StackThatCoin offers greeting, my fellow friends!
Seeing that so many Editors had introduced themselves here, I thought us, the translators, should also step out from the cave and shower in the sunlight.
I’m the translator for Stealing the Heavens, an epic Xianxia novel from the legendary author, Blood Red.
Many readers have been enjoying translated Chinese webnovels, yet not many of you know the life and background of the translator himself. It seems there is a thin veil shading between the reader and the translator. Here, I wish to introduce myself a little bit, to share with you how I become a full-time translator with Qidian International.
I’m a Chinese born and raised in a small town of Malaysia. It is a beautiful town by the sea, and has its name heard in many parts of the world because of its Pineapple plantation (if you wish to know the name of it, comment and let me know). After graduated from my high school education, I continued my study in the capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, a city where I lived for nearly 17 years and counting.
My hometown is a fishing village, as well as famous for its pineapple plantation.
After graduated from college with a Diploma in Computer Science, I’ve worked with many jobs, from customer services to primary school teacher, from telemarketer to part-time translator. Eventually, I landed myself on a job that taught me the most, a salesperson for a software company.
It was a challenging job, yet I enjoyed it. Not only it provided me with great learning opportunity and experience, it brought me a good monetary reward as well. Life seemed promising at the age of 26, I bought my first car, got married, and was planning to buy a new house.
Yes, that’s me and my wife.
However, things changed.
I became tired of the job. Tired of getting up 7am in the morning, tired of driving an hour in a massive traffic just to get to the office. I became easily irritated by customer’s problems, I get mad and angry when dealing with manpower issue. I’m under tremendous pressure, and I hated it.
I made an impulsive decision. I quit the job a few weeks later. I had some saving which could last me for three months. I told myself, I have to make this work. I began to find ways of earning money online.
Yet, the reality is always cruel.
I am married, I need to take good care of my wife and my parents.
My wife is an artiste. She sings, dances and performs on stage, mainly musical theatre. As her husband, I fully supported her in her dream. That’s what she loves. However, in Malaysia, being an artiste is not something that could bring you a lot of money. She still has to work part-time, and she had a goal to achieve: to further her study in music. I wanted to help her in achieving her goal.
My wife in one of her musical stage performance.
In addition to that, for various reasons and bad spending habit, I also accumulated a lot of credit card debts. Latest gadgets, holidays, new laptop, all paid with credit card. Every week, I’ll receive phone calls from bank to remind me for the repayment, to be honest, it felt awful. But that is not the worse, few months before I quit my job, I bought myself a new apartment.
I don’t have enough money to renovate the apartment, I don’t have enough cash to purchase furniture. The house was rented out, and I was still living with my wife, and my brother, in a small three rooms apartment. The house is old. Water leaking, broken door, noisy ceiling fans. My working desk was a crude table given by the landlord, and the ceiling fan is making buzzing noise whenever I sat under it.
My humble work desk.
Life seems falling apart.
While kept searching for ways to support my life, I started translating Chinese webnovel, both for fun and for some extra income.
I’ve been a reader for Chinese webnovels for more than a decade. Reading is one of my biggest hobbies. As a Chinese born in Malaysia, I know multiple languages: Chinese (Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese), English, Malay. So, translating between languages is not something strange for me.
It was fun, and fulfilling. Especially when you know that there are many readers enjoyed your translation. However, the income isn’t enough to support me.
When I found out that Qidian is entering the international market, I contacted them. They gave me a test, and I was accepted.
As Qidian International is a company with strong support and foundation, they can offer a good reward for their translators. And because of that, I start seeing improvement in the quality of my life. I can now work from my home, anytime I want. As the matter of fact, I can work anywhere I want!
My debts are reducing, slowly but steadily. I’ve saved some money, as the renovation fund for my new house. Also, my wife has enrolled in a Diploma course in music. We’re now planning for a short trip to Taiwan at the end of 2017, and I am preparing a secret honeymoon trip for my wife.
My new apartment, emptied.
Here’s the photo of my new house before renovation. What do you think? I would like to have the floor paved with wooden tiles, as it could absorb some noises and feels great upon touch. Occassionally my wife would have to do some home recording, in which she needs a quiet place. Do anyone of you have any suggestions for me? How about the color of the paint on the wall? It looks plain now. I like blue, but my wife likes pink… (hmm…)
I’ll also buy ourselves a big fridge, so I can store a few more delicious Durians for both me and my wife… hehe…
Have anyone of you been to Taiwan before? I've been there once, to Taipei, but I wish to explore more, preferably on their hot sprint. If you happen to know a must-go hot spring in Taiwan, do let me know in the comment, I would like to have some ideas from you.
I’ll share more of my thoughts and life in the future, if you wish to have a peek behind the translated novel and see the life of a full-time translator.
Till then, see you in the comment section!
