sid_guardian | Welcome to SID Guardian!

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Welcome to SID Guardian!

A banner for the SID_Guardian comm on Dreamwidth

Hi, and welcome to SID Guardian!

sid_guardian is a noticeboard/community for:

linking Guardian fanworks of all kinds

linking to Guardian-related news (incl. info about the actors and their other roles) and meta (incl. serious meta, squee, picspams, episode reactions, writing-meta)

making Guardian recs, and

making fanworks-finder/rec-finder posts.

ETA: You can also post content directly to the comm.

Which is to say, it's for letting Guardian fans find each other on Dreamwidth. :)

Please link your Guardian-related posts here! Whether novel or drama, this is the place for it. Don't be shy, and please encourage other Guardian posters to link as well. You can also link to/rec things that have been posted by others.

As the comm develops, we hope to introduce social, discussion and/or prompt posts, but given it's December, we thought we'd start small and manageable.

To kick things off, if you feel like it, tell us a bit about how you ended up in Guardian fandom! Or let us know your favourite character or scene from Guardian, or what your power would be if you were Dixingren.

And remember, there's no tension that can’t be relieved with a lollipop. And if there is, try two lollipops.

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Oh, wow, now this is totally unexpected -- I popped into

fictional_fans while checking out DW (I'm new here, btw!) and ran into Guardian, of all things! I had a brief but intense obsession with Guardian a few months ago while I was looking for material to practice my very limited Chinese on. I loved how much it catered to fanfic tropes despite being "bromance", heh.

I got up to around episode 12, couldn't stand not having someone to talk to about it (the taxi scene! that whole episode! Zhao Yunlan finding out about Shen Wei because the man is so bad at being discreet! :P), and then got the notion to fix ALL the subs so I could watch it with my roommate and squee about it with her. That didn't pan out, of course (updated the subs from eps 6-8, don't know if they were approved). School got in the way and I never did get around to finishing it. I also got spoilered while looking up Zhu Yilong on the wiki. Sigh.

I do intend to read the novel in the original Chinese with a pop-up dictionary, but that's going to take a while... (I tried the English translation on Wattpad, but found it's missing a lot of content and the tone from the original novel!)

Anyway, hi! I'm Vii, avid consumer of fanfic. I write (original stuff, mostly) and draw (sporadically). Maybe this will be an encouragement for me to finish the drama over winter break!

There is so much to talk about! Let us talk about it all. :-) And do all the other fannish things, of course...

Zhao Yunlan finding out about Shen Wei because the man is so bad at being discreet!

OMG, he is SO BAD at that. Just the way he *stares* at Yunlan all the time... and that entire ep is lovely.

Oh, thank you so much for helping to fix the subs! They are so much better now. I dont speak any Chinese, and I really appreciate the hard work kind people like you put in. :-)

Just the way he *stares* at Yunlan all the time...

There's a scene (when they first meet, I think?), when Shen Wei's all pleasant and smiling at Yunlan, and then the moment Yunlan leaves, Shen Wei gives him this really intense *look* -- I think that was the moment Guardian won me over. Ah, Shen Wei and your expressions...

It's no wonder Yunlan is suspicious of him at first, really. Not only does he *act* suspicious, but he's always staring as though he wants to devour Yunlan's soul. ;-)

Oh, wow, now this is totally unexpected -- I popped into [community profile] fictional_fans while checking out DW (I'm new here, btw!) and ran into Guardian, of all things!

Hi, Vii! Welcome! Yay, synchronicity!! :-D

and then got the notion to fix ALL the subs so I could watch it with my roommate and squee about it with her. That didn't pan out, of course (updated the subs from eps 6-8,

Wow, you are a rockstar! (I wonder if I have your versions of the subs. How would I know?) Trobadora and I have had several conversations about fixing the subs and always end up concluding it would be really hard and time-consuming (but it would make such a difference! even just tweaking the timings!).

don't know if they were approved).

By whom? Where did you submit them to? (Sorry, I'm a complete noob at this side of things.)

I wonder if I have your versions of the subs. How would I know?
By whom? Where did you submit them to?

On the official Youtube playlist! They're community-driven, so anyone can submit updates to the subs, but the channel owner (?) has to approve them before they can be published. I just checked my contributions dashboard and it looks like episodes 6 and 8 should be updated, but episode 7 is still pending (the others went through pretty quickly, so I assume they forgot about 7?). Disclaimer, I'm nowhere near fluent in Chinese and had to futz some of the subs, but I'd like to think they're an improvement over the original... even if it's just grammar.

Trobadora and I have had several conversations about fixing the subs and always end up concluding it would be really hard and time-consuming

Hard, not so much (unless you're aiming for super high quality), but time-consuming? Yes. I basically spent a lot of hours with a dictionary while unwisely procrastinating on my homework, but even when I had the Youtube subs to go off of, it took me about 2-3 (?) hours an episode. If I were fluent, I could see this taking a lot less time. I didn't use the Youtube interface, but a program made specifically for subbing called Aegisub, and even then timing was half the work. I basically downloaded all the subs from Youtube, loaded them up with the Chinese raws, and fixed things line by line.

If anyone wants to give this a try, btw, let me know and I can send you what I have.

Please post to the comm if/when episode 7 gets approved? I'd love to update my subs as new versions become available. Even just grammar and timing improvements make a huge difference! (And help to stop all my fic dialogue sounding like awkwardly worded subtitles, haha. (No disrespect to the original subbers!))

I didn't use the Youtube interface, but a program made specifically for subbing called Aegisub, and even then timing was half the work.

Oh cool! I downloaded something called Easy Subtitle Synchronizer, but haven't really had a chance to try it out. And I know zero Chinese, so I wouldn't know where to start as far as clarifying translations.

*is super impressed*

Please post to the comm if/when episode 7 gets approved?

Will do! Though, it's already been over a month. I think I might have to make another edit and resubmit, hm...

And help to stop all my fic dialogue sounding like awkwardly worded subtitles, haha.

Oh, I get that :P There was a point when I read a lot of poorly translated web novels and I realized that my thoughts were starting to sound like them... oof.

I really wish I was more proficient in Chinese... there are all these tidbits that don't really get across well in English, like all the names ("Black Cloaked Envoy", etc all sound way better in Chinese), and how Shen-Wei-as-the-Envoy talks super formally, but I suppose even if I were fluent, it would be very difficult to translate into English.

(no subject)

china_shop - 2018-12-09 05:22 (UTC) - Expand

just checked my contributions dashboard and it looks like episodes 6 and 8 should be updated, but episode 7 is still pending (the others went through pretty quickly, so I assume they forgot about 7?).

Oooh! I just realised I still had the old versions of the subtitles for 6 and 8! *rushes to download*

And echoing

china_shop - please do let us know if/when 7 gets approved!

Zhao Yunlan finding out about Shen Wei because the man is so bad at being discreet

He is *so terrible* at having a secret identity it's hilarious! But also fascinating - the Envoy so often shows behind his mild-mannered professorial demeanour.

Yes! And then the Envoy gets so flustered when Yunlan says something to him - out of character in the opposite direction. ;-)

Hi! Great to see you here! And I hope you do finish the drama; it's SO worth it. :)

and then got the notion to fix ALL the subs so I could watch it with my roommate and squee about it with her. That didn't pan out, of course (updated the subs from eps 6-8, don't know if they were approved).

OMG, you're a STAR for even trying. Seriously, I've dreamed of better subtitles for the whole drama.

(I tried the English translation on Wattpad, but found it's missing a lot of content and the tone from the original novel!)

That's interesting to know! I tried the translation for myself, but didn't much like it, and it's impossible to tell how much of that was the English prose and how much was the actual novel's content. (Though I think everyone seems to agree the drama characters are more likeable? I didn't like anyone much in what I read of the novel.)

(I tried the English translation on Wattpad, but found it's missing a lot of content and the tone from the original novel!)

As long as tumblr still works... Have you seen this list of Guardian translations: 镇魂 translations etc. masterlist?

dtriad and

foxghost both do an especially excellent job going into the finer details of the original text.

I have not seen that, wow! I've been trying to avoid anything Guardian-related due to spoilers, but... >.>

I'm glad to see that others have been getting into the nitty-gritty of the translations... also looks like there are some interesting meta posts about translation, cool!

Are the links from the masterpost saved anywhere (other than tumblr)?

Edited 2018-12-10 17:44 (UTC)

I know

dtriad has crossposted all their translations on AO3.

I've been trying to avoid anything Guardian-related due to spoilers, but... >.>

Ah, sorry, I hope you didn't get spoiled by me, I didn't pay attention to that.

Are the links from the masterpost saved anywhere (other than tumblr)?

I don't know? Many of these collected links to translations also just go to tumblr posts, alas.

No no, you didn't spoil anything. I recently was spoiled while going through Wikipedia, is the thing. Sigh.

trobadora mentioned some of them are crossposted on AO3, which is good.

Oooh, I didn't know one could fix the subs! That is awesome! I should download them again. I definitely still have the only crappy ones.

I know the novel translation is very... minimalistic, but I still think they hit the characterization okay. I have tried reading raw, but my Chinese definitely is not good enough for that. The important parts always go over my head. A translation (no matter how "bad") always helps with that.

So I'm usually reading in parallel. I read the translation and then reference the Chinese for the parts that most interest me. (I now have the Zhongwen add-on permanently enabled and don't know anymore how to live without it. :D)

(I now have the Zhongwen add-on permanently enabled and don't know anymore how to live without it. :D)

Same here, I abuse my popup dictionary sooo much. Sometimes I think I should just try and read it without the dictionary for properly-learning-Chinese purposes, but also I just want to read romance, dangit :P

Sometimes I think I should just try and read it without the dictionary for properly-learning-Chinese purposes, but also I just want to read romance, dangit :P

That's what I've been doing and I don't know that it's great for learning? I mean, I read on my Pocketbook and look up stuff on Pleco when I really can't guess the meaning... But a lot of detail is just lost on me this way.

But I guess a lot depends on your level of reading comprehension, too. I started learning Chinese back in 2004, had whole years where I rarely used it, and now I suppose my reading comprehension is at HSK level 5?

(no subject)

cittasette - 2018-12-14 00:34 (UTC) - Expand

Hey, I just found this post because Rheasilvia told me it's here. I didn't realize we were allowed to update the subs ourselves and then even post them - in my previous fandom that was a big no-no. I've been sneakily working on the subs after ep 24 because I couldn't stand the pain of ungrammatical English any longer; currently I'm working on 30. I was only going to share with close friends but if this is actually legit here, could you let me know how to submit?

Tbh, I updated the subs before I even knew there was a fandom for the show, and I thought it wouldn't hurt since the current subs are... not great. In retrospect overwriting the subs might have been a little iffy? I do wish the youtube subtitle editor was better, so it was easier to update parts of episodes (re: timing and all that).

In the description of each episode there should be a link regarding "help us translate!", or you can click the three dots next to the "Save to playlist" button (on the same bar as the like/dislike buttons) and click "Add translations".

There you can select the language, click "Edit", and then either edit the captions there, or click "Actions > Upload a file" if you have your own. And then you just click "Submit contribution". I think someone (the channel owner?) has to approve the changes before it's actually published on the official playlist.

Thanks for your hard work by the way! Honestly, it seems like better subs is something a lot of people here want. I don't suppose you'd consider posting them on the comm too?

https://sid-guardian.dreamwidth.org/7021.html

I'm actually happier posting them here than posting them to youtube (I don't interact with youtube much) so this will make a start. :)

Ahh, I would kill for better subs, seriously! (Okay, not seriously. But *waaaaaant*)

https://sid-guardian.dreamwidth.org/7021.html

No killing necessary :)

(no subject)

china_shop - 2019-01-10 01:55 (UTC) - Expand

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