Hi everyone, I'm planning (hoping?) to start translating and I was wondering about some common courtesy things you think are important for translators to know, or any other tips. I've looked through NUF guidelines/FAQs/tip threads but I might have missed something, so sorry if I ask something redundant. Thank you all for the help! Some specific questions I have, and extra personal thoughts in spoilers: Is it okay to start translating from the beginning if the novel already has decent quality released chapters? Spoiler I just kind of want to have the experience of translating from beginning to end, but if I do this I plan to translate the released chapters and release my versions all at once, then continue with uploading chapters where the old translators left off. But I don't want to make it like I think the old ones are bad or anything. (I know I could always start with translating a novel nobody has translated yet, but the novels I'm currently thinking about translating are all ones that already have releases up.) Do you have a stockpile or update as you translate? Do you translate and read at the same time, or read it all first before you translate? Spoiler I'm really leaning towards the former (I've found I'm incredibly slow at reading Chinese) but I also don't want to end up dropping something because I got bored. Any thoughts? Why should/do translators avoid Qidian novels? Spoiler I understand that they're licensed and Qidian is greedy/whatever but I'm still a little confused about it after looking through the forum, so if anyone can give a little more context I'd really appreciate it! How do you like your footnotes? Spoiler I actually like when footnotes are bulleted/in parentheses in the text and I'm not the biggest fan of the clickable ones that jump to the end/back up, but it seems that most readers like this? I plan to look into how to have footnotes you can click and make a popup (not just a hover one, I have a hard time using those on my phone).
1. If the translation is good, very rarely do I see someone actually start a translation from the beginning and reach the point where the last translator stopped... - like Duke's Daughter - and That Person. Later on... If the translation was bad, that's a different story. So I'd say no. I don't even follow translators who try this since I expect them to stop 10 chapters in. 4. Qidian has a reputation. On the Translator side, they've been known to renege on contracts and steal your work if you don't say yes. On the reader side, they make moves that obviously aren't with good intentions in mind. The assumption being that they need to do whatever to get market share and bad reputation can be swept under the rug eventually due to the average netgoer's poor memory. For instance, they make promises that they don't keep. Like when their PR person promised no paywall when QI started . Afterwards, apologists claim that it wasn't a blanket promise but a tentative one and a company has to make money. Well, duh. But you don't do it by bringing a crowd into a buffet with promises that the food is free before showing them the bill after they take a bite. That's shady. 5. I like interactive footnotes since they kind of mess with the content thieves. It's obvious their site isn't designed for it, so if you load up on the numbers, it might work against their reader's experience.
1 yes 2.yes usually 7 chapters. some have more than 20 chapters. 3. both 4. they will DMCA your work if your work becomes popular, but if you only translate it for fun, then just go for it. the book that I am currently translating is from qidian. 5 try javascript onclick show div or something like that. don't go for pop-ups as some browsers will simply block pop-ups.
1. As a translator, I believe either is fine as translating everything from the beginning allows you to gain a general sense of how the story has progressed; you take the time to digest all of the chapters' contents and thus improve your understanding and mental picture of the plot and setting. But as a reader, I would prefer you translate from where the other group stopped as I want more chapters as fast as possible. 2. No, I do not MTL and am a student in a very stressful school and so I sadly do not have sufficient time to translate in batches. I translate when and where I can. Please note that this is a personal choice and depends entirely on you and your situation. 3. To me, reading ahead just means one thing: context. I translate Overlord WN and I have a good grasp on the story and setting, so I read as I go as I do not need to understand what is going on. To be honest, reading while translating takes away some of the fun as it has become work so I can't really recommend it for stamina reasons. You need to be your novel's biggest fan and translation is a major drain on your mental capacity. 4. I agree with Tamasaga I feel back for the translators who work so hard on good novels. (Imperfectluck-sama!) But I will admit that I use free sites to read their stuff. 5. None at all . I feel that footnotes are mostly unnecessary unless the author is explicitly trying to make a reference to something. If you feel that they are necessary, then add them. After all, footnotes may help readers to understand your translation, but not in mine.
1. Do whatever feels best for you. Personally, it would depend on how much I love the work, but in general, I think my time would be better spent starting a new project earlier. 2. I stockpile at least 4 chapters. 3. I started translating a project before I finished reading all of the books, but then I read volumes 2 and 3, and the story went off the rails. I immediately stopped translating after that (I hadn't finished a single chapter yet luckily) and moved onto another project. I finished reading the 3 volumes of the new project, and I am so in love with it, I don't see myself getting bored with it. My reading is really fast and I don't stop to look up words, so I get a better grasp on the nuances when I'm working on the translation and that helps keep my interest up. 5. I like the hover type footnotes that are also clickable.
Thanks for your thoughts about #1, that was something I was worrying about. I'm still not 100% sure what I'll do but it was good to see your thoughts about it. I also love what you said about the footnotes I hadn't thought about it but that's a really funny way to deal with them! Thank you! Especially for the tip about the footnotes I hadn't thought about the context as a translator! But I definitely agree with what you say as a reader, I feel the same way haha. Thank you for the advice about reading while translating!
Answer List : 0. You must say Hello to the @Tony first..., don't forget about it. 1. Yup. but at least, ask permission from the current translator, sometimes they like made some drama about someone who stole their project 2. Yes and No. yes if you want have s sponsored chapter or premium chapter. No, if you don't want it. 3.Read and translate at the same time..., 4. QI will nukes you..., you will get DMCA 5. you can make something like a Spoiler if it's to much hassle for you good luck,
I'm glad to hear your thoughts about translating after reading. I think I'll have to see how it goes when I first start. Thank you! this is probably dumb but Tony is in charge of NU(F)? also could you please let me know how to tag or how I should say hello thank you ;u; Should I still do this if it has an inactive translator(?) according to NU rules? (No active translator/translators announce they've dropped it) Or is it okay to just start? (edited because I accidentally mentioned the wrong "translator dropped" rule, I used the one for NUF pickup requests)
@Tony is The OWNER of NU/NUF, you can type-->@{account-name-here} without {}, example @Tony you can visit my profile (click on my name or my avi then click to my name again or click profile page link) you can do it to @Tony just click this @Tony , there's unwritten rule about it, if there's no announcement for dropping a novels, but already there's no update in 3 month, you can pick it. @Westeller can you add something too ?
I'm not a translator, but whatever. 1. You'll probably be burned out and readers would be much happier if you didn't, but if it's something you feel you need to to do, just do it. There are legitimate reasons to redo even a decent quality translation. 2. Most translators have a stockpile, as far as I know, though the amount varies. Many allow access to some or all of it for payment, using a Patreon account or other system. Something to think about, if you want to make a bit of money for your work. 3. Doing the latter is obviously preferable for accuracy reasons. Knowing the story beforehand will resolve any confusion you have regarding how some things should be translated. On the other hand, if I was a translator, I'd probably want to do the former anyway. Translating is work, reading is pleasure. Might as well mix the two. 4.If you translate a Qidian novel around here, it's not a question of 'if', but 'when', you'll have to deal with Qidian International (AKA Webnovel). There are basically four possibilities here. The first is that they'll offer you a job translating that novel for them. The second is that they'll offer to buy your chapters from you and demand you cease further translation - they'll find someone else to pick it up. The third is that they'll just take your chapters and demand you cease further translation. The fourth is that they won't want your chapters, but they'll demand you take them down and cease further translation anyway. The fourth usually happens when they just get someone else to translate the novel from the beginning. There may be some additional variation, I guess, but no matter how it goes it's just going to be a hassle for you. Your only real method of refusal to whatever they decide is to ignore them, ignore any threats of legal action or DMCA notifications, and try to outpace the super-quick-but-poor-quality competition you eventually get from them. I wouldn't necessarily say that you shouldn't work on any Qidian novels. Only that you should be prepared for the hassle. 5. On-hover footnotes are definitely the best. No contest.
@Tony hello! thank you for all the work you put into NU/NUF. I've only been here for a few months but it's been incredibly helpful for me as a first-time webnovel reader. I don't know what else to say but I just think it's really cool NU exists and thank you so much ;w;
I recently started translating so I hope I can offer some of my own perspective: 1. Yes, but it is a chore and it really depends on how good you want your translations to be. Most translations I've seen are so-so, if you think you can do better and would rather not have inconsistencies with others' translations, it won't hurt to redo everything from chapter 1. 2. I just started recently so I don't have a stockpile, but most people have stockpiles to fulfill their schedules. 3. I think it's best to read ahead by a few chapters so you get a feel for whether the novel is worth translating or not, but you shouldn't read the whole novel otherwise translating really boring. P.S. You'll find that translating is even slower than reading 4. You may get a DMCA take down request. 5. I currently a plugin in wordpress called easy footnotes. You can hover over the superscript numbers to see the footnotes, or click it to jump to the bottom/back up. Though I literally started translating a few days ago, within 1-2 days, my content have been scraped by a few sites. One site messed up the footnotes, while another site linked their footnotes (the hover thing didn't work though).
aaa I recognize your username from the pickup thread for 嫡嫁千金, I have your translation open on my to-read list Thanks for the advice about reading ahead, I think that makes a lot of sense, it's a good balance between the two. Also, thanks for the stuff about footnotes! I can't believe that people take translations so fast... I literally clicked to see your translation the day it was released and it's not even been an entire week. To be honest, after seeing what you guys are saying about your work getting stolen, I want to add these kinds of footnotes more and more... lol :')
1. Oh sure! But be warned the fans will split, and other translators will put you under more scrutiny and may be offended. you will have a harder time joining the industry unless you reach out to the other TL and hit them up first 2. Oh ABSOLUTELY. It's the only way I'd be comfy with releasing, so my readers can have regular updates and I have a buffer. 3. Read as I TL. The other is really tedious unless the book is uber engaging. 4. Copyright... blows flute sadly 5. I have a HTML website so I just cite like this[1] then have a TL note section. Sorry readers, my website is flipping the hell out.
Thanks for the warning about translating from the start, I wouldn't have thought about it at all otherwise.
Aye, I've only been translating for 1-2 months but here's my 2 cents. 1. I think it really depends on you? Personally, if it has an active translator then I'd just avoid translating it to (1) respect the original translator, and (2) avoid drama. But if the translator is MIA-ed and I wish to pick it up, then it depends on the quality and content of the original translations (e.g. I might redo it if the terms they used are going to be different from what I'm planning to use, etc.) 2. Uh, most I know stockpile but for me, I usually update as I translate. If you think you might frequently run into situations such as lack of time to translate due to school/work/etc, then it might be better to have a stockpile. 3. I've done both actually, but for the latter, I usually try to be at least several chapters ahead. Finishing the novel first can help you decide if you really want to translate it (since you might change your mind about translating it later), plus it helps me to understand the characters better since I usually need to understand them in order to decide how to set their tones or bring out their character in the translation.) At the very least, I think it'd be best to read at least a few chapters ahead so you know what's going to happen next. I find that it does help in the translation sometimes. 4. No idea about Qidian, I usually use JJWXC. 5. I use easy footnotes. I'd prefer if it appears on hover and also comes in clickable, numbered footnotes at the end (in case hover doesn't work on some platforms). I think footnotes is something that's up to your preference though, but I feel like most sites use the clickable one. Good luck with translating!
Oh I like what you said about being ahead to see the tone! This reminds me of how Alan Rickman knew what would happen with Snape so he would do certain things during the portrayal. I hadn't thought about it but I definitely anticipate that translating dialogue will need me to have a good handle on the character. I know that one thing I think about between translations is the translator's interpretation of the character or the author's original writing in general can impact the eventual meaning of the translation.
I'm a new translator myself and I hope my experience can enlighten you a bit. In my opinion, Just give them the heads up. And there's alot of untranslated gem hidden, why not try the new novel? I don't stockpile and usually update as I translate. Can't do it with assignment and everything else as I'm a student, so does my editor. I read first before translate so I know whether or not the novel I'm translating is worth the blood, tears and sweat. Plus it's easier for you to translate if you understand the bigger picture. About Qidian, I'm not sure, I use jjwxc too as Lianyin I like my footnotes in between the paragraph. It's easier to read, I dont have to jump down and up, and I don't have to hover. I usually use my cheap, small screen phone to read novel, so its hard to hover or etc. Make sure you back up your novel. I usually directly edit and update in wordpress, which is a bad practice because wordpress would suddenly delete your blog with no reason at all. Thats is for the free wordpress. If you pay for the domain or join any group of translator who pay the domain, your blog wouldn't get deleted easily. Good luck and welcome abroad partner
I like what you said about footnotes because I have the same reasoning lol! I wanted to get inline clickable footnotes but I didn't realize Wordpress only let you use plugins if you had a paid subscription so I think I'm going to just have them in between and change later if I can find something that works on free Wordpress. Thank you for the extra tip about backing it up!