Why are there more people translating

Discussion in 'Novel Updates Site Discussion' started by Dummy, Mar 27, 2019.

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  1. Dummy

    Dummy Need nyans

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    Of course, it's good because it means more stories for us to read:aww: but I wanna find out why and when this whole thing actually started like, when did Novelupdates appear. What was @Tony rationale for creating this website. Before novelupdates, were there significantly fewer translating sites and where did they go?

    Are there increasingly more people reading or is it like a constant increase in readers and translators?:notlikeblob:

    Help me out I really need to know:blobphone::blobphone:
     
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  2. SenjiQ

    SenjiQ [Wise, for a Bird]

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    once upon a time, people just used bookmarks and baka-tsuki, and found out about new series through word of mouth and recommendations pages on novel sites they already read. Then one day, aho-updates was invented to help people see when chapters were released. Then the Tony came along and magic'ed the Novel Updates into existence with its many more features and better layout. With that people stopped using aho-updates and it died. The end.
     
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  3. Haylias

    Haylias Well-Known Member

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    A̶d̶-̶r̶e̶v̶e̶n̶u̶e̶ Everyone wants to join in the wonderful community
     
  4. runsing

    runsing status : bleeding, health -10/s Novel Updates Staff

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  5. Tony

    Tony Well-Known Member Staff Member

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    I wish there was a cool story to tell but I was addicted to Coiling Dragon back then which eventually lead to Novel Updates :blobrofl:

    Longer story here:
     
  6. Dummy

    Dummy Need nyans

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    Thanks, ok so like, I'm actually writing a news story on this(how more people are translating) and was hoping to get like actual figures to back me up to show that there is truly a rise in number of people translating or reading based on the traffic to this site. So like, is it possible to provide me with statistics for just my country(it;s fine if you can't ) @Tony appreciate though. Hoping to shed some light on this community!
     
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  7. tak

    tak ignorant but well-meant

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    Moral of the story is obsess hard enough until you success. Not in relationship, you get restraining order.
     
  8. Dummy

    Dummy Need nyans

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    i wish it usually worked out that way for me:blobsob:
     
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  9. Cascadian Rex

    Cascadian Rex Villain with a thousand faces | Lychee's rival

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    Ah~~ feels like it was only yesterday people were still trading VHS tapes and exchanging ring-binders of translations at anime cons...
    Oh wait I wasn't born then
    Shit, reminiscing too far back in time...
    Tehee
     
  10. tak

    tak ignorant but well-meant

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    Wouldn't it be better to chat tony personally? It'll be like an interview so it's more formal (in case you're writing academic article)
    you could also asks translators what makes them start translating. As for new readers, there's thread on this forum that asks why they begin reading translated novels
     
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  11. Tony

    Tony Well-Known Member Staff Member

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    I'm not even sure how to provide you with that information. I do have Google Analytics but I'm not a pro at using it. I'm guessing you want information on how many users from your country has visited NU over the years? Honestly, I have no clue how to provide you with that info even if I wanted to.

    (This thread reminded me of the email you sent)

    Yes!!!
     
  12. Dummy

    Dummy Need nyans

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    ya :blobsob: i started this thread partially cause I've been waiting for your reply and I actually also wanted to find out what both readers and translator feel about this community actually. Like, what made them start translating. Can I pm you? I actually only need overall stats for the year, nothing too much ><
     
  13. Tony

    Tony Well-Known Member Staff Member

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    Oh if it's just overall stats then that's fine. Sure, you can PM me :blobokhand:
     
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  14. darksaint124

    darksaint124 Well-Known Member

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    No one traded VHS tapes. The first translations were done overseas, so when a store that sold anime got new stock there were already translated subtitles. Even though the quality of those translations were mediocre at best.
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2019
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  15. oblueknighto

    oblueknighto Blue Person

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    There were a few websites like NU before it. Baka tsuki is probably the oldest and it's still alive.
     
  16. Wujigege

    Wujigege *Christian*SIMP*Comedian

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    There are a lot of new translators yes but a lot more Machine translators now since Machine translating is now profitable since a good portion of the reader base do not have English as their first or even second language.
    So getting numbers becomes even more difficult since there is no way to exclude machine translations unless someone reads them and reports them.
    I have seen comments like these

    upload_2019-3-27_10-9-59.png

    with some reviews recommending google translation over reading on said websites
     
    Last edited: May 13, 2019
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  17. Raneday

    Raneday Not Rane

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    I thought spreading BL to the world is part of the reason for making NU?
     
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  18. Cascadian Rex

    Cascadian Rex Villain with a thousand faces | Lychee's rival

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    Really? hmm.... I remember it differently
     
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  19. Dummy

    Dummy Need nyans

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    i never knew that. The only thing I came close to a translations were the manga that were unofficially translated to english on pirate sites. Remember reading about them expressing their concerns over getting in trouble but didn't realize unofficial translations went that far back. But I;m actually focusing on web translations so like, uncertified, unofficial translations by fans or people looking to profit from it or just people with alot of time.
     
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  20. ryuu28

    ryuu28 Well-Known Member

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    I remember a long time ago it started with baka tsuki for japanese novels, but then came heman with stellar transformation for chinese which started the whole xianxia phase before only limited wuxia novels. which then led to the legendary moonlight sculptor being added to bakatsuki for korean and many other chinese novels starting to pop up like zhan long which was on like 3 different sites before became gravity tales that we all know.