Discussion How much does the translation affect your reading experience?

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by Bad Storm, Apr 27, 2021.

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Would you drop a novel due to translation?

  1. Yup, I have standards

    74.1%
  2. Nope, I've mtl-proofed myself *flex*

    25.9%
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  1. Dearling

    Dearling Active Member

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    Yeah, and one or two words is enough to read a whole novel in that language? :blobconfused:
     
  2. Shiroikaze42

    Shiroikaze42 Well-Known Member

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    Right? If only it were that easy. Plus with Chinese and Japanese, reading it is all kinds of more difficult than speaking or listening to it.
     
  3. SylviaViolet

    SylviaViolet Toast to the ones that we lost on the way⚓️

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    Despite being a somewhat frequent MTLer, reading a good translation just feels really good. There's no way a badly translated novel would ever sneak itself into my favorites. I normally just MTL novels which seem to have a decent plot but I don't really find waiting for the chapters to read worth it.

    All novels that have good translations are worth waiting for chapters to release.
     
  4. gomezcarsonk

    gomezcarsonk Member

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    If you do not know the original language, it seems like a "good" translation as long as the grammar is okay. But if you know the original language, you may find translation errors.
     
  5. Bad Storm

    Bad Storm no thought, head empty

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    that also brings up localisation. Some translators heavily localize their works while others try to keep close to the original
     
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  6. shyja

    shyja 『Seinen』『School life』『Sports』

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  7. Josh1

    Josh1 Active Member

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    Just wanted to make my presence known
     
  8. wantek

    wantek Well-Known Member

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    either drop things out or find readable* mtl XD
    usually i'll just go find the raws if i can read the original language
     
  9. Nana24

    Nana24 Well-Known Member

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    If the novel is quite interesting to read, I would read the translation until 1) translator missed a whole chunk of details 2) unbearable to read, then I would read the raws. (sometimes use the mtl web only to read the raws because of gender issues, names issues, etc.)
     
  10. sleib

    sleib Well-Known Member

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    Depends on story tbh.
     
  11. Yakinori

    Yakinori Human

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    No matter how good the novel is, if the translation's quality isn't up to my standards, I would really drop it. If the translation's full of grammatical errors, I really can't focus and enjoy reading the story because I am busy correcting the errors in my mind.
     
  12. prasantbagale

    prasantbagale Well-Known Member

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    If it's a good novel, I will at least try to read the chapters even if they are horrible. If I understand, it's good otherwise drop it.
     
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