Contributor
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2019
- Messages
- 1,813
There is a recurring topic that causes discussions now and then which is when the main title of a series is suddenly changed after years and normally within a day since the last chapter has been uploaded. There are two different definitions:
1st - "The primary title is whatever the official title in that language is, based on its official localisation" from MD Style Guide, which can be the romanised JP title, the JP one (which is never meant to be used here) or the English localisation from the publisher/author.
2nd - "The main title of this entry. Must be either an "official" English title, or a romanization of the original title" from the draft system, in other words it can be either the localised title given by the Japanese publisher or an overseas publisher (as you know they can differ).
The discrepancy of these two guidelines causes what I am going to describe, since the main title is not language specific. When searching for a title, either if you type the romaniced title or any of the other options the entry will show up with the main title, which mostly always starts with the romanised title and people become acquainted to it. When you enter said entry page if there is any English title, either the originally localised, the one the scanlator has added to or a MTL one someone has decided to add appears below the main title. For the rest of title entries, including the original Japanese one, they all appear under "Alternative Titles" and can be added later as foreign publishers start naming them. The problem usually comes sometime after the English publisher has its own translation and it is (or not) added to the column of Alternative Titles and normally as "Official English" link. Then one day someone who can edit entry pages decides to remove the romanised title that has been used since the start and puts in its place the English publisher one, and now when it shows up in the search tool or in updates the title people were acquainted with is nowhere - and sometimes it is not added to Alternative Titles column as a romaniced title, making it impossible to find until someone adds it. Now the damage is done and even if it is reverted someone can decide to change it again, sometimes until it gets locked and the admins need to get involved in something that could be avoided.
What I explained is pretty common and, in case someone needs a practical example, could be summarised as "'Chichi' (父) is the main title and 'Papa' the localised English title by the author, which appears below 'Chichi' in the title entry. A couple of years later Yenpress publishes the series under the title 'My Father', but instead of adding it as another English title they replace 'Chichi' by it 'My Father' and move 'Chichi' to Alternative Titles, so now 'My Father' shows up when 'Chichi' should and when you enter the title entry you read 'My Father' and 'Papa'". To avoid all this drama, in both places a unique guideline should appear and preferably a link to the MD Style Guide, since not only a lot of people do not visit the forum (unless restricted for breaking the rules) but also there should be not need to for something regarding the main site. For consistency and respect to other languages than English, the main title should be the romanised CJK title (or the non-CJK title it originally appears in case there is no native language one) and then the title that shows below inside the entry be the originally localised (English) one or if none then the English publisher one.
PS: there was no other way to properly write this without all the technicisms, do not confuse "title entry" and "entry title".
1st - "The primary title is whatever the official title in that language is, based on its official localisation" from MD Style Guide, which can be the romanised JP title, the JP one (which is never meant to be used here) or the English localisation from the publisher/author.
2nd - "The main title of this entry. Must be either an "official" English title, or a romanization of the original title" from the draft system, in other words it can be either the localised title given by the Japanese publisher or an overseas publisher (as you know they can differ).
The discrepancy of these two guidelines causes what I am going to describe, since the main title is not language specific. When searching for a title, either if you type the romaniced title or any of the other options the entry will show up with the main title, which mostly always starts with the romanised title and people become acquainted to it. When you enter said entry page if there is any English title, either the originally localised, the one the scanlator has added to or a MTL one someone has decided to add appears below the main title. For the rest of title entries, including the original Japanese one, they all appear under "Alternative Titles" and can be added later as foreign publishers start naming them. The problem usually comes sometime after the English publisher has its own translation and it is (or not) added to the column of Alternative Titles and normally as "Official English" link. Then one day someone who can edit entry pages decides to remove the romanised title that has been used since the start and puts in its place the English publisher one, and now when it shows up in the search tool or in updates the title people were acquainted with is nowhere - and sometimes it is not added to Alternative Titles column as a romaniced title, making it impossible to find until someone adds it. Now the damage is done and even if it is reverted someone can decide to change it again, sometimes until it gets locked and the admins need to get involved in something that could be avoided.
What I explained is pretty common and, in case someone needs a practical example, could be summarised as "'Chichi' (父) is the main title and 'Papa' the localised English title by the author, which appears below 'Chichi' in the title entry. A couple of years later Yenpress publishes the series under the title 'My Father', but instead of adding it as another English title they replace 'Chichi' by it 'My Father' and move 'Chichi' to Alternative Titles, so now 'My Father' shows up when 'Chichi' should and when you enter the title entry you read 'My Father' and 'Papa'". To avoid all this drama, in both places a unique guideline should appear and preferably a link to the MD Style Guide, since not only a lot of people do not visit the forum (unless restricted for breaking the rules) but also there should be not need to for something regarding the main site. For consistency and respect to other languages than English, the main title should be the romanised CJK title (or the non-CJK title it originally appears in case there is no native language one) and then the title that shows below inside the entry be the originally localised (English) one or if none then the English publisher one.
PS: there was no other way to properly write this without all the technicisms, do not confuse "title entry" and "entry title".
Last edited:
Upvote
2
