I finished book 1 of the Seven Seas' 2Ha! (Pronounced "er-ha" or "R-Ha", for those of you who don't actually speak Chinese ;p)
It was great. The translation is smooth and easy to read, and I feel like it conveys the story really well.
As I prepare to hand this book over to my non-Chinese friends, I do have a few notes.
(Audio recordings and book-note images under the cut)
1 ) Go ahead and skim through the Name Guide, Pronunciation Guide, and Glossary. In addition, here are how the names are supposed to sound:
2) Next! Book images for Pages 1-182.
So, I think the translators did a great job on this.
Even so, there are a few places where I think my background may differ from that of the translators, so the tone of a word or phrase felt wrong to me even though it was technically correct.
And I like how they kept the Chinese for a lot of words that don't translate well, but they didn't always put footnotes for those words or names, so I penciled a few in.
I hope this makes your reading experience even more enjoyable!
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A very kind tumblr user had to educate me that, yes, Priest edited her work after it was published (stolen on to?) on pirate websites, and so, yes, the translators were working off of a different version than I read.
But I LOVE the version I read, so I'm sharing it with you. You get BOTH.
Please excuse my angry "MISSING PARAGRAPH!" hand-written notes, as I did not realize that official edits were made post-pirate-publication.
Below are many possibly-unnecessary cultural notes that I think are just really neat, plus differences between versions. (I love the old one!)
Here we go:
Very cool word, 帅。
Usually, I read or hear it in reference to some guy being very cool. Devilishly handsome. Dashing.
Here, 大帅 is used as "Commander-in-Chief," which is the same thing as "Marshal," which can mean (dictionary.com) "a military officer of the highest rank" as well as the one I'm more familiar with, "chief of a police or fire department in some cities."
I just like how, in Chinese, I can also-interpret that everyone is calling him "Big Handsome."
Yah, Chen QingXu is a Boss. Who introduces herself as, like, a snake-oil peddler.
讷于言 The young soldier was bad at words. Not sparing, not careful; just bad.
悬壶济世 hang pot save world, because so much of Chinese medicine is boiling herbs for patients to drink.
No one is putting powder in leather sachets. It's dried herbs.
I usually agree with the Seven Seas' formatting, but I think it would be more clear if those sentences were broken into the original two separate paragraphs.
Top: Gold Tank = container for violet gold. It took me a second to figure that out.
Bottom: 小兄弟. I love how you can combine the "older brother" 兄 with the "younger brother" 弟, add a "little" 小 in the front, and it becomes, effectively, "Bro," but respectful.
In case you can't read my tiny bad handwriting: there used to be another paragraph here about how Gu Yun wants to see Chen QingXu because his meds are losing effect. The effects of drinking the meds used to last for months, then weeks, and now they only last two days.
And on the facing page, in the illustration, Chang Geng should be ON his horse.
It hits a little different, I think, to say You have to bathe and change your clothes just to walk your horse? And it has to be this exact time and place?
锋芒毕露 "sharp point must expose"
After years spent guarding the Silk Road, Gu Yun's propensity to show off had gradually faded...
OK. I think ten is enough for this post. More to come...
My DanMei Literary Adventure Masterpost
Stars of Chaos - All Notes Links
Spoiler alert. Maybe a little late 😉
Another new favorite quote:
那么一个人要如何能不吃苦又有出息呢?
So, how can a person not endure suffering but still make great progress in life?
(A young adult tries to figure out how to best raise a young adolescent whom he cares about very much.)
From ch 18 of “Stars of Chaos: Sha Po Lang” by Priest (which is going to be released in English this summer 2023!!)
Here is Part 7 of 7 of my annotations of First Edition MDZS, Volume 1 (one I missed the first time I posted):
Yelling about this again since it's a big pet peeve of mine but please be aware!!! that "kill the wolf" is not!! a valid translation of Sha Po Lang!! it's not even a "literal translation" it's just MTL gibberish trying to make sense of a term with no English translation
pasting the explanation I gave on twt below the cut-
杀破狼/sha po lang corresponds to three different stars 七杀/qi sha ('seven killings'), 破军/po jun ('vanquisher of armies'), and 贪狼/tan lang ('greedy wolf'), which are significant in a system of Chinese astrology called 紫微斗数/zi wei dou shu
when these three stars appear in certain positions in a natal star chart, they compose the 'sha po lang' star formation, which foretells change and revolution, a turbulent fate which could lead to one making a name for oneself in chaotic times, or ending up destitute
famous generals are often born under this star formation as well - as you can see, there are a lot of ties with the themes of the novel itself
but, however, it doesn't really have a proper english translation, hence why i'm in favor of the 'stars of chaos' version of the title
if you want to look at the actual stars (look closer at the vol 1 cover for a little easter egg!)
qi sha = polis/mu sagittarii
po jun = alkaid/eta ursae majoris
tan lang = dubhe/alpha ursae majoris
thank you minirant complete
Some of my favorite books, especially, The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, The Husky and His White Cat Shizun, Stars of Chaos, and Guardian, are now officially in English! Thank you, Seven Seas.
These notes are here to help friends who may not speak Chinese or have enough Chinese cultural background to understand the nuances presented in these works, or are just getting confused with all the different terms of address.
Please forgive me if I have missed anything, and dm or comment if you have anything to add!
by MXTX
by Meatbun 肉包不吃肉 (Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou)
Usage of the word "Master" vs "Teacher"
How to pronounce people's names (bc it does NOT follow the rules of English pronunciation)
Book Annotations
by Priest
Vol 1-4 are here!
(Volume 5 notes will arrive next.)
by Priest
Coming eventually :)
Here is Part 2 of my annotations of First Edition MDZS, Volume 1, pages 87 - 147.
Another eight notes...
The idiom for "too late" in Chinese is 黄花菜都凉了 "The Yellow Lilly (chrysanthemum? Yellow lily?) dish is already cold", which I had to look up.
Apparently, there was a time and place in ancient China where, when the fancy nobles would throw a banquet, they would serve 黄花菜 as the final dish. If you delayed attending so long that the 黄花菜 was already cold, then you had completely missed the banquet. You were too late.
牲口 is, technically, "draught animal" or "beast of burden," but I'm pretty sure what Priest means here is "those cold-blooded war beasts."
top: I think of it as two separate, unrelated, consecutive actions.
bottom: 铁膝飞足, iron knees flying feet, is so easy to read in Chinese. (This is the first time I've ever seen the word "poleyns.")
top: "young and inexperienced" in Chinese here is 初出茅庐, "first time out of the thatched cottage."
初出茅庐 is the coolest little idiom. So, in the Three Kingdoms period, there was a scholar called Zhuge Liang. Liu Bei, leader of the Shu Han, begged Zhuge Liang to become his advisor and, after three visits, Zhuge Liang agreed. This was the first time that Zhuge Liang accepted such an advisory position, and the "first time" that he left his thatched cottage (it was wartime. There was a lot of travel involved with advising a king/warlord).
Anyway, Zhuge Liang was a genius and immediately won a lot of battles through superior strategy.
next: for "dig in his heels before the capital," I feel like that could be more clearly written as "hold the capital."
next: regarding "unsalvageable situation," he's talking about his relationship with the emperor.
last: "No eggs remain when the nest overturns" is a common idiom, 覆巢之下无完卵。 We're all in it together.
"running to the market" 赶集 is a way to describe how things are noisy and busy and people are running back and forth (not bright and merry with people buying gifts for each other).
I think... the indescribable smell is the mix of gunpowder and blood...
If you don't know already, the Origin Myth for Where Humans Come From is that the half-snake goddess Nuwa made humans out of clay :)
I'm not sure why, but in English I thought that one of the Western soldiers was laughing; but in Chinese it's really clear that none of the soldiers are laughing.
Four more...
My DanMei Literary Adventure Masterpost
Stars of Chaos - All Notes Links
refseek.com
www.worldcat.org/
link.springer.com
http://bioline.org.br/
repec.org
science.gov
pdfdrive.com