Dafuq with calling Yang Guo (杨过) "Penance". I don't care if that is what his name means whatever but you dont have to translate Chinese names like that. I can't take this translation of Jin Yong's book seriously omg 💀
Like, there's this character in Mysterious Lotus Casebook called "Duo Bing", can you imagine if you call him "Always Sick"?? Chinese names don't have to be direct translations omg
@jenxi Ok feedback - the log in process to get the epubs are so convulated. I'm trying to find that download link and I can't lol. If you can direct me to a page with the links that'll be great, but it's like a maze, being led to one page after another but not the epub download...
I’m actually itching to start my version of the The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. Long discussion over the translation of the XAJH title. I’ll be sharing that in an article soon.
@jenxi Smiling Proud Wanderer is like, my favorite Jin Yong work ever so you don't know how excited i am to finally dig into it. Thank you for your hard work! @chungliwen
@liztai I spoke to Gigi at length about this. I was against the name translations, but have come around to accepting such an approach is necessary for readers who are new to both the wuxia genre and Chinese settings.
It also puts the reader in the perspective of a native speaker. Native speakers know what his name means each time we hear the name.
Really hope these novels help get new readers interested in the genre and then move on to translations that retain more pinyin terms.
@jenxi i don't think I will be able to relate to that reasoning as I am not from the US but I suppose if it appeals to them....
I mean, it is just weird to me. I will kill anyone that goes around "describing" my name.
It feels patronizing. Not sure if all Chinese people feel this way, but sometimes i feel the names are translated this way to make them sound more Oriental and exotic 🙄
Like, we don't call people named Peter "the rock", for eg. so why do it to Chinese names? I don't get it
@liztai The official translations are from a British publisher, probably targets all English-speaking readers who are new to the genre. And from what I’ve observed, many readers have English as a second language.
It helps that the names aren’t too confusing and easier for them to remember/track.
@chungliwen@jenxi Personally, at least for me, i don't really think of the meaning of a Chinese person's name. Now i am wondering if other Chinese people think the opposite 🤔
I think for us to do that we would have to ask for the characters of their name and that would be odd.
@liztai@chungliwen From my experience, it’s very common for Chinese people to ask for the characters of the names when introduced. And from there decipher the meaning of the names, or ask what it means if it’s an unusual name.
Even in situations where only surnames are exchanged, they would still ask for the character, though in this case the meaning isn’t important.
@liztai I have read the reasoning for this choice because I was so annoyed too. I still can't accept translating NAMES but if you wanna know, the reason it's done this way is because wuxia is kinda hero fantasy of sorts (imagine marvel) and the translator wants to convey how the names relate to the story + they are sorta like titles in a way (I disagree)
@geraineon@liztai My speculation is that the horrible translated names were a decision of the original translator of LoCH—who started work on the series by herself but found it was too much to take on alone and recruited a couple of translators to collaborate with her—and that Gigi Chang wouldn’t have chosen to do that herself, but can’t go against the direction already set out for the project.
Lotus Huang and Ironheart Yang (etc.) were bad enough, but Penance Guo is just terrible!!
And if the characters‘ names are more like titles… what about the actual titles that a lot of them have in addition to their names? 😠
@villainousfriend@liztai I think that's probably the case too and Gigi Chang can't openly say she hates it (she was the one who explained the reasoning on twitter back then iirc)
I understand if it's things such as "Granny Golden Flower" but actual names is no. Just why.
@rakyat@liztai is it time to shit on "cultivation"? I'm here for it!
Alas I don't actually remember what word I used to use because it's been erased by "cultivation" (probably practice too? Idk. Cultivation = what, gardening ah?)
@geraineon@rakyat I always wondered about that ... but I guess because it's both practicing and sort of gaining more energy/skills? I almost picture the whole deal as a battery charging.
If you accept the premise that everyone can practice until they "fly", then it's basically like okay you are practicing your stamina. It's like sports. You can learn from manuals how to do it more efficiently or run more efficiently! Stuff like that la. Then sometimes, ppl use technique that official competitions don't accept la (so this is the equivalent of Evil Sect thing I guess, and Evil Cultivation Methods)
@liztai@rakyat I wish I have the foresight to save my twitter DMs. I actually did go on a very long rant with a friend when cnovel tl became more mainstream because of the word "cultivation" and I'm pretty sure I did mention the words I think are more appropriate/better but now they are all gone from my brain -_-
@geraineon@liztai@rakyat another way that ‘cultivation’ is an annoying term: I’m really interested in the kind of court intrigue cnovels where ministers spot bright scholars in the younger generation and nurture them over years, rather similar to a master-disciple relationship, helping them develop and get good positions in the future. And to me, the obvious term for this is cultivating talents! But the namespace is already taken :(
Add comment