Hello! This is tokpopandbeyond. A few things have happened and we feel the need to address things properly and publicly.
Shortly after we began the release of our translation for Classroom of The Elite Volume 9, we received an email from a group that had already begun translating the very same volume ahead of us. We were asked kindly to abandon this volume and do another volume or something else altogether.
As a team, we had a thorough discussion as to our next steps and we decided to continue for a number of reasons:
1) We are fans of the light novel and many readers asked us to continue the series.
2) We are obliged to abandon the series and this particular volume only when this demand comes from the official translators.
3) We believe that it is in the fandom’s best interests if there are several different translation sources. If, by any chance, one team abandons the project, it is good to know that there is another source available.
Thus, we answered that we would continue our translation and that, of course, they are free to continue with theirs. However, we received another email written in a tone that we find rather insulting and borderline threatening. In this email, they openly accuse us of copying many parts of their translation and berate us for offering a translation of “lower quality” to the readers. They also warn us that they will go public with this issue.
Well let us answer those accusations publicly then.
We are a team that has been translating for a long time. There is a process by which translators are accepted into the team. Everyone starts with the less demanding project of translating Japanese lyrics; nobody is thrown into translating a light novel from day 1. It might take years, yes, years to be offered such a task. We also translate manga and have had the honor of translating for interviews, both from English to Japanese and from Japanese to English.
Many members of the team are multilingual and have succeeded in the higher levels of the JLPT. A few are working or have worked as translators. In other words, even though this project is for fun, we are always trying to hold ourselves to a higher standard and be as professional as possible. So, please rest assured that we have no need to steal others’ translations because first and foremost, we take pride in what we do. We also respect the Japanese entertainment fandom and we would never make a fool out of ourselves by copying others.
The Classroom of the Elite universe belongs to Mr. Kinugasa. If we are stealing from someone, that would be him.
Last but not least, we would like to say that we will continue translating this project. We will do our best in staying true to Mr. Kinugasa’s style while remaining open to good-natured criticism. If I am allowed to say something to the other translation group, I would say to keep going, too. Let the fandom have choices.
A note from our editor:
Regarding the accusation that our translations are of unsatisfactory quality, we would like to clarify a few things. First of all, we avoid machine translation with post human editing like the plague because we don’t want to betray our readers with inauthentic work. All of our translations come from actual translators. They are good at what they do, but we are not delusional enough to say that they are perfect. All of our translators are working on several projects with their own set of deadlines, so it is never easy.
Before their release, all of our translations undergo editing. If there are any errors or parts that can be improved upon, that just means our editing process is, in its current state, not thorough enough. That is something we are willing to improve upon. We are open to criticism and we are always looking to become better as a team.
We do this for free and never ask for donations. We do not own any of the series that we work on, neither do the others.
