I feel it would be easier to not reply here and ignore this situation, but since I don't wish any ill will to come from this I'd like to try and clarify the situation to what I believe is in part a misunderstanding, because I believe it's possible we might be able to resolve this matter. Took a while to write this up, time I realistically shouldn't spend on it, but I still dedicated it in good faith we can see eye to eye rather than just dismiss it as "I don't have time for this", as I believe it's the best approach to the situation. Apologies for big ol' wall of text:
First of all, I'd like to clarify a couple things: the first is that the list I made was never intended as a list of mistakes and it's something I've seen several people misunderstand. In fact I never used the word mistake (only in the reddit thread and that was referencing the scan release), but referred to it as a "list of things I have issues with", on a personal level. It was meant more as my own personal take on what dissatisfied me in regards to the Viz release. I explicitly stated that none of these are inherent mistakes and it's perfectly understandable why Viz would adopt certain changes, as well that none of this was meant as personal toward anyone at Viz and was a list of minor and mostly harmless grips I had with the translation, from a subjective level. I've even preached across this week to not read the scan translation and pushed people to read the official even if they disliked it as I considered it to be the vastly better one. I even offered many praises to certain lines Viz translated really well and even claimed "I could make a list of all the great things I liked in this translation" (despite what I said, Genghis Baan is utter brilliance). Check my twitter or the post if you need the evidence, this were all minor small details.
Despite what some other people said I also stated several times that I could not compare to Stephen's expertise in translation and that this was my own subjective look at the matter (example: https://twitter.com/newworldartur/status/1214334377062273030, example: https://i.imgur.com/NztriFX.png). I made it very clear that I could and most likely would be wrong on some of these points, but I wanted to at least take a fair shot and offer my complaints: not as a professional translator, but as a reader, one who has been reading the manga in Japanese for a few years at this point. And while I fully acknowledge that my understanding of Japanese is still far from ideal, as I've never hidden to anyone, I did do this with a native friend (Japanese but still fluent with English) who also reads One Piece to proofcheck what I said. And in fact I did remove some things, such as the sheet statement that Stephen made, which was incorrectly included in the post as an accidental leftover I forgot to edit out, which was quickly amended in the tweet (I assume Stephen missed that). Also, for the third point Stephen makes (Rayleigh), I actually give him the reason within my post so not sure what that's about. As for the rest, both me and my friend still disagreed with many of the choices. I agree many are a little superficial, but others can be quite big and important in the endless sea of details that was this chapter and I still firmly believe some of these are outright issues to at least me (ex: Oden being confident vs Oden hesitating, big character moment difference for me). And plenty of people in the community still took some issues with it, even not speaking the language (ex: I saw someone confused by the "mortal enemies" line, which while just a choice, it wasn't really quite worded that way in the original). These are still our feelings and they could be wrong, but I think they are, at the very least, valid criticisms, even if potentially disagreeable or outright wrong. I saw several people in the community, even a trusted native speaker, mostly agree with what I wrote, so while I full realize my lack of skill in comparison to an actual professional like Stephen, I know I'm very well not alone on having issues this week. And that's fine, those issues aren't inherently right, many can still be mistakes or subjective choices, but they're still… you know, criticisms.
I also know that Stephen has stated on his twitter that he does not wish to be messaged by those who dislike his translations and as such I didn't tag him, name him or address this to him. I made clear this was not meant personally to anyone at Viz. I didn't wish to waste his time or involve him, I respected that decision, but at the very least I have the right to talk about it. If Stephen wishes to not be messaged to about criticisms and for people to not tweet at him then that's totally cool, it's 100% his right to choose so. But he can't just ask people to never even once offer their criticisms or complaints at all even when they aren't directed at him on the entirety of the internet. Even if it's idiots with 0 knowledge of Japanese, they are still in their right to be able to offer their own feelings, so long as they don't pretend to be more knowledgeable than a professional, which I didn't. That's just basic free speech. I get it that it can be tiresome to receive criticisms, I can understand how it must be in Stephen's shoes, I have to deal with a lot of the same, but it's part of the job, we like it or not. He isn't obligated to put up with them or reply to them, but he can't negate anyone to fairly offer criticisms. Stephen says that "well, why don't I make a list of all the mistakes you made in your analysis" and well... yeah, I get that every week. I know precisely the pain it can be to deal with this. Every single week I get dozens of comments that point out mistakes I've made, things I've forgotten, inaccuracies, typos, etc. And many of them are outright wrong, nonfactual and dumb but it's still my responsibility to address them politely. It's tough, it's hard to stomach them sometimes, even when they're outright wrong, but approaching them levelheadedly is part of the job, especially when that applies to a professional setting.
I like to believe that Stephen simply misunderstood all this and thought this was meant as a direct insult to him, paired with the lack of understanding on the fact that I did not tackle this alone, (which makes sense if he believes that I meant this as a way to degrade him) and that is why he reacted so aggressively on a quick reply on a whim, in which case I can understand the outrage, even if I still believe the reply is unnecessarily petty with degrading jabs that are purposefully harmful and meant to be hurtful ("has good google skills", "his trivia column" "bullshit arguments" are all purposefully aggressive). I could hardly ever imagine replying with such language to anyone in the community, even if they openly insulted me, lot less if I had a position as important as being officially involved with One Piece. It certainly would make sense to do so here being addressed with this language, but there's no way I could do that. (By the way, I hope I'm not being condescending with this or acting like I'm all-mighty for acting this way, I think this should be standard behavior, don't feel it makes me "special" in any way. If it sounds condescending my bad again, I just find it unnecessarily petty.)
Again, I'll take this on good faith and believe that Stephen misunderstood my intentions and simply was on a bad mood. If some people after all this still cannot believe me then so be it. But anyone who has known me for any period of time from talking with me rather than just listening to second-hand rumors and out of context quotes of me know fully well that I've always valued transparency and honesty more than anything. If you still don't believe that then hit me up, we can talk and get to know each other, I don't want to make any enemies out of anything and I really mean what I say. That is specifically the reason why I wanted to politely state what I didn't like from the official translation this week (despite being, as stated, minor gripes, really liking the rest of the translation), even if I could still be wrong in some of the things I said. But be it right or wrong, valid or invalid, people should still be free to state their criticisms and if no one that doesn't have a degree in translation and interpretation can even as much as have the right express distaste or complain about this translation in a polite and respectful manner then there's just something wrong at hand.
Stephen, if what I said hurt you or came off as frustrating, condescending and/or degrading, then I apologize. I legitimately only meant to voice personal thoughts and meant none of the former things. I do realize I could've said it much better (and that's mostly due to twitter's limited wording), but I still never meant any ill will from it. I really should've worded it in more detail and that is my mistake. But I still stand that I am nowhere near as capable as you in translating (and this will still not stop me from respecting your unparalleled translation skills, and I mean no cheeky sarcasm in that) and still stand that I disagree with some of the choices you made. I might be right, I might be wrong, it might partially or all be subjective, but it is still how I feel and I can't simply not be honest about how I feel about it. I just wish we could have talked this matter out more respectfully.
To anyone else reading this, if this somehow makes you hate me or dislike me, then I'm sorry. I simply wished to be honest and be able to criticize something, peacefully and respectfully. I believe that any criticism should be fairly considered and addressed maturely rather than aggressively and impolitely, as I always do when it comes to those I get myself. I believe that's not a matter of superiority or being condescending, just basic free speech and politeness. If anyone wishes to message me and talk it out respectfully, even disagreeing on what I said, then hit me up, but if more drama and petty insulting arises then I don't wish to keep prolonging this further. I hope everyone here has a great day
P.S.: Apologies if this serious talk disrupts any other discussion here. Please feel free to ignore it if it doesn't regard you and continue your discussion!
