Working as an Editor As the title says, wanna check if am suitable to be editor for part-time summer job or nah Thing is, looked at some of the editor tests before, fairly certain would pass but I really couldn't quote a particular rule for a certain mistake. Like tense structure and so on? more like, my brain just makes sense (and rewrites them) of the sentences? you could ask me what a past participle is and I'd have to google it, but adding -ed is an absolute no brainer. My eng teacher used to mention that rules are more for second lang people and first language people like myself simply parse the sentences into a more natural form? idk, what do you guys think? Everybody, feel free to post some snippets of rough translation work here and let's see what I can do with it, might as well get some practice in This is part of Qidian's Editor test, though I'm not sure if I'm actually allowed to show it, so eyes in the skies, please don't shoot me XD. It's not my best work, but given the utter gutter quality of the base translation, it's hard to do a good job editing without major rewriting which you can't do. Honestly, it's like someone used google translate there. Part 3: Finale (50 pts.) Problems about everything in regards to the English language could be seen in the passage below. Please do your best to make the story readable, understandable and immersive. However, please be advised that the meaning should be retained, and adding or removing details will deduct some points from your total score. Please do impress us. Characters: Lin Xian, Mei Lanxue, Ran Haifeng, Yan Zhifei Places: Human Realm, Serdin, Great Forest of Althea Lin Xian have no idea about an implication of what he has just say; He were just being honesty But as for the other females what enter they’re mind is quite different. Lin Xian had no idea about the implications of what he had just said. He was only being honest. Yet what entered the minds of the women in his group was quite different. an Advanced mage, seem not older than twenty and not part of any faction… These... was just inconceivable A faction-less Advanced Mage who doesn’t even seem older than twenty. This was just… inconceivable. In itself, mage becoming were already an Difficult things to do In itself, becoming a Mage was already a difficult thing to do. first, an aspiring Mage will be needed to has the disposition of Mage, an aspiring Mage will require to put on so much time and effort and even then, success at any of the step to becomes one was still difficult. Firstly, an aspiring Mage needed to have the right disposition. Furthermore, an aspiring Mage is required to put forth much time and effort, yet even then, success at any stage on the path towards becoming a mage was still hard to achieve. two, they will need a lot of resources; In order to expand a mages’ mental space and increase a mages’s mental force a mage must battle in constance Secondly, a large amount of resources was required. Constant battle was necessary to expand a Mages’ mental space and increase their mental force. During this battles mages will receive often hard injuries and tending this heavy injuries required is various healing items or pills During these battles, it is inevitable that mages often receive heavy injuries. Tending to these heavy wounds required various healing items or pills. If a mage doesn’t has any of that and gets injury while train then might cause hidden injuries that will bad effect its advancement to higher level, If a Mage is lacking in any of this and gets injured while training, they might receive hidden injuries that often negatively affect the chances of advancement to a higher level. so, after hearing lin Xin is not join faction, neither three females before him believe him As a result, after hearing that Lin Xian has yet to join any faction, none of the three women before him believes in his words. Suddenly, an idea immediately pops into the Linxian mind so he immediately asks, ‘You say you all comes from serdn Suddenly, an idea immediately pops up into the mind of Lin Xian, and so he asks, “You said that you all come from Serdin?”. The other two and Yan Zhifei nodded, seen they confirms, Xianlin asks. “Can you tell me what kind of place this serdin is? Yan Zhifei and the other two nodded. Seeing their confirmation, Lin Xian asks. “Can you tell me what kind of place this Serdin is?” Hearing her question, the three women immediately feel confuse, Of course the Xianlin question is very strange. Who does not know the 2nd ranks city in whole Human realm? Hearing his question, all three women immediately feel confused. Obviously, Lin Xian’s question is very strange, just who would not know the 2nd Ranked City throughout the entire Human Realm? "Hey, do not you know Serdin?" Ran Haifeng looks puzzling “Hey, do you really not know anything about Serdin?” Ran Haifeng looks puzzled. Of course, Xianlin knows about what kind of place is Serdin, has enough knowledge, he knows these was mainly a market town, but behind the facade of the being human’s center for commerce, it is also one where strongest and most talented mages gathered city. Of course, Lin Xian has some idea about what kind of place Serdin is, but his knowledge was rather general. He knew that it was mainly a market town, but behind the facade of being a center of commerce for the Human Realm, it was also a place for where the strongest and most talented mages gathered. As for Lin Xian, what he seeks to know, understand Serdin living conditions. Ten years, Xianlin has not been in many places, not to mention five years, his only other people contacts, was bandit attacks. As for Lin Xian, the knowledge he sought after, was an understanding of the living conditions in Serdin. In these ten years, Lin Xian has not been to many places, don’t even mention five years, the only contact he had with other people were bandit attacks.
Working as an editor is shit. Either you get paid in pennies or not at all. Learn to mtl and just get the money that way
pennies isn't half bad for like 20 minutes of staring at a screen and 10 actual minutes of typing. MTL is also another way to go but editing MTL to even half readable is a real pain, especially when you know that's not what the original Chinese text said, and you have no idea how to put it in english. ie. idioms and those nasty four word phrases
Firstly, there's no need for you to know the correct terminology for the edits you make - as someone who has been an editor for a while... I'll be frank, none of the translators I worked with gave a flying fuck about the reason I made whatever edit I did (although they did sometimes say something like maybe blah blah blah is better or I think it's fine if you keep it as is or whatever). Among all the editors I encountered, I only met one who would actually provide proper reasoning behind his edits... and he said he was a teacher with English as his second language, so... But, aside from that, seeing the edits above... I would say there are some parts where I would change the wording, but it is somewhat passable. Also, yes, editors get paid very little or not at all (I've experienced both, but as a volunteer, I am always pleasantly surprised when a group offers to pay me so I personally don't mind). I would honestly say that you should just get a normal job... :/ but if you're bent on doing editing, then I'll just say good luck and make sure to brush up on your English (the best way being to just read more serious literature - not just web novels lol). ALSO DON'T FORGET PAST TENSE. ALWAYS PAST TENSE. Chinese doesn't have verb tenses, but proper English literature should be in past tense (I would say that there are exceptions, but when in doubt, always past tense).
my english teacher said~ language is for communication, as long as person who you communicate by can understand what you mean everything is okay~ but if we talk right and proper, that's another matter~ that's why I got 6 on scale of 10 for my english~ badumtess~ why not try apply for translation team that need for editor?
That is the test? Look like something straight out of mtl. EDIT: If you want you should try your luck on stable editing job out there. It will be better than 5$ per chapter.
If you read it as a whole, you'll notice how the story feels suffocating with the wordings and how the story is delivered. I'm not sure whether this falls under proofing or editing, but aside from correcting the translations, you have to work the whole thing so it can best be delivered in the targeted language without the translation feeling like a wall of text has just been dumped straight out of the machine (in this case the translator, no disrespect meant) while at the same time getting the point across.
if you think editing is a 30min job with a translator who gives no shit on grammar and leaves it like a crap mtl. then you.. are absolutely retarded.
Now I believe that guy who said that 5 USD per dollar by QIDIAN was being underpaid. Since in in my currency it is equal to 300 bucks per chapter. RIP Qidian editors.
Honestly, like I said, the edits weren't really the best, they did say that i had to do it so "meaning should be retained, without adding or removing details" which is kinda hard without rewriting. You'll notice I tried to keep the structure mostly the same to complement the translators work, and keep it relatively the same, but If I had the freedom to do so, a lot would be rewritten to flow better. There's no need to be insulting, really, the 30 minute thing took into account that the translator's work was at least decent and readable, not mtl trash like so. Even if it's not the worse example of English I've seen, you couldn't get me to work on MTL like this even if you paid me.
I see. Unless they have proofers (do they? I don't think they do), I can now understand why some of the works there felt awkward for readers.
yeah like for example, i would have rewritten Lin Xian have no idea about an implication of what he has just say; He were just being honesty But as for the other females what enter they’re mind is quite different. Lin Xian had no idea about the implications of what he had just said. He was only being honest. Yet what entered the minds of the women in his group was quite different. Lin Xian had no idea what his words had just implied, he was after all, only being honest. Indeed, what entered the minds of the other women in his group was quite different. See the difference? Easy to rewrite, but hard to do so if you wanna stick close to the translators original wording.
The readjustment of word order is necessary, because there are some differents in word order between the two groups of people forming sentences. I had read a brief analyse of the readjustment in En to Ch, most sentences need to be readjusted.
If it is the last century, that would be true. Read The Hunger Game, The Martian, most of Haruki Murakami's books. They are just what I can remember right now.
Really? Okay I usually don't like bashing on translators and editors but.. I just took a look at "The Sacred Ruins" because it's the bestselling title in China, and I heard it was the best in-house translation on QI. (I read it somewhere here, no idea if it's true though.) First 3 paragraphs of the latest chapter: "Both elders were shouting out orders. Silver rays of radiance emitted from their mouth and nostrils, which then turned into ripples of silver luminescence, spreading across the canyons and the jungles. Their voice was deafening, like rolling thunders, echoing between the precipitous cliffs between the towering mountains. They darted downhills, rushing towards each respective camp. Having received the order from the elders, leaders of each respective camp hastily committed into appropriate actions. They rallied up all their forces, poised for the ultimate fight." 1: "Rolling thunders" : Thunders? Although technically it's not grammatically incorrect, Rolling thunder just sounds so much more natural and rolling thunders so much more awkward. 2: "downhills" : Really?! 3: "Their voice" : Again not technically incorrect but it sounds very awkward. I think native speakers would go for the plural here. Same with "their mouth." 4: "...between the precipitous cliffs between the..." : awkward repetition, switch it up a little man. 5: The "orders" in paragraph 1 became the "order" in paragraph 3. Although it could be understood in a way that doesn't make it technically incorrect, it's again awkward and inconsistent. 6. A little side note, the whole first paragraph is a mess. It sounds grandiloquent and pretentious. After checking the raw this is because the translator (probably) made up a lot of things. The raw simply says: 两名老人都在喝令，口鼻间喷薄银光，化成涟漪，向四外扩散，声音巨大，在整片山地回荡。(The two old persons were both shouting orders. Silver light gushed from their mouths and noses, turning into ripples that dispersed to all sides. Their tremendous voices reverberated in the entire mountain area.) The third paragraph is also pretty far from the raws: 接到命令后，那些头领快速安排，组织人马准备战斗，并开始联系山中的林诺依、姜洛神等人。(After receiving the orders, those leaders made quick arrangements and organized the soldiers in preparation for battle. They also started to get in touch with people in the mountains like Lin Nuoyi, Jiang Luoshen and the others.) Although this difference is possibly due to context, I have no idea. This is only the first 3 paragraphs in the first chapter I looked at, I haven't looked at the rest. So while there's some stuff in OP's edition I don't agree with, I don't think it's worse than what you've got here. Does QI have double standards or weird demands?
Curious but which novel are these passages from ? Don't ever remember coming across a Lin Xian in the stuff I have read