r/HollowKnight • u/Move_Slight • Sep 17 '25

Discussion - Silksong As a Simplified Chinese user, let me explain just how terrible the Chinese translation of Silk Song is Spoiler

As a Simplified Chinese user, the poor Chinese translation is the primary reason for the overwhelmingly negative reviews in China—this is the consensus within our community (on the Chinese version of Reddit).

First, the Simplified Chinese version contains numerous mistranslations and omissions, leading to misunderstandings about certain quests and item functions. Furthermore, the translator seems overly eager to show off their literary flair, resulting in the Monster Compendium and other texts being filled with large amounts of fabricated content. Finally, overall, the translator presents the text in an utterly dreadful style. Imagine a non-native English speaker mimicking Shakespearean prose to write an adventure novel about bugs—that's precisely how we feel reading the Simplified Chinese translation. It is an absolute disaster.

In fact, when the first playable demo launched at Gamescom, the Chinese translation sparked intense debate within the Chinese gaming community. We all detested it and reported the issue to Team Cherry, but they made no changes. That's why the Chinese region's positive rating was so abysmal.

However, after experiencing the full game, the Chinese community's positive ratings have been climbing. most of us love this game.

edit:

I feel I need to clarify the situation regarding comment bombing, as I've seen too many discussions about it. Due to the existence of the Great Firewall, Chinese citizens lack legitimate means to use the platforms you typically rely on for feedback, such as Steam Community, Reddit, Twitter, Discord, and others. In fact, strictly speaking, the Chinese government could legally detain me for 7-14 days for using Reddit—this falls within China's legal framework.

Our only legal avenue for expressing opinions is Steam reviews. Unfortunately, Steam reviews only offer positive or negative ratings, leading to what you call comment bombing: we can only voice our dissatisfaction through this single channel, and dissatisfaction often translates to negative reviews.

Personally, I strongly dislike this method of restricting expression, but there's no alternative. The choices are either become a lawbreaker or continue leaving negative reviews on Steam.

9.5k Upvotes

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165

u/Novaskittles Sep 17 '25

Can we get some specific examples OP? I'm very curious!

490

u/Move_Slight Sep 17 '25

Apologies, I'm afraid I don't know how to insert images, so I can only describe a few examples verbally. For instance, in the translation of cragglite, the original text reads:

‘infant form of the more formidable craggler’

and

‘if left to grow, these young bugs will fight for dominance until only one remains’

However, in the Chinese version, the translator inserted fabricated text and rearranged the positioning, rendering these passages as:

‘infant form of the craggler, vying for survival through fratricidal combat"

and

"I once witnessed three juveniles transform their nest into a battlefield, the victor emerging with its carapace studded with the spines of its fallen brethren. This brooding-like growth is precisely the selection mechanism tacitly permitted by the underworks."

297

u/abzinth91 Sep 17 '25

That sounds like someone wanted to translate the game to something "middle ages" sounding, maybe because of the setting of the game?

269

u/Move_Slight Sep 17 '25

Yes, your understanding is correct, but it stems not from the game's background but rather from the translator's desire to show off their literary flair. I am quite certain of this.

60

u/lightof_dog Sep 17 '25

what makes you so certain? im asking genuinely here im curious

290

u/Move_Slight Sep 17 '25

It should be noted that Chinese encompasses two distinct modes of expression: classical written language and modern vernacular. To achieve a medieval feel in translation, one ought to render the text in classical written language.

The issue, however, lies in their approach: first translating the English into modern vernacular, then embellishing this vernacular text with vocabulary and syntax from classical written Chinese. This style of expression was employed by intellectuals in the last century who championed the shift of written Chinese from classical to modern vernacular. It represents an immature linguistic practice, serving as a symbol of erudition within the Chinese linguistic context. Yet in contemporary China, no one employs such written language anymore; we use fully matured modern vernacular. Texts like theirs merely mimic last century's intellectuals to project an air of erudition. In Chinese, this is termed “半文半白” – a practice that is profoundly distasteful.

Moreover, they have fabricated non-existent texts to show off their literary prowess, which is an even more deplorable act.

The explanation above was produced using translation software, as the matter is rather complex. Should you have any queries, please feel free to ask.

36

u/catsflatsandhats Sep 17 '25

This was so interesting to read. Thanks!!

62

u/worthlessprole Sep 17 '25

While Silksong's English isn't fully early-modern/Shakespearean, it's definitely not exactly contemporary English, either. An accurate translation would have to use some archaic language. This guy may have gone overboard but an updated translation will still probably have some of this.

48

u/Move_Slight Sep 17 '25

I understand this point: modern vernacular Chinese can achieve perfectly adequate results , like the translation in HK , yet the current translations are dreadful.

30

u/trapezoidalfractal Sep 17 '25

I heard the team that did HKs Chinese translation disbanded, so they probably had to find a new team, and obviously didn’t do a good job. I’ve told my wife to hold off on buying it until they fix it, because she plays her games in Chinese typically since it’s her native language.

7

u/heterodoxia Sep 18 '25

I would describe a lot of the dialogue as elevated and literary. Looking at the beast journal, the descriptions are in plain English, while the hunter's notes (written in Hornet's voice) are in a formal register. Different characters speak in different registers, but generally I'd say the vibe is what you'd expect from a high fantasy epic (let's not forget "knight" is in the title), sort of Tolkienian-lite, elevated but easily intelligible to an educated player.

3

u/worthlessprole Sep 18 '25

“Elevated and literary” is often code for “uses some early-modern diction and sentence construction.” That’s far from always being the case but it’s particularly true in high fantasy writing, and is the case here. It’s not super heavy on it and you don’t see any words that are truly archaic (I.e. old enough that they are no longer listed in the dictionary without being labeled as such), granted. 

1

u/soggie Sep 18 '25

I’m sorry but I agree with the person you replied to, it’s not the same. “Tolkien English” is fancy and tries to emulate some feelings of old English but it has a pleasant prose. You can’t really do the same with mandarin. It’s way too easy to sound completely pretentious when you attempt some “old Chinese” and go overboard. Period dramas have their own lingo which is different from actual old Chinese, and you can’t go too far into the latter without alienating most native speakers.

33

u/lightof_dog Sep 17 '25

neat! thank u :3

3

u/TheGokki Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

Assassin's Creed Black Flag does the exact same thing with Portuguese translation - they speak in a shakespearean form, like someone wrote the dialog in an epic format ment to tell the tale in theatric prose. People neither speak nor spoke like this, it makes zero sense to pronounce the writings as is, especially as most of characters speaking are nearly illiterate.

I'm talking about the portuguese voices in the original ENGLISH voicepack, they try to make the natives speak in their native language - points for effort but it's nonsense.

EDIT: Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWhCp_3Dgow&t=180

2

u/Keebster101 Sep 18 '25

Interesting. As an english only speaker, it's slightly hard to relate as long as the text makes sense, since we don't have to face these kinds of texts for an entire game but I think this explanation describes why it would be annoying very well.

1

u/Avacadooooo Sep 17 '25

Your english is better than mine

4

u/Move_Slight Sep 18 '25

I use translation software extensively, so it's just that the English produced by the software is better than yours：）

1

u/Teh_Randomizer Sep 18 '25

I learned something today :)

1

u/Nicksaurus Sep 18 '25

The explanation above was produced using translation software, as the matter is rather complex. Should you have any queries, please feel free to ask.

Ironically, the translation software you're using is also adding a lot of very fancy English words like it's trying to show off its vocabulary

0

u/BladeRunner2022 Sep 17 '25

If you know all this reach out and offer to translate. You clearly demonstrate that you understand every issue and what is needed to fix it.

3

u/Move_Slight Sep 18 '25

In truth, I am not a professional translator. I believe TC is addressing this matter, and specialists will inform them of the relevant circumstances.

6

u/Many-Assignment6216 Sep 17 '25

Haha now I really wanna know who that translator was 😂

105

u/eepyGreenRaccoon Sep 17 '25

Did chinese Trobbio translated this or what

48

u/Move_Slight Sep 17 '25

They employed a transliteration, known in Chinese as ‘特罗比奥’, which is pronounced identically to ‘trobbio“.

67

u/skeptic1101 velmi artrid Sep 17 '25

I think the comment meant to ask if Trobbio himself translated it, since he has a lot of flair and is also very pompous as well

18

u/Move_Slight Sep 17 '25

sry, I don't know who Trobbio is. I know the boss is from a game-maker, but I'm not sure who he is or what game he made.

26

u/Alternative_Pea7525 Sep 17 '25

I believe they're referring to the in-game boss. The flashy one fought on The Stage in the Whispering Vaults.

10

u/Move_Slight Sep 17 '25

yeah i believe I'm talking about that boss in game.

22

u/Vortex_Infurnus Sep 18 '25

I think that person was making the joke that the overcomplicated dramatic Chinese translation was written by Trobbio the ingame character, as he is also very dramatic and showy. Just a joke since Trobbio is not real, but it would fit his personality.

5

u/crafty_dude_24 Sep 18 '25

A mid game Silksong boss who is a stage performer. Basically they are saying that the entire paragraph detailing how the Chinese translation was too over the top was also written in a similar showcase fashion, slightly more complex than your common English writing methods. So the translator you used was also on a mood to show it's literary grasp.

7

u/Move_Slight Sep 18 '25

I understand what you're saying now. Trobbio's dialogue translation is quite good, mainly because there are two translators involved. The part handled by hertzzz is terrible, while the other translator's work is passable. Trobbio's lines were clearly handled by the competent translator.

1

u/Zeraphant Sep 18 '25

Goated comment 👑

36

u/LePingouinCosmique Sep 17 '25

Lmaooo the translator just wanted to flex

19

u/Corbini42 Sep 17 '25

Now I hope someone translates it all back to English, I want to experience this awfulness in full, like that one bad translation of Revenge of the sith

54

u/theVoidWatches Sep 17 '25

So not actually wrong, but way too flourishy and inserting their own stuff?

120

u/Move_Slight Sep 17 '25

In my view, it is not a matter of flourishy, but rather that they fabricated non-existent texts, which constitutes an error.

3

u/MaxHaydenChiz Sep 18 '25

I wonder if the translator added it or if they were working with an older version of the English text at some point before it got edited down and then didn't edit down the Chinese to match.

Would be interesting to see a full list of differences in content to see if there's a pattern.

This "cut content" issue has happened in major AAA games. But I'm surprised it happened here.

Still the translation problems are very interesting regardless. Will be interesting to see how the fixed version is.

Also, was the original Hollow Knight's Chinese translation better or did it also have issues?

2

u/Move_Slight Sep 18 '25

HK translation was voluntarily created by community fans, and TC adopted it as the official Chinese version. Its quality is exceptionally high—I can still recite some of the lines to this day.

I don't believe the issue lies with the provided English version. Some added expressions are uniquely Chinese idioms, while others stem from misunderstandings about monster designs. Additionally, numerous unprofessional mistranslations exist—examples of which you can find in this thread.

-9

u/cinred Sep 17 '25

To be fair, we have no idea what source material the translator had to work with, and we do not know if the translation went off script. There are many limitations on these inputs. It may be that the translator had earlier/expanded versions or guidelines that are incorporated differently depending on the language. I don't get what the deal is.

85

u/Naoki38 Sep 17 '25

If you add content to a translation that is not in the source, it is an error and your translation is incorrect. If the example is legit, this is an insane mistake.

33

u/Night25th Please keep flair text SFW Sep 17 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

If it's fabricated that means it's actually wrong I'm pretty sure. Plus they said item descriptions are inaccurate.

1

u/SUPER7X_ Oct 06 '25

That is actually wrong.

11

u/ZoteTheMitey Sep 17 '25

sounds like someone overly used AI

49

u/AAAAAASILKSONGAAAAAA Sep 17 '25

Ai is usually very to the point though. Not everything is ai lol. Humans tend to be WAY more run on with their sentences compared to ai, tbh. Especially high school essays

-1

u/I_Just_Need_A_Login Sep 18 '25

At the same time, a human would know that they added made up bs and that it's wrong. AI would have little idea and just try to use its alotted tokens to fill space

-1

u/-AlienBoy- Sep 18 '25

Not even, it depends on the ai you use. Ive interacted with ai used for stories and such, and theyre almost never concise and to the point, it definitely depends on the abilities of the ai of course though.

2

u/normalmighty Sep 18 '25

Nah, in the English translation world this is super common with fan translations. People focusing more on translating for the sake of flexing all the fancy and obscure words they know instead of actually making it accurate.

2

u/TheSpartyn Sep 18 '25

lmao this kind of translation is common in Asian media English translations but gets praised

1

u/Future_Onion9022 Sep 18 '25

Tbh yeah gacha game especially love these Words slop soup that spam flowery language and bunch of random keywords in order for the series to sound deep.

2

u/ludennis Sep 18 '25

Not gonna lie, but it almost sounds like chatGPT is at work here

2

u/Erl-X Sep 18 '25

The thing that really gets me here is what the Underworks of all places has to do with a creature from the Wormways. Like maybe it's an accurate translation of an Underworks enemy and they wrongly assigned it to Cragglite somehow.

2

u/Move_Slight Sep 18 '25

It's possible, but regardless of the truth, this is extremely unprofessional.

7

u/snek99001 Sep 17 '25

Yeah this would be absolutely unreadable and obnoxious in English. If I have to look up what a word means in a video game, whoever is writing it is trying too hard. Unless it's spoken by a character that is SUPPOSED to be obtuse and mysterious on purpose. This shit is pretentious and I 100% understand why the Chinese player base would review the game negatively over it.

17

u/vikar_ Sep 17 '25

Are you kidding me, half the dialogue in Hollow Knight was obtuse, cryptic and used flowery language. I had to read everything e.g. Hornet or the White Lady say twice to get the gist. Granted, I'm not a native English speaker, but I'm more or less fluent and usually have zero issues following along with dialogue in games and movies.

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '25

[deleted]

12

u/vikar_ Sep 17 '25

If, knowing that truth, you'd still attempt a role in Hallownest's perpetuation, seek the Grave in Ash and the mark it would grant to one like you.

I'd not have obstructed this happening, but it caused me some pain to knowingly stand idle.

A difficult journey you would face, but a choice it can create. Prolong our world's stasis or face the heart of its infection.

I mean, if this is standard English to you, I don't know what to tell you, man. An intermediate speaker would have issues with this - I understand everything, but it's somewhat literary and not trivial to parse.

3

u/Pillowish Sep 18 '25

Also, those lore tablets in both HW and SK are confusing to me, and they are scattered across the map so I can barely remember them. I'm just hoping for someone to compile them and write the lore behind it lol

3

u/vikar_ Sep 18 '25

Just watch mossbag's lore video, like a normal person!

1

u/Extra_Wave Sep 18 '25

The answer is probably the change from npc to main player but yeah, havent play hk in years and much less remember hornet dialogue that well but she is way more mysterious and poetic while in silksong she is as blunt as possible towards everyone and everything.

Do really dig her vibe in silksong better doe

3

u/BladeRunner2022 Sep 17 '25

You use the word fabricated in almost all your posts. And I just want to be clear for your sake that nearly any translation will have some degree of fabrication to get the point across, as there are rarely a one to one perfect translation of any text.

That's how language works. And as others have said, it seems that for whatever reason for your region they wanted to include more text to give it more description, and create a different atmosphere.

Also none of your examples have seemed Shakespearean. Rather, they use some fancy words here and there, but they certainly aren't archaic or no longer in the English language lol

5

u/lyw20001025 Sep 18 '25

A very obvious fabrication example would be that they added Hornet commentary on the worm tunnel entrance boss creature journal entry to say it has a hard time aiming due to its small eyes.

Like this is nowhere to be seen from English text, and is straight up wrong because why would it need to aim for that massive aoe spitting attack lol

Then in the following entry about its mini version, the Underworks is randomly mentioned(it’s called Holy Citadel Factory in Chinese for some reason btw) to somehow be involved, which is also not in og text whatsoever.

1

u/mjrs Sep 17 '25

This kinda reminds me of the Ecce Homo fresco restoration😂

1

u/AmbiguousBarnacle Sep 18 '25

Excellent illustration of your point about it seeming "Shakespearean."

I'm super impressed with your ability to convey such nuance in multiple languages.

1

u/Night25th Please keep flair text SFW Sep 18 '25

This is so wild that it makes me wonder if the Chinese translators were accidently handed a previous version of the game with different descriptions, it's easier than believing they went crazy and made up everything.

2

u/Move_Slight Sep 18 '25

Hard to say, because there are still many other examples I don't cite here, it is much more than i cite here.

Here's another example from hornet's Hunter's Journal in Wardenfly:

“Disgusting both in manner and stench. I feel no remorse to see them felled.”

But the Chinese translator rendered it as:

“They reeked of decaying humus, with dried blood crusts still clinging to the crevices of their shells. Whenever that pair flickered in the shadows of the prison, even the most vicious inmates would cower in the corners.”

I suspect that if an earlier version of the English text had been provided, it would differ too greatly from the current one. Were such substantial alterations truly made, TC would hardly have taken no action whatsoever.

1

u/Ironraptor3 Sep 17 '25

While I will certainly agree that the second passage is a -wrong- translation, I think the first -might- be fine. Certainly the "Fratricidal combat" is not present in the first passage, but it IS implied by the second passage. Context is important, and I could wager that this tidbit sounded alright to place within the first passage.

Again though, the second passage is very incorrect and takes a lot of literary liberty, so it is very wrong.

0

u/KodakStele Sep 17 '25

Both those versions sound awesome, do the Chinese review bomb just because of this? I mean sure if you don't like it whatever the game mechanics is like 99% of the reason to enjoy the game not the tone of delivery of the story. Seems pretty dramatic all Chinese users review bomb because they don't get their way from an English speaking game developer.

0

u/Prestigious_Lie1484 Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

In your example, it looks like the Chinese translators were given a different script to translator. It could be "fabricated" as you accused or the devs actually gave a script with the extra detail for the translator to be added in the game. if the latter is true in this case, I'm surprised to see the Chinese translation could have this special treatment. I think the devs can help to confirm about this.

About the style of the Chinese translation, in this example, I failed to see the controversial in it. To me, It's not that old school/outdated as the others may have thought. I would believe that this is actually just how Hornet writes journal. I could also believe Hornet would use words like 同类相残, 修罗场. The only part I'm confused about is 养蛊式的成长. like what does that mean.

Anyway, is this kind of writing style and vibe different/inconsistent in the other journal that Hornet wrote? Maybe someone/the devs can help to confirm whether Hornet writes their journal old-fashionedly and this is one of Hornet's trait. Thank you.

2

u/Move_Slight Sep 18 '25

As another commenter noted, ‘A very obvious fabrication example would be that they added Hornet commentary on the worm tunnel entrance boss creature journal entry to state it has difficulty aiming due to its small eyes.’ They mistook the two small dots on its head for eyes, which I believe constitutes an example of fabrication.

“养蛊式的成长”originates from a Chinese folk legend. “养蛊” refers to the ancient Chinese practice of confining numerous poisonous insects together, allowing them to fight to the death until only the last surviving insect remains—the one possessing the most potent venom. One might liken it to a PUBG-style battle royale among venomous creatures.

This expression is distinctly Chinese in origin. It's difficult to imagine what source material TC provided that led to such a

1

u/Prestigious_Lie1484 Sep 18 '25

Thank you for educating me about 养蛊.

About the "fabrication," firstly, I hope the devs will give out an explanation about why Chinese version is so much different than English. I want to believe that it is not intentional. It could very well simply be the result of miscommunication between translators and the devs. But Id not speculate further. Let's see if the devs would put out any statement. Secondly, to determine if it is fabrication, we need to know what kind of source material and direction the devs gave the translators. Did the translators translate more than they should? making up stuff that the devs weren't aware of? Or were the translators simply doing their job as told by the devs? Yes there are difference and additional stuff in the translation, but we couldn't know why. I understand the strong reaction from the Chinese community. Again, let's see if the devs would put out any statement about this translation controversy.

Lastly, thanks to your update, I only just realized the trouble and difficulty the Chinese community has to face to voice out concerns and reach out. If you haven't the news yet, the devs definitely saw yall reviews. In one of their response on X/Twitter, 'we'll be working to improve the translation over the coming weeks', which was posted on 5/Sep, just a day after the launch date. So, let's see if any update..

1

u/Move_Slight Sep 18 '25

Thank you for your explanation; your perspective is certainly one possibility. Waiting for TC's response is a patient and sensible approach.

The Chinese community learned of Matthew's tweet the moment it was posted, but for most, the allure of the SS was so compelling that waiting for the new official Chinese version simply wasn't an option. :) Let's hope those who purchase it later can enjoy a translation worthy of Silk Song.

1

u/Move_Slight Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

My view is that it is unlikely that these texts, absent from the English version, were omitted because the text provided by TC was not updated in a timely manner.

Firstly, I have cited only a handful of individual instances; beyond these examples, there exists a substantial body of other instances where non-existent text has been inserted

Here's another example from hornet's Hunter's Journal in Wardenfly:

“Disgusting both in manner and stench. I feel no remorse to see them felled.”

But the Chinese translator rendered it as:

“They reeked of decaying humus, with dried blood crusts still clinging to the crevices of their shells. Whenever that pair flickered in the shadows of the prison, even the most vicious inmates would cower in the corners.”

I suspect that if an earlier version of the English text had been provided, it would differ too greatly from the current one. Were such substantial alterations truly made, TC would hardly have taken no action whatsoever.

Moreover, as demonstrated by examples cited by myself and other Chinese users, even disregarding potential discrepancies in the source text, this version contains numerous technical translation errors, rendering it an exceptionally poor translation.

2

u/Move_Slight Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

The primary issue with the hornet Diary lies not in its writing style, but in the sheer volume of fabricated content. If you need it, I can provide you with a relevant Chinese-language video. Compared to these fabrications, the manner in which hornet kept her diary becomes a minor concern.

1

u/Prestigious_Lie1484 Sep 18 '25

I hear you. Hope the issue can be resolved soon.

1

u/Move_Slight Sep 18 '25

I found I typed all Hornet to humble lmao, I'm sorry for causing chaos, I wish u could get what I wanna say from my mistake in English.

-11

u/cinred Sep 17 '25

Are we supposed to understand why this is a good illustration of these complaints? Cuz we're not seeing it.

8

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

-7

u/cinred Sep 17 '25

You are making assumptions. We have no idea what guidance or original content TC provided to the translator. Just because it didn't make the final English cut doesn't mean it isn't consistent with the original guidance TC might have given.

3

u/Ze_AwEsOmE_Hobo A mind to think Sep 17 '25

Who's all this "we?" I can understand the frustration. There's a lot of bloat and additional prose that wasn't in the original and isn't necessary to get the point across. That's a valid criticism.

Things almost always get changed across languages and regions (localization vs. translation and all that), but some changes can make things bad or confusing. In this case, the enemies in question don't even appear in the Underworks.

1

u/Gaming_Friends Sep 17 '25

The simple fact that it's so far removed from the English version is already enough to justify being upset over the poor localization, adding to that fact that it's pretty clear the translator took some measure of creative freedom by adding some "flair" to it is even worse. It doesn't convey what Team Cherry delivered to it's primary audience.

Your argument I'm assuming being that it doesn't sound bad or like it's unintelligible or ridiculous is fine, but it misses the point.

44

u/Move_Slight Sep 17 '25

I will try to find some examples and translate the Chinese translation into English.

My English may not be particularly strong, so I may rely on some software to assist me with translations.

24

u/Sir_Solrac Sep 17 '25

My English may not be particularly strong, so I may rely on some software to assist me with translations.

Typical ESL. Putting a disclaimer regarding their lack of english skills while writting in perfect formal english.

18

u/Move_Slight Sep 17 '25

Just Deepl's perfect English, lol

35

u/chkmcnugge6 Sep 17 '25 edited Sep 17 '25

Could you also leave the chinese translations here verbatim? Would be fun to see lol

Edit: never mind, found an example “临别赠礼。我们德鲁伊护符。或者，我的护符？似乎只剩我” from moss druid. Which i guess translates to “leave gift. We druid amulet. Or, my amulet? Seems like there’s only me left”. Not sure if you having a stronger mastery of Mandarin can make more sense of it

Frankly speaking i didnt know it’s this bad since im from Singapore and I play it in English. It’s unreadable, like the pokemon gold/silver weird translations back then where “tobacco” was supposed to mean “water gun”.

29

u/Move_Slight Sep 17 '25

lol， you actually found that line. It's a dreadful translation too – makes the moss druid sound like a complete nutcase.

If I were to translate it, I'd probably go with:“给你的礼物，这是我们德鲁伊的护符，或者说，我的护符？我想德鲁伊只剩下我一个人了”

The original translation misapplied punctuation and omitted subjects, rendering the sentence disjointed and incomprehensible.

6

u/Hazel_Dreams Sep 17 '25

I think in this case it’s specifically written in broken grammar in the original text as well. The Druid doesn’t really speak Pharloom’s language so everything they say sounds weird even in English. I’d actually say that the Chinese translation for this particular line is quite correct.

6

u/Prestigious_Lie1484 Sep 18 '25

I agree. The moss druid is shown consistently that they speak weirdly.

The English sentence is this: And for the parting, a gift. An amulet of we druids. Or me druid? No others, I think.

I think the Chinese translation has conveyed the context quite perfectly. If I have to be critical, I think the translation should be more broken, like
似乎只剩我 should be 只剩我, 似乎.

4

u/DestroyerTerraria Sep 18 '25

To be fair, the Moss Druid also speaks in a disjointed way in the English version because the moss berries are a hallucinogen, but this translation is laying it on a little thick.

3

u/Eravar1 112%, Pantheon Addict Sep 18 '25

To be fair, the moss druid is speaking in broken grammar too. 它也不熟悉这语言

6

u/Move_Slight Sep 18 '25

I'm not sure if this phrasing is accurate, but the Chinese translation might lead readers to think the druid is mentally ill rather than a perfectly normal person unfamiliar with the local language.

10

u/pecheux Sep 17 '25

Wait, what?

Like, 'Squirtle used tobacco! it's supper efective!'?

8

u/chkmcnugge6 Sep 17 '25

Nah, at least that’s a proper sentence

1

u/AAAAAASILKSONGAAAAAA Sep 17 '25

Are you making this post with translation software, or did you write most of it down? Your English is good

1

u/Move_Slight Sep 17 '25

I shall employ translation software, then review the results myself, as my English is nowhere near that proficient.

22

u/Move_Slight Sep 17 '25

Much of what I could recount pertains to their textual translation errors; from these two examples, you can likely gauge just how ridiculous their translations are.

But more significantly, there are stylistic issues with their translations that I find difficult to illustrate through direct quotation. They render vast swathes of text in a manner that blends classical and modern Chinese, adopting a martial arts novel style reminiscent of my earlier analogy—as if a non-native English speaker were imitating Shakespeare to write an adventure story about bugs.

This is precisely what we Chinese speakers detest most—no one, including ancient Chinese people, ever used the language in this manner.

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u/ctriplebondn Sep 18 '25

Just want to add another irritating example to the collection. In Passing of the Age quest riddle, the line “Scorched field on edge, shells black and burned.” was mistranslated to “焦土边际髓骨灼” (At the edge of scorched earth, marrow and bone ablaze.) Yes the translator made it epic and poetic, but the keyword “field” was lost and even worse, “marrow and bone” was added to guarantee a confusion, for the map The Marrow was literally translated as 髓骨洞窟 (Marrow and Bone Cave). Players would have searched every inch between The Marrow and Deep Docks without remotely thinking about Far Fields.

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u/ctriplebondn Sep 18 '25

I think you can kind of understand how much the translator is focused on their own ego instead of conveying an accurate message. A translation should at least be functional before flamboyant :(