Editing Talk:Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (section)

== Another new Editor? Permission/Discussion for major editing? ==

---Hey, ladies and gents, I am a new guy here, and I have a selfish request. I've read the LN up to Chapter 37, and it's gotten fairly bad. There are a lot of minor mistakes past Chapter 31, and I can fix those with a smile. However, the story is visibly deteriorating. (I'm a pretty mellow fellow, and can read bad books without complaint, but this is a step worse.) It's not a book. "Eh?" Well, the thing is that the surroundings/location are invisibly changing at a rather frightening pace. "Whatever do you mean by that?" Well, here is an example: 

We headed to the weaver with the threads.
Weaver: "This is some unusual material, I could do a lot with this. Go to the dressing room and measure your size. I should be able to complete the dress tonight. You can pick it up later."
---And another:
"Th-this is so fast..."
"It's more important to get your mother to drink that medicine right. Don't drop it."
"Ye-yes!"
The man went into his house. I followed after him inside. I still hadn't gotten my payment after all.
Coming up to it, it was a regular rural commoner house. 

---As you can see, the actions are described, but the surroundings change with little to no notice. (The guy who got a ride mysteriously warped from the road, to the from of his house.) It almost seems as if this whole story came from a manga. All the conversations are there, as well as the actions. But, the surroundings that are portrayed in the pictures are left out. I want to change this, but that means adding sentences, or at least sentence fragments. It will be a noticeable change, but also (in my opinion) a welcome one. (Otherwise, it is a manga without the pictures. Even the speakers are labeled, as if the picture is supposed to be there.) So, what say you to this proposition? Is it okay to mess with the translation, or should it be left as is?
Andreyk37 00:49, 17 March 2015 (CDT)

Just so you know in advance, I'm not actually involved in this project, but let me clarify a few things~
1. If you're reading from BT, this is a translation of a web novel, not a light novel. The web novel which is available to read for free online does not go through a professional editing process / refinement like the light novel does, so it's more like a draft.  This will lead to lower quality in the text itself in many cases. Depending on the Author's literary skill, it could still read very well, but as a rule of thumb it'll be the inferior of the two.
2. BT hosts translations. Once you add "content" to a translation, it's no longer a translation. Editing a translation is focused on readability / flow of words, at most taking the liberty of changing specific terms / references to fit the language audience it's pointed towards. So generally adding scenery would not be okay.

Just trying to give you a quick answer, hopefully I was helpful~

--Indeed, that was helpful. I see what you are saying, and agree for the most part. But, could you clarify some details for me? I am yet new to this whole system, and thus woefully uninformed. 
1. The web novel, what is it? By draft, do you perchance mean that this story is the work of someone's writing for fun? I cannot read Japanese, so I don't know what the source is like. If the translation we get is direct, it is very odd. Now that I've read farther into the novel, I have seen the type of location teleportation mentioned above in a much larger magnitude. It is especially obvious in the fight with Glass in chapters 52 and 53. The translation seems to be... partial. At times, its almost as if its a summary, and not a story. Once again, I do not know if the real author writes in such a fashion or not. To me, it seems like the wording was simply taken from a manga, translated, and posted here. Can anyone verify if the real Japanese version is like this? Is the original a book or a manga?
2. I agree with you in regards with translations. This story is not mine, and I have no right to indiscriminately change it. What I wish for, is a well edited version of what we have so far. Not just in terms of punctuation and simple grammar changes but, as you put it, a "flow of words." I don't aim to change the story or to add nonexistent details. I wish to polish this 'gem' that I have found, and make it beautiful. (I say this after reading SAO and Mahouka. Were they professionally edited?)
Oh, and to see what I mean by all this talk, please take a look at Chapter 79. Please, please, give me a reply. I want to know if I should edit this story or not. I don't want to put a lot of effort into it if it will not be appreciated.
Andreyk37


1. A web novel is pretty much someone writing for fun. However, it's semi-serious, and if you do good enough, and catch enough attention, your work could turn into a light novel. All the text is online, and a link exists at the bottom of the baka-tsuki page. Google Chrome's built-in translation function can give you a basic idea of chapter titles, as well as text. 

2. Tate no Yuusha is a much more 'open' project that others like DxD, Campione, SAO, and Mahouka (god damn yen pressǃǃǃ). Many, many translators help, and anonymous newbies often take a random chapter, machine translate it, and try to post it as official translation. Needless to say, the results are often...less than desirable. We're damn lucky to have Yoraikun and Kookie - Yoraikun translates at the fastest pace I've ever seen, and his work is of excellent quality, especially now that he's experienced. Kookie edits well, and often fixes up the messes left by newbie translators, which we can't touch since we can't TLC. And she also translates from time to time as well. Side noteː take a look at chapter 264's [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Tate_no_Yuusha_no_Nariagari:Web_Chapter_264 early version]. THAT is what happens when Kookie doesn't edit.

3. If you're looking for appreciation, go elsewhere. All the appreciation goes to translators; the majority of readers never bother to learn who edited the text they're reading. It's a thankless job, and the only thing you get is your own sense of self-accomplishment. And if your edits conflict with the tastes/opinions of others, you may instead face dissatisfaction, editing wars, and blah blah. The people working here are collectively referred to as 'baka-tsuki' on Yoraikun's comments page. All credit for your work is attributed to the community as a whole.
[[User:Subsinexus|Subsinexus]] ([[User talk:Subsinexus|talk]]) 10:54, 25 March 2015 (CDT)