lolrant

Chapter 19 Contentment—Part One
***LONG RANT***
Before the translation comes in, I am sure all of you have already heard of the
miscommunication we had a few days ago with another fellow translator. If you are still
puzzled on what’s going on, here’s a short recap. This will be a VERY long explanation, so
if you are not interested in it, feel free to scroll down to where it says “END”, and enjoy the
new chapter.
As I was practicing piano some time last week (and yes, the reason behind this being
released after so long is because of today’s piano examination) (which I failed), I was
notified that another translator had uploaded the translation for GDC/FoD’s Chapter 19
somewhere else. At first, I was a bit unsure of things, since it is always impolite to suddenly
take on a chapter without talking to the original group first. I read through their work and
what their thoughts were on the matter. They said that they thought it was nice to give the
readers a new perspective on things. Of course, this was a very valid reason. Even some
published novels have different translations that allow the readers to choose from. They also
seemed quite nice at the end, saying that they were new and even adding in a link to our site.
And then, I read the actual translation. Upon first read, I could tell that they were working
alone, from the grammar issues that scattered around. If you read my translations, you can
probably tell that Addis and I are quite keen on making sure that no mistakes exist (and if
you find one, please comment). Addis does it because she is my proofreader; I do it because I
want the best quality of work for my favorite novel. Then again, I couldn’t just judge
someone because there were tiny issues in their work, so I stopped reading once I got a sense
of what this translator was like, so that my own work wouldn’t be unconsciously influenced.
I was still uncertain on whether or not to let them continue, until, someone posted a
screenshot of one section in the chapter. The number “1800” instantly stood out. That’s it, I
told myself, this isn’t the level of Chinese that can translate GDC. The original text meant
“if not 1000, then 800.” I have no idea how they made a mistake like this. Mistakes are fine,
but making such a low-level one really made me doubt the existence of their semi-fluent
Chinese.
Thus, this was why we were intent on them taking the translation down. Although their level
of Chinese may not be enough to translate GDC, it may be enough to translate a modern-day
type of danmei. There are countless good danmei in this world, still left untranslated, and a
lot of those do not require as strong of a language ability. However, although they said, in
their original post, that they will take it down if we asked them to, they did not actually take
it down, and instead posted it somewhere so that “those who want to read it can read it.” If
someone understands how this counts as “taking it down”, please contact me and I can give
you a gold medal for your reading comprehension abilities. Countless people have already
made it a point that this process of translation itself has no rules, so she can do whatever she
wants, because nobody said that it was necessarily wrong to perform such an action. Well,
fine. They can keep it up. We cannot do anything to stop them. Although I am a mafia boss,
I’m incapable of flying over to wherever they live and watch them delete the post.
Now, onto my second point, from the comments in the various places, I see that a bunch of
you are still confused on what happened with the previous translator, Enxiao. When I first
joined ExR, after hearing the news that my favorite manga translation group would also be
translating Chinese novels, I was ecstatic. Being the effervescent little newbie to the
translating world I was, I simply did a quick search of “mo dao zu shi” and left it at that. I
most certainly did not know what Novel Updates was. After posting the first chapter, I
quickly realized that, oh crap, someone was in the middle of translating this. As the initial
stages of panic passed, we notified Enxiao, they gave the okay sign, and I continued
translating. I do recognize that it was entirely my fault for wasting a part of Enxiao’s work,
as they were in the middle of translating a chapter. I admit that I should have searched more
carefully to see if it was already in the process of being translated. If I knew that Enxiao was
already translating, I definitely would have contacted them.
However, the case is different for this translator. They knew that I was already translating,
yet they still continued. The problem here is not because they didn’t know the underlying
“rules” of the translation world, it is that they think it is okay for two versions to exist, and I
think otherwise. I understand that, most likely, they are going to keep translating, no matter
what I say, and I also understand that, as humans, we only believe what we choose to, so
there must still be a number of people who think I did the same thing to Enxiao. Most of all,
I understand that, if they continue to translate, there will be less people who read my version
because, although my work quality is higher, my speed is slower, and that is what most
readers value. Therefore, it is only common sense that I will drop this project sooner or later
and move on.
But, I will not. This is my favorite novel, my favorite author, my favorite writing style, and I
will most definitely continue. A famous story told the tale of two mothers, one real, one fake,
fighting over an infant, resulting in the real mother letting go, or else her baby would be torn
apart. I guess, from now on, that we’ll have to exist alongside each other. I remain firmly
against the notion that two versions of a translation can exist peacefully together. They
remain firmly supporting of it. I will give in to them by saying that, fine, you can translate
this however you want to, but, at the same time, I will prove them wrong by raising my child
to be the best that it can possibly be. For now, let the fire die. Wouldn’t want this to spoil
anyone’s appetite for the coming events in the story. Spoiler: flashbacks end.
***END OF LONG RANT***