@KopiCAT said in Difference between translating Japanese LNs and Chinese webnovels?:
In my mind, when i think of translators, i honestly just think that is all you do for a living. And so i often wondered to myself "Is this all they can do with 8 hours?"
Sorry about that. I've learned quite a lot from this post of mine, thanks :)
Quof and Dei have covered most of the bases brilliantly. Speaking as someone who actually does do this full-time, I'd like to highlight something I think Dei touches on in one of his responses, which is that not only do you get diminishing returns over time, but it's affected by variety. I work on projects for several different clients at a time, and while this is partly an economic strategy (don't want all your eggs in one basket as a freelancer!), it's partly a survival tactic. I know from experience that I can maintain a high level of attention and interest in any given project for a certain amount of time per day, after which continuing to grind on that project starts to feel more and more like a chore. I would hit Dei's "point of diminishing returns" much faster trying to mainline a single project than I do by working on several different things in turn. In other words, in theory, I could (if the pay were enough) work on a single book, like, say, something for J-Novel, for an entire workday, day after day, and pump out a volume in some fraction of the time it currently takes. But I guarantee I would also burn out like a cheap candle after the first week or so of that, and then there wouldn't be any more volumes of anything from me :P
Anyway, that's just another data point (or anecdote). I'm glad you've found this discussion informative, and really appreciate your willingness to be open to our perspectives as translators.
