Discussion Do you think it's okay to complain a novel's translation quality?

I can relate.

 

I'm saying this a someone who doesn't translate.
I think it's okay to add critiques like "this 'misspelled word' is supposed to be spelled like this 'correctly spelled word'."
but not to insult the translator. I've seen comments say the translation was trash and that the translator must be joking for putting it up. That's not okay. They don't have to do anything, they are being kind by helping. If someone doesn't like a translation they don't have to read it, they can mlt on their own.

 

Yes you can complain and I do it all the time. That doesn't mean that somehow they owe me to make better translations and to provide said translations for free, it just means that I think their translation(s) is/are bad.

And just for the record, most translations these days do get money (ads, patreon, etc.). Imho it's pretty sad when someone posting unedited MTL can get as much money as professional translators just because of clueless readers.

Yeah when you constantly see the same person talking but they have 2-3 different names you know the "translator" doesn't even read what they "translate", they just run it through google translate and call it a day.

 

Why wouldn't it be okay? I mean, they put it on the internet. If they don't want people to complain then they shouldn't put all those trash on the internet in the first place.

 

In my opinion as someone who wants to follow a career in translation, it's totally okay as long it's constructive criticism. If it's just plainly bashing then no.

Well, that's just me though. Each for its own I guess.

 

Personally, my bottom line for English translation quality is that I can (1) recognize it as English and (2) understand, without constant guessing, what is said.

Otherwise, to be honest, it's not English, a language, or a translation, because the main function of language is to communicate.

When it comes to criticism, I think it is a sign of caring about your work... if no one cared about your work or had no expectations for it, you'd get no feedback.

They care enough to communicate to you, and you have reached them. Way to go, you.

(Finland is one exception to this, though, if you hear no comments about anything, your work is going good and there's no complaints.)

Of course, all but constructive criticism can just be ignored as the hot air it is.

Some unknown dude on the other side of globe thinks you're gay/lolicon 'cos you translate "kiddy" stuff for fun? Who cares about him? He's nobody and can remain as one.

Being scared of constructive criticism is like being scared of someone caring about your work... being scared of progress, improvement and honest human interaction.

I find fake positivity and encouragement more insulting, hostile and counter productive.

 

As I said, if those comply with what I replied, then your complains are valid. I pretty much outlined everything that can be addressed for "free" translations. Payed translations are a whole different case.

 

by the way does anyone here know babelnovel? it's a paid translation siye/app like webnovel but the quality is MTL at best and the one this discussion is about at average. just informing.

 

Nope. Sounds bad.
Honestly I don't do donations etc. But I've been trying to at least buy official licensed translations of novels that I like.

 

yeah but not everyone got the money to do so enen if we wanted. but it really is bad i tried to force my self to read a 1000 chapters of that translation quality then after reading a finely translated one or just a normal english paragraph i was suddenly in a situation where i don't know what language i'm reading so i stoped it. "don't read badly translated novels it will corrupt your existing knowledge of the language that you know" it took me a few days to rehabilitate my mind and recalibrate it.

 

10 or 20 chapters maybe fine. . . but welp if the story is at 100+ chapters and not even an inkling of improvement. . .
then that's bot good,

and welp if people do complain on commebts that means they are really reading your work,
some will not just comment then silently leave,

 

It depends, if they're getting paid for it then it's fine to complain. No if it's just out of a hobby, they might throw a tantrum and stop translating.


If they're asking $65/ch as "suggested" donations and they give you crappy translations, then you better warm those fingers up and give them a long ass rant.

 

it ok to complain~
but is it good enuf to care that different matter~
complain is just another type of feedback~ some good some pure trash~

 

Complains are all fine, as long as they're somewhat specific. I've seeb many just tend to say things like "grammar/spelling is bad" "you should work on your grammar/spelling" etc. It's fine and all, but it is too general to serve any good purpose to the already busy translators since they have to find their mistakes and also what is actually wrong about said mistake.
At least putting some effort in posting your complains/feedback in such a way that they can actually learn without too much effort on their part would help them more than just single liners.

 

I used to receive some complaints back when my English really sucked. All I have to say is, constructive criticism was a big help.
But some people should keep in mind that telling a 16-year-old working for free to go die is not exactly constructive or helpful.

 

They'll be able to improve their skills if people provide constructive criticism. Insulting complaints are likely just going to be a demotivator if the person doesn't learn to ignore them.

Now the one that gets me would be bad reviews/low ratings of a novel because of a bad translation. There are some people that treat the two as if they are equivalent when they aren't. It would be more constructive to distinguish between the two.

 

A lot of good novels actually do get ruined by "translators" that don't seem to have a good grasp on both English as well as the language of the novel they're translating. The content they produce gets really messed up due to both wrongful translations as well as the exremtely horrible grammar and sentence structures that makes no sense. Reading these atrocities will only provides bad experience to the reader while at the same time downgrading a well written story into something that a kindergarderner who just started learning English would write.

I honestly think NU should remove half of the novels that are currently listed because it's just a waste of time to read such badly translated garbage.

 

I complain MTL translations, especially when they mistaken the he/she pronouns, wrongly translate character's name, mistakenly translated some keywords/slangs into utter nonsense. I strictly don't recommend MTL-er to translate ancient china novels or cultivation novels, it's a disaster.

 

I usually only leave comments when I see something is really off, like a specific term being translated too literally or if the mistake is altering the plot.

 

Of course it's acceptable. Some 'translations' are nothing but edited MTL and they deserve every harsh word. Actually, they deserve to burn in hell...
There is nothing wrong with demanding that the translator is at least fluent in English. A translation full of grammar and spelling errors, MTL-ed idioms that don't make sense in English, literal translations that don't match the context of the scene

does HUGE disservice to the novel and its author.

As for arguing whether X should have been translated as A rather than B... As long as it's tactful and backed up with evidence and examples - it should be fine.