Anime & Manga Western Localization Problems

[Captain X]

While some people have turned to anime and manga to get away from "The Message," the problem is that localization companies have been thoroughly infiltrated by NCPs who have begun to change scripts to suit their ideologies. The unfortunate part of this is that thanks to things being so good for a good long stretch there, the fun-subbing has really fallen off. However, Japanese companies have begin to take notice, and one of them even forced an American company to reprint their manga because they'd turned a gay relationship into a trans one. Also there's the whole thing with anime companies now looking to use AI to translate their stuff into English so they can sell directly to fans over here.

 

[Pocky Balboa]

With Ancient Magus Bride being announced as using both AI and human translators and editors for the English script, English localizers...ahem, my mistake, that's inaccurate, that should be wokalizers, are now crying bitch tears about disrespect and discrimination and the usual woketard buzzwords, with the infamous Katrina Leonoudakis (who proudly bragged numerous times about the piss poor jobs she did on translating the anime she was localizing, with accompanying screenshots, then proceeded to insult anyone who called her out for her lack of professionalism) being prominently featured on the video.

LOL, keep crying, you localizer cunts. It's not disrespect and discrimination, it's taking out the trash. And fuck yes, machine translators like DeepL are more trustworthy than you shitheels. This is the future you chose, scum.

 

[Carrot of Truth]

Ai translators are pretty shit but so are these fucks. I feel like this is a lose lose regardless though.

 

[MrBirthday]

LOL, keep crying, you localizer cunts. It's not disrespect and discrimination, it's taking out the trash. And fuck yes, machine translators like DeepL are more trustworthy than you shitheels. This is the future you chose, scum.

I've used DeepL to translate Japanese stories on Pixiv, and from my experience? If you are expecting machine translation to produce something that you'd actually want to read, you'll be sadly disappointed. To the extent it actually is machine translation (and not just the company providing translation services saying it is) it's just moving to a different flavor of dogshit, not an improvement.

 

[Carrot of Truth]

I've used DeepL to translate Japanese stories on Pixiv, and from my experience? If you are expecting machine translation to produce something that you'd actually want to read, you'll be sadly disappointed. To the extent it actually is machine translation (and not just the company providing translation services saying it is) it's just moving to a different flavor of dogshit, not an improvement.

Anyone who reads Manhwa's knows how shit tier machine translations are.

 

[Pocky Balboa]

Well, I actually know Japanese, so all I can say to you guys is "Skill issue."

But seriously, that's just how trash I consider modern localizers are. Machine translation with all its faults, is still more trustworthy than them in my eyes. Besides, The Ancient Magus Bride production team is using both HUMAN and AI. I'm guessing it's going to be having the AI do the bulk of the translation, and the staff hiring a local English-speaking Japanese to correct the AI's mistakes. I'll still take that over some fucktard who inserts "REEEEEE Inceeeelllssss!" or "muh Gamergaet" into the script.

No fucking mercy for wokalizers.

 

[MrBirthday]

a local English-speaking Japanese to correct the AI"s mistakes.

Which I'm betting will amount to tossing out the entirety of the AI-translated text and having their in-house translators doing everything from scratch, assuming they actually want to deliver a good product. As I've said elsewhere, I think the company providing translation services is at least somewhat misrepresenting their product to their customers.

 

[Pocky Balboa]

An AI can learn and improve. I haven't seen a modern localizer do either. An AI also won't brag about deliberately and maliciously mistranslating and straight up making shit up.

 

[MrBirthday]

Machine translation with all its faults, is still more trustworthy than them in my eyes.

And people wanting an actually good translation will still be left wanting, just in a different matter entirely.

 

[Pocky Balboa]

And people wanting an actually good translation will still be left wanting, just in a different matter entirely.

Then either learn Japanese like I did back in the 90s, or they can do the footwork themselves of finding and comissioning someone they can trust to do it instead of sitting on their asses and waiting and bitching if they're that desperate for whatever work they want translated.

 

[MrBirthday]

Then either learn Japanese like I did back in the 90s, or they can do the footwork themselves of finding someone they can trust to do it instead of sitting on their asses and waiting and bitching if they're that desperate for whatever work they want translated.

And you have misunderstood my point entirely. My point, based on my own use of machine translation, is those thinking it's some kind of panacea will be disappointed.

 

[Pocky Balboa]

And you have misunderstood my point entirely. My point, based on my own use of machine translation, is those thinking it's some kind of panacea will be disappointed.

First, when did I say it was a cure-all? All I said that it was more trustworthy than modern localizers and a more preferrable option to the latter.

Second, you say both are the same degrees of terrible, I disagree. An AI translator isn't going to use my entertainment as a vehicle to push whatever woke shit is trending on Twitter. In addition, an AI can learn to improve, a woketard localizer never will, otherwise they wouldn't be a woketard. You'll have more of a chance of getting improvements from the former over the latter. If the wokalizers were the only game in town (as the wokies usually try to push for like in every other industry they've infested), even the threat of losing profits isn't going to sway them to stop with their terrible work. At least if the companies were using AI along with in-house translators at least the threat of the dollary doos going away will actually do something.

 

[MrBirthday]

First, when did I say it was a cure-all?

You didn't, but others have.

Second, you say both are the same degrees of terrible, I disagree.

I'm honestly wondering. If machine translation yielded something that read like Backstroke of the West (remember that?) would you actually consider that an improvement? Because if you would... Yeah, don't think we'll ever agree.

In addition, an AI can learn to improve

*quirks eyebrow* Doesn't that take as an absolute that it works as well as its boosters advertise? My own experience contradicts it. I'm still getting the same awkward translations now as when I started using it years ago. To what extent have you actually used machine translation such as DeepL and the like?

 

[Pocky Balboa]

I'm honestly wondering. If machine translation yielded something that read like Backstroke of the West (remember that?) would you actually consider that an improvement? Because if you would... Yeah, don't think we'll ever agree.

Backstroke of the West never tried to be a propaganda piece for some piece of nonsense from the wokies and was actually funny and entertaining, so if you're asking me if between Star Wars as translated by a wokalizer and Backstroke of the West which is better? Backstroke would be an improvement over a wokalized script of Star Wars.

*quirks eyebrow* Doesn't that take as an absolute that it works as well as its boosters advertise? My own experience contradicts it. I'm still getting the same awkward translations now as when I started using it years ago. To what extent have you actually used machine translation such as DeepL and the like?

And yet here is an amateur programmer with no skill in JPN who used an MTL and then made what corrections and edits he can to make it readable. Here is another amateur who only knows Romaji who also used an MTL and then made what corrections and edits he can. I double checked their work by looking up the stories in their original Japanese and they got pretty close, especially for amateurs. And here is me putting into DeepL the intro summary to "GM ga Isekai Log-In Shimashita":

とあるＭＭＯにおいてＧＭ「ゲームマスター」をやっている２８歳。三十路手前の男。
藤堂・正樹。いつも通りＧＭをやっていた所、噂話、都市伝説と思っていた行方不明に！気づいた時には異世界だった。
ファンタジーＭＭＯ，アクション、戦国、三国、海洋、更にはＳＦにＦＰＳ，ロボットまで！あらゆるオンラインゲームを巻き込んだ物語が今始まる！

ＧＭがあらゆるスキル・魔法・生産スキル。更にはＧＭ限定能力を使い異世界で全力でアレコレする話です。
ＧＣノベルズ様より１２月２５日。一巻が発売されます。皆様のお蔭で書籍化になりました。改めてありがとうございます。

I am 28 years old and a GM "Game Master" in a certain MMO. He is a man just before his thirtieth birthday.
Masaki Todo. He was GMing as usual when he went missing, which he thought was just a rumor or an urban legend! When he found out, he was in another world.
Fantasy MMO, Action, Sengoku, Sanguoku, Maritime, even SF, FPS, Robot! The story involving all kinds of online games begins now!

GMs can use all kinds of skills, magic, and production skills. It's a story about a GM who uses all his skills, magic, production skills, and even GM-only abilities to do all he can in a different world.
The first volume will be released by GC Novels on December 25. The first volume will be released by GC Novels on December 25. Thanks to everyone's support, it has been published as a book. Thank you again.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Close to the original and readable enough for me, with only a little bit of work it'll actually look good. Certainly a lot better than when DeepL started out. Are you guys just putting in the entire page at once? Maybe that's why you keep getting garbage? Putting in only a few paragraphs at a time yields better results from what I've found. As I said, I can read, write and speak Japanese so I don't use MTLs and AI unless I want to pump out a quick copy paste that I'll make a few corrections to to put into a post or similar instead of typing it out from scratch, like I did here.

 

[MrBirthday]

Backstroke of the West never tried to be a propaganda piece for some piece of nonsense from the wokies and was actually funny and entertaining, so if you're asking me if between Star Wars as translated by a wokalizer and Backstroke of the West which is better? Backstroke would be an improvement over a wokalized script of Star Wars.

I'm saying that a mangled mess of a translation only good for a laugh at how bad it is isn't some huge improvement.

snip second paragraph

I do put them in small paragraphs. It still spits out a bunch of errors. Like reading the characters of someone's name wrong. Repeating sentences. Getting the sex of a person wrong. Randomly alternating between a character being male and female. And more.

 

[Pocky Balboa]

I'm saying that a mangled mess of a translation only good for a laugh at how bad it is isn't some huge improvement.

I do put them in small paragraphs. It still spits out a bunch of errors. Like reading the characters of someone's name wrong. Repeating sentences. Getting the sex of a person wrong. Randomly alternating between a character being male and female. And more.

Still an improvement, which is better than what a wokalizer would spit out, and as I said, with AI translators, you can actually make your displeasure to the corpos known with your dollars and have a better chance of forcing better translations, unlike wokies who'll ignore profit losses if they actually get a stranglehold on the translation business.

As for your MTL problems, well then I don't know what the trouble is. When I put them in what it spits out wouldn't require me having to toss it out and do it all from scratch to make it good and readable. So I don't see why a professional translator can't do better than me.

 

[Blasterbot]

My thoughts are basically what Asmongold's were. I really did not pay any attention to this drama because.. well...



in the end the fans were literally begging for workable translations. they did not get them from the companies. when a couple randos on the internet can get a rip and have a workable translation within the day and the actual releases tend to follow months or years latter and then on top of it all you find out they alter it to fit their worldview? there are reasons people hated Funimation.

they did shit like



now we get things like



If that is the best we can get out of people? yeah give me an AI doing the majority of the work with a quality assurance guy checking the end product. These people should have been members of the anime community who actually liked the product and wanted to please the fans so they would buy the official releases. what we got were a bunch of wokesters who after graduating with a middling to high 5 digit colledge debt found that their only useful skill for earning money was that they knew Japanese. they did not like anime. they hate the fans. and they want to use whatever levers of power they have access to to push their political agenda and own the chuds.

 

[Captain X]

The catch about pirating anime and manga is that the groups who do it have lost that tradition of doing actual fan-subs, and most of them will use the official subtitles or manga translations.

 

[gral]

The catch about pirating anime and manga is that the groups who do it have lost that tradition of doing actual fan-subs, and most of them will use the official subtitles or manga translations.

Yes. Having the 'fansub' community be dependent on them was the greatest coup of Crunchyroll.

 

[Captain X]

What he wouldn't show: