Being a translator is a perfect job for an introvert... except for when I suddenly need to recruit other translators or manage a team of several people.

I booked a flight to Japan, my first one since... 2015! (😱) Can't wait (and I still have to wait until March), I'm going to buy SO MANY BOOKS 🥰

This is who shows up in the replies when a post reaches the discover tab

the swamp of despair (from 2018)

An update: I now have *two* broken keyboards. I just paste the letter "w" when I need it. Now I know how the medieval monks working in scriptoriums felt.

Everybody is rightfully pointing out that the CEO salaries are by far the highest, but another important point here is that CEOs clearly resent having to pay people for their work and wish they didn't have to do that. That's why they find AI appealing.

If you've been wondering what purgatory looks like, but are too lazy to sin, Ron Gilbert has the solution for you! AND I can tell you now that you will be able to play Death By Scrolling in Polish - have fun! 💀☠️

I'm preparing to publish the next installment of AI Killed My Job. This time, the focus will be on translators. If you or someone you know has had a translation job (including translator, interpreter, game localizer, etc) impacted by AI, and you'd like to share, please do: [email protected]

First time I'm feeling some kind of kinship with AI. Alternative comment: I think they might have infused it with a soul of a PhD student.

A thing that every translator knows: Sometimes the original is wrong.

In case you are also sick of seeing those horrible auto-translated titles and descriptions in YouTube (an even channel names, ffs!), here is an extension that makes it go away. github.com/YouG-o/YouTu...

From crusader kings 3

#WyrdWednesday Love these amazing 18th century whale/sea monster church pulpits L-R: Saints Peter & Paul Church, Duszniki, Poland; St. Hedwig Church, Dobroszów, Poland; St. James the Greater Church in Kratonohy, Czechia

"Justify your rates" is... extremely telling 🫥 I feel a sudden urge to message all my clients to thank them for being wonderful people who treat translators fairly, but I'm also a little scared that maybe all of us will eventually be forced to submit to this bullshit anyway.

Youtube started showing me automatically translated video titles and it's going splendidly. (If you don't speak Polish, this "translation" means something among the lines of "let those shits* leave") * literally pieces of excrement, not bad things or shitty people

More than anything I could say, what says the most about the people using AI in lieu of professional work is that they keep getting caught by letting the prompt in. They're so lazy they can't do the minimum to mask their laziness. They take shortcuts IN their shortcuts and end up in the ditch.

i keep cracking up at this post on AI writing

People be like "man, these games were hidden gems" and then name the four biggest indies that year

Book translation is going well, don't mind me, I'm just sobbing uncontrollably editing the scene where my favorite character is done SO dirty by people he loves and respects.

A good habit to have is to not check any messages from project managers right before going to sleep, in case something blew up and you're now going to be pointlessly stressing out about it. Ask me how I know. (I'm not checking them on purpose! But they show as phone notifications!)

I simply can't imagine trying to get into one of the most competitive professions in the game industry and thinking you don't need to do any studying or actual work, you can just use ChatGPT. Why would anybody pay them for that? What part of the job do they even want to do?

i'm going to be looking for new game localization-related work👀 if you know of any upcoming projects, or localization teams/publishers currently open to new freelancers, feel free to DM me!

Wait, you mean @boxdragon.bsky.social's As We Descend? THAT fine roguelike deckbuilder currently available in Early Access with a 17% launch discount??? 👀 Well, I'll be!!!

I've been thinking about this since the rise of machine translation, and even more since I started teaching TL. When I came up as a translator, I did a lot of brute force translation work—reams of emails about shipping delays, HR presentations, customer surveys, just the drudgiest of drudge work.

I am not sure what this says about my translation skills and preferences, but so far the easiest and most fun to translate part of this book is the scene where a bunch of members of National Diet are arguing and calling each other idiots.

Did AI kill your job? If so, I want to hear about it. The response to my story on the AI jobs crisis has been overwhelming. I heard from so many people impacted by AI that it made me want to collect and organize these stories to better understand the phenomenon. Share yours at: [email protected]

In Gorn 2 by @freelives.bsky.social & @devolverdigital.com there’s a subtle hint screen flavor text that goes “YOU MISS 100% OF THE PUNCHES YOU DON'T TAKE” Let's explain how our team localized that sentence into Polish & why it had to be creatively transcreated 👊🧵

Esta semana comienza un ciclo de masterclasses de Traduversia sobre localización de videojuegos del cual voy a formar parte junto con colegas geniales. ¡Qué orgullo! traduversia.com/curso/ii-cic...

Something about translating a book awakened in me an old dream to write one myself. Slightly worrying.

Maze Mice is amazing and I can't recommend it enough! It's also a game I had the absolute honor of localizing into the Polish language 🖤

Today was my official last day at my lovely in-house game localization job. Unfortunately, times are what they are. I will miss it. Now, it's back to the freelancing mines! If anyone needs a game localization translator, editor, or writer with 12 years experience, hit me up!

Would you rely on the advice of a tech company if you needed someone to defend you in court? Would you rely on the advice of a tech company if you have a medical problem? Then don't rely on the advice of a tech company if you need a #translation. They are selling tech, not translations. #xl8

Looks like my "w" key broke, I think I'm just going to vrite like a vampire until I find my backup keyboard... I am sure my clients vill not mind.

Hi Bluesky, could really use your help 🙏🙏 We just launched our latest game Starless Abyss - the exact week that Oblivion was shadow-dropped. Which has been *not fantastic* for our launch If anyone can spare a RT, that would be so, so helpful ❤️❤️ Find it here: store.steampowered.com/app/3167970/...

Ludzie próbujący wciskać innym AI: AI jest tak genialne, że niedługo tłumacze i korektorzy w ogóle nie będą potrzebni! AI w praktyce:

Blocks? ✅ City-building? ✅ Neon-drenched cityscapes? ✅ Neongarten is now available in 7 languages thanks to your favorite loc studio in the 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌! 🌐 A big thank you to Moonroof Studio, @goblinzstudio.com, and our amazing team of #TranslatorsInTheCredits! 💫 #Gameloc #GameLocalization

I've just managed to delete Instagram after TWENTY MINUTES of fighting its attempts to not let me. The end of the current age of social media can't come soon enough.

no? we fucking wouldn't?? who the fuck are the "most of us" who would do this, and where can i meet them to punch them in the face???

Wow, quite some new folks following me. Hi! Nice to meet you! Did you know I have a pretty cool portfolio? Check it out! abyssalnovelist.carrd.co Oh, and I'm looking for full-time #gamedev work anywhere in the EU remotely or in Poland!

Darkest Dungeon is deeply linked with From the Void's existence. We began translating @darkestdungeon.bsky.social 5 years ago, at the start of FtV. We're so happy to see it still growing & expanding 💫 Anyway, Secrets of the Coven is available in 12 languages, thanks to our witches from the Void🤍

As the multinational giant @keywordsstudios.bsky.social loves to say, «There is a bit of Keywords in pretty much every video game that you know.» Yet, when the video game translators ask for fairer compensation, the giant seems as deaf as if it were someone else’s business. shorturl.at/2RVFw

Hello, e-mail from an agency offering a job translating subtitles and paying $1 per minute of the video! Goodbye, e-mail from an agency offering a job translating subtitles and paying $1 per minute of the video!

This is my first #PortfolioDay post. After more than 20 years working in the localization industry, I can now show some of the games I have worked on thanks to the #TranslatorsInTheCredits movement. So proud of them!

Ah, I feel nostalgic, that was such a fun project 🥰If you love funny video games and endless references to action movies, Punch Club 2 will be perfect for you!

Today is Armenian Appreciation Day so I'll share my favourite Armenian slang phrase, which can be used when someone is stretching the truth. It goes պեչենու բաղերն ընկնել and it means “you’ve wandered into the cookie forest”

With the White House using OpenAi to make racist propaganda in studio ghibli art style there has never been apt scene in anime history:

"We will drop by a bookstore, but we won't buy anything," we said confidently, but as it soon turned out, we were doomed to fail. #booksky

I'd quite like more people to grasp that an LLM can't "admit" something or "lie" to you, partly because it doesn't know anything and partly because it doesn't have any intentions.

Last Tuesday: somebody whom I deeply respect praised my work. Last 2 weeks: work's been going really smoothly, I'm very happy with my output. Today, suddenly, for no reason: I should probably quit my job forever to stop embarrassing myself. Let's just keep going anyway, what else is there to do?

Today on "context is king in localization, even for the simplest humanly possible sentences"