Machine Translations

[frankfelidae]

First of all, I know perfectly well that a translation, or anything in general, done by people is better than almost anything done by AI. The point is, I've been seeing people attacking machine translations..., with those tools where have translations of games that were never released outside of Japan.Its true that these translations leave much to be desired and have many weird lines, but they're practically the only way to enjoy gems that were never released outside of Japan(i know that learn japonese its a option but i tried and is very hard xd) like Telefang 2 or Super Robot Taisen OG Gaiden. Translating a game requires time and sacrifice, and often fans translations remain unfinished simply because these are people with lives who can't dedicate so much time and resources to something that won't bring them any kind of remuneration. So we need to stop attacking everything related to AI indiscriminately. It's preferable to use AI translations to break the language barrier until a fan translation appears one day, rather than simply never playing the game or playing it without understanding anything at all.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

I have no problem with machine translations and I fail to see why anyone would, either.

Yes, they are not perfect (God no), but the most vocal opposition seem to speak from a point of extreme privilege: they want an actual human being to do something long and hard for free and enjoy it themselves without pay while also refusing to settle for anything less or learning the language or tools themselves.

It's kind of weird.

 

[jankusanagi jankusanagi]

No problem with machine translations either.
I'd obviously prefer a human-made translation, which are usually made with a lot of love and dedication, but if that's not available, better machine translation than nothing.

P.S.- I do have a problem with calling everything made by a computer following an algorithm, "AI", but sadly that's already said by everyone everywhere... Everything is called """AI""" now.

 

[G.L.a.D.O.S.]

The only problem I honestly see with an AI/Machine translating the script for a game is that it will do so word for word, and it won't make as much sense. Humans can tweak the translation to fit better, such as how they sometimes have to alter parts of the story to make it coherently fit what's being talked about. Some things don't translate well without the cultural context, like a festival or joke that is specific to Japan or wherever else the game is from.

Myself, no I don't find machine translations nearly as good as human ones. However, I agree with @Samantha, I honestly see nothing wrong with using AI for that, especially if it's an old, obscure game that will never receive a translation in any other way.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

BTW: Do you know what accounts for a shit ton of time and effort when making a translation? Script insertion!

Some systems are so hard and finicky to develop for that many translation teams end up having to program their own tools to get the translations to show up in-game or have to become walking thesaurus to account for hard character limits and other hardware/software limitations — some teams never get past this hurdle, while others burn out trying to clear it.

Having AI take control the translation while they work around to insert it can only be a good thing akin to licensing an engine for your game (just so you can focus on actual development) vs programming one from scratch yourself.

Just my two cents.