Discussion Development of Korean webnovels in western community

What do you guys think of the way Korean Web-novels have been introduced and have so far developed in the western community? Why is it so much slower in development compared to their Chinese and Japanese counterparts?
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We've already seen a rapid increase in Korean translations, (as well as greater variations in genres...I'm referring to K Web-novels that are not dungeon/game-element related such as Rebirth of The Heavenly Demon, I am the Monarch, & The Lazy Swordmaster).
However, while there has been a significant increase in popularity in such novels and their translations, it still has not reached close to the level of success Japanese and Chinese web-novels have had in the western community so far. Some of this of course is understandable given the much stricter regulations and controlled access Korea has of Web-novels than in China & Japan, which is almost all managed through Munpia. Part of it also has to do with a lack of a solid foundation as well.
There have however been signs of that thing will be quickly changing soon. There are now the well known Asian translation sites such as Wuxiaworld which has already begun to take greater interest K Web-novels especially this year. There is also Gravity Tales which has actually temporarily pulled back all their Korean Web-novels and are in talks with major players and Publishing Companies to retain official licensing rights and legal protection for further development. I personally prefer having things follow in this path even if it's a much slower process rather than having another Korean version of QI, who's trying force themselves into a market they clearly don't understand & have complete monopoly in the translation business.
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What do you think? Is this the right path K Webnovels should be developing in, or should there rather be an official aggregator site managing all K Webnovel translations?

 

I think Korean people were smarter than others and came up with a site like webtoons dot com/en/

 

Isn't this good as long as growth happens? I don't understand, why would I fear monger about something that has not happened.

 

Well statistically speaking, there is far less Korean translators than CN or JP ones.

South Korea has a population of 51 million. Japan has 127 million. CN has 1.38 billion.

It goes without saying that Korean translators would be significantly lacking vs the others. Not to mention the industry is newer in Korea than the others.

 

Some of the best novels I have read (and was surprised at that) have been Korean novels. I heard that it is difficult for Korean to translate into English. Well I am just happy to be reading them. I could do with for more but am happy with what I have. They seem to have a bright future ahead of them if they keep put out amazing novels like they have been.

 

hmm to begin with IMO interest toward KR language is behind JP and CN~ I mean written one cuz if I say about speaking one, my imouto can't read JP and KR at all but she can understand anime and K-drama without sub~
JP, attract people cuz manga and LN~
CN, IDK~
KR, totally blind~
is current one da right path or not hmm if it official one sure why not~ da thing that hold me from buying legal product is money and accessbility for most case after all~

 

Basicallly here is the progression,
When folks get tired of JP tropes and want to try something new, they try Cn novels. Once Cn novels become too repetitive, they try KR novels. No one really goes and looks for KR novels on there own and the same for the most part with Cn novels. Its progression from Jp novels/anime/manga.

 

All Korean novels have the same cover.

 

I suspect that web novels are less popular in Korea than in China and Japan more because of unusual levels of growth in those markets than it is because of anything specifically in Korea. In Japan, the appetite in web novels has been fueled by the popularity of otaku-oriented light novels. There's only so much that can be published in the light novel market, so the spillover accelerated the growth of the web novel industry there. The web novel industry is also treated like a farm team for the light novel industry - successful web novel writers are recruited to rewrite their books for light novels, and cascading onto the related manga and anime industries. I don't know for sure, but I suspect that writers who are able to break into the light novel industry will gravitate their rather than coming out with new web novels.

In China it's a bit of a different story. There, some of the most popular novels in the last hundred years came in the form of novels serialized in newspapers. The web novel industry there can be seen as a successor to this literary tradition, and modern books are indeed greatly influenced by those works. The ability to publish on the internet has been a boon towards both readers and amateur writers. A lot of big name writers started out this way, and some of them have stuck with web novels even after hitting it big. It should be noted that Chinese web novels cater to wider audiences that web novels in other countries do.

 

Slower development cos there are less people translating Korean novels? That seems kinda obv to me. And most people started off with Chinese or Japanese novels so they stick to what they know. People are branching out slowly though so there will be changes happening quickly I think.

 

Besides for population we have to add in how many people take the time to learn Korean. A lot of the ones that translate the Japanese novels got interested in the language through anime and manga wanting to read the Novel versions.

Chinese is considered one of the primary languages representing Asia so it makes sense there are a lot of Chinese translators.

Korea just doesn't stand out as a language people go out of their way to learn and we cannot expect to see those native to Korea to notice the English speakers that are interested in their works because the communities do not interact with each other.

 

I have to disagree. The Korean language is immensely popular due to the Hallyu wave. The thing is, they're mainly interested in subbing media related to their idols. (Although the same could be said for anime and manga.)

 

Pretty much. Korean television, film, and music punch well above their weight in terms of population in the greater world whereas the equivalent for Chinese media punches well below their weight. The state of the respective industries and what they're trying to accomplish do a much better job of explaining the relative levels of penetration.

 

I think it differs from where you're coming from. Like few years ago, South Korea media industry was very gung-ho in promoting their entertainers, to the point that they declared that there's a "K-POP wave". I don't follow any of these countries, or media entertainment in general, but this is what / how I perceived it to be.

A decade prior, fans said the Japanese reached new heights in their target audience (but the Japanese never really said anything)

The chinese... I don't know. That's because I don't personally pay attention to follow mainland china entertainment industry.

But if i'm solely basing on what I perceive in K-novels here, I think the selection is small (but it has grown), and it broke away from the ever generic "Weed vs Arc" arguments, or that "all korean MCs are nothing but materialistic greedy moneygrubbers" (again, based on perception of Ark and Legendary Moonlight Sculptor.

I think there are more varieties to it. However, at least, no longer "all korean MCs are <expletives>". You get the idea.

 

China has only tried exporting films so far. Pretty much everything else, from TV to music to books have been ignored. I think that a big reason for this is that the Chinese market itself is so big and competitive that it's not really worth the effort to go much beyond the mainland and other Chinese territories. Censorship from the Ministry of Culture is already having a major effect on Mainland projects so it's definitely not helping things. I suspect that Chinese video games will be promoted before traditional material like books are.

From a non-reader's perspective, Korean web novels still seem to be as narrowly focused as Japanese web novels. This literary tradition has to gain more respect in Korea itself before much changes in that regard.

 

Why is it so much slower in development compared to their Chinese and Japanese counterparts.

Japan's manga and anime is their life, their path, their Dao. Translation existed or not, it's there, in their blood.

Chinese's novel is their root of being Chinese. Literacy is one of the highest arts & achievement of one existence. Chinese novels exist before Western culture born. For nowadays, this fact, coupled with the cheer number of Chinese people, that's why Chinese literal materials (novels included) explode nowadays.
You'd go to Chinese to see what's the prosperity of the bookstore there.
Me? Several trip to, not only Beijing/Shanghai, but Shandong/Feihuang/Xi'an/etc.

Korea .. IMO, they just past the period of survival. Wars had destroyed so much of their country, culture, not just uncountable life <sigh>. Housing/Food/Survival are more important than reading novel <SIGH>..

 

Korean Novels are about the MC doing business, by making money off of friends, and some Korean MC even swindle their friends.
Some people might say, "well, that is life" or "life is unfair".
Personally, I am not here to read about Business OR Real Life.

Good Korean Novels like Everyone else is a returnee & Reincarnator are just a few drops in the ocean. And, some of them have been dropped, like Dark Mage.

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Also there seems to be a lack of Korean translators...

• Japan makes Manga and Anime - People learn Japanese to read/watch the original raw version.
• China is the biggest electronics manufacturer in Asia - People need to learn Chinese to do business with Chinese factories.
  
• South Korea makes PC games - BUT, the International community is NOT allowed to play in the original Korean servers. South Korean Game developers usually license their games to American companies like Nexon. -- This causes a lack of interest in learning Korean !

An aggregator site picking up and managing dropped Korean Novel translations would be very helpfull.

 

As was brought up, it's both a numbers game in terms of how many Korean people there are and how many translators there are. Japanese already has a massive number of weeaboos fans who are trying to learn Japanese and willing to translate, and there are large populations of English-fluent Chinese, eg. Singapore or Taiwan.