Tapas's Mistranslation and poor localization

[beazdreams]

I was an avid fan of Tapas and their job on Original stories, but, after checking the Raws, I'm not so sure. They changed ages and context of many sections of Find Me in The Dark, made the male lead insufferable for many chapters, while deleting some content and literally creating their own speech/thinking bubbles.
I've tried to contact them through email, but not only they ignored me, but I also discovered that they behave like that whenever someone complains about their bad localization. I've sent them proof (I can attach it here if anyone's interested) but it really pains me how they made a bunch of readers turn away from the story due to their lack of professionalism.
Did anyone else notice this? What can we actually do about this?

[DokiDokiTsuna]

I don't know if there's anything you can do about that, besides letting people know...and maybe if enough people find out how bad the translations are, it'll put pressure on the Tapas team to stop clowning around.

But that's really unfortunate to hear...I think the primary responsibility of a translator is to do justice to the original dialogue; to make the 2nd audience's experience just as enjoyable as the 1st's, and in all the same ways. And it really sucks when localizers decide to make changes just for the heck of it, especially when they're a detriment to the story. :[

[beazdreams]

Honestly, I wouldn't even be mad if it was a typo or something like that, but a whole new line??? So many changes??? Hello???
I hope more people can see this and maybe they'll feel pressured to check it out and stop letting things so loose on their side...

[redfish]

I've heard of mistranslations before but not blatant removal of speech bubbles and making up stuff entirely aha. I don't know who is in charge of translations in these original webcomics, I doubt it's the author tho right? Who did you contact about it?

[beazdreams]

The translation is done by Rock Chang (credited in every chapter) and I've contacted Tapas by email. Sadly I don't know anything of Chinese and I can't contact the author, but I've compared both the Raws, Korean's official translation and English from another app and any of them had those blatant changes.

[hakei]

Oof if I was the original creator, I'd be extremely angered to find a trusted platform edited and change my story like that.

How bad are they edits? I'm having a hard time trying to think of a justification for such dramatic changes.

[rajillustration]

It could be that they did work with the original creator with this and the original creator allowed it to happen, too. Sometimes they'll add lines to add clarity in English or remove lines that English speakers don't need. Like how English Voice Actors who dub an anime will often add lines and change things because a straight 1-1 translation of a language is just boondoggles. So they really are trusting that the translator is imitating the voice that the creator would have had if they were creating for an English audience to begin with. And, that is probably why they also went with the choice to change ages and context if they felt like it wouldn't vibe with English speaking audiences.

Kind of annoying when they change names into western names, or tell me in an asterisk what Kimchi is because they assume I'm too isolated to know that. Like there's been quite a few comics I had to put down becuase the translation sucked, but it's hard to say if this is something that the creator doesn't know about.

[beazdreams]

I'll try to edit the post with some of the screenshots I took to send Tapas. If I get to do it, I'll attach just the worst ones: the age change and the extra line that makes MC actually kinda scared of ML when it doesn't happen at all.
Honestly? I don't think the author would like to know that. I've seen the other localizations and any other has the cropped out/extra things. The ages changed on Korean's, but the age gap, important to the story, was intact. I think Tapas did it without author's consent.

[beazdreams]

While I do agree with your point, I don't think that's the case here. They clearly didn't think it through since many scenes just don't make sense without the age gap and since nowhere else such big changes exist, I feel those changes have happened without the author's knowledge.
I mean (I might put that on my first post), they did age her up on the middle of the story. She started 16, then suddenly turned 18 and they edited old chapters, leaving us on comment section pretty much annoyed. If my memory doesn't fail me, since I never thought I'd need screenshots for those, this happened when another person started to be credited on the typesetting.
Also, they did make the ML sound way worse than every other localization and the extra line just doesn't help. Just plain rude just for the sake of it instead of an "I don't care" attitude.
(I'm not sure if I conveyed my points clearly, but just stating I'm not fighting nor want to sound aggressive. Sorry in advance if it sounds like that)

[skyfarron]

On a scale of 4Kids (utterly faithless to the point of gross incoherence) to a Pirate Bay dub (so stunningly accurate you have to learn the original language to make sense of it in English), I think this would sit somewhere in the middle. I'd probably add a speech bubble if it helped the flow of dialogue. The age change may have been a call made a little higher up than the translator themselves. That being said, there's another area for dubs where Ghost Stories and DBZ Abridged sits (parody that not only mocks the original but completely twists its intent). Maybe you feel like it's going in that direction? That would definitely feel like an insult to the story and its author.

[beazdreams]

Surely I feel it's going to a "I'ma make it Ghost Stories, but just when I want to and when my least fav character's on screen, but sadly he's the ML".
After so much trying they answered me in a nonsensical way, telling me that author allowed such changes (honestly how and why? I didn't believe this but whatever) and saying that they'd look into my feedback. What leaves me confused because they wouldn't need to look into it if author accepted? They'd only thank me for contacting and leave it alone, I guess??
Ended up very dissatisfied with their contact service and, yes, you couldn't have said it better: a very big insult to the story and author.

[system]

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.