Discussion Wuxia World "Official" Translations are Not Of Quality

TL;DR: Chinese WW novels that are claimed to be "official translations" of the novel don't have consistent quality.

We know some of QD's translation are not really good, and so I decided to take some of WW's novel as an example to show how good quality translations are done.

To my disappointment, except CKtalon's translations, most of them that have advanced Chinese structures do not meet the expected quality of a paid translation. Here we shall quantify "expected quality" as having less than 1 grammatical error and/or 1 vocabulary error, and this is what is expected on us as paid translators, even if we're freelancers. (Fun fact, it's so strict that even getting the name translated wrong nets demerit points)

Since WW takes a lot of Chinese novels, I'll only take one random chapter of three books at random as an example here (I can write more reviews on request, but do note that I'm only looking at novels with advanced sentence structures and tone usage), since quality is expected to be consistent. Due to the quantity of mistakes, I will also not translate them myself, and leave it as an exercise to the translators here to understand these mistakes.

1. A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality (chapter 60) : Basic translation is done right, but overall mistakes in resolving the tone of the sentence being said, and mistakes in translating advanced structures.
->
“其中包含的记忆、经验、情绪这些东西，是一点都碰不得的，假如吸收了，轻则变成白痴、人格分裂，重则精神暴涨脑子撑破而亡。”
“For example, you will be unable to touch the included memories, experiences, and emotions, and even if you did absorb them, there is a high chance that you will instantly become mentally crippled , your personality will develop split versions of itself, your consciousness will collapse, and your brain will ultimately burst, leading to your death.

2. Legend of the Dragon King (chapter 177) : Fail. This chapter is badly done. The translator made blatant vocabulary mistakes (mistaking mental will with plants, for example -.-), and mis-translated or skipped translating the use of word metaphors. However, it is noted that this chapter is slightly more difficult/advanced than some of the other novels.
-> 全身黑色毛发外层散发着淡淡的紫色光晕，一双眼睛之中金光吞吐，眼神灵动，盯视着唐舞麟和舞长空，似乎因为被发现而显得有些愕然。
A shimmering purple aura surrounded its body as it stared at Tang Wulin and Wu Zhangkong with bright topaz eyes, incredulity on its face.

3. Against the Gods (chapter 673) : Overall well done, no obvious mistakes to be found. A common mistake is in resolving tone of a sentence.
->
我等此举虽无意打扰了阁下清修，但杀人偿命，天经地义
"Even though we have inadvertently disturbed this distinguished one’s cultivation, our mission was to bring a murderer to justice as it is the right and proper thing to do"

Conclusion: Most WW translators have no problem translating simple and straight forward contemporary Chinese sentences, but often fail to translate word metaphors, tone and advanced sentence structures. One would hope that the TLC(s) would catch this mistakes, but this still escapes checking. This is unacceptable as a "official translation", which should not contain so much of these mistakes. Just because Qi Dian might have these mistakes in their translations does not mean we can accept translations of lower quality.

Are we so caught up in the market share grab of getting as much translations on board as possible that we forgot about what is expected of us the translators? This is disgusting, to say the least, especially when I see these sub-standard translators bitching about being "paid less than what they deserve". There is a reason why there is an industry-wide stigma for monetizing fan translations, because overall the quality is simply less than what is expected of a "official translation", and neither WW nor other groups (I'm looking at you, Fang Hua at Volare) are doing their part in erasing this stigma before trying to monetize fan translations.

 

calling for pizzA now, and popcorn in the micro.
personally as a leach all i care is that what i read is coherent and with a certain level of quality, i don't really care for perfect accuracy from the raws.

i am just thankful they are even translating these for everyone to read.

 

So this is the first post you made, huh.

You're going in big just for creating this account.

 

Nice try new guy... Nice try...

 

25 Cent Army spotted!

 

A lot of the early stuff has a bunch of errors. The stuff nowadays normally has none or is corrected quickly

 

Congratz on finding mistakes once every 50 something chapters? You write it as if they made the mistakes wanting to offend people. Sorry to say, but translators are human too. And chinese is not an easy language.

 

On another note, even then, the translations for Qidian are shittier than WW can ever be.

 

hello qidian clone #531104 have you thought about offering your services to TLC any novel?? or comment on the site to let them know of error you catch up?

sincerely
Everyone

 

I wanted to take of the later chapters for better reference, but I couldn't reach the VIP chapters, so I had to choose another chapter as comparison.

 

You realise right? Each of this translators has too many projects to handle OR they do it in a day, without asking for a single penny. (Again, i would like to underline the fact- Donations are not pennies, its not mandatory). Still they translate it. (Example: Alychu spends her entire night translating, working like a machine to meet the demands. We see this in her everyday post of ATG). So, after all this if someone still does mistakes or typoes. Its easily forgiveable. And...they don't.(Most of the time). Maybe, the editors were at fault, something else happened maybe. So many possibilities.

Again, another AND If you are being so much grammar Nazi. You can comment them to correct it. Its not like they will attack you for losing face. Lol.

 

sigh.... what a stupid thread ....... do you guys want war that badly? It had dimmed down a little bit and you guys want to raise the fire again?

 

If lord third comes you will be converted to the right path and remember something we don't like qidian because they wanna take the half done work of some ppl if they don't wanna do what they say. That's why we ar ATQ

 

What are VIP Chapters?

 

Like it or not, both QD and WW (among the others) are claiming these to be "official translations". I'm not singling out WW, but I'm saying these groups have inconsistent quality which are unacceptable in a "official translation".

 

A New member starting a thread attacking Wuxia World, why am I not even suprised anymore...

Seriously fuck Qidian

 

lol

 

what is this? this guy being a stupid or what?