My endeavour into Chinese novel translation

I love dramas and reading, but Chinese novels have taken up much of my entertainment time!! Aren’t Chinese novels such wonderful things? The richness of the language, the humour. Seriously, 5000 years of history and culture have really made the language beautiful. Why didn’t anyone recommend this world of Chinese romance novels to me? It’s beautiful and vivid and everyone should give it a try!!

This is how I got into novels.

Seriously, the universe works in wonderful ways. While YouTube surfing, the drama trailer of Ballad of the Desert (BOTD) was recommended. And which Chinese drama watcher hasn’t seen the drama Scarlet heart? Liu Shi Shi was hilarious and heart wrenching and just wonderful in the drama. So I watched the trailer for BOTD and I got so excited and I googled the show and guess what? It’s adapted from a novel!! And http://koalasplayground.com/ translated it!! And the translation was wonderful!! I really like the translation, for being able to keep the Chinese language vibe and essence of Chinese. Know what I mean? So, knowing Chinese, I had to read the novel. And it was an excruciating experience. It was the first Chinese novel I sought out in my life, and it took ages to read, after not using Chinese for about 4 years. But after the novel, I could feel it in my veins and nerves that my Chinese improved. My brain was rewiring and reconnecting, and I started reading more quickly!!!! So, I sought out more books and I found out there was a whole Chinese novel translating community!! More books to read!! Ohmygosh, they really came at an appropriate time, when English romance novels and dramas were starting to feel repetitive. http://www.books.shushengbar.com/ is the site I go to when I need a new book. https://hui3r.wordpress.com/, http://cnovels.bookbychapters.com/, https://cloudmanor.wordpress.com/, and https://plainlybored.wordpress.com/ are the main sites I go to almost daily, and I read most of their translation. Im currently checking http://lmfyd.blogspot.co.nz/ daily because the story is wonderful and psychotic and the updates are daily~~

and so, I lost track of which novel or site or chapter was the one that did it for me, but I’m firmly stuck in this world of Chinese novels and I’m here to stay.

English is my first language, and my mother tongue is Chinese, and I suck at both. How did I even communicate? It’s a wonder how I’m not dead from frustration. Should have worked harder when my time was dedicated to the languages!! My standard of Chinese is seriously below average, but if I try hard enough and google the phrases or words, I become a strong average. I can get the gist of novels without dictionaries, but if I google translate words and phrases, the novels become richer and I get to enjoy the full experience the novels have to offer!!

I really wanted to translate love me if you dare and the rice pot next door, but they were picked up really quickly, and the other novels I read was too hard for me to translate. So, I’m gonna try this novel, and we’ll see how it goes!! I’ll translate it to the end!! It’s a promise to myself!

I hope you enjoy this attempt as much as i do!!

-qintar-