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llonkrebbojI am especially chatty today because I had my socialization energy drained to zero by team dinner, but apparently not my incredulity at this latest drama. Begging your pardon for rambles.
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Without consulting any dictionaries or looking it up on google - I've already done that years ago... stumbling over this subset of webnovels and not really getting it (ah nostalgia).
耽美 (dānměi), the term, is a Japanese loanword that has become a genre marker for Chinese webnovels with two main characters of the male persuasion xD who are or will fall in love during the course of the story. It is frequently written in the international fandom as 'danmei'. Cousin and companion to the het romance tag of 言情, under the strict eye of censorship (and though het romance has had to hold it in quite a bit, it's not nearly as affected), danmei has had to hide in plain sight with naming switcheroos like 纯爱 (pure love) and 纯美 (purity and beauty). Since their appearance, some authors have gladly used 纯爱 to mark a greater focus on platonic or familial love (and it's good that these have a tag too? but maybe go find a new one to occupy lol geez)... but I have seen it on the buttons of websites which previously had 耽美 on them instead, so... xD
Just because there is now a transliterated loanword that can be adopted by the international fandom, doesn't change the fact that 耽美 is written in Chinese for a Chinese reading readership (the majority of which likely grew up with some degree of exposure to similar culture, literature and such things as the author - but this isn't super relevant to my point).
I thought this was common knowledge. But maybe not!
A friend shared this tweet by a Spanish publishing company. I google translated it below to get the gist of it.
WE REVEAL COVER! We already have here the cover of «Reincarnation», by . An inspirational novel #danmei , the literary genre that is sweeping the world, but has resisted reaching Spain, until now. 
#DanmeiMadeInSpain 
Will be out on March 20
And despite knowing that this is a bid for more eyeballs, I rolled mine to the sky LOL.
If the work, or the original (in the case of translation), doesn't even meet the criteria of 'written in Chinese', it's just lame to call it danmei because your intention is so obvious. Does the story not stand on its own merit?
Kindly note: I said Chinese. Not Mandarin.
Anyway, if you're writing in English, it's not danmei. If you're writing in Spanish or German or Greek or anything not Chinese, it is can't be danmei.
Like calling what you made fried rice, when instead of rice, you used pasta.
Personally, I don't mind if an author who isn't Chinese or can't speak Chinese wants to set their story in an ahistorical Chinese period or modern city. (Because that's a real slippery slope to go down that might end at 'Chinese enough' lol.) You don't have to be a sea creature to have fun on a public beach!
A natural selection will happen if they haven't done their due diligence as a storyteller xD
Like if I see a novel jacket cover with poor attention to detail and a sus generic blurb on the back, I'd probably just not read it.
I've backed away from my fair share of strange names in Chinese period/Chinese-inspired English novels xD
//
Without consulting any dictionaries or looking it up on google - I've already done that years ago... stumbling over this subset of webnovels and not really getting it (ah nostalgia).
耽美 (dānměi), the term, is a Japanese loanword that has become a genre marker for Chinese webnovels with two main characters of the male persuasion xD who are or will fall in love during the course of the story. It is frequently written in the international fandom as 'danmei'. Cousin and companion to the het romance tag of 言情, under the strict eye of censorship (and though het romance has had to hold it in quite a bit, it's not nearly as affected), danmei has had to hide in plain sight with naming switcheroos like 纯爱 (pure love) and 纯美 (purity and beauty). Since their appearance, some authors have gladly used 纯爱 to mark a greater focus on platonic or familial love (and it's good that these have a tag too? but maybe go find a new one to occupy lol geez)... but I have seen it on the buttons of websites which previously had 耽美 on them instead, so... xD
Just because there is now a transliterated loanword that can be adopted by the international fandom, doesn't change the fact that 耽美 is written in Chinese for a Chinese reading readership (the majority of which likely grew up with some degree of exposure to similar culture, literature and such things as the author - but this isn't super relevant to my point).
I thought this was common knowledge. But maybe not!
A friend shared this tweet by a Spanish publishing company. I google translated it below to get the gist of it.
WE REVEAL COVER! We already have here the cover of «Reincarnation», by . An inspirational novel #danmei , the literary genre that is sweeping the world, but has resisted reaching Spain, until now. #DanmeiMadeInSpain Will be out on March 20And despite knowing that this is a bid for more eyeballs, I rolled mine to the sky LOL.
If the work, or the original (in the case of translation), doesn't even meet the criteria of 'written in Chinese', it's just lame to call it danmei because your intention is so obvious. Does the story not stand on its own merit?
Kindly note: I said Chinese. Not Mandarin.
Anyway, if you're writing in English, it's not danmei. If you're writing in Spanish or German or Greek or anything not Chinese, it is can't be danmei.
Like calling what you made fried rice, when instead of rice, you used pasta.
Personally, I don't mind if an author who isn't Chinese or can't speak Chinese wants to set their story in an ahistorical Chinese period or modern city. (Because that's a real slippery slope to go down that might end at 'Chinese enough' lol.) You don't have to be a sea creature to have fun on a public beach!
A natural selection will happen if they haven't done their due diligence as a storyteller xD
Like if I see a novel jacket cover with poor attention to detail and a sus generic blurb on the back, I'd probably just not read it.
I've backed away from my fair share of strange names in Chinese period/Chinese-inspired English novels xD
Long story short, if you want danmei in your language, GO TRANSLATE SOME.
If you want to write danmei, do it in Chinese. (And you better have done your research or no one will be reading it except yourself xD)
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no subject
Date: 2023-01-17 02:28 am (UTC)This kind of reminds me of back when certain companies were trying to market "American manga" or whatever they called it. Like... we have those already, mate, they're called comics. Graphic novels if you want to be fancy.
I'm glad that there are official translations happening, but it'd be better if there weren't this kind of silly stuff happening along with it.
no subject
Date: 2023-01-18 10:04 am (UTC)Also LMAO oh dear. Another marketing fail 🤣 worse - since there's an existing word right there...
Though I wish certain companies would take the translations more seriously, I am also glad that they're getting more visibility!
(LYB Translation Wheeeeen? 👀)
no subject
Date: 2023-01-18 02:05 pm (UTC)YES PLEASE
Considering the success of the drama, I'm a little surprised that it hasn't already been done. Then again I'm not exactly plugged in to what's going on.
no subject
Date: 2023-01-18 06:58 am (UTC)That's exactly how i feel. Natural selection. XD
But really, what's the point of a Spanish "danmei"?
no subject
Date: 2023-01-18 10:08 am (UTC)