Flaffy
The broth example you gave me isn't how the saying is used. When one makes the broth, the other makes the chicken, and another the greens, it shows that there's a head chef who had already delegated how he wanted the broth to be made, and they're doing their part to achieve that outcome. That's like how we're currently right now: Head chef (webnovel) says "I want this novel translated to English. Here's the Chinese version." Chef 1 makes the broth (translates it). Chef 2 prepares the meat (edits), chef 3 makes the greens (pr). Final result = ready made broth. Each one does their part to fulfill an already-agreed on broth recipe.
This expression, instead, alludes to the fact that if there are too many people managing how they want it done, the end result would be a disaster. One chef wants to make a spicy broth, so he adds in spice. Another wants to make it sweet, so she adds in sugar. A third wants it savory, so monosodium glutamate may be added. A fourth wants a hearty soup, so he adds in chicken stock. A fifth chef wants lots of proteins, so he adds in a buttload of meat. The sixth wants to be healthy, so she adds in greens.
When you throw in multiple people doing the same role, you run into this problem, as described above with the six chefs. One translator wants to translate literally while another may just translate what the sentences mean/is trying to convey (for example: If the raws says "He is angry. His face was red", TL 1 could say "He is angry. His face was red" while TL 2 could say "With a face red from anger" while TL 3 could say "He was angered to the point where his face started reddening". That's just for translators. The style + tone changes depending on who's working on the piece.
Editors could also run into this problem: One editor could believe in making minimal changes to the translated text and to stay as faithful to the original text as possible while another editor may believe in making as much changes as needed so it makes sense and sounds nice.
Working as a team project is possible. However, you must know that if consistency is to be kept, it could actually take longer to work on. I've happened on a project before where different translators translated the same word differently each time. And it was all the same item. Can you imagine reading one chapter where MC is dual wielding blades, then have them referred to as "he threw those two daggers" in the next chapter, and then "He retrieved his knives from the ground" in another chapter? Same is true for other words, like "Peak/summit/apex/heavens". They could be easily interchangeable in translation.
Of course, all of this could be prevented if we were to create a super detailed sheet addressing each and everything in the story, and make style sheets, addressing how we want each story to be styled after. Then we would need someone to check through the whole story to see if the story is following the style guidelines and if all terms were consistently used. However, that requires time and we're just, quite frankly, not paid to do that. We're only paid to pump out chapters. Of course, that doesn't stop us from making our own reference sheets or do other things.
Back to the original topic, working like that in teams is super possible. But it'll require a lot of expenses, which I don't know if Webnovel is willing to foot the bill for. I think—pure speculations from my part—that Webnovel's goal at the moment is to get readers drawn in first to have some sort of revenue going (from ads?). They're investing heavily into this in hopes of getting a larger slice of the "novel-translation pie". Getting a novel to completion within three weeks would not be a goal, because then there are fewer selections to choose from. Fewer selections = fewer readers. Then after that series is done, what's keeping the reader from not coming back?
Sure, you may draw in people who like reading about harems, but what about those who absolutely abhors harem? What if they do like harem, finishes the book completely, then what? The next book may not be about harem, and they'll just leave the site for the next 3+ weeks. Those other translators working on that harem novel could have been translating other different series, potentially drawing in more people. I'd say Webnovel is just casting their nets right now, trying to see where most of the fish is gathered before fully investing in a deep-sea exploration at that site. These are just my speculations though.
In regard to the coding example, though, it's like translating a program from BASIC to C++ (aka, one language to another). Sure, the program is already written out, and the logic is already set in stone, and all you have to do is find the corresponding code, but tell me, I don't remember what else was said about coding. All I remember is that I didn't quite agree with the comparison.
