[COMPLETE] The Dream of the Red Chamber II by Cao - availle

DavidReader · Post by **DavidReader** » May 17th, 2019, 8:13 pm

This the adjusted section 23 for PL
https://librivox.org/uploads/availle/dreamredchamber2_23_cao_128kb.mp3

Post by **Availle** » May 19th, 2019, 4:06 am

Thank you David, you're a star!

DavidReader · Post by **DavidReader** » May 23rd, 2019, 10:43 pm

This is section 24 for PL:
https://librivox.org/uploads/availle/dreamredchamber2_24_cao_128kb.mp3 [37:58]
notes:
- at 9:47, the two words: "A joke" are not read (those two words were apparently quite inappropriate in the context);
- at both 18:09 and 18:15, "On", seems to be a typo of "Ou" (note its corrected reappearances in the subsequent paragraphs)

Post by **Availle** » May 24th, 2019, 1:22 am

Thank you David!

Goodness, you're a machine! You do sleep occasionally, right?

tding · Post by **tding** » May 24th, 2019, 10:46 am

Hello, I'd like to claim Chapter XXXVIII, Part 1 and Part 2 for reading, please.

Tina Ding

Post by **Availle** » May 24th, 2019, 4:51 pm

Hi Tina and welcome to the Red Chamber!

Chapter 38 is yours in all its glory - have fun!

MaraBella · Post by **MaraBella** » May 27th, 2019, 12:30 pm

Hello! I am new, and would like to attempt section 28! Chapter XXXIX, part 1.

I discovered this site through this very project, when I was looking for an audiobook of Story of the Stone... and now that I am volunteering here, I can't think of anything I'd love to read more! Very excited to participate in any way. Studying the pronunciation guide as we speak.

Edit: Hello again! After going through the chapter I requested, to make sure I knew how to pronounce the names that were not on the pronunciation list, I have a suggestion, for anyone who doesn't read Chinese and can't easily check what the names are in the original. I am not sure if it is a helpful suggestion, or one that wasn't made when you were recording part one, but for those of us fumbling English-only readers: I have found it VERY useful to have a chart open converting Wade Giles to Pinyin. Pinyin, at least in my opinion, is much more intuitive as to how these words are actually said. It's also what's taught nowadays, so for any non-native Chinese speakers who have studied even a little Mandarin, it's what we're more likely to at least be familiar with, and for anyone totally new to the language, it's also what you'll be able to find youtube tutorials explaining! One still must try to discern the original Chinese names as far as tones go (I could not figure out the tones for the two names, Chu Erh and Wang Erh; my best guesses were 珠儿 and 王儿 but I couldn't verify in the text), but all readers are much more likely to correctly and consistently say, for example, "Zhu" instead of "Chu", for any names that aren't on the pronunciation guide!

Lol, sorry to just jump in here with suggestions before I'm even approved on the project! But as I was test-reading the section I requested, I found this very handy.

- Mara Bella

DavidReader · Post by **DavidReader** » May 27th, 2019, 9:14 pm

This is section 25 for PL please:
https://librivox.org/uploads/availle/dreamredchamber2_25_cao_128kb.mp3 [38:31]
Also, I would like to claim sections 30 & 31, thanks.

afutterer · Post by **afutterer** » May 30th, 2019, 7:55 am

PL NOTES:

SECTION 23

PL OK

Post by **Availle** » June 1st, 2019, 2:46 am

Thanks David for your file - two more for you!

Thanks Anthony for PLing!

Post by **Availle** » June 1st, 2019, 2:50 am

MaraBella wrote: ↑May 27th, 2019, 12:30 pm Hello! I am new, and would like to attempt section 28! Chapter XXXIX, part 1.

I discovered this site through this very project, when I was looking for an audiobook of Story of the Stone... and now that I am volunteering here, I can't think of anything I'd love to read more! Very excited to participate in any way. Studying the pronunciation guide as we speak.

All yours - enjoy! Unfortunately, this translation is incomplete for some reason or other, but I guess having a part of this book available is still better than nothing...

As for your suggestion wrt pronunciation, that's perfectly fine with me.

What we did for the first part and the pronunciation guide was to scour the book for the characters and places that reappear many times. I think it is important to get them right so that listeners won't get (too) confused about what's going on. The others that may just show up in a chapter or two, I'm not picky about. Just read as you think it sounds good. As I mentioned above, not everyone would be able to look up the Chinese anyway, so we'll be good.

Anyway, have fun on here!

MaraBella · Post by **MaraBella** » June 2nd, 2019, 1:02 am

Hello! Here is part 28. I was starting to get perfectionistic with it

so lest I start rerecording the whole thing over again, let me just put this up here and see what the DPL has to tell me.

("Please do less character voices" is a completely acceptable required edit, btw.

)

https://librivox.org/uploads/availle/dreamredchamber2_28_cao_128kb.mp3 [27:43]

Shoot, sorry to edit so many times, but I forgot the typo fixes.

at 00:46: makes up his mind to sift to the very bottom the story
changed to: makes up his mind to sift to the very bottom of the story

at 2:17: It's so evident that you're only got
changed to: It's so evident that you've only got

at 19:21: straightway
changed to: straightaway

And this one I only noticed after editing, but

at 20:50: when least unexpected
seems like it should either be: when most unexpected OR when least expected

I can edit that in or leave it as is, depending on what you think.

I would love to go ahead and claim part 29, too!

What we did for the first part and the pronunciation guide was to scour the book for the characters and places that reappear many times. I think it is important to get them right so that listeners won't get (too) confused about what's going on. The others that may just show up in a chapter or two, I'm not picky about. Just read as you think it sounds good. As I mentioned above, not everyone would be able to look up the Chinese anyway, so we'll be good.

Yes, this makes complete sense to me! I do think English-only readers checking the Wade Giles names against pinyin could help with consistency for minor characters, without tones or checking the Chinese coming into it, though. As an English reader, the family name "Chia", as written in Wade Giles, looks like it should be said like CH-yah, when it is actually said Jee-a. So for any minor characters who fall outside the pronunciation guide, but share the book's main family name, their names will still always be Jee-a, identifying them as members of the main family. Since it's written "Jia" in pinyin, if readers have a pinyin chart open, they might be more likely to use that family name consistently, whenever it appears.

But none of this may matter as it appears a lot of the current readers on this ARE Chinese speakers!

So I may be the only fumbling English reader this applies to right now, anyway.

Excited to join this project!

Post by **Availle** » June 2nd, 2019, 4:39 pm

That was fast, thanks! 29 is yours too!

Thanks for your ideas wrt pronunciation. Thing is that it's hard enough to find readers, and the pronunciation guide is already MASSIVE.

So I don't want to prescribe anything beyond the absolutely necessary. I'm sure most people who are unfamiliar with the names here would look them up somehow or make an educated guess... I just don't want to force them "do exactly this" in any way.

DavidReader · Post by **DavidReader** » June 2nd, 2019, 8:52 pm

This is section 30 for PL:
https://librivox.org/uploads/availle/dreamredchamber2_30_cao_128kb.mp3 [35:01]

Post by **Availle** » June 3rd, 2019, 12:00 am

Thank you David!