[Please Read] Announcement

No, I’m not quitting this project. But I think I was just given one reason why I should contemplate that idea:
It had just recently come into my attention that an individual(s) is re-posting my translation on another website without my express permission and without giving credits to either me or my blog.

This is the link: http://www.readlightnovel.com/faithful-to-buddha-faithful-to-you
“Angry” wouldn’t be an adequate word to describe my feeling when I found out. But I was at work so I held it in until now.

On my sidebar to the right you can clearly see my Disclaimer, which I will re-post here for ease of reference:

“I do not hold any copyright over “Faithful to Buddha, Faithful to You”. It is entirely a creation by Xiao Chun. My English translation is based on the officially published Vietnamese translation by Lương Hiền. All credits of this novel go to these two people. All I own is the English translation, which is purely voluntary and only meant to help promote the novel, not for sale or for personal gain. If you wish to use my English translation, please DO NOT REPOST it but link it to this blog instead.”

This disclaimer is included in introduction post of this novel and in my index.

I’m not sure what part of the last sentence was not clear to the user(s) who stole my translation on that website.

Yes I used the word “stole” on purpose. Because what they did was stealing. Absolute no where, from the title page and through all 11 chapters that they posted, did I see my blog or my name being given credit. They made it seem as if it was them who was the translator. And that is the biggest insult to me.

Those who follow this blog, who have read every chapter I posted, are well aware of how much effort I put in this translation project. I spend on average at least 8 hours translating each chapter, painstakingly choosing each English word to match the intended meaning, researching every Buddhist term, every historical detail from the people to the geography. I even borrowed numerous texts from the public libraries, spent days scouring through a renowned university’s library, just to ensure the best possible translation.

And I did all of this for FREE. This project is completely voluntary. I do not earn a single cent from doing this.I have my own life, be it school, work, or other commitments. And yet I chose to translate this novel. Why? Because I love the novel, the characters, and as a result deeply admire Xiao Chun, the amazing woman behind it all.

So the least they could do was giving me credit for my work.

But they didn’t.

 

I have left them a comment on the title page requesting that they take down all the chapters, but apparently the comment is “waiting for moderation”, which mostly like mean my words will never see the day.

Here is the text of my comment in full:

“I am the English translator of this novel on https://snowjadeflowers.wordpress.com/ and I request that you take down all the chapters you have posted so far. I am so angry I do not know where to begin.
 First, I have clearly indicated on my blog that my translations are NOT to be re-posted anywhere else without my permission, and that if anyone wants to promote the novel, they can link it to my blog. While I do not have copyright over the novel, the English translation is 100% mine and I would like you to respect that.
Second of all, not only did you re-post MY translation without my permission, you did not even credit my name or my blog anywhere. As if you, the user(s) who posted it here, were the translator yourself. And that is the biggest insult to me. I spent on average at least 8 hours translating each chapter, painstakingly choosing each word, researching every Buddhist term, every historical detail from the people to geography to the best of my ability. And I did all of this for FREE. Because I love the novel, the characters, and deeply admire Xiao Chun for their creation. So the least you could do was give me due credit for my work.
 The user(s) who posted the translation here, once again I request that you take down all the chapters within 24h of reading this comment. If I need to contact the administrator(s) of this website, I will, but I hope that won’t be necessary.”

I have also saved cached pages of the website just in case this becomes a bigger dispute that it needs to be.

I might attempt to contact the website’s administrators if I don’t see the matter resolved within 7 days. Not sure exactly how, given that there’s no contact info available that I can see. In addition, a quick look through the site and I see it littered with uncredited translations everywhere. Even the names of the authors are not always listed. It’s easy to conclude that this is one of those aggregator websites where its users just post others fans’ works without permission and/or giving proper credits, and the admins do not give a damn. It is completely abhorrent.

If I’ve learned anything from my experience on the Internet, then I know that nobody on that website will do anything to remove those posts. But we will see.

 

I am not pointing fingers at anyone, but this is a general warning to everyone who visits my blog:

Please DO NOT RE-POST my translation anywhere without my permission, which I will tell you now I will never give if this is how it gets abused, LINK IT BACK to this blog instead.
If you want to promote the novel and/or my translation, you may post the novel’s general details and my synopsis, but either my name (Haru) or the URL of this blog must be credited.

I hope I will not see a repeat of this anywhere else.

 

What a rotten way to start the week. My favourite musician just dropped his mixtape and I was all excited about that, but then this came up and I had to address it first. UGH!!!

Alas, translation of chapter 21 will have to be delayed for now. I don’t feel like translating right now, not when my hard labour gets treated like this.

The Vietnamese version of this novel is getting republished sometime within this week or the next, so by the time I get a copy (ebook or hard copy, whichever comes first), I will probably fall in love all over with this novel again and will resume translating like normal. But until then, I am taking a break.

Some of you might think “Oh no, not again. She’s taking a break again.” For that, I do apologize to all my loyal readers for this announcement. I know it’s not your fault and you shouldn’t have to suffer the consequence of some thoughtless individual(s), but sometimes the action of one can have a grave impact on the rest.

Sincerely,

Haru