They say the AI doesn’t do a good job.
Summary:
- Orange Inc., a Japanese company, plans to license many manga in the US.
- They will use AI for translations, which upsets fans.
- AI translations aren’t good because they miss a lot of nuances.
A startup company called Orange Inc. has announced it raised roughly $19.5 million to finance their new project. They plan to launch an e-book store called “emaqi” in the US, releasing hundreds of volumes of manga per month. Normally, this would be a good thing, but fans are very much against the idea here, and for a good reason.
The company will use artificial intelligence (AI) to translate said manga, which is a controversial topic among otaku, to say the least. While some believe AI translations are a good idea (because they lack political bias and translate things very quickly), many have issues with the idea.
Who Are Orange Inc., Anyways?
Orange Inc. is a company located in Japan, and they’re actually sponsored by Japanese investors. Among those, there are very big names: one of the main investors is Shogakukan, one of the biggest publishing companies specializing in manga and light novels.
So, this decision to use AI actually comes straight from Japan. According to their study, only 2% of manga gets officially licensed in the West due to the licensing process taking a lot of time and money. Still, fans are unconvinced it’s a good idea, and they bring up a lot of good points.
The Issues with AI Translations
While AI translations can be made relatively quickly, they also have notoriously poor quality. Machine translations usually miss all the nuances, puns and double meanings, and AI translations are essentially the same. Most fans would rather read translations that are actually good.
Artificial intelligence is not at the level where it can reliably translate things without missing a lot of details and nuance.
To many, it seems that Orange Inc. cares more about licensing many manga in the West than actually providing quality translations. Their mention of how they want to combat piracy, citing how much money is potentially lost by otaku reading pirated manga, certainly doesn’t help.
Fans Want Proper Translations Instead
While fans are never opposed to new licensors entering the market, many are vehemently against AI translations. It doesn’t seem that the outrage is affecting Orange Inc. in any way, though.
Fans wish they provided adequate translations instead: Orange Inc. states that there’s a shortage of translators, but many fan translators wouldn’t be against working for official licensors, so that statement isn’t even true. So far, many have already expressed they will just not read anything translated by AI.
Source: Morningstar.com