#this is really slapdash and mostly my gut reaction so I'm not trying to make a statement here which is why it kind of peters off

[tonyglowheart]

okay here’s.. where I get a lil bitchy lmfao,,

so tbh I am? in fact? really happy that there are alternate TLs of MDZS out there? Like I am honestly very unsatisfied with the ExR translation, and I think their tl is part of what kept me from really enjoying the mdzs novel as much.

for example the chap I just rb’ed. I don’t think it’s perfect; there’s some grammar points I’d change but for example from boat-full-of-lotus-pods’ translation:

The battle had taken a huge blow on every sect involved. It had taken the Four Great Sects three full months of recuperation, reorganization and planning before they’d finally become ready to take seize upon Burial Mound in retaliation; at last “exterminating” the last remnants of the Wen Sect along with the deranged Yiling Patriarch himself.

compared to ExR’s:

Due to this battle, the cultivation world was quite badly wounded. And since this was the case, after nearly three months of conserving energy and scheming plans, the Four Great Sects were finally able to successfully pull off a siege on the demon’s den, Burial Mound, returning the word ‘massacre’ to the Wen Sect’s remnants and the maddened YiLing Patriarch.

this one reads to me more like a literal translation, and not really narrativized into English very well.

another example:

ExR:

Wei WuXian, “Now it’s time to ask just whom it is that treasures it so much. It’s like Wen Ning. Back then, some certain sects or so were scared to death of the Ghost General. They said they’d kill him on the surface, but behind their backs they hid him for over ten years. How strange. Who was the one that said his ashes had been scattered back then?”

boat-full-of-lotus-pods:

Wei WuXian, “I think the real question to ask here is who’s the ones obsessed with it. Just like the Ghoul General. Hadn’t some sect once screamed loudly for his annihilation, yet somehow managed to secretly hide him up for over a decade? Strange. Who were the ones who’d claimed to have already scattered his ashes back in the days again?”

vs the google doc tl from the tl’s post:

“As for this question then we’d have to ask who exactly wants it so badly. Just like Wen Ning, a certain sect seemed to be scared to death of the Ghost General, calling for his destruction, yet keeping him in secret for over ten years. Strange, who was it back then who had insisted that he had already burnt the Ghost General to ashes?”

I mean even grammar issues aside, and TL differences aside, I just find the other two so much more readable in EN? I think with ExR sometimes I feel like I’m constantly reading garden path sentences, where I have to be readjusting my understanding as more words are read, as opposed to just reading. so like... rip lmao

Plus, ExR was so vocally against other translation groups lol and insisting that theirs was really great quality and that part of their concern/anger at other ppl translating is that the quality is bad? And of course, I don’t know what specific TL they’re talking about, maybe it was a rough TL they’re reacting to. But like I’d been going through their TL, as laborious a process as that was for me, because I wanted to enjoy the novel, and structural awkwardness aside, there’s a lot of grammatical awkwardness too with off tenses, or plural vs singular issues, or whatever. And those are ones that, if you copy it into a word doc, have already been marked out by the machine as issues, let alone someone reading through.

I know it’s bad form to criticize fan translations since like, I get it, we’re all doing this not for profit (well except for ExR’s patreon I guess lmfao) and for fun, so being critical is seen as mean. but they were SO vocally against other TL’s lol, as if other translations will be infringing on the quality or nobility of the art of translating or something. And I guess they apologized, but the fact that they did was. ugh. Plus, they’re fan translators? It’s not like they’re a licensee protecting their license? so I don’t know where an individual or individual group feels like they’re the only ones who can be fan-translating something and that since they called dibs, everyone else should back off. Especially if like... and I”m going to be honest, I don’t think their TL’s are that high quality.

so yeah here’s where I’m skirting fandom etiquette, but I mean I’m only tossing this here and it’s untagged and under a cut, it’s not like I’m mass-publicizing any sort of denunciation, so I’m going to voice my unpopular(?) critical opinion here.

 and also like... ExR’s vibe has done a lot to kill part of my enthusiasm for MDZS the novel and I have salty with them for that