Feel free to pick out errors in the English! Or suggest better wording! Some “mistakes” might be intentional, but I’m really a mediocre writer. Thanks! (don’t have to register to leave a comment here)
March 3, 2009
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Ravaging Times 
Ok.. how about in c.277 translation: “my six shidi” to “my two shidi” ? i know there’s not a definite numbe anyway, and six is overstretched – of course the entire land (including Fifth to Seventh, obviously) is observing this campaign, but those three are not involved at all, I see no reason why Xun Yu would fret out about it.
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Comment by lindaiyuzz — March 15, 2009 @ 5:24 am
I agree with you, but let me wait on pinning down the number at two… Thanks for your comment! :)
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Comment by merc — March 16, 2009 @ 6:34 am
“The rest of my shidi are watching too…”
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Comment by extrakun — April 28, 2009 @ 10:06 am
Hmm…
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Comment by merc — April 28, 2009 @ 12:40 pm
I think only “my shidi” is suffice, since there is no number in original text. And Xun Yu seem to concern about the fact that “his shidi” are looking, not how many. You can also just translate them all to my juniors and my senior too.
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Comment by DarkThug — March 17, 2009 @ 7:11 pm
Unfortunately the original Chinese is clearly plural (it used 們).
Junior and senior are options, but I feel they are more often used within a father/son relationship, so might be best not to confuse them. The use of “master” to indicate both “employer/lord/superior” and “teacher” is already confusing enough. Manga/Anime has forced readers to put up with the term “senpei”; I think a bit “shi-x” is not so outrageous. ;)
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Comment by merc — March 18, 2009 @ 6:04 am
About the Archer thingy, I admit that I don’t have a clue either lol. It seem to be direction, It can be in degree, O’ clock or any other unit. I don ‘t know since I’m no archer let alone the RTK one. Who know what they are talking about or which unit they use :p. But it seem to me that those teminology are not there to have any special meaning. They are just there to “look cool” ^^”
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Comment by DarkThug — March 17, 2009 @ 7:15 pm
The plural is implied by your grammar (My shidi ARE watching), so I don’t think you need to worry about the exact number. As for the archer terminology — I’m not certain, but I think I recall the “o’clock” notation used in previous translations?
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Comment by alice — March 18, 2009 @ 8:30 am
Yeah, I settled on that temporary solution. ^^; Hope I remember in the future not to “fix” it back to “is”. XD
O’Clock is going to be my backup solution (no “clock” back then, so technically they can’t talk like that). For now just the straight-translation will be better since it’s shorter.
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Comment by merc — March 18, 2009 @ 9:10 am
278–
“Sent as an aid but end up a savior.”
I think should be “ended up as”, due to, er, parallelism and noun/verb agreement or something? Or perhaps “ends up as”.
“[YT]: That lesson for the pampered prince may have been too over the top.”
Should be [YF]
“Every member is hard to control because they all have significant influence.”
Depending on what the Chinese is emphasizing, would “each” be better than “every”? “Each” emphasizes the members as individuals in a way that “every” does not, which balances out the “all” in the latter half of the sentence. Also, the sentence might flow better if you removed the “they”. (Ack, too much thought into one phrase)
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Comment by alice — March 30, 2009 @ 7:33 am
1. I tweaked it.
2. Thanks!
3. It doesn’t read as well for me without the “they”. Let me tweak it another way.
But I appreciate your help. Keep them coming! :)
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Comment by merc — March 31, 2009 @ 6:03 am
How about “You were sent to support them, but you ended up saving them”
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Comment by extrakun — April 28, 2009 @ 10:55 am
Was he talking to Zhang He directly?
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Comment by merc — April 28, 2009 @ 12:41 pm
279-
Just at the beginning, try “They’re stepping all over the place. There’s too many to count” and “Hopefully peace will come soon.” As it is, it’s a bit too choppy for English, I think.
Also, the initial Baidu post was missing two pages, which the guy posted later. They go right after Liu Bei thanks the volunteers and right before Ji Ling is named.
Thanks as always for the translation! It always makes my day :)
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Comment by alice — April 4, 2009 @ 4:32 pm
1. I heard that “hopefully” should not be used that way, so I’ve been trying to avoid using the word. ^^; But I’ll change them as you suggest.
2. Translation added.
You’re welcome! Are you charmian? :)
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Comment by merc — April 6, 2009 @ 6:57 am
1. “No wonder Cao Cao still dares to go against Yuan Shao when the latter has so much more military power.” how about “when the latter has superior military power ” ?
2. “We outnumber them in force and leadership” why not “we surpass them in force and leadership” ? ‘Cause you can only ‘outnumber’ in force, not in leadership.
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Comment by lindaiyuzz — April 4, 2009 @ 8:09 pm
Edited. Thanks!
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Comment by merc — April 6, 2009 @ 6:58 am
280-
“There are so many blaze”
“Blazes”, perhaps, or simply “there’s so much fire”? I can’t really tell what they mean by blazes (too much flame? many individual fires?)
“it must be started by the enemy”
Try “must have been”, since it’s already happened.
“But truth didn’t be made up.”
Do you mean “didn’t have to be”?
“Your Majesty, the road ahead is not cleared!”
“Has not been cleared” or “is not clear” would be, well, clearer.
Er, no, I’m not charmian, merely some lurker who has been following your translations for a while now :)
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Comment by alice — April 13, 2009 @ 10:44 pm
1. It is more like “points of blaze”, I changed it to “pockets of fire”, is that ok? Not sure about exact terminology.
2. Typo. Thanks. XD
3. I changed it to “needn’t be”.
4. I decided to go for the English wordplay instead. ;)
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Comment by merc — April 14, 2009 @ 6:26 am
“[?]: The west city revolted. The mob kills without discretion!”
sure you don’t mean “discrimination” ? :D
“[LB]: I came only to save my brother from entering hell.
(”…deep water hot fire”)
[Jia Da]: Now that you mentioned it, didn’t (you/I) already make a serious remark when Yuan Shu crowned himself the Emperor?
(not sure if “brother” here is a self third-person reference, or a second-person reference)”
the second TLnote is misplaced.
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Comment by lindaiyuzz — April 14, 2009 @ 1:52 am
1. Darn, I was thinking, “parental discretion is advised…” XD
Is there anything shorter? “discrimination” has so many syllables… :P
2. No, I am referring to the “(you/I)” part, which in the Chinese original is “brother”, hence I can’t pin down if it’s referring to JD or LB. Normally it would be referring to LB, but if JD is saying this right after the previous comment by LB it is not clear. It’s like,
“Why would X go?”
“Why wouldn’t X go?”
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Comment by merc — April 14, 2009 @ 6:30 am
The name is Jia Kui.
“The West City has revolted”
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Comment by extrakun — April 28, 2009 @ 10:51 am
Oops! This is why I need a proofreader. XD
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — April 28, 2009 @ 12:46 pm
I see.
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Comment by lindaiyuzz — April 15, 2009 @ 1:57 am
“WM: Not only high, but your potential is limitless.”
how about “Not just highly. Your potential is limitless.” ? Since if you put in “not only”, a clause starting with “but also” usually grammatically follows..
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Comment by lindaiyuzz — April 26, 2009 @ 1:05 pm
Ok.
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Comment by merc — April 26, 2009 @ 5:50 pm
“Not just high, but with potential like a deep fathomless well.” – a more literal translation
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Comment by extrakun — April 28, 2009 @ 10:10 am
Thanks, but no need to be that literal here. I prefer shorter whenever possible.
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Comment by merc — April 28, 2009 @ 12:40 pm
YS: “All this caused by an attempt to better their image – the biggest joke there is…”
“The biggest joke that is to restore Imperial Han.”
-> how about omitting “there” and “that” ? The second is grammatically incorrect and the first, if let be, will mean “an attempt to blah is the biggest joke”
btw, this chapter rocks.
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Comment by lindaiyuzzz — June 13, 2009 @ 7:35 pm
Thanks! I’ll tweak it.
Haha, nearly every chapter rocks! But I agree! XD
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Comment by merc — June 13, 2009 @ 7:58 pm
286-
[?]: Kids are kids. Always go for the extreme.
“Always going for the extreme” sounds a bit better, I think.
[SC]: My life is no longer important!
(”…long since…”)
If you want to incorporate the “long since”, try “My life has long been unimportant” or “has long since been unimportant”?
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Comment by alice — June 28, 2009 @ 1:57 am
1. Thanks!
2. It still sounds awkward either way. But if you think it’s okay then I’ll take the second one. :)
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Comment by merc — June 28, 2009 @ 7:18 am
LOL LOL can you translate this pic ?
http://img9.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=08079_23_122_257lo.jpg XD
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Comment by lindaiyuzzz — July 30, 2009 @ 8:48 pm
Done. See latest post. :)
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Comment by merc — July 31, 2009 @ 6:31 am
288-
[?]: Sir! Our troops on the outer rung has scattered out of control!
Should be “have scattered”
[HZhong]: Old guy you all right there?
(”you old man has aged quite a bit…”)
This took me a couple of readings for me to get it…. would “You’re getting old, you still all right there?” make sense here, or some variation thereof? I think in this case your translation note confused me more >_<
[HG]: Your granddaddy the old fart!
Oh god, grandfather jokes… Chinese equivalent of "your mom"? In this case, I think a "granddaddy's" would parse better.
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Comment by alice — August 3, 2009 @ 12:02 am
Oops, just noticed that your comment got put in the spam folder.
1. Fixed. Thanks!
2. The quoted note is the gloss/direct-translation. Having read other readers’ comment I think I’m going to lean more toward that other interpretation.
3. It’s not a joke. I think it’s like saying, “Old? Old your foot!” But I’ll tweak it. X)
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Comment by merc — August 5, 2009 @ 5:17 pm
Chapter 289-
[YF]: Cao’s faction wants to taint our clan’s reputation by using Yuan Shao’s declaration for emperorship,
Is it not Yuan Shu?
Thanks :)
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Comment by Ray — August 9, 2009 @ 11:00 am
Nope. Unless Mr. Chen made a typo. What happened is Yuan Shu was “tricked” into “abdicating” to Yuan Shao. Either way it sucks to be a Yuan right now. ;)
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Comment by merc — August 9, 2009 @ 11:43 am
Thanks for clarifying : )
And maybe that will cause Yuan Fang to change his family name :p
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Comment by Ray — August 9, 2009 @ 12:45 pm
289-
[YS]: the ficklness of this world.
Should be “fickleness”
(Yuan Shu’s style name means public road?? I never knew…)
[YF]: Having suffered through these years of waiting, that position will be what he’s most sought after.
Perhaps “that position is what he has sought after the most” or something to that effect instead.
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Comment by alice — August 10, 2009 @ 8:09 pm
1. Fixed. Thanks!
Or simplified as road
2. I’m going to take half of your advice. XD It still feels like a “will be”, because I don’t think that specific title was the goal (but part of the goal). Maybe I’ll change my mind later. ;)
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Comment by merc — August 11, 2009 @ 6:19 am
Chapter 270
There is a c letter between the first lines.
&
Army Overseer Xiaohou Yuan will even lead the main force to defend along the Yellow River.
Xiahou Yuan is it ?
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Comment by Ray — August 21, 2009 @ 3:25 pm
Fixed. Thanks!
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Comment by merc — August 21, 2009 @ 4:21 pm
Your welcome.
Also, in the same chapter
Jia Da, Yuan Shao will surely find an opportunity against us if we attack Yuan Shu. We might win in principle, but we’re in danger of losing our ground!
They are talking to Jia Kui, right?
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Comment by Ray — August 21, 2009 @ 6:03 pm
Fixed. ^^;
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Comment by merc — August 21, 2009 @ 6:34 pm
Same chapter XD
With that small an army, the commander must really have the ability to rally the world.
I think it sounds better without an (an).
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Comment by Ray — August 21, 2009 @ 6:13 pm
I’m not sure. Let’s leave it for now.
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Comment by merc — August 21, 2009 @ 6:31 pm
Merc, I just want to ask if this is a script for chapter 290
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Comment by Meme — August 24, 2009 @ 9:49 am
Patience, young grasshopper. ;)
Yes, it is. I have it translated. But I’m not publishing the post before seeing the raws to match the formatting.
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Comment by merc — August 24, 2009 @ 11:30 am
Thanks for verifying it. I was just merely wondering, that’s all. :)(Don’t worry. Patience is my strongest virtue. :D)
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Comment by Meme — August 24, 2009 @ 8:50 pm
chapter 289
Wonderin if Yuan Fangs line:
“Might as well blend in like a fish in the sea, and take it slow.”
also is a reference to book of odes, same poem as earlier in this chapter, only one line after the cranes: “The fish lies in the deep”
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Comment by HerrK — August 30, 2009 @ 7:08 am
Interesting observation! Slightly different wording from YF. I’ll link the reference.
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Comment by merc — August 30, 2009 @ 9:09 am
293-
[ZL]: What do you want to say, Lei?
Should be [LYH]
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Comment by alice — September 18, 2009 @ 11:43 pm
Fixed now. ^^;
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Comment by merc — September 20, 2009 @ 6:57 am
[ZL]: The way the First of the Eight Geniuses schemes is really awe-inspiring. >> [ZL]: The way the First of the Eight Geniuses schemes are really awe-inspiring.
That sentence could be cleaned up to be less out of place and ambiguous too.
[ZL]: Young Master’s and your calculation seems… >> [ZL]: Young Master and your calculations seem…
That might still be grammatically wrong, though. A second opinion would be nice.
[LYH]: A righteous man never feels ashamed to face his shadow when standing alone and to face his soul when sleeping alone.
It would sound better if “and” was changed to “or”. Unless you’re using an exact quotation for an official English source there.
[ZL]: Huo, having been through thick and thin together for many years, we’re close like brothers.
The “close” is superfluous.
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Comment by morri — September 22, 2009 @ 12:14 am
From chapter 293 again.
ZL]: Watch over them well!
[ZL]: well…
If he is just repeating the end of the previous sentence, it would be better to have it as “Watch over them”. It sounds weird to just have “Well…” floating out there by itself.
[?]: A troop appeared behind us! >> [?]: A troop has appeared behind us!
[?]: How many? Where from? >> [?]: How many? From where?
[Liu Bei]: We have just entered Xuzhou. How fast they arrived… >> [Liu Bei]: We have just entered Xuzhou. Yet they arrived so fast…
[?]: Sir, those thousands of Cao army men we sent back to the Xu capital, >> [?]: Sir, those Cao army men we sent back to the Xu capital,
Keeping “those thousands” sounds awkward. Since the number of men is mentioned a page or two later, you can probably leave it out here for the sake of simplicity.
[YJ]: But your condition…
You might as well change it to “your health” for clarity.
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Comment by morri — September 22, 2009 @ 1:00 am
Long time no see!
Thanks, I have edited the post.
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Comment by merc — September 22, 2009 @ 6:27 am
[Zhang Lei]: After failing to defeat Cao himself, he is now a minion for Yuan clan’s anti-Cao campaign. >> [Zhang Lei]: After failing to defeat Cao himself, he is now a minion of the Yuan clan’s anti-Cao campaign.
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Comment by morri — September 23, 2009 @ 6:55 pm
Chapter 294
[YJ]: Oh, has that problem in your eyes let up?
[YJ]: Your mastery of medicinal arts has definitely benefited me.
(”your medical skill is superior…”)
The second is [CP] right ?
Thanks :)
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Comment by Ray — September 27, 2009 @ 1:25 pm
Yes, thanks!
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Comment by merc — September 28, 2009 @ 11:25 am
Hey, a few suggestion for 294
“Those scholars target our weakness to disperse the believers. We cannot wait for them to destroy us.”
->
“Those scholars are targeting our weakness to dispense our believers. We cannot remain sitting idle while they destroy our core.”
“going hunting”
->
“hunting” (there is no need to match the exact Chinese characters, but if you want to differentiate the term with just hunting, then try ‘out hunting’, or ‘to hunt’)
“disperse” -> “dispense” (in general)
“He uses scholars to disperse my believers, but he doesn’t know that I’m much more skilled in the art of bewilderment.”
->
“He is using scholars to dispense my believers, but he hasn’t realized he is against the master of deception
“li” -> “miles”
“Caution against enemies who would “cater to his pleasure.”
->
“We should make caution against enemies who would “cater to his pleasure.” ( English grammar != Chinese grammar :D )
“You were sent to spy on Yu Ji, but got “converted” by his views instead.”
->
You were sent to spy on Yu Ji, but it appears that your mind had been shaped by hew view
“That man is all about idle talks but he doesn’t understand the inherent flaw in human nature.”
->
“The man is all empty rhetoric and doesn’t understand the inherent flaw in human nature”
“Life is complicated. It’s easier if you treat it like going hunting.”
->
Life is complicated. It’s easier if you consider it as hunting.
Anyways, great work (as usual)
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Comment by ppp — September 29, 2009 @ 2:33 pm
Thanks!
Those scholars are targeting our weakness to dispense our believers. We cannot remain sitting idle while they destroy our core.
A little long on the last part. I will tweak the first part. The implication is there, I think?
try ‘out hunting’, or ‘to hunt’
How would you incorporate that into Sun Ce’s last sentence before triggering Ling Tong?
“disperse” -> “dispense” (in general)
Really? I checked dictionary.com and it is “dispense with” that makes the most sense based on your suggestion, but it still sounds awkward to me. How about diffuse? Or disseminate?
He is using scholars to dispense my believers, but he hasn’t realized he is against the master of deception
Better!
“li” -> “miles”
I have to be consistent with all the previous chapters, not to mention it is not really the same. My very first version of all the units were done with approximated conversion, but eventually it became too time consuming. Since then I’ve been linking to wikipedia so people can do their own conversion if they’re interested. :D
We should make caution against enemies who would “cater to his pleasure.” ( English grammar != Chinese grammar :D )
I know, but it’s not that bad (Imperative, right?). :D Usually I’m doing this to keep things short/terse. There is the bubble size to worry about…
Ok, I’ll change it.
You were sent to spy on Yu Ji, but it appears that your mind had been shaped by hew view
I’ll tweak it.
The man is all empty rhetoric and doesn’t understand the inherent flaw in human nature
Better!
Life is complicated. It’s easier if you consider it as hunting.
I’m not sure about this. Let me think about it some more. Readers are already thinking it might be a editorial mistake that Mr. Chen already said “hunting” but it’s only the second time that triggers Ling Tong. I want to see the book version before deciding what to do with the “hunting” code word part.
Anyway thanks very much! I’m sorry for being a jerk on baidu a few days ago. Too ashamed to go back to that thread. XD
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Comment by merc — September 29, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
Hey, I’m just throwing a few suggestions out there. I totally won’t mind if you think they are not the best fit. It will probably take a few iterations of revision to get the translation in good shape anyways.
What are the stuffs you put in brackets? Are those alternative translation or just earlier version of the same line?
In the spirit of discussion
Yeah the “hunting” thing is going to be tricky (even in the Chinese version). I think “hunting” by itself sounds quite natural but using the word by itself simplifies the implication too much. How about “hunting in the wild”?
The miles thing. IMO there is no point to use the exact conversion. li != miles in real life but the readers aren’t going to riot about it. But as you mentioned, consistency is also an issue. So yeah…
I understand, it’s just that a sentence without a verb looks weird. Compare these two, one word makes all the difference
“caution against enemies who would “cater to his pleasure.” ”
“Be caution against enemies who would “cater to his pleasure.” ”
I probably got too cute with the disperse thing. Leaving it as the disperse works just fine.
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Comment by ppp — September 30, 2009 @ 2:53 am
got a bit sloppy there,
“Be caution” -> “Be cautious”
an extra “the” in the last sentence.
Self grammar policing done. You know what I am trying to say :D
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Comment by ppp — September 30, 2009 @ 2:56 am
Okay, one word about the whole Baidu incident. You spoke your mind and the other dude presented his case. We can tell who is the real jerk. He is most definitely not the one doing the thankless translation job and had yet contributed anything to the scene. But hey anyone can just be a grammar Nazi, which is neither impressive nor worthwhile.
Manga is entertainment and whatever value-add fan-made stuff we do is just for fun. Do not let some random dude on the net take the fun away from you. It’s same as driving: ignore them, don’t let it get under your skin.
All is cool.
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Comment by ppp — September 30, 2009 @ 2:32 am
I understand, it’s just that a sentence without a verb looks weird.
You’re right. I was using “caution” as a verb (like saying to someone “be careful”) because I have heard it being used as a verb, but it’s not the same meaning here.
What are the stuffs you put in brackets? Are those alternative translation or just earlier version of the same line?
Sometimes they are additions to the original to make the sentence more smooth in English, and sometimes they are to take away from the original to do the same thing. Chinese sentences can do a lot of implicit references (like pronouns), but I’m usually forced to pin it down in the English translation. I was hoping whoever was doing the scanlation choose whether to include it (remove the parenthesis) or delete it altogether, because I assume English is their first language.
Or do you mean the gray colored parenthesis? Those are my comments, plus the gloss or semi-gloss of the original sentence. Sometimes I want to give readers a chance to decide for themselves if the translation makes sense. And sometimes it’s just to give more information, like when explaining what the wordplay is in the sentence.
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Comment by merc — September 30, 2009 @ 6:35 am
BTW, looks like ch 293 has a new black page?
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Comment by worldserpent — October 4, 2009 @ 6:09 pm
The whole volume has a bunch of new black pages. :D I’m still waiting for my copy to arrive though.
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Comment by merc — October 4, 2009 @ 7:17 pm
LOL just found this among my TRoT files, can you translate it ?
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Comment by lindaiyuzz — October 23, 2009 @ 10:13 am
Almost didn’t see this comment! The notification email got put in spam. XP
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Comment by merc — October 23, 2009 @ 6:06 pm
This looks like fun XD can you pls translate it ? or at least the 4panels:
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Comment by lindaiyuzz — October 25, 2009 @ 11:10 am
It’s not a humor piece. Just talking about how they will celebrate Ravages reaching chapter 300. Fans can submit essays or artwork (paintings or 4-panel strips).
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Comment by merc — October 25, 2009 @ 12:18 pm
I see. thanks :D
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Comment by lindaiyuzz — October 25, 2009 @ 11:32 pm
297-
[XHD]: That’s so wicked.
How about “vile”? I’m pretty sure that doesn’t have “cool” associations, unless it is also too strong?
[HT]: Too bad an average person doesn’t know the details.
“won’t” instead of “doesn’t” makes more sense.
Wow, Lv Meng’s dialogue is like the best thing ever XD
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Comment by alice — October 31, 2009 @ 3:08 pm
1. Ok I like your suggestions. Thanks!
2. It’s slightly different, but good enough.
3. His lines are VERY awkward in Chinese. Or maybe that’s just me. I have to whack my brain around to get it to sound less awkward in English. XD
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Comment by merc — October 31, 2009 @ 3:25 pm
299-
[Man Chong]: We may have the power to charge deep into enemy lines, but we must also have the foresight to know who’s praying on us.
I think you mean “preying”, not “praying”?
[SMY]: He is frighteningly fast.
Perhaps “He moves frighteningly fast” instead?
[?]: Even if Cao Cao knows what we’re up to, he won’t be able to do anything about it.
“Cao Cao would be helpless, even if he knew our plan”?
[ZY]: That man’s vicious, Bo Fu. I advice you to be wary of him.
“advise” instead of “advice”
[SC]: I’m not afraid of anything. But I am concerned that you couldn’t catch up to me.
“can’t” instead of “couldn’t”?
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Comment by alice — November 20, 2009 @ 8:14 pm
Ok, thanks!
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Comment by merc — November 20, 2009 @ 8:28 pm
“The Sun clan is going against as your goal.”
It should be
“The Sun clan is going against your goal.”
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Comment by lindaiyuzz — December 27, 2009 @ 7:36 pm
Oops, careless edit. Thanks!
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Comment by merc — December 27, 2009 @ 8:46 pm
Can you stranlate the small line under Yu Ji pic? http://www.newyouth.photo-beauty.com/index.php
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Comment by Cun10294 — December 30, 2009 @ 8:51 am
“THE RAVAGES OF TIME”
“The ultimate scheme. Who shall win (and who shall lose)?”
“Celebrating Chapter 300 Special:”
“Part 2 of Character Analysis”
“The third critique/essay/review.”
In general you can ignore those “Next Time on…” statements. They are mostly too vague. :)
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Comment by merc — December 30, 2009 @ 12:03 pm
Wow, thanks a lot!!!
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Comment by Cun10294 — December 31, 2009 @ 5:45 am
302 is out on ikunlun:
http://forum.ikunlun.net/forum.php?action=list&forum_id=64&forum_page=1&class_id=0
You have to reg to see the images. This link has much better quality scans and sometimes they come out sooner than baidu, so I highly recommend it :D
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Comment by lindaiyuzz — January 1, 2010 @ 8:41 pm
PS: note that page 1 is actually page 2.
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Comment by lindaiyuzz — January 1, 2010 @ 8:42 pm
Thanks but I don’t want to register there. I’ll wait. :)
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Comment by merc — January 1, 2010 @ 8:43 pm
Hey, you can download chap 302 here: http://www.mediafire.com/?mdozjm2jnwy
I don’t request you stran it now, just want you to look at it.
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Comment by Cun10294 — January 2, 2010 @ 11:22 am
306-
[LM]: The confusion worked. Attack them from both sides!
(“the confusion strategy…”)
“The confusion worked” sounds a bit odd in English? “Our strategy to confuse them” or “We’ve successeded in confusing them” sounds better, but perhaps is a bit too wordy for this purpose..
[LM]: Crack their ass open!
(“crack their butts”)
“asses”, to go with the “their” (armies presumably do not have a single collective ass)
[CC]: Lump difficult tasks together to make them easier to handle, right?
“Lumping difficult tasks together makes them eaier to handle” sounds a bit better, since just the “lump” makes it sound like the beginning of a command rather than a hypothetical
[SC]: Guan Yu stole your spotlight!
(“Guan Yu’s arrival makes you shine less bright”)
[?]: Our Lord is right here; what the hell are they doing!
You probably don’t want to capitalize the “lord” here; in English that’s usually reserved for the Christan God, I think.
[CC]: Manipulating power gives me control
[CC]: to put corrupt vassals in their place!
“control to put corrupt vassals in their place” doesn’t sound right, since I don’t think control can be used like that. Try “control so that I can put vassals…”
[CC]: Even if no one understands (my intentions),
“Even if no one else understands”?
[CC]: Your ambition has led you wayward from Sun Jian’s path of loyalty.
“away” instead of “wayward” is more apt here; “wayward” is word more for people than for paths
And wow, innuendo in RoT? O_O
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Comment by alice — March 21, 2010 @ 7:39 pm
Thanks!
confusion – changed
crack – agree
lumping – agree
Guan Yu – ?
Lord – my own precedence has been set; and also God was used in the past (RemnantWarriors IIRC), which is also “Christian”; so, I’m not yet persuaded enough to change it everywhere. ;)
control – changed
else – added
wayward – changed
That last question, is it rhetorical? ;)
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Comment by merc — March 21, 2010 @ 9:51 pm
Hey what’s up.
Sorry, went away to finish up school. But that’s done and I’m back.
Bring it on. Starting from 307
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Comment by ppp — March 26, 2010 @ 11:20 am
Welcome back.
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Comment by merc — March 26, 2010 @ 5:27 pm
what’s the manga access password again?
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Comment by ppp — March 27, 2010 @ 3:18 am
Check the FAQ page. ;)
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Comment by merc — March 27, 2010 @ 6:49 am
but I really don’t remember :(
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Comment by ppp — March 27, 2010 @ 5:29 pm
Be resourceful. Not to mention it is linked on the blog somewhere… ;)
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Comment by merc — March 28, 2010 @ 8:36 am
Sorry if you already answered this, but you can read Chinese? :D
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Comment by merc — March 29, 2010 @ 1:07 pm
of course :D
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Comment by ppp — March 30, 2010 @ 2:37 am
All right, let’s do this. 307
page 1
Don Don Don -> Gong Gong Gong (Gong bell!)
They traveled in the fog -> They advanced through the fog
page 3
They’ll be within earshot after the fog dissipates -> The fog dissipates…and they are already within striking distance
Sun Ce sure can speedily deploy his navy like they’re a land force -> Sun Ce’s force strikes with lighting speed. They crossed the river as if it is land.
My lord, the TaiPing army agreed to fight Sun Ce with us, so they should be here. -> My lord, we joint force with TaiPing against Sun Ce. They should had warned us.
Something must’ve gone wrong -> But this all of a sudden, something must’ve happened
Go warn the defenses downstream to beware of enemy attacks -> Warn our downstream forces for incoming attack
Prep the main troop. We’ll go and help them -> Mobilize our main army. We are going to support them
page 4
you mean they’re not after those shores? -> you mean their target is not the downstream dock?
They have not use for it. What they really want is a clear path over the river -> That is useless to them. Their intention is to provide a safe passage through the captured river
If we move downstream, they’ll come here. They intend to thin our force -> If we go downstream, they will feign another attack here. They are just setting traps to keep our force busy
boy -> brat
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Comment by ppp — March 29, 2010 @ 10:46 am
page 6
as long as traveling by river is safe, our supply line will be secure -> as long as we keep a safe river passage, our supply line will be secure
Inform Pang Tong that I have gained control of the river -> Inform Pang Tong, this river is under my control
page 7
too fast -> too soon
page 8
Sir, the first of their reinforcements is here -> Sir, the first wave of enemy reinforcement has arrived
their flag says Chen -> the flag, it’s Chen!
page 9
army reinforcement -> reinforcement army
The ambush at LuJiang should… -> The ambushing force at Lujiang should be able to…
you must be tired after fighting all day… -> we fought a whole day, everyone should be tired
getting this far has already surpassed my highest expectation -> (I think Sun Ce is trying to say his plan went haywire) The fierce battles here…totally not in the plan
haha, even the little conqueror could get tummy-ache -< haha, even the little conqueror can suffer from diarrhea
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Comment by ppp — March 29, 2010 @ 11:01 am
page 10
I want to keep going -> I want to keep going too
but this animal doesn’t dare to move any further -> but my mount is too scared to move
page 11
It is not just the mount. My lord, you are also shaking
the man who could stop you must not be ordinary -> someone that can stop you, he must be special
Guan Yu, is it? -> His name is Guan Yu?
page 12
I swear to the heavens, that one day, I shall bring down Guan Yu -> Lv Meng swears in the name of heaven: there will be one day eventually, that I shall take Guan Yu’s head
you? -> with your skill?
No one understands how I fight -> Lv Meng’s military doctrine, is not something that anyone can comprehend
yes. Only men like you are unafraid of him -> Of course, only your kind wouldn’t be afraid of him
page 13
but you still need to read more if you want to advance -> but to get to the next level, you still need to read more
you nag worse than my mother, you know that? -> Why do you nag more than my mom did?
Let me show you something -> Come with me, check this out
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Comment by ppp — March 29, 2010 @ 11:34 am
page 15
change -> switch
formation change -> switch formation
page 17
Damn it! He’s taking Cao Cao with him -> MF (ps: what’s your policy on swearing?), this guy helped Cao Cao get away
my greatest regret is not having won the loyalty of this man -> Not being able to have him is the greatest regret in my life
pull in -> sheath
page 18
thank you, little Sun! Sun, I must thank you
has been -> is
page 19
pull in -> sheath
and their main army -> their main army also
hear me now – if you return to Hefei -> Let it be known, the next time you return to Hefei
page 20
different -> completely different
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Comment by ppp — March 29, 2010 @ 11:35 am
I am bore so I just tried my hands on making MV
Ravage of Times — Path of No Return
Music: Rise
I did the song translation myself!
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Comment by ppp — April 2, 2010 @ 3:11 pm
Nice MV, I like it.
If you’re bored why don’t you take a look at the translation of the older volumes?
I don’t think its necessary to make extensive changes, or even update the text, but it would be interesting to see some of the word-play or homonyms fleshed out.
Even such a small thing as changing “pull in” to “sheath” is an improvment since the paralell between image and text becomes clearer.
Keep up the good work y’all!
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Comment by HerrK — April 2, 2010 @ 4:13 pm
well, I ｄｉｄ ｔｈｉｎｋ ａｂｏｕｔ ｄｏｉｎｇ ｉｔ， ｂｕｔ Ｉ just don’t think I ｃａｎ ｍａｋｅ ｔｈｅ ｃｏｍｍｉｔｍｅｎｔ． I’m bore now but it’s only a temporary thing. Ｉ＇ｍ ｑｕｉｔｅ ｓｕｒｅ I will bolt once I find a job. Plus I ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｄｏｎ＇ｔ know how things work over here. Like who’s in charge of fixing the actual Manga and if it ever will be re-released.
This is a big project and I just don’t see the level of organization required to undergo such massive task. Stuff like translation will pretty much never be perfect anyways. We aren’t pros and we will always be limited in that regard.
And finally, I don’t think there is enough demand to warrant all the additional effort. Heck, even the Chinese readers community is too small as it is (compare to popular Japanese manga). This is a niche area and remain so in the foreseeable future.
Having said that, kudos to the site originator here who got this whole thing started. It already took a lot of dedication to keep things up as it is.
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Comment by ppp — April 2, 2010 @ 7:58 pm
Too bad you haven’t got the time :)
But remember even small efforts help, each improvment makes it better. (The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones)
The translation can’t be made perfect but it can be improved, and let not the fact that you are not a pro take away from the fact that you infact did improve it with your suggesstions.
As for demand, maybe RoT isn’t as read as other publications. But let me make a claim :)
Is it not the work itself that warrants the effort? Should not the most attention to translation be given to the work that needs it the most and not the work most popular?
P.S
I don’t think the scans will be re-released. However sooner or later RoT will be released in Europe, then it will be helpfull to have a reading companion in english, sooner or later it will be released in english, and then
it will be good to have a more acurate translation online. For belive me, these so called professional translators who actually does the real comic book translations aren’t always all that pro. And they have limited time and resources. And when it’s done they can’t make changes to the text, it’s static. As for here, you got all the time in the world, you don’t need to worry about resources since it’s not a commercial enterprise, and you are susceptive to improvments and change. (you, not as in you personally, but you know what i mean :) )
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Comment by HerrK — April 3, 2010 @ 3:09 am
For my part of this “endeavor”, it started with just 2 readers wanting to understand the text, so I did it just for them. The bulk of it I chipped away day after day while in College. Now it’s not so bad as the chapter comes out very slowly. ;)
The daunting thing is looking back at that monstrous list and trying to tweak stuff. So I wouldn’t try to ask anyone to do this, unless they want to, such as z_r and Ki Shodar, who just went ahead and did it.
And lastly, ego is involved. Enough said. ;)
But what’s this reading companion you speak of? Why would it be a separate thing from the European release?
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Comment by merc — April 3, 2010 @ 8:41 am
In your translation you have added “trivia”, for example some chapter titles and lines are from poems etc. The chance for this getting lost in an “official” translation is very high. Therefore this translation can serve as adding things to a “official” translation.
Or as i would like to call it: a reading companion :)
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Comment by HerrK — April 3, 2010 @ 9:31 am
Well, technically the Chinese version doesn’t explain these “trivia” information either. It will have to be done by fans anyway.
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Comment by merc — April 3, 2010 @ 6:59 pm
merc, so how does this work? What are the other two guys’ responsibilities and specialty? Who actually modifies the manga and what’s your internal deadline? Is there any internal review for the first translation before it’s released?
And ego? What ego? I hate ego, please let there be no ego :D
It’s very impressive that you can convinced your fellow to give this manga written in moon language a chance. I can’t even persuade close friends with much better Chinese linguistic to even look at this, wtf.
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Comment by ppp — April 3, 2010 @ 7:02 pm
I work alone. z_r couldn’t wait for RemnantWarriors to release volume 10, so he took it upon himself with low quality raws on the internet. Ki Shodar was the next one to do the same. They asked me for permission to use the text translation, but otherwise we don’t chase each other for status check. For me it’s all about “if you care about it enough, you’ll get it done.” If life gets in the way then stop, because certainly this is not worth getting into trouble for. ;)
Unlike me, RemnantWarriors had organization. They had a time table and everything. But life got in the way, and I didn’t want to act as the slave-driver.
Sorry, ego is inevitable. Only-child dork with no social life. :D
I did not convince those 2 readers. They started with reading Fifay.net’s volume 1 scanlation, then they became members of RemnantWarriors.com. ;)
My translation wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for their enthusiasm. I did, however, recently convert a friend from PRC to read it. He will probably go on to persuade a few of our mutual friends, because he’s uber smart and stuff.
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Comment by merc — April 3, 2010 @ 7:34 pm
‘I don’t think the scans will be re-released. However sooner or later RoT will be released in Europe’
I like your optimism, it raises my spirit. But the fact is RoT is not even published in mainland China. Think about that for a sec. Every time I think about it I get the urge to smite a kitten.
And wow, you do have high expectation. Pros can’t be that bad, can they?
I think the existing stuff is in a pretty decent shape. Things could be improved but then as I said it will never be perfect. Overhauling takes too much work, while nick-picking doesn’t seem worthwhile. If there are specific places that you feel are unclear, feel free to point it out. The thing about RoT though is that it is even the Chinese version is often intentionally ambiguous. There are just way too many word-play, double-speak, double ‘referral’, implied tactic, hidden implication, and historical references. The devil is in the context and that is very difficult to transcribe.
We can try our best and hope for the best. Beyond that, maybe it’s easier to just suck it up and learn Chinese, haha
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Comment by ppp — April 3, 2010 @ 6:55 pm
I agree with that optimism noticing how Europe holds comics/animation in higher regards than in the US, and China similarly. Or is that a myth? XD
As for PRC not publishing it… I don’t blame it on lack of interest.
“Pro”s can be bad when they’re just some guy/gal working for cheap/convenience. I’m VERY cynical about this. Look at the Chinese in Firefly. I’m not a pro and I can do better. I would kill to fix that “Official Companion” books of theirs! But then again I’ll have to fix nearly all of it in the show too. ALAS.
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Comment by merc — April 3, 2010 @ 7:11 pm
heh maybe, but they can’t all be that bad.
The perfect plan is to kidnap the team that did the Japanese->English Ghost in the Shell, and force them to learn Chinese. Because, holy smoke, I can’t imagine the Japanese original version can be any better than that.
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Comment by ppp — April 3, 2010 @ 7:32 pm
Oh yeah, heard praise of it from a relative of mine. Supposedly he’s seen a lot of subbed anime. I bet they were very well-read, even if not pro.
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Comment by merc — April 3, 2010 @ 7:37 pm
One suggestion. ;)
Keep a dedicated black strip at the bottom for the subtitle, otherwise it’s unreadable a lot of the times, not to mention it goes by so fast. Hate to see all that effort went to waste, ya know.
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Comment by merc — April 3, 2010 @ 8:31 am
It’s more of a necessity. I spent about 3 hours trying to figure out how to do it properly and just gave up. This is my first time using Vegas Pro 9.
Currently, I assign an area mask in pan%crop, which works as long as I don’t zoom in. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to get it done properly.
Still, it’s right on top of the todo list. Then I will add some grain-filter to create the old bw film effect and call it a day.
Any other suggestion will be welcomed. :D
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Comment by ppp — April 3, 2010 @ 7:06 pm
wow merc, you work fast :D
308
But thanks to your teachings, Fang-er has become (quite) a capable person. -> But thanks to your teachings, Fang-er has come into his own.
The Clash of Classmates -> Clashes of Classmates (The title actually references 3 different conflicts. Yuan and Cao, between the eight Enigmas, between the eight Freaks)
[Yuan Shao]: No no; how would he present himself today had he not been named “the First of the Eight Geniuses”? -> No no; Without being well-renowned as the Head of the Enigmas, where would he be today?
He asks for your forgiveness. -> Please excuse us
I’m glad he met my expectations. -> he has proven that I chose the right student.
The deleted part, that’s a very tricky one. Maybe “he is my protege”?
baffled -> bored
Those seven boys got lucky on account of Fang-er. -> It is all about Fanger-er. The seven other boys are just lucky to be there
[WM]: I teach based on their potential. Fang-er has learned much more than others. -> Based on just potentail, Fang-er has acquired much more than the others
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Comment by ppp — April 9, 2010 @ 9:59 pm
[WM]: But having come from a wealthy family, he might choose comforts over study. With classmates they might encourage each other. ->
But having come from a wealthy family, I worry that he will lose interest. So the other students are there to encourage each other
Please don’t take my verbal disrespect to heart. -> Please forget my boldness, I mean no contempt.
unite the world – but not the world you wanted. -> unite China — but that would not be the China that you desired.
[WM]: I can tell without seeing. -> I maybe be blind, but my mind is clear
[WM]: The world is full of teachers, and I’m just one of them. -> I only represent one of the many schools in the world
unaffected by the extremists -> unaffected by religion uprising
[WM]: Right. I didn’t expect that the Yuan clan intends to conqueror the world from two sides. -> Right. I wouldn’t have known the Yuan clan can conqueror China from two fronts
[WM]: Play the loyal minister to get the government; use religion to win the people. A perfect combination. -> Play as a loyal minister to win over the nobles; use religion to pacify peasants. A perfect combination.
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Comment by ppp — April 9, 2010 @ 10:37 pm
Apparently I just lack experience. -> Apparently I am just the frog in the well. (I think this Chinese idiom is quite well-known)
[ZC]: Fighting amongst ourselves and follow in our (sect’s) footsteps? Silly, isn’t it? -> Classmates infighting, following our footsteps. Silly, isn’t it?
Another one has dropped out today. -> Another one bite the dust today
A life for a life is a matter of course. -> An eye for an eye, it is a matter of course
[ZC]: Like what we say in our sect, Heaven is dead; -> Just as we preach, the Mandates of Heaven is no more
Heaven’s blessing. -> blessing from the divines
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Comment by ppp — April 9, 2010 @ 10:54 pm
One last comment, I think using ‘silly’ doesn’t really belong in a serious discussion. How about this?
Silly, isn’t it? -> Do you not think that is foolish?
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Comment by ppp — April 10, 2010 @ 4:20 am
Oh by the way I didn’t ever say Thanks to you did I? XD
Thanks for your proofing help!
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Comment by merc — May 21, 2010 @ 10:09 am
frog – I’m not sure about that. Besides, it’s longer. ;)
infighting – this one is confusing as to who he’s referring to (all schools of thought or just between the remaining Eight Eccentrics); let me think about it
silly – I don’t think it’s out of place (it has that name-calling/inciting/condescending feel, which is not professional in a serious debate, but similar words all have that confrontational feel), but “foolish” works too
bite – might be too explicit that he died?
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Comment by merc — April 10, 2010 @ 6:40 am
China – I think during that period they wouldn’t necessarily distinguish their country as China, and “all under Heaven” is pretty much “the world” to them. I already feel weird referring to “country”. XD
mind – “heart” is a prominent wordplay in this chapter, so I was desperate to keep it as much as possible
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Comment by merc — April 10, 2010 @ 6:31 am
It’s all about momentum. :D
Class – I’m not sure, instinct tells me “The Clash” doesn’t have to mean a specific incident, this way it can refer to all 3 or any, as in “the inevitable clash that exists between classmates/competitors.”
Protege – I wish he would be clear about his stance on Seventh. XD
bored – that’s my initial impression, but dictionaries say “baffled/perplexed/puzzled”… so then I’m not sure. 納悶 does give the impression of thinking/wondering. Or is that a mistake?
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Comment by merc — April 10, 2010 @ 6:16 am
Hi Merc,
Do you have the raw (chinese)texts (not the images)for chapter 309. If yes, please mail to anbk45@gmail.com. Thanks!
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Comment by Andee — April 23, 2010 @ 10:32 pm
No I don’t. Have to wait and see if anyone’s willing to type it up.
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Comment by merc — April 24, 2010 @ 6:05 am
@ latest chapter
We’ll still be facing a sea of enemies.
suggestion:
we’ll face foes as countless as a sea of clouds
or something…. :D
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Comment by HerrK — August 25, 2010 @ 2:37 pm
Ok I’ll try that. Thanks!
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Comment by merc — August 26, 2010 @ 8:04 am
[ZL]: The stones of another hill may be used to polish gems!
Actually, I think that’s good as is. What he probably means is that by fighting others, one can make one’s subordinates become even more skilled.
Ex: Under Lu Bu, Zhang Liao fought Cao Cao and became renowned. Under Cao Cao, Zhang Liao fought Yuan Shao and Sun Quan, and by fighting them became a legend.
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Comment by MarquisBlack — September 13, 2010 @ 11:04 am
Thanks for your comment.
Your interpretation makes sense. I’m probably just over-thinking it since classical/archaic Chinese is difficult. And that Mr. Chen re-purposes phrases all the time. XP
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Comment by merc — September 13, 2010 @ 12:46 pm
Suggestion: Stop using parenthesis. In almost all cases the parenthesis are completely unnecessary and distract from reading the lines. If the text in parenthesis doesn’t add to or clarify the line it is in, remove it. If it DOES add to or clarify the line, keep it in, but not in parenthesis.
I don’t know why the scanlators leave it like that in the scans. It looks slap-dash and indecisive.
You might want to also stop bowdlerizing some of the language. I snickered when one of the badass generals called out for the enemy to “get their butts out here”. It sounds juvenile. If you don’t want to use “asses”, then just take the word out completely (e.g. “get out here”).
Don’t even get me started on your use of “bro”…
Re: Chapter 320,
In the army I was known for my thorough planning.
(“have always been well-known for my precise/detailed calculation in the army”)
But right now I can’t make heads or tails of this formation.
The second line (which refers to the enemies battle formations/strategy) doesn’t make sense in light of the first (which refers to HIS battle formations/strategy).
Nor about this man who is better at this game than I (am).
It would make more sense as “Nor this man who is better at this game than I”. The “about” is superfluous.
MarquisBlack’s interpretation of the “stones of another hill” line makes the most sense. At least to a Western reader. ZL might also be referencing back to when Guan Yu called him an “unpolished gem”.
Since I can’t see the scan of this chapter, if ZL is blocking the way into/out of somewhere when he speaks those last lines they might be better rendered as “no one can can get past the reach of my sword” or somesuch thing.
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Comment by morri — September 13, 2010 @ 10:37 pm
Ok on your suggestion. That was my initial style, but felt bad when RemnantWarriors go for a more faithful (usually good) translation. Ki Shodar ignores the parenthesis anyway. In this blog I give readers a chance to pick their own version.
Well, you know I don’t shy away from using the F word, so usually I’m not “bowdlerizing” as much as trying to make it “sound good”. Often times I say the lines out loud to help me decide which sound better.
CM has some inconsistency with his usage of archaic versus modern language. There have been complaints over anachronisms in the art and speech. The most common curse word in this story is already “juvenile” and “modern” to begin with. But much like the F word, readers get it immediately.
On the other hand, I understand where you’re coming from. I’ve read fantasy-themed webcomics where people use the F word, or valley-girl-speak, or terms that are too “modern” to sound “appropriate”. It somewhat takes one out of the story.
I felt “bro” has the same effect as diminutives, like calling Jess Jessie, etc. I avoid going too far with ghetto/net-speak, but sometimes I need some kind of hint in the language that the speakers are not strangers to each other. Lately I’ve been using “brother” more consistently though. :)
That passage in 320 is probably relying on a wordplay with the word 算. At this time I’m unable to translate one sentence in there without mistranslating the other sentence. Maybe by the book version I’ll think of something better. The title is the best I can come up with.
Ok. I figured since ZL’s opponent is dead I can use “survive” instead of straight translation of “pass”.
Disregard my defensiveness, that’s my problem. Keep your critiques coming. Thanks! :)
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Comment by merc — September 14, 2010 @ 8:49 am
I don’t know why you insist on disparaging your translations. Blackbird had the luxury of having a steady proofreader and someone to go to when he came across a Chinese word or phrase he was unfamiliar with or uncertain about. Not to mention he had this bothersome idiot editor who caught any typos that were missed and formatted everything so it looked decent. Why Ki Sodar doesn’t do any minor proofreading, I have no idea. Same with his editing, which has definitely dropped off in quality, especially if you look at his early scanlations which are Really-Fucking-Good. They put the RW ones to shame with their speed and quality.
If Ki Sodar is taking the parenthesis out, it must be a relatively recent change. The only reason I brought it up is because it is definitely prevalent in the scanlation. They’re like the reading equivalent of walking into a wall.
If you were constantly bowdlerizing then Lu Meng wouldn’t have been nearly as interesting. Mostly I’m just bothered by the awkward use of “butt” (and “stools”, but mostly because only doctors ever use that term and I’ve never heard it used in plural). And by juvenile, I meant that I half expected a character to be snickering in the background like a naughty schoolboy and say “Heheh. He said ‘butt'”.
And nevermind ZL’s line. When you read it in the context of the scanlation it sounds right and is still obviously ZL’s “signature line” even if it is phrased differently.
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Comment by morri — September 18, 2010 @ 3:03 pm
[ZH]: So then, Han Meng’s faction will affect many.
Instead of saying that, what about “Punishing Han Meng’s faction will affect many”?
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Comment by MarquisBlack — November 30, 2010 @ 9:50 am
A tricky one. I want to be as vague/subtle as the original. But thanks for your suggestion, as it is most likely how we’re all interpreting it anyway.
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Comment by merc — November 30, 2010 @ 12:49 pm
Ch358. I thought it was Feng Ji, the rival of the Tian Clan
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Comment by por — January 6, 2012 @ 9:50 pm
For the longest time, so did I. But:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pang_Ji
http://kongming.net/encyclopedia/Feng-Ji
Chinese: http://baike.baidu.com/view/157255.html?wtp=tt
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Comment by merc — January 7, 2012 @ 7:49 am
I feel so bad about the wiki going private.. It was small, but the chapter summary was of much help in tracking events in Ravages, not to mention those little tidbits about fandom as well as your own thoughts about the characters were very interesting. And I for sure am gonna miss the translation for each volume’s cover and back cover. Just out of curiosity, merc, what are you gonna do about the cover translations you’ve been doing if you intend to make the wikispaces private? I’d like to ask you to keep it but I’d support your decision even if you won’t, since you’re the one with the most to lose here.
Btw, I checked the wikia and it wasn’t much, really. No article is complete yet, and the editors clearly c&p-ed the text from your site.
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Comment by Ashiya — July 20, 2012 @ 12:01 pm
Clarification: I don’t want to make that wiki private, but if I’m reluctant to connect my credit card to the account… see this post http://blog.wikispaces.com/2012/07/taking-a-stand-against-spam.html
(By the way, $1 is less of an issue than revealing my real life identification, as you know I’m super paranoid. I’m also not angry at their anti-spam stance. It’s necessary.)
I’m playing around with having a secondary WordPress blog to act as a wiki, though it’s going to be so awkward. :P
Bah. Vultures. :P
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Comment by merc — July 22, 2012 @ 7:22 am
Three Dukes are the highest rank for official you can get during Later(Eastern) Han. They as a whole is basically Prime Minister, In Western Han, the position of Prime Minister was change to Grand Minister over the Masses, and separated the power to the Grand General and Minister of Censorate. By Western Han, the three positions are then called; Minister over the Masses(司徒), Grand Commandant(太尉)/Minister of Horses(司馬) (General in Chief), Minister of Works/Construction(司空[工]). Which is why Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu was famed, because for four generation, their clan produced talents (five men) that hold those three rank, hence the quote 四世三公.
The role or Prime Minister was revived for Cao Cao due to his power, which effectively turns Three Dukes into the aids or cabinet of Prime Minister. However because of this, these four position virtually became Honorary position that is only given to people in rare occasion, for example Zhuge Liang is the only Prime Minister in Shu, After his death, the top official becomes the Grand Commandant in charge of Ministries, which effectively eliminated both Minister over the Masses and Minister of Works/Construction and similar thing happened in Wei and Wu where there are time when all three were not filled at same time..
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Comment by MLee — July 20, 2012 @ 7:50 pm
[Xun Yu]: On what grounds do I deserve to stand as an equal to the Three Dukes…
(not sure about the exact rank)
[XY]: Only you could, if you would.
This conversation was more of Yun Yu felt he has no ground to stand on to be promoted to the ranks of Three Dukes, and the remark is more of, If there much be a promotion it should be Guo Jia.
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Comment by MLee — July 20, 2012 @ 8:14 pm
Or, I would put it, as something akin to “If you want, do it yourself.”
Basically Guo Jia was expecting Xun Yu to get promote to one of the Three Dukes position and so the reform that comes after chaos would be smoother. Yun Yu decline on the basis that he was not worthy, he then throw it back to Guo Jia that if he want someone in those positions, he should go do it himself…
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Comment by MLee — July 20, 2012 @ 8:22 pm
Thanks for all that info! (forgive me if I forget it again in the future… ^_^;)
Personally I think XY was saying “Only you deserve the position” and not somewhat pouty as “If you want, go do it yourself”, if you know what I mean. (based on emotional context that XY is no longer as bitter as he used to be)
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Comment by merc — July 22, 2012 @ 7:31 am
I agree that XY was not pouty when he say it, I just can’t find better words for them. Personally, I don’t think “Only you deserve the position” quite capture it either. Considering that XY and GJ were, for most of time, against each other philosophically, politically, and strategically, IMO, that choice of word was XY way of “get yourself healthy and take that promotion yourself” and less about XY submit to GJ talent-wise.
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Comment by MLee — July 22, 2012 @ 9:19 pm
Back to this line: (The second line sounds fine now)
[Xun Yu]: On what grounds do I deserve to stand as an equal to the Three Dukes…
I would probably change to “On what grounds do I deserve to be placed among the Three Dukes…”
While if you do a direct translation of 位列, you gets “stands equal to” but with the way it is used, it was more of “Stands equal as one of…”
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Comment by MLee — July 22, 2012 @ 9:30 pm
Ch. 371:
[?]: Our business profit here doubled while you were away.
[?]: More businesses have joined our partnership- enough to stave off a dry spell.
(not sure)
[?]: Look, this is our newest setup.
兩成 is not double, it’s 2/10 or 20%.
In second line, they were using military metaphor. The translation was more like “Our (business) allies has followed-suit, and has entered into an no-loss state”. 不衰 means no decline, and the word 地 here was not talking about physical ground(land), but a metaphoric ground(state of being).
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Comment by MLee — July 22, 2012 @ 9:52 pm
Thanks! Edited.
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Comment by merc — July 23, 2012 @ 5:35 pm
Ch. 371
[?]: Also…
[?]: the addition to the Sima clan.
This is a minor nitpick, it just sounds a bit awkward. I think you can just change that line to the more straightforward “The Sima Clan is adding a member(boy)”.
添丁is a old ways of saying having children. 丁 has always being refers as males, since Chinese were male dominate society, 添丁 also has a congratulatory sense that hoping the pregnancy will result in boys.
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Comment by MLee — July 22, 2012 @ 10:06 pm
Thanks! Nitpick away; I will even if no one else would. XD
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Comment by merc — July 23, 2012 @ 5:39 pm
Ch. 373
[?]: Sun Quan had looted Jiangxia of its civilians.
(reworded)
[?]: Huang Zu’s troop returns to a near-empty city, so they would remain defensive as precaution against Sun Quan.
(“…dead-set on guarding and not come out”)
Minor correction here, Zhang Wu and Chen Sun is actually referring to themselves here. It should be understand more as, Huang Zu’s troop returns to a near-empty city. As a precaution against Sun Quan’s (attack), he’ll be dead-set on guarding and not come out. (to engage us).
In 207 A.D., a plan left by Guo Jia to first take Jiangxia was being put into motion.
Jingzhou’s Zhang Wu and Chen Sun, two of Cao Cao’s sleeper agents, revolted against Liu Biao while the city was weak. They marched their troops toward various counties in Jiangxia.
(I’m confused about which city is “empty” and territory terminology)
Because these two officers commanded a significant number of soldiers, Jingzhou suffered dearly by its slow reaction.
Jiangxia is a county name as well as a city name. Typically the territory terminology is 州(zhou, Prefecture) >郡(Jùn, County (or better translation here might be state)) > 縣(Tian, also county (in modern time), interchangeable with Jun depends on the period but usually smaller then Jun after Qin Dynasty so you can probably just call them town here)/城 (City) > 村 ( chun,village).
Usually the name of the capital city’s name is the same as the county, especially during older dynasties like Han here. So Jianxia is a county (江夏郡) with it’s capital(chief/central) city also called Jiangxia (江夏城), but it doesn’t have to be the case all the time. (For example, Chengdu capital for 蜀郡 and Shun in turn is part of 益州)
Now, when an location isn’t specified, it is usually defaulted to Jun (the largest polity unit with same name). So basically, Sun Quan comes to Jiangxia county and looted it’s civilian (including the city, an occurrence that happened over and over during Sun Quan’s reign), Hung Zu’s troop abandon the capital and then return to the empty city. The rebels, according to Guo Jia’s plan is to capture the capital, Jiangxia City and is now within Jiangxia county and were convinced that Huan Zu will not engage them on the field due to Sun Quan’s potential return so they can proceed toward the city with ease.
Because of that, I would also rephrase the latter part of that last sentence:
“Because these two officers commanded a significant number of soldiers, Jingzhou suffered dearly by its slow reaction.”
to
“Jingzhou could’t response in time and suffered dearly”
P.S. for future reference, the hierarchy of Jingzhou at time is that Jingzhou had nine counties (郡) including, Xianyang and Jiangxia. Since Xianyan City (襄陽城) is the capital of Nan County (南郡) (later Xianyang county) and is where Liu Biao reside, Xianyan City is also the capital of Jingzhou and can sometime referred to as Jingzhou City (荊州城). XingYe (新野), is correspondingly part of Nan County located in the north part of that County.
For more explanation, I found a wiki article here:
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8D%86%E5%B7%9E_(%E5%8F%A4%E4%BB%A3)
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Comment by MLee — September 1, 2012 @ 10:23 pm
Thanks!
The location translations are a mess by what I’ve done so far. I’ll have to adjust from now on.
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Comment by merc — September 6, 2012 @ 5:54 am
Ch. 375
[?]: It was an officer’s duty to carry out orders. If the Sun clan holds grudge against you, then my Lord is but a commoner…
[?]: and not a hegemon of the eastern region.
[?]: What is the cause, and who is the enemy? Perhaps only the observant could understand.
(not sure)
[GN]: Get Huang Zu’s messenger.
[GN]: Tell him… that I captured an important person from the Sun clan.
[GN]: Better convince me before a cup of tea cools.
(not sure)
Nitpick on first line.
市井小人 better translated into petty thug, or riff raff, then just commoner as it got a more negative tone to it and used to describe street-wise commoners that are not above pulling some dirty tricks to survive.
大業 means great objective, be it greater good, uniting the land,etc. Cause works but keeping the great in it would probably be better as the current wording might be a bit confusing on the meaning of the cause.
有識之士 are more the just observers, they are men of insights and/or intellect. 士 is a work used to describe scholars, so the literal meaning are scholars with vision.
一盞茶 is about 10-15 mins, it an old term of time measurement. literally means that one have just enough time to brew and drink a cup of tea.
[YJ]: We judge horses like how we judge people. Whoever’s getting hurt…
(not sure about last bit)
[LB]: Say no more.
In history, Yi Ji and Kuai Yue are known be be good judgement of people and horse, so is Liu Bei. Base on the context that follows, I assuming that Dilu was purposely fed by someone to try to kill Liu Bei but since Liu Bei gave the horse to Liu Biao, that plan failed. Kuai Yue assumed the same thing and insinuate ill intention on Liu Bei’s part which lets Liu Biao to gave Dilu back. Yi Ji is trying to point out that if there is a victim there must be a culprit, but Liu Bei stopped him in his track suggesting he already knew.
It’s probably more clear just stating that as “when there is a victim…” or “when one is victimized…”
Ch. 376 looks good though, Choice words is a good translation for 微言. It’s basically a polite way of saying someone having a small complain or harsh words.
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Comment by MLee — September 15, 2012 @ 12:41 pm
Thanks! I’ve adjusted the translation.
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Comment by merc — September 21, 2012 @ 6:08 am
c. 386
[?]: Look out, my husband! — How about “dear” ? Maybe it’s just me, but a woman calling her spouse like that sounds awkward.
[?]: Fourthly, in order to achieve one’s mission, — Shouldn’t it be “fourth” ?
[LD]: Haha, your blood is still the coldest. — “You’re still the most cold-blooded one”, perhaps ?
Not trying to be a grammar nazi or anything, I just think these bits make your translation sound like you did it in a hurry :D
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Comment by Ashiya — February 3, 2013 @ 12:16 am
I debated the “my husband” line, because it preserves the classic language flavor. But okay, smoother is better.
Not close to the first three bullet point listing, I was worried “Fourth” would be confused with someone being referred to as “Fourth” (not just for Geniuses).
What’s wrong with my first attempt? ;) But I looked at the picture version and it’s different, so now it’s different.
No problem, fellow grammar nazi; I do translate these in a hurry. ;)
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Comment by merc — February 6, 2013 @ 8:47 am
387
about the zhan guo ce chapter of zhongshan it goes like this (if you don’t mind);
‘zhang chou said : no, we should not do that. i heard that people with the same desires are hostile towards one another, but people who share the same problems are close to one another.’
zhan guo ce ,on zhongshan, gongsun yan was about to enthrone the five kings.
should not it ‘tiger-leopard’ cavalry?
lun yu 15.35 the master said “when it comes to goodness one need not avoid competing with one’s teacher.”
lao zi ch 70 “the sage wears coarse cloth on top but carries jade underneath his dress.”
lun yu 4.8 the master said .”in the morning, hear the way; in the evening, die content!”
” Men of the same belief are worth
traveling with, despite the treacherous road
ahead.” this part i don’t remember from where but i heard it somewhere.
and… i can’t read hanzi.
this translation is from library of chinese classic.
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Comment by por — February 18, 2013 @ 1:57 am
Thanks! I’ve incorporated your suggestions. Some were my mistakes.
The Hanzi part is because I can’t be sure if they are part of the comic or part of the typist’s embellishment. They will be removed when the pictures become available.
Your research (or knowledge?) of the quotes is so precise, even if you don’t read hanzi. :)
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Comment by merc — February 21, 2013 @ 7:44 am
i don’t deserve your word . i merely placed what i read from library of chinese classic.
i see that you might want to compare it with my literature so i decided to write them here.
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Comment by por — February 21, 2013 @ 7:58 am
Well, I appreciate you taking the time to help. :) Some quotes are a headache to find online (to explain to casual readers).
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Comment by merc — February 21, 2013 @ 8:01 am
389
Zhou book of change The Jiji hexagram ,63rd
The water on fire can cook food symbolizes success. Likewise, the superior man considers possible troubles after the success and takes precautions.
Zhou book of change, the study/ survey ch.12
Confucius explained: “Blessing means help. A man who receives help from heaven always follow the right way. A man whom people help must be a man of sincerity. If a man is sincere, always thinks about following the right way and at the same time respect men of virtue . surely ‘ he receives the blessing from the heaven.
There is good fortune and nothing is unbeneficial.
My Chun Qiu Zuo Zhuan came from same source as yours.
many thanks for your translation. i hope i can help you even for a little.
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Comment by porn — March 30, 2013 @ 3:39 am
Thanks for your help!
psst, I’ve been secretly editing out the “n” in your internet handle on this blog, but maybe I shouldn’t be doing that… (censorship is evil and all, haha) So, won’t be editing it.
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Comment by merc — April 4, 2013 @ 8:21 am
Ch. 389
Title: 陣 is tactical formation, so the title literally means “Powerful(Formatible) Tactical Formation Once Again Arrives”. So to make more grammatical sense in English, you can just leave it as The Return of Powerful(or Formatible) Formation.
On this line:
[Zhang Fei]: The Book of Changes also says, “the superior man considers possible troubles after a success and takes precautions.“
The origin is correct, but it doesn’t directly refer to “after success”, and I think bringing up success makes little sense to what Liu force is facing right now. I would just translation the line as it is written. ” the superior man considers various potential troubles (disasters) ahead and takes precautions accordingly”
Last but minor thing for reference:
Eight-Units Formation would work but just for references.
八陣圖 is translated as Stone Sentinel Maze in English version of Romance of Three Kingdom but obviously that is not going to work here.
In history 八陣圖 (sometime refers as 八卦陣) is a well-known, though still unclear, tactical formation and encampment formation. Looking around the net it seems that most military translation of this as Eight Trigrams Formation or Eight Array Formation depending on whether you use 八陣圖 or 八卦陣.
八陣圖 is specifically attributed to Zhuge Liang and note it in various books from Book of Jin to other record of that era that it is much improvised and different from the 八陣 that is recorded in Sun Tsu where it was more referred to the usage and application of 8 different formations on the fly.
風后八陣圖 that was suggested from 握奇經 was believed by Qing scholar to be written by Tang scholars therefore put it in question compare to Jin records. The mystical 風后 and his usage of 八陣 and compare to other Tang discussions on 八陣, 風后八陣圖 is also believed to be more in tune to Sun Tsu’s 八陣.
Back to comic, Eight Trigrams Formation can be something you keep aside and reserve for Zhuge Liang’s version or you could change it now and use Eight Array Formation in future if Chen Mou decides to used 八卦陣 to distinguish the Zhuge Liang’s version.
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Comment by MLee — April 5, 2013 @ 9:59 pm
And here are nit-picking.
[ZF]: Team one, follow me!
Instead of using Team, it sounds much better if you keep as Unit throughout, especially considering that you’re are translatiing 八陣圖 as Eight Unit Formation. Not to mention in military they usually uses unit or squadron more than team.
[?]: You’re wrong, third brother.
[?]: I’m an expert at judging one’s character!
Both are clearly said by Liu Bei, especially second line where is was more “Your older brother expertises in judging people”
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Comment by MLee — April 5, 2013 @ 10:12 pm
Good idea on “unit”, I hated using “team.” XD
Still not sure about that line (knowing how Mr. Chen likes to make dialog overlaps)… But I’ll try it your way.
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Comment by merc — April 6, 2013 @ 8:17 pm
Thanks! Although I’m still going to be confused anytime this gets brought up again. XD
…Should I use “Eight-Array Formation” or “Eight-Unit Formation”? It sounds like to stick with “unit” for now?
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Comment by merc — April 6, 2013 @ 8:19 pm
I’m OK with “Eight-Unit Formation” for now, simple and to the point. Besides based on the historical flow, Zhuge Liang will be using this in future anyway and we don’t know if Chen Mout is going to give it some shining new name or not. I just put all those in as future references anyway.
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Comment by MLee — April 9, 2013 @ 12:05 am
leave those troll. without your translation… i will never know what ravages is. and i don’t mind. i use this name for showing my root and preference .
though i agree with Mlee… and i only write down what i read without knowing even a single hanzi… i suggest to wait and see…
as you know, Kongming stratagem is underestimation. we can consider Zhang Fei is foreshadowing Mengde for being careless and letting his men caught malaria in chibi.
and…. about Eight Trigram…. i don’t have anyhing to say except that i believe this refer to Tactical formation both Zhongda and Kongming deployed on their first showdown during the northern expedition. i believe this does not refer to Sentinel maze Kongming used against Lu Xun
and according to my memory…. Sun Zi who goes by the name Sun Wu did not refer to Eight Trigram. It is Sun Bin who annotated the Eight Trigram formation (dubbed as Eight Division Formation) in his military treatise Sun Bin Bingfa also… there is another reference for Eight Trigram in Sun Zi’s art of war which was found in Yinqueshan.
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Comment by porn — April 6, 2013 @ 2:54 am
Oh I agree with you on Eight Trigram, I’m just noting that hanzi 八陣圖 (literal meaning Eight-Formation Diagram) is a tactical formation attributed to Zhuge in history and the same three characters are used for the Stone Sentinel Maze in the novel.
Actually both Shu Wu and Sun Bin are referred to as Sun Zi, especially in historical records. “Zi” in chinese is an honorific, which is also a reason why for the longest time the two were often mistaken and believe as same person or that Art of War is the work of one not the other, until they finally found a replica of Sun Bin Bingfa in the 70s as proof that both exist and both were tactician and wrote tactical manuals.
Both are connected 八陣(Eight Formation), Sun Bin directly mentioned it in Sun Bin Bingfa while Sun Zi’s Eight-Formation was mentioned in Book of Han and Zheng Xuan’s annotations on Rites of Zhou. But like I said, the Eight Formation mentioned are more believed to be literal usage of eight different formation.
By comparison, Zhuge’s 八陣圖 was believe to be a single formation but incorporated 8 units in different formations acting differently according to situation, though in “Questions and Replies between Tang Taizong and Li Weigong” the two well-known tacticians at time commented it’s actually 9 units with an independent, central unit that might act as commanding unit.
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Comment by MLee — April 6, 2013 @ 4:30 pm
that is li jing six flower formation, right? where they purposely left the center empty like the hanzi for ‘well’ . but tang taizong li weigong wendui seems to corelate it to jiang ziya.
the six different division lined in paralel line and changed in to x shaped with the center left empty…..
oh well… i forget. li shimin said many things.
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Comment by porn — April 7, 2013 @ 3:55 am
390
A wily hare has three burrows.
this is from Zhan Guo Ce ,Book 11 on the state of Qi (IV), A man from Qi named Feng Xuan; (translation from Library of Chinese Classic)
… Lord Mengchang-jun turned around and told Feng Xuan, “Now I witness firsthand the righteousness you bought for me.”
Feng Xuan said, “A sly hare digs three dens for itself. Then it can merely survive. Now you only have one ‘den’, so you are still not safe. Please allow me to dig two more ‘dens’ for you.” Lord Mengchang then gave him fifty carriages, five hundred jin of gold and sent him to travel to the west to consult with the king of Wei… (ommited, too lazy to type)
Feng Xuan returned to report to Lord Mengchang-jun and said, “now all the three dens are ready. You can rest easy and enjoy yourself.”
One is sure to catch a fish by drying the pond, but expect none the following year.
this is from Lu Shi Chun Qiu Book 14 Ch4 on Proper Reward (Knoblock Translation);
Duke Wen of Jin reported Uncle Fan’s advice to Yong JI. Yong Ji said, “If you dry up the marshes to fish, how could you not catch something? But the next year there will be no fish. If you burn the vegetation cover to hunt, how could you not catch something? But the next year there will be no wildlife. Although the deception and falseness would be effective in present circumstances, it cannot be employed a second time. It is not a far sighted method.
(Library of Chinese Classic Translation)
Duke Wen of Jin told Yong Ji of Jiu Fan’s idea. Yong Ji said, ” If you drain off the water to catch fish, how could you miss them? But there will be no fish in the river at all during the next year. If you set swamps on fire to catch animals, how could you miss them? But there will be no animals at all during the next year. By using tricks, we could probably obtain short-term benefit, but not in the long run.”
my personal Commentary (please allow me to speak of this)
“Young Master must play dumb”
Ha…Ha… Feigning Foolishness? Oh.. Zhong Da finally…. this chapter foreshadow and Chekov’s many thing. i can predict up to how Cao Cao will be suceeded by Cao Pi.
“Lu Buwei’s business scam” ? which one?
his comment about a rare valuable priceless thing when he saw Zichu?
his famous dialogues with his father about his business plan which was recorded in Zhan Guo Ce?
his act of empowering Zichu to become King Zhuangxiang of Qin?
his act of giving a ‘dancer’ or giving a wife to Zichu?
his act of bribing Lady Huaiyang?
his act of making Zichu as crown Prince?
or becoming a Prime Minister of Qin and ordered the documentation of Lu Shi Chun Qiu? or one word worth 100,000 gold?
[Jia Xu]: I can only promise not to hurt his family.
Ha…Ha… Jia Xu, i really love you. you are really my favored strategist and my aspiration. i thought you are only cute as Ei-chan, and cool in ROTK and Ravages…. but i never thought that you will be so Cosa Nostra.
But geez…. did Master Chan Mou watch the Simpsons? this is so Legitimate Businessmen club’s talk… i remember when Michael took over (and represented by Homer and Bart) the leadership of his father’s (Fat Tony de Amico) waste management business. Their Rival, the callabrasies promise this exact word… genius… you are genius Master Chan Mou… indeed this is the way of legitimate businessman who take matter on waste management business
oh… and Mercury… i hope this help you even a little. i really love this chapter…. this dialogues is much exciting than the previous chapters….. Sooo many revelations…. Finally.!! Many thanks for the translation.
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Comment by porn — April 25, 2013 @ 11:01 am
Thanks for your help and comments! Even if I don’t use the translation someone else may find them useful/educational.
Glad you enjoy the talking chapters so much. :)
(a bunch of new bitching threads at the baidu forum say the comic is going downhill – which I don’t even read what they say anymore, haha – goes to show an author can’t please everyone all the time)
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Comment by merc — April 25, 2013 @ 3:11 pm
Hello merc,beatles9 here :)
Anyway,what troubles me here is the word 欺. In chinese-korean dictionary,it has 2 meanings. ‘trick somebody’ or ‘look down somebody’.
If the first one is the case here,以多欺少 means ‘lure small enemy forces to attack our powerful forces’ like YF did in the south of Yan ford and Gushi.(He hid his main forces and revealed his weakness to make CC’s force to attack).
But if the second was the case,could 以多欺少 mean ‘make powerful enemy forces to look down our small forces’? It also makes sense because,ZGL,who will be the next user of 8 unit formation,is good at that during northern campaign…(I think it is similar to 輕敵 stuff.)
Of course,I think the general from ch 394 means first case,but do you think it is possible that Mr Chan tried to be ambiguous here? I wonder…(and sorry about my bad english here….)
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Comment by Deceiver — June 14, 2013 @ 8:48 pm
Personally I don’t use the word for that second meaning. But your comment makes me want to double-check against the web dictionaries:
http://dict.baidu.com/s?wd=%E6%AC%BA
http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE6ZdicACZdicBA.htm
http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqb=%E6%AC%BA
So I think there’s no linguistic foreshadowing here. Foreshadowing is happening, however, just by the presence of the formation.
btw, there’s no “luring” inherently in that phrase, merely “use lots against few”
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Comment by merc — June 15, 2013 @ 7:30 pm
Oh, I did my research too and I think you’re right. Maybe I was too obsessed with this wordplay thing. I didn’t know 以多欺少 was an idiomatic expression so I did translate it word by word.(And I don’t know why korean-chinese dictionary provided me such a confusing information…)
By the way it’s kinda disappointing. When YF performed the formation for the first time,it was some kind of super powerful ass-kicking formation but,now they say it is for 以多欺少(and they couldn’t stop just 1 person!)…Well,maybe it is possible that,10~15 years later,ZGL will improve it…(In history, 8 unit formation is for small infantry force vs big cavalry force,you know)
PS:About that yesasia stuff,how about the delivery charge? Is it small enough for buying volume by volume or do you wait to buy them in bulk?
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Comment by Deceiver — June 15, 2013 @ 8:23 pm
Using the right formation when having a larger force is a legitimate war time situation. “Art of War” covers that too. Not being able to defeat Zhao Yun is supposed to show off how badass ZY is, but it’s easy to look at it from the other perspective. :P
Delivery charge is high, because items travel overseas from Hong Kong to the US. That’s why I’ve been buying a bunch of stuff along with one volume of Ravages in the past. But without much income I can’t burn money like that anymore, so I’m waiting to buy 3 or more volumes at once. (my last one was volume 46)
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Comment by merc — June 16, 2013 @ 6:35 am
Hi Merc! Just a couple of comments I thought you could use about the latest chapter. One, when Mi Zhu says “his tardy” I think you mean “his tardiness”? Second, I think Yue Jin’s “like I’m scared of you” sounds just fine. But mostly, about “watch me make some art” – I laughed out loud at rendering it “it’s painting time” XD but I’m not sure that’s what you want to get across? The current translation seems the best more serious way to render it.
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Comment by Jax — June 21, 2013 @ 9:15 am
You’re right, I got too fancy and forgot it’s an adjective. XD
“Adventure time!” Is that why it’s funny? XD My concern was the shout-worthiness of the phrase. Sometimes words are chosen that shout well in a live-action sense. I’m even considering changing all the “KILL~” to “DIE~” (in Chinese “kill” can be yelled louder/better because of the more open mouth shape; whereas in English “die” is produced with a wider mouth shape), even if it’s not semantically correct.
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Comment by merc — June 26, 2013 @ 8:12 am
For Yue Jin’s answer to Zhang Fei, why not “I’ll give you a fight, I’m not scared of you” or “I’ll fight, you don’t scare me!”?
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Comment by Chortles — June 21, 2013 @ 10:18 pm
Changed. Thanks!
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Comment by merc — June 26, 2013 @ 8:10 am
Thanks for accepting that idea! For what it’s worth, “you don’t scare me” (or “you can’t scare me”) were, I thought, closer to the original Chinese which is why I suggested it, I don’t really have a closer translation for the first part though.
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Comment by Chortles — June 27, 2013 @ 7:27 am
The peach tree stands wayside,
With blossoms glowing pink.
I wish the pretty bride
Affluence in food and drink.
The peach tree stands wayside,
With fruits hanging rife.
I wish the pretty bride
Abundant wealth in life.
The peach tree stands wayside
With leaves thick and dense.
I wish the pretty bride
A pleasant home e’er hence.
– Book of Ode, Southern Zhou, The Beautiful Peach
Mencius answered, “This poem does not refer to what you say. Its meaning is that a high official busy with king’s affairs can not care for his parents. What the author meant was this; ‘It is all the king’s affairs. What a pity I should be so heavily burdened!” That is why when interpreting a poem, we should not distort the sense of phrase or sentences with any words, nor should we distort the real meaning of the poem with any phrases or sentences. The right way is to read the writer’s real meaning into expressions. If we should interpret a poem by literal sense of any phrases or sentences, we would go astray.
– Mencius (The Book of Meng Zi, chapter Wan Zhang part 1)
About Cao Cao… i dunno.
all translation are based on LCC.
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Comment by porn — July 21, 2013 @ 2:53 am
What’s LCC again? ^^;
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Comment by merc — July 26, 2013 @ 10:53 am
Library of Chinese Classics, a collection of 90 title of english translated Chinese literature published and sold to commomerate 2008 Beijing Olympic.
see this for detail;
http://www.libraryofchineseclassics.com
i own about 60 title of the ebook version from chinese site and 2 title of printed version which one of them is Lu Yu’s Classic of Tea.
it helped me writing my fanfic (oh… btw i frequently stole and steal your translation in my fanfic, be them creditted to you or not. sorry)
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Comment by porn — July 26, 2013 @ 11:03 pm
No biggie. But you’ll also have to face criticism of the translation if it’s wrong! XD
(as for anyone else taking the translation text wholesale and then profit, I… would like a cut :B)
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Comment by merc — July 28, 2013 @ 12:14 pm
Here we go…
[Zhu Zhi]: There are about twenty thousand Jingzhou refugees on this shipment. <- "there's about twenty thousand refugees from Jingzhou in this convoy", or "this trip", or "these ships"
{Sun Quan’s Councilor, Zhang Zhao}
[Zhang Zhao]: Excellent. Prepare to transport them over land for the growth of our southern regions. <- "so that they can begin to grow the southern territory" (see my P.S.)
[ZhuZ]: And… they’ve swallowed Jingzhou; boasting of a million strong with the addition of troops that surrendered. <- I suggest "And… they've swallowed up Jingzhou, and by absorbing the troops who surrendered, they're boasting of being a million strong."
[ZhangZ]: Hoo. <- I'd go with "Hmmmh…"
[Cao Hong]: Guan Yu and Zhang Fei retreated. It’s clear that they lack the strength to carry their will. <- a literal translation is "have heart, no power/ability", so if you're willing to be figurative, how about "They clearly had the advantage but couldn't follow through" or something along the lines of "They had but couldn’t back it up”?
[Liao Hua]: Xu Shu has always been filial pious. He had no choice. <- I'd just go with "filial", or "a filial son"… "filial pious" just doesn't work that way
[LH]: And Xu Shu has also made an oath to never advice Cao Cao. Don’t worry, my Lord. <- "advise"
P.S. I admittedly find "the Eastern region" a funny translation but literal translation would be "east of the river", which then would need specifying "east of the Long River", so I understand why you went with "Eastern region", the problem though is that Jiangdong is a specific region in China (although Wikipedia uses Jiangnan) while Zhang Zhao refers to "the southern regions"/"the southern territory" in general (nanfang).
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Comment by Chortles — August 3, 2013 @ 6:53 pm
Here’s more, although here I’m just changing the lines themselves mostly instead of what I did above since most of it is small changes:
[LH]: He did, thus he has sent someone else here; Third Master is too busy to discuss the military affairs with, and our Advisor won’t be back for some time. Therefore he borrowed a man from the Eastern region. < – I chose to combine the three lines into one
[LH]: Yes, a like-minded man to himself. <- I added "to himself" so that it's clear who the comparison is made with.
[?]: Add two more divisions here, as a reserve.
[?]: And increase troops to the city’s north- to ward off surprise attacks.
[?]: Liberally plant decoys in the mountains. Use straw-men to bluff, then set them on fire when the Cao army is spotted.
[?]: One more thing, spread the rumor along the streets that there's a large mutiny breaking out at Cao Cao’s headquarters.
[?]: If they’re still here by winter time, say that a plague has spread throughout the Cao army.
[?]: The Military Advisor of Sun Quan’s army-
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Comment by Chortles — August 3, 2013 @ 7:00 pm
That first three lines are in three separate bubbles. Why combine?
Thanks for the rest! :)
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Comment by merc — August 4, 2013 @ 5:57 am
I’m not familiar enough with how official translations deal with “jiang dong” and “jiang nan” – using the terms directly would really confuse the heck out of people. It’s really “south eastern China” where I’m from. Right now I’m not satisfied with any present solution. Until I’m swayed either way I’ll keep “eastern region” for now, since there have been so many mentions of it in the archive. T_T
Many of your suggestions are correct but really long. I tried to keep the bubble size in mind as much as possible.
“filial son” part we thought alike. At first I felt “filial pious” sounds so awkward, but thought maybe it’s just not heard often enough in modern conversation.
“advise” is right. Good catch.
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Comment by merc — August 4, 2013 @ 5:52 am
Hmm, how well do these work?
[Zhang Zhao]: Excellent. Prepare to transport them over land to begin to grow the southern territory.
[ZhuZ]: And… they’ve swallowed up Jingzhou. With those who surrendered to them, they say they’re a million strong.”
Nice change on “they lacked the strength to back up their threat”!
I’ll agree re: “Eastern region”, although for what it’s worth, the Moss Roberts translation for Romance of the Three Kingdoms (or whichever it is on ThreeKingdoms.com ) used “the Southland”. I admit, “so many mentions of it in the archive” is why I’m okay with “Eastern region” too, it’s just that that translation doesn’t also make clear that the region is actually/also south of the Long River (apparently Western missionaries heard the name Yangzi for one particular village near Yangzhou and mistakenly applied it to the entire river, hence “Yangtze River”).
“Filial pious” was also awkward to me as well, hence the filial son suggestion which can be used in modern conversation without sounding off (well, no more so than ANYONE referring to “filial” these days, hahaha).
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Comment by Chortles — August 5, 2013 @ 7:28 pm
I’ll take the first suggestion. Thanks. :)
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Comment by merc — August 8, 2013 @ 8:03 pm
Just commenting for now on the “spy ships” part — why not use “scout ships” if length is an issue? In American English “recon ships” would work, but I suggest “scout ships” if you feel that that’s more appropriate.
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Comment by Chortles — August 16, 2013 @ 4:07 pm
Okay.
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Comment by merc — August 16, 2013 @ 5:48 pm
Hey Merc, listen, this is not about an error of translation at all. I’ve been thinking a lot, and I know we can’t pay you for your translation unfortunately, but I really, really want to do something nice for you if I can. I owe you for so many hours of reading and joy and FEELS and you’ve been keeping this up for so long. Can I buy you a gift or something? Is there anything you really need or want? Even just an Amazon voucher? I just want to do something to show my appreciation beyond just commenting. Please, you’ve more than earned it!
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Comment by Jax — November 16, 2013 @ 4:56 pm
Hmm. Let me get back to you on that. >;)~~~~
But thanks for following the series for so long, through all the difficulties. And of course, spreading the love/suffering. ;)
(still thinking… don’t wait up)
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Comment by merc — November 21, 2013 @ 6:16 pm
I can handle waiting. Just know that the offer stands!
And you know, you keep translating, I’ll keep reading XD. To Wuzhang Plains and beyond! I love this series madly and we all are terrifically lucky to have you.
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Comment by Jax — November 22, 2013 @ 9:44 am
408
i am not sure whether i should offer my alternative translation, nevertheless… let me just place it.here. Li Sao / Sorrow After Departure/ Lament / Tales of Woe.
your version is this:
…
faction strove, and tired
not of excess;
Themselves condoning, others
they’d decry,
And steep their hearts in
envious jealousy.
Insatiably they seized what they
desired,
It was not that to which my
heart aspired.
As old age unrelenting hurried
near,
Lest my fair name should fail
was all my fear…..
my offer (LCC):…
The faction for their personal interest do look;
Insatiable, they gather wealth by hook or crook.
Gauging heart of others with their own measure means.
They supplant those who are hateful in their green eyes.
To vie and scramble for material wealth-dear!
‘Tis not all where my aspiration lie!
As senility is ruthlessly coming near,
‘Tis my sole wish to earn a reputation high.
…
though have to admit this story about Qu Yuan is interesting, well bad luck his opponent is Zhang Yi who had bribed everyone even Zheng Xiu. :P
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Comment by porn — January 17, 2014 @ 11:03 am
Do offer translation alternatives, always. Thank you!
However, I might not take up this particular version. The rhyming is in a different pattern, thus not as obvious in the quoted line that it’s from a prose/poem. But maybe later I will try a merged version, because both wordings feel awkward to me.
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Comment by merc — January 18, 2014 @ 8:07 am
ch.415:
‘Fleeing is best.’
why did you not translate it as it is instead of the context? did not the idiom ” Out of the Thirty Six Stratagem, fleeing is the best tactic” is already too famous as it is?
well i have not seen the raw to see the context to spoke ,just some suggestion in my opinion.
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Comment by porn — April 26, 2014 @ 12:12 am
Can you rephrase your comment? I’m not sure what you intend to say. Should I translate it more faithfully or make it more lay-man’s term?
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Comment by merc — April 26, 2014 @ 7:32 am
Oh! I get it. The dictionary entry I linked is the full phrase. Whereas in the picture it is just the 走为上策 part. The dictionary doesn’t have an entry to partial idioms/sayings. (I’m not sure if that idiom is THAT well-known to most western readers)
Regardless, my decision was also based on the bubble-size. But, do you want me to translate it as “Fleeing is best” or smoother, such as “I chose to flee.” ?
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Comment by merc — April 26, 2014 @ 7:38 am
oh… the bubble size.
well i trust your decision. so i think sticking with it is also apropriate.
well, perhaps i read too many wuxia because the full idiom is too fun and too familiar, i haven’t consider the western reader. you are right then. sorry to bother you.
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Comment by porn — April 26, 2014 @ 12:05 pm
Don’t worry. Bother me all you want. It gets lonely here. :B
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Comment by merc — April 27, 2014 @ 8:14 am
Don’t be lonely, Merc! Come to the tumblr Ravages tag, we have shenanigans!
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Comment by Jax — April 27, 2014 @ 8:27 am
I lurk there, looking for sharp commentary and witty recaps. Occasionally emerging to troll some of your blog entries. :B
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Comment by merc — April 27, 2014 @ 8:32 am
About 下方中路 and 上方 in 414, I think 下方 means ‘downstream’ and 上方 means ‘upstream’. So over a thousand ships in 下方 is ZY’s main fleet,and hundreds ships in 上方 is LM/LX’s vanguard force coming ahead of main fleet.
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Comment by Beatles9 — May 10, 2014 @ 7:43 pm
Mr. Chen actually used “downstream” in a later dialog… But I’ll take your suggestion. Thanks!
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Comment by merc — May 15, 2014 @ 5:13 pm
420
the title seems to be based on one of the 36 ji; Clamor in East, Strike at West. but yours seems better.
the poem of Cao Cao alternative translation goes like this ;(LCC)
Long in the world the turtle stays,
Yet it has an end unto its days,
High in sky the dragon flies,
Yet it returns to earth when it dies.
-.-
Long in the pen the old steed stays,
Yet recalls its running days,
A hero blest with senior years
Aims high, strives hard dismissing fears.
-.-
How long the sand of life may flow,
Not to Heaven alone we owe.
Sound in body, sound in mind,
We can leave death far behind.
In such pondering mood I am
That I sing this as an epigram.
– Longevity, Walking outside the Xia Gate, Cao Cao with style name Mengde.
I don’t think it matter much seeing your translation are easier. and about this part :
A masterful fake-injury !
those sentence was based on 36-ji. the common translation is Delusive Injury.
self note: i guess that is it. just pondering why use poem to depict bailangshan instead of dongpo’s chibi fu? is it because he mistook the place historically?
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Comment by porn — July 25, 2014 @ 2:07 am
Thanks.
I think he wants to emphasize the “old man” part. I glanced at Chibi Fu and didn’t see anything like that. In past interview he mentioned that often times he’s inspired by specific lines in literature and wants to depict a scene based on those lines instead of what the entire literature is for.
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Comment by merc — July 26, 2014 @ 7:27 am
well the true reason i place the poem was to give alternative translation. no other reason
well, what i want to say from using chibi fu, is why not use that poem when you (chan mou) are writing about red cliff? -this has no relation with the translation, just my opinion about the story .
at the moment (red cliff event), cao cao was historically composing duan gexing (short song) when traversing nanjun … if i am allowed to explain my point seems that the theme is longevity.
in Cao Cao’s poem ‘Longevity’, written during Bailangshan… well the theme is about wanting to live as long as you like. is not this trend continued with Cao Cao’s Duan gexing? as far as i recall, the verse goes ;
the color of your colar is blue, bringing thought about you (common translation; The disciple in blue, my thoughts is with you)
the verse is believed to be talking about Guo Jia Fengxiao who died at young age. hence the only way to drown this sorrow is but “The Wine of Du Kang (God of Wine)” :P
why i bring up Dongpo? well beside his pork meat was tasty, two of his poem (which i remember) also spoke about wanting to live.
in Chibi fu;
I grieve at my life’s shortness, and envy how the Great River is infinite. I want to fly with the immortals and roam the vastness, embrace the moon and live forever.
then from Shui Diao Ge Tou;
This imperfection has been going on since the beginning of time.
May we all be blessed with longevity,
also the last reason i bring this up is how Cao Cao will lose! (sorry spoiler :P) in Chibi. i think the theme matched of longevity and continuation :P
well this is just my wild guessing, sorry to bother you. just want to speak about it.
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Comment by porn — July 26, 2014 @ 7:40 pm
Opinions welcome! Don’t feel bad, unless you’re trolling. >:)
So based on your explanation of those poems, my personal thought is that Chen Mou is not writing about longevity here, not in that chapter and not for that scene. He’s just praising the aging warriors- they’re old but they’re still tough and willing to give their all for the honor/glory/notoriety, etc.
Chen Mou could use the other poems, I guess. He could be wanting to be “different/unpredictable”. /shrug
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Comment by merc — July 31, 2014 @ 5:39 am
Please use this for Ch. 422: http://princewenyuan.tumblr.com/post/96262731498/ravages-of-time-chapter-422-original-scans-from
I’m still laughing…
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Comment by Chortles — September 16, 2014 @ 10:49 pm
Ok.
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Comment by merc — September 18, 2014 @ 4:52 pm
428 : Book of Ode, Minor Ode of the Kingdom, The Deer and other odes;
Brother may quarrel at home,
Outside, they never fight alone.
Even the best friend’s of one life,
Don’t always help in strife.
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Comment by porn — November 21, 2014 @ 1:34 am
Thanks! Yours is shorter.
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Comment by merc — November 28, 2014 @ 6:17 pm
Chapter 431:
If only Guo Jia *was* still with us
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Comment by JT — January 7, 2015 @ 6:22 pm
Thank you!
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Comment by merc — January 16, 2015 @ 7:05 am
Hello. Thanks for your hard work. For your question in chapter 432 about Lu Bu’s words, I think I may have found it in chapter 219 starting at page 17 when Lu Bu goes to full lecture mode in a middle of the battle then onwards to page 23.
While disciple brother is a mouthful and might make putting that phrase in speech bubbles with more text, I’m fine with that translation. I’m used to seeing that in Legend of the Condor Heroes.
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Comment by fakepudding — February 16, 2015 @ 4:22 am
Thank you! Though I think Cao Cao wasn’t in that chapter to hear those words. Maybe he hears about it off-screen. I’ll keep the current translation until I find the right precedence.
Ok I’ll keep your feedback on disciple brother in mind.
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Comment by merc — February 19, 2015 @ 7:36 pm
Thank you so much for posting 435. I was going nuts with only the Chinese version that I can only understand a little of. Gahh, I’m so upset and heartbroken right now! I can’t believe Guo Jia made such a horrible miscalculation, letting Sima Yi rise to power with only stupid Yang Xiu as his leash… knowing what’s going to happen with Xun Yu now! Although I guess, it’s a little better if he didn’t leave Yang Xiu explicit instructions to ruin the other two over Red Cliff but just said, weaken their hold on Sima Yi somehow, and it’s Yang Xiu’s screwup as much as his… this isn’t about the translation at all is it, sorry ^^ I just have so many feelings here.
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Comment by Jax — March 9, 2015 @ 5:27 pm
No problem, vent away! (you know I’ll search out your feelz postings anyway. ;) )
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Comment by merc — March 13, 2015 @ 5:09 am
We must be crazy hungry…
How about: “We went insane from hunger” ?
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Comment by Anonymous — March 23, 2015 @ 8:33 am
Ok thanks!
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Comment by merc — April 6, 2015 @ 8:57 am
This is just suggestion, i think you should use literal translation of death by timing with “Borrowing sky” or use better sounding words but still keep the word “borrow”.
In my translation of Romance of Three Kingdom, on the commentary of Mao Zonggang, he annotated how Kongming’s stratagem are all based on the term “Borrowing”.
“Borrowing arrows”, “Borrowing commander seal” (Cao Ren Nanjun campaign), “Borrowing Ma Chao’s force (Ma Chao inssurection), etc.
So i have a faint feeling that master Chan is foreshadowing this borrowing again like how Guo Jia used one against hundred terms
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Comment by porn — April 7, 2015 @ 1:03 am
Ok thanks!
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Comment by merc — April 9, 2015 @ 8:29 pm
438:
忽然变得精彩起来啊。
山壁下，两军大举相攻，人潮如浪。
司马懿骑马侧身看向远处山壁上——
那名被冠以盛名的敌军大将！！
下回、武圣出阵！
休刊敬待
are those parts not in syndication?
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Comment by porn — April 23, 2015 @ 9:14 am
Those are description written by the poster when all we were reading was text.
The final two lines are:
Next Chapter, Warrior God (or God/Saint of War) Engages!
Please wait another two weeks (gloss “cease publication respectfully await”)
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Comment by merc — April 30, 2015 @ 4:18 pm
Oh… no wonder i have doubt
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Comment by porn — June 25, 2015 @ 10:33 pm
How can glorifying Heaven and contemplating it be as good as tending its creatures and regulating them?
How can obeying Heaven and singing its hymns of praise be better than regulating what Heaven has mandated and using it?
How can anxiously watching for the season and awaits what it brings be as good as responding to the season and exploiting it?
How can depending on things to increase naturally be better than developing their natural capacities so as to transform them?
How can contemplating things and expecting them to serve you be as good as administering them so that you do not miss the opportunities they present?
How can brooding over for the origins of things be better than assisting what perfects them?
– Book of Xun Zi, chapter 17 verse 13 on Discourse of Nature
The mullet dart about near the surface water, but when they are netted and lying on the sand, though they may long for water they will never reach it again. Similiarly, when a man is caught in midst of calamity, though he may wish he had beem cautious, his wishing will be in vain. Those who know themselves do not resent others; those who knows fate do not resent Heaven. Those who resent others are bound to fail; those who resent Heaven do not learn from experience. Erring oneself but attributing to others- is this not far wide of the mark indeed!
– Book of Xun Zi, chapter 4 verse 6 on Honor and Disgrace.
Mister Zhuge, Eighth Genius the Crouching Dragon indeed! => Mister Zhuge, the Crouching Dragon of the Eight Genius indeed! = OR => Eight Genius’ Crouching Dragon indeed!
I think it is better sounding.
What “an assertive stance on morality“. -> is it “Duty before Honor” which he meant?
ps. not translation suggestion, just asking.
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Comment by porn — June 25, 2015 @ 10:32 pm
Thanks a lot for those translations! Are those your books or just really good at keyword searching? :)
The “duty before honor” thing. I’m not sure. Once again my Google-fu is failing me, so I can’t tell if the two mean the same. Whether SMY is saying GY is being pretentious (that he should just do what he thinks is righteous regardless of duty), or whether SMY is praising GY for trying to do the righteous thing despite duty. Now that I wrote this I’m even more unsure if I’m understanding SMY correctly. :P
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Comment by merc — July 2, 2015 @ 4:40 pm
About a small detail in chapter 447, I’m not really good in Chinese, but if I recall, Xiang Yu fell in Gaixia, not Hexia…
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Comment by Anonymous — September 17, 2015 @ 5:45 pm
Yes you are right, thank you! The hanzi looks similar to another one that confused me. :P
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Comment by merc — September 18, 2015 @ 9:22 pm
450:
“The fox intimidates, taking for granted the tiger behind him .”
common translation is ‘The fox borrowing tiger’s fierceness.’ however this is not really an official term as in bluntly mentioned in Zhanguoce (like in your explanation). just some words from my books; on collection of anecdotes explained the term.
dunno if it refers to Liu Bei (the willy old fox) using the momentum of Sun Quan (the tiger)’s recent victory in chibi which will be poignant later , or Just Wei Yan teasing Liu Feng using his name to be big man.
or maybe , it jest on Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei’s fondness of borrowing (but also without returning) :P
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Comment by porn — November 6, 2015 @ 8:29 pm
I think it’s just Zhang Fei making fun of this young man trying to act all tough and scary when it is this possible “Wei Yan” who is the real threat. But who knows how far Mr. Chen wants to extend that idiom. :)
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Comment by merc — November 20, 2015 @ 7:38 am
agreed. Chan Mou is such a magnificent btard.
can’t be to safe. and we haven’t shown Ma Liang yet. and the Leiyang has already mentioned for Shiyuan. hard to judge how the political marriage go for those two also.
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Comment by porn — November 21, 2015 @ 12:58 am
About the song….
成敗分秒必爭 追趕最終的慶幸
贏在起跑 終點 不要問
I guess it means
‘contest will be decided by split seconds, (everybody) chase the (winning) celebration in the end,
but victory is determined from the beginning, (so) searching for the finishing point is no use.’
Anyway, very sad song and nice translation indeed! I was trying to translate it in korean and your work helped me a lot :) THX!
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Comment by Deceiver — March 18, 2016 @ 1:16 am
Thanks for your suggestions!
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Comment by merc — March 18, 2016 @ 6:30 am
I have a special request. If you have the time, can you translate and compile in one page or post (for the sake of convenience) the various recaps and volume titles? I have been wanting to know what those meant, and I stumbled upon the list here: http://baike.baidu.com/view/262370.htm
Thanks in advance.
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Comment by Anonymous — March 25, 2016 @ 3:38 am
I did that for a while with the wiki. What kind of recap are you referring to? The long summary paragraphs? I think it’s better (more efficient) if other fans summarize it instead of translating it. Or are you talking about “前情提要”? And what are the “volume titles” you are referring to? The couplets on the back of the books (标题)?
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Comment by merc — March 26, 2016 @ 4:38 pm
Yeah, I was talking about those two categories of 前情提要 and 标题. Looking at fan summaries of volumes (if any) would also be nice, and having followed the series for so long I still have a good enough memory regarding the broad strokes of what the volumes contain.
It’s just that I think it would be interesting to know what sort of literary gimmicks were used in crafting them. Well, no pressure really, and I can’t thank you enough for continuing to translate this series even if it seems that the syndicated release schedule has shifted from two weeks to three weeks…
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Comment by Anonymous — March 26, 2016 @ 10:28 pm
Let’s work together. I’ll do the translation of the couplets (“Volume Listing” page on the right hand side) and you do the summary (from a reader’s POV). You can post them in comment form or link me your blog posts, if applicable. Thanks!
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Comment by merc — March 27, 2016 @ 8:50 am
I’ll try to cooperate by providing my own concise summaries of the volumes in the days to come, but since I’m not good at Chinese, I would not be able to properly incorporate those ‘recaps’ even with the aid of Google Translate or other dictionaries. I’ll still try to mix what’s said with what I have in mind though, and will post piecemeal updates in this thread.
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Comment by Anonymous — March 27, 2016 @ 9:45 am
Don’t worry about translating it from the source. It will just be “reader summary”. I’ll gather them into a page. :)
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Comment by merc — March 27, 2016 @ 9:50 am
Here goes my own poor imitative rendering (the numbering follows the volume where the actual authorial recap, which I am unable to translate, can be found):
1 no previous recap, since it’s the first volume (though perhaps segments of chapter 2 can be considered as an overview of the situation)
2 The Guandong alliance has stepped up to fight the capital’s occupier (Dong Zhuo), while handicapped warriors have finished off his seasoned strategist (Xu Lin)
3 The situations in the capital and the empire have shifted, as warlords and assassins (including Diao Chan) infiltrated the center and competed in a battle of wits
4 With the help of geniuses (and Sima Yi), the main secret of the scripture puzzle has been unraveled, while the true form of the war god (Lu Bu) has appeared
5 Dong Zhuo’s army has bested the Guandong coalition forces (including Yuan Shao), while Lu Bu has repelled the Handicapped Warriors (Zhang Lei and Guo Ang)
6 The imperial seat has been transferred to Chang’an, as Lu Bu fought (Liaoyuan Huo) in the burning ruins of Luoyang
7 The alliance has begun to collapse and many heroes (and Hua Xiong) have met their fates in Hulao, while new talents (Cao Cao and Liu Bei) have started to rise and shine
8 Along the way, the imperial uncle (Liu Bei) has come to rescue Gongsun Zan (and Zhao Yun), while the marquis of Wen (Lu Bu) has unleashed another assassination plot
9 Lu Bu’s schemes have set the stage for the takeover, while Dong Zhuo’s other counselor (Li Ru) has prepared to counter the anticipated threat
10 Lu Bu has climbed one more bloody step into ascendancy, while yet another adviser (Jia Xu) has mobilized troops to strike Chang’an in vengeance
11 Jia Xu’s coup has overturned Lu Bu’s powerful position, while his colleague (Guo Jia) has decided to offer his drastic proposals to Cao Cao
12 For his first campaign, Guo Jia has encountered a worthy adversary, while a warrior (Xu Chu) has found a window of opportunity to avenge his father (Xu Lin)
13 Liu Bei’s (and Lu Bu’s) forces have intervened in the nick of time, while a skillful assassin (Dian Wei) has broken through the defenses by himself
14 To defeat Guo Jia, the phoenix (Sima Yi) has summoned a deity (Chisongzi) in the south hill, as the dragon (Zhuge Liang) assisted Zhao Yun’s ambush in the west hill
15 Cao Cao has been routed in Puyang, while Lu Bu has begun beating down the remaining generals (such as Xu Chu and Dian Wei) standing in his way
16 With the assistance of Sima Yi (and Liu Da), the long-cultivated scheme of ‘Zhang Liang’ (Xun Yu) has come to fruition, as Lu Bu’s gains were reversed
17 With the backing of the Sima and Shan clans, Sun Ce has risen up to revive his clan and retake Jiangdong, while Yuan Shu has set his sights on replacing the Han
18 The star (officer) of the house of Sun has been killed with few companions left, while the (unnamed) adviser of Yuan Shu has passed away without achieving fame
19 The tiger (Sun Ce) has broken free with Jiangdong in mind, while the flame (Liaoyuan Huo) has departed due to the loss of a beloved comrade (Xiao Meng)
20 Cao Cao has successfully secured the young emperor of Han (Liu Xie), while Lu Bu has settled in Xuzhou expecting to seize it from Liu Bei
21 Zhou Yu’s schemes have manipulated the threats to the Sun clan (Liu Biao and Yuan Shu), as Sun Ce began to conquer key areas of Jiangdong
22 Enemies have been routed and demoralized in Shenting, while Sun Ce’s growing might and prestige have won over many (including Taishi Ci)
23 In the struggle for Xuzhou, Zhang Fei has planned to lure his targets with a banquet, while Lu Bu has joined in the feast to drive away his target (Liu Bei)
24 The fledgling phoenix (Pang Tong) has skillfully pulled off a chain of ruses, as Cao Cao’s forces endured strike after strike from numerous foes
25 As Pang Tong’s schemes develop, Cao Cao has managed to survive albeit weakened, while a hidden piece (Xu Ding) has moved to exact revenge on the Sima clan
26 With the help of allies (such as Shan Wuling), Sima Yi has escaped the near-extermination of his family, while Liaoyuan Huo has returned to assist his remaining comrades
27 Pang Tong’s plot has collapsed along with his favored leader (Liu Chong), while the fight against Yuan Shu has recalled tales of Xiang Yu (Lu Bu) and Liu Bang (Liu Bei)
28 To secure Xuzhou, Lu Bu has unleashed his killing move, as Liu Bei’s forces suffered a severe blow and rejoined (Cao Cao) for the coming battle
29 The one-eyed general (Xiahou Dun) has swallowed his arrow-stricken organ, while Sima Yi has earned some trust among his sworn enemies who have spared him
30 As a result of treacherous advice, Lu Bu has been trapped in the flooded city of Xiapi, while Cao Cao’s forces have surrounded the area in anticipation
31 The war god (Lu Bu) has struggled with all his might to smash through the encirclement, as his subordinates and loved ones departed little by little
32 After failing to break the siege, Lu Bu and his loyal companions have prepared for the last stand, as traitors assisted Cao Cao and Liu Bei in the final assault
33 Under the old White Gate Tower, Lu Bu and Chen Gong (and Xiao Meng) have bid the world farewell, while Sima Yi and Liaoyuan Huo have bitterly parted ways
34 Other than Liu Da’s flashbacks and the return of the Taiping sect, Sun Ce has defeated Yan Baihu, while Sun Quan has brokered sweet deals in Huiji
35 Zhao Yun has blocked the Yuan vanguard’s path to safeguard his beloved’s grave, while Zhang Liao has snuck in to retrieve his brethren’s remains
36 As the Cao and Yuan showdown looms, the Zhongjia emperor (Yuan Shu) has died miserably, while the little conqueror (Sun Ce) has attacked Jiangxia
37 Sun Ce has decisively breached Huang Zu’s defenses in Jiangxia, while Cao Cao has managed to eliminate Dong Cheng’s group and match Yuan Fang’s schemes
38 Cao Cao’s elites have overwhelmed Liu Bei at Xuzhou, as Sun Ce took advantage of the situation to open a new front for a surprise visit
39 With the suppression of Yu Ji’s Taiping sect, Sun Ce has shocked the world by attacking Cao Cao, while the warrior saint (Guan Yu) had stood his moral ground
40 Guo Jia and Guan Yu (and Liu Bei) have halted Yan Liang’s advance in Baima, while Sun Ce has departed after a hundred days of agony
41 Zhang Liao has cut off Wen Chou’s march at Yan ford, while using injured survivors Yuan Fang’s marvelous formation has scored an upset win over Guo Jia
42 Jia Xu’s military oath has deceived Liu Bei (and Liu Pi) in Runan, while Yuan Fang has hatched another treacherous scam
43 With Yuan Fang’s nefarious scheme in place, the flames of Gushi have trapped Cao Cao, while Wuchao’s supplies have engulfed Yuan Shao and his sons
44 With one against a hundred in Guandu, the methods of Sunzi (Cao Cao) have outmatched Feng Hou (Yuan Fang), while Yangwu depots have been sabotaged
45 The first genius (Yuan Fang) of Water Mirror (Sima Hui) has passed away, while with the help of insiders (Sima Yi and Yang Xiu) the Yuan clan has been diminished
46 Guo Jia has launched a northward campaign to deal with rival heirs of the Yuan clan, while Sima Yi has taken the next steps for his ultimate payback
47 The filial king of strategic decisions (Guo Jia) has breathed his last, as Cao Cao’s forces made preparations for the attack on the southlands
48 The crouching dragon (Zhuge Liang) has unveiled his Longzhong plan, as Liu Bei solidified his position in Jingzhou by meddling in the intrigues to succeed Liu Biao
49 The Cao army has marched south and has entered Jingzhou, while Zhao Yun has confronted enemy forces (such as Liu Da) to rescue Liu Bei’s family
50 Zhao Yun riding alone has secured the infant son of Liu Bei, as formidable troops and officers (such as Xiahou En and Zhang Liao) stood in his way
51 As a prelude to Chibi, Zhang Fei has delayed Cao Cao’s forces at Changban by himself, while Zhuge Liang has held his own in the coalition’s debate
52 With the showdown drawing near, Zhang Liao has finished off Taishi Ci, while Sima Yi and Wen Ping (and Zuo Ci) have anticipated the coalition’s fire attack
53 Cao Cao’s forces have repelled Huang Gai with a wall of ships and have ambushed Lu Meng and Lu Xun, while Sima Yi has given away Zhuge Liang’s ploys
54 Zhou Yu has regained the Long River with another fire attack, while Jiang Qin has secured victory at Red Cliff by infiltrating and burning Wulin rations
55 With the decisive defeat of Cao Cao’s forces, Guo Jia’s final strategy has been initiated, as Zhuge Liang activated his long-prepared plan at Huarong
56 Amidst the snow and flood with rescue on the way, Guan Yu has captured Cao Cao in the hills, while Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang conferred after their first win-win battle
I hope these playful volume summaries don’t come off as too pretentious. I’ll try to fill in when the other volumes come out…
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Comment by anonymous collaborator — March 29, 2016 @ 10:23 pm
HI…. This may not a translation error as much as a discrepancy in fact. In Chapter 454 Lady Fan says ” [F]: Eighteen years ago, Zhao Xian was executed for his failure to protect Xu Lin.
(“190 A.D.”) ”
But Zhao Xian was killed by Zhang Lei in Chapter 3: http://bato.to/reader#031640535f549554_20
So how was he executed??? Or is it a translation error??
P.S. Thanks for all the translations!
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Comment by karthikkunchu — March 25, 2016 @ 11:05 pm
You are right. It is a translation error (wrong simplification).
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Comment by merc — March 26, 2016 @ 4:41 pm
Oh great! Glad could be of help. I’ve been following you’r blog closely ever since I’ve picked up TRoT. Great job. BTW, I wanted to ask you. Since you are really well read in Chinese literature, do you have/do you know where one can find the wojijing? (http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Diverse/wojijing.html) It is the book from which Yuan Fang created his 8 unit formation. I’ve been searching it for quite some time on the net but no such book/ebook/pdf is to be found. Thanks!
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Comment by karthikkunchu — March 26, 2016 @ 10:43 pm
Wait I’m not well-read at all! Just relied heavily on search engines! XD Do you need an analyzed English version that explains the archaic stuff? I don’t understand the original text so I won’t be able to give you much help there. The Chinese text: http://www.leeyuri.org/T4-2.pdf
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Comment by merc — March 27, 2016 @ 8:46 am
ooooohhh! Thanks!! That being said, I don’t understand Chinese at all. So is there an “analyzed english version that explains the archaic stuff”? You know, with commentary and all. But this is a start anyway. So thanks a lot. I did search on baidu, and there was a page on this stuff, and I used google translate but I didn’t understand anything.
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Comment by karthikkunchu — March 27, 2016 @ 10:14 am
Hmmm… are you Apollo Kenobi on mangafox? :)
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Comment by merc — April 22, 2016 @ 8:34 am
Yeah… Also on batoto… lol, How’d you figure it out?
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Comment by karthikkunchu — April 23, 2016 @ 5:21 am
Bread crumbs:
http://forums.mangafox.me/threads/525121-Spoilers-amp-Raws-Thread?p=13834115&viewfull=1#post13834115
http://forums.mangafox.me/threads/525121-Spoilers-amp-Raws-Thread?p=13858339&viewfull=1#post13858339
;)
Thanks for linking to the blog, so that I could reverse discover other readers. ^_^
Good work on dictionary your way through the comic and fandom! (no sarcasm)
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Comment by merc — April 23, 2016 @ 5:31 am
Ha,ha,ha… Thanks… I actually started this translation thingy as a means to improve my chinese… I read TRoT directly from the chinese website and not the translated version… Unfortunately I’m only taught simplified chinese and I can only type in pinyin since I do not have a chinese layout keyboard… So I ended up buying this super expensive (& super thick) dictionary by S.Liang…. Big mistake… Well not really a mistake… But mandarin is hard… My memory palace is filling up real fast..
Oh got a question… That pdf you gave me on wojijing isn’t really an explanation or anything on army formations…. What the hell is it really???
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Comment by karthikkunchu — April 23, 2016 @ 6:55 am
I thought it is on army formation, at least it’s trying to describe the shape of where the flanks are?
先出遊軍定兩端，天有衡圓，地有軸，前後有衝， 【一
作有風雲】 風附於天，雲附於地。衝有重列各四隊，前後
之衝各三隊…
roughly: first send forth a mobile unit to set the two ends, (graphical/directional terms that I don’t understand, probably relating to north/south), chargers at front and back, (more archaic terms), chargers re-deploy with four units each, and three divisions of chargers at the front and back (???)
https://books.google.com/books?id=v8xzCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT37&lpg=PT37&dq=%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%8F%A4%E4%BB%A3%E6%96%B9%E4%BD%8D%E5%A4%A9%E5%9C%B0%E4%BA%91&source=bl&ots=i42ThOOY9F&sig=D-r5NfCsyqgrSHhTJXwY9lBCatM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiSgY_rjqfMAhVPID4KHQBvAW4Q6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
And this refers to it, saying the text is too terse for modern readers to parse the positioning of the four direct-attack units and four indirect-attack units, nor how they interact in battle.
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Comment by merc — April 24, 2016 @ 6:04 am
thank you for showing us not only an early preview of the translated text of the exciting chapter 457, but also how you do your painstaking translation work, and really for just not quitting. Ravages is such a fine piece of literature, it’s a shame that not too many people outside of China appreciate it.
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Comment by Anonymous — April 2, 2016 @ 4:18 am
Thanks for sticking with it too! It can get disheartening sometimes with the jaded fans complaining about everything “wrong” with it… (I’m not guilty of it, nope) XD
To be honest I have ulterior motive for playing around with the “screencapped translation” thing. I have to make some hard decisions about what I want out of this endeavor… :|
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Comment by merc — April 4, 2016 @ 6:40 am
Oh well, I guess that goes to show that we’re all schemers too in our own way.
I wonder though, what are the usual complaints by Chinese fans? Do they differ significantly from the usual caveats English-speaking readers make when trying to recommend this series, not to mention the alibis newcomers make when asked to read Ravages?
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Comment by reader — April 4, 2016 @ 7:42 pm
Well you know, the usual can’t please everyone problem. New chapters are too slow, RoT is becoming like HunterXHunter in release schedule; new chapters are too rushed, the story sucks/mainstream/boring now compared to the good old days; X is overpowered; how dare you undermine X’s brilliance/reputation; welp, X is now proven to be scum; Ravages is garbage because of XYZ; (flame war ensues); nitpicks on language use, historical accuracy, (neutral discussions generally devolve into more flame war).
Hmm, so maybe not that different from other manga fandom. XD
Chinese fans do say they are not surrounded by friends who’re interested, but are surprised by strangers who they don’t peg as someone who would be interested (ie, they think girls don’t read Ravages, or that much younger generation can’t appreciate intellectually-challenging comics, older generation can’t stand comics, etc.).
Obstacle for new readers: the language-barrier (classical/faux-classical/HK-slang/awkward-phrasing), the slow pacing (a lot of talking, philosophical “preaching”?), lack of access (though scans are everywhere), and lack of fellow readers to geek out with. In some cases parents will prevent the kid from reading comics. Generally the subject matter is not an issue. Three Kingdoms is so ingrained in East Asian culture even if someone is sick of it. I am so sick of it (I don’t care for the other remakes), but here I am. I guess the subversiveness of Ravages just struck the right chord with me.
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Comment by merc — April 5, 2016 @ 6:51 am
Hmm… as for my own reservations: I can relate with the impatience (3 weeks is agonizing, and I worry that sooner or later it will turn monthly, etc.); I don’t really get that nostalgia for the ‘good old days’ (could they be implicitly making Lu Bu out to be the center of attention?); I wish some battles and characters were given more screen time and I wish more schemes were put in place; I can understand linguistic and theoretical nitpicking since I too want Ravages to be more sophisticated than it already is, though given the premise of the series I don’t expect full conformity with the historical records (besides, I would enjoy anachronisms and a bit of ambiguous ‘other-worldliness’ if they are done deliberately as part of the point)
It’s interesting to note that Chinese fans also feel themselves to be somewhat isolated, and that they have begun to construct some sort of ‘exclusive’, ‘elite’ identity around the appreciation of Ravages. What sucked me into the series would be its threefold promise of convoluted stratagems, philosophical reflections, and allusions to various older texts, so I don’t complain about the slow pace. Besides, we English readers have you to thank for the painstaking translation work. In all honesty, I haven’t found any narrative text that surpasses Ravages in all three respects (or maybe you have, in that case I would appreciate some recommendations in that regard)… though of course academic works here and there excel in one or two at a time. It’s not that I want to exaggerate the uniqueness of Ravages or anything, it’s just that methinks there are so few items addressing this particular combo of interests/preferences.
Lately though I have seen Ravages being compared to some non-3K-focused works, like the classic Legend of the Galactic Heroes and more recently Kingdom. What do you think?
How do Chinese fans view English-speaking fans of the scanlated rendition (are they proud of the internationalization, do they typically look down upon our lack of proficiency in Chinese, do they just ignore us, etc.)? Also, what sorts of political and ideological discussions do they engage in?
It’s been an honor and a pleasure chatting with you. May we all keep up with Ravages until the very end…
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Comment by reader — April 5, 2016 @ 7:36 pm
We’re all fans! I’m also honored to talk to knowledgeable fans who can teach me a lot from other perspectives (without talking down at me). :)
The “good old days” are not necessarily referring to Lü Bu being center of attention, because there is some mild resentment about that favoritism. But I think it’s mainly for the focus on the individuals, the little people, subverting old expectations (Lü Bu and Zhang Fei being schemers), clever wordplays (“massacre in the name of filial piety” was a big moment for me, for example), etc. When Ravages feel more like mainstream battle/war comics is when these fans complain about it losing its uniqueness.
Ravages is the first such crazy mishmash I’ve read. It’s like after reading Shakespeare, everything else (within the genre) feels subpar or something. XD Like Dark Souls 1 for gamers, maybe.
Can you point me to the discussions on fans comparing Ravages to Kingdom? I know of Legend of the Galactic Heroes but haven’t read it. Only read through Gundam: the Origin. I haven’t read Kingdom.
I think this kind of work doesn’t sell. Slow burn. Subtle parodies. Political satire. B-movie shenanigans. So it’s natural that not many authors can sustain it without being supported by something else.
Chinese fans view my translation as exotic, but they are less impressed when they find out the translator is Chinese. Some of them found the wiki and were happy about what I was doing (spreading the love). Some liked how I translated Lü Meng’s foul speech. Many shook their heads at my direct use of “shixiong” and “shidi”, which I can sort of see the problem but then if Japanese honorifics are being accepted into the young Anime generation, why not Chinese ones, right? >_>
I think they are curious about the English-speaking fans (and Japanese/Korean fans), but the language and sometimes cultural barrier keep both sides from really communicating. I haven’t kept a finger on the fandom pulse either. I just did a quick Google search on “火凤燎原英文”, and this blog entry dates back to 2012. If you stumble on fandom chatter in Chinese, send me a link and I’ll check it out.
Hmm. I found a thread with a few nice comments (near the top) in it, but it’s quite lengthy to translate… Maybe later. :P
Political and ideological discussions, especially the ones in baidu forums, are toxic grounds that I try to avoid (the site is annoying to navigate, and partially login-gated nowadays). Too much baggage and mistrust of intentions behind words (government-paid apologists, fervent nationalists, trolls, west-leaning opportunists, armchair activists, freedom of speech at its best/worst?).
As for “keeping up with Ravages until the very end…” There is a fandom saying/meme (inside joke?):
“火鳳燎原終結日,家祭毋忘告乃翁”
“When the day of Ravages’ finale comes, you must not forget to tell me at my tombstone.” (by burning the books to the reader that has already passed away)
XD
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Comment by merc — April 6, 2016 @ 6:04 pm
I realized I brought up several points that I’m having a hard time putting them in order.
For one thing, while Legend of the Galactic Heroes (LOGH) is first and foremost a sci-fi novel series, it has been adapted into a long lineup of OVAs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL79E5a0wBpi63v5gPBgCXSZocon5ZzTlP
As for comparisons between Ravages and Kingdom (translated as 王者天下 in Chinese), they’re usually scattered across different sites, from 4ch’s /a/ board to Reddit posts and Kissmanga comments sections (sometimes someone brings up Ravages in a Kingdom discussion, sometimes it’s the other way around; too bad that few people claim to want to take the Ravages bait, and fewer go on to tell the tale of their reading experience). Here’s a sample though: https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/3ju05c/question_about_ravages_of_time/
Even Chinese fans have joined in the game of comparisons, see for instance this dated thread: http://tieba.baidu.com/p/1680790125 (there’s also a relatively more recent forum here: http://forum6.hkgolden.com/view.aspx?type=AN&message=5602930 )
I might do some googling with regard to what little Japanese fandom Ravages has (too bad the ambitious project of translating Ravages to Japanese stopped at around volume 9), but the traditional hanzi and the kanji are identical, so I’m having a hard time searching for a Japanese thread (that I’ll misread with the ‘help’ of Google Translate)…
As for the politics bit, it’s good to hear (even if not the actual details) that Ravages still elicits some ideological wrangling. Methinks Chen Mou hasn’t really pushed those ‘sensitive’ themes to their utmost potential (imagine an anachronistic foreshadowing of Maoist theory and praxis in the form of a populist movement, for instance), and he has yet to present a more nuanced and charitable picture of the religious happenings in the era. I am aware though that some of the ‘localists’ in HK have commented on Ravages. Perhaps he’s trying to play the balancing act of subtly and implicitly providing scenes for further discussion and contention while also keeping in mind the audiences (and agents, haha) in the mainland… Ravages for all its innovations is still a commodity after all.
But since I came late into the picture, I’m not all too familiar with the unofficial scanlation and translation history of Ravages. How did it all begin, and how did it come to survive as a mere two-person effort (with Yudy doing the scans, albeit at a much slower pace)?
Once again, thanks. I have few people to discuss Ravages with…
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Comment by reader — April 6, 2016 @ 7:32 pm
If you guys are going to be discussing the strategies and philosophical musings in the manhua then count me in!! It’s a pity there isn’t a wiki on this.
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Comment by karthikkunchu — April 6, 2016 @ 11:30 pm
It’s nice to see some discussions picking up again. If only other threads follow suit, but it seems like most of the time, whenever someone brings up Ravages, few respond. I guess I got sick of lurking in vain.
Say, do you have any additional thoughts about Ravages, or perhaps what is it about the series that hooked you in and made you stay…?
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Comment by reader — April 7, 2016 @ 12:35 am
Are you asking me?? Well…
I’m relatively new to manga’s and anime… I’ve been reading manga’s like for around 2 years… I started reading TRoT since last year and it was totally by mistake… I started reading Kingdom, and it was pretty good at first, since it was the first time I was reading a manga and it was also historical so I liked it… I searched for more historical manga’s and chanced upon Sangokushi by Yokayama Mitsuteru and I really liked it, even though the art put me off a bit in the beginning.. Then someone suggested TRoT, and I’ve been reading it ever since… Though TRoT was a bit confusing in the beginning.. I kept on referring back to Sangokushi and I also read the novel to understand better, that’s just how confusing I found it… But it’s been well worth it.. I’ve never read a manga/manhua like this before… I guess Inoue Takehiko’s Vagabond is a bit similar, especially when it comes to the philosophizing….
And additional thoughts about the Ravages… It’s really good… But I wish Chen Mou would put a map with it or something… I guess I’d be able to enjoy it more then since I’d be able to understand the strategies more clearly and follow it more closely… And I sometimes feel that some characters can come up with some serious shoddy arguments… For example, like that of Sun Ce and Yu Ji… Ling Tong puts it across perfectly to Sun Ce when he says that every person’s life has got value, and there’s really no difference between a commoner and a king… So why should people die for someone else’s ambition?? Such a valid question and clearly reasoned at that. And I never really understood Sun Ce’s answer to that, Something about heaven’s will and slavish traits of people… Maybe I didn’t understand it properly then, but it seemed like some foppish sophistry on Sun Ce’s part…. But I’m just nitpicking…. I love this manhua and I wish there were more people I could discuss it with…
POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
All that aside, I wanna ask: In Chapter 445 the “assassins” are talking about some one called teacher Huang.. Any idea who it could be??
I’ve a theory: Could it possibly be Yueying Huang????
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Comment by karthikkunchu — April 7, 2016 @ 3:24 am
I think Sun Ce is saying there will always be leaders and followers. If that’s never going to change, be the leader instead of letting someone else take the job.
No opinion about your theory, since I’m so simple-minded I thought it was Huang Zhong. XD
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Comment by merc — April 7, 2016 @ 8:40 pm
Did you make this? https://timefortheravages.wordpress.com
:D
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Comment by merc — April 7, 2016 @ 7:40 pm
When are you and karth free? Do you have some kind of chat service account? This comment thread is becoming unwieldy. XD
There are other people translating Ravages. I think one of the semi-recent chapters (one where Eighth was feeling the water temperature and explaining to Kan Ze what Seventh is planning) posted online were done by other groups (text and pictures). I’m quite the lone wolf and not been in touch with other manhua translators.
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Comment by merc — April 7, 2016 @ 5:51 pm
Yeah, the thread has become difficult to manage. Unfortunately I don’t have an account for some sort of chat service.
As for that other question of yours… (I suppose I’m not as versatile as Zhang Fei in Ravages when it comes to style, so that must have given me away, haha)
In any case, having to undertake the project of making chapter summaries and volume recaps in the future means that I’m more than willing to ‘enter the fray’, though I may not be able to update that often due to the things that I have to do offline…
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Comment by reader — April 7, 2016 @ 8:29 pm
You’re even more illusive than me! XD
Best of luck with the promotion project.
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Comment by merc — April 7, 2016 @ 8:37 pm
I don’t have a chat service account either… I actually made this wordpress account, just to follow you so I could get updated regularly On TRoT.
I know, this comment section is kind of being misused by us lol!…. Could a new section be started where we can just discuss the manhua(??)
And the other blog is really good too!! I guess I’m gonna follow that too..
P.s. I thought of Huang Zhong too at first! But on second thoughts I dont think it can be him… The old man is too much of a warrior to use underhanded tricks like assassination or beauty traps etc… You probably need a mind of an “adviser” if you get what I mean…
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Comment by karthikkunchu — April 7, 2016 @ 9:15 pm
Haha, this section has indeed spilled over beyond the original point of translation assistance, though I started off just pointing out a few things here and there and offering statements of gratitude…
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Comment by reader — April 7, 2016 @ 9:28 pm
While reading through some of the earlier chapters, I noticed that the title of chapter 49 (大鱼小鱼) has the same translation as the title of chapter 456 (大小双鱼). Do you have another way of translating the later title, or is it alright for you that two or more chapter titles are translated in the same way?
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Comment by reader — April 3, 2016 @ 4:14 am
Good catch. I had a feeling the latest title about fish was done before. I will tweak it.
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Comment by merc — April 4, 2016 @ 6:42 am
About ‘我只知道，不甘心，令我一直在树下’ from ch 457…I thought it means ‘Even though I realized(that you rejected me) but I couldn’t dare(make up my mind or whatever), (so) I kept waiting under the tree.’.She actually waited few more months right….
And she says ‘Even in death Xi Shi would have wanted to compete against Mao Qiang’. I think it means she was struggling with her lingering attachment.
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Comment by Deceiver — April 19, 2016 @ 11:52 pm
You’re right. She kept waiting because she was unwilling to “admit defeat.”
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Comment by merc — April 21, 2016 @ 5:39 am
Thanks. :) Anyway,I’m really confused about this whole ‘MQ/XS’ stuff. I know they are from same period and same kingdom but there was no record of rivalry or something like that and MQ has no more than a few words of mention in historical texts. What is Mr Chan trying to pull? I wonder…..
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Comment by Deceiver — April 22, 2016 @ 2:22 am
Agreed. From my quick search, we don’t even know if the titles refer to specific people or just “beauties” in general around the time period (both “xi-zi” and “mao within the palace wall” are unclear whether they are actual names, etc.). They may or may not have been of the same generation. Regardless, there may have been ancient text that more positively appraise Mao Qiang than Xi Shi, because the latter “caused” the downfall of a kingdom (while the former was less visible), and thus may have influenced readers’ perception of MQ being more beautiful than XS (despite MQ not being on the list of “Four Beauties of Ancient China”).
I think Mr. Chen is just using a common perception of “beauties”, like saying “Helen (of Troy)” as a short-hand. Xiao Fan sees Xiao Meng and judges Xiao Meng to be possibly more beautiful than herself, so she being “Xi Shi of her hometown” is jealous of a Mao Qiang who stole her man’s heart.
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Comment by merc — April 22, 2016 @ 6:33 am
I see. And that brings me a new perspective…
Like you said,Xishi was sent to 夫差 to corrupt him and destroy his kingdom. That means she was ‘used’ for some big evil scheme…like Xiao Fan was. On the contrary, MaoQiang/XM could stay with their lover,勾踐/LYH. Mr.Chan tried some parallel here maybe?
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Comment by Deceiver — April 22, 2016 @ 9:55 am
Yeah, that sounds cool. :)
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Comment by merc — April 22, 2016 @ 1:08 pm
dunno if this resolves the plot hole about Huo’s survival despite the execution of Zhao Xian’s family, but in the 12th and 39th chapters there are flashback scenes suggesting that Lu Bu allowed Huo to live after meeting him at Xu Lin’s grave.
just putting this out there in case anyone is interested…
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Comment by Anonymous — April 24, 2016 @ 10:08 am
Another question…
About ‘或许，让你死在花下 / 在男人眼中只有妳的一刻，让他留住永恒的倩影’ part, you transtlated it
‘Perhaps I should let you die for a rose / Take the man when he only has eyes on you. Let that lovely figure stay with him forever.’
Is it possible Mr Chan implying some kind of ‘yandere’ stuff here? Like, ‘I should have killed you when I had the chance, then you(your beauty) could be mine forever’ or something like that? These whole monologues are way too confusing….
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Comment by Deceiver — April 25, 2016 @ 1:59 am
Supposing that Lady Fan harbored yandere tendencies, what if she had Zhao Yun imprisoned so that she can have him all to herself, or something
If that’s not how it turns out, at least it would be a good angle for fan fiction. I wonder if those people over at baidu imagined such things already
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Comment by Anonymous — April 25, 2016 @ 2:20 am
It is confusing because he used specifically a “male/generic/neutral” second person pronoun and then a “female” second person pronoun, as if he’s being deliberate about something. Maybe in this monologue Xiao Fan switched POV, first to vent her anger: “I should kill you, Huo”, and then she speaks to herself, “girl you shoulda killed him before he laid eyes on another.” I thought what you said is exactly what Mr. Chen is saying… Should I rephrase the translation to make it clearer? :P
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Comment by merc — April 25, 2016 @ 7:31 am
Maybe we should wait and see how this turns out in next chapters…Fortunately, editing is far behind your translation, so I think you have plenty of time to decide.
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Comment by Deceiver — April 25, 2016 @ 9:50 pm
I have a favor to ask. Can you translate those extra tidbits included in the release of the text of chapter 459?
I tried using Google Translate to get the of it, and the little that I saw got me really excited about the future trajectory of Ravages (too bad there doesn’t seem to be any mention of Huang Yueying, or the other battles and intrigues that would take place before the struggle for Yizhou and Hanzhong).
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Comment by 'reader' — April 29, 2016 @ 2:18 am
No problem, when I saw it I was going to add to the Taiwan signing post anyway (the poster said “to be continued” and then didn’t yet finish):
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Comment by merc — April 29, 2016 @ 7:25 am
Thanks for the translation. Looks like it’s going to take a really long time before Ravages finishes, which means that I have a lot of work to do for years to come.
Depending on how the topic of religion as method is handled in the Hanzhong ‘arc’, I could either end up praising the nuances, or nitpicking at the caricatures… in any case, I can only wish that Chen stays alive and well to continue working on this (without having to slow down).
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Comment by 'reader' — April 29, 2016 @ 9:54 am
Mr. merc… need a quick Chinese lesson.. Here: http://imgsrc.baidu.com/forum/w%3D580/sign=0fefad6bd600baa1ba2c47b37711b9b1/3283ba315c6034a8ce0dd806cc1349540b2376f4.jpg
How do I translate the second character in the title? According to my dictionary the second character (de) and and 3rd character (wen) both mean kind/gentle… kind of confusing the meaning of the entire sentence.. Just a small tip would be fine. Thanks!!
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Comment by karthikkunchu — May 3, 2016 @ 8:25 am
Zhang Fei‘s courtesy name is Yi De.
Wei Yan‘s courtesy name is Wen Chang.
:)
And also, the poster on baidu is only forwarding content provided by others. Ciper is the original typist (you’ll see Nanyao giving ciper credit) of the text summaries. xien721 provided the scans.
This is the Taiwan source: https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/Chan_Mou/index.html
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Comment by merc — May 3, 2016 @ 9:41 am
Shiiit… Was focusing so much on the meaning like a noob did not make the connection to their zi… Thanks for the link! This is from where you translate right? Cause I saw it on your video. Thanks a lot though.
P.S. Is this site some kind of forum/thread? Cause I see the word taolun…. So discussions go on here??? Damn it… Even I wanna badly talk here to people and discuss the manhua…
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Comment by karthikkunchu — May 3, 2016 @ 8:26 pm
Yeah it’s a BBS, but I don’t know how to get on it. XD
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Comment by merc — May 4, 2016 @ 10:34 am
Hello, Mr. merc… First of all thanks for your translation.. Second, I need another short lesson in Chinese.. In pg.16 of chapter 459: http://www.dm5.com/m251099/#ipg16 that unnamed person is using the term youmin. I thought youmin meant a vagabond or a homeless person… When you use the word nomadic in its place is it in that sense or in the “nomadic tribe” sense…. Cause in the latter sense it would mean Liu Bei is using foreign (for chinese barbarian) nomadic tribes… Which would be exciting too in its way… Especially keeping in mind Zhuge Liang’s southern campaigns are ~15 years away and a lot could happen the Ravages during that time… Like Sima Yi or Zhou Yu or the 8th genius (who I think should join Wu after the 5th’s death-which might happen this year itself I think) turning these nomadic tribes against the 7th… I’ll stop before my imagination gets the better of me lol…
Thanks!
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Comment by karthikkunchu — May 5, 2016 @ 10:27 pm
Hey Mr. Apollo. ;)
Hmm, in that case “nomad” might be misleading. I changed it to “vagrants” for chapter 447, 450 and 459. I think it’s just disguising their existing troops to decently dressed hobos.
Re: your post on mangafox spoiler thread, I think the paintings only show Han Xuan’s troop deployments, since Zhang Fei was doing recon work on the enemy.
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Comment by merc — May 6, 2016 @ 12:29 pm
Oh.. Wait.. that’s what I meant actually… It should read paintings and troop deployment “(painted) by” Zhang Fei… Lol, I’ll correct that right away… I can spend only an hour or two online at most (strict parents!) so I usually type everything in a rush.. Thanks for your help!
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Comment by karthikkunchu — May 6, 2016 @ 8:36 pm
Hey, I need a little favor. I’m looking for pictures on TRoT like this: http://ww3.sinaimg.cn/large/5ef7e39ajw1e2n7dujp4fj.jpg ,which comes from the games (wonder if you’ve played it). And also the website of the guy who drew this: http://www.eztg.com/toad/others_2008/12452176607056270.jpg I’ve got a fair few but I’d like “all” of them. Need it for the wiki.
Thanks!!
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Comment by karthikkunchu — May 8, 2016 @ 12:42 am
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/2129052623#!/l/p1
http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kw=%E7%81%AB%E5%87%A4%E7%87%8E%E5%8E%9F&tab=album&subTab=album_good
As for the question about the fan colorist, might be this person? I can’t be certain, since people tend to reblog/repost these things all over.
http://hundun.yupoo.com/page2/
Or were you asking about the official colorist for the Japanese release?
Did you take over Ravages wikia? :)
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Comment by merc — May 8, 2016 @ 7:19 am
I’ve already searched all of baidu tieba for those pictures that I could find… Found a thread of the illustrations itself. But I thought there must be some other chinese site or blog which has all these pictures together in place In HQ. I can only type in pinyin and that gets me nowhere. Anyway, I have most of the characters from the first volume I guess.
I haven’t taken over yet. To adopt the blog, I’ll have to first consistently do stuff in the wikia before I can ask for the permission to adopt it and become and admin or bureaucrat. A bit difficult with the time constraint and all. So I’m collecting and compiling everything. Finished the 1st volume, now working on the characters who have come in the the volume. After I’m done with all this writing (or typing), I’ll just add one article a day and then take over…
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Comment by karthikkunchu — May 8, 2016 @ 9:23 pm
I haven’t been active recently due to offline stuff, but I have been wanting to ask: have you been approached or contacted by any English scanlation group (say, EGScans) in the past few years? It’s really just disappointing to think that the current online Anglophone propagation scheme for Ravages has devolved into merely an informal collaboration between two busy people (and support from small, relatively isolated pockets of fans across various platforms)…
Why do you think there aren’t that many groups interested in taking up Ravages as part of their projects? I hazard to think that one problem is the sourcing of high-quality raw scans, but wouldn’t this be solved if only there are diligent buyers willing to bear shipping costs and use sophisticated cameras and software, or perhaps if only there are fans in HK and Taiwan and the mainland who are willing to team up… but this then raises a further question – why aren’t there many Chinese fans who would want to informally spread this to the world by means of unofficial scanlations? Perhaps you can shed light on this, based on what you see in those threads and message boards
Unfortunately I am incompetent when it comes to scanlation tasks, so all I can do is summarize and comment and recommend (with lackluster results, unfortunately)
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Comment by 'reader' — May 9, 2016 @ 11:15 pm
No, I have no stat to back up any of my “elitist” view on this matter. As for if I’ve been approached by groups, I think it’s also on me to approach them. My ego is in the way of me really working well with people I don’t feel comfortable working with. That’s my personality flaw that I hope to overcome one day.
Scanlation is helping to spread the message, but unlike spreading the bible, there are people waiting on the money. You might’ve heard about it already, but the official releases in mainland China, Japan, and possibly Korea all stopped (mainland’s stopped at volume 10, not sure about Japan and Korea’s case). I can only think that there’s not enough actual sales to justify the effort. They have to resort to merchandising and other media outlets like games (or light novels). I don’t usually buy into the merch. I only care about the source material, and yet even a diehard fan like me have stopped buying new volumes after 50! …
Don’t take on too much. Contribute what you want to and able to.
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Comment by merc — May 10, 2016 @ 7:28 am
I see. Thanks for shedding some light on impediments on your part. I still find it peculiar though that no other group since the last one has taken up Ravages (whether with your collaboration or independent of your efforts) – I mean, the series has a good number of Chinese fans, and surely enough some of them would also be proficient in English and the basics of scanlation… and yet they seem uninterested. Well to be fair it’s not like there are many freelance groups venturing to translate ‘home-grown’ texts on behalf of a foreign audience for free. And it could also be that the text of Ravages presents some challenges for translators
I’m not aware of an official Korean translation, but as for the Japanese one, the last volume I was able to track was the 10th (just when things were starting to unravel after the death of Dong Zhuo). Those in Thailand and Indonesia stopped elsewhere, but I’m not sure. As for the merchandise, I can’t say that I’m a fan of the games or the novel or the toys, though it’s understandable that the main fanbase in HK and Taiwan would have to be energized and enticed (and milked) using various gimmicks, to keep the series going.
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Comment by 'reader' — May 10, 2016 @ 4:52 pm
Got a doubt… In chapter 448, the virtuous Kong Rong passed away… If I remember correctly he was put to death by Cao Cao…. So can we read the word ‘si’ as killed or put to death… According to my dictionary, the character ‘si’ also means ‘to be damned’…
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Comment by karthikkunchu — May 20, 2016 @ 2:26 am
In this case it’s vague. Perhaps “passed away” is a softer version of “died”. You can interpret it as “damned” but I don’t feel a need to, personally.
You got me thinking, so I modified it slightly to “Before virtuous Kong Rong’s death that year, he left behind a saying…”
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Comment by merc — May 20, 2016 @ 8:14 am
Yeah…. Cause Kong Rong was killed by Cao Cao for criticizing him… And after the debacle at Chibi, I’m sure Cao Cao would be a bit touchy lol…
“Passed away” has got almost a serene feel to it… As if he passed away in his sleep peacefully as opposed to being brutally murdered (Possibly by strangulation)
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Comment by karthikkunchu — May 20, 2016 @ 10:24 pm
It’s been a while since I’ve last corresponded. I was focused on ‘renovating’ and other stuff.
I’m just wondering if you have noticed the relatively new website yet: http://www.chanmoucomics.com/comic/
I just stumbled upon it a while ago. There might be some things there that you may want to translate, if you have time.
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Comment by 'reader' — July 8, 2016 @ 8:05 am
Cool find! I’ll have to look into it some time.
It’s possibly a fan blog like yours.I finally saw the link inside volume 58. It’s official.Quick glance:
* It seems to have been hacked. A lot of spam content under the “uncategorized” category.
* It’s mostly quoting from the editor’s blog or the official news/release/info verbiage.
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Comment by merc — July 8, 2016 @ 9:09 pm
I noticed a new interesting Ravages thread over at 4chan just yesterday, with some anons saying that because of the price drop, they are planning to buy and scan the deluxe editions covering the first few volumes (in an attempt to improve on what earlier scanlation teams did way back then)…
I don’t know if you have the time to re-translate those chapters you haven’t translated though (and I’m not proficient in Chinese to do so myself). Anyway, I just dropped by to inform you of this development.
In another note, I’m really excited to see how the next chapters would turn out
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Comment by 'reader' — July 17, 2016 @ 7:54 pm
Thanks for the info. No I did not translate the older volumes covered by RemnantWarriors and Fifay.net. I also just have the old volumes, not the deluxe edition, so if there are any dialog tweaks I wouldn’t really know.
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Comment by merc — July 18, 2016 @ 6:49 am
In one line of your translation, “Don’t get that our Lord has popular support at Jingzhou….”, perhaps you meant to say ‘don’t forget’ (I also had to consult the Chinese text indicating ‘别忘了’ in that passage, and checked using Google Translate and a dictionary)
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Comment by 'reader' — July 21, 2016 @ 10:52 pm
Thanks for catching that! Fixed.
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Comment by merc — July 22, 2016 @ 2:15 pm
I found something that may be of interest.
Apparently, Ng Wai-ming (a HK scholar on Japanese Studies, you may have heard of him before) has written some stuff about Ravages. An interview of him was also featured in that guide book for the first 40 volumes.
Anyway, here’s a link to the search results on his blog upon typing ‘火鳳燎原’: http://www.cuhkacs.org/~benng/Bo-Blog/visit.php?job=viewresult&sid=d818d67ac49c104c0b4878e3c93c7433
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Comment by 'reader' — August 4, 2016 @ 8:52 pm
Thanks! Ok that 2011 post was new to me. But the content doesn’t really add much in my opinion.
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Comment by merc — August 5, 2016 @ 6:26 am
Hello. It’s nice to see that you have finally received donations. However, I have a bit of bad news to relay. Just a while ago I tried accessing Ki Shodar’s site to silently read the chat correspondences (considering that someone apparently is interested to do some re-scanlation work), but for some reason I am no longer able to access the site…
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Comment by 'reader' — August 21, 2016 @ 11:00 am
Thanks for letting me know. Unfortunately I’m not in contact with Shodar. But the fandom will find other ways to communicate with each other. :)
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Comment by merc — August 21, 2016 @ 12:20 pm
Looks like I just panicked too much. The site is back now.
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Comment by 'reader' — August 23, 2016 @ 4:26 am
Hello. I got to read the re-translation for the first chapters and you’ve done a fantastic job (especially in chapter 7, with the names and all).
I just have one question. In chapter 8, you identified Yuan Shao’s uncle as Yuan Kui, but in the guide book it was said that that old guy’s name is 袁隗 (Yuan Wei), who happens to also be a historical-domain character (see http://kongming.net/encyclopedia/Yuan-Wei for the details). Did the deluxe volume change that, or does it have more to do with the older pronunciations?
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Comment by 'reader' — September 3, 2016 @ 8:06 pm
Thanks for catching that! Fixed.
It has multiple pronunciations and I didn’t double-check:
http://www.zdic.net/z/27/js/9697.htm
http://baike.baidu.com/view/144070.htm
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Comment by merc — September 4, 2016 @ 11:18 am
I also spotted two really minor ones (thanks for identifying those names in Liu Zong’s drawn map, which gave me enough motivation to look at that chapter again).
Among Dong Zhuo’s generals are 胡軫 and 趙岑. They are respectively known as Hu Zhen and Zhao Cen (too bad they never got panel time, though the mere mention of them already makes the world of Ravages more intricate).
http://kongming.net/encyclopedia/Hu-Zhen
http://kongming.net/encyclopedia/Zhao-Cen
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Comment by 'reader' — September 4, 2016 @ 5:56 pm
Fixed. Thanks!
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Comment by merc — September 5, 2016 @ 6:46 am
Just a small note on the re-translation of chapter 17. If I recall, you mentioned in chapter 358 that ‘Feng Ji’ is actually Pang Ji…
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Comment by 'reader' — September 30, 2016 @ 9:16 pm
Yeah I’m conflicted, since Kongming.net has it as “Feng Ji”, noting the possible error, and they probably choose to use “Feng Ji” as main spelling because the mainstream translation is that. But for consistency I’ll change them all while I’m at it.
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Comment by merc — October 1, 2016 @ 6:57 am
About chapter 473, I noticed that the population figures for the southern Jingzhou commanderies in your translation had such a huge discrepancy that I went ahead and checked the raws just to be sure. Changsha grew to 900,000, while Guiyang grew to 400,000 and Wuling grew by 300,000, all pretty comparable to the 700,000 at Lingling. Perhaps you were in a hurry when you posted the translation…
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Comment by 'reader' — December 28, 2016 @ 8:25 pm
Thanks for the catch. The mental conversion from 万 to the English “thousand” tripped me up. XD
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Comment by merc — December 29, 2016 @ 6:42 am
Nice touch about using the term ‘central plains’. I wonder though, how many instances did Ravages incorporate the term as compared to, say, ‘middle kingdom’ (might as well go over the earlier chapters just to check, if I have time). I sort of prefer ‘central plains’ though, since although it still suggests the notion of a heartland in contrast with the ‘barbarians’ at the fringes, it doesn’t automatically connote continuity in terms of government or civilization…
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Comment by 'reader' — January 8, 2017 @ 7:43 pm
I will change them then when I see them.
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Comment by merc — January 11, 2017 @ 4:56 pm
Can you add the one liners from the bottom of the final pages to your translations please? The teasers.
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Comment by Midora — January 26, 2017 @ 3:33 pm
Hmm. Honestly they feel quite gimmicky to me and not accurate in the long-run. In that regard they’re worse than the teasers at the end of volumes, and they get deleted in the book release anyway.
I’ll do it for a while and see how it feels. But they’re really not that meaningful. I suspect they’re not written by the author anyway.
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Comment by merc — January 27, 2017 @ 5:30 pm
Merc, a bubble is missing in chapter 473, should be the top left corner of page 7. After this line: Perhaps we could stall him a little (ctrl + f and insert to find it fast). After that it skips to Zhuge Liang.
I appreciate the translations very much btw and the format you use is clear!
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Comment by Baki — January 24, 2017 @ 6:49 am
I’m not sure which bubble is missing? Page 7 first panel is a long shot of ships, right bubble says “the background… mystery”, the left says “perhaps we could stall him…”. Next ZGL says “Yes, Jian Yong…”
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Comment by merc — January 27, 2017 @ 5:23 pm
I had it cleared up. It’s page 6 bottom right panel instead. The tiny vertical rectangle where Zhang Fei says “But if Guiyang sends reinforcements, I won’t be able to hold it” (you missed this bubble).
copy/paste this sentence in the ctrl + f search : [ZF]: I’ll use a surprise attack on River Qu. A success there will boost our morale.
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Comment by Baki — January 28, 2017 @ 12:26 pm
Ok you’re right. It’s going to be something like this:
[ZF]: But I won’t be able to take on reinforcements from Guiyang.
[?]: Our Lord may still succeed as long as third master can lure out the troops at River Qu.
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Comment by merc — January 31, 2017 @ 6:46 pm
‘open tripartite’ sounds rather awkward, but I don’t know how exactly to rephrase it (I’m not fluent in Chinese, after all). Perhaps you can provide the more literal-sounding gloss of the passage, and I’ll try to come up with an alternative wording
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Comment by 'reader' — February 2, 2017 @ 7:47 pm
Ok I tried again.
[HX]: I thought we had a chance once we understood the tripartite strategy…
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Comment by merc — February 2, 2017 @ 9:59 pm
Ah, that sounds more coherent. Thanks for the efforts.
Too bad though that with the speed of the scanlators (they have yet to find a proofreader to make refinements), the uploaded versions already contain the original awkward phrasing. Oh well…
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Comment by 'reader' — February 2, 2017 @ 10:26 pm
Since you have accounts at those scanlation sites, can you message the posters through their accounts?
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Comment by merc — February 3, 2017 @ 12:11 pm
It was just one bubble anyway.
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Comment by Frenny — February 11, 2017 @ 11:15 am
Thanks for the trasnlations merc. Could I ask you what’s this: http://www.chanmoucomics.com/books/category/%E7%8E%8B/
Seems like new comic he’s working on. I really hope not though!! He has so much to cover in TRoT itself!
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Comment by Guest — February 15, 2017 @ 6:48 am
This may clarify some things:
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Comment by merc — February 15, 2017 @ 3:42 pm
Merc what does this bubble say? You missed it I think:
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Comment by frenwen — March 29, 2017 @ 5:59 pm
Thanks for catching that.
[LL]: I remember meeting his sons as well…
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Comment by merc — March 29, 2017 @ 6:15 pm
I just noticed a minor error in chapter 444. The guy who surrendered off-panel is actually Xi Su, not Gong Su.
Here’s a wiki page mentioning that tiny detail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yiling_(208)
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Comment by 'reader' — June 14, 2017 @ 1:15 am
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — June 15, 2017 @ 12:33 am
The translation of page 3 and 11 are missing Merc.
Here they are:
P.S Thanks for the quick translation!
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Comment by atarame — June 15, 2017 @ 6:11 am
Ok thanks! I think I fit the second page in the right place, but if not, let me know. I can’t see the other source (for now) to double-check the page number.
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Comment by merc — June 18, 2017 @ 6:00 am
It’s in the correct order, thank you.👍
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Comment by atarame — June 18, 2017 @ 7:25 am
Merc I have no idea if you plan on translating these* but I’d appreciate it.
*
(perhaps write it on the image itself?)
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Comment by atarame — July 5, 2017 @ 2:02 pm
Portions of that same map (Routes of Shu, map 10) have been seen in chapter 468
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Comment by 'reader' — July 5, 2017 @ 5:45 pm
I translated those in text format. Let me know if you still would like me to put the text into the image. ^^;
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Comment by merc — July 5, 2017 @ 6:33 pm
I stumbled upon a fascinating thread in baidu, and I was wondering if you’d like to translate it when you have time to spare: https://tieba.baidu.com/p/5282108725
It seems to be about the stratagems and schemes used in the Chibi arc…
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Comment by 'reader' — August 22, 2017 @ 5:57 pm
I just noticed your comment. Will post soon.
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Comment by merc — August 31, 2017 @ 4:34 pm
A bubble is missing in page 3 I think, this one:
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Comment by atarame — September 1, 2017 @ 10:20 am
I got it cleared up, it’s the double speech bubble panel on the right where the crouching guy says “Yes, a total of five people, one of them seems to be injured.”
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Comment by atarame — September 1, 2017 @ 1:44 pm
Yes you’re right. Thanks for catching that.
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Comment by merc — September 3, 2017 @ 11:12 am
Omg that wang shuang dude is the son of that clear wind triad chief back then
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Comment by gus — September 8, 2017 @ 10:52 am
Yes. :)
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Comment by merc — September 8, 2017 @ 10:53 am
All that we’ve invested in is no more.
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Comment by Moonlightsyreen — January 17, 2018 @ 6:26 pm
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — January 17, 2018 @ 7:06 pm
😘
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Comment by Moonlightsyreen — January 18, 2018 @ 8:16 pm
The last words from Pang Tong in chapter 498 is similar to what Jia Xu said in chapter 185.
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Comment by Anonymous — April 4, 2018 @ 2:43 am
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — April 4, 2018 @ 2:52 am
Presenting the annotations project here for the benefit of those remnant mainstays in this section who haven’t joined the discord server yet: http://ravagesoftime.info/notes
Hopefully this would serve as a complement and supplement to the strenuous effort merc has been doing as far as translations are concerned (I don’t even know how many fan translators of animanga and light novels actually go out of their way to track down the classical texts cited in what they translate, haha)
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Comment by 'reader' — May 25, 2018 @ 6:36 pm
Hi merc, are you able to translate these?
I know they’re kinda blurry and not easy to read (scans quality). Those on the right are slighty bigger and sharper if it helps.
Please add the number with each translation so I know where to place them ^^
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Comment by atarame — August 29, 2018 @ 5:41 am
1 Fifth Division (the first three hanzi characters; can’t read the last two)
2 (can’t read it)
3 Sixth Division
4 (can’t decide)
5 marsh/swamp
6 mountain
7 (can’t read it)
8 surprise troop
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Comment by merc — August 29, 2018 @ 6:25 am
Thanks. I noticed that a couple of chapter translations are missing in the chapter/volume list?
I have another translation quest. I’m redoing 410 (and a couple more in the future) and would like to know what these say:
nr 1 passed through the translation machines to an extent (roughly: “the matching ship was on the shore, but Guanze did not pass as scheduled”) but the 2nd one gave me gibberish.
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Comment by atarame — August 31, 2018 @ 10:02 am
For those missing listing, I don’t have the actual book version for those chapters (even if I saw the black pages online somewhere), so I didn’t put them in the book list (since I can’t be sure the magazine version is the same in the book version).
1 The ship arrived at the shore to pick up Kan Ze, but he didn’t board on time.
2 Because… he really wanted to teach that boy in front of him a lesson.
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Comment by merc — August 31, 2018 @ 5:37 pm
That’s good to know. I’m back with another set of black pages, all the ones from vol 52: https://imgur.com/a/uYV7joh
Please translate them if possible.
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Comment by atarame — September 3, 2018 @ 10:46 am
Actually, if you have the final book version of those chapters (including the one you asked me before), I would like to see them and go through the whole thing first. ^_^; Because at the very least, sometimes black page text is actually the last sentence of the magazine syndication version, and thus there would be either adjustment or removal of the dialog right before the black page.
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Comment by merc — September 3, 2018 @ 6:25 pm
Ohhh I thought you read them already! DM5.com has the newer volumes till 60 (not entirely sure if they’re the final version but it seems so).
http://www.dm5.com/manhua-huofengliaoyuan/
Volume 52: http://www.dm5.com/m522243/#ipg1
Volume 51 ‘from before’: http://www.dm5.com/m522242/#ipg1
Right, I was a little confused when I saw the same 3 characters of chapter 412’s black page on 419 (that is why it isn’t included in the imgur). Does that mean it should be dropped from 412 and moved to 419? But then 412 won’t have a black page?
Also, should I postpone the renovation of vol.52 till you finish reading it? I’d be leaving blank bubbles for the time being.
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Comment by atarame — September 4, 2018 @ 4:31 am
For some reason I’m now blocked from viewing the pages. :(
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Comment by merc — September 4, 2018 @ 5:32 am
Found another site: https://www.999comics.com/comic/6915/ but these scans aren’t as refined as the ones at DM5. The guys over at discord appear to have the good scans aswell try asking them, if that doesn’t work out either let me know, I’ll send you chapter per chapter ;)
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Comment by atarame — September 4, 2018 @ 6:27 am
This seems to work. I’ll have to get back to you, since I have to chip away at these chapters after “ignoring” them for so long. XD
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Comment by merc — September 4, 2018 @ 8:29 am
Late did I notice, but have you also tried checking out manhuagui: https://tw.manhuagui.com/comic/1147/
I think that the source for the slightly divergent manhuagui/999comics amd dm5 versions is roughly the same (given that they both suspiciously lack the same 2 pages in chapter 419), only that whoever uploaded in dm5 (which leaves watermarks) did so in 2-page images, whereas whoever uploaded in the others split the pages apart, cropped the slogan pages, and was rather sloppy with some other pages. it would be hard to confirm this hypothesis unless one finds the files stored in some downloadable archive (plus it doesn’t help that the scanner did not seem to leave a sign claiming credit for the scans).
Anyway, nice to know that you’ve found time to resume re-scanlating the chapters
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Comment by 'reader' — September 5, 2018 @ 1:41 am
Hello Merc. Is the disorder at a severe state already when it was discovered? Glasses or (modified) contact lenses could fix the problem, then it stabilizes itself after a while. Wish you the best, get well soon!
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Comment by atarame — November 3, 2018 @ 5:51 am
For the left eye it was pretty severe. Already had the partial transplant done Nov 3, so at recovery stage now, waiting for check up next Wednesday. The same issue in the right eye may be salvageable (as that was the “good” eye that was seeing for both eyes). Thanks for the wishes. Take care of yourself too!
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Comment by merc — November 3, 2018 @ 6:02 pm
Hi Merc.
The title of this chapter is a Lu Meng’s saying. That makes sense when he met Zhou Yu again after 3 days.
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Comment by Thủy Kính Phủ — November 16, 2018 @ 3:38 am
Ok, I’ll add a link in the note.
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Comment by merc — November 16, 2018 @ 4:57 am
Thanks for the red notice! I’ll postpone it to the weekend. Are these visible for translation? https://imgur.com/Ee7RVdY.png
p.s How’re your eyes?
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Comment by atarame — January 23, 2019 @ 3:15 pm
The writing in the books is too scribbly for me to decipher.
p.s. so far no rejection of the transplant, finger’s crossed! Other than that I’m just trying not to strain the eyes too much (harder than it sounds, ^_^; ). Take care of your health!
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Comment by merc — January 23, 2019 @ 8:07 pm
Just a minor spelling note for chapter 517, that it’s spelled ‘populace’
(In another note, how have things been in the discord server? Internet connection problems have restricted my online time, though hopefully I should be able to reappear there in a few days’ time, haha)
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Comment by 'reader' — March 29, 2019 @ 1:58 am
Fixed, thanks!
Gus is posting the updates. No worries. Some banters by the older members. I haven’t paid too much attention to specifics. XD
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Comment by merc — March 29, 2019 @ 5:08 pm
some lurkers here (in case there still remain a few) may also be interested to join the newly made Ravages subreddit (and perhaps in the future atarame can add the link in the scanlation credits page too, haha):
https://www.reddit.com/r/RavagesOfTime/
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Comment by 'reader' — July 24, 2019 @ 11:09 am
Hi Merc, this bubble’s missing: https://i.imgur.com/W95mJnv.png
If I had to use your wording would this be the correct translation: “You thought that my main force can be attacked from behind, oh Cao Cao?” (Not sure the cao cao at the end is necessary.) OR: “You thought that your main force can attack me from behind”?
It’s between these two lines >>> [?]: You people thought I’d be commanding on the hills, not expecting me to be luring you up here. & [?]: You thought you could catch the king of the hill by following Zhu Huan’s path?
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Comment by atarame — October 3, 2019 @ 12:43 pm
[img]https://i.imgur.com/W95mJnv.png[/img]
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Comment by atarame — October 3, 2019 @ 12:46 pm
Thanks for catching that:
[?]: You thought you could ambush from behind when I’m attacking Cao Cao with my main force?
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Comment by merc — October 3, 2019 @ 6:01 pm
Hello Merc, what does this description say in page 4, left of Cao Pi: ” 五官中郎將 【曹丕］”. Five senses, One of five officers?
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Comment by atarame — February 13, 2020 @ 12:34 pm
Sorry for missing that. Kongming.net adds in the “gentlemen” (郎), while wikipedia doesn’t, up to you which you like. The kongming.net one is longer:
{General of the Gentlemen of the Household for All Purposes, Cao Pi}
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Comment by merc — February 13, 2020 @ 5:37 pm
Happens. The chapter was filled with tags too. I went with the whole thing, thanks for the translation!
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Comment by atarame — February 14, 2020 @ 11:37 am
In 531, I suggest replacing ‘plain cloths’ with ‘plainclothes’
(also, hopefully atarame gives a shoutout to Chen Mou turning 50 in the scanlation)
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Comment by 'reader' — March 3, 2020 @ 12:00 am
Thanks. Plain-clothes for now, as many web dictionaries put a space or dash between the words.
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Comment by merc — March 3, 2020 @ 12:19 am
The second bubble in page 4 is missing. Something about these 3 talents that cannot be matched in china? [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/Jjjybnm.png[/IMG]
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Comment by atarame — March 26, 2020 @ 1:31 pm
Thanks for the catch. Something like:
[G]: Three fine steeds galloping across the world without rival!
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Comment by merc — March 26, 2020 @ 6:53 pm
Hi Merc, page 7’s top bubble is missing, the line between these two:
[8th]: But the best show had always been guessing how Xun Yu will escape Master Zhong’s discerning eyes.
而大家，也因 文若的成功而 沾沾自喜。 <- this
[8th]: He who rightly criticizes me is my teacher.
Can you DM me your Discord/email?
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Comment by atarame — January 21, 2022 @ 4:15 pm
Thanks for the catch.
[8th]: And we were all pleased with ourselves when Wen Ruo succeeded.
How can I DM you without revealing my DM or email here? ^_^; Do you prefer not to join the Ravages Anonymous server? (no pressure)
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Comment by merc — January 21, 2022 @ 4:35 pm
Is that the Discord one? Not interested tbh. I thought you could see my mail as the host of this site? If not drop me a comment on mine: https://8clouds.wordpress.com/2021/12/31/chapter-562/ I’ll be able to see your mail.
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Comment by atarame — January 21, 2022 @ 5:53 pm
Ok, I think I see the email. Sent you a message.
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Comment by merc — January 22, 2022 @ 9:47 am
regarding Xue Ti’s rank 護軍 (rendered as Protector of the Army in A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms), you used to translate it (back when Han Hao was designated with the same rank) as Protector in chapter 98 and Army Protector in chapter 122
hopefully you’re still doing well, though it’s regrettable this comment section has fallen silent again…
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Comment by 'reader' — June 6, 2022 @ 7:49 pm
Thanks! Hope you are also doing well. ^_^
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Comment by merc — June 7, 2022 @ 7:18 am
On page 5 of Chapter 566, there’s a speech bubble that reads; “Now that their foundation is firm, and their people have gotten used to not having him around, announcing the news now won’t cause too much disturbance.” The second ‘now’ sounds out of place and feels redundant. Just a minor thing but I figured I’d point it out. An alternative sentence structure could be “Since their foundation is firm…announcing the news now won’t cause too much trouble” but in my opinion, the first option of removing the second ‘now’ sounds a bit better.
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Comment by drapsmann — July 15, 2022 @ 9:28 pm
I agree. Thanks!
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Comment by merc — July 16, 2022 @ 8:16 am
Even though the posted translation for 573 isn’t the final one, I figured I’d leave a few grammar suggestions:
-“My Lord, please don’t believe what the majority is saying!” is a little tricky – if ‘majority’ refers to a collection of individuals (ex the majority of a group of advisors) then it should be ‘the majority are saying’. But if it refers to the majority of a distinct group/faction (ex the majority of a political party/movement) then keep ‘is’. Sorry if it’s not clear, feel free to DM or reply to this comment if clarification is needed. If it’s not clear within the text which one of those examples majority refers to then…idk what to do in that scenario lol
-In “We share the same ancestry, and are neighbors, not to mention Liu Bei is a righteous man” the comma after ancestry is unnecessary
-“What brother? He is merely a sandal-peddler who pretended to be a member of the Imperial clan” has me conflicted. ‘Pretends’ is better than ‘pretended’ to express the opinion that Liu Bei continues to be a fraud to this day, but if you change it to ‘pretends’ then that means he is not just a fraud, but also still peddling sandals. If you were to change it to ‘pretends’ then the sentence would need to be chopped up and shuffled a bit so I’ll leave it up to you. If, understandably, you want to keep ‘pretended’, it still works
-In “A crook who had been committing violence everywhere while the Imperial Han is in turmoil!” there shouldn’t be a ‘the’ in front of Imperial Han. Also, ‘had’ and ‘is’ don’t match. It should either be ‘a crook who has been…while Imperial Han is in turmoil’ or ‘a crook who had been…while Imperial Han was in turmoil’ (also, if you keep the past tense, change ‘had been’ to ‘was’)
-In “My Lord, he’s the only one who will benefit from this battle no matter what the outcome is” a better phrasing would be ‘no matter the outcome’
-In “Huang Quan, Wang Lei, and all who have tried to advise you against it, my Lord, remember them for their true loyalty” I would change the comma after Lord to a hyphen IF ‘them’ refers to HQ, WL, and the people who tried to advise. If not, then completely ignore this
-In “Back when they supported your claim to power over Young Master Mao, it was because they knew a benevolent man like you is easy to control” I would recommend changing ‘is’ to ‘would be’
-In “They knew that whoever would continue to benefit them is the useful one” it’s the same as above, I’d change ‘is’ to ‘would be’
-In “Even if you surrender, you will die by illness within a few years”, ‘die by illness’ should be ‘die of’ or ‘die from’ (I’d go with ‘die of’ but there’s not one that’s actually better)
-In “You have done all you could with the situation as it is, how could you be at fault?”, ‘done all you can’ works better
-In “Now we could only use schemes to plot the mutual destruction of Zhang Lu and him” reverse that last bit so that it reads ‘him and Zhang Lu’
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Comment by draps • comms open (@drapsmann_2604) — August 22, 2022 @ 8:38 pm
Thanks! Text updated.
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Comment by merc — August 23, 2022 @ 8:14 am
Heya, I’m back
-“Can proceed” sounds kinda janky and usually you’d put ‘we’ or ‘you’ or some other pronoun in front of it. But if it’s the exact translation it’s not the end of the world to keep it that way. If the person saying it is rushed/hurried then it can work
-I would make the ‘or’ in the chapter title lowercase, but it’s subjective. I asked one of my irls who’s a fantastic writer for her opinion, I’ll keep you posted lol
-In “Thankfully Pang Tong also planned for a direct attack if an ambush is not feasible” change ‘is’ to ‘was’ so that the tenses match up. I’d also change ‘if’ to ‘in case’
-“No wonder Lady Sun looks so leisurely” I assume this is describing her appearance, so change it to ‘leisured’
-“Only a real man would have more love for the world than a beauty!” is a bit unclear. If the meaning is that only a real man would love the world more than he would love a beauty then the sentence should be “Only a real man would have more love for the world than for a beauty!”. If the meaning is that only a real man would love the world more than a beauty would, then keep it as is
-I think it’d be fine to use the og poem translation, “my weary heart and aching head” sounds quite nice
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Comment by draps • comms open (@drapsmann_2604) — September 12, 2022 @ 3:09 pm
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — September 12, 2022 @ 3:31 pm
Alrighty, draps is back!
-For the title I’d write it like this: Resentment and Sorrow for Those Far from Home. ‘From’ could be capitalized or lowercase, but I think visually it looks better lowercase
-For “Huo, head to fifth alley” – if ‘fifth alley’ is a specific place (like a street name of some kind) it should be capitalized. But if it’s just the fifth of several alleys, there should be a ‘the’ before it. Maybe there’s not enough context to know whether it’s the latter or the former? And Zhang Lei seems tipsy/sleepy/etc so if it’s the latter then you’re probably fine without the ‘the’? Think about what I said and go with what seems right to you
-In “Wow! Young mister you’re so fine, which battalion are you from?” I would recommend a comma after ‘mister’
-For “Too bad… Xi Shi had died” I would get rid of the ‘had’. I can’t quite place my finger on why, but the double past tense just doesn’t sound right to me in this context
-In “The Sima clan needs to expand its influence, and the Sun clan needs funding” capitalize both instances of ‘clan’
-The ‘take’ in “Each side take what they need for mutual benefit” should be ‘takes’. Or, you could say ‘each side will/can take’
-In “And I’m no Young Master of some renowned clan either” take the capitals off of ‘young master’ since it’s being used as a regular noun instead of a title/proper noun
-I would get rid of the ‘then’ in “While I’ll still be selling my smiles, what will you be selling then?”. I might also change the ‘I’ll’ to ‘I’m’ (and if you do that, remove ‘be’). ‘I’ll’ isn’t grammatically wrong, I think ‘I’m’ just makes things flow better
-For “That wife of yours must also be a passerby in your line of work” I feel like it should be past tense since she’s talking about a ‘dead’ woman, so “That wife of yours must’ve/must have also been a passerby”
-In “I could finally let go, knowing how we are the same” I would change ‘are’ to ‘were’ so that the tenses match. I’m undecided about the ‘how’, whether it should be kept or ditched. Cause keeping it means she could let go knowing the ways in which they’re the same, but ditching it means that she could let go knowing that they were the same, and I can’t decide between the two. Your call
-If it can be added, adding ‘as’ before ‘a seductress’ would make for a nice parallel. “Did I fail as a lover or…as a seductress?’ That spot feels like there should be parallel phrasing, but that’s just me
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Comment by 👻 draps 👻 (@drapsmann_2604) — October 3, 2022 @ 4:05 pm
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — October 3, 2022 @ 4:15 pm
hiya merc!!
-For “Hurry up there!” it seems they’re shouting to hurry up to the deck of the ship, so I’d put a comma after ‘hurry’
-If you decide to go with ‘A Farewell In Silence’, make ‘in’ lowercase
-In “Oh for whom is it all for?” even though there doesn’t seem to be a comma in the raw chapter I’d still put one after ‘oh’. Makes for a better-flowing sentence structure
-Not a grammatical correction, but in regards to “Don’t come any closer!”, I’m pretty sure it’s Huo saying that
-For “What, having second thoughts?” I personally think that “What, not willing to hurt me/What, not going to hurt me?” is better phrasing, if you’re undecided between the two
-Again, pretty sure “Stay” is being said by Huo
I’m so glad that this chapter is mostly imperatives/vocatives that are easy to analyse lol
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Comment by 👻 draps 👻 (@drapsmann_2604) — October 17, 2022 @ 2:22 pm
Thanks.
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Comment by merc — October 17, 2022 @ 2:40 pm
i’m 10 billion hours later than usual but here i am
-for “the boss’s ship is being pushed to the shore” change ‘to’ to ‘towards’
-in “send more men over!” i would put ‘over’ between ‘send’ and ‘more’. the original phrasing isn’t grammatically wrong or anything, switching the placement of ‘over’ just rolls off the tongue better
-change the comma to a period in “the ship is entering the cove, success”
-in “change tactic!” it should be either ‘change the tactic’ or ‘change tactics’
-the phrase “cut to the chase” doesn’t really fit there grammatically. you could add a you to it to get ‘you cut to the chase’ or you could say ‘straight to the point’. the difference is ‘cut’ acting as a verb even in this saying/turn of phrase
-in “i call all the shots here” you can cut out ‘all’, since to call the shots already implies you have complete control
-in for “funnier when it’s said by a servant” does ‘slave’ work or would it be an inaccurate translation? i ask since huo is repeatedly compared to slavehood throughout RoT (including sun shu’s own brother)
-for “you’re right, i’m just a servant” same as above
-“give me” is kinda wonky. people will say “gimme” but never “give me”. “gimme” is seen as kinda juvenile, so i’d change it to “give him to me” if you want to preserve the formality (for lack of a better word” or “give” if you want to preserve the urgency/tension
-in “zhang fei’s unit go aboard” put a comma after unit
-there’s something about “everything must be for the big picture” that just…doesn’t read right. i’m not sure if it’s a grammatical issue or not, something just sounds a bit off. a possible change is “everything must be done for the big(ger?) picture”
-change “everyone here are good people” to “everyone here is a good person”
-in “i want to change your fate even if I were to disobey an order” the tenses don’t match. imo the best fix is ‘…even if it means i will/i’ll disobey an order’. changing ‘were’ to ‘am’ could work to methinks but the former fix is better
-for “i knew it! i know!” i would change ‘know’ to ‘knew’
-don’t forget to change this second “cut to the chase, i like it” to match whatever you choose for that first one
-put a comma after thing in “i want to know one other thing too”
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Comment by (1/3 charity comm slots) (@drapsmann_2604) — November 14, 2022 @ 7:03 pm
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — November 14, 2022 @ 7:13 pm
-for “Liu Bei is a part of the Imperial clan, a relative to our Lord, and a Loyalist to our world” there’s nothing inherintly wrong, it just rings better to say “is a member of” or “is part of”
-for “But how could a hero who saved Xu and Jing Provinces have such intention?” ‘intentions’ would be better in a grammatical sense. if you want to keep it singular put ‘an’ in front of it. whichever one floats your boat
-“If his campaign is successful, Liu Bei would be granted governorship of Hanzhong, and become a buffer against the threat of Cao Cao” had me stumped for a minute there, but i think the best course of action is to change ‘is’ to ‘were to be’. this makes it fit in grammatically with the other narration sentences
-for “Such was the brilliant plan by the anti-Liu-Zhang faction” the hyphen isn’t needed between liu and zhang
-in “Since I had the aspiration, I had expected this” you could get rid of the second ‘had’, but there’s no need. keeping it makes the sentence pluperfect tense and dropping it makes it past tense, both seem to work for this scenario. once again, whatever floats your boat
-for “The geography of Shu is variable. My assistance is necessary” variable isn’t necessarily wrong, but it’s better to say ‘is varied’ or ‘varies’
-when you say you’re worried about “We hid this ambush from our Lord so we could make an executive decision” being too anachronistic i assume you’re talking about the word executive. some other ways to say it that aren’t as anachronistic could be decisive decision or deciding decision
-in “Even with the twists and turns of the terrains of Shu, sir, if you could remain calm, you may still guide our troops to safety and preserve our Lord’s innocence” change ‘could’ to ‘can’. you could also drop it entirely and say ‘if you remain calm’
-in “Notify General Huang to not hesitate and act now!” add a ‘to’ before ‘act’
-for “No, because we’re the same kind of people who will fill in that weakness” i would change ‘will’ to ‘can’ but beyond that the grammar sounds fine to me
-in “and make such risky move after deceiving Liu Bei…” it should be ‘such a risky move’ or ‘such risky moves’
i think that’s everything!! as always, thanks for your hard work <3<3
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Comment by (1/3 charity comm slots) (@drapsmann_2604) — December 12, 2022 @ 3:21 pm
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — December 12, 2022 @ 4:35 pm
-in “I love it that we’re cutting to the chase” you don’t need the ‘it’
-for “Because I will never lose!” huo has said he’s “undefeatable” before, not sure if that and “i will never lose” are interchangeable/if it’s a switch you want to make
that’s it for this chapter :)) happy new year merc!!
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Comment by (1/3 charity comm slots) (@drapsmann_2604) — January 2, 2023 @ 3:54 pm
Thanks! Happy new year to you too! :)
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Comment by merc — January 2, 2023 @ 4:05 pm
hiya!!
-for “only two hundred some more meters and we’ll be safe” usually people don’t say both some more, just one or the other
-in “Zhang Ren is so cunning he managed to singlehandedly take down the entire opposition faction in the Yi Province…” ‘entire opposition faction’ doesn’t read right. i would change it to ‘entirety of the opposition’, ‘opposing faction’, ‘entirety of the opposing faction’, or ‘entire enemy faction’
-zhang fei’s “Long weapons fight poorly in a narrow alley, and since you have no sharp edge, nor am I an idiot” doesn’t work as a sentence. maybe you could ping me on discord and explain the sentence and i can help format it
-in “Yet I, feel no pain” i would take out the comma
-for “and over the water” it’s a little nitpicky but i would say ‘across’ rather than ‘over’ (assuming that ‘over’ is referring to the opposite shore/bank)
that’s it :)) hope you’re having a good one merc!!
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Comment by draps is losing her mind over lmk s4 (@drapsmann_2604) — January 23, 2023 @ 4:11 pm
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — January 23, 2023 @ 4:23 pm
hiya merc i’m backkkk
-for ‘Don’t worry, these grass are too wet for a fire attack’ change it to ‘this grass is too wet’
-in ‘We team two should get ready!’ it should be ‘We, team two, should get ready!’
-‘Team one light up first, then us!’ sounds awkward. since the person is giving an order, i’d write ‘Team one, light up first, then us!’
-in ‘O-oh it’s General Kuan Yan, you gave me quite a fright!’ i’d put a comma after oh to make it sound a bit more natural
-‘There’re still Liu Zhang’s people here!’ sounds a bit awkward, i’d write ‘There’s still some of Liu Zhang’s people here!’
-for ‘Go around, you all follow me!’, ‘you all’ isn’t super commonly said so i’d say ‘all of you’ instead but it’s subjective tbh
have a good day dude :))
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Comment by draps is losing it over lmk s4 (@drapsmann_2604) — February 13, 2023 @ 4:12 pm
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — February 13, 2023 @ 6:13 pm
hiiii
-minor thing that really only matters for typesetting but there should be a space between ‘left’ and the hyphen on that second line
-in ‘We should not fight Sun Quan ahead of Cao Cao’ i assume ahead means before? if it does i would put before, just to be a bit clearer
that’s all :D
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Comment by draps (@drapsmann_2604) — March 6, 2023 @ 2:41 pm
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — March 6, 2023 @ 2:54 pm
heya merc not much for this chap, just a couple small things
-“Was this not your goal for coming here?” usually people would say ‘goal in coming’
-“Eight to nine-tenth” it should be tenths
-“You should know, brother, that Zhang Lu and I didn’t always held enmity toward the other” should be hold rather than held
-in regards to the overdrink question, i would keep that. i find it weird that there are dictionaries that include a hyphen tbh lol
-i personally agree that face-changing would be better i think? like it just kinda sounds better i can’t really explain it lol
i think that’s all :))
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Comment by draps (@drapsmann_2604) — April 17, 2023 @ 3:02 pm
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — April 17, 2023 @ 3:08 pm
hiii merc
-for “Unit one and two, head up the gate tower!” make it ‘units’
-for “Black-and-White bear paw might be precious, but it tastes bad” unless there’s something else indicating white should be capitalized, i personally wouldn’t capitalize it
-“most benefit” doesn’t really work, some alternate phrasings (keeping the word benefit to maintain the theme) could be greatest benefit or most beneficial move/outcome. if i think of more or you wanna swing any by me lmk
that’s it!!
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Comment by drapsmann 2604 — May 29, 2023 @ 3:06 pm
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — May 29, 2023 @ 3:24 pm
no translation for opening(full ver)?
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Comment by ni — June 27, 2023 @ 6:15 am
Currently I don’t have plans to translate animation related things. I attempted the ending song because I really liked it, and most of the lyrics came from the comic.
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Comment by merc — June 27, 2023 @ 8:37 am
heya merc
-for “Her captured by Dong Zhuo’s army might spell trouble for Brother Huo” add ‘getting’ or ‘being’ before captured
-for “Is there anyone else in this commandery who is as Xi Shi as her?” i get what you’re trying to do with using xi shi as an adjective, and it does work fine, but i figured i’d offer some suggestions anyway: “who matches/captures Xi Shi’s beauty as well as her” “who embodies Xi Shi as well as her” “who could be our/that/that rumoured/the rumoured Xi Shi”
-in “This poem… is Xu Lin’s Looking Homeward back in the day. Who knew it hits differently as lyrics” i feel like there should be a ‘from’ before ‘back’, and also ‘hits’ should be ‘would hit’
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Comment by drapsmann2604 — July 10, 2023 @ 6:50 pm
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — July 10, 2023 @ 6:57 pm
i’m baaack
-for that second line i’d say either ‘toward the city of ji’ or ‘toward ji city’
-speaks should be singular
-that wang yi line should be man power, not men power
-i like that grey note you added, where you change ‘people’ to ‘women’ and ‘comfort women’ to ‘sex slaves’, i think it adds to the gravity of the situation and works well (especially considering what you said about wang yi purposefully being explicit)
-for the “Success in warfare” line, there’s just a couple things i’d change to make the grammar flow better – change ‘are’ to ‘is’ and ‘they’ to ‘it’ (it’s one of those annoying words where technically it’s plural but you treat it like a singular, they trip me up all the time lmao)
-should be ‘this dowry’ or ‘these dowries’ (i’d say go for the latter since it seems she’s referring to the multitude of jewelry/dowries contributed by the women)
i didn’t quote lines like i normally do cause i was feelin kinda lazy, if you need any clarification please let me know :)) have a good one merc
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Comment by drapsmann 2604 — August 7, 2023 @ 3:11 pm
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — August 7, 2023 @ 3:24 pm
sorry for the long wait lol. i’ve got a biiig list but tbh most of it is small stuff. thanks for the hard work!! this chapter was really awesomely translated
-so from what i can tell “those silk clothes” is meant to refer to specific silk clothes (ofc lol) but ‘those’ isn’t really the right word, since using it would imply that the clothes have already been mentioned. So maybe ‘set of silk clothes’ or even just ‘silk clothes’ would work fine
-for “you would become a serious threat one day” change ‘would’ to either will or could, either works. Just depends on what you think fits eighth’s tone the best
-when jiang wei is yelling stop, just change the punctuation a bit to make it make more sense:
Stop! I’ll take you to it, alright? (you could use an exclamation mark instead of a question mark if you wanted, question mark makes things a bit more clear but most should be able to figure it out given context clues)
-in “who knew there is such a peculiar technique” change ‘is’ to ‘was’
-i think ‘risked his life’ or ‘put his life at stake’ might be a better phrase for that YA line. Staking your life is used more in a betting context (like ‘[blank] will happen, i stake my life on it’)
-for the san pass line you put armie instead of armies, I’m sure alex would catch it but i’ll note it just in case he doesn’t
-in both lines with “which people” i would change them to who (and for the second line, make sure the ‘have’ to ‘has’ if you do that)
-for the line after that you wrote admit instead of amidst; the second half of that line doesn’t really line up with the first half, here’s an option for what to put after the comma: there is no one/no person who doesn’t long for peace? You could also change the whole thing to something like ‘Amidst the endless infighting in the central plains, who doesn’t long for peace? Do you not see this?’ If these don’t work/u want more options or ideas lmk
-in the “if you don’t believe me” line, you don’t need ‘had’, just ‘who escaped’ is fine
-YF’s line should me reinforcements plural and ‘not’ would work better than ‘never’
-MC’s line should be have, not has
-in the “administrator yin, he is right” line change ‘once’ to ‘since’; for the next line change ‘while’ to ‘and’ or ‘but’
-for the “helping you in secret” line, take out ‘but’
goodnight :))
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Comment by drapsmann 2604 — August 28, 2023 @ 9:13 pm
Thanks!
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Comment by merc — August 29, 2023 @ 6:53 am