In light of some recent events that have been happening on the internet, ExR, as a whole, decided that we needed to say our side of things since apparently this whole thing is because we, well… exist?
First and foremost, throughout this lengthy post, we will give a small English lesson, some words of the day.
Translation: The process of translating words or text from one language into another. This process isn’t perfect and will depend on the translator’s interpretation of the said text. Chinese is not, in any way, similar to English. While some more western languages have closer origins, Chinese and English are very far apart.
Translating requires a balance of both cultures; you keep something, and you have to lose some (魚與熊掌不可兼得). The words in the brackets mean you can’t have both the fish and the bear paws. We can’t say that it is a perfectly correct translation, but those with no Chinese knowledge won’t know what it says anyway. If we say it means, you cannot have everything, then a normal reader would know what the translation means, but is that actually a “correct” translation? This is one example to show how there’s no such thing as a perfect translation; please do understand that.
We are not saying our translations are perfect, nor are we saying that ours is the best in existence. We did this for fun, for free, and because K loved the original GDC novel.
Some say that ExR did not leave others with any other options other than reading our translation because we “bullied” other translators into dropping the project? Is it okay if we translate something that another group is working on? Is it okay to start from chapter 18, 45, 66, 90, or any chapter and not from the beginning? If it is, then there are loads of novels which we love and would like to translate, so is it okay for us to snatch it?
No, because then you would say we are creating drama and poaching. That is exactly what happened. We asked those who wanted to translate GDC to start from the beginning and to not start from the middle of the novel. We never bullied anyone into dropping a legitimate translation they did from the start.
To comment on some of the posts we have seen from others about certain translations, and we would like to comment on our translation for 夫妻. 夫(husband)妻(wife) is literally translated to “husband and wife” or “married couple.” Even if someone else translated it as plain “couple” (this is the Bing translation BTW), it doesn’t mean husband and wife is wrong, because, in this case, the Chinese is quite literally husband and wife. While fansubs have the constriction of not being able to discuss with the author on what to change, official translations do. In this case, other translations used a different interpretation than the literal translation, that’s all.
So, how is saying 夫妻 a nasty thing? Is it just because it is not gender-neutral? Is it because we did not change the original 夫妻 into 夫夫? In Chinese, 夫妻 is basically the only way of saying a married couple. Any language itself is fucking sexist.
The problem here also is that language is never clear, that’s why definitions in dictionaries exist. However, if you do know Chinese and disagree with any of our translations, it would have brought better results to give constructive criticism in an email rather than biased hate on a social media platform. Also, jumping the bandwagon thoughtlessly when you don’t know diddly squat about Chinese or ExR is pretty low.
Fujoshi (Fujo): Girls who enjoy yaoi (a genre in Japan that contains sexual and/or romantic relations between two men). Fujoshis do not always think of yaoi as something sexual or something to “get off” on, which does not make it a fetish. Fetish: A form of sexual desire in which gratification is linked to an abnormal degree to a particular object, item of clothing, part of the body, etc.
How does adoring homosexual love make us homophobic, exactly? Also, being a fujo and being a homophobe at the same time is nonsense. Are all of the other groups getting sudden hate for being fujos as well? Doubtful.
There are some who are saying we are gross, racist fujo fetishists because, somehow, in another translation (be it from another fan translation group or random commenter), there were parts of the original sex scenes missing. (We would never make up sex scenes cause we respect the hell out of the author. That’s what fanfiction is for.) This just means that they used the censored version to do the translation.
In Chinese social culture, it is illegal to publish anything featuring homosexual relationships. It wasn’t until 2018 that China even acknowledged that someone could love another person of the same gender… And if the problem is that you do not see a sex scene in the DongHua (animation), or if the DongHua has anything different content-wise from our translation, it just means that the DongHua trimmed the content or was censored to fit Chinese television.
If someone was to call anyone homophobic (having or showing a dislike of or prejudice against homosexual people), it should be most of China or those who are saying we changed the original text to fit our “fetishes.”
It’s a translation of a novel we did not originally write and doesn’t reflect our views, and even if it did, none of it is homophobic (our views). Were others saying the novel is homophobic because there’s only one gay couple in the entirety of the whole GDC novel? It’s a world where MXTX decided to focus on just that one homosexual couple. There could be more gay couples out there, but it’s her work, her novel, her own characters, and how she wants to write it is up to her. Plus, she’s already done writing it, your words can’t do anything to change it now.
Cyber Bullying: The use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. We were called white, fat, racist, cunts, bastards, assholes, etc. by people who don’t even know us. K, the translator for GDC, is a small, cute, Chinese teenager, and yet people are saying that she’s a “fat white smelly bitch who should be set on fire?” Isn’t this the real bullying? Do most of you even realize that in today’s society, more people commit suicide due to cyber-bullying than anything else? Isn’t there an old saying that goes along the lines of “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all?”
The bottom line is, no-one deserves to be bombarded with this kind of hate and vitriol for providing a translation of a novel for other people for free. The panel on the manhua was a joke, and ExR didn’t drop the manhua because of that “one bully.”
No, we dropped it because of the hate that had been piling unnecessarily as it was thrown at our feet, in our faces, and into our personal lives. All for something we did for free. Let that sink in.
Don’t jump onto the hate bandwagon so quickly because “everyone” is doing it. Every story has two sides, and if you’re mature enough, you would want to try and get both sides of the whole story before actually jumping into your own conclusions or, you know, parroting something you saw off of someone’s tweet or post. We do hope you see this and decide to clarify all the misunderstandings you have about ExR and the drama that’s taking place right now.
We still will not pick up the GDC manhua again.
People have already started talking about how we dropped GDC manhua, and they went to flame the main instigator, however, please do not do this. By doing so, you are just like them. It is the same thing others have done to us, and we do not want others to feel the same hurt we do.
Be nice to each other, send love, not hate. ExR was not created to sow discord or to cause people to want to give up their lives. It was created because we are those rotten (homophobic?) fujoshis that love yaoi more than a regular harlequin novel.
As we are a BL and yaoi only site, expect more lovely BL from us.
Thanks for all the love and support.
Exiled Rebels Scanlations
I’m lost. Don’t know what’s going on. However, please keep up the good work for the REAL people who appreciate your translations. I hope these cyber bullies don’t ruin things for the rest of us ;(
Same here – have no clue what’s happened. I also hope that the team knows there are many of us that appreciate what you do for those of us that can not read the language.
These people have been making the rounds accusing lots of other bl teams of being homophobic fetishizers of gay men. They’re stupid antis with nothing else better to do on the internet than to clutch their pearls at people that have nothing to do with them and aren’t harming them in any way. They accuse everyone of being gross straight girls with fetishes but ignore the large amount of both authors AND readers that span both the gender and sexuality spectrum. Please just block and ignore these ignorant asses. You guys keep doing you.
I haven’t been too involved in the fandom as yet, so I didn’t realize this was going on. I’m sorry you’re all going through this.
The sad thing is that this is the lesson of GCD itself. Wei Wuxian was tormented in large parts because of rumors and hearsay and bullying.
Sad that all this has happened- sending you support for the future, and best of luck!
Love you guys all the more for this. If those haters had time to read this, they would have been thoroughly schooled. The internet has brought us much convenience and at the same time, had become a platform to sow discord, propagate fake information and most importantly – made people LAZY in examining issues from both sides and to seriously think. So unfortunately this problem will continue to exist in the net.
Maybe some scholars should look into “Netiquette?” – if society has given rules, maybe that should be another branch of study? … but I hope and I digress…
As a Chinese person who has pretty well grown up Western (semi illiterate), I can understand the complexity of the language. It is flowerly, poetic, symbolic .. all mixed with context of the said time. And if you can see the history and culture in China past.. there was a lot of “said times” and a helluva lot of “contexts”. Even in modern times, spoken idioms fly over my head. I need simple words and meanings (which actually means a grade school kid conversation). Watching the evening news sometimes stumps me so bad I need to watch the English version. It’s not that easy.
As I said before, I am always your fan. I know for a fact how hard translating this language is – because I can’t read or write Chinese and even hearing is spoken / speaking it stumps me. So those who can just conveniently criticize as if their soft boiled egg turned out hard-boiled – can just shove it.
Yes, I agree with you, I’d rather be reading BL than some trash Harlequin novel. Supporting you all the way, and enjoying the BL ride. Love ya all.
I’m very grateful for what you guys have done so far. I’m sorry for being clueless of what happen over the internet… but stay strong.
I’m not on the up and up about this. But I am sorry to hear that you all are being harassed/bullied by ignorant people. As a person of asian descent I really really appreciate your translations. I know how to read some Chinese and translate (but have mostly forgotten it since I haven’t read anything for years in the language) and if it wasn’t for ExR doing these novels I would have never gotten into it. I really appreciate all the hard work you all put into it as I know sentence structure and translations can be difficult to translate/find the appropriate meaning in English as there are idioms and the ways of speaking are very different then that of other cultures. The only way to approach this all would be to interpret it and translate that way you think sounds correct or as close as possible to get the same meaning across. I thought K did an extraordinary job with the translations with GDC, there wasn’t any part of the novel I didn’t get or had questions about. It read very well. I think you all do a fantastic job with the novels and manga you have picked up. Please don’t feel disheartened and know that there are a lot of people who really support and appreciate all the hard work, time and effort you all put into your projects and this group.
TSK10X ungrateful fans. Can’t even understand a joke.(my friend provided me insight as to how everything goes down to this)
Exr i respect your decision on stopping your eng translation for the gdc manhua translation, at least this will serve as a reminder to those ungrateful fans out there and also thankful for bringing to us the eng fan translation for mdzs novel.
Wow, wth have been happening here? Why can’t everyone just glad that these wonderful people have been working hard to bring us, readers, stories to lighten our daily hard days. It’s a free world guys, you don’t like the contents, no one force you to read them. Leave. Go away. The rest of us proved to have enjoy them. No need to spat hate everywhere you go just because you can. After Sulli and Goo Hara incidents, isn’t time we realised that cyber bullying is not cool at all? NO. Just no.
For ExRs team, all love for you. You have done greaaaat jobs!! We understand that converting one language to another is never an easy job. Especially chinese with all those characters with multiple meanings, phrase and all. If someone halfwittedly could not understand your translation and turned it into something else and hated you for it, than it was their lost. If you defend your projects you had working so hard continously against people who want to go on a whim (or think they are smater then you), than good for you. I stand by you (like this internet worlds lack of novels and mangas to be translated, go finds your own project, dimwit!).
All and all, to ExRs team, please don’t get disheartened by this. We alwaysss thankful for what you done, and waiting for you new projects in the future. Good luck and bless you 💜
Fandom is a double-edged sword—it’s a refuge to find comfort and friends, but at the same time, if you and your kin feel attacked or slighted, it came become very personal. When something you love defies your personal wishes and headcanons, be it joking or otherwise, it is hurtful. However, the story is always written by its creator.
Whatever the language, a translator will always try their best to interpret a story to the best of their ability. No two languages and cultures are alike, so there will be differences and nuances that need to be considered to keep the story as true and relatable in another language compared to its original form. A translator’s job is not to fit a narrative to their own desires, but to portray an original concept into another language to be as understandable as it was originally intended.
A story may not always include content that we like. Heavy topics may be included, but that does not mean that they are fetishized. Just because there is violence in a story does not mean that whoever conceptualized the plot endorses such actions, and the same goes for sexual content. As an example, Game of Thrones includes such themes as incest, pedophilia, rape, torture, et cetera, but they are simply themes, not endorsements. Most of the more graphic scenes are not included in the HBO live-action adaptation, but just because these scenes are not included does not mean that they do not exist in the author’s own telling of the story.
If a friend or loved one experiences trauma in their life, does it mean that they cannot ever share their experiences? It may be uncomfortable, but such things do, unfortunately, happen. Further, they can be important plot devices when used properly. Such things can add depth of character, and validate rationale and specific reactions in situations. They are not topics that should be used lightly, but they are valid, just as anyone elses’ experiences.
It can be just as, if not more, uncomfortable for a translator to make the decision to maintain the intended meaning of a translation as the person who reads it. And one must bear in mind that the content they consume is indeed created by a person, and translated by a person, and edited by a person, and consciously distributed to the masses with the confidence that what is being offered is as true to the original content as it can possibly be.
What the people of ExR does is a labor of love. It is a collective that wishes to share Boy’s Love and Yaoi content that would otherwise be confined to a limited foreign market. There is no censorship, or homophobia, nor shaming of any content. The group simply wishes to share comics and stories that they, themselves, love, to the best of their ability to those who would otherwise have no access to such content.
If you do not agree with any such content, it is not the fault of the translator. If you do not appreciate the work that goes into supplying English-translated content free of charge, there is no need to waste your energy following ExR and commenting hateful messages. You have better things to do. Pick up a pen. Start to write, start to draw. Create something that you, yourself, would love to see in the genre.
Thank you for your support. <3
roguemarks
i dont know whats going on…. but I love you guys…. I love your translation and your generousness that you guys are sharing these wonderful novels with us… without demanding anything…. you are giving up your precious times for us to translate these novels …. so if anyone bullies you … I would like to hunt them down until the they beg forgiveness ,,,, dont mind the jealous kit ….you guys are doing your best
Won’t lie – still have no idea where all the hate is coming from, but I don’t even wanna waste a second of my time reading their nonsense words. I am reading the novel in Chinese cuz I bought the Taiwan version, and I think your translators did the best they could, it’s a tough job, and I don’t see why anyone has a problem with it. But even if they did, they can F off and just not read it. No one should be subject to such hateful words and criticism, including made up rumors and shit, especially when really you guys do such wonderful work, and all this hard work is done out of the goodness of your hearts. I love EXR!!! Whoever is hating… they don’t deserve anyone’s time. Block.
Whatever is happening and whatever happens, I am, from the bottom of my heart, forever thankful for all the work your group does. I am of partial Chinese descent and grew up never getting to learn the language of my late Grandma. Reading translations like yours filled with the marks of your hard work and dedication give me the courage to start small and one day learn.
Tbh western twitter really loves doing that. I even saw some tweets saying ‘I’ve felt their translation is off since the start’ and some variation of it, even though they speak 0 Chinese lmao.
Keep up the good work, everyone! More people appreciate you for what you’re doing, so thank you so much!
I don’t know what happened and was surprised to see this post. I loved your translations and is camping on your website everyday to check for updates of my favorite novels. If those haters are criticizing your work. they’re not obliged to read them at all. But for us readers, who truly appreciate the hard work your team is putting into these translations, we will always be grateful to have discovered this world of BL novels.
I’m Chinese, and I can read/write/speak Mandarin. I’ve also read original versions of the novels your team translated and didn’t see any major discrepancies. Translation work is hard and tedious; it doesn’t need to be a literal translation. I’m quite content to read translated work as long as the thought / gist of the story is intact.
EXR, please keep up the good work!
This is something that people are doing as a hobby, for fun. Giving people grief about it is so unclassy.
While I prefer reading your manga scanlations over the novels, I still appreciate the time you spend in your hobby.
May you continue to enjoy your translation & scanlation hobbies despite what series you do and do not do.
Viene naturale pensare che non avreste neanche dovuto arrivare a scrivere un post del genere..
In ogni caso grazie ancora di tutto,spero che tutto questo caos non vi fermi perché rendete felici molte persone
you’re preaching to the perverted – me! i peruse your site and others like it because that is what i want to do and i grant you work ethically and have admirable principles. i have learned from your website that languages can have basic AND poetic meaning and translations to express the meaning of the double sided coin can be tricky! just look how different google translates euro languages to english compared to how asian languages are ambiguously translated. you should be paid for it AND given a doctorate of linguistics. good job! shake off the haters! I’m not a language professor but i know what i like and if i don’t find it, i keep searching. just don’t follow me, I’m lost too.
I just want to say that I feel more grateful that you could imagine for have translated MDZS.
As a non chinese speaker it would be impossible for me to access the novel and I’d be really frustrated because I really wanted to read it.
Chinese is a so complicated language and english must be one of the easiest languages to learn (at least for western people). Of course there must be plenty of ways to translate something, a correct translation should be one that won’t change the meaning of the original.
People like you make possible for people like me to be able to get a little into chinese culture and by none circumstance I would made a single complain.
You’re incredible, you’re doing all this work for free and you even have to deal with this kind of shit people.
YOU’RE AMAZING!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HARD WORK!!!
I really appreciate what you’re doing 😘😘😘😘
They’re just like mosquitoes. They suck on your blood (your translation) but they still find a way to annoy the hell out of you!
I support all of you from ExR and thank you sooooo much for all your translations ~
would like to add those even call mxtx “hetero fetishiser” why am I not surprised.
It toke me a half of my life to except that no matter what you do, you can never make all the peoples happy or satisfy because some of these peoples are miserable and what make them happy is to cause others to fell the same. I learn to listen in one ear and let it go out the other. Don’t let those rotten tomatoes get to you and your team. I appreciate all you guys hard work, so HAPPY CHINESE NEW may it bring you all good health so you can continue with your good work. Selfish much! ha ha ha a…..
That’s too sad, I love GDC. For a nonspeaker of foreign languages, translations like yours are a blessing. People are truly a bunch of wormholes. They can’t be satisfied no matter what. Why bother reading if it’s not to your liking? Are they some kind of masochists? Or maybe they just want to follow the trend and since they were so free, they want to create some chaos. A special hobby of theirs perhaps? They can’t seem to accept others are happy.
Well, there are still a lot of us who love and wait for your next projects. So do cheer up and good luck with your next one. 🙂
There are people who thinks that what you are doing is simple and easy not thinking how hard it is and just say whatever they wanted to say not considering the things that you had done for them in the past, bashing you and everything.
But still there are still many people who support you and are thankful for everything, i for one am one of the people who you made smile and happy, even though i don’t know what’s really happening but I’m sure that the PEOPLE WHO APPRECIATES THE THINGS YOU’VE DONE WILL OVERLAP THOSE PEOPLE WHO SAY’S NOTHING BUT BASHES.
We are here because of the hard works that you’ve done. We love you guys and support you.
I’ve been in various fandoms for many years and I have never understood those who have such mean and vile spirits that they have a need to attack anyone who is sharing their time and effort for the enjoyment of others. One of the basic rules for translations is that those sharing the translations actually don’t need a translation.
I also have to admit that after their sniping and bullying I’ve yet to see any of those so quick to attack the work of others ever do any serious work of their own. Interesting that rather than making an effort and sharing a contrasting or alternate site so readers/viewers can compare for themselves, they just attack and attack for some perverse pleasure they get out of creating havoc.
It’s also no surprise that some people only want to translate the ‘good bits’ – out of context – because they will get them the most attention. I have nothing but the utmost respect and appreciation for everyone involved with this site for the dedication that goes into treating the source material with respect and the dedication it took to complete the novel translation.
Like many I would never have been able to discover these characters and this universe without your work and my gratitude for that will never diminish.
I have no words to comment on many of the accusations listed in this post because they are so outrageous that there is no rational argument to give in reply to such delusion. I can only say thank you once again and know that you have our ongoing support.