Unpopular TM opinions you have

[Zork Knight]

It comes off rather exploitative, in the sense of mining your prior creative content to indulge a current direction that's honestly opposed to why this thing was there before.

I suppose I'd be more annoyed if ORT wasn't something the fans themselves brought up frequently thanks to powerlevel arguments, despite it being literally a footnote.

I feel more like Nasu set this secret final boss decades ago... and now he finally has a setting where it can be used.

[Reign]

If ORT really is who they were referring to (which I see no reason to doubt at this point) then I wonder why it was called Type-Mercury at first instead of Type-Oort Cloud.

I know Character Material itself questioned it being Type-Mercury in the first place, but like, what in-universe reason would there be to even think it was from there I wonder.

[Ratman]

can't believe kirei kotomine doesn't know that spiders aren't insects

many such cases

Spoiler:

[Mattias]

many such cases

That thing has like 20 legs. It's closer to a centipede than a spider.

[SteelBeowulf]

昆虫 is the generic term for insects, which can be shortened simply to 虫 (Mushi), which even some Japanese can refer spider to. Rather this is out of ignorance or simply because a lot of people use it this way or whatnot I don't know.

But here is some example of Japanese associating spider to Mushi or realizing that they are not in fact insects:

https://realestate.yahoo.co.jp/knowl...l/10176429115/

https://blog.goo.ne.jp/dog3131muku/e...c573a22f7e21a1

https://www.insects.jp/konbunkumo.htm

so I guess it's a common misconception.

Nasu could have just referred to it as 蜘蛛 though... that would leave no room for doubt

[Kamera]

what do you mean not all arthropods are insects

[warellis]

If ORT really is who they were referring to (which I see no reason to doubt at this point) then I wonder why it was called Type-Mercury at first instead of Type-Oort Cloud.

I know Character Material itself questioned it being Type-Mercury in the first place, but like, what in-universe reason would there be to even think it was from there I wonder.

Was there really anything in-universe that said people thought it was from Mercury? Even Jester seems to only know it some super spider alien right?

[Deathhappens]

It's simple, if it has more than four limbs its either a dragon or an insect.

[Menwearpink]

Why not a insect dragon

[asterism42]

It's simple, if it has more than four limbs its either a dragon or an insect.

which of these is an octopus?

[Deathhappens]

Water insect.

[fallacies]

I'm not sure when or how I ever even had a negative interaction with the majority of the people involved in this conversation. Ulterior motives what. When have I even posed that my translations were perfect or beyond criticism?

If there's an issue with my translations, just point it out.
That's why I provide transcripts of the Japanese text.

[asterism42]

Water insect.

I have been enlightened

[Leftovers]

I'm not sure when or how I ever even had a negative interaction with the majority of the people involved in this conversation. Ulterior motives what. When have I even posed that my translations were perfect or beyond criticism?

If there's an issue with my translations, just point it out.
That's why I provide transcripts of the Japanese text.

I think the criticisms of your translations are well-attested if sporadic on this site, as they come up whenever someone cites you as a source. How you feel about those criticisms aside, I think the Japanese transcripts don't have much value as proof of transparency when you're posting in a space where hardly anyone can or will take issue with what you post, and your translations, theories, and even commentary and observations are taken up as definitive content. Whether you want it or not you're an authority to Spacevelocity and FGO zoomers, it's inevitable that people will take issue when they're arguing against your translations and theories by proxy. "Ulterior motives" isn't a term I'd use for esoteric readings of second-rate weeb fantasy texts, but given that you enjoy theorycrafting it's very fair to say that the way the original text is translated and framed goes a long way to support an alternate reading of it.

Since your content has very little fandom penetration on BL I don't really think it's a problem, and your credibility with your audience is ironclad whether or not you respond to legitimate criticism of your translations. It's only mildly annoying to argue against what you may have thrown out as an idle thought, but that's what GD is for.

[Dullahan]

All I ask of translations into English is that they are written in English.

[Rafflesiac]

Active voice is your friend. Needlessly abstruse diction is the enemy. TL notes for every word imply a crippling lack of faith in one's abilities - if the translation doesn't speak for itself, why believe it?

[fallacies]

I think the criticisms of your translations are well-attested if sporadic on this site, as they come up whenever someone cites you as a source. How you feel about those criticisms aside, I think the Japanese transcripts don't have much value as proof of transparency when you're posting in a space where hardly anyone can or will take issue with what you post, and your translations, theories, and even commentary and observations are taken up as definitive content. Whether you want it or not you're an authority to Spacevelocity and FGO zoomers, it's inevitable that people will take issue when they're arguing against your translations and theories by proxy. "Ulterior motives" isn't a term I'd use for esoteric readings of second-rate weeb fantasy texts, but given that you enjoy theorycrafting it's very fair to say that the way the original text is translated and framed goes a long way to support an alternate reading of it.

The posting of the Japanese text isn't intended as anything along the lines of "proof of transparency."
It explicitly exists as a convenience for people to look at my translations and say that I'm wrong.
It shouldn't matter whether my immediate audience can or cannot read Japanese. The presence of the text is there so that if it ends up getting linked or pasted, somebody, somewhere can look at the Japanese and say that I'm wrong.

The criticisms are well attested? Maybe. Again, I've never claimed to be perfect. I've never claimed to be close to perfect. I've never claimed that my translations are immaculate of errors.

But the way in which the criticisms are communicated when I bother to look are inevitably, "well, she objectively sucks because she's had errors here, here, and here. Also, you always have to consider that she's specifically setting up the framing to favor her headcanon." Because, apparently, translators can never, ever be wrong about anything, or else they lose all credibility. Also, wanting the theorycraft is immediately a disqualifier for any sort of claim to being unbiased in translation, right? Translators shouldn't theorycraft, clearly.

I'm fine with critique, but:

fallacies translations should not be relied upon for anything beyond pigeon-feeding (fgo redditors) until she demonstrates the ability to use the english language

But I really don't like the fact that you are claiming context with Fallacy's translation, while his translation obviously has ulterior motives.

And so forth are hardly even critique. It's just "fallacies is objectively terrible, and her translations can be disregarded out of hand." Yes, there's context on possibly-food's side, but given that I've never even acted unpleasantly toward anyone saying stuff like this (inclusive of food, dullahan, etc.), I don't really understand the attitude.

Tell me my translations are wrong. Show that they're wrong.

In this particular case, we have the quote about machines becoming Heroic Spirits way back in FSN
We have the thing from Nasu a year later, about weapons potentially being the Heroic Spirits of the future.
We have the particular bit of translation from me being disputed in legitimacy.
We have the machine quote turning up again in Requiem.

Was I wrong? In that case, tell me how wrong I was. If there's some other thing, about how terrible a person I am, then I don't particularly care.

[Leftovers]

The argument is right here if you want to read up on it. You wanted to know why people call your translations into question and I have told you my opinion; people can speak for their own attitudes if they want to. In any case, the point of contention here isn't your character but your status as a source. When people try to prove their point in an argument, their proof will always be called into question, and since you are the information source for many people in the fandom you're inevitably going to get posts aimed your way. Whether you take care to note your speculations or take criticism into consideration however it's phrased if it's legitimate and argued-for is up to you.

- - - Updated - - -

Because, apparently, translators can never, ever be wrong about anything, or else they lose all credibility.

By the way, can I get an F for mirror moon getting cancelled wholesale after a couple of translation errors came to light a decade after release?

[Dullahan]

I don't care about headcanon, or indeed about accuracy. JP is king in debates, and debates are dumb, so it's immaterial to me whether your translations are good or bad. I care about their quality as writing, regardless of whatever the JP said, because of the profile they tend to acquire among EOPs and redditors (who, lamentably, I have not yet found a way to completely eliminate from my visual field). I care about the horrific albeit sometimes highly amusing abuses of English syntax and grammar which crop up in a prose style which seems to tie itself in knots for no reason I can comprehend. You produce sentences like this

But, the Holy Grail did that impossibility render as possible.　
Summoning whole Heroic Spirits originally beyond the control of man, and thereon affixing them as Familiars in the service of Masters.　
Such nonsense was verily the proof that the Holy Grail was omnipotent (万能, bannou, "of ten thousand potencies"). 　
And irrelevant of era — from as near (近く, chikaku) as a hundred years prior (百年前, hyakunen-mae); or as far as the vicinity of the Age of Divinities (神代の頃, jindai no koro) — Heroic Spirits have been summoned forth.　
Seven Heroic Spirits serve seven masters — protecting their own Master, and expelling those Masters that are their enemies.　
... Heroic Spirits of every era; every nation do in modernity revive, to vie for supremacy in a deathmatch.　
Such would be the reason that this ritual is called as the War for the Holy Grail, perhaps..

and it's simply baffling to me. It's not stilted in an endearing way like the old VN patches. It's an awkward halfway house between prolix and google translate, with the readability failings of both and the discreet charm of neither. And I have no idea why you choose to write this way.

[Lily Emilio]

Also, wanting the theorycraft is immediately a disqualifier for any sort of claim to being unbiased in translation, right? Translators shouldn't theorycraft, clearly.

Let me tell you this one story I've heard in the Vietnamese Fate fandom. There were an argument about whether FSF Ishtar took Gugalanna from FGO world. In the Eng and JP fandoms, there were a lot of support for this theory due to the implications. But from what I heard, not many people in Vietnamese fandom believe it. Why? Because apparently someone who is part of the Vietnamese FSF TL team adamantly denied this notion. And because that one is a translator respected by the fandom, some fans of said translator took their words as the truth. OTOH, the oppositions will call the translator names and claim that the translator were manipulative, even if the translator not believing the theories is just their personal opinion and most likely did not have any ulterior motives.

No one can tell you that you cannot make theories, ofc you can. But when you are involved with the fandom as a translator, there will be eyes on you that will keep track of everything you post and interpret them in many ways possible. It doesn't matter if you intended to "spread misinformation" or not, or what you posted were just theories. There will always be that one person who misinterpret your posts, take your words as the whole truth, and use them in some other debates somewhere you don't know. And when that happens, you get the blame, not the one who used your TL.