Should I keep using AI-assisted translation?

General
1

Hello

Whether you remember me or not, it doesn’t really matter after all these months

I was also worried about putting so much effort into my story and then not doing it justice because my English is really weak and I have to rely on AI-assisted translation

So I want to ask you honestly

Do you think I should continue working on my story using AI to help with the translation, or would it be better for me to stop and work part-time for several months until I improve my English and then come back to it?

I would really like to hear your opinions, especially from writers and readers here who have gone through something similar

Note: I really am passionate about the game and the story I am working on, to the point that I even tried turning it into a novel, but I stopped after writing 7 chapters and I didn’t even publish it on Royal Road because I was afraid that the translation would feel dry and unnatural even after I edited it

And I even stopped writing for a whole month, but during that time I was still developing the story and thinking about what would happen next

Btw, I honestly didn’t write that much over these months, I only added around 10,000 more words to the game

Another btw, I also added a save system, although it will only work on the itch.io version

Another btw, I think my writing has improved quite a bit, so if I continue using AI for the translation, I will probably do a small rewrite of the earlier chapters, nothing too major though

I might also take a week off from the game because of some personal stuff, but after that I will put all my energy into it if you guys are okay with the AI-assisted translation

Last btw, this post was also translated using AI, so tell me, is there really that much of a difference?

Yuji Stare Yuji Itadori

  • Your story is already terrible. Don’t touch writing ever again.
  • You’re just making excuses because you’re lazy Go work your ass off
  • Meh, I have no problem with the translation
  • Go cry in a corner
  • Stop being an idiot and study English for a few months before continuing the game
  • Keep working on the game, you bastard!
0 voters
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EDIT: I stand corrected. In that case, I still disrecommend using it, but it’s not forbidden.

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I’m not an expert on the rules, but I think HG permits AI translations even if they don’t encourage it. (Not an expression of my personal opinion on AI use.)

We permit but strongly discourage the use of AI translators (including Google Translate). Automatic translation works OK for short articles, but it rarely works well for longer works. If you do use automatic translation, we strongly recommend that a native English speaker review all the material you submit for publication.

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Thanks for the comment

And for the ai assistant

I think I’ll use it for a few months while I improve my English.

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Thanks for explaining

I will use ai just for some other months

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What is your native language? I would be happy to help you translate your game! I am not a native myself, but I know one or two things about the language so feel free to DM if you are interested.

I am Brazilian and speak Portuguese btw, so if you speak another language please ignore me

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“Gitae” (기태) looks Korean to me.

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Thanks for offering help, but unfortunately my language is not Portuguese I really appreciate it though, thank you!

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Nah i am just fan of lookism and gitae kim

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I think the main issue is AI halucinating.

Most times they don’t, usually, generally.

But they do fuck up.

I just hope you double check.

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This is my concern. Try using AI for a subject you know a lot about, or try translating between two languages you know, and see what I mean. It can not only mis-translate, but stick whole new things in there or remove important things with no notice. And if your English isn’t strong, you may not be able to see when it does those things.

If you really want to keep working on it now, we can’t stop you, but please translate in very small chunks so you can more easily see if/where things don’t line up. Maybe check it against older, hopefully less AI-tainted translation tools and spot the differences. Try translating it back to your native language to see if things are going off in strange directions.

And still try to learn English as fast as you can, if you want to keep writing these games in English.

Some of us can be forgiving and understand the differences between AI-gen and AI-translation, but many folks will shun the work entirely if they hear any kind of AI was ever involved, so, be careful!

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Google Translate is great if you want a word or short phrase, but it absolutely can make mistakes. I wouldn’t trust it enough to put my name on something where it was used extensively, unless it was a language I already know pretty well to start with - maybe a passage of text more technical than I can tackle at my level of proficiency - and I could verify its accuracy on my own.

This is very, very true. Some people don’t understand that there are different kinds of AI and assume that all AI is the Big Bad - and rumors can snowball pretty quickly when people aren’t careful. There’s an author (not IF, trad published) who admitted to using ChatGPT or something similar as a sounding board to get through writer’s block - and I understand that for some people even that crosses a line, and if they don’t want to read that book or that author I respect that, but after a few retellings people were just saying she was an “AI author,” although she had done all the actual writing herself.

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