Wuxia Subbing

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 9:21 pm Post subject: Wuxia Subbing Post Rating: 0

First off I would like to thank all the fansubbers out there who sub series for us your work is much appreciated. However, I was wondering howcome theres barely any wuxia subbings nowadays. The only subs I see here are subs for modern series. Im pretty sure there are many people here wanting to see more wuxia series subs. We are missing out on a lot of great wuxia series just cuz we dont understand mandarin or cantonese. so please can we get more subbings for wuxia series. thanks

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 9:34 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Likely because most of the subbers prefer working on series they enjoy, and don't seem to have much interest in subbing them. Such is life.

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 9:54 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

All fansubbing takes a great amount of dedication and time. However, it is even more so with wuxia fansubbing. I understand Cantonese fluently but if I were to choose between subbing a modern series or a wuxia series - I'd pick the modern series. I absolutely love wuxia series but the formal speech that goes on in wuxia series can be daunting to translate compared to the Cantonese that is used in the modern series.

Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 12:37 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:54 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

that seems to be a good point cuz i can see that subbing ancient series can be harder even when i dont speak chinese at all. but yeah im not complaining or anything its just that i wish i could watch more wuxia series cuz you cant find them anywhere else but in China. here in the U.S., I see shows that are like modern series everyday with the same theme over and over again. that's why i like to watch wuxia series cuz they're something new.

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 1:49 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:07 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I love wuxia to death--I used to watch nothing but wuxia. But I think that there are a lot of concepts on which wuxia depends that is very difficult to translate. They are just part of the Chinese history/culture. To add to that, when they talk about different pressure points in the body (which is like every other minute), it's very difficult unless you have list you can translate from, and wuxia has even more puns and wordplays than modern dramas, and a subbed episode would be littered with notes even after much editing, and that's why not many people sub wuxia.

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:49 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

True. Concepts like Qing-gong may be tricky to translate and explain but it is not impossible. If you watch Naruto and Bleach, you'll find that the Chakra (in Naurto) and Reiatsu (in Bleach) is similar to the Nei-gong (internal strength) used in Wuxia, and Shunpo (in Bleach) is quite similar to Qing-gong. People can still grasp the concept pretty well.

I don't think puns and wordplays are too much of a problem since they don't appear quite often. From my experience, it's those idioms/proverbs, poetry, martial arts training instructions and customary speech that are really troublesome.

Those 4 word idioms will take paragraphs of translation to convey the abstract meaning fully. Ancient poems make absolutely no sense to people who aren't experts on it. And when a character follows some instruction from his/her master or a manual, most of the time it involves really strange concepts. For example, a common usage like 氣運丹田 (Qi yun dan tian) can be translated into "move your Qi to the pubic region". People will ask wtf? As for customary speech, the most common example is the word 請 (please). Its usage is as wide as the "oneigaishimasu" in Japanese.

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:10 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

What kind of shows is everybody thinking of doing, anyways? If you are doing something like Yin Xue Dao (which is romantic) or Tian Long Ba Bu (which is really interesting, but long), it might be an interesting project. But I think that there'd also be a high possibility that the project gets dropped in the middle.

P.S. I have copies of both, but not in very high quality, and would be willing to help.

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 4:58 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:15 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:31 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

w00t to D-Fansubs! Wub

I'm downloading the first episode right now. Big Smile

I still own, have, and cherish the first version of Madame White Snake (it was the first period thing I watched when I was little that I liked. I didn't like Journey to the West.) And I'm really curious to see the new version.

Although... I would argue that Madame White Snake isn't a typical wuxia. I know that in the first version, there is a lot of magic stuff. I associate wuxia with things like what Jin Yong wrote (read every single one of his novels). I think that the magic in Madame White Snake is slightly easier to explain than wuxia concepts, where it's neither magic nor reality...

Just my two cents.

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:37 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:21 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Props to D-Fansubs for making an effort to sub wuxia dramas. However, since you people aren't totally dedicated to the genre, there's not much to offer other than a couple of dramas due to a lack of manpower and whatnot. I would care to help but I have zero interest in Madame White Snake and the other one (Da Ren Wu) doesn't appeal much to me. Anyways, good luck with your work. salut

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:26 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I am currently subbing:
Warriors of the Yang Clan (Yang Men Hu Jiang)
Treacherous Waters (Ni Shui Han)
and Legend of Madame White Snake 2005 in cooperation with D-Fansub.

I'm also subbing Legend of Condor Heroes 2003 for some other group (kinda stalled now).

All of these are Wuxia drama. I am dedicated to wuxia dramas. However, as many has pointed out, there are lots of challenges in subbing wuxia dramas:

* Long series. A typical wuxia drama is usually 30 episodes or more.
* Formal speech. Lots of them. Formal speech always use lots of words that you rarely find in modern language, especially in addressing (ling lang, qian jin, ben wang, bi xia, etc). And the use of Zhi (the one shaped like the letter Z) is pretty extensive (as opposed to rather sparingly in modern language).
* Constant reference to history, especially if it is history-related. Jin Yong's series almost always laced with history. I was forced to know some Chinese history (esp. Song era) when I was translating these dramas to understand the context of the speech.
* Constant reference to culture. Aside of martial arts, there are many other things in the drama requires some comprehension of culture. Example: The concept of xiao ("dedication, esp to parents / shifu") or ren ("endurance / patience"). I think some knowledge of Confucianism would help.
* Ancient literature. Boy, some dramas took phrases out of Books of Poem or Confucius teaching (reference: Legend of Condor Heroes 2003, one of Southern Emperor's disciple is actually reciting Confucius teaching), which is spelled in ancient Chinese. It's HARD!
* Deep knowledge of literature, especially poems and proverbs, which are used almost everywhere in wuxia dramas.
* Some knowledge of ancient characters, especially in weapon / martial arts style names. Sometimes also used in conjunction in poems. I encountered the word ji (how much) in ancient form (which means tea table).

Well, coupled with lack of spare time and lack of mates to do the translation with, I ended up doing the translation alone and the translation is quite stunted.

I'm looking forward for people who has interests in wuxia fansubbing. Maybe we can work out something together. In the mean time, I'd like to finish up Warriors of the Yang Clan. But I'm so busy at the moment.