minacia
perpetually sour
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2020
- Messages
- 643
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- 133
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I actually have a paper that's due on Thursday that I'm procrastinating on
But of course, since when has that ever stopped the incredible forces of procrastination???
Also I'm a huge hypocrite. Even though I say that I hate idols, I still spent another hour today looking at HoloLive EN videos on youtube. I spent most of that time watching one of the interviews with Calliope, and sort processing the things that are inferable about her life based on the things she talked about. It's really incredible, y'know? Um... if I talk anymore, this entire post would be way too cliche and all of my credibility would fly down the drain.
I think one thing that immediately drew me to Calliope was because she's a content creator, and specifically like a super unpopular/indie musician who often talks about her feelings making music in an unpopular/dead genre.
It resonated with me immediately because, well, I automatically have +50 respect points for anyone who pursues art in something that's unpopular yet still has an incredible amount of humility while doing it.
A suuuuper long time ago, I once wrote a blog post about how the internet is sometimes feels like a solar system.
Like obviously, you have these super big-name planets and stuff that everyone knows.
You also have smaller asteroids and specks of space dust that nobody really notices yet floats in orbit around one of the bigger bodies.
Being an insignificant speck of dust myself (a fan), there's this certain special feeling that you get from stumbling across something that you think is good but nobody else has seen. I mean, this happened for me a ton because I started off on this side of the Internet as a translator. I translated novels, so obviously I found lots of stuff that I liked but weren't available in English.
Translating is extremely frustrating and un-rewarding for the amount of time that goes into it. It's extremely tedious and genuinely not fun.
It's like if I told you to take all seven volumes of Harry Potter (in paperback) and transcribe every single letter backwards a different sheet of paper. It takes five times as long to translate something as it takes to read it, and it's boring as fuck.
I think one of the main reasons why people translate is because they're fans.
It's really hard to find to motivation to translation something unless you are a fan.
So let's highlight this particular word.
Fan.
What does it mean to be a fan?
My romantic other watches a ton of (American) football, so it goes to say that you can be a fan of sports.
You can be a fan of people.
And likewise you can be a fan of certain works.
Like it's one thing to be crazy BTS fan stalking an idol group, but then there are also the "civilized" fans.
What's the difference?
Is there something fundamentally special about being a fan?
I mean, as usual, I only ever have the authority to talk about myself.
In college/university, I um... spent a lot of time translating. I actually translated three volumes of an obscure light novel that not many people follow (but it's a secret because my other online personas are secrets!). It probably goes to say that I was a pretty hardcore fan.
Similarly speaking, anime.
How much anime did I watch in university?
*nervous laughter*
Um... there are a lot of times I spent all day watching anime.
I mean, I was part of an anime blogging community...
I watched pretty much all of the anime airing every season for a couple years........
I guess that makes me a pretty hardcore anime fan, right?
I think for me, one of the commonalities between being a translator and being a fan is wanting to share something that you love.
That comes to mind for me.... I guess...
Like "dreams" are a recurring theme in the things that I write about, and I like how stories (and anime) can give people dreams.
It can make people smile and it can make them feel giddy after finishing something good. Like you know that feeling that you get when you watch/read something amazing, finish the series, and then there's nothing left but to look up OSTs, fanfiction, and wallow on the Internet because the magical journey is over?
Translators give people those kinds of precious dreams.
And I think that's what appealed to me about translating.
It probably extends to writing as well, but I've never been as reliable as a writer as I was at translating.
I mean, I'm not good at most things. Like I'm not good at stories and art and and stuff.
The only resource I ever had was time, and it was the only thing I could give. Translating takes a ton of time, and I was totally happy to give away all those hours and hours and hours of times that I did.
^^;;;;;;;
You can't help but wonder if all that time was wasted though.
Like literally I spent all my free time in college/university translating......... and other online things.......
IRL, I was in one of the biggest cities in the world... and obviously all of my peers were having fun exploring the real world and making precious city memories that you might expect from a typical 20-something-er, but I was spending most of my time in a tiny dorm room typing away on my laptop with a Chinese-English dictionary open on the side...
I don't regret it though.
I mean, obviously (probably the same as most people here), I'm super introverted.
At this point I wouldn't really want to go outside... the fictional world in my head seems better.
Being a fan has something precious to it though, maybe?
I actually have a paper that's due on Thursday that I'm procrastinating on
But of course, since when has that ever stopped the incredible forces of procrastination???
Also I'm a huge hypocrite. Even though I say that I hate idols, I still spent another hour today looking at HoloLive EN videos on youtube. I spent most of that time watching one of the interviews with Calliope, and sort processing the things that are inferable about her life based on the things she talked about. It's really incredible, y'know? Um... if I talk anymore, this entire post would be way too cliche and all of my credibility would fly down the drain.
I think one thing that immediately drew me to Calliope was because she's a content creator, and specifically like a super unpopular/indie musician who often talks about her feelings making music in an unpopular/dead genre.
It resonated with me immediately because, well, I automatically have +50 respect points for anyone who pursues art in something that's unpopular yet still has an incredible amount of humility while doing it.
A suuuuper long time ago, I once wrote a blog post about how the internet is sometimes feels like a solar system.
Like obviously, you have these super big-name planets and stuff that everyone knows.
You also have smaller asteroids and specks of space dust that nobody really notices yet floats in orbit around one of the bigger bodies.
Being an insignificant speck of dust myself (a fan), there's this certain special feeling that you get from stumbling across something that you think is good but nobody else has seen. I mean, this happened for me a ton because I started off on this side of the Internet as a translator. I translated novels, so obviously I found lots of stuff that I liked but weren't available in English.
Translating is extremely frustrating and un-rewarding for the amount of time that goes into it. It's extremely tedious and genuinely not fun.
It's like if I told you to take all seven volumes of Harry Potter (in paperback) and transcribe every single letter backwards a different sheet of paper. It takes five times as long to translate something as it takes to read it, and it's boring as fuck.
I think one of the main reasons why people translate is because they're fans.
It's really hard to find to motivation to translation something unless you are a fan.
+ + +
So let's highlight this particular word.
Fan.
What does it mean to be a fan?
My romantic other watches a ton of (American) football, so it goes to say that you can be a fan of sports.
You can be a fan of people.
And likewise you can be a fan of certain works.
Like it's one thing to be crazy BTS fan stalking an idol group, but then there are also the "civilized" fans.
What's the difference?
Is there something fundamentally special about being a fan?
+ + +
I mean, as usual, I only ever have the authority to talk about myself.
In college/university, I um... spent a lot of time translating. I actually translated three volumes of an obscure light novel that not many people follow (but it's a secret because my other online personas are secrets!). It probably goes to say that I was a pretty hardcore fan.
Similarly speaking, anime.
How much anime did I watch in university?
*nervous laughter*
Um... there are a lot of times I spent all day watching anime.
I mean, I was part of an anime blogging community...
I watched pretty much all of the anime airing every season for a couple years........
I guess that makes me a pretty hardcore anime fan, right?
+ + +
I think for me, one of the commonalities between being a translator and being a fan is wanting to share something that you love.
That comes to mind for me.... I guess...
Like "dreams" are a recurring theme in the things that I write about, and I like how stories (and anime) can give people dreams.
It can make people smile and it can make them feel giddy after finishing something good. Like you know that feeling that you get when you watch/read something amazing, finish the series, and then there's nothing left but to look up OSTs, fanfiction, and wallow on the Internet because the magical journey is over?
Translators give people those kinds of precious dreams.
And I think that's what appealed to me about translating.
It probably extends to writing as well, but I've never been as reliable as a writer as I was at translating.
I mean, I'm not good at most things. Like I'm not good at stories and art and and stuff.
The only resource I ever had was time, and it was the only thing I could give. Translating takes a ton of time, and I was totally happy to give away all those hours and hours and hours of times that I did.
^^;;;;;;;
You can't help but wonder if all that time was wasted though.
Like literally I spent all my free time in college/university translating......... and other online things.......
IRL, I was in one of the biggest cities in the world... and obviously all of my peers were having fun exploring the real world and making precious city memories that you might expect from a typical 20-something-er, but I was spending most of my time in a tiny dorm room typing away on my laptop with a Chinese-English dictionary open on the side...
+ + +
I don't regret it though.
I mean, obviously (probably the same as most people here), I'm super introverted.
At this point I wouldn't really want to go outside... the fictional world in my head seems better.
Being a fan has something precious to it though, maybe?
