Thread 283612893

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2025-11-07/does-the-light-novel-translation-process-need-ai/.230680

>There's no comparison: human translation is more accurate, nuanced, and well, human, than ChatGPT. But when fans like Gallant need to choose between the “right” translation and a translation “right now,” sometimes they choose machine translation. As machine translation tools under the banner of AI become increasingly accessible and easy to use, the light novel landscape is at a crossroads. Do light novel publishers compromise their product for more speed, and if so, by how much?

>Pinansky said he has experimented with AI tools in his spare time, but does not think that machine translation technology, as it is now, could be implemented into the JNC workflow, which depends on the back-and-forth dialogue between translator and editor. He believes that “sooner or later” fully-automated translation will be possible, but it'll require significant investment up front.

>“The main reason it hasn't already is likely because inputting 200,000 characters and spitting out 100,000 words is not a use case that is profitable for the large tech companies, where translation is likely sufficient one business PowerPoint at a time,” said Pinansky.

>Once machine translation does rival JNC's process, Pinansky said the community will have some interesting choices to make.

Is AI translation the future?

>we don't want to pay employees money
>but we'd love to pay AI corporations money to use their AI's, and eventually they'll raise the prices and be more expensive than just a regular human

>ANN direct link
/a/ is healing

>>283612893 (OP)
If fully-automated AI translation becomes possible, there's no need for nip publishers to license out their releases, they can just click the button and release a translation themselves.

light novels shouldn't be translated

>>283612893 (OP)
The future is learning runes.

>>283612893 (OP)
I'd rather learn Japanese than have to read stuff translated by an AI
I don't even care how high quality the translation is, it could be better than any human translation, I'd still hate it

>>283612893 (OP)
>There's no comparison: human translation is more accurate, nuanced

>>283612893 (OP)
AI translations will never be more than literal translations. Slang, inferences, character, none of that will ever translate over. I know most of /a/ doesn't care because they're low IQ Indonesian rightoids, but I prefer to read my manga with a soul. Other languages to Japanese are suffering the same problem, I've seen more and more Japanese people upset about literal, often machine translations getting shit completely wrong.

>>283612893 (OP)
ai is still consistently incorrect and therefore can not be trusted to completely replace a human. but despite this we still made autonomous kill drones.

>>283612893 (OP)
I want it done right, not now.

>>283612893 (OP)
For actual literature you need a human who's able to talk to the author to figure out the best translation
For most LNs, MTL plus some proofreading is enough

>>283612893 (OP)
It's all still garbage as of this moment, and like other anons said it tends to miss nuances/jokes/references.

>>283613002
Aren't some of them doing that right now when they release individual translated chapters for manga adaptations? Shit hasn't caught on because the quality is still lacking and even with their 'cost-savings' they're still putting it behind the paywall of their individual chapter micro-transaction online-only services. They're killing the AI-translation argument by trying to get you to pay literally more for less.

>MTL fansubs were years ahead
Sasuga

>>283613002
If it gets to a good quality level eventually, and they start using that method, I'd rather get the original untranslated version and have the translation done locally.

>>283612893 (OP)
>Once machine translation does rival JNC's process, Pinansky said the community will have some interesting choices to make.

>“Do people just accept a fully automated translation that's 'good enough?' Do they pay for the original Japanese version and translate it themselves? Does JNC end up needing to compete, not with pirates per se, but with the original web novels that authors post for free? In a way, is it not better that the original authors can now show their web novels to the entire world and not just Japanese readers?... Is it even worth it for a company like JNC to pursue machine translation to compete if the inevitable decision of the consumer is ‘we don't need you anymore ’?”

Sounds like he'd rather have the company commit seppuku and let users just do their own AI translations than ever implement AI at JNC.

Also based on novelpiss crashing and burning no, AI translation isn't the future.

>>283612893 (OP)
>>283614052
Also
>post with JNC as OP image
>link is about how JNC is still refusing to use AI and thinks that if AI actually gets that good then JNC doesn't need to exist anyway
At least post emaqi or novelpiss global or someone who is actually using mass AI TL

>>283614052
Based on the previous leak from the JNC employee, JNC was against implementing AI but Kadokawa was pushing it as they wanted simultaneous releases for LNs in multiple languages.

Kadokawa will probably push Sam off the cliff eventually and put someone else in to implement AI.

Pretty much everything else in the leak has come true.

What sucks is that there are LN's out there that have no translations that don't get any treatment at all. So what else are you supposed to do.

>>283614233
It makes more sense for Kadokawa to experiment with Kadokawa Digipub first or to just create a new platform than to do it with JNC, especially considering that (IIRC) part of the reason for buying JNC in the first place was specifically because they wanted Pinansky himself.

>>283613879
Corona Comics is doing it, owned by TO Books. Shueisha is doing it for some Manga Plus oneshots too. More manhwa and manhua companies are doing it instead. Alphapolis has a few AI series on their app too but they’re a mixed bag. They’ll probably go full AI by 2030.

Bushiroad now seems to be testing it using Ancient Magus Bride.

EOPs will never understand just how bad they have it

>>283613079
The future is Chinese

IF AI manages to get better than the average translator than it's going to be mostly a plus, I think it could be a useful tool if used by people who can actually proof read it, but who knows if AI will ever advance, we have been hearing about it for the last 5 years and the only thing it got better at it's making porn and since porn will likely get banned worldwide in the next years AI was utterly pointless.

>>283614445
>and since porn will likely get banned worldwide in the next years AI was utterly pointless.
you're supposed to gen locally

>>283614509
AI will likely disable this, so only people with old versions will be able to do it

>>283612893 (OP)
>>There's no comparison: human translation is more accurate, nuanced, and well, huma
suddenly dogshit localizers are "translators",what a joke they can die off for all i care

Considering how badly some of JNCs recent releases read, are we sure they’re not using AI somewhere? Editors even?

>>283614671
more likely they're overstretched and underpaid than using AI

>>283614671
more likely the people localizing are just using AI to make their job easier

>>283614671
more likely you're AI

I am going to get good at NLLB and have it make good-enough translations of obscure light novels and release them with no credits and the people will read them and if there are issues hash them out themselves and I will be bodily carried into Heaven by angels.

>>283613002
They’ll probably still license them for print. But then English publishers become glorified printing houses

>>283613079
Runes is the only way to get the proper experience. Apothecary Diaries is ruined in translation, the translator misses the context and nuance constantly

>>283614179
Because this is just another one of OP's threads complaining about JNC that he makes every now and again with the same OP image and gets maybe a couple dozen replies, and ANN asking Pinansky for his opinion on AI is a thinly veiled excuse for him to make another one.

>>283612893 (OP)
The good LNs all have translations already, you'll only have trouble with niche +18 ones

>>283613314
I want it done right now without anything woke

>>283615314
The main issue is light novels released before 2007-ish. There are a ton of really popular ones that are unknown in the west because LN translations were uncommon back then and only around a third of popular pre-Haruhi LN series got anime adaptions.

>>283612893 (OP)
hurrrrrr durrrrrrr the tech will never improve humans 4ever amirite lol

>>283616203
The pre-2007 LNs are actually better written since they’re not webnovel slop, authors had to actually try.

>>283612893 (OP)

>AI sloppa
OR
>Fujoshit ""translators"" that insert wokeshit into the script and/or remove anything westernly-questionable

Fine, I'll that the sloppa.

>>283612893 (OP)

>AI sloppa
OR
>Fujoshit ""translators"" that insert wokeshit into the script and/or remove anything westernly-questionable

Fine, I'll take the sloppa.

>>283617779
None. Learn runes instead

>>283615871
>>283617779
Define "woke".

>>283618046

>Several controversial changes also involve rewritten characterization. In chapter 3 of volume 2, a scene which depicted the protagonist Rudeus groping and attempting to pull off the panties of a sleeping girl was replaced with him trying to pull her shirt over her stomach to prevent her from catching a cold.

>>283618821
>>283618046

>>283618046
>>283618821
>>283618841

>>283618821
By all accounts the translator was not responsible for this, and did in fact translate and submit the material to editorial. It's very likely that this was cut by editorial and that the translator has nothing to do with it. It definitely wasn't a matter is being "woke".

>>283618821
>>283618841
But those were done by the editors (actual failed YA authors who even don't know any Japanese), not the translators. You'd get the exact same changes even if they used AI.

>>283618876
Editor, translator, doesn't matter the wokeshit has clearly infested these westshit companies enough to continually rape scripts.

>>283618888
They were held accountable and this shit has been fixed. As far as I know, there haven't been major issues of the like that have come out of the company in question since. That being said, I do agree with you that these people need to be kept the fuck out of the transition business.

>>283618876
>>283618878
>>283618888

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEXurYaIHao

>>283618937
Translation* I'm sure plenty of them are already in the business of transitioning.

>>283618937
>held accountable
Was the editor fired? No? Then they're still doing shit, just maybe less obviously.

>>283618942
Dub script writers aren't translators, retard. I mean that literally, the process of writing a dub script has no translation involved in it, the writers don't know Japanese, they're given the sub script as a guide and free rein to do whatever the fuck they want.

>>283618942
I hate this localization choice too, but this isn't woke. The girl is clearly being portrayed as an unreasonable bitch.

>>283619075
Comedy anime are also typically a lot more loose with the authenticity of their translation because a lot of Japanese humor just doesn't translate for shit and the dubbing teams have fun going off the wall with the material. Anyone who takes umbrage with that can just watch the subbed version instead. I mean, if you REALLY want to watch the subbed version of fucking Ghost Stories.

But this is /a/, where Japan is literally God so trying to reason with people on this topic is about as productive as trying to fuck a garbage disposal.

>Sure, a human translator is better, but they can't pump out translations to flood the market
The state of AI hype retards.

>>283613212
Why did you crop out the Japanese frame? Neither of these are literal translations.

>>283619363
That isn't the point. The right is the translation you get when all you care about is getting across the information that Makima can hear them. That's what a literal translation of the text would give you. The left ascribes intent and presence to her, that she's hovering over them like a specter instead of proverbially sitting in the next room where their words might carry over to her ears. The left is what the scene is intending, the right gets rid of that.

>>283614052
In case anybody wanted more of Sam's doomposting.

>>283619049
She got put onto the danmei novels, one mistake there and the Chinese will figure out where she lives, what she eats and her entire schedule so they can unalive her. She got a punishment worse than being fired

>>283619049
Yes. Apparently it was some YA fiction editor that didn't even realize she was editing a translation of a published foreign work to begin with.

>>283619754
>that didn't even realize she was editing a translation of a published foreign work to begin with
there is zero chance that she applied to work at seven seas and for this to be true

Are we surprised this is happening?
More people seem to be getting used to and accepting AI translations too.

More and more fanTLs are using AI.
Most of the manhwa and manhua apps are using AI now.
Multiple JP publishers are even using AI for manga.

Even visual novels and anime are affected. There's multiple VN publishers using AI now. Crunchyroll is using an AI assistant tool, while REMOW used AI to translate one of their anime.

The days of human translation are numbered. A book being translated by a human will become a luxury.

>>283619468
>That isn't the point
Yes it is. Neither are literal translations and the left is actually closer to being literal than the right is. Why do fags on /a/ insist on using words and phrases that don't actually mean what they say? The phrase "literal translation" has a meaning but you're just using it as a synonym for "thing I don't like", which is even more retarded because you cropped out the Japanese frame to make it a comparison between two translations without being able to see what the original says. A common tactic among EOPs.

>>283619468
>the right gets rid of that.
There's a guy showing you a piece of paper with "Makima is listening". If you can't fill in the gaps and get what that means...maybe it's you who lacks a soul.
It's that simple. If you can use even 0.000001% of your brain capacity to get that one pronoun is wrong and mentally replace it, you can read MTL. Imagine not being able to do that. Given enough context, it might not even make that mistake too often.

>>283619336
people will literally pay more for natural human translation with a dumb seal on it in 3 years, these retards never learn

>>283619832
It's the explanation we were given at least.

Considering the kind of licenses JNC has been picking up of late, AI would probably be an improvement. YP, 7S and Hanashi steamrolling JNC this year.

Don't LNs already sell like shit? Not having to pay people to translate will probably reduce the overall costs then, even the worst series might profit

>>283620358
LNs are one of the few things that actually sell. Ain't nobody buying anime or paying for crunchy.

>>283615871
>I want it done right now
Only subhumans fail the marshmallow test.

>>283619468
Makima is listening is better because you wouldn't scrawl out the entire paragraph on the right

>>283620637
Yeah, in that situation everyone would just write "Makima can hear us". If she can hear what they say then everything would be implied.

I don't think the audience that reads LNs cares enough. Novelous is still around and keeps adding new series, they use AI

>>283615006
All me.

>>283613212
>Slang, inferences, character, none of that will ever translate over
Simply factually false.

>Publishers start using AI
>Publishers flood the market with even more isekai LN slop
>Isekai bubble finally bursts
>Publishers finally give up on LNs

I'm trying to find a negative

>>283621121
NtA but here's a reference to a side character from Slam Dunk in a shoujo manga. It's the first time Slam Dunk or that antagonist has ever been mention. Hell, it's the only time basketball has been brought up.

You think AI is going to pick that up and add a non bullshit verbose Translator's note? Contact the mangaka to get some answers? It can't even properly OCR the scribbled kanji (牧).

>>283621309
Isekai and native Isekai is here to stay albeit

>>283612929
Does anyone have the actual numbers?
I know LLM services can either have a $/per token or $/operation model and translators typically charge a $[x] per [y] amount of words/lines/pages translated.

I've actually got some untranslated LNs on my PC and want to run a test.

>>283621586
"Native isekai" is one of the dumbest terms ever contrived. It's called "fantasy", anon.

>>283621651
>Atelier Tanaka
I really hope Boat Anon delivers results.

>>283621651
They all have a trial version that can translate for free.

>>283621309
Isekai has proved time and time again to be an infinitely expanding bubble; audiences just want more and more, driven by an insatiable hunger. Why? Because isekai is the final form of wish fulfillment, the final evolution. Something that has been brewing for a long time, the formula has been refined to perfection and now audiences can't get enough of it. Isekai also has virtually no fixed form. It's story's can take place in any world, with any concept. It is the ultimate genre, not because of it being high brow or anything but because the combination of wish fulfillment and limitless worlds taps into the deepest human urge: to escape the everyday, a bottomless pit of escapism forever trying to "fix" the mundane.

>>283621737
>trial version
how much of a "trial" is it?
What I've got are all image files. Scans of the LNs.
Would it alter the image file with translated text or provide a transcript.txt?

>>283621792
Why don't you have epubs?
>南部諸国（一） Southern Countries (1st)

　ドラゴンシティの応接室から、周囲の光景が一変した。
　見渡す限りの草原。
　その只中に醤油顔を中心として、円を作るように少年少女たちが立ち並んでいる。身につけた衣服は一様で、ペニー帝国の王立学園の制服を彷彿とさせるパリッとしたデザイン。一人だけ見られる年配の男性は子供たちの引率だろうか。
　つい今し方まで正面に座っていた陛下は見当たらない。
　どうやら場所を移ったのは自分だけのようだ。
　しかも困ったことに全裸である。シャツやズボンはおろか下着まで剥ぎ取られているぞ。ご丁寧に靴まで脱がされて裸足だ。足の裏がチクチクとする。一糸まとわぬ姿を年頃の少女たちに晒すことに、少しだけ快感を覚えております。
「なっ……」
　直後、いの一番に与えられたのは悲鳴じみた呻きだった。
　見たところ十三、四と思おぼしき年頃の少年だ。身なりの良さから貴族階級にあるのは間違いない。男性にしては少し長めに映るブロンドは、ショートのレイヤーボブ。頬に伸びたサイドの髪が、ハタハタと揺れる様子が印象的に映る。
　大きな蒼い色の瞳はキリリとした目元と相まってキツイ感じを与える。
　まぎれもなくイケメン。
「あの、すみませんがこちらは……」
「な、なんで人間が召喚されるんだっ！」
　こちらの姿を確認して、少年の顔には驚愕と嫌悪が浮かんだ。

>>283622266
Didn't exist at the time when I downloaded that particular torrent.

>>283622286
Have you tried not being a pirate?
Before paying some "AI" company to "translate" you should pay the original creators.

>>283622322
>you should pay the original creators
No

>>283622371
>paying for AI is fine tho
wuuut?

>>283622322
When you buy from a publisher the money goes to the publisher, not the creator.
The normal contract offered by publishers for LN authors is usually a lump sum agreement and no royalties.
Why would you trust companies to give author's their proper due?

>>283622322
You should only buy physical goods.
Always pirate digital goods.

>>283612893 (OP)
Thank god I learned Japanese and none of this is my problem anymore, eat shit eops

>>283612893 (OP)
Considering JNC's "translations" are unreadable dogshit, AI can only be an improvement.

>>283622476
>eops
Pero, no entiendo Ingles?

>>283614926
I keep hearing this but is it just a prepub issue? I read the final versions and they seem fine to me, even have a section at the end where the TL explains shit

Thankfully I never ended up learning Japanese. I went with French and German instead.
The Japanese literary tradition is so shit that AI can fully capture it.

>>283622577
>I wasted time learning languages that are basically just older version of english
wow what an achievement, retard

>>283622604
>I spent time learning the two greatest languages for serious studies of historiography
Fixed. Don't reply again, golem.

>>283622509
There's multiple translation issues with the finished volumes, volume 5 being particularly bad. The translator doesn't like Jinshi and he tends to come off completely wrong. Some chapters are outright retranslated in the Square Enix physicals, likely because it was easier than trying to fix what JNC did.

>>283622647
Got any examples?

>>283618888
>The normal contract offered by publishers for LN authors is usually a lump sum agreement and no royalties.
It's usually an advance, they start earning royalties past a certain number of sales.

>>283622916
J-Novel Club is also doing this for the English original authors. But considering its unlikely those novels sell, they're never getting royalties.

>>283622725
Different anon who does not care enough to go digging up all this shit but from what I've read it's basically jinshifags who are mad that the translator doesn't have the exact interpretation of their husbando and how they read the text which is full of euphemisms and ambiguity. I'm not saying they're necessarily unjustified, but it's more of a question of differing interpretations than quality.

>>283615006
Reminder that the nigger who keeps making these threads is almost certainly the danmeifag and 7SE shill who had a melty after he got banned from the JNC discord for repeatedly DMing the CEO to cry about random people saying mean things about Seven Seas. He also shills 7S on here.

>>283622964
Eh, at least they get the advance rather than the 5 bucks they'd have gotten if they'd just thrown it onto KDP.

>>283622993
I would've thought that if someone is reading the raws they would know about any euphemisms or ambiguity, are they reading Chinese spoilers or something?
To begin with it boggles my mind that anyone reads this series for Jinshi

>>283623075
They just interpret the the text in a more romantic yume way and insist that that's the only way to read it, that's all.

>>283622458
>The normal contract offered by publishers for LN authors is usually a lump sum agreement and no royalties.
I too like making shit up. And obviously the publisher pockets all money they get and the money to pay manuscripts is stolen from orphans.

>>283622916
Late but meant for >>283622458 obviously

>>283623167
It's not even original, it's just a repackaging of the "licensed manga/LNs only pay a lump sum to the publisher and no royalties" cope.

>>283613007
They should focus on translating proper Japanese novels, not light novels

>>283622384
Never pay only pirate

>>283614445
How would you know if you can't read japanese yourself?

I've been using gemini to translate some niche manga raws and honestly, it surprisingly decent.

>>283623219
Maybe he's talking about the novel illustrator.