The official translation (licensed by Tapas) changed the names of the characters.
I hate that and complained about them doing that but they never responded to me.
Do you know the reason why they changed it?
Localization, they think we are ignorant English speakers who would freak at seeing a story take place in a foreign county with foreign names.
Pisses me off. We can adapt.
Preach!
I hate that, too! Which is why I refused to read the manhwa Lookism when it went to Webtoons. Because I used to read it on Mangago and so I was already so used to the Korean names and just could not get used to the name change on the Webtoon version. I really dislike it. This localisation does not allow for English speaking readers to expand their mind when it comes to non-English things. And so some English speakers continue to remain ignorant because of it, I think.
For fuck's sake it's not like we are pure Angelized cultures either with no exposure to such 'foreign' names either.
America is the great melting pot, we have people from every nation, language, culture, religion... Hell, the United Nations HQ is in New York.
Canada and the U.K. aren't far off either.
These names aren't that rare anymore. Put in a little page on honorifics, names, and pronounciation keys. Viola.
We aren't idiots. And insulting us like this is bad business.
Exactly! Plus once the original names are changed, the entire character changes. It just seems so needless. Also English isn't even the most popular language in the world, so why does it have to be typical Western names.
Not to mention changing the names, makes the etiquette and behaviour of certain characters strange. There are many Japanese customs that are different from Western ones, so having a character with a western name acting under Japanese customs just ruins the entire manga and makes everything far more confusing. I agree with everything you said!
That is why I prefer scanlations, they give us cheat sheets, guides, and info on the side or at the end of the chapter to explain things. It's awesome.
I completely agree! I like them, too.
I don't like the name change either but I think it's funny Tapas did it for Thousand Cranes, and not for Rain Again. They're both by the same author.
Also, Imma disagree with yall on the whole scanlations>licensed translations. I think LINE Webtoon is doing a real good job and Tapas too tbh. Ya they might have fudged the names for Thousand Cranes but they didn't do it for They Say I was Born the King's Daughter and others. There are some real fucking crappy translations like those in Webcomics (*facepalm*), but there are also some pretty bad scanlations out there. Overall, I would say scanlations n licensed translations are pretty equal.
But it shouldn't be that way.
A professional is someone who gets paid to do this for their job, they are the ones who are doing the official translation and their quality of work should be top-notch and beat the free volunteers of scanlation groups who do the work as a hobby.
I expect more of professionals and so should you so I have every right to be upset when they do half-ass jobs or change characters' names, locations, history, honorifics, relationship with others by localizing things to such as point as to erase the original feeling of the story.
Totally agree.
I understand that it changes some of the flavor of the story. I'm one of those people who prefers sub over dub because I find that dub really tampers the atmosphere of the original. However, those kinds of changes you mentioned can't be done without the approval of the original author/s. I don't believe the burden of it should lie solely on the translators.
The original author who probably doesn't know how big the changes are or how it pisses off fans...or they may have no say whateoever as their publication is the one doing it.
I know of several cases where the license was revoked due to subpar translations and how the localization changes upset the author/publisher when they finally saw it and understood what the changes did to the story.
If they weren't aware of the impact of the changes it's solely due to their negligence. The content can't be changed without the author's permission and it's therefore their duty to take into account how said changes will affect their original work. It's true that having a foreign or international license seems like such a treat that some would be willing to give an arm and a leg to see it happen. However, it's still the author's duty to fight for the integrity of their content should such deal be taken. Same thing with those real bad film adaptations of books, those live action films based on anime/manga, and some anime adaptations of manga.
Ofc I'm not happy with them changes. No one would be happy with tampered content. I feel though that these type's of modification must be from someone who's not a fan or a consumer (and therefore does not appreciate the content like us or even understand that what they're doing is frowned upon), and an editor or someone who doesn't actually do any translation (cause someone that does translations would know what a big change some of these things are like the dude being Irish instead of from the Korean countryside)(also, note that translators are readers just like us who take part in the journey that is a webtoon or a manga so I feel like the fan in them would want to keep things as original as possible). If ya aint protecting your own stuff from the hands of bastards that haven't even read or don't even a appreciate your work, then aint nobody protecting it.
I just read the raw and figured craig's name is yoo un hak, the translator changed his name or sth??