Why I think people who have only read fan-traslations of danmei/convels, and not the original Chinese, are in no position to criticise the craftsmanship / technical quality of the writer's writing -- a thread.

1. The translation you read, is already filtered once, through the lens of how the translator reads and interprets the text.

And how a text is read, is subjective. Readers focus on, or takeaway, different things.

Maybe the translator missed a nuance. If so, you won't get it too

2. Translation itself is subjective. We zoom in on different things as readers, which influences what we think is the best way to translate a phrase.

I've seen translations where I'm like, "I won't have translated it that way."

Even amongst my friends, we sometimes disagree.

3a. The quality of the translation/translator matters.

How good is their Chinese?

Do they bother to look up words they're unfamiliar with?

How much of a stickler are they for accuracy?

Are they practised in conveying nuance in English, and do they also apply in translations?

3b. Are they relying mainly on machine translation or MTL (and not disclosing it)?

I've also seen translations which simplify the text... without a disclaimer.

Eg.

OG: With hair that flowed like a black river, and eyes wider than a doe's, he was a beauty.

T: He was beautiful.

3c. To clarify, I think it's the translator's prerogative to translate using MTL and/or to simplify the text in the translation.

However, I WILL side-eye if they do but don't leave a disclaimer. I think that readers assume in good faith that efforts have been made re: accuracy.

4a. Chinese is NOT a language that always translates easily into English.

For example, the syntax is different. Run-on lines run rampant. The subject-verb-object order is more fluid. You can leave out pronouns in Chinese and it'll still make sense, but in English it'll be weird.

4b. Don't even get me started on how a Chinese sentence can go on and on, when it'll need to be split into 3 sentences for it to sound coherent in English.

(When I was translating the TGCF extras, I spent A LOT of time thinking how best to do this while still staying accurate.)

4c. Writing conventions are also different. What might be considered good writing in Chinese, might not be in English.

Eg. Chinese writing is big on poetic imagery (the passing mist is the melancholy in your heart etc). In English, this may come across as overwrought and clunky.

4d. And finally, every translator's peeve:

A CN word with no exact equivalent in EN.

Or a concept which CN has many words to describe different degrees, but which EN only has one. (Eg. see QRT)

You'll always miss out if you don't read the original. https://twitter.com/erushi/status/1135320976315445248?s=19

The end!

No one asked for this thread, but it's something I wanted to get off my chest after seeing various types of behaviour in danmei novel fandom. (It's cumulative, and not targeted at any one person.)

Also, please give your fan translators love! Translating takes effort!