Quick reference for translations
Contents
I’m excited to introduce a new feature that makes it easier to explore the rich world of wuxia novels. Our WuxiaSociety in-house translations will feature a Quick reference section at the end of each translation page.
What is quick reference?
At the end of each translation page, you’ll now find a curated list of the people, places, skills, items, concepts, factions, and cultural and historical elements mentioned in that page. Each entry links to its wiki article if available, giving you instant access to more context and background information.
They are listed in order of appearance in my notes but they are displayed in alphabetical order for easy scanning. Not all terms have their wiki entries yet but I’m slowly rolling them out.
For example, this appears at the end of the Sword of the Yue Maiden Chapter 2, after the Read next section:
Why quick reference?
WuxiaSociety translations come with inline tooltips to explain the terms and translations notes. They help you to understand the terms and context better while reading, but only appear when you hover over the term (or tap on mobile) and the tooltip disappears when you move away so you can continue enjoying the novel without distraction.
However, you might find yourself interested to learn more about some of the terms after you finish reading. The Quick reference section provides a centralised place to discover terms I’ve picked out. I have this information in my notes when I do my translation, so why not make it public so that it could be useful to you?
A note about spoilers
Wiki articles contain full character backstories, plot developments, and story context and hence inevitably contain spoilers, so you might want to finish the novel before diving too deep into the wiki entries.
Reference categories
I’ve grouped the terms loosely based on our wiki categories:
- People: Characters who make an appearance in the translation
- Places: Locations, kingdoms, landmarks mentioned
- Skills: Martial arts techniques and styles used or mentioned
- Items: Weapons and significant objects used or mentioned
- Factions: Schools, sects, and organizations
- Concepts & culture: Cultural concepts, terms, and titles
- Historical: Real historical figures and events referenced
What’s next?
I’m gradually adding Quick reference data to WuxiaSociety translations. The feature is live now, and you’ll see more chapters populated over time as I work through the catalogue. However, fan translations done by others would not have this feature because it will be a lot of work to create the data, and I rather this effort go into more translation work.
Our in-house translations are also carefully divided into parts to make each reading enjoyable wihtout overwhelming you. Other fan translations are often the full chapter in one go, so the Quick reference section could potentially be too cluttered to be useful too.
This is part of our ongoing effort to make WuxiaSociety the best place to read and learn about wuxia literature. As always, if you have feedback or suggestions, I’d love to hear from you on Discord or our forum.
Follow a route
- Read: translations and the translation archive
- Explore: the reference wiki and authors
- Understand: wuxia, jianghu, and xia
- Watch: wuxia adaptations and their source-work context
- Write: story elements in wuxia fiction
Happy reading!