people who use machine translation to read novels

[Justin579]

I have to ask you all.... how t he hell do you do it?

 

What is the longest novel you read?

 

Have you actually understood what they are saying?

 

 

I've tried doing it but good lord. it is so bad. I finished one small one and that is about it. I've tried a longer one I wanted to read really bad but  All the names getting destroyed and turned into some other word in English etc.

[Conjueror]

People actually do this?

[Justin579]

People actually do this?

yes

[Deep Blue]

I dont think you can't actually read the novel with a machine translation because most of the time is just gibberish, you will understand half of the plot and the other half will be filled with many holes...

[Nakajou]

^Unless you at least passed N4 JLPT lol. Use the machine translation to get the basic idea and try to comprehend it with all you have learned about the language.

[sanahtlig]

I used to rely on machine translation to play games like Aselia and Kamidori.  It works.  You can definitely follow what's going on and grasp the major plot points.  Chara-ge probably won't be much fun though.  It's best for action-focused games where the focus is the things that happen, not elaborate dialogue or comedy.  Sengoku Rance via machine translation wasn't very fun, for example.

 

Machine translation is most useful when combined with an elementary knowledge of the language however.  It can disentangle complex grammar and expressions that might give novices issues, while the types of mistakes it makes are often something even a beginning language learner can grasp.  The two angles complement each other fairly well.  I still use ATLAS as a reference even now when I come across unfamiliar grammar, or complex sentences that are hard to store in memory long enough to puzzle out what they mean.

[Satsuki]

As long as you don't stuff your head into VNs with sci-fi, economic and such as main theme, you will be fine.

[Codesterz]

I do it because I'm pretty much out of visual novels that have been translated into english and I have an interest in reading. One of my favorite VNs I read using VNReader Natsukumo Yururu. As you read more VNs with a machine translator the easier it gets to decipher what is being said though you'll occasionally run into a sentence that you have little to no idea what is being said. It also varies from VN to VN. Some have a lot more complicated writing than others. A good way to get used machine translators is reading some nukiges or more simplistic VNs, though this isn't always true. I found Natsukumo Yururu to be a fairly easy read for the most part except some of the biology stuff. Where as I found Monster Park 2 to be harder to read I think this had to do with the way some of the characters spoke. I haven't attempted a 30-50 hour VN yet, though there are 3 I am thinking about reading once I finish with Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai. They are Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Hachimyoujin, Midori no Umi, and Tasogare no Sinsemilla.

[Satsuki]

I do it because I'm pretty much out of visual novels that have been translated into english and I have an interest in reading. One of my favorite VNs I read using VNReader Natsukumo Yururu. As you read more VNs with a machine translator the easier it gets to decipher what is being said though you'll occasionally run into a sentence that you have little to no idea what is being said. It also varies from VN to VN. Some have a lot more complicated writing than others. A good way to get used machine translators is reading some nukiges or more simplistic VNs, though this isn't always true. I found Natsukumo Yururu to be a fairly easy read for the most part except some of the biology stuff. Where as I found Monster Park 2 to be harder to read I think this had to do with the way some of the characters spoke. I haven't attempted a 30-50 hour VN yet, though there are 3 I am thinking about reading once I finish with Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai. They are Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Hachimyoujin, Midori no Umi, and Tasogare no Sinsemilla.

Wanna try this one? You will want to throw the PC out of the window soon enough

[Codesterz]

Wanna try this one? You will want to throw the PC out of the window soon enough

 

You're making me worry lol. It does look interesting though and I like the art style. I'll add it to my wishlist for now.

[Kawasumi]

you want to throw your pc out of the window? Try this

 

Also machine translation should in my opinion only be used as a tool to get better at japanese (while reading a VN of course)

Mainly because well, its a fun way to learn, doing what you love while you learn, sounds great right?

Anyways machine ASSISTED reading over 100% use of machine translation all ways

[sanahtlig]

If you want a VN that will show you the limitations of machine translation, look no further than Amatsukaze.  Never before or since have I come across a VN that machine translated so terribly.  ATLAS was literally useless 80% of the time.  That's the first VN that really forced me to use JParser and try to piece together the words myself.  It was frustrating, but I'm probably better off because of it.

[Suzu Fanatic]

I believe my ears have a reasonable grasp of the spoken language and its nuances, but that insight can only carry one so far, the written language has way too many subtleties, and are completely lost in a m-TL.

 

People actually do this?

 

I tried to do it with Witch on the Holy night, but it was a trainwreck of an experience.

[littleshogun]

Okay is the narration patch from nekohen count as machine translation? If so I think the game is Himegari, Soukoku no Arterial, and Madou Koukaku. As for writing, I think the story is quite basic, which I think MT should be sufficient imo, but of course for master in Japan the basic storyline will be bored them to tears.

Am I understand or not? I think at least for Soukoku I was understand what they talking from when the female speak. So does with Madou Koukaku and Himegari. For Madou at least the man other than MC get voiced too. But there is still some things that I didn't understand when using MT.

For VN I just finished Soukoku no Arterial. Madou Koukaku and Himegari just begin, but I think these Eushully games had more fun gameplay than the story. So yeah in the end the basic writing is actually had the advantage with MT usage imo. But don't try MT with game like SubaHibi or Demonbane obviously.

Even if I interested to MT, I think I will not use it, because I even didn't understand how to use JParser or ATLAS and one time I tried with AIR back in 2011, Yukito wad translated to Inin. So I think I'll not use that, and at least those Eushully games is had correct translated name.

That's all from me.

[sanahtlig]

Uh, I don't see why machine translation getting names wrong is a kiss of death, so to speak.  It's even circumventable with custom dictionaries and in-line substitutions.  People ranting about mistranslated names are likely too clueless to comment usefully on this subject... 

[Jade]

Oh me! me !

Well how did i do it? It's easy enough actually If you do it enough times you will eventually find MT quite easy to understand and comprehend. There are some strange terms and translation yes but even then, that will actually came out often enough that you already know what they mean.

Do i understand it? Of course. Like what i said above, I have read MT so many times that eventually i am at the point when i'm quite confused of how People can't read MT

As for my longest VN? Well can't exactly remember cause I've read quite a bit but it's probably  ChuSinGura 46+1.......probably, don't know for sure tho.

 

And if you think MT of VN is bad, you should try MT-ing a Light Novel/ Web Novel. Now THAT is what i call bad

[Nashetania]

I used it just once for Fortissimo.

That being said, I understood 90% of lines they said and for the rest (or the lines that were not voices) I needed the actual translation.

Well, I got whole story without missing anything so there's that. 

[LinovaA]

I didn't think people actually used MT... xD

I use JParser. I only trust a machine to assist me, not to do it for me. Lol

[Yuuko]

I tried reading with machine translation. It was bad and completely killed my mood for reading. Luckily I was already learning Japanese when I tried it so sometime after it I could actually read something in Japanese. Using dictionary is much better help when you understand the basics.

 

I used it just once for Fortissimo.

That being said, I understood 90% of lines they said and for the rest (or the lines that were not voices) I needed the actual translation.

Well, I got whole story without missing anything so there's that. 

Did you really understand Fortissimo's chuuni with it? (I haven't read Fortissimo so I don't know how hard it is)

[LinovaA]

Did you really understand Fortissimo's chuuni with it? (I haven't read Fortissimo so I don't know how hard it is)

It's not out of the question I am guessing. However, there are some parts where the Japanese is significantly more complex than everything else. Two notable examples would be the prologue and a certain infodump later on in Sakura's route. I couldn't imagine parts like these coming out well with MT.

[astro]

/thread

[edwd2]

I don't know how far the quality of translation tools has improved but I think it ruins a lot of the reading experience especially if the VN in question is one you are highly interested in.

[XReaper]

though one might (?) understand something out of the story by using said method, its enjoyment factor is nearly as high as watching movies in the olden days consisting of one voice actor for all characters...viva la eastern europe, you ruined my youth

[littleshogun]

For names I think it's better if the MT get it right, because it's the name of the character that we played imo. And I rather not to puzzled on character name, though we could always look at VNDB though.

Well actually other than those Eushully games and AIR, to be honest I've never use Jp or AGTH so I didn't know how to play game using MT. And beside you also must read on translator, right? Another reason is that I prefer full screen vn and main reason is that my vn backlog is already too much in English and it'll be much more if I use MT.

The best type to use MT would be standard nukige. Because who need Shaksphere understanding level of literature for moan like Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh...... and Ooooooooohhhhhhhhh........... . I prefer moege nukige to be honest. But joke aside MT topic actually very controversial, but my statement is okay if you use MT as long as you understand it.

That's all from me and sorry if I couldn't offer any useful though here.

[BookwormOtaku]

I admit I use Google translate from time to time, but usually it's when I come across a character I'm not familiar with so I put it in so I can see how it's pronounced and from there refer to my dictionary to see if it's accurate and that way I can fully understand the sentence.