Hi everyone, So.. I've been doing tlc for a while now, more specifically for one person, who had some specific questions that I could provide answers to and with some pretty heavy background context too. Anyway, I suppose what I offered was likely very peculiar. So I wanted to ask how my fellow tlc do their tlc or how you had done it in the past for other people. When the translation is correct, all is fine and I can move on. But when a translation is wrong, or the author's intention is missed. How do you go about it? Do you explain why the translation isn't working? Do you just edit the translation? Or do you re-translate? Offer a solution? Offer alternative translations? Or when you realize the translator missed a cultural, political, religious, philosophical, historical reference, do you offer the background information on how they are related? Also, do you help the translator by looking up the right terms, for example government official titles (of course, that is when the translation for these official titles are wrong, I'm not talking about taste). I do realize that I am doing far more than I should be doing, but I like to help, especially when I know I can help out to make the translation more understandable or closer to the author's intent. I'll share one of my memorable tlc. It was a short 20 characters or so written in classical Chinese which explained how the government lowered the market price for grain by selling their stock grain, forcing the merchants to lower their grain price too so the people could afford to buy grain. Well, the original translation had to be scrapped as classical Chinese follows a quite different grammar rules, so nothing made sense. I had to re-translate it, then explain it, but it proved to be too difficult as the translator couldn't understand what I meant, so I had to turn it into a short essay story in order for the translator and a regular reader to understand what the heck was happening in those 20 or so characters. Which was crucial for this novel. Anyway, I hope to hear some experiences of a fellow tlc, thank you for reading!
I wonder if at that time it would make more sense to stick with your translation since you have the correct historical context and understanding...though if the translator had misnamed terms the entire time it might be tough to go back and correct.
First of all, thank you for your hard work. Onward... Sometimes I feel tlc is just as much work as translating (having to balance the author's intentions + don't want to disregard the tl's work either). Back when I did tlc, I guess I was lucky where my translator essentially believed me and gave me free rein. :joy: So in part... Ask what your translator is comfortable with, whether they're comfortable with you rewriting lines/paragraphs. If the syntax isn't working, feel free to reorder things. If it's still lagging, (depends on translator and your taste) I think it's fair to make small edits to clarify what is happening. Example: if a novel reads like a manga/script. Just... Maybe not the case where 2.5k characters >> 4k words. Regards to context and background, personally I think it's a nice perk... It's probably also a largely thankless addition. But more importantly, I think it depends on how it's delivered. Most readers don't enjoy it side-by-side with the story itself (unless you have those click to open/drop-down/spoilers gadget (for example, I really like the ones at Chrysanthemum Garden). Footnotes are decent if you have that jump back-forth function, but too many in that format are also rather tiring, and it would get long. Otherwise, your best bet is to direct link to relevant information. [this is solely my opinion as a reader/tl] But yes, in the classical Chinese case. Just rewrite it understandably, but it won't be necessary to provide background like... when such a thing was implemented, why, etc. One should also think from the perspective of the original readers... Ask yourself, how much would the general original reader know. E.g. if it's historical, most would have long returned any knowledge/info back to their teachers, as long as the terms themselves are correct for those readers who might be interested to be able to research, it's fine. You don't have to do the research for them. Another option is surveying what your readers prefer. Again, thank you for tlc-ing~
I typically TLC and edit, so I get the final say and don't need to explain any of my changes to anybody. If the TL is interested in learning, they can just figure it out by comparing with the re-translation. The correct way to interpret the text is already quite clear at that point, so I don't go out of my way to explain further unless I'm training the TL... That being said, if you need to change over 50% of the translation, then that TL probably needs a lot more guidance... and you should be listed as the TL XD Anything misinterpreted should be corrected, including titles, but if you don't know the usual terms in English, and there's an editor, you can probably ask them to look it up. If you need to type a short essay to explain something, then it would probably benefit from slight localization and an editor adding in the proper economics terms in English so readers can easily look them up (ie. agricultural price stabilization, buffer stock etc)
It depends on whether the translator I'm helping is an MTL-er or someone who already has background knowledge in chinese. Usually, when I TLC for MTL-ers, I just edit out the wrongly translated ones and have them look over it through the version changes. But if they're unsure of what something means, they usually ask me beforehand to make sure. The same goes with those who already have a bit of background in chinese. They usually ask to clarify what something means, rather than take a chance and guess. Tbh, tlc-ing for an MTL-er takes quite some time as well, sometimes even more than the time it takes to translate the chapter so now I don't TLC much or if I do, I only do so for those with a bit of background in chinese. For those with specific terms, say in a historical genre or a cultivation genre, I tell them to open up a glossary in a sheet file adding on both the chinese term and their translation in english so as to be able to keep consistency. 文言文 is definitely hard for anyone who doesn't have a solid background in chinese so having an explanation in the translator notes definitely help. If you think it's too long (more than 100 words), you could also link in the chinese source (like kknews) and ask them to google translate the page to read or you could just add the whole story in the footnotes sections which imo would be better.
Just keep in mind that everyone translates differently. What you interpret the text to be may be slightly different, but as long as the meaning and intention come across, it should be fine to leave as. When I TLC, I usually edit the translation and put a comment on what part of it I had an issue with, opening it up to any back-and-forth if needed. Also, it's good practice in general to have a shared glossaries for names and terms in case anyone forgets them. However, here's my TLC horror story. I had this one person (who definitely knew less Japanese than I did, thus needing me to TLC) question my corrections. They claimed they knew they were right because they watch anime (the novel we were working on doesn't have an anime). Eventually, they just ignored all my work, and I left.
Thank you for all your replies! And thank you for all of your hard work as well! In this translator's case, I only had to check what she wasn't sure of and her translations are really good. There were just some things that were quite difficult, so I took it on myself to re-order or re-translate it, add notes to make things clear so she has more freedom to choose her words wisely. I agree, tlc is a lot of work. Thank you so much for these tips and tricks. I will definitely use them when I help another translator. Regarding point 4, yes, though my translator did add some of my comments in case some readers might miss the context of the story. So it wasn't entirely disregarded, but I mostly did it to make it easier on the translator to choose her own words that would reflect better on the underlying message. Though, sometimes I did have to reorder or delete a lot of words for the sentence to run smoother. And about the classical Chinese case, haha, I actually just explained it as if the author/storyteller was explaining it within the text and of course the translator changed it to suit her taste, which I find important too. I do have the bad habit to search things up when I don't quite understand. I'd probably not do this for another translator next time. In our case, the most difficult part of the storyline is over and I don't need to do any research any more. So it's good to be reminded, thank you so much! I didn't need to change all of her translations. There were just some parts that she was unsure of that I had to go over them and it was like maybe about 30 sentences a chapter and some of those sentences together was a paragraph, so those were very formal and very context related paragraphs. Sometimes I do forget that editing/reordering/re-translating is already a way to explain the situation. Although, I don't do it that often. I guess I'm just worried the message doesn't get across. Anyway, thank you so much for your insight, I will definitely keep that in mind about the localization/naturalizing techniques. Doing tlc for a MTL-er does look seem a lot of work. Well, in general it is a lot of work. Sounds like that method is less work in general. The list sounds super useful, less work involved. At first I did check all the terms but later I was more lenient, because I was kind of done with it haha. Especially when some terms were thrown in and never mentioned again. Tbh I love classical Chinese, I'm definitely not good at it, but I just love it so much. So when I managed to understand that specific text, I was overjoyed. I actually haven't though about just linking sources, sometimes it felt it was easier to just explain it. I should be doing less of it though, I will definitely remember to do this. Thank you for sharing! I do keep that in mind when it's just a matter of taste. I definitely do not want to undermine my translator's hard work. Although, when I think the translation can made much simpler, I do say that she is correct, but also give alternatives. I suppose I tried to be concise as much as possible because there were times when I thought I was clear enough, but she still needed further clarrifications, so I tried my best to avoid that situation as our time difference made it a little bit difficult to communicate (work/sleep etc). Little potato in the post above also mentioned glossary, I had seen my translator's glossary, although not updated, but all of the terms were consistent so no problem there. But in general it does seem useful for when I also help out other translators. Thank you so much! And omg that sounds horrible! All that work! Leaving was the best action to take. If that person was confident why hire a tlc? Anyway, thank you so much for sharing your experience, albeit a bad one.