Is the intent more important than the literal?
- Thread starter m72o5xvz81
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Please correct me if I'm mistaken, but are you asking if some of us try to make our loli art as realistic as possible, because I'm having a little trouble understanding your question and that's the best I could get
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I guess that depends on the context. If it's for educational purposes, then the one that has a closer direction translation, but if it's for smut or whatever, since you say "poetically hot", then I'd go for that one
4 Months of Service
To me, intent is primordial. Nuances proper to the original language are sure to be lost in translation and making a priority to remain literal both hinders comprehension and creates a disconnect with the (i guess) 'culture' of the new language. If I choose translation in a media, I'd rather read something that feels naturally written in the language I selected than feel like it's off. That, however, is less true for English than other languages, as that one feels like the 'default' translation. Then... perhaps for works in Japanese, if the artstyle and general feel of the work is strongly cultural and needs to stay as such to maintain the sense of place, then I'm ok with an English translation that feels literal.
4 Months of Service
Worked as a translator for indie projects. Sometimes you have to focus on the context and the intention of the character more than the literal word because either the language doesn't have a direct word for what you look for or the intention of the word is different from what you want to say.
Here's an example, in spanish there are formal and infromal pronouns, so instead of just saying "Tú" that means you, you use "Usted" that is a more formal you. There are ways to refer to someone who is older or more respected than you that don't apply to English, so in that way you have to work with the context and change it to Yes, sir or Yes, ma'm, which isn't a literal translation but works. AI models often don't work as well because they don't understand those small details.
Here's an example, in spanish there are formal and infromal pronouns, so instead of just saying "Tú" that means you, you use "Usted" that is a more formal you. There are ways to refer to someone who is older or more respected than you that don't apply to English, so in that way you have to work with the context and change it to Yes, sir or Yes, ma'm, which isn't a literal translation but works. AI models often don't work as well because they don't understand those small details.
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Context is everything. Translating dialogue without considering the situation and the speaker's intent often leads to confusion. Literal translations aren't wrong, but they should serve the meaning of the original text, not replace it.
3 Years of Service
Depends on the language (words) used in the translation. There are certain words I hate reading and hearing in porn or casual conversation. Specifically, superfluous usage of the word cock. I always prefer people just say dick instead. It sounds more natural whereas cock sounds vulgar for the sake of being vulgar. So if I had to choose between a 'direct' translation that says: "He inserted his penis into her vagina" or a "poetic" translation that says: "He shoved his cock into her cunt" then I don't want either. Give me a translation somewhere in the middle, where it says "He stuck his dick inside her pussy." Gets the message across without trying too hard to be clinical or pornographic.
3 Years of Service
You should keep in mind that context is important but you have to remember words themselves are just as important. Just look at the crap people have to do on youtube. Like unalive themselves and suicide. Yes the concept is the same but the emotion of the words are different. This is the problem with "localizing". A lot of "localizers" get the context of a scene but often miss the subtext or subtlety of the lines by changing the words. Some just change a scene entirely. Even Tolkien complained about translators. When you control words, you control thoughts and memories.
3 Years of Service
This right here is why in the foreseeable future MTL can never be as good as a translation done by humans who understand both the source and the target language. In works where the literature is more complex than just "-ME FUCK YOU -YES" you simply can't reproduce the human ability to sense/feel if something is off or if something is right in context of the whole when trying to find the right expression.
Now of course if something is written in hella complicated japanese but I do want to understand at least the basic strokes of the story then I'll take a MTL over nothing, because rarely used kanjis can go fuck themselves. But it is often really not enjoyable and as soon as a proper translation comes out I usually replay it if the game was good enough already to warrant me wanting to fully understand it. Sadly that is usually a fan translation, as other than really high-profile studios no one bothers paying a proper translator and the devs typically just give you absolutely utter garbage MTL as their "EN version" if they bother at all.
At least there are some storefronts, most notably JAST that provide japanese VNs with english translation and without neutering the games á lá Steam releases. Bless their hearts.
As a side note, while pretty rare, there's a kind of translation that is in a pretty interesting spot, which is edited MTL. As long as it's good MTL that got cleaned up, corrected and formatted, I am fine with it. It takes way less time, and with a talented person it can near the quality of a manual translation. Though that is still just the ceiling on MTL reaching above the floor of human translation, but I do appreciate it in lack of better options.
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