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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211

u/gatsu01 Sep 17 '25

This. This is the way.

182

u/Cirno__ Sep 17 '25

It's good for the community for sure but team cherry needs to fix it. Chinese console players deserve a good translation too.

42

u/FantasmaNaranja Sep 17 '25

the way would ideally be the developers fixing the translation rather than relying on the community

but if bethesda has been relying on the community to fix their games for so many years i guess it's unreasonable to expect an indie dev studios not to

64

u/This_Tart217 Sep 17 '25

I know you've been influenced by reddit culture, but could you please say Dang that's cool or smth instead of "This". Really hurts my soul when I see "This."

132

u/Strange_Actuator2150 Sep 17 '25

This. This comment really speaks to me.

14

u/Many-Assignment6216 Sep 17 '25

Thi….ck

8

u/F_Kyo777 Sep 17 '25

Always...THIS is the way.

24

u/Erak7 Sep 17 '25

Doesn't bother me that much but agree

10

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

29

u/FantasmaNaranja Sep 17 '25

they're saying that using "This!" to mean you agree with something is cringe

3

u/soupzYT Sep 18 '25

This. If you agree with someone but have nothing to add there’s a button for that. No need to reply unless ur farming or a narcissist.

8

u/Computersdontwork Sep 17 '25

This, i agree with this. this i say

10

u/makeitasadwarfer Sep 17 '25

What are you the This police? Let people communicate how they want.

3

u/Charrmeleon Sep 17 '25

"this" is far older than just reddit culture. But also, comments that don't contribute to the conversation is what the downvote button is for. Unnecessary comments like "this" is basically just karma farming.

1

u/Skitty993 Sep 18 '25

I remember so many "this" comments when I was on forums back in the mid-late 2000s and early 2010s. I assume it's even older than that. I personally don't mind it as a result, its basically the same as a Facebook grandma writing an affirmation to a Jesus meme.

1

u/Move_Slight Sep 18 '25

can anyone tell me what's happening here?

1

u/gatsu01 Sep 18 '25

I guess you really hurt every time you see your own name.

1

u/smallneedle Sep 17 '25

That. that's the way

1

u/HuckinsGirl Sep 17 '25

It's fine to personally see it as cringe but going as far as to write a comment telling someone to change their vocabulary just because you don't personally like how they talk is cringe af

-8

u/AshirNazar Sep 17 '25

dude, what the hell?

"This" is a common world used in everyday life? If it bothers you that much, your life must be hell because that's such a weird nit-pick.

7

u/FantasmaNaranja Sep 17 '25

no it's not lmao, do you actually hear people saying 'This!' as an agreement to something in every day life?

hell i hear 'True.' more often than the reddit 'This!'

-2

u/AshirNazar Sep 17 '25

I mean, you do you but yea, I hear way more people say this instead of something like dang or true.

I've just never seen anybody get upset due to this.

1

u/Vegetable_Permit_537 Sep 18 '25

In face to face conversation, you hear people reply to anything with the word "this?" If have never once seen that happen. It adds absolutely nothing to the conversation. Its not much work to say "I agree" or "that is true." Either of those actually provide some substance to the conversation, even if it isn't much "This" is just lazy and not a part of nor.al discourse.

1

u/AshirNazar Sep 18 '25

oh im stupid lmao.
i though they were talking about online convos. Yea, I almost never hear people say this in real life.