Question for translators/readers: What actually matters in translation quality?

[seojinn]

Hey,

I've been working on a translation thing (NARRA) and honestly just want to know if I'm solving a real problem or wasting my time.

Here's what I'm doing:

- 8 languages

- Trying to keep the original tone instead of making everything sound "smooth"

- Character names and skill names stay consistent (no "Fireball" → "Fire Sphere" → "Flame Ball" nonsense)

- Authors control everything What I actually want to know:

- Do you guys even care about tone preservation? Or would you rather just have natural English even if it's different from the original?

- Does terminology consistency actually matter to you?

- Authors: would you give up some control for more readers?

I'm working with 2 authors right now. Everything's Korean → English, you can check it out at narra.kr

Real talk: I'm trying to figure out if this is actually useful or if I'm just building something nobody wants.

Be honest. Questions/feedback: [email protected]

P.S. Finding authors has been way harder than I thought. But it works, the quality's there, and I'm still going. If you're curious, hit me up.

 

[Avarice_Of_The_Seven]

I think the most important thing is that the meaning comes across while not seeming unnatural.

Original tone consistency is important, but if you only focus on that then the translation will sound awkward. They are two entirely different languages after all, how can they perfectly be translated into each other without any change?

The biggest example would be the previous genisis studio translations and early novelpia translations. Both were officially translated, but while genesis studio's translations seemed like official premium ones, novelpia's translations seemed more like machine translations. Novepia did so many revisions.

 

[BigBadBoi]

- Do you guys even care about tone preservation? Or would you rather just have natural English even if it's different from the original?

Depends. I prefer tone preservation but I don't mind natural english as long as it fits. But I'd prefer having zero buzzwords or unnecessary slang.
As long as the intended meaning of the writing is properly conveyed and not twisted into something I don't see an issue.

- Does terminology consistency actually matter to you?

This is mandatory in every medium. It is especially frustrating and confusing if some terminology that was translated is suddenly switched to something else. An example is GungHo's Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter remake localization suddenly switching already established terminologies into something else. Examples are terminologies like Archaism switched to orbal golem and Divine Swords switched to Sword Saints. It's technically accurate but suddenly switching terminologies is jarring.

novelpia's translations seemed more like machine translations.

Because they are MTL slop. Novelpia never hid this fact. The reason for the revisions is because they have a lot of slaves volunteer editors/proofreaders that will revise the text if chatgpt fucked up the translations.

 

[Avarice_Of_The_Seven]

Because they are MTL slop. Novelpia never hid this fact. The reason for the revisions is because they have a lot of slaves volunteer editors/proofreaders that will revise the text if chatgpt fucked up the translations.

No, I know that. But I'm not talking about those. The MTL ones were so horrible that you couldn't even read them.

I'm talking about the ones with the REV. tag. Those ones were actual human translations. They did revise MTL but it was still done by humans.

Still, if you just translate a korean joke into English as is then it would just come off as weird. You will have to either switch it with English counterpart jokes, or mention it in TL. note

 

[BigBadBoi]

No, I know that. But I'm not talking about those. The MTL ones were so horrible that you couldn't even read them.

I'm talking about the ones with the REV. tag. Those ones were actual human translations.

Pretty sure it's just properly edited/proofread versions

 

[seojinn]

I think the most important thing is that the meaning comes across while not seeming unnatural.

Original tone consistency is important, but if you only focus on that then the translation will sound awkward. They are two entirely different languages after all, how can they perfectly be translated into each other without any change?

The biggest example would be the previous genisis studio translations and early novelpia translations. Both were officially translated, but while genesis studio's translations seemed like official premium ones, novelpia's translations seemed more like machine translations. Novepia did so many revisions.

Yeah, I agree — that balance really is the hardest part.
It’s not about choosing tone or readability, but figuring out how far you can push one without breaking the other. That’s why, on our end, we try to at least remove confusion where we can. Things like character names or skill names stay fixed once they’re decided, so readers aren’t constantly recalibrating while they read.


That’s also why the Genesis Studio comparison stood out to me. It didn’t feel like the text was just polished to sound smooth — the author’s voice still felt intact. I’m curious what specifically made it feel “premium” to you. Was it the dialogue flow, the pacing, or more of an overall reading feel?


And when you say the meaning comes across better, I’m wondering how much consistency plays into that for you. If a skill or concept shows up early on, does it matter if it keeps the same name all the way through, or is that secondary as long as the prose reads well?


I’m basically trying to understand where that line actually sits in practice, not just in theory.

 

[SternenklarenRitter]

- Character names and skill names stay consistent (no "Fireball" → "Fire Sphere" → "Flame Ball" nonsense)

Super important. Also, most eastern languages use a lot less gender pronouns that we do, so MTL likes to force him/her into pretty much every sentence. Its not actually hard to speak English without using pronouns of any kind, so even if a character's gender hasn't been explicitly revealed its still off-putting to see the MC switch from he to she and the royal we after being an assault helicopter and all in the same sentence.

 

[Racosharko]

NARRA

What does Narra stand for?

 

[Alski]

- Character names and skill names stay consistent (no "Fireball" → "Fire Sphere" → "Flame Ball" nonsense)

- Does terminology consistency actually matter to you?

These are the 2 most important for me for the same reasons other people in this thread have already posted.

 

[Avarice_Of_The_Seven]

Yeah, I agree — that balance really is the hardest part.
It’s not about choosing tone or readability, but figuring out how far you can push one without breaking the other. That’s why, on our end, we try to at least remove confusion where we can. Things like character names or skill names stay fixed once they’re decided, so readers aren’t constantly recalibrating while they read.


That’s also why the Genesis Studio comparison stood out to me. It didn’t feel like the text was just polished to sound smooth — the author’s voice still felt intact. I’m curious what specifically made it feel “premium” to you. Was it the dialogue flow, the pacing, or more of an overall reading feel?


And when you say the meaning comes across better, I’m wondering how much consistency plays into that for you. If a skill or concept shows up early on, does it matter if it keeps the same name all the way through, or is that secondary as long as the prose reads well?


I’m basically trying to understand where that line actually sits in practice, not just in theory.

Okay, so this is all just my personal opinion. I'll mention what I find problematic in translations.

The first is consistency.
The tone, names, concepts, terms, etc., should all remain consistent throughout the story. Otherwise, it will either become confusing or break immersion while reading.

For example: a technique's name in the beginning was 'Pikachu's heaven-destroying fist. But somewhere in the middle, it was changed to 'Pikachu fist; Destruction of heaven.'
Both basically mean the same thing, but if you don't pick one and use it consistently, then that would become a translation error.

While prose is important, they are secondary and only comes after consistency.
basically; Consistency = Necessity, and Prose = luxury. Luxury is important, but it comes after the necessities have been met.


The second is Translation improvisation.
Different languages will have their own common terms and phrases. If you just translate them as is, then that will just read awkwardly.

For example, the goal of a scene is for characters to give a casual salutation. Different languages will have their own salutations. If you just translate them as is, then that will come off unnatural. Either switch it with an English counterpart salutation, or just mention that part in the translator's note. Like this;

(Her last thought would read weirdly like MTL if there wasn't that Translator's note there.)

This is especially applicable for things like jokes and puns. Cuz their meaning will change depending on the language.

I think Tone consistency can be preserved by summarising the original tone's essence and creating its English counterpart rather than just translating the original tone.

For example; The original tone is lighthearted, the character's voice is cheerful, the narration is sarcastic. In such situations, it's better to create an English counterpart rather than just translating the text, cuz it might even lose the tone otherwise.
It's more important to understand the goal a scene is trying to achieve and how it is narrated. You can then write it the same in English. It wouldn't feel unnatural.

There was this incident with a game called Chaos Zero Nightmare.
There was a dialogue where the captain said to the vice captain, "You should remain here, you only have a small gun, so how will you fight?"

There is no problem with this English dialogue. But the Korean audience made quite the commotion cuz of it, because that dialogue could be interpreted as a sarcastic joke/ mockery in Korea. The meaning changes with language, even though the phrase remains the same. So it's better to focus on the intent rather than the text itself.

 

[seojinn]

This is especially applicable for things like jokes and puns. Cuz their meaning will change depending on the language.

I think Tone consistency can be preserved by summarising the original tone's essence and creating its English counterpart rather than just translating the original tone.

I agree with pretty much everything you pointed out.
Especially the idea that consistency is a necessity, while prose comes after — that distinction matches how we approach the work as well.


Because of that, we don’t try to solve everything in a single pass.
We deliberately split the process into stages.
In the first pass, we lock things down very tightly and stay as close as possible to the original meaning and structure. At this stage, the priority isn’t smoothness — it’s fixing the core elements like intent, terminology, and tonal direction so they don’t drift.


Only after that do we move to a second pass, where we adjust the tone to better fit the target language.
From our experience, trying to do both at once almost always causes the text to slide toward a very average, overly “natural” direction. It may read smoothly, but the original voice and intent tend to get washed out.


Another point you mentioned that we strongly agree with is language-specific behavior.
It’s not just word choice — things like spacing, rhythm, and sentence structure behave very differently depending on the language. Because of that, we treat those as rules to be defined per language, rather than something that can be handled generically.


In the end, preserving intent is the hardest part of translation.
That’s not something you can reliably solve through automation alone, which is why final judgment and editing always have to involve a human. Our structure is built with that assumption from the start.


So the focus on intent over surface-level text is very much aligned with why we’re doing this in the first place.