About Tapas's mistranslations and bad localization/translation
Edit 05/06/22: decided to put more info about their honest lack of professionalism and lies on the end of the post. Hope this clarifies even more this situation.
As a (former) avid fan of their work, I was 200% disappointed when I found out that my favorite comic was adulterated. The story Find me in The Dark, a Chinese comic, had character ages changed in a way that impacts the story, extra lines added that makes the relationships between the two leads more complicated and problematic and small cool and important things and details shamelessly cropped out.
I'll explain every single thing in this very long post, with details and screenshots. Please, keep in mind that:
I've tried to contact Tapas, with no success. They "sent my complaint to the team" and never came back, when they actually answer pretty quick;
I do not condone any type of harassment to Tapas Team or anyone involved in the project. I'm here to critique, yes, but with respect and level headed arguments.
With that said, let's get into it.
The age change and importance of age gap
Zayn Luo (referred as Luo Zhan on INKR's translation and many romanizations) is, on the official story, 19 years old, while Reya Tang (referred as Tang Ran in same conditions as Luo Zhan) is turning 16 on the firsts chapters. That means they have a 3-4 years age gap.
Suddenly, Tapas changed that age gap to only 1-2 years (Zayn still being 19 and Reya, turning 18). A lot of chapters lose meaning, like the scene right on start where people thinks he's her father, later, her older brother and the scene (beware of slight spoilers on purple sentence) where Zayn is reminding himself she's only 16, what makes no sense when she's 18, not only because she's a legal adult, but, also, just a little younger than him. I feel this will bring more and more misconceptions in the future.
I got Lezhin's Official Korean localization (chapter 1 to 9 and then chapter 30) and, even though Reya was aged up to 19 to 20, Zayn was also aged up to 24, keeping the "Oh, lord, she's young" vibes of the scenes. It wouldn't kill to maintain the age gap.
The extra lines
Even though Zayn is very rude and ableist on the first chapters, Reya doesn't feel actually *that* intimidated by him, unlike Tapas made it look like. She never thought to herself like that, and I checked: there wasn't anything lost on the other speech bubbles (what a miracle) that could justify this choice. It was just a way to make us, readers, actually concerned and mad... but why?
What made someone actually take their time to make an extra thinking bubble just to make their own lines? That surely wasn't requested by the author, since it doesn't happen anywhere else.
Change of tones on dialogues
As I said before, Zayn is no saint, but the original comic and other localization actually give him more in-depth, less stupid and "rude just for the sake of it" lines. He even says "Please" sometimes in every version of the comic, except Tapas's.
That makes the character look very flat and unappealing and, even when he gets WAY better, there's still that taste of "he doesn't deserve her at all" on our mouths.
Sadly, I was already too mad to actually search more about those examples (but I might come back and edit this later). I only got to screenshot one, right on the first chapters, what makes people turn away from the comic.
As everyone can actually understand, I can't buy every single version of the story to check, since I'm a college student (no time and no money haha!), but it's infuriating that something I did for fun (I was just getting spoilers on the official Chinese and checking their names on Korean!) actually made me rethink everything about the story and the company in general.
As someone who used to read licensed translations there, I think this makes us lose the trust and faith on their work. Since they actually answered me quick before, the lack of an answer now tells me A LOT about them.
Since I know nothing about Chinese, I don't think I can bring this to the author's attention. By any case, I hope somebody who actually likes this story ends up here and understands why it became a hot mess.
Edit here: they answered, and here are my thoughts.
I'm not a fan of "customer's always right". We all know how many people make baseless complaints, but this surely is NOT a basic complaint. I'm not mad because they didn't write, word by word, the exact same translation as INKR or the same as Google Translate. They changed the meaning of things, ruined the story and, if you express your dissatisfaction, no matter how nice or understanding you are, there are always the same outcomes:
They tell us they did it with author's consent, when, from DOLSHA's, Banana Scandal's author, situation, we can see that this don't happen at all. (they did this to me through Discord, on the ticket section)
Tell us they're going to check it out when they surely won't. (also did this to me, through email and through Discord tickets, too)
And, the new thing, they don't own it, telling us that they don't do the translations, the authors do it and they only publish on their website (????). Happened with another person, but they shared it with me the screenshot and can find it on Twitter.
Also, they hide your comments when you tell them to stop this. They did with mine and lemme tell you, I'm shocked they didn't even pull an "OMG tell us abt it!!!11" and then never answer me, like most companies do. Straight up hiding my comment was shady...
I can see by the comments that people aren't buying those changes anymore, but are, sadly, thinking the fault lies on the storytelling, not on the translation. This also happens with Banana Scandal and other stories, too. A quick search of "Tapas mistranslation" on Twitter can bring you a LOT of results.
Please, support the author of Don't Cry through INKR Comics, the artist on their other comic though Copin Comics and Tappytoon and just... don't read on Tapas anymore if you can choose not to do it.
Anyways, thanks for the recent likes and reblogs, I really appreciate seeing you guys being aware of this!
*takes your wattpad-socialised hand* *holds it gently* you will survive without an app. you will survive without censorship by filtering out tags yourself. you will survive learning a new platform‘s etiquette. now go forth and observe ao3 culture without making immediate demands. it’s our house, and for now, you are a guest
hi guys I made a twt thread compiling my tips, tutorials, and speedpaints for anyone interested in drawing! It might be helpful to you :9 If you have trouble accessing them, I can make a version here on Tumblr!
Resources For Writing Deaf, Mute, or Blind Characters
Despite the fact that I am not deaf, mute, or blind myself, one of the most common questions I receive is how to portray characters with these disabilities in fiction.
As such, I’ve compiled the resources I’ve accumulated (from real life deaf, mute, or blind people) into a handy masterlist.
Deaf Characters:
Deaf characters masterpost
Deaf dialogue thread
Dialogue with signing characters (also applies to mute characters.)
A deaf author’s advice on deaf characters
Dialogue between deaf characters
Mute Characters
Life as a Mute
My Silent Summer: Life as a Mute
What It’s Like Being Mute
21 People Reveal What It’s Really Like To Be Mute
I am a 20 year old Mute, ask me anything at all!
Blind Characters:
The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Blind Characters.
@referenceforwriters masterpost of resources for writing/playing blind characters.
The youtube channel of the wonderful Tommy Edison, a man blind from birth with great insight into the depiction of blind people and their lives.
An Absolute Write thread on the depiction of blind characters, with lots of different viewpoints and some great tips.
And finally, this short, handy masterpost of resources for writing blind characters.
Characters Who Are Blind in One Eye
4 Ways Life Looks Shockingly Different With One Eye
Learning to Live With One Eye
Adapting to the Loss of an Eye
Adapting to Eye Loss and Monocular Vision
Monocular Depth Perception
Deaf-Blind Characters
What Is It Like To Be Deafblind?
Going Deaf and Blind in a City of Noise and Lights
Deaf and Blind by 30
Sarita is Blind, Deaf, and Employed (video)
Born Deaf and Blind, This Eritrean American Graduated Harvard Law School (video)
A Day of a Deaf Blind Person
Lesser Known Things About Being Deafblind
How the Deaf-Blind Communicate
Early Interactions With Children Who Are Deaf-Blind
Raising a DeafBlind Baby
If you have any more resources to add, let me know! I’ll be adding to this post as I find more resources.
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UNPOPULAR OPINION: A lot of "mental health issues" disappear when bills are paid, rent is secure, and the fridge is full. Peace is expensive. And pretending money doesn't affect mental health is privilege.
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