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Thread: In what language do you read your wuxia novels?

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    Moderator kidd's Avatar
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    Default In what language do you read your wuxia novels?

    When I first visited this forum, I thought all the forumers who has read the wuxia novels read it in it original language i.e. chinese. But the more I read the posts here, I realise that a lot of u did not read the novels in its original language. Many read either the vietnamese or indonesian translation. So, I'm curious to know, in what language do you read your wuxia novels?

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    never read an wuxia novel in my life. hehe.

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    Senior Member HuangYushi's Avatar
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    The first two, "The Sword of the Yueh Maiden" and "The Book and the Sword", in English at qiqi.com. Read them again in Chinese and found the English versions wanting, so everything else after that was read in Chinese.

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    Quote Originally Posted by HuangYushi
    The first two, "The Sword of the Yueh Maiden" and "The Book and the Sword", in English at qiqi.com. Read them again in Chinese and found the English versions wanting, so everything else after that was read in Chinese.
    It's so hard to retain the feeling of the original Chinese in English translations ... I try, I try ...
    明月心跳起來,又回頭,嫣然道,“你還要不要我帶上那面具?”
    傅紅雪冷道,“現在你臉上豈非已經戴上了個面具?”

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    Senior Member bloodstar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bliss
    It's so hard to retain the feeling of the original Chinese in English translations ... I try, I try ...

    very true.... some things are always lost in translation. Often i find myself not just reading for the story (and thrilling fighting scenes) but also for the language itself. I've not read anything other than the chinese ones but i think translated versions are great too since they expand the reach of wuxia novels beyond chinese readers

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    Senior Member HuangYushi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bliss
    It's so hard to retain the feeling of the original Chinese in English translations ... I try, I try ...
    That's why I truly appreciate your efforts, as well as those of the other translators in this forum.

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    Senior Member Candide's Avatar
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    Vietnamese. Later on I read Sword of the Yueh Maiden and Book & Sword in English, and Lanny Lin's XAJH translations, plus random excerpts from the translators around here.

    Quote Originally Posted by bliss
    It's so hard to retain the feeling of the original Chinese in English translations ... I try, I try ...
    You're doing a good work. Still, it is not totally necessary to adhere to the original when you're doing a translation. I read an article* about the poem/song which Xiao Chao sang to ZWJ in the cave they were trapped in on Brightness Peak. It's a famous Persian poem. It was then translated into English and that translation was another classic in its own right (literally it was different but the feeling was still there). Then it was translated again into Chinese (which was used in HSDS) and became another classic.

    The novels I read in English feel different to when I read them in Viet and I'm sure the original Chinese versions would be different again. They are still all good and enjoyable though, which is what counts.

    * I think I should translate this article.
    "Anything you can't say NO to is your MASTER, and you are its SLAVE."

    "I disapprove of what I say, but I will defend to the death my right to say it."

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    Senior Member junny's Avatar
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    In the original Chinese. Any other language is just weird.
    玉木宏

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    Senior Member SolidSnake's Avatar
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    I only read in Indonesia, and at least one of the translators has the habit of editing things out (example in XAJH - several paragraphs disappeared and the story flow between two consecutive paragraphs was missing) and the names were not translated into pinyin.

    When I read about Chu Luxiang, I went, "Who's this guy... huh? the smelly? you mean Chor Lau Heng?"
    There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.
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    Member Sepiraph's Avatar
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    In traditional Chinese.

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    Member Raden Wijaya's Avatar
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    I read LOCH, ROCH, HSDS in indonesian.
    The rest i read in English from this forum like XAJH, Legendary Siblings and TLBB. But none of them has finished.
    When you feel like you're the POOREST man in the world ....
    COUNT your BLESSING, then suddenly you are one of the RICHEST man in the universe!

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    Senior Member yittz's Avatar
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    I got hooked on reading Wuxia only recently.

    Began by reading LannyLin's XAJH eng translation and later other eng translations on this forum.

    Eventually, lost control ... found the chinese versions and read most of it in chinese (even though poor at it and forced myself to learn it).

    Though chinese>english, I greatly appreciate some of the work being done in this forum to bring those not so lucky, english wuxia.

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    Senior Member Ian Liew's Avatar
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    Cantonese.. I think I'm the only Malaysian I know of who reads Chinese in Cantonese. If I have to read Mandarin I'll read in Cantonese then mentally translate. Probably due to me learning a lot of my Chinese watching HK Cantopop.

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    Moderator kidd's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ian Liew
    Cantonese.. I think I'm the only Malaysian I know of who reads Chinese in Cantonese. If I have to read Mandarin I'll read in Cantonese then mentally translate. Probably due to me learning a lot of my Chinese watching HK Cantopop.
    You are actually not alone . I read chinese in cantonese too, because my mother tongue is cantonese and I learn chinese from reading song lyrics while listening to cantopop songs.

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    Senior Member Ian Liew's Avatar
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    Wahey!

    Now I don't feel so awkward. All my friends who can read Chinese come from Chinese school backgrounds, and hence all naturally read in Mandarin. In fact, I once toyed with the idea of opening a tuition centre teaching KL people how to read Chinese, but using Cantonese as a medium. Due to vehement opposition from the Mandarin-speaking friends, I shelved those plans... apparently people just do NOT read Chinese in Cantonese, and if they want to read, they should learn Mandarin. Nice to know I'm not alone

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    The traditional chinese version. I tried reading the simplified chinese version of Tian Chan Bian on qiqi.com but the feeling was just too different. Somehow reading from left to right horizontally just felt a little bit strange.
    "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite" (William Blake)

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    First read "The Sword of the Yueh Maiden," in English and some of the early translations in forum. Afterward read in Vietnamese with the help of a dictionary at the beginning.

    I once tried to read chinese in viet by using machine translation, which it uses vietnamese-sino and are translated word for word. But I can't even get pass the first sentence.

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    Senior Member KJ's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by junny
    In the original Chinese. Any other language is just weird.
    Weird for you. But for others who can't read chinese, that's the only way they will be able to read these novels. Too bad I can only read English, so I have to rely on the translations on this forum.

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    Member oRaNgE_jUiCe's Avatar
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    what are wuxia novels?
    Paris Hilton's funeral... ...see me?

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    Senior Member junny's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by KJ
    Weird for you. But for others who can't read chinese, that's the only way they will be able to read these novels. Too bad I can only read English, so I have to rely on the translations on this forum.
    There's no need to jump on me like this.
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