much greater; thereby giving readers the wrong impression about the amount of money being discussed. And really this is such an easy translation mistake to avoid that it should be a no-brainer.
     
  19. daildaros

    daildaros Well-Known Member

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    Well actually, it is. For example, the author wrote a 1 mil Yuan car then suddenly the translator change it into 1 mil Dollars car, that changes a lot about how we view the object value in the story.
     
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  20. Cupcake Ninja

    Cupcake Ninja [Kind Sage][Lord Benevolence][ The Great Paragon]

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    Hell if i care about how expensive an expensive car is, my dude. I know its supposed to be expensive, the actual amount doesnt really matter to me personally.

    Also, its kinda weird. Cuz when you think about it all these rules are arbitrary. LIke a dollar or yuan can have any value the author wants it to have. So sometimes if these mistakes happen, or if the author himself makes a mistake, the readers either go "Wait wut?" or go. "Well maybe it means something different in the story?" LIke have to think up excuses to cover the mistakes for them. To rationalize to make it fit the story.

    Which is why i kinda stopped pointing out these kind of details. For example one story i read started throwing all the nuclear bombs in the world at a bunch of scorpion monsters to save the world...which of course will mean no one will be able to survive the fall out....but they DO survive. See? It's like that. Logic and things like currency, i've learned, gotta be taken with a grain of salt.

    Although, like toastedRossi said, its so insignificant and easy to fix that it should be a no-brainer. Why NOT be faithful to what the author wrote? I dont give a single fuck about the currency myself, sure, but its so easy to change a dollar sign to a yuan sign.
     
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