Discussion TL's making good novels shit

Discussion in 'Novel Discussion' started by NZPIEFACE, Feb 28, 2018.

  1. NZPIEFACE

    NZPIEFACE Leecher

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2016
    Messages:
    6,216
    Likes Received:
    5,972
    Reading List:
    Link
    TL;DR I think some TLs make the novels they translate shit.

    You know, when you're reading a novel, the TL has his own issues, real life or otherwise, and now has to stop translating? Then as if heaven-sent, you've found someone else was continuing the novel from where the novel was stopped by the TL! By the gods, someone was carrying on the last TL's legacy!

    But... a few chapters in, you realize something was off. That very vague feeling, at the back of your head, whispering to you the deepest darkest secrets that you never wanted to hear...
    It's not the fact that the new website doesn't have a night time mode, which is a mark of either an amateur or someone who really wants his readers to suffer, and it's also not the fact that you had to go to the NU page every chapter because they didn't link the next chapter at the bottom of the page...

    Then it hit you. The new translation was shit, the grammar was terrible; the flow was terrible; names were changed on a per-paragraph basis; dialogue scenes didn't have ending or starting quotes sometimes; diction was on par to that of a toddler's... There was a whole slew of issues, all of which you could probably write a paper about for your English major if you actually spoke the language and went to university.
    Ah, but not only that, the translator somehow managed to change the integrity of the novel which the old translator previously had. Somehow, he manages to make the novel from one about self-discovery and hilarious hijinks into some haphazard work of shit thrown together at 3 AM a day before your end of term finals.

    Now, after all that, I want to ask you readers who stuck with me to the end... How many novels out there do you think were ruined by bad translations?

    I actually have a novel in mind when I typed all this up, I wonder if you guys can guess it.
     
    Anonymousbb, aoiisora, Sena and 15 others like this.
  2. Suijin

    Suijin Blood God [Medic]

    Joined:
    Jan 3, 2016
    Messages:
    4,418
    Likes Received:
    4,974
    Reading List:
    Link
    annoying. you. point. slow. dislike.
     
    ADABANA, TamaSaga and Mufarasu like this.
  3. NZPIEFACE

    NZPIEFACE Leecher

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2016
    Messages:
    6,216
    Likes Received:
    5,972
    Reading List:
    Link
    Man, and here I am, trying to be entertaining.
    What does a man have to do to get likes?
     
    aoiisora, Riff, Sabruness and 7 others like this.
  4. DarthOu

    DarthOu 《Lord Vader》

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2016
    Messages:
    552
    Likes Received:
    534
    Reading List:
    Link
    is it chinese novel?
     
  5. Prime43

    Prime43 Member of the Polygamy Sect

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2016
    Messages:
    499
    Likes Received:
    354
    Reading List:
    Link
    nothing?
     
    jinxs2011 likes this.
  6. kenar

    kenar ヽ(`・ω・´)ゝ

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2016
    Messages:
    2,887
    Likes Received:
    4,568
    Reading List:
    Link
    almost all of the isekai novel i read...
     
    Wujigege likes this.
  7. justmehere

    justmehere Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2015
    Messages:
    3,927
    Likes Received:
    3,729
    Reading List:
    Link
    One liner quips.
     
    Liu likes this.
  8. Jigoku Shounen

    Jigoku Shounen An Envoy From Hell

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2016
    Messages:
    4,446
    Likes Received:
    4,287
    Reading List:
    Link
    Bad translations sure, but I usually just think of it as Different Translations. Cause you know, it isn't the same person. So even if something like "carrying on the legacy" or something, it's still by a different person so can't expect to get the same quality. You either get equal, worse or better, unless you know clone then it might be the same. You have what you get. If not, MTL it is.
     
  9. Kaminomikan

    Kaminomikan 神のみ感

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2016
    Messages:
    983
    Likes Received:
    1,071
    Reading List:
    Link
    so many...that I'm thinking of using a reading list to confine then. so that I know that they are there... you know? there like, oh I was reading that.
     
  10. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2016
    Messages:
    16,265
    Likes Received:
    15,756
    Reading List:
    Link
    Very true. Some interrupt giving spoilers like " here comes the first heroine" "things about to get serious"' "I don't know what he is doing here hehe"

    I drop such novels, it is like torture, they bring new meaning to breaking the fourth wall. More like breaking the 7 th wall
    Poor dude! Your brain has been so fried by MTL that you have zero expectations or no standards.
    So sad, I blame you lntml.com. Sean or whoever the owner is
     
  11. Xane

    Xane Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 5, 2016
    Messages:
    1,416
    Likes Received:
    1,200
    Reading List:
    Link
    Mine only has 3 titles, 2 of which were bad from the start and the 3rd is because the site is unusable.
     
  12. Wayang Emperor The First

    Wayang Emperor The First 《The First Loli》《Cute Little Kid♡》

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2015
    Messages:
    827
    Likes Received:
    477
    Reading List:
    Link
    Mtl is great!!! It train your brain to become fbi code breaking:sweating_profusely:
     
    aoiisora, Glaerun and Wujigege like this.
  13. tahzib1451

    tahzib1451 Title?is it food?

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2017
    Messages:
    2,922
    Likes Received:
    2,779
    Reading List:
    Link
    recently i read Wortenia Senki and the site doesn't have mobile friendly page....have to pinch it to zoom the bearly readable text....and the most annoying thing was halfway down volume 2 the Next button vanished...and it was the original translator site!!!
     
    Wujigege likes this.
  14. Arkantos

    Arkantos Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 30, 2016
    Messages:
    320
    Likes Received:
    291
    Reading List:
    Link
    Or you know. The novels become shit bc of the author.
     
    Wujigege likes this.
  15. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2016
    Messages:
    16,265
    Likes Received:
    15,756
    Reading List:
    Link
    At least they get completed instead of milking it at one chapter per month so they can produce manga or animation while the series is still ongoing
    #MadSnail
     
  16. Sherrynity

    Sherrynity I see no God up there… other than the chaotic void

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2016
    Messages:
    1,415
    Likes Received:
    1,766
    Reading List:
    Link
    Don't make me go there. Why do you think I suddenly stopped reading many novels?
     
  17. reanox

    reanox Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 9, 2016
    Messages:
    462
    Likes Received:
    367
    Reading List:
    Link
    I really dislike it when translators like GGP (BTTH) leave cultivation levels/terms and don‘t translate them. Makes me want to stop reading
     
  18. Arkantos

    Arkantos Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 30, 2016
    Messages:
    320
    Likes Received:
    291
    Reading List:
    Link
    Yup. But I think a couple of novels I droped for that reason. One for sure
     
    Wujigege likes this.
  19. Arcadia Blade

    Arcadia Blade ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ You can do it!!

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2016
    Messages:
    2,945
    Likes Received:
    11,507
    Reading List:
    Link
    Not gonna complain since they have the time to translate where as you just read there and complain all day. Why do i need to be pissed off by some horrible translations when you only need to read? If you have the time to complain, how about using the time to translate it instead of writing this so you can get free likes.
     
    LynneSuzuran likes this.
  20. Astaroth

    Astaroth empty

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2015
    Messages:
    5,395
    Likes Received:
    5,257
    Reading List:
    Link
    Depending on what you mean, from a few to over half the novels.

    Because it's not really so much the translation as just the phrasing, grammar; choice of words; and such, that really make way too many novels annoying to read.

    And seriously I think a lot of TLs should check https://books.google.com/ngrams or even just googling it with citation marks like this: "my very fancy word/phrase".

    If you ask me, if the only search results that pop up for your cool phrase is a bunch of chapter links to your novel then maybe you should reconsider.


    edit: By the way, I'll mention this since I was actually thinking about making a rant post about it yesterday...

    For some reason, like every two chapters of the latest couple of Charm of Soul Pets or so, there were 0 commas used (literally zero) and just a severe lack of punctuation. Some sentences every now and then just prematurely end as well, and since I was binge reading I saw comments pointing it out (but it still wasn't amended fixed*.) Eventually I ended up checking the raws as well, in case it was the author, but nope.

    I really hope this was some kind of bug, because I don't see how the TL could even read what he's writing if there was no commas either... Oh speaking of which, some chapters still had parts of the raws randomly left, it didn't really hurt since those parts were tled as well, but eh random...

    *I did that on purpose :p

    edit 2
    : Just check this chapter for example: http://www.wuxiaworld.com/tcosp-index/tcosp-book-2-chapter-306/
     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2018
    Wujigege likes this.