Discussion Translators Unite Against Cliches!

Tired of reading some stupid isekai where the MC is "weak" but somehow gets OP with their weird quirk ability? Tired of damn otome game/villainess novels? Tired of every single Chinese female transmigration being some doctor or assassin that can fight really well? Tired of stupid xuanhua cultivation bs? Say no more. This is not because these are the only novels on the market, but because translators ONLY CHOOSE TO TRANSLATE THESE NOVELS!

Yes, shocking right? Who would've thought that there were other types of novels? Although translators are free to translate whatever they like, I hope we can unite together and stop translating novels with the same cliche themes over and over. There are plenty of novels and themes that are left untouched.

For example, God of Music and Top Management. Familiar names? These are 'manager novels' that are super cliche and saturated in the Korean novel market. There are so many good novels, not limited to those two, but no one ever translates them. This one of the many examples of untouched cliches that translators can go into. As for Japanese novels, I was shocked to see the surprisingly little amount of 'Sengoku era' novels that are translated. Although this is not a super huge trope like isekai, this is still pretty popular in Japanese culture, but there are very little translated. (I am planning to translate and release a novel with one Sengoku themed, so please keep an eye out for that!) Also, it's like Japanese translators forgot how the whole Japanese novel translation communities began from. Translating fantasy novels like Spice and Wolf. There are many good non-isekai novels and/or pure fantasy novels waiting to be translated (or dropped and waiting to be translated).

List of Stuff That I Think Will Be Super Popular (Japanese):
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-girl-who-spits-up-jewels/
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/why-not-go-to-jusco-with-me-valkyrie/
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/dual-sword-liberator
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3032em/
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9975de/2/
Etc.

There aren't many sports novels in Japanese, but I'd also love to see some sports novels translated from Chinese/Korean. There are many untouched genres that I hope that many other translators would consider as their next project instead of some cliche female doctor transmigration or otome game villainess.

UNITE! CLICHE RESISTANCE!

 

I'd love to see some decent sports novels, and by decent I mean no Chinese ones.

Edit: And let's not forget the profusion of VR novels littering NU.

 

this from me
我的帝国
我在异界建个城
原始文明成长记

 

then i request no korean mmos or power trips in general.

 

Not many true villain MCs to read either

 

any villain like setting turning into an adventurer fantasy trip
or cooking

damn you japan be consistent

 

I wish I could read a KR novel that doesn’t have a cheap or stingy MC that thinks about things other than that mulla, a JP novel with an MC that actually has a set of balls and doesn’t stutter for half the chapter when a girl gets close to him or a CN novel that has an MC with an actual human heart (or at least not a hypocrite). Of course, there are some but they’re so few that you have to spend days weeding through trash to find that hidden gem or just have heaven-defying luck to find it quickly

 

explain, why should i read a whole chapter on what angle, power and direction the MC shoot/hit/punch the football/baseball/opponent when manga can do a better job in a single page?

 

Vote with your wallet, not with words. That’s how the world works.

(Translators are not free to translate whatever they like. They need “generous donations” from readers in order to keep translating.)

 

Cliches is easier to translate.

 

Explain why you read novels at all when you can watch TV adaptations of the same. Explain why you "imagine" when you can simply "see". Explain why I should explain anything when it's just my own taste, and whether you want to read is up to you.

 

Well, you're right, maybe translators should do that... But from my experience, nobody will read the stuff you translate, nobody will care, the few who will care will very rarely show it, it gets depressing... not worth it.

 

That too. Like, we can't afford to sacrifice our private lives with no trade-off at the end of the road. Translations are time-consuming. How do I explain to my gf I can't spend time with her don week-ends because I have stuff to translate? By telling her it's for my hobby? No, it's by telling her there is money to be made.
That's just life.
There is this one novel, Population Control, that I'm working on. Doesn't bring me a buck even though it's extremely hard to translate ('cause there are tons of scientific explanations). How do I justify that? Well I don't, I just lie and say I'm working on something else.

 

Sounds like Ender's Game.

 

It's not a good sign of that those novels only have one review each. Why do you think those novels have the potential to be popular? Disregarding whether it would be profitable or not, it would be discouraging to translate something and not get any comments. Do you remember the Yukkuri Oniisan thread a while ago about how he stopped translating because he didn't get any comments for a long time? He translated novels that had interesting themes.

 

you're statment make's no sense. i remember back in the day when Translators translated for free and had a button for a cup of coffie worth of money not asking all the time or putting stuff behind paywalls or accounts

when sites like this where not a thing and you had to search real hard to find the good stuff to read. i miss those days back when ark was being done on the old site slow but steady i even pressed that coffie button myself a few times . now days i wont hand over a cent.

 

We used to do that 'cause we were teenagers with a lot of time on our hands, simple as that.
And people weren't pestering anyone for daily releases.
And commenters weren't telling translators to go die.

 

1st rule of life EVERYONE GROWS UP
2nd rule of life learn to ignore anything others says to hurt you
3rd rule of life go at your own pace unless you're at your job then obey your boss
You're not truly living life unless you can master theses 3 things so don't try to make excuses
People wanted more and more $$$ cause they greedy simple as that if you and those others cant say it out loud then i'll say it
But i dirgess we have strayed off topic from the source of what this thread is about ill leave this as my last replay

 

But I love my Otome Game Reincarnations...

 

I think you're greedy and selfish for wanting others to work for free for you. Like thinking their work isn't worth shit.
1st rule of life, everyone grows up? If you grow up you don't have time for hobbies anymore, you have a job, you have a gf, a wife, a life. That's what I was saying. What did you think I meant? I'm confused, are you agreeing with me here or were you hoping your words would make sense because you wrote them in caps?
Second rule of life, ignore what everyone says. Well that's a nice rule you put for yourself there, but news flash, most people on earth can't completely follow it except for outcast hermits who don't interact with human beings at all.
Third rule, no you can't go at your own pace. CF rule 2.
You're an entitled leecher, stop making excuses.
And btw you're one of the main reasons people don't want to work for free.