Translator Profile
Today's spotlight is on SC2019!
Soompi Forum Username : SC2019
Country of Residence : Malaysia
Fan Level : Naturally curious about most things 3L3W!
When I was in kindergarten, a classmate asked me what I was and I proudly replied, “I am an English girl!” You see, I grew up in an English-speaking home and only learnt Cantonese much later on through TVB dramas.
My mother hired a personal tutor to school me in Mandarin but I ended up teaching the tutor English, much to the chagrin of my mother. I only picked up Mandarin or ‘Putonghua’ properly in University, rather embarrassingly, from a New Zealander who had learnt it in Beijing. This was in an era when such a phenomenon was less common – today, it would be hardly unimaginable.
It would amuse you to find out that this ‘banana’ ended up marrying someone who prefers Mandarin, speaks with his family in Mandarin and of course, speaks with his (oh am I forgetting, mine too) kids in Mandarin. So, over time, I have picked up a few words here and there, enough to order food, ask for directions, and to tell that I am being scolded, but nowhere close to being good enough to read a book!
As you can tell, in this entire team of translators, I am an outlier. So, you might be thinking to yourself, how could someone with such a questionable proficiency have the gall to join the translation team? Well, the answer might surprise you.
I am an avid Korean drama fan. And with every drama, I have been thanking those subbers silently and gratefully for their time and dedication. I told myself one day, I would give back somehow to the community. Of course, my Korean proficiency has progressed so little despite watching dramas for seven years, that this is not yet possible (somewhere in my bucket list, you can still find the words ‘drastically improve Korean’).
After running out of K-dramas to watch at one time, I discovered that Chinese wuxia dramas can be fun too. It was a nostalgic feeling, reminiscent of the many TVB dramas I had watched with my parents. I was a child again, deliriously happy with the swashbuckling hero who at times falls down a cliff, into a cave and emerges not only unscathed but elevated to a different level of skill (well not for all of them, but isn’t this the typical wuxia trope?).
Surprisingly, I could understand some of the portions of the dramas without translation – it was quite a startling discovery. By chance, I stumbled on the English translation for Pillow Book and like some of you waited with bated breath for the drama to be aired. I still recall watching the first few episodes from the tiny screen of my phone around Chinese New Year’s Eve this year. Then, I made another discovery – Soompi Forum for ELOD. I had finally found the opportunity to ‘give back’ to the community. I could translate simple portions for non-Chinese speaking fans and it was an immensely gratifying experience. (Read: it was an amazing opportunity to escape from housework and any other phrase that ends with ‘work’.)
With the blog, this ‘English girl’ helps to tidy up some of the raw translations from other translators and has fun co-creating blog posts with the team. When you come across some charts summarising information and such, it’s where I have dabbled my fingers too.
And at other times when I am not here, I am busy living my life as an ahjumma, playing peacemaker with two teenage boys, and trying to comply with APA referencing in my thesis as I strike off another item from my bucket list.
And as the Koreans are fond of saying 화이팅 or ‘hwaiting’ [derived from the word ‘fighting’] to all of you as we endure this period of unrest.
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