What do you think a translator does? It's not just replace language A word X with language B word Y. LLMs can translate one grammar to another just fine.
What localizers do is try to replace cultural references that a different region wouldn't understand. Like if someone made a one-off Dr Seuss reference, it might not make sense to a Japanese audience and localizers will substitute that.
Clearly I was in the wrong to assume the professional industry operates similarly to the piracy industry of scanlation, where usually a Jap guy who speaks a little English drops a rough direct translation and then a different guy localizes it into something that sounds readable.
Yep. Fan translations often leave the weird cultural references intact and add a footnote to explain it. Professionals assume that will be a jarring experience and rewrite it.
What do you think a translator does? It's not just replace language A word X with language B word Y. LLMs can translate one grammar to another just fine.
What localizers do is try to replace cultural references that a different region wouldn't understand. Like if someone made a one-off Dr Seuss reference, it might not make sense to a Japanese audience and localizers will substitute that.
Clearly I was in the wrong to assume the professional industry operates similarly to the piracy industry of scanlation, where usually a Jap guy who speaks a little English drops a rough direct translation and then a different guy localizes it into something that sounds readable.
Yep. Fan translations often leave the weird cultural references intact and add a footnote to explain it. Professionals assume that will be a jarring experience and rewrite it.