Jaspaaar Posted November 2, 2023 Posted November 2, 2023 At around 9am GMT+8 on Sunday (9pm EDT Saturday, 6pm PDT), the Dao of the Bizarre Immortal translation team (Chacha, Char, and their editor Darkhound) will be here to answer your questions! Feel free to post your questions now in advance, and they'll be responded to once the event starts. You might be interested to know why they started translating, what they like about DBI, or simply what their favourite food is.
JHYuuko Posted November 4, 2023 Posted November 4, 2023 Halloooo DBI Team! I am the first! I am curious: do you guys ever disagree on translation style/format?
BakeKuroNeko Posted November 4, 2023 Posted November 4, 2023 Tell us your story about your Chinese learning and trannslation journey, and how do you translate stuff from Chinese to English. Did you ever found translating hard? What's your favorite novel, and tell one joke.
Wewe110 Posted November 4, 2023 Posted November 4, 2023 How many chapters it will have? And what is the exciting part we will have to wait?. Can you give us hints what will happen after he bring the all his subordinates. It will be have an arc where his other person will have a story ( why he get that sick etc)?. Thank you so much
abcibimb Posted November 4, 2023 Posted November 4, 2023 Will the novel have developments regarding cultivation world as seen in other classic xianxia novels? Thank You!
AwesomeGrace Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 I want to ask Chacha, Char, and Darkhound. Did this novel affect you in any sort of ways? Please explain and also tell the readers why they should give this novel a try if they haven't already.
ChaCha95 Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 5 hours ago, JHYuuko said: Halloooo DBI Team! I am the first! I am curious: do you guys ever disagree on translation style/format? Hey thanks for the question! When we translate, we will adhere to guidelines so the chapters will be consistent. The only thing we might disagree on is the name. For example, some translators would prefer to translate the name as it is while others would write its meaning instead. Example: 金龙 = Golden Dragon or Jin Long. In this case, we will read the chapters ahead and see which would fit better. Certain novels are much better off writing their pinyin rather than their meaning.
DarkHound Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 (edited) 6 hours ago, JHYuuko said: Halloooo DBI Team! I am the first! I am curious: do you guys ever disagree on translation style/format? Hey, thanks for the question! There are times when we disagree on the style and format, but the good old discussion is there to save the day... In my case, I don't know Chinese, so I am mostly the one asking questions and trying to make sense of stuff on the English side of things... And as mentioned by ChaCha, we do sometimes need to discuss about whether to use the translation of a name or the pinyin, since if one of them is chosen for something, then we might need to follow through and use that same format the whole novel for the sake of consistency. Edited November 5, 2023 by DarkHound
ChaCha95 Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 4 hours ago, BakeKuroNeko said: Tell us your story about your Chinese learning and trannslation journey, and how do you translate stuff from Chinese to English. Did you ever found translating hard? What's your favorite novel, and tell one joke. I started learning Chinese when I was young. Being born in Malaysia, we get to learn three different languages during our 12 years of education, and even after that, we get exposed to multiple languages talking to people every day so it's quite automatic for me to translate stuff from Chinese to English. Usually, I just type on the fly while I read the chapter. Translation is only hard for me when they pull out stuff like scriptures and whatnot and I have to refer to a lot of materials to make sure it can be translated accurately. I started my translation journey when a friend recommended me to try it out when WuxiaWorld had an opening, which was kinda fun haha. So far my favorite novel is definitely DBI, with how wacky it is. Joke of the day: I'm so Asian, that my pronouns are ... Heeeeeee / Yah! 1
Chocobird Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 5 hours ago, JHYuuko said: Halloooo DBI Team! I am the first! I am curious: do you guys ever disagree on translation style/format? Hello! Thanks for reading the novel! Char here. We definitely each have our own styles of writing, but our awesome editor Darkhound keeps everything consistent before the chapters are published. I agree with what Chacha said about the names, and that can get confusing at times. Sometimes, the names may hold some meaning or inside joke that is better off translated, but the translated name also doesn't fare so well in English, and we have to think about whether it would do better translated or not (to pull off that one-off joke!).
ChaCha95 Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 3 hours ago, Wewe110 said: How many chapters it will have? And what is the exciting part we will have to wait?. Can you give us hints what will happen after he bring the all his subordinates. It will be have an arc where his other person will have a story ( why he get that sick etc)?. Thank you so much It will have 1025 chapters or maybe more if we get to translate the additional chapters about the side characters haha. As for his subordinates ... some of them will have a happy ending, two of them have a massive impact on the story later on, and one of them is a huge ass B**** There will be an explanation of why he got sick, but it's in later chapters. This novel is one where the author confuses you a lot in the beginning, but as you get to the later chapters, the puzzle pieces clicks and you will finally know what was happening in the earlier chapters. 1
DarkHound Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 3 hours ago, Wewe110 said: How many chapters it will have? And what is the exciting part we will have to wait?. Can you give us hints what will happen after he bring the all his subordinates. It will be have an arc where his other person will have a story ( why he get that sick etc)?. Thank you so much Hey there! Thanks for the questions. As far as I am aware, the novel finished just recently, and has over 1000 chapters. Basically, we are in for a long ride (woohoo!) Now as for hints of the story far into the novel, for the most part, I am just as clueless as you readers... 1
ChaCha95 Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 1 hour ago, abcibimb said: Will the novel have developments regarding cultivation world as seen in other classic xianxia novels? Thank You! There is, but you won't get to read it until very late in the chapters. In the first half its mostly about how he just tries to survive. The cultivation in this world is not normal to be honest, and its more ritualistic for the most part. It's definitely very different from your normal novels where MC gets a martial technique, practice it while circulating his Qi, and then suddenly knows how to use it. This novel is all about equal exchange, ie: Use three months of life span to command and summon the Wandering Gods 2
correh Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 Is the content censored? I found comments on QIdian talking about it, the original version is more brutal and detailed. For example, it has detailed steps for making a vase girl, and I found it in MTL version.
DarkHound Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 (edited) 52 minutes ago, AwesomeGrace said: I want to ask Chacha, Char, and Darkhound. Did this novel affect you in any sort of ways? Please explain and also tell the readers why they should give this novel a try if they haven't already. Hey! Thanks for the question! This novel... its like a fever dream... Working on this novel, I have strung together words that I never thought I would, and I have had to ask the kinds of weird questions that I would probably delete my browsing history for afterwards (and no I don't mean NSFW stuff, but WTF stuff... LuL). All in all, this novel is quite something... There are times when editing it is such a pain, but it is also rewarding to see the results of all our discussions and hard work. As for why try this novel? If one wants a different take on a cultivation world than your everyday Xianxia, then this is great. As for those who want to read something unique (maybe too unique in this case... 😅), then this is a great start. Oh, and the readers who often head to reddit and use the subreddit r/newsentence can get a whole bunch of entries for the subreddit here. Edited November 5, 2023 by DarkHound 1
Chocobird Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 4 hours ago, BakeKuroNeko said: Tell us your story about your Chinese learning and trannslation journey, and how do you translate stuff from Chinese to English. Did you ever found translating hard? What's your favorite novel, and tell one joke. Hi there! I'm from Singapore, and we're taught both English and Chinese from a young age. My family also converses in either language and dialects usually. Although after formal education, we're more focused on English as well. Translating is tough for me when I just started! Especially in those areas where religion and things with specific context come out. It gets easier over time with practice. Translating also requires some creativity to come up with the names to fit both the story and sound interesting. I haven't read much novels yet, and probably like some others, started on Coiling Dragon, which led me into this world. ---- I went to a beekeeper to get 12 bees. He counted and gave me 13. “Sir, you gave me an extra.” That’s a freebie. 1
Erudite_Birdy Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 Where do all the images at the end of the chapters come from?
DarkHound Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 (edited) 5 hours ago, BakeKuroNeko said: Tell us your story about your Chinese learning and trannslation journey, and how do you translate stuff from Chinese to English. Did you ever found translating hard? What's your favorite novel, and tell one joke. Hey there! In my case, I have close to zero knowledge of Chinese... But, I am here to raise questions on behalf of readers! If there are ever parts when you find something you are unable to understand or make sense of, then just feel free to ask, be it in comments or on Discord. ----------- What do dentists call their x-rays? Tooth pics! Edited November 5, 2023 by DarkHound 1
ChaCha95 Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 31 minutes ago, AwesomeGrace said: I want to ask Chacha, Char, and Darkhound. Did this novel affect you in any sort of ways? Please explain and also tell the readers why they should give this novel a try if they haven't already. It's a different novel than your regular xianxia novels that's leaning more towards real ancient China. It describes a lot of supernatural beings and how people in ancient China would deal with them in the past, eg: Shamans and stuff. It offers insight into how people react to the supernatural, how certain traditions and rituals come to be, and how superstitious people were in the past. The entire premise of the novel is also very bizarre that it captures your attention, and at certain times it's just one big WTF. Pretty good read I would say. The fact that there's a fanbase in China and that there were talks of animating the novel is indicative of how well-received it is. It also gave me a headache to translate while conveying its original meaning though haha
ChaCha95 Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 4 minutes ago, Erudite_Birdy said: Where do all the images at the end of the chapters come from? If you mean the fan arts, I got it off Douyin from an artist called 格子的乱七八糟. His work can also be found on bilibili and weibo 1
ChaCha95 Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 15 minutes ago, correh said: Is the content censored? I found comments on QIdian talking about it, the original version is more brutal and detailed. For example, it has detailed steps for making a vase girl, and I found it in MTL version. I think it got censored a bit. I read the MTL chapters and it seems more brutal. The version we received was probably edited so it's not that offputting.
DarkHound Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 4 minutes ago, Erudite_Birdy said: Where do all the images at the end of the chapters come from? Almost all the Images of novel characters are fanarts found on Douyin from an artist called 格子的乱七八糟 Now as for the memes, well what can I say besides the fact that our dear translator ChaCha is a well-read person... 1
Chocobird Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 30 minutes ago, AwesomeGrace said: I want to ask Chacha, Char, and Darkhound. Did this novel affect you in any sort of ways? Please explain and also tell the readers why they should give this novel a try if they haven't already. I came into this novel not knowing what to expect, and well, was surely left stunned at some points. The author sure comes up with some original content that I would have never thought of myself, and in some ways, is entertaining and gives me some new things to think about. This novel is definitely a fresh read, and atypical from the usual cultivation novels. The story is also quite gripping, and grapples with the duality of his mental state, which makes readers also question themselves throughout. The author also plants different supernatural stuff in, where some are based from traditional folklore. A word of caution would be what my team members have said about the WTF parts. Sometimes, I need to take a break while translating it as well haha Check out the discord, there are some fan-art images posted there as well of the characters, and some are.. rather interesting.
Chocobird Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 7 minutes ago, ChaCha95 said: I think it got censored a bit. I read the MTL chapters and it seems more brutal. The version we received was probably edited so it's not that offputting. That's something new I learnt today!
Chocobird Posted November 5, 2023 Posted November 5, 2023 4 minutes ago, DarkHound said: Almost all the Images of novel characters are fanarts found on Douyin from an artist called 格子的乱七八糟 Now as for the memes, well what can I say besides the fact that our dear translator ChaCha is a well-read person... Chacha is indeed very talented at that. I look forward to his memes every chapter as well.
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