Deleted a repost of a thread. Looking closer, the person is comfortable sharing AI images & video. Was the thread also AI? Was it accurate? I’d rather not take the chance and share it. Journalists, keep this in mind. “Fun” AI videos & images undercut your credibility.

ugh

Fun Fact: One of the reasons Square was pushed to improve its localization practices in the 2000s is because Alexander O. Smith showed them reviews proving that people *cared* about translation quality. (Link to the full interview: web.archive.org/web/20091113...)

In 2026, let’s commit to supporting and celebrating human artists! 🎨 Character by @luseals.bsky.social and logo by @hinokodo.com

I have never heard of lemon pig until yesterday and now I'm seeing it everywhere 😂

In all seriousness 2025 was a stressful year. I didn't realise how stressed I was until the last few weeks when I wasn't and I suddenly had energy and felt more like myself. And although I didn't do as much outside of work as I would have liked, I did go on some fun adventures, including camping.

Happy New Year from Osaka!

I will never understand why they replaced community submitted subtitles for this nonsense Real human people were happy and willing to make subtitles in a variety of languages for free, and the creator had full control of what submissions were used And they GOT RID OF IT

Jet lag won't let me sleep. I've been awake for 22 hours and not tired at all.

This year I worked really hard on [redacted], going to [redacted] for [redacted] and even [redacted].

I've waited 3 years to make this post

another year, another 20+ translated Japanese game developer interviews published by @shmuplations.bsky.social at shmuplations.com —the final updates for the year just went up, so allow me to run down what's been translated over the course of 2025, from most to least recent: (thread)

What was your favourite book or manga you read in Japanese this year?

This is just going to always be my go-to response to this kind of thing anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/h...

Just gonna say this again for games sphere cus we get the same question: Networking doesn't mean schmoozing up to famous people, it means making friends with your peers. Then in 10 years, 20, one of you might be famous? And sure you're still helping each other cus well yeah friends. Make. Friends.

I've found this to be true for the translation industry too. Making friends and supporting each other (building a network of amazing people) can open potential doors, but it takes years to build up those relationships. Fellow translators aren't competition, they're colleagues and friends.

The r/Fantasy Megasale has begun! Check out the books available at this link. All 3 of mine are on sale for 99¢ 🥰. The link to the Reddit thread with more info about the sale and comments of recommendations/community engagement etc. is in the next post. megasale.yrliu.com

I unfollow and remove connections here and on LinkedIn when I see they've used or shared AI slop in any way. No need to call it out, just cut them out and walk away.

Merry Christmas everyone! メリークリスマス！

I’ve created a personal account as the designer of the game brand Atelier Mimir. I look forward to connecting with you here. ゲームデザイナーの個人アカウントを作りました！フォローよろしくお願いします✨ portfolio｜ asami-yamanaka.foriio.com

Before the year ends is a great time to check out Best Literary Translations 2025 if you haven't yet. Such a massive honor to be included T_T bsky.app/profile/tris...

If you're in the giving spirit and have some free time soon, go through the games you've played and give them a review, it means a lot to Devs 🥹💖

I love Expedition 33, but this is absolutely the right thing to do. Good games shouldn't get a pass for using the plagiarism machine.

genAI is STOLEN WORK. Using genAI in *any* capacity is trafficking in stolen work, supporting the plunder. Period. These facts aren't even denied by the AI companies, they just find ways to make that plunder seem benevolent. Using their product enables that lie. Stop enabling the theft of our work.

French publishing house Harlequin decided to use AI translation instead of human translations. All their freelance translators (some of whom had been working with Harlequin for +30y!!!) were told they would no longer receive work from Harlequin

It's probably not well-known, but in some (not so rare) cases a SINGLE PAGE of manga can take 3-4 hours to letter. Get 2-3 pages like this and your day is fucked. Meanwhile, you might only have 7 days to finish the volume. The amount of work going into some books is absolutely mind-boggling.

Remember how I said I have it written into my foreign-language contracts that my work has to be translated by an actual human? This shit is why. Those book translations are gonna suck. They'll save money putting out books that are going to be painful to read. That's not a great long-term strategy.

Seeing the backlash against the use of generative AI makes me feel hopeful about humanity again.

Every person talking about AI is like "poor TomSteve. Having to do all that tedious work of slaving away making all those game assets. AI can liberate them from that!" Dude, that is literally their job.

We can do even more.

Been thinking on the use of GenAi for mood boards. Ethics and legal risks aside, I truly believe using GenAi as references deprives one of many pivotal things. Here’s a blurb on what I mean:

Have a project you're working on made with the blood, sweat, and tears of real people? Shout it out with this suite of AI-Free logos. Free to use! lonearchivist.itch.io/made-by-humans

Hello everyone! Just want to remind you that the deadline for BitSummit submissions is December 31st (submission fee: ¥2750). Late entries are open until January 16, 2026 (¥5500). Looking forward to seeing your games! For more information visit bitsummit.org.

Calling all translators! Here's a great opportunity to have your work published by @cmupress.bsky.social.

Guess I won't get Larian's new game after all. Is Baldur's Gate 3 still worth getting? Don't know if I should bother if the whole studio is turning to slop.

Mentions here they're replacing the *reference* part with AI and I just want to re-iterate that receiving an AI ref sheet as an artist is literally worse than handing over a blank sheet of paper. It tells us *nothing*. Literally just tell us the prompt you put into AI, we can find something better.

Looking for some reading material over the holidays? Introducing LocRewind 2025, a recap of all the news, YouTube essays, Reddit threads, banger tweets and assorted localization drama that made headlines this year!

While Amazon is investing billions of dollars to expand AI, independent bookstores are hosting community events, personally recommending books to readers, and providing a space that is safe and welcoming during a time when we need them most. Never underestimate the power of a local bookstore.

Fantastic video by Pam Walls on the increasing use of AI in board games, and the need (more than ever) to support artists, illustrators and graphic designers in the industry. youtu.be/Ci5pOjyJknI?...

This is still my favourite article against slop machines. It's informative AND hilarious. ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/i-will-...

Dropped italki (because they've ruined their platform) and tried out a local Korean school today. It was really good! Going to have lessons with them every Saturday.

This is messed up on so many levels. As a writer and reader the thought that bots will scrape your book and make up stuff about it, influencing a reader's enjoyment and understanding of a story is just insulting. More people need to quit Amazon.

When the AI boom began, copywriters were singled out as one of the jobs most vulnerable to AI. Now, three years later, I wanted to hear from workers on the frontlines of the industry, to hear what had actually taken place on the ground. For many, it was even worse than they'd feared.

So thankful for the shout-out to the localization teams by the E33 Director at the game awards. Localization teams bring your art to a bigger audience—and for many studios, bring in the lion’s share of profit for your game. Invest in quality human loc, and give them credit.

OH GOD WHO GAVE HIM THAT

🚨 The UK Video Games Industry Census closes 19 Dec. Run by Ukie & Dr Mark Taylor, it’s the most comprehensive survey of the UK games workforce, exploring: 🔹 Industry mood & outlook 🔹 Layoffs, visas & training 🔹 Careers of women in games Open to all UK games workers. Take part: zurl.co/yfMwu

We're back online!!! j-entranslations.com BIG big big thank you to @hand-designed.com for taking over hosting and getting me set back up again.