Crap...

He's saying that translators have a power/knowledge/ability that we (those that don't translate) don't have...

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"Officially, this machine doesn't exist, you didn't get it from me,
and I don't know you. Make sure it doesn't leave the building."

i read what he said but you did a good job not quoting it: "So few honest people"
this is getting ridiculus. his comment was obviously offensive.

and just so you know: i did not say he said we are stupid liars. but this is the message that's conveyed. he is "virtually" saying it.
maybe you should read my post before answering.
anyways this is getting to point where we're making a mountain out of a dust speck.
i said what i had to say. if you want to get me wrong please do so.
i'm not calling out a witch's hunt or something, quite the opposite, he allways did a great job on MU.
i just commented on his comment because i think otherwise. i guess we "lowly" users are still allowed to do that.

This.

As a longtime translator, that comment just made me go wtf. Yeah, I'm taking my time to translate something for free which is basically thankless charity work (most people leech, few ever say thank you), so why on earth would I even bother "abusing" the translation? It would just be easier for me to not translate and go out with my friends instead of slaving away at the computer for 7 hours. We don't get paid, period, so what is there to even "abuse"?

Also, even in the unlikely situation that a translator does purposely mess around with the translation for some reason, you can bet that the rest of us will call them out on it, since it would damage all of our reputations.

"Besides, most people on this site don't know Japanese/Korean/Chinese to compare the translated product to the raws."

I'm curious, was there a poll about this? How come everyone here is so certain that most people on this site don't know Japanese/Korean/Chinese? MU is a fantastic reference site for people who read raw manga too.

Humans are already harming and killing humans everyday. Someday, we will all kill each other with pollution, acid rain, viruses developed by pharmaceutical with no cures, ect.

And if aliens are happened to arrive on Earth to offer a solution, we'll probably kill them too before they can even interact with us. Because humans distrust and hate anything "different" from what they are believed and used to.

There are quite a few series that are completely wrong. In general, these aren't the most popular of series since those get more scrutiny. Of these less popular series, if it is a second-hand translation, then there is a MUCH higher probability that it is wrong. There are two chances for parts to get lost in translation, and one more chance for some editorial creativity.

Now when they are correct, the translation usually comes across flat. A good test for this is if you can read the script and then close your eyes and imagine the characters saying those lines. Assuming the art is decent at capturing the tension in the plot, if the your imagination can't match up to that of the artwork (usually it's far far better), then the translation never captured the spirit of the work. The vast majority of translation are flat (not enough tension) or incoherent (inconsistent) in this respect.

There are some rare series that get the proper service and sometimes readers remark how well the series is written. If you are thinking, "That scene was expertly crafted," the difference is probably an excellent job on the translation. Nearly every individual scene is written well in the original. If you are thinking, "The pace of a story arc was great," that would be the original author, but the translations can muddle that up too.

But not all of this is because of the translator. Much of it falls on the group admins who may have setup an inadequate proofreading team or may have chosen to translate second-hand without checking for accuracy first.

But for all readers, ignorance is bliss.

there've been two polls more or less directed towards language. "Has manga/anime inspired you to learn the language?" from august 2008 and "Preferred medium if all forms were available for your favorite series?" from november 2008. participants: 10000 first poll to 9300 second poll.

results that matter in our case were the following: about 60% (6000 participants) were learning japanese/chinese/korean, 11% tried and failed, 6% prefer original language raws.

interpretation could be, that the vast majority knows japanese (or tries to) but is far stronger in their first or second (english, i suppose) language. mind, this is from 2008.
looking at the translation poll, there are 14300 participants, 8000 voted that translations are good.
this translates to, assuming most of the 2008 voters participated in this vote, most people that learned a language in 2008 are now at a level to evaluate whether translations are good or not AND about half of the additional (new? as in: joined after 2008) voters are too. i know this is too easy of an interpretation... but still a point of view.

he should have written it like this: "so few honest people... or so few unknowledgeable people". his concern is justified as 94% voted that they know the language well enough to make an assessment.

this asks for new polls. "how is your japanese" answers should include different levels of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, "i live in japan", self taught, "i don't know japanese", "i tried to learn but gave up", "i am learning to take a jlps", "learning entry level japanese" and much more. it should give a distinct picture of peoples skills.

but! the community could ridicule itself in a way with such a vote (assuming it'll be answered faithfully)...

just my few cent

a poll like "how good is your japanese" is only semi-related to the results of this one and would definetly not ridiculate the results.
people where asked what there are thinking about the translations. so they gave their honest feeling and opinion what they are thinking. that gutt feeling of course is based on their subjective perception and experiance with the groups, and it seems many had good experiances.
it also doesnt take a deeply understanding of a langaue to see if a translations is good or bad. readers often notice when things are not fitting.
and of course the global manga community especially the translators kinda supervise each other. many groups have additional proof readers. and by working on manga translations translators they are inexperianced learn and become better.

all of that and maybe more is what the answer "they're good" is based of.

obviously a poll about the actuall japanese skills would not reflect that, but it does not take any validation of this result.

"Edit: Fine, I'll just add that us readers have our manga at the mercy at the translators, so if they screw things up, who of us lowly people would know?"

Sorry, but that is directly calling the users/readers "lowly". Who else was the word "lowly" aimed at? He could have worded it like you said to note they have a skill (translating a language) that most people don't have. Instead of raising the translators up, he pushed everybody else down by calling them "lowly".

"Edit: Mmm, don't you just love controversial comments to see if people read the front page?"

It's nice to see he's getting a kick out of making these types of comments. He seems very mature.

yeah it seems every Edit is worse then the one before.
now he displays an arrogant premature child not beeing able to deal with criticism.
i guess we can savely ignore his future comments.
at least thats what i will do.

i'll admit that your point is valid aswell, but therein lies the problem. in the end, the poll does not state whether it's asking for a subjective or an objective estimation.

they're good as in they are trying hard by their own means to convey the original meaning or as in the translations convey the original meaning as good as a world class piece of literature would deserve?

you say there are the inexperienced. yes, there are. and they are probably doing their best. that doesn't change the fact, that the translations could be done better by more experienced translators. their translations are by no means always bad, but in my opinion, and from my own experience (not with translations, but the process of learning), the translations will range from "bad" over "you get the gist of it" over "readable" to "okay". but they are learning one of the hardest languages there is and i believe, to make good translations, you not only have to learn the language for many many years, but also live there and have a proper education in translation. my first language is german, second is english. i've been learning (nine years in school) and using english for twelve years. my english is average. i could translate literature back and forth. the translations would be mediocre at best.

when i look at the drama between groups, be it manga translation, anime translation or drama translation, there have to be many many many subpar translations...

It's not a big deal. e_______e;;

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i agree o.o ahaha xD

Somehow I feel bad for suggesting the translation poll...
Btw, I don't think lambchopsil said anything offensive... Or maybe I just don't fully get what he wrote...

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its cold down here fam ~

"Crap...

He's saying that translators have a power/knowledge/ability that we (those that don't translate) don't have..."

but isn't that true? Translators have the ability to understand e 2 languages, and not all readers do