Comments on Profile Post by Astaroth

  1. BB_Tensei
    BB_Tensei
    Ah, I get it. Frankly I've always thought of a proper MTL like something people do with gibberish to make it passable, but I guess i was wrong.
    Jan 5, 2018
  2. Astaroth
    Astaroth
    well it depends on what you think is passable... A lot of people seemed to enjoy xianxiaworld "translations" and you can check monster paradise on QI for yourself for example...

    Let's just say that depending on what you compare it to MTL isn't bad at all...
    Jan 5, 2018
  3. BB_Tensei
    BB_Tensei
    Well I refer to most MTLs I've read, which tend to be random JP web novels, since with JP I might actually get the gist of what is getting translated. As for gibberish, that's just using Google Translate to read on Syosetu, which I tried for a few novels. That's why I'm eager to ask around.
    Jan 5, 2018
  4. BB_Tensei
    BB_Tensei
    CN machine translations feel like some alien aboriginal trying to explain quantum physics to a Russian farmer, then they somehow understand each other, but it makes no sense.
    Jan 5, 2018
  5. Astaroth
    Astaroth
    By the way, have you read/tried any MTL? Some novels are more easily translated than others depending on the phrasing.

    If I remember correctly Chronicles of Primordial Wars was quite easy to read even with a relatively small glossary

    edit: oh JP MTL? Actually JP MTL is much worse than Chinese... There's no decent MTL for JP yet
    Jan 5, 2018
  6. BB_Tensei
    BB_Tensei
    I haven't read that one specifically. Will give it a try. Rather have a go at MTLing myself, though.
    Jan 5, 2018
  7. Astaroth
    Astaroth
    Oh... I see. You're not making a distinction between MTL that has been edited and not?

    When you read MTL on some site it's generally been edited in some way by someone. I read fairly decent/understandable JP EDITED mtl for Re:Monster as an example.

    But that's more about the editor than MTL. With a good editor for chinese MTL I'm quite sure you wouldn't even notice it's MTL
    Jan 5, 2018
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  8. LuftRauser
    LuftRauser
    ... i wonder how your post can get past 140 quotation
    Jan 5, 2018
  9. BB_Tensei
    BB_Tensei
    And that's why asked about the editing process. :D What makes a good edit?
    Jan 5, 2018
  10. Astaroth
    Astaroth
    @LuftRauser It's only the initial post on your own wall that has 140. Otherwhise it's 420 or something iirc? The 140 limit is very annoying I know.... (420 is too little as well btw...)

    Anyway, a good edit? I'm not sure... I haven't exactly been looking out for edited MTL (that's good).
    Jan 5, 2018
  11. Astaroth
    Astaroth
    That kind of beat the whole point of MTL anyway... If you're going to edit every chapter you might as well just actually learn chinese...

    But anyway, a good edit would be about taking what's given and phrasing it in english... So it's more about just knowing english than translating... Of course not wholly true but more or less
    Jan 5, 2018
  12. LuftRauser
    LuftRauser
    Ohhh... ( ̄▽ ̄)
    Jan 5, 2018
  13. BB_Tensei
    BB_Tensei
    I see. Thanks for taking the time to explain, especially about what software is being used.
    Jan 5, 2018
  14. Astaroth
    Astaroth
    Some novels where the author make up their own sayings and such would obviously be difficult for a proper translation, but otherwhise most of them you can just google and there's lots of dictionaries and plenty of the chinese pages include translations in english for the idioms etc
    Jan 5, 2018
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  15. Astaroth
    Astaroth
    You can do some fancy stuff with regex or similiar (to re-arrange the order of the sentences), when I MTLed on my own with systranet + word repalacer II it helped a ton.

    But anyway, for meh-decent-good MTL you can check some novels on LNMTL. Besides grammar at parts not being so good it's fine. (And besides the high quality translations like some WW TLs a lot of translators don't have decent grammar anyway)
    Jan 5, 2018
  16. BB_Tensei
    BB_Tensei
    I see. So it's no different than what a lot of local news services do with European language news here. O,o
    Jan 5, 2018
  17. BB_Tensei
    BB_Tensei
    Oh yeah, I do remember you posting about MTLing yourself, now. Also I agree with the last point. People could at least get a Grammarly plugin or something.
    Jan 5, 2018
  18. Astaroth
    Astaroth
    If only it was just grammar... While there's a lot more translations than on QI, I feel more ok with having them as the bunching bag...

    Anyway, on QI it really is hit and miss with the translations... Some have pretty good edited MTL, others are just blatant. And of course they do have actual translators for some novels as well...

    But anyway, Monster Paradise which I tried the other day... "Protoss"
    Jan 5, 2018
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  19. Astaroth
    Astaroth
    神族 is the translation for the starcraft 2 race "protoss" english to chinese. So guess what come up if you google 神族 (God Race)? Protoss.

    This "translator" seriously "translated" 神族 as protoss in the novel. (among countless other things)
    Jan 5, 2018
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  20. Astaroth
    Astaroth
    And of course there's things like like demigods etc, so what are they? Half Protoss? seriously... Even if it's MTL and you just googled it you've got to have some brain cells in there somewhere to realise protoss make no sense...

    And I'll stop here so I don't turn your profile to my personal rant space lol
    Jan 5, 2018
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  21. BB_Tensei
    BB_Tensei
    Nah, keep ranting. My profile is mostly a spam space, anyway.
    Jan 5, 2018
  22. Astaroth
    Astaroth
    hehe... I think I'll stop though. But I am curious. Have you read any novel that was on xianxiaworld or the like? For example The Magus Era, God of Slaughter and some other ones I don't remember. Oh right ATTG was on there for a while and they out-paced that combination group... Xianxia Tales they called themselves I think?

    Shit translation but they got the readers because of the release rate...
    Jan 5, 2018
  23. BB_Tensei
    BB_Tensei
    Nothing on xianxiaworld ever caught my eye. Frankly I avoid most cultivation novels, due to a weird personal experience. I've read mostly popular CN novels, like RTW, WMW (Poisoning The World also counts I guess?), Reign of the Hunters, then some When A Mage Revolts, Global Evolution, My MCV and Doomsday, and a few others I have a hard time remebering the title of.
    Jan 5, 2018
  24. Astaroth
    Astaroth
    So you haven't read some of the awful/meh translations?

    Anyway, about MTL...

    Basically there will be some quirks, some switching between the tenses, wrong order, missing "a" "the" and so on. For the more difficult to read MTL you've got to read the whole sentence and 'puzzle' it together sort of. Generally "just read long enough and you get used to it" is the advice

    p.s. doomsday? As in doomsday wonderland on QI?
    Jan 5, 2018
  25. BB_Tensei
    BB_Tensei
    No, My MCV And Doomsday is the whole title IIRC. Doomsday Wonderland have a cultivation focus? I have to ask, reading about that particular topic turns me into some kind of Warhammer 40k character and I get bored if there's nothing to detest as subhuman. :D
    Jan 5, 2018
  26. Jimminx
    Jimminx
    Warhammer 40k character? Are you an Inquisitor? A Commissar?
    Jan 5, 2018
  27. BB_Tensei
    BB_Tensei
    @Jimminx More of the latter.

    @Astaroth just read the synopsis and remembered that one. I've had it on hold before reading for a while, until I have the mood for it. What can you recommend me about it?
    Jan 5, 2018
  28. Astaroth
    Astaroth
    Doomsday Wonderland is a Zombie-esque novel. Basically there are worlds that get progressively worse. Besides the environment there's also different kinds of "Duoluozhong" (Fallen) that are human-turned-monsters. Basically there's 3 options when a world initiate the destruction phase. you die, you awaken, or you degenerate into a Fallen.
    Jan 5, 2018
  29. BB_Tensei
    BB_Tensei
    Ah, so the standard Asian post-apocalypse, with superpowers, monsters and backstabbing. What I know about it is that it's heavier and more dramatic, which got me kinda interested.
    Jan 5, 2018
  30. Astaroth
    Astaroth
    The 'worlds' thing is sort of like in the infinity novels and such. After the initiation other awakened from other worlds are transported, and anyone who survive long enough is transported to yet another world that just begun its destruction phase after a while so it continue world after world.

    It was quite interesting actually, and I don't read a lot of female protag novels.
    Jan 5, 2018
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  31. BB_Tensei
    BB_Tensei
    I do love my cycles of death and destruction. Thanks for the recommend, will check it out as soon, as I have the actual time for it.
    Jan 5, 2018