Hi, I am a translator. I just realized today that the Chinese author rewrote the entire first arc of the story that I'm translating. However, I have only translated about half of the original 1st arc. Should I retranslate the entire new 1st arc or continue with the old arc or should I translate both? For translators, has this ever happened to you before?
It depends on how much of the story has been changed. I am not a TL, but as a reader, if the changes are significant and I am invested in the story, I would read again from the start. But if the changes are minor such that they could be considered to be just edits, I wouldn't bother. I am guessing that as a TL, you might want to consider slowly going back chapter by chapter to correct them.
It's completely different. Actually, the Chinese author finished writing the story a couple months ago, but I think he/she went back to revise things. Originally, the author only made some minor changes so I told my readers and decided not to change it. However, today, the Chinese author completely changed the story. As a reader, would you be interested in reading both versions?
I agree with mister mango, a retranslation would be for the best. ^^ Good luck, I look forward to reading it!
To be honest if you feel like doing double work, then you can finish translating the old version that you had already done halfway, but since the author has already scrapped the old idea, what you are doing is basically giving the readers another perspective of what the story might be. For me as a casual reader, i don't care of any old versions and "compare and contrast", the latest version is always fine for me.
Of course not, I'm actually leaning towards re-translating, but I also want to complete the old 1st arc (mostly because I invested a lot of time into it already).
Do you also think there’s a chance the author will go ahead and start changing the second arc too??? Since s/he started revising from the first arc surely/possibly/maybe will continue onto the second arc???? Especially if the revised first arc is totally different from the version u were translating?
I'm not sure, but even if he/she does, I probably won't get to it before he/she changes it. Also, I do understand why the author changed the first arc because it was a little cliche. I've scanned the new first chapter and it seems to be set up better and gives background about the MC.
as a reader id have to say I am curious and would like to read it, but since Im so far ahead in the story I don't think id go back to read it immediately I'd probably finish the novel and go back to read the first arc. I never re-read a book I finished unless it was really good or the author changed the story so I need to reread that change portion.
I did some digging around, so I have new information now. If the author does change the second arc, I think it should be minor changes. I found that the author already changed the first arc around March, but he/she posted it separately from the original novel at the start but they made revisions to the original novel around today. Since I don't see any other stories related to this story, I think there shouldn't be any more major changes.
Ok that’s a relief let’s just hope this possibility is tru and u won’t have to go thro crisis of whether to wait for the author to completely “rewriting” the story and just yeet it and start wondering whether u should translate both version lol But good luck