She Brought Up the Friendly Protagonist as a Villain. - Ch. 3.6 - author's note

[ntep_alt]

I’m not even officially following this series closely, but it’s actually great that the author is making efforts to communicate and solve the illegal translations issue. I definitely agree that Naver wouldn’t look at MD, and to get an official contract where they can also put it on Webtoons can only happen if the series is popular on their site first.

The concern is whether the translation team is going to empathize with the authors and stop the translations. That comes at the cost of losing readers. If the readers make an effort, reading the series is feasible. However, it depends if the readers are willing to make that effort. As someone who only uses the phone to read on MD, getting an image translator (on another device to use the camera on?) is way too much effort for me personally. Safari on iPhone also didn’t give me automatic translation on Naver Korea, so when I click the Raw link, I don’t even know what I’m reading. Moreover, MTL (Machine Translations) are not perfect and rarely makes sense.

(Or even the translation team can also make announcements on the translated version reminding readers to go to Naver and leave a like or comment to support the author. I’ve seen several works that do that and reeeeally pushing us to read official versions. But this would mean translations would continue)

A case of author-approved translations would be the model for “Kanako’s life as an Assassin” by Toshiya Wakabayshi, where he posts the english translations on Twitter (translated by a legit fan-translator); a much easier platform for foreign readers, but I am not sure if the author would consider moving to another platform.

To the author, I really love your art, and I think the story’s been good so far. Sorry for what happened and that you are hurt by this, hopefully whatever happens next you won’t feel too upset. I appreciate you reading the comments and voicing out your thoughts. Best of luck to you and hope your work gets officially serialized^^ 화이팅~!

 

[ailinchen]

I remember a few years ago, before webtoon appeared in other countries or if it already existed they were not translating cheese in the trap, that there was a translation group that used a tool over naver so we foreign readers, could read cheese in the trap in English while giving the author views on naver. I think this benefit both author and readers, and I’m wondering if it would be possible to do the same with this particular webtoon.
I understand the creators complaint and how hard it is to make a webtoon and update it often without getting paid, and I also understand how hard translators work to give us the translations. I just hope a solution could be reach that satisfy everyone

 

[Lisalys]

First of all I have to say that I'm surprised to know the author read the comments! And I happy to know she/he (I don't know the author pronouns) is open to have a dialogue with the foreigners fans. I truly understand she/he point and I want to expose our point as readers too. I'm brazilian and here we speak Portuguese, not English, but as a privileged person I learned other language (I'm sorry but my English is not perfect) and that gave me the opportunity to read amazing Korean stories like yours but the point is, we read pirate translation and because of that we have to stay in secret 'cause a lot of authors is not open minded about it. If the scan is exposed to the author, we can't read the story anymore. We always say thank you to them because they bring to us amazing stories for free and in a language we understand. Never I thought an author is reading our comments 'cause we try to hide it. If we read your stories using image translators it will be hard to understand, the translation is so mechanic and literal so sometimes things just doesn't make sense, especially to people like me who aren't from a country with English as a native language. If you can get a volunteer to do official translation in the platform I would be happy to support you there! People doesn't make illegal translations to harm the authors, their objective is to share amazing stories if us <3

 

[alternest]

Guys, just download Papago on your phone and translate the text using that app. Press image, point your camera at the text and it translates! If you read on the phone, just screenshot and upload from gallery to Papago. Google translate does this stuff too but Papago is made by Naver, so imo the Korean translation tends to be way better than Google's. It's still machine translation and won't be perfect, but a webcomic like this usually doesn't have complicated sentences. The app translation is pretty good for this comic.

If you want better tranlsations then....just give it a view and hope it gets published and then picked up for overseas translation by Webtoon lol.

@ntep_alt The author's goal is to get officially published by Naver, so moving somewhere else so a scan group can translate to english and placate ungrateful foreign fans is way counterintuitive lol. The scan group that was doing this already said they dropped it when they posted the other note, but iirc they decided to drop it before the author posted that note. TL groups have tried the whole give the author a view at [link] before but I don't think people do that bc credit pages get skipped a lot, lol. The raw link is listed in the info for this comic on this site, even, but how many people have clicked it, I wonder.

 

[nico-chi]

@alternest i'm going to copy this and add it to my first comment with the link to their original text

 

[nyanmaruxx]

I understand where's the author's coming from; I agree with most of what they said but the way they invalidated the scan groups' effort kind of threw me off but then again if that's how they feel then it's not my place... still though, we're thanking the groups because they did all the translating + typsetting + redrawing WITHOUT getting paid. Sure, it's still illegal activity nonetheless but what can we do? It's not like we can understand Korean... Machine translation isn't gonna cut it, I'm sorry.

 

[auren]

Welp, guess I won't be reading the webtoon. I'm trying to learn korean so I can read the original scans of a lot of the comics I like, but it's a process and I rely on english translations until then. If it was never translated, you would never see me reading the comic anyways.

So I guess my only criticism is that I'm not really a reader gained or lost here, because I don't have access to the Naver site. Until I learn Korean, I'm not making an account to access webtoons there. My only way of reading this comic was through the grace of someone translating and sharing. Image/google translations rarely make sense, and there's phrases/references used in korean that wouldn't make sense to someone who doesn't know the language. Translator notes generally explain these, but mechanical translators will not.

So, as much as I get the artist feeling like translators are somehow stealing their work, I'm also not really a reader they would have had in the first place because I don't understand Korean.

The reason I enjoy MD is because the official translations and raws are usually/always linked. So once it's in english, I usually wait for the english to catch up to the translations here. I've started reading comics on tappytoon/tapas once it's started being translated officially after reading them here many times.

It looks regardless of what people are saying, the webtoon is deleted.

 

[Rxypup]

@auren It's not deleted, just a bad link on the title page.

https://comic.naver.com/bestChallenge/list.nhn?titleId=750542&no=3

 

[Mai_loves_icecream]

I see. In the first message, I think most of the readers felt the author was blaming us and making us out to be the bad guys. but now that they've come up and clarified that point I feel like I understand her more. Author, I like your cartoon. I hope you have a great time making your comic. And I hope your comic can become popular enough to get an english serialization. Guys, the author has come up and wrote so much to help us understand. Shouldn't we now step up and tell the author our thanks for making this story??

 

[Jessicawu24]

I know the concerns of the author the readers are not thanking the translators because they think it’s their work, it’s because they worked hard to translate it for free so we can understand it. I’ve never once thought of the translators being the actual author since it’s common sense to know that the translators and author are different people. I’m not trying to belittle the author and her work, it’s just that there’s no need to come for the translators because once your webtoon get popular everyone will know the author.

 

[Rasuberi]

I’m an artist and if people were translating my comic, I’d feel so humbled that anyone cared to read it overseas :>

 

[simba6]

wait i actually never thought about it like that, i never put two and two together and thought that the author would be involved at all. well the more you know. and also i really really really really love you webtoons🥺🥺i'm rooting!! does anyone know the link to naver (for the webtoon) i really have no clue how to use it? or this ist he official? bc i searched the author up and MD comes up, i have no idea.

 

[Housekij]

I enjoyed your cartoon thank you for the hard work !♥️♥️♥️정말 수고했어요 👍 🤍

 

[glossyliz]

damn some of yall are really ungrateful. the author's feeling is valid and yall need to suck it up. i hope its going to have an official english trans soon so lets just wait and buy it

 

[nico-chi]

@simba6 link is in the description (titled raw) or in the first comment

 

[saenahonce]

@rasuberi Well, everyone’s different, right? Also, she was right in that nobody acknowledges her and thanks her for the story/art whenever scanlators release translations. Getting her work illegally scanlated doesn’t do anything for her name/brand, so there’s literally nothing she gains from scanlations translating her work.

@ailinchen That was OddSquad, most well-known for using their tool for cheese in the trap.

 

[vaphelion]

Hey guys, I hope this’ll help clear things up a bit.

First of all, if any of you are familiar with line webtoon, you’d know how it’s split into originals and canvas. Originals are webtoons that update on a regular basis because they have a contract where they get paid for their work. On the other hand, canvas is a place where anyone can post their work at any time. It was usually completely free content and only recently was their the option for people to make money through ads.

From my understanding, the author of the story you’re currently reading is on the “canvas” end of naver webtoon, meaning she doesn’t really get paid for her series and it’s completely her effort. Therefore, although she might get support on md, she’s not getting support on the raws which lessens her chance of making it successful with her webtoon. This is why she asks for you to support her on the raws rather than translated here.

I understand that not many of you might not be able to read korean, but please consider the author’s feelings on this matter. This is her story and above all, only she gets to dictate how she wants it to be read. I hope this provides some clarity.

 

[Serverclosed]

So author is disheartened and jealous? Well, I kind of understand it, tho she went overboard with the previous message. On my part I¿m gonna try to compromise with her demands I guess.

Does any body knows an extension which translate korean mangas?

 

[forget_it]

I was curious about this webtoon, but hadn't tried to read it until today. I went straight for the author's note like any reader and I have to say, I really like her response. I like that she's proactive and willing to explain her own position. I liked how she phrased it. I don't think there's room for criticizing her. This was a good statement. The role of translators is a little different in the eyes of readers, but her note is explaining her perspective and I don't find it unreasonable.

I hope fans of this work return this artist's good will.

I think @ailinchen has a great idea. If anyone is still interested in translating this work, they should try this idea instead. A translation tool that translates over the original Korean comic in Naveen (the way they did with Cheese in a Trap) would be a great way to read webtoons without ever fearing they will be canceled because the author caught wind of it. This way, we readers can enjoy and the authors can receive the support they deserve. It is a win win situation.

@alternest Thank you for explaining how to use an image translator and where to find one. I had no idea they were a thing that could be used, but now I know where to go for when I want to read comics in their original language to support the creator. I am a lurker by nature, but hits count too right?

Actually, thinking back to my own responses on the Trash of the Count's Family threads...it's true that we protest and say a lot of things, but in the end, this is the author and artist's original work and we don't have much leg to stand on. The "but it gives exposure" argument is useless if they can't eat and has been a way to try to get artists to work for free since forever. In retrospect, I regret things I've said regarding other series about this. I was just frustrated that there weren't ways for it to be brought over to is, but how can they if the hits they receive don't accurately reflect how many people are reading their work overseas (thanks to the tireless work of translators)?

So we have to find a way to resolve this too.

 

[yeonjoo92]

it's sad to see, some of us, overseas readers got angry to authors. some even cursed the author to death (saw it in different title that the author also got angry for the unofficial translation, the saddest thing is the scan group was the one to encourage their readers on cursing the author meanwhile they charge the readers of faster release, the nerve!!)

if you don't like the way author handles the illegal translation, just leave her work, no need to say bad things.