General Curiosity with Companies

Hi, id love to help you out if i can. Yeah it seems most do have translation problems and it cant be helped because most big BJD companies are from China, Korea, and Japan. These 3 countries dont really have a strong english base education.

About not wanting to buy a doll coz of translation, that would be a NO fr me. I personally dont care if i dont understand it. If i find a doll i want, i research it from other buyers and ask them or just ask the company. If you are having problems with the translations i suggest you look for a local dealer who can help you out with these things! Hahha

Hope this helped!! ^^

 

I don't worry too hard about the translations-- most of the doll sites I've looked at only had issues with, like, "backstory" on the dolls (They tell little short stories about the company photos, which I think is cute), and all of the important information is presented in such a way that I can understand the important stuff, like sizes, etc.

If I do need to ask a question, there are usually people proficient enough in English to give me the information that I need doing customer service. Granted, I usually shop at pretty well-known companies (They're the ones I know about, and I live under a rock), so that might help.

 

I forgot to mention, a common issue i have with doll companies is that alot dont provide complete measurements. Some leave out eye size or even like wrist girth or neck girth which is quite improtant in my opinion. They also leave out stuff like body type (single or double jointed) and other specifics like resin color of the advertised company photo

 

I've never had these issues with any of the companies I've shopped at. There are always sizes listed somewhere on the site if not the doll page and they're generally translated well enough that I can navigate to the correct page to find them. Also, most places have pictures of the doll without clothes so it's pretty easy to get a sense of what kind of jointing it has. Most dolls are listed into categories by size, as well, so I know if I'm looking at an SD, an MSD, a tiny, ect...

If there's ever any question, DOA is the best place to find info on the dolls, in the discussion threads or wherever. There is always a way to find information and I've never been turned off of a doll because of lack of it.

 

I find most companies pages are easy enough to understand, I only worry if I have a specific request, like asking for changes to a faceup or something, I worry they might not understand me (in which case I usually try to provide a picture to show them what I mean). I also recently ordered a doll from a ukranian seller and I had to put all the info into a translator since it was in russian, but it was still easy to understand. If I really want a doll, I'll get it, I don't really care about the language barrier, I'll figure it all out when the doll arrives ;p

 

I'm not put off by creative translations so much as amateur looking and hard to navigate websites.

 

I can live with a few mistakes here and there. I understand, I'm not a native English speaker either. However I've encountered company websites where the translation made so little sense I had to go to the website in their native language and use google translate. That's a huge turn-off for me, because if they can't even properly translate their website, what about any communication in case there's a problem with my order? So I would never order from a company like that.

In my opinion, if a company has so little grasp of the English language that they can barely get their point across, but still want to tap into the Western market, they should hire a translator.

 

Let me put it this way: I don't mind their English because my Korean is lousy.

 

I haven't contacted directly to any company, but I think that's why we have official vendors. If you are afraid that people from the company can misunderstand you, it's always better to contact them through somebody who speaks Chinese.

But on the other hand I understand you a bit. I was looking at the official Loongsoul's English site and the section "About us" was all in Chinese.

 

Could not have said it better!

Flawed English translations don’t bother me... I find them entertaining. When shopping on taobao there are times I simply lose it over a particularly hilarious google translate error. There is something about words I’ve never before seen side-by-side that my brain finds ridiculously funny. (This isn’t meant in a mocking way, either... I’d welcome them to a chuckle over my attempts at their language as well.) It’s generally apparent by context what is meant, however, and I can’t say I’ve ever misunderstood a company website or email response enough for it to interfere with an order.

 

Oh, I LOVE the creative translations! If anything they make me smile. "It is a dress and wears out" - yup, that item on the pics indeed is a dress.

 

Exactly this. I might speak one, maybe two words of Korean? I certainly don't speak any other languages fluently enough to run a business in them! And in my time in the hobby, I've learned to speak "doll English," both in reading the descriptions and messages sent to me, and in delivering them back to avoid confusion on their end. I respect and appreciate that they are doing the English speaking world a favor by taking the time to either learn enough English themselves, or hire a translator to manage the communication, so that we can order dolls and other items easily from them.

 

I speak just enough Japanese to be kind of irritated by bad regionalization on Crunchyroll. The only things I can do in Korean are thank someone, say hello, say goodbye, ask for about 20 different dishes, and curse *really vilely.* I know fewer than 100 words in Mandarin, and can not reliably produce a word with the correct tones.

As an English tutor who has primarily worked with visiting Asian grad students, it might be that I'm set up to mind translation errors less than someone without that background. But every website I've seen has so much better English than I have the language it's being translated from!

And honestly, a lot of the slight mistranslations I see are damn-near poetic.

 

Well, maybe at my beginnings in the doll hobby, I found the English translations a bit irritating. Being a non-native speaker myself (I am German) and English being one of my hobbies, I may have been a bit picky. But if you really want the doll, you will learn where to find the really important information. I also do not give to much about any measurements given on the site, as the way they are taken from the doll may vary.

Regarding the background stories: I read them, find them amusing or just not interesting, and look at the pictures. If there are no blank photos, I try to figure out whether I like the face enough to write to the company for a blank face picture.

Regarding a human translator: you have to keep in mind that many BJD companies are indeed one-man-enterprises. At least in the beginning, there may be simply no budget for a translator. Anyways, at least I don't care. If they really want, they will find a way to step into the Western market. So I would not worry too much about the language barrier, they will find a way around it somehow. I think if all else fails, you can still ask in very important questions (maybe not which head size has this doll, or which eye colour will come with it) the forum here, and I am sure somebody will help with a translation. There is a forum called "problem transactions" where you can find help.

 

I mean... at least they're trying to have description in English! It's better than having non-English description only... I think most of the companies don't have the budget to have perfect English translations but I think that's ok if they sell good products

 

I don't see it as an issue. Either I want the doll and I'll find a way of getting the information, or, I am not that bothered.

I have studied a lot of languages and I know how difficult it is to understand and use a foreign language.

If you bothered checking around you, you will discover a lot of people born in the country you are don't always use the right words or the right spelling or the right grammar anyway.

So expecting that somebody who is born in a foreign country and still lives in his country of birth can have 'perfect written and spoken English' is asking a lot. Do remember that, from her/his point of view, he/she has to go through the maze of unusual characters, weird ways of conveying ideas and bizarre rules.

I use Google translate or DOA if I need information on a product. There is plenty of DOA users whose mother tongue is not English that can help you.

Though the best solution is to learn the dollmaker's language. Happy studying!

 

It's a bit strange, because I've always thought that doll companies are quite rich.

 

It's strange because there are lots of customers who can't speak in korean D:

 

This! XD

Their English is, in general, much better than my Chinese or Japanese (and I can't read Korean *at all*-), so I don't really feel like I have cause to complain.