Almost FRAUDULENT IDN translation

[Anthony Ng]

It is almost FRAUDLENT when some of the IDNs for sale are listed with obvious mis-translation in English. I'm not sure if the sellers are genuinely misled (by some stupid machine transation or sub-par human "translator") or they are actually trying to make some quick money out of this IDN hype, or here simply to unload their silly registrations.

I don't think it's that good to "comment" on individual sales threads, but a quick glance at the list of topics makes me LAUGH. The problem is: there just ain't enough competent native speakers for each language to tell whether the translation is okay.

 

[touchring]

Sure there are people that do not even know what they had registered in the first place, trying to sell their domains on this forum, but they are in the minority.

The majority of Chinese idns put here on sale are by Chinese living in Taiwan and Asia. DCG himself picked a good name just only yesterday, and i also bought a great photography.com from another Taiwanese trader.

 

[bwhhisc]

It is almost FRAUDLENT when some of the IDNs for sale are listed with obvious mis-translation in English. I don't think it's that good to "comment" on individual sales threads, but a quick glance at the list of topics makes me LAUGH. The problem is: there just ain't enough competent native speakers for each language to tell whether the translation is okay.

Nameslave- I believe that there are dozens of native speakers that will correct and check IDNs when posted. Most of the IDNers that post here are pretty honorable guys and if there is a mistake my guess is the will either correct the post, take it down, or if the deal was done provide a d refund. Thanks for your interest in bettering the IDN area of insuring correct translations.

 

[Named]

We've all heard your rants about mistranslations. While it sometimes is the case, those cases are quickly corrected my competent forum members. It seems you are trying to hype this up so people will spend money on your "translation" service.

We had a lively discussion yesterday with at least 4 people who speak Russian on the forum. There are many more who speak Chinese and Japanese.

Get over it.

 

[Edwin]

Yes, a few people are seemingly trying to take advantage of others. I don't think there are many folks like that, but given the low volume of IDN sales posts at the moment (most IDN portfolio holders are accumulating or holding right now, rather than selling) they stick out more blatantly than they otherwise would.

Most IDN-ers that I know are very straight-shooting folks, witness for instance the repeated attempts by people to jump in and set the record straight in misleading sales threads.

I hope you won't let a few bad eggs leave you with the impression that the entire industry is rotten, because that is a ludicrous conclusion to draw.

Over time, the problem should go away as those folks who bend/break the boundaries between "slight differences in translation" and "outright deception" will be exposed and (hopefully) banned and shamed.

Meanwhile, the rest of us will get on with transacting lucrative business!

 

[Rubber DuckRubber Duck is verified member.]

Look, I would like to intervene at this stage. Nameslave is one of the good guys on this Forum, and and is Chinese, so perhaps he feels that some of the issues are a bit close to home. I don't personally believe that he is anit-IDN or against the sells of IDN, but he is expressing genuinue concerns about translation, which I think if we are honest we all share.

I think we are all agreed that deliberately trying to mislead people on the value of a domain is unacceptable. This unfortunatley, is already very much part of everyday lifte here. Manufacturered traffic, hyping dead donkey extensions, getting your mates to give you favourable appraisals. It all goes on everyday even with ASCII. Misleading translations, which isn't limited to IDN, is just adding another dimension to the problem and Nameslave has right to express his concerns, but we don't need hysteria either like we had with the phishing issue. IDN are not responsible for phishing and will generally be a force for good in that area.

It must also, however, be recognised that a domainer will not always understand the full significance of a domain or lack there of, just as most domainers fail to understand it in English. You only have to look at the appraisal threads on here to wonder how many have any real grasp of English as it relates to domaining. It is clearly also not right for buyer to assume that an indicative translation relieves him of duty to conduct due diligence.

I would urge everyone who has contributed to this thread or read it without comment, to consider the best way of resolving such conflicts rather than simply trying to trash each others reputations.

If indeed there are not enough naitive speakers on this Forum, then I can only suggest it is about time it started to try and widen its appeal, and enfranchise a more more representative group from the Global Internet Community. If a small Forum like IDNFs can manage this then it should be achievable here!

 

[DNnic]

If you think the translation was not correct, or you are not sure that it's correct or not - don't take it.

I'm a Chinese, my English is poor, so I lost many chance to grab the good domain names. Many other people whom not Chinese (or not familiar with Chinese language) - will lose many chance on taking some nice IDN in Chinese language.

And it is fair.

 

[DNWizardX9]

If you think the translation was not correct, or you are not sure it's correct or not - don't take it.

I'm a Chinese, my English is poor, so I lost many chance to grab the good domain names. Many other people whom not Chinese (or not familiar with Chinese language) - will lose many chance on taking some nice IDN in Chinese language.

And it is fair.

I don't understand.... shouldn't your knowledge of chinese put you at an advantage? You don't need to know the english meaning. You just need to register hot chinese words.

 

[Named]

Jeff I think he meant that Chinese non-English speakers lost out on getting a good ascii domain, and now it is payback time, when non-Chinese speakers will loose out on getting a Chinese IDN name.

 

[DNnic]

Tell me Jeff,

How many domain name you have own ? I believe it is a lot, right ?

How many domain name you have develop ? and what 's the reason you hold for other domains ? Do you like to waste your time and money on domain investment ?
Or you are a very rich man, you like to waste your money...

PS. This is NameSlave's thread - Don't argue with me here ~

 

[DNWizardX9]

Tell me Jeff,

How many domain name you have own ? I believe it is a lot, right ?

How many domain name you have develop ? and what 's the reason you hold for other domains ? Do you like to waste your time and money on domain investment ?
Or you are a very rich man, you like to waste your money...

PS. This is NameSlave's thread - Don't argue with me here ~

I never picked a fight with you. I just read your comment wrong and said you had the advantage.. Relax

 

[DNnic]

I never picked a fight with you. I just read your comment wrong and said you had the advantage.. Relax

Right or wrong ~ depends...

I think that everyone have the different opinions basic on the different culture and nationality...

And it is better to talk only focus on thread's subject but not personality...

 

[Rubber DuckRubber Duck is verified member.]

Jeff I think he meant that Chinese non-English speakers lost out on getting a good ascii domain, and now it is payback time, when non-Chinese speakers will loose out on getting a Chinese IDN name.

Ah, but we didn't. I don't speak any of the languages I have invested in. Furthermore, I cannot read any of the scripts. We have made quite a few mistakes, but show me an ASCII domainer who hasn't! My worst mistakes are some of those that I have dropped, not those that I shouldn't have registered.

 

[Giantpanda]

I don't think it's that good to "comment" on individual sales threads, but a quick glance at the list of topics makes me LAUGH.

I just took a quick look at these sales threads again, I found 2 mis-translations:

1. 讲解.com tutorial.com by GFX^^ - Should be "explaining", not "tutorial".

2. 点検.com "Bank Checks" by godfrey90sf - should be "inspection". (but this is Japanese).

godfrey90sf had a few misleading translations, but they were quick corrected by other forum members.

Other than these two, I did not see any other problem.

I guess nameslave might have misunderstood some Japanese terms, because from the thread title you cannot tell whether they are Japanese or Chinese.

Another possibility is that nameslave is not familiar with the Taiwanese terms:

駭客 (hacker), 作業系統 (OS), 隨選視訊 (VOD)... They do not look right to a Cantonese speaker, nevertheless, they are the actual terms being used in Taiwan.

I hope nameslave can show us the problem he saw so that we can have a better understading what went wrong.

The problem is: there just ain't enough competent native speakers for each language to tell whether the translation is okay.

I do not understand much Japanese, but I am quite good at Chinese. My first language is HK Cantonese, Taiwan Mandarin is my second language, and English is my fifth (yes 5th) language.

Before I went to University of Toronto, I was a student at a Chinese (speaking) university (not in China).

 

[Rubber DuckRubber Duck is verified member.]

I do not understand much Japanese, but I am quite good at Chinese. My first language is HK Cantonese, Taiwan Mandarin is my second language, and English is my fifth (yes 5th) language.

Yes, that is interesting in itself. Many assume that because you can funtion in English, you will naturally wish to function in English and therefore Type-In in English. You clearly can function in English, but it would seem that given the choice you are unlikely to Type-In English, unless you were specifically looking for English content? Could you tell us how natural typing Chinese into the address bar would seem to you?

 

[Anthony Ng]

I know that I've stepped on some vested interests here, but like when I spoke up regarding .CA domains a while back, this thread (with its "shock and awe" title by intention) serves as a heads up for fellow domain speculators who very often are too hasty to jump on to just any bandwagon in search of some million dollar domains. And thanks to some fair-minded veterans (a few of whom are also strong stakeholders in IDNs) here who care to comment in a dignified manner, we are engaging in a thought provoking yet rational discussion.

But then my primary concern remains valid: there just ain't enough COMPETENT native speakers for each language to tell whether the translation is okay. (Being a native speaker does NOT necessarily make you a TRANSLATOR.) And to rely on competitors to help isn't the cleverest thing to do on earth, is it?

 

[bwhhisc]

But then my primary concern remains valid: there just ain't enough COMPETENT native speakers for each language to tell whether the translation is okay. (Being a native speaker does NOT necessarily make you a TRANSLATOR.) And to rely on competitors to help isn't the cleverest thing to do on earth, is it?

Your link at bottom of this thread advertises your translation services...at a fee. Your posts and comments were a good heads-up to IDNers but that advertising certainly brings suspician of your motives being placed (on this particular) thread.

 

[Giantpanda]

Yes, that is interesting in itself. Many assume that because you can funtion in English, you will naturally wish to function in English and therefore Type-In in English. You clearly can function in English, but it would seem that given the choice you are unlikely to Type-In English, unless you were specifically looking for English content? Could you tell us how natural typing Chinese into the address bar would seem to you?

MS Windows comes with (all) the language support software you can install to input Chinese characters. To enter Chinese characters, I just need to click on the Input Mode button to switch to Chinese input mode, then type in Chinese characters with Pinyin method. For example, I type "riben" the screen will show "日本" and a few more choices, just one more click to choose the desired one. Inputing Chinese characters is a very easy job to people that use Chinese everyday.

Given a choice, I would prefer to type in Chinese to get to a site because Chinese domains are so easy to remember and I do not have to worry about spelling problem.

Your link at bottom of this thread advertises your translation services...at a fee. Your posts and comments were a good heads-up to IDNers but that advertising certainly brings suspician of your motives being placed (on this particular) thread.

Reality: People are spending a lot of money to register VALUABLE Chinese domain names. You are good at Chinese and you help these people by charging a fee.

How do you translate such reality into words?

1. Please don't waste your money on Chinese IDN!

2. Please spend your money wisely on Chinese IDN!

3. ...

IT ALL DEPENDS HOW GOOD YOUR TRANSLATION SKILL IS.

 

[bwhhisc]

QUOTE: Reality: People are spending a lot of money to register VALUABLE Chinese domain names. You are good at Chinese and you help these people by charging a fee.
How do you translate such reality into words?
1. Please don't waste your money on Chinese IDN!
2. Please spend your money wisely on Chinese IDN!
IT ALL DEPENDS HOW GOOD YOUR TRANSLATION SKILL IS.[/ END QUOTE]

I appreciate that...however your fees would be more indicitive of someone who "finds" clients IDNs or suggests terms and expressions known only to native speakers. There are Chinese speakers in this forum and others who will translate the basics for no fee and even DNF$$...(and I DO believe they are entitled to charge something, or in some cases you reg' them a name for each they help you with).

I also submit that with careful work, plus a combination of top Chinese/English dictionaries, combined with google.cn search to insure websites and content pertaining to term, one can detect many of the generic translations by oneself. For those with the luxury of lots of money, there probably is a market for your services. I appreciate the point you have made in this thread.

 

[AHKIPSLIPKNOT666]

some time even the word does translate, it doesn't worth anything
just like 月光.com, it does translate to moonlight, but i have never use the word on either writing or converstaion.
Chinese is different...many time if two word combine, it has a different meaning. Just like小心, it translate small heart, but it mean becareful. If you in doubt, better check with someone who actually speak chinese, like nameslave.
Take more caution when dealing with ppl in other country cause no one can help you to get your money back(i doubt their police would help)