News Webnovel welcomes HJC~

Run-on sentence is not a sign of bad translation, merely bad structure. Not everyone is a professional editor. Some, like myself, can only convey the meaning of the text to English and not edit said text to a flowery structure at the same time I translate. That is something that professional editors would have to do, something so difficult that people pay good money in the publishing industry for.

That said, a sign of bad translation is when the original intent of the text is translated completely wrong. This usually only happens when people are not proficient in one or both languages.

 

The thing is, there gets to be a point where a translator starts not translating to English, the whole point of the translation, because he's no longer conveying a story, just spouting ideas that resemble a story, but the whole point of translation is to make it English, if a translator can't do that then they need to get an editor or even a proofreader, and if they aren't even willing to do that then they really aren't translating, because a story is more than just plot, its the alliteration, the cultural references, the subtleties of word choice, the foreshadowing hidden within a pun, the metaphors that rely on words, everything, if the translator is just conveying the meaning of the text to English then he's only translating the most surface layer of the text's meaning and none of what's below, but even if the translator doesn't care about anything beyond surface layer (in which case ?_? please care, that stuff is important and for many texts holds even more meaning than the surface-level story), the translator should make his works read well to the audience, since it doesn't matter how well the translator understands the source, it only matters how well it reads since the readers are looking at the final version and nothing else.

Was that paragraph hard to follow or too much at once? It should be, since I just wrote that and I still find it hard to digest as I reread it.

No one is asking for flowery-perfect English, but basic grammatical rules have to be followed to even call it English. Translators are paid to translate to English, not Chinglish.

A general trend of translation is that translators should be working from a second (or third or whatnot) language into their native language, precisely because the readers are going to be consuming the final product. It doesn't matter how perfectly you get the meaning across or how well you understand the source text if it doesn't read well to the audience due to your unfamiliarity with the language being translated to.

 

At least be better villains QI.
This is getting annoying.

 

I have always thought that if QI does good novels, them am gonna read them. Cuz the translators shouldn't be punished.
But now...QI is making it really really difficult for this MangoGuy tho remain rational.
If someone is doing a novel, you absolutely must take their permission before deciding to do it. QI, this applies to the novels you ruined as well. I am gonna be vocal here.
Your TL of Jiang Ye is ruining one of the best novels. Will it be ok if someone else picks it, and you can't copy it?
Jun Juiling has a terrible fucking non existing schedule with no releases in last month. That's it. I will be posting a pick up request with a day.
You seem to have already dropped Counterfeit Hero, so don't you dare fucking return to it. Someone else will do it.
TTNH, OEM both have below par MTL that doesn't even stick to the schedule. Will be posting pick up requests for them as well.

 

can we lock this thread please

 

This week's drama forecast: High chance of Drama. Stock up on popcorn because it might get rough.

Jokes aside:

QI is slowly uploading copy-pasted (word for word) WW's translated version of "A will eternal". Probably ramping up for their own translated version. Wonder what excuse it will be this time?

 

No no, there's no such thing as 'grey area' in law. It's either legal or illegal. If it's not specified to be illegal in the law books, it's legal. If it's specified as illegal in the law books, it's against the law. The only respite is in 'legal loopholes' which include contradicting laws or jurisdiction.

The law is not subjective to people's feelings. Just because you pity something illegal, doesn't make it okay. It's not okay. If a poor man steals a loaf of bread to feed his starving family, he's still guilty of stealing. It doesn't become a grey area just because of circumstances. The punishment can be subjective, yes, but that also depends on the law.

In this case, if it's true WW has exclusive rights to translate this title, then Qidian stealing their translation or poaching the title is illegal, even when they own the copyright of the original title. If WW has no right to translate this title, then it's illegal for WW to translate in the first place.

Translating by itself is not illegal. You basically translate when you read foreign books. What is illegal is when you share it without permission from the copyright owner. Again, a lot of people give excuse that it is a grey area, it's not. There's no such thing as grey area in law. It's an excuse people who don't know the law give to justify doing illegal stuff.

This is a public message service by Ai-chan to encourage people to stop thinking of grey area and actually learn the law.

p/s: Ai-chan doesn't know what the details of the contract signed entails as Ai-chan has no insider knowledge on either WW or Qidian's side so Ai-chan can't say with absolute certainty who is right and who is wrong. The parent company that owns Qidian also owns the modelling agency that Ai-chan work for, but that's as far as our connection is. As for WW, Ai-chan once asked Ren to treat Ai-chan to expensive food in Shanghai. He never did, the cheapskate.

 

Ohh that would be cool, i stopped reading ATTE after WW stole it from that other site and changed the name (for some reason i really hated the name change and "yeah yeah translater moved to WW sure sure")

 

If i remember correctly, A will eternal or a thought through eternity was originally translated by a defunc translator wuxia(something) group. They tried running a system like Qidian where they translator were paid per chapter without strong financial backing. In the end, they started up an actual aggregator site to earn some funds. In the end, most of their translations went defunct/discontinued (including AWE?). So no the translator didn't move to WW and i doubt where you got that info from. Deathblade was already an established translator on ISSTH so no informed person would say the translator moved to WW. As for the name, Deathblade contacted the author and got his feedback/what the author though it should be before the name change.

I think most of the translators jumped ship or translations was picked by QI after it opened. A realm in the filament, god of slaughter, and the portal of wonderland were some of them.

 

I believe issues with *NO LEGAL PRECEDENT* constitutes as "grey area" well enough in regards to the law. When you say,"It's an excuse people who don't know the law give to justify doing illegal stuff," it really makes it seem like you don't like it when people don't get permission for translating and distributing authors works. Just curious. Also, don't you have translated stuff on your website that you *probably* didn't get permission to post up? You going to turn yourself in? lol.

 

The first welcome post on WW for ATTE and reason given for it moving over, was that the translater at the time "Silas" was moving to WW (i think he was never seen again), but db was going to be the new main TL (WW did already have the legal rights to translate ATTE from qi at that time and db was horny after ATTE with ISSTH almost over, but Ren was a "hard defender" of not taking novels from other translators, so they did it that way)

 

I have no problem with people who translate without asking permission from the copyright owner. What I have problem with is people who not only did not have permission to translate, but also makes money from this act. Then again, this falls under several levels. If it's just coffee donations without the donator ekspecting anything, I don't care. It's when they make a business out of it where they have no right to make business with it that I disagree, but then again, I don't normally go out of my way to talk about it.

Now, about my translation. I translated 3 titles so far. There's a 4th one, but I don't remember the circumstances around the 4th title, so let's just assume it doesn't exist.

"I have a cheat but I open an inn instead" was not translated with permission. I did ask for permission, but I never received a reply. Then Estelion asked to take over, and I agreed to let go of the title. I deleted everything I had about my translation, as I didn't want people to compare my translation with Estelion's superior translation.

"A warrior begins life in another world" I received the permission to translate, so long as I didn't make money from it. But when the permission came, it was like half a year later, when I had already became tired of waiting for the permission to come. But I still have the permission, though the author is now having second thoughts after another translator took over the title and tried to make money out of it. He's probably blaming me for not protecting the deal he made with me.

Now, let's talk about the last title. Frankly I don't remember exactly what the title is. It had something to do with isekai and a slot machine, but I forgot the title. I translated a couple of chapters and put it up on my blog. I contacted the author and asked for permission to continue. After several mail exchanges, he told me to stop translating and he would not give permission. I respected his wish and deleted everything.

p/s: No legal precedent refers to no legal precedent. It does not translate into grey area. It simply means the judge has nothing to base his judgement on but the laws already written. Whatever he decides in this case will become a precedent and will from hereforth be used as reference.

 

Actually there are shit ton of gray area in laws because there is no law that cover every single situation. Many laws are phrased in ways that can be interrupted differently depending on the circumstance, otherwise a good majority of lawers would lose their job if it was all as clear cut as you state it (although I wish it was make our life hella lot easier). This is especially true for certain thing directly covered by the current law but you can kinda stretch certain ones over them.

Translating too literally is not a good way to translate. There many things that not meant to be taken literally especially in literature and chinese grammar/structure is just different from english. No one expecting poems or college level vocabulary but lot of basically sentence structure can and should be fixed during translation. If the raw has weird sentence structure then it should be restructured during translation. The editor is there to fix mistake you made not to do work you didn't want to do.

 

You literally just said that "It's either illegal or not illegal" then tried to -justify- translations with, "as long as they're not making money." 99% of translators put ads on their websites to receive money from people clicking on the site, and *said* people clicking on the site, are clicking on the site for *mostly* novels that have been translated and distributed without permission. As for legal precedent, you're wrong. I'm not ashamed to say that I googled it after you tried to correct me so I could make absolutely sure and educate myself.

 

No, you totally did not understand my post. I did not justify translations as long as they're not making money. I said, I am fine with it, me, personally. Is it illegal if you do not have permission? Yes, it is illegal if you do not have permission. I received permission for A Warrior Begins Life In Another World. Not making money from it was the condition the author himself gave to me.

Now which part of this do you still not understand? I've tried my best to keep it clear and direct without any examples or legal speak that can confuse you.

Oh really, you googled it, huh? So tell me, what is the definition that you acquired from google? Would you kindly quote it here? Enlighten my lowly self.

 

This again... there is something very flawed with your thinking that you do not see.
Firstly, even if you ignore the fact that many of the beloved fan translators use url shorteners, WordPress places ads on free websites. It becomes a question about whether you are ok with the translators earning the money or WordPress.
Secondly, translating one chapter is doing a hobby. 1,000 is a job, no matter how people twist it. That is the reason what is called internship in many places is illegal. Putting the word internship or hobby in front of something does not deny the fact that compensation is required.
Even actual volunteers get a cup of lemonade or a snack.

We live in an age that has zero respect for labor. People expect things to either be free or dirt cheap that the cost is less than the cost of manufacturing and expect the company to keep producing.

If people really believe no one should earn anything from translations then contact WordPress and tell them to stop placing ads on free websites used for translations.

PS Since I won't be responding to any replies. I will add. Unlicensed translations are the same as road side artists eg singers. You can pay for their skill if you want or you don't. In comic conventions you have artists drawing unlicensed versions of characters for commissions also.
Labor is never free.

 

My dear, why are you talking about something else entirely? I was replying to the previous guy because he was accusing me of having double standards.

If you have the right to translate and share it, there's nothing wrong with making money from it. The problem is, you don't own it. You do not have any right. Labour is never free, yes, but only if you have the right to charge for such labour.

It's YOU who don't understand the very basic concept of ownership and robbery. They own the stuff, you don't. You translating it without permission is like you going to their home, copying their homework, putting your name on it with a different title and making small modification and giving yourself the credit for its creation. Your teacher will call you out on it.

You want to talk big, fine, talk big, but go legit first. I've said so many times, get permission, get permission, get permission, get permission, get permission, get permission, get permission, get permission, get permission, get permission, get permission, get permission, get permission!

That's all I've been saying and I've stopped saying it because in your head, the concept of ownership does not exist, only what makes money for you. There's no point saying it to you anymore, so I've quit. In your mind, decency is put in the back burner, what matters is making money even when it's illegal.

If you want to talk big, then go legit. Labour cost does not matter when you do not have the right. When you do not own the car, you do not have the right to sell it.

I do not say this to anyone else, and I know they are for-profit too. The problem is you keep flaunting your illegal work and keep trying to turn people's head around the fact that you are doing something illegal. You are proud of doing something illegal and you keep asking people to accept that illegal is the way to go.

Also, wordpress offers a service. When people get a free website on wordpress, they are bound by the rules and conditions set by wordpress. When you get free wordpress site, you accepted this terms and conditions. Following this, it is legal for them to put a rolling coconut on your free wordpress site if they wish it. You signed this when you made the website. This and that are two totally different things.

 

Haha. I knew I was going to get a reply regardless.
I never said to charge people. Just used fan art to show you why your permission argument doesn't hold
If someone does work for you or that benefits you. They deserve compensation.