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NEWS: Japanese Govt. to Consider Providing Subsidies for AI Translation, Overseas Sales Generation t


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Nagatoka_Morito



Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 78
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 6:18 pm Reply with quote
BadNewsBlues wrote:
You either get jankily done translations done by humans or you get messy AI translations.

News flash: Translation is an art, not a science. There will always be some level of what you call "jank" because of differences in factors such as understanding, taste, and publisher mandate. This is still infinitely preferable to the kind of artless, sub-textbook level translation that LLMs regurgitate.
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StellaStellaStella



Joined: 04 Feb 2023
Posts: 42
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 6:40 pm Reply with quote
Nagatoka_Morito wrote:
News flash: Translation is an art, not a science. There will always be some level of what you call "jank" because of differences in factors such as understanding, taste, and publisher mandate. This is still infinitely preferable to the kind of artless, sub-textbook level translation that LLMs regurgitate.


And now the art will be in the hands of the Japanese side rather than Bluesky localizers and their clique thinking they know better than the original Japanese creator. I couldn't be happier.
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Cardcaptor Takato



Joined: 27 Jan 2018
Posts: 5982
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 7:04 pm Reply with quote
StellaStellaStella wrote:


And now the art will be in the hands of the Japanese side rather than Bluesky localizers and their clique thinking they know better than the original Japanese creator. I couldn't be happier.
Did you not see the bad AI subs the few times that were done on Crunchyroll or is it that you only get mad when American companies do AI?
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mayonakama



Joined: 10 Nov 2023
Posts: 82
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 7:11 pm Reply with quote
They may as well just convert the 11.5 billion yen into paper bills and start a huge bonfire
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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
Posts: 7225
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 7:28 pm Reply with quote
Nagatoka_Morito wrote:

News flash: Translation is an art, not a science. There will always be some level of what you call "jank" because of differences in factors such as understanding, taste, and publisher mandate.


Pretty sure it can be both but even then that doesn't excuse things like a lack of proofreading or when it’s manga using ugly fonts or wonky typesetting.

Which can happen in fan translated works as well.
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2971
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 7:37 pm Reply with quote
Nagatoka_Morito wrote:

News flash: Translation is an art, not a science. There will always be some level of what you call "jank" because of differences in factors such as understanding, taste, and publisher mandate. This is still infinitely preferable to the kind of artless, sub-textbook level translation that LLMs regurgitate.


Basically; LLMs' translations are either boring or nonsense.
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Zoltan Kakler



Joined: 05 Feb 2023
Posts: 104
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 8:17 pm Reply with quote
I haven't heard any complains since Ancient Magus Bridge switched to AI translations. Even the fan-translators said it was better than their so they stopped doing it. Seems like the next logical point of the industry is for Japan to start doing translations in-house rather than letting overseas companies do it especially as more complaints come in from dissatisfied customers.
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lucio542



Joined: 11 Apr 2015
Posts: 347
Location: Brazil
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 9:23 pm Reply with quote
If a manga that would never get a translation gets one this way, then its better than nothing, but, only then it would be worth for me to do this.
I already play games with mtl translators so well...it can't be worse than this.
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Sakura Shinguji



Joined: 09 Feb 2005
Posts: 216
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 9:44 pm Reply with quote
Well, if they want to rely on systems built on blatant theft to facilitate material, then it seems only right to encourage piracy as a way to sample that material.
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kgw



Joined: 22 Jul 2004
Posts: 1548
Location: Spain, EU
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 10:04 pm Reply with quote
So, the Japanese government, unlike the South Korean one, won't subsidize the translations of "foreign" companies —who know their markets and made by humans— but AI translations for Japanese companies because, I do not know, dealing with foreigners is a bother? No wonder many and many publishers overseas are turning to mangwhas…
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 10:24 pm Reply with quote
Just because Japan could do his doesn't mean that they should.
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Dancing Green



Joined: 31 May 2025
Posts: 75
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 10:29 pm Reply with quote
kgw wrote:
So, the Japanese government, unlike the South Korean one, won't subsidize the translations of "foreign" companies —who know their markets and made by humans— but AI translations for Japanese companies because, I do not know, dealing with foreigners is a bother? No wonder many and many publishers overseas are turning to mangwhas…


https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/899108/webtoon-canvas-ai-translation-localization-yongsoo-kim

Korea seems all in on AI too. Don't think it's got anything to do with that just using newly available tools to make things easier and better for people.
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Hellsoldier



Joined: 21 Jun 2013
Posts: 1168
Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 10:46 pm Reply with quote
I think one thing that should be mentioned about translation is linguistic nuance. There is no direct translation for the portuguese word saudade, and the same more or less happens with the german word sehnsucht. The most approximate word in english would be longing, and that still would not be enough to convey the full meaning of the word. There's a lot that goes on into translation.

From what I gather from the comments, the situation with AI and translation seems akin to the Cory Doctorow description of the reverse-centaur. I.g. the human placed as a cog to operate the machine, rather than the machine making life easier. Taking that into consideration, I'll be the first to admit that my idea was a bad one.

And I suspect the folks at the LDP are not tech savvy enough to realize what the problem is.

Divineking wrote:

I know a lot of these AI companies are desperate to convince people otherwise, but that's something that people have been able to do for centuries, and currently still way better than AI can. If you aren't willing to put in the work to learn a language than you're not actually that interested in learning it


You understand English is not my mother tongue, right? I'm self-taught, having learned English before 5th grade, back when English Language education only started in 5th grade in Portugal. I have basic knowledge of Spanish as well.

But there is one severe, glaring flaw in your argument. As somebody who has to balance time between finishing his college education, doing his part in the caretaking of a younger sibling with disabilities, and making sure not to fall into burnout, I can tell you: not everyone has the time or mental availability to learn a language. Anyone who says otherwise lives a rather privileged life. Good for you. I mean it. But realize some people aren't as lucky.

Cardcaptor Takato wrote:
Then read something else?


There's this book called Venus City, by Gorō Masaki. As far as I know, it has not been translated into English as of yet. But because I'm into everything cyberpunk, I really want to check that book by the Japanese William Gibson. Plus there's some interesting story dynamics regarding gender and presentation going on, from what I hear. I am hoping for a translation, since more Japanese books have been translated as of recently. There's also a cyberpunk book by a Polish author, Jacek Dukaj, that caught my interest as well.

If I actually manage to get the time to learn Japanese (which should be a lot easier with the online resources available, I'll be able to ditch the problem altogether, and focus instead on obtaining the book. But your answer seems to be: If you are interested in something not translated, either learn the language or lose interest. Which frankly helps no one, and is, in fact, an invitation for people to focus only on what they know, which is the death of curiosity.

The expectation that people only need a will to learn a language or skill is symptom of a broader problem, which is that people think individuals are completely independent from their surroundings and circumstances.
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Tenbyakugon



Joined: 11 Jan 2012
Posts: 828
Location: Ohio, United States
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 10:55 pm Reply with quote
As it’s still World Pride Month in Japan with only a few hours left, let’s subsidize legal rights for homosexuals and others first! >>>>
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Doubleclouder



Joined: 07 Jan 2024
Posts: 168
PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2026 12:57 am Reply with quote
Hellsoldier wrote:
If I actually manage to get the time to learn Japanese (which should be a lot easier with the online resources available, I'll be able to ditch the problem altogether, and focus instead on obtaining the book. But your answer seems to be: If you are interested in something not translated, either learn the language or lose interest. Which frankly helps no one, and is, in fact, an invitation for people to focus only on what they know, which is the death of curiosity.

The expectation that people only need a will to learn a language or skill is symptom of a broader problem, which is that people think individuals are completely independent from their surroundings and circumstances.


I'm still learning Japanese despite living in Japan for over a decade now. Some stuff still eludes me but I know enough to get through my daily life and work. I applaud anyone who can learn it as a second language. I still have to look some things up from time to time.

From a pragmatic view any tool that helps people enjoy and experience more art should be cherished. Although the creation of such tools means those who wish to gatekeep what art you're allowed to access lose the ability do so... and it terrifies them. 21 years ago Greg Ayers and ADV Films tried to convince American audiences Ghost Stories was a failure in Japan to justify their free reign on the English dubbing . Today we know better. Modern internet lets us be more informed. It's no surprise tools which can let even the average person fact check a translation are seen as undesirable. If anyone can run a page through AI and discover that's not what a character originally said and an entire plotline was changed or dropped from a localization then it makes doing such things and getting away with it that much harder.
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