I've been reading over your synopsis on 'MDZS Sex and Consent' (which I loved, it helped explain things so much better) and was curious, in your own opinion... which translation of the ones you exemplified would you consider the better, more accurate one to read through, if indeed there are more than 1 fully translated work (i.e. something better than Exiled Rebel's translations?)
So the thing is that there is only one full English translation, which is Exiled Rebel’s. For a breakdown of what other versions are out there, see this post. There’s a few different versions of the later half of the novel, from before ExR had gotten that far, but not any of the beginning.
I’m not really able to say what versions are more accurate than others because I don’t read Chinese and therefore can’t judge. I can only say that from conversations with people who CAN, the places where ExR varies from other versions seem to be less accurate to the original. But there’s a lot of interpretation in translation, perhaps especially in Chinese translation. I also have a problem with ExR because their finished product is very poorly edited and does not read as something written by a native English speaker. It makes it jarring and sometimes a chore to read, IMO.
I found this version of chapters 79-113 very readable, though perhaps not as word-exact of a translation. (The problem with Chinese-English translations, I’m learning, is that doing a direct word-for-word translation produces something that’s very awkward and difficult to understand in English, while trying to make it sound like more natural English can lose shades of meaning conveyed in the original.)
(For example, the infamous “we are husband and wife” that leads certain Western fans to label the novel homophobic is a word-for-word translation of the Chinese. The Chinese word for married is literally “husband and wife.” There’s not another word like there is in English where we have the option of saying one or the other. So a translator has to choose, do you translate it as close as possible or give a more figurative translation that is what we would say in English (”married”). Choosing not to do the latter opens the way for people to misinterpret because it sounds so weird in English and therefore it must Mean Something.)
What I find I want more the more cnovels I read is for the translator to provide as many notes as possible about the original and any shades of meaning. The Guardian novel I’m reading is driving me nuts with absolutely no notes, leaving me to wonder “now when it says ‘saint’ what is the original word and what does it mean exactly”). Which is why I adore the translation of MDZS that @pumpkinpaix has been doing, although she’s only got two chapters out right now. Most fan translators are working as fast as possible because people are desperate to find out what happens, so they don’t spend that much time worrying over every phrase or annotating like it’s a dissertation. But, yanno, in an ideal world...
If you want to know the “best” version of the novel I’ve experienced, it’s actually the audio drama, with subtitles by @suibiansubs. No, it’s not the actual novel text, since it lacks narration, but it’s very faithful and well-acted.
