News Centinni: Behind the Scenes

Hello everyone.

I am kitket/lanji/salty/xyzebra/tai — the translator of Possessing Nothing from chapters 85-141 and Yeon Lok Heun manhwa 38-43.

Until recently, I was a translator for Centinni, and my previous translator group has spread a different—- and rather vilifying—- account of why I left the group and my attitude towards the transference of my projects.

To read the full story (because I have too many screenshots to share that NUF wouldn't be able to handle it), please go to this page:
https://tiredtranslator.wordpress.com





-Kitket

 

Wait, so what happened really?
Did you actually go around doing that, or was it all made up?
Clarification please?

 

dude just read the post they linked

 

I feel pretty dumb now...

After reading: So that was pretty heavy. I don't have much to say other than that it seems to be mostly misunderstanding? IMO the lack of licensing makes the whole thing a moral gray area anyways, but kitket didn't seem to be talking bad about it, although it might have been taken that way.

I read some of Possessing Nothing 3 or so months ago and translation wasn't that bad IMO
thanks for your work kitket
I hope you can maybe find a translation group that gives you a bit more freedom in the future.

 

Hm... I don’t think I read any of the group’s stuff, although I became aware of them as a group after “No Choco For Doggo” came out horribly botched, and have since been keeping an eye out to avoid them.

 

Yikes. As a person who knows the bare minimum of human resources, it's clear they don't know/care about that.
Just adding more people could be faster, but definitely lowers the quality if they don't know how to work together.

TL;DR, More people = you have to spend time to teach them what the hell is going on = Terrible short-term solution.

Good luck on whatever you intend on doing next.

 

I finished reading your post and I'm really sorry that you had to go through this. I'm believe you but honestly it just looks like they're trying to play the victim and stir up drama no matter what actually happened. Honestly, I just feel really disgusted after seeing those screenshots, and even if I hadn't known the situation I still think it's kind of gross that they're talking about you like you're a "traitor" and just completely slandering you (like seriously, are they children?). I fully support you and I'll be avoiding their novels in the future. I hope that you're doing better mentally and I wish you the best of luck for the future!

 

Hey, this is Myurikko (aka Morin) and yes I'm a part of Centinni. I know I'm going to get a lot of hate for showing up, but I'd like to add some info about this:
I talk with Tinni and Shichi a lot, and none of this was ever brought up until the moment Kitket left. I think I can speak for the majority when I say that I was unaware what was going on behind the scenes. I only found out after Kitket's departure, and I'm really really angry and upset that this happened.
In defense of the group, the normal TLs and editors and the like there are all good people (at least thse I have met). The opinions/statements by the group's leaders DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINIONS OF ALL ITS MEMBERS.
I know this is a terrible thing to learn about. Do with it as you wish. But please, I'd like to ask that people not vilify those who weren't involved or aware of the situation. I'm devastated at the fact that a good friend of mine left and had to endure this.
Thanks for hearing me out,
Myurikko/Morin

 

Okay, finally read through what you wrote. Sounds like Centinni is even worse than I thought. I’m sorry you had to go through all that, and I hope you have a good rest.

 

Obviously what happened should only target the upper management but its obviously just gonna be drama and drama is always just angry mobs fighting each other so yeah

 

everything seems like the same old drama until the moment the translator's personal information was revealed. Man... that just... very very bad....

 

in reality i don't have seen any problems at the entire situation outside of one thing that i will explore at the end:
every SS and everything was pretty standard and i have not seen any problems:
the group wanted speed to make more money.
the TL wanted quality so she made a stand of waiting to keep her quality.
in the end they choice to part away.
even the behind the scenes with the new TL is also normal, who would not be upset when leaving it's job? throwing some comments is standard, as long it is "behind the scenes"!!
this is the adult world people, nothing wrong with it even if it seems that not all people in the group is a "adult" yet by the SS about they not having a account yet, so just a tip: you can create a paypal account without pretty much any problems and use it to receive your "money" and also use it to buy things on the internet.
so i don't understand how people thought that "group" was bad or wrong or why the drama that will be following it up in the next few days.
this is life.

now comes the questionable part: the group leaders started to spread the reason for leaving to be "she wanted more money and we could not pay".
yeah this is pretty low move, at least for the SS's where she clear did not wanted more money, so they are simple lying, simple as that at least if this is everything of the history too, maybe there is some hidden SS that no one showed it yet, but by the ones i saw i find this possibility be very low as she really did not wanted more money.

but hey, this is also life, they needed a reason to push the blame, if it where me i would be prefer to be silent but what we can do, there is a reason of why people keep silent about certain topics in the adult world, sometimes is better do not say anything and keep the doors open than saying something that must not be said and close the doors forever, now that i think about it: knowing when to keep your mouth shut should be when you really could be "considered" a "adult" in my humbly opinion. .

and yeah; i don't care about the personal information it was a d*** move!, from them? yeah, but so what : this is the internet, if you don't want people to know where you are from, don't say-post it, don't have social media account that tag's the place are you have been or anything, after all he should have discovered this from some place.
people thinks too much about how "important" is to keep their info on the internet and there is even a entire industry around it, or better yet there is two one focused on hiding your info on the internet and other spreading it since in today's age, is pretty much impossible with all tag services like google map, face books, and everything else.
if you don't have any of those, gudos for you and i'm truly happy for you, but on the other hand if you are cautious enough to not have any of those, those guy's would not have find your information to spread so easily too at the first place.

Spoiler: this is just some rambling of a crazy man with a lot of time today.

i'm more interesting about the 55% management fee they are asking for since they did not even a license, since translator get's 35% and editor 10%.
i find this number very high; if it where me, i would remove the operational costs and keep 10-20% at best, and yeah i would be open about it: showing them the operational costs, if in the end the translator only makes 1 dollar per chap i would not care, after all i'm taking here about the "real profit".

 

I have a question, does centini have MTL translators or proper editors?

Reason I ask is I tried Tensei Shoujo no Rirekisho from them and there were a lot of errors to the point like it felt like MTL. It says there is an editor but some of the mistakes would be easy for an editor to notice.

Now this could be an exception, and its possible other releases are fine. Just was wondering...

 

Some (a few JP titles) are MTL with heavy editing. The translators are supposed to run it through multiple translators (usually one line at a time) in order to hopefully get the best out of it. As for editors, all I can say is some are more or less observant than others, and I know from experience that if I'm tired, my work won't be as good.
Other than that, the rest of the translators are "official".

 

Mm...there is a lot of drama here. Can't call it exciting or riveting though...

 

Just wanna say, if you're not someone like Webnovel or WW with official rights for translate, you have no right to stop others from translating. This is the nature of "fan translations" which, in my opinion, some groups have taken the courtesy rule too far (even though those same groups poach and break the rule all the same). This is especially the case if the translator has no interest in money. Where money is involved, people are touchy, but I feel that translation has been turning more toxic even though it has no legality behind it...

OP, hope you keep doing what you want. For my selfishness, I hope you keep translating (KR novels are most palatable to me, maybe because I'm from the country haha...) but I would like to send you well wishes even if you don't continue. Hope you meet better people in the future, translator group drama on NU has been getting worse over time. Cheers, stay strong.

P.s. I like your work ethic, quality is always greater over quantity. If people were looking for quantity, MTL would be the norm. Also applauding your maturity over handing over your work. Thoroughly impressed, it's a hard thing to do given the situation.

 

b r u h

Are they okay in the head? Without licenses and contracts, they have absolutely no right to do any of that shit then go act like a white lotus.

Licenses are disgustingly expensive so I, even though it's not really right, think it's okay to fan translate a novel unless you're explicitly asked not to by the author. However, I think it really defines the line between fan translating and more professional novel translating. If you're a fan translator, nothing should be expected, nothing should be forced, and interest should be the number one motivation. Ads and patreon, sure, but everything's at their own pace. Hosts literally have no right to manage the translator's work unless they own the license for the novel. I've heard stories about sites acting like their own big company with shitty management, required release rates, deductible error stuff, and oddly specific paying systems- Organization and management is super important, but sis, why roleplay with harsh ass rules if you don't actually have the license.

It's just my stand on things. I hate how commercial and 'businessy' translating's gotten these days when it should just be hobby unless you're with an actual company. Just cuz you can get ad revenue doesn't mean there should be any rules in place either.

 

Not surprising, no one knows who my translators are for a reason.

Airing dirty laundry is just poor taste too.
You could have used inbox if you needed moral support.

And learn this lesson, keep your information private.
Do not reveal it for any reason.
People are cruel when money is involved.

Only slaves can be considered traitors when they quit.
I am hoping no one promotes slavery
The world is crap enough.

I have gone through up to 50 translators.
Quitting and getting fired is normal

 

Just going to slide in here and say... It's rather disheartening to hear that this completely turn some readers away from Centinni. At the end of the day, there are a lot of translators/editors/staff that work under Centinni that have no control over the general running of the group. Nonetheless, they are working to provide quality translations to the readers.

Therefore, if you're interested in a novel that just happens to be translated by someone within Centinni.. And the translation is in a quality that you can tolerate. Please don't let this be a reason you're turned away.

Towards OP: I hope you will have a relaxing break and will return to the circle in some near future. Best of luck.