Kakao doesn't care whatsoever to cater to english speaking audiences or even any audience that *isn't* Korean. You must have a korean # to even use any of their reader stuff. It's pretty sad. They could at least contract out licenses to translate them. /sigh
Welcome new member! Yes, I agree, it's frustrating. But would English audiences even buy the licensed content if it was available? That's probably what the marketers are thinking...and honestly, it's not easy finding good translators. Because you also need good proofreaders and editors to go with them.
Thanks! I mean I'm fairly certain there would be a market for them considering companies like Naver *do* have english translations and a fairly large market for their manhwa. As wealthy/powerful as Kakao is they could certainly make it happen but I suppose for them it's something like a drop in the ocean compared to the vast other businesses they work on and have potential profit from. It may become more of priority for them if another Korean company, in regards to manhwa/publication in general, becomes more successful than them through a globalized market but when that will occur is anyone's guess. Personally I think a lot of the problem stems from the excessive 'nationalism' many Koreans seem to tout as a noble cause but that's hardly unique to them.
Honestly, I wonder how the scanlation group that I proofread for has never been taken down in the many years it's been in operation. The main translator has been running it for quite a long time but never gotten a cease and desist. Instead, several manga companies contract her on the side to clean up some manga for them because she's better at it then their salaried employees. On the other hand, she doesn't translate webtoons, as she only knows Mandarin and Japanese.
Definitely has to do with the types being TN'd, I'd think. Korea in particular right now is going through a lot of purging/sueing/DMCAing piracy. Also I forgot to say SL has already been picked up. No idea if it's okay to say who did though?
Being the chump who dishes out $$$ so I can keep up with 5 Qidian novels, I can tell you that I would definitely pay to keep reading Peerless Dad and Volcanic Age lol.
Actually western comics are heavily pirated too. It's just that the pirates are not being obnoxious about it by putting them up on freaking website where everyone can read pirated stuff easily. You'd need to either know the direct link to the website (since it has norobots and google can't scrape them) or use torrent. Cease and desist is pretty much impossible without investing heavily on private investigators because it's very hard to track. Translators on the other hand, are so happy about giving away their private details as if they didn't realize they've been breaking the law. It's like telling the cops, "Yo, I rob the bank the other day, here's my address. Please come visit if the bank press charges."
Looks like I Alone Level-Up (Solo Leveling) got picked up by another scanlating group so it went as predicted?
Hahaha this was priceless : "Yo, I rob the bank the other day, here's my address. Please come visit if the bank press charges." Why people seem to lack common sense baffles me. There was a group that even contacted Munpia for license when they did not even have a registered company. How the hell did they expect to be taken seriously?
Naivety aside, at least they tried to follow the law, they realized that they need licence to translate things...
Seems more like ego to me. Talking to people who have licensed, it was pretty obvious that they were going to fail. It was simply misplaced pride.. We live in a results driven world
Why did you have to put it that way? Yeah some might have been driven by ego I won't deny that, but it's also possible that it's just naivete. In some country, like mine, basically almost nobody even understand copyright laws. From my viewpoint I can see them do that because it's an alien concept to them, they tried to do the right thing while not knowing the actual way of dealing with this things since it was never thought at school here.
You have a point but it was not a small website or someone who is new to the community. There might be a bit of naivety but it is mostly arrogance(the word that seemed to escape me) Sometimes, I think that most translators have delusions of grandeur. They live in a bubble where they believe that as long as "the community" supports them that anything goes. I use to be just as ignorant about copyright laws but I asked people. I spoke extensively to the owner of J-novel club. I also ask for user feedback a lot on my website, because no matter how smart you are, you might miss something. At the end of the day, we are all arrogant, it is human nature. We have to make an active effort to curb our arrogance.