Question MTL... is it worth it to finish a novel?

One novel I’ve been reading is only 4 chapters away from being finished and I’m dying at the cliffhanger. The translation quality is amazing but the translator is not consistent with updates, often going several months without a chapter. I’m afraid of having to wait 4+ months just to finish the story and not remember what last happened in the book. I’m thinking of trying to scrape up the raw sand just mtl it but I know the quality will be much lower and not the same experience reading it from the translator... but like I said several months just for four chapters is agonizing. Any opinions/advice?

 

Reading MTL causes brain damage, but maybe in the grand scheme of things it's a small price to pay in order to finish a novel.

 

I really don't recommend MTL-ing, especially if you really love the novel. MTL only gives you the gist of what happened as everything else is guesswork, and the details/nuance more often than not got lost. But of course you will still understand the general things that are happening.

But when the actual translation is released, you will lose the element of surprise and get the sense of 'dejavu' which really takes a lot of enjoyment from reading the novel.

I suggest you take a break from the novel until it releases all of 4 chapters and try to find another novel to read in the meantime. By doing this, when the chapters come out and you don't remember what's going on anymore, you can reread the novel maybe the last ten chapters. If this novel is really great, then rereading it should not pose a problem and you may even find details you missed the first time you read it

 

Some novels get decent mtl with google translate others are unreadable.
So if you do so I addvise you to try mtl the about 10 chapters you have read to see if you can do it.

Tho I don't recomend you to read mtl, you should rather just wait for the chapters to get translated and reread the novel

 

If there is no active translation for the novel you're reading and it doesn't look as if anyone would pick-up the novel - go for mtl
If there is an active translation for your novel and you're only missing the last couple of chapters - nope

If you're a tough guy who even now refuses to wash his hands and keeps on touching his face non-stop while you enjoy hanging out in overcrowded places - go for mtl in general as it really wouldn't matter if you suffer any long-term damages from reading it.

 

Depends on how difficult the translation is. Some translations are almost identical to mtl except for some terms but for others mtl will make you think the good guy is a bad guy

 

Thanks so much! I’m really glad for the advice or I might’ve made a rash decision. I really appreciate the well thought out logic in your decision making it’s so helpful.
I think I’ll hold out and pick up another novel in the meantime. Also keeping your words for future scenarios is great
Now just to find more novels I guess... not something I’m new to lol

 

Humm, I would search for a spoiler thread before trying to MTL everything...

 

MTL can be very misleading. You think 1 think happened but actually the opposite did... Not a good way to finish a novel.

 

I only read mtl to get the gist of how things happened… but even so, mtls can be very very wrong and misleading so be careful

 

MTL will lose the prose and foreshadowing so no.

 

In my experience, MTL only works for novels that you're able to just skim through normally anyway. Against the Gods for example, where most of the writing is unnecessary, but vague, descriptions of things that don't really matter - or filler. Keep in mind, MTL can't understand context, it can't understand what's a name and what isn't, and often mistranslates terms and phrases. It's also very annoying as certain names or words will be different from the actual translation that you were reading.

I think in your case, MTL would really spoil the ending for a novel you're so excited to finish. If the novel is detailed, with lots of stuff going on that you need to pay attention to - then definitely don't read MTL. Especially if there's someone still translating. Even if the novel were dropped, you can always put a request for someone to finish it.