Quote from Random_user147

Disappointing translations is an unfortunate thing, but unless they are unreadable or straight up wrong, I think they are still good gateways for new fans.

"Straight up wrong", is quite common, for official translations, so...

No translation is perfect anyway.

Not being perfect, or even being kinda bad, is very different from being utterly terrible and/or intentionally changing things.
The former is acceptable.
The latter, which is very common in official translations, is utterly unacceptable
...and paying for it, is encouraging the worsening of official manga translations.

When Tokyopop was still around, I hated it, when they licenced a good series, as that meant it would never get a non-atrocious translation, as no other publisher would take it up, and scanlators stopped translating it, meaning I couldn't read any further, until I learn to reaf it in Japanese. (obviously, reading Tokyopop's "translation" was never an option)

Quote from Random_user147

Official because even if the money doesn't go straight to the author/artist, it still supports the manga industry as a whole and access to manga outside Japan.

To be more precise, it supports people who think that honorifics are just an otaku folly (or that there's no way some silly Oriental savages' speak might have features that can't have an adequate equivalent in our great English language); people who insert their political activism into translations; or people that think "press F" or "pwned" is perfectly fine to put into them.

And as long as you support this '''industry''' (with some trickle of it even going back to Japan, yeah, sure), it's not going to change. Like... why would it?

My smile is stuck - I cannot go back to your frownland.

@ghostosaka:
I'd just like to note my most extreme agreement.

Which ever is better quality. (If that's the fan-translation, then supporting the original author/artist by getting an art book or something is the way to go!)

I usually end up reading some of both (as well as translations into my other language or into the closest relative to my other other language) — otherwise the chances of getting all the extras along side the main story is basically nil these days (increasingly so).

There are a lot to comment here:

Quote from zarlan

"Straight up wrong", is quite common, for official translations, so...

There are official translations besides the American translations in English. Most of what I buy nowadays is in French. Can you still say the same for the state of official translation in all languages?

And translating is an extremely tricky thing. I have seen some "unacceptable translations" that when I saw in full context, I could see exactly why the translators made those choices and it was reasonable enough even when I disagreed.

Quote from ghostosaka

To be more precise, it supports people who think that honorifics are just an otaku folly (or that there's no way some silly Oriental savages' speak might have features that can't have an adequate equivalent in our great English language); people who insert their political activism into translations; or people that think "press F" or "pwned" is perfectly fine to put into them.

This is an example of people saying that official translations are bad not understanding what is unprofessionally bad translation and what is just them disagreeing with the translation.

No one knows better than translators how there's always an untranslatable feature in a language. Gaps exist between all pairs of languages. They don't take the honorifics out because they think they have a perfect translation for them. They do it because they're between a rock and a hard place. Leave them and they risk readers not understanding or having to read too many translation notes. Take them out and risk losing nuances and cultural context. There isn't a consensus on professional circles which is the best for all cases.

And while use of terms and slang that are too distant of the original text's culture is generally not recommended, there are cases when they can be appropriate.

Only the political activism is always bad, but I take accusations of this happening with a grain of salt. I've seen at least one example where the political word had a similar use and connotation to original Japanese even if it wasn't a perfect match so it wasn't shoehorned there. I'll believe them when I compare and judge them myself, like all the others "unacceptable translations".

I've also seen both political activism and too non-Japanese expressions in unofficial translations so they aren't completely free from them either. While in theory the situation is better, in practice we also reward unofficial bad translations and groups tend to avoid "sniping" leaving readers in a similar situation as the official translations' readers.

Quote from zarlan

...and paying for it, is encouraging the worsening of official manga translations.

Quote from ghostosaka

And as long as you support this '''industry''' (with some trickle of it even going back to Japan, yeah, sure), it's not going to change. Like... why would it?

I don't support buying trash translations. I support not throwing out the baby with the bathwater and buying the decent translations. That the lower end of decent can still work as gateway for new fans If we don't support anything at all, not even the good ones, it'll die and we'll be left with nothing.

That's also why it's important for the people that speaks other languages to support non-English translations as well. So the terrible official English translations will have some indirect but official competition for the same series.

--

I honestly wonder how many of the people with extreme opinions on official translations have experience with translations outside manga and related media like manhwa, anime and webnovels. Because all other types of media get translated too.

I've heard plenty of criticisms to translations, but it's only around those communities that I see so much push towards piracy because of it. In the others, fans generally just share corrections and explanations and recommend enthusiasts to learn the original language.

Quote from Random_user147

There are official translations besides the American translations in English. Most of what I buy nowadays is in French. Can you still say the same for the state of official translation in all languages?

Ah. Good point. That's fair enough. I stand corrected.
What I've said, here, mainly applies to English translations ...though the point about how amateurs are more likely to translate out of passion, and are more likely to aim at faithful translations, whereas companies are more likely to have other incentives and ideas, that make them go against proper translations (and also wanting to cut corners, as they are incentivized to maximize profit, and minimize costs), is true regardless.
This does not mean that you can never have a company, that has a proper attitude towards translation, and proper standards of quality. (nor, of course, that no fans have a bad attitude or quality standards)

A proper publisher of official translations, is of course good, and should be encouraged/supported. I have some translated manga, that I've happily bought, and don't regret buying.

And translating is an extremely tricky thing. I have seen some "unacceptable translations" that when I saw in full context, I could see exactly why the translators made those choices and it was reasonable enough even when I disagreed.

...in which case, it either isn't actually unacceptable, at all (just kinda bad ...or just something that you just simply can't translate well), or it is unacceptable, but just due to lack of competence, rather than a wrong attitude towards translation.
The former I wouldn't (as I said) count as unacceptable, whilst the latter would be justifiable from a fan translation, but not an official one.

This is an example of people saying that official translations are bad not understanding what is unprofessionally bad translation and what is just them disagreeing with the translation.

Not entirely.
It depends on the context, as well as the reasoning behind the choice.
It's about how one should translate. What should be translated, and what shouldn't.

When translating to a general public, that isn't in the habit of consuming Japanese works, you pretty much have to remove the honorifics. In a book, or manga, you may be able to add an explanation of some honorifics, and maybe a few words, but you should probably avoid it.

When translating to manga nerds:
You absolutely need to keep the honorifics, and a few other common words. Manga nerds tend to know them already, and those who don't quickly learn them. It's not like it's a requirement that people learn the language, it's just a few words, that you pretty much instantly learn, and continue to have use of, throughout your "manga nerding".

And while use of terms and slang that are too distant of the original text's culture is generally not recommended, there are cases when they can be appropriate.

Translating slang in the original, with slang in the target language, makes sense.
After all, if the original has someone speak in slang, the translation should give the same feel, by using the equivalent slang. Though if it's just a slight bit of mild slang (that is, not really something with a lot of impact to the feel of things, or anything), it is better to avoid slang. Slang gets dates pretty quickly, after all, and is therefore generally to be avoided
...and if there was no slang in the original, including slang in the translation, is utterly wrong and unjustifiable.

Only the political activism is always bad, but I take accusations of this happening with a grain of salt. I've seen at least one example where the political word had a similar use and connotation to original Japanese even if it wasn't a perfect match so it wasn't shoehorned there.

There are, indeed, a lot of accusations of political activism in translation, that are 120% BS.
I'm reminded of people complaining about the subtitles of an anime, mentioning "climate change" ...and when I looked up the Japanese word, that was used, I noticed that it meant... "climate change". 🙄
...but that doesn't change the fact, that there are a real cases, of it happening! (it can happen in fan translations as well, of course, but it's less likely)

Also religious (or otherwise moralistic) reasons (which also falls under politics, but many consider them separate, so I'll explicitly mention them), for changing things.
Like how Light, in Death Note, talks about becoming a god, and they censor that, because it was too blasphemous (which it was absolutely supposed to be! It's fairly fundamental, to the whole manga!)
...or how cigarettes were turned into chewing gum, in Hikaru no Go. (though this was also done with the anime, so we can't just blame the company behind the English translation, I suppose)

While in theory the situation is better, in practice we also reward unofficial bad translations

How so? How are they "rewarded"?

and groups tend to avoid "sniping" leaving readers in a similar situation as the official translations' readers.

I utterly hate and despise, the notion of avoiding "sniping", or how scanlators avoid translating a series that someone else is translating. It makes absolutely zero sense.
It makes things worse for both readers and scanlators. There are no conceivable benefits, for the scanlators who don't get sniped, or avoid "rivals" ...and those who would want to translate a series that another is translating, are limited, by being "forbidden" to do so, for no apparent reason.

I support not throwing out the baby with the bathwater and buying the decent translations. That the lower end of decent can still work as gateway for new fans

Of I wholeheartedly agree!
As long as the translation is at least halfway decent, then you absolutely should buy it! Regardless of the quality of the scanlation. If the scanlation is significantly better, by orders of magnitude, you should still buy the official, halfway decent, translation, as long as you can reasonably afford to.
If it is at least halfway decent. If it isn't unacceptable. If it translates (and not intentionally change) the original.
If it's okay: Buy it!

If we don't support anything at all, not even the good ones, it'll die and we'll be left with nothing.

In a choice between nothing, and a disgusting abomination that is an insult to the original, I would instantly chose nothing, without any hint of hesitation.

That's also why it's important for the people that speaks other languages to support non-English translations as well. So the terrible official English translations will have some indirect but official competition for the same series.

Agreed. Sadly, a lot of people will tend to ignore the native language translations, in favour of English ones, in a lot of places. Probably less so in France, but...

I honestly wonder how many of the people with extreme opinions on official translations have experience with translations outside manga and related media like manhwa, anime and webnovels. Because all other types of media get translated too.

The context for translating manga/anime vs non-manga/anime, is very different.
The companies that translate manga/anime, vs other stuff, are also very different.
With that said, I've seen plenty of translations, outside of manga/anime, that shit.
Depends a bit on what kind of media it is, from what language to which, in which country it is translated, how big/popular it is, what kind of demographic it is aimed at etc.

but it's only around those communities that I see so much push towards piracy because of it.

I'm not sure it's always a push for piracy. I can hardly be alone, in pushing for buying the Japanese, untranslated, copies of the works? It used to be that all scanlators/fansubbers consistently encouraged people to buy the stuff in Japanese (and/or buy official translations, when/if they are released), with a lot of fans echoing that.
I think people don't talk about that, as much, these days (and people tend more towards "eh, just pirate everything", in general, regardless of whether they are manga/anime fans or not), but...

In the others, fans generally just share corrections and explanations and recommend enthusiasts to learn the original language.

I don't think that is much of a thing.
I mean, it's great for fans to learn the language (I've gone down that route, but then I have a general love of languages, anyway. Note: I chose to learn it, because I thought it was a beautiful language. Not to read/watch manga/anime, or understand it better, or avoid bad translations ...though those quickly became a strong motivations), but I don't think there is a big "just learn the language" attitude, among most fans.
Especially as most fans don't bother to do so.

Quote from Random_user147

This is an example of people saying that official translations are bad not understanding what is unprofessionally bad translation and what is just them disagreeing with the translation.

No one knows better than translators how there's always an untranslatable feature in a language. Gaps exist between all pairs of languages. They don't take the honorifics out because they think they have a perfect translation for them. They do it because they're between a rock and a hard place. Leave them and they risk readers not understanding or having to read too many translation notes. Take them out and risk losing nuances and cultural context. There isn't a consensus on professional circles which is the best for all cases.

Ah, the classic "puro translator" defence. You know what's one of the most basic principles of actual professional translation is? You translate for an audience. And your target audience are either unwashed weebs or transitioning there.

And while inclusivity is good and all, this audience can also be limited to people capable of learning the pretty simple rules of honorific usage. Otherwise it's akin to "translating" onigiri into hamburgers, because you expect your audience to have the brains of 4 year olds and zero desire to learn even the basic cultural nuances of the media they're consuming. Which was totally appropriate when that audience was actual 4 year olds, but that's clearly not the case we're talking about.

I would also gleefuly point out that plenty of those purfeshunal transrators either outright dismiss the importance of honorifics or insist that they can be just "translated" losslessly.

And while use of terms and slang that are too distant of the original text's culture is generally not recommended, there are cases when they can be appropriate.

There are cases. Those are rarely the cases. These are the cases of lowest-bidder people, who have no business in translation, littering the text with them simply because they can or just don't know any better.

Only the political activism is always bad, but I take accusations of this happening with a grain of salt. I've seen at least one example where the political word had a similar use and connotation to original Japanese even if it wasn't a perfect match so it wasn't shoehorned there. I'll believe them when I compare and judge them myself, like all the others "unacceptable translations".

Sure, when it aligns with their political views, people are capable of ignoring even a hyperspace whale in the room.

I've also seen both political activism

Bluntly put, in my 20 years of reading those, I can hardly remember anything like that outside, maybe, of TN notes.

and too non-Japanese expressions in unofficial translations so they aren't completely free from them either.

Sure there are (mysteriously, still rarer than in pUrOfeSsHunal official translations), but at least they aren't paid for those, nor do they send legal threats to shut down alternative translation groups.

While in theory the situation is better, in practice we also reward unofficial bad translations and groups tend to avoid "sniping" leaving readers in a similar situation as the official translations' readers.

Not even sure what are you even on about. Competing groups do exist, and when other group decides that some other's translation is inadequate, they usually translate from the start (or from the place where good translators stopped), not snipe the lastest chapter, in any case. It's not ideal, but far better than the unwarranted exclusivity of the official translations.

I don't support buying trash translations. I support not throwing out the baby with the bathwater and buying the decent translations. That the lower end of decent can still work as gateway for new fans If we don't support anything at all, not even the good ones, it'll die and we'll be left with nothing.

What's "decent"? I personaly would gladly see certain companies in this market to go under entirely and painfully. (particularly Yen, which bullied out a great deal of active, high-quality translation projects and replaced them with their hideous slop). While by your standard, it seems, almost anything goes. And that, in the end, amounts to perpetuating the current situation.

As zarlan above said, if choosing between the current abomination and nothing at all, I would gladly choose the latter. And preach to people to read scanlations and buy the original work if they liked it (even if just for the collection). As a lot of scanlators already do. Because that way, you're supporting what's actually worth supporting.

P.S: You seem to assign some sort of intrinsic value to the official translation industry existing. Me, I don't. If an industry fails to produce anything of noticeably more value compared to what scanlators already do for free in their spare time - and worse yet, harms and impedes the latter - it wholly deserves to go under in its entirety. Whether something more worthwhile will sprout from its corpse at a later date or not, this industry's death will hardly result in any value being lost.

I honestly wonder how many of the people with extreme opinions on official translations have experience with translations outside manga and related media like manhwa, anime and webnovels. Because all other types of media get translated too.

I've heard plenty of criticisms to translations, but it's only around those communities that I see so much push towards piracy because of it. In the others, fans generally just share corrections and explanations and recommend enthusiasts to learn the original language.

A lot of factors. People simply being passionate about this kind of media being the chief of them, surprisingly enough. But also the others, such as the market being wide but shallow, and breeding the lowest bidder bottom dweller translators. Or the bulk of those 'other translations' being done from IE languages of countries much culturally closer to the US, and thus suffering much less in transition.

My smile is stuck - I cannot go back to your frownland.

Eh real answer is more nuanced. It's more "which version is objectively better?" lol. That version isn't always the official release.

Most current example for me being Fumetsu no Anata E. The official release is unreadable to me bc I cannot take "Immo" and "Iddy" seriously lol.

Ive also found Naver has some dogshit translators/editors. I find more typos on webtoons than I ever do on the fan translation. They also love to just leave out cultural jokes/references altogether instead of finding some kinda equivalent or just giving a damn translation note at the end.

Quote from ghostosaka

You know what's one of the most basic principles of actual professional translation is? You translate for an audience.

There is also an issue of the purpose of the translation (a novel or manga, subtitles [where the viewer has to be able to comfortably read it all, without pausing], dubbing [where you need to kinda match lip movements], a military report on what the enemies reports are saying, similar reports in politics/diplomacy, translating example sentences in language learning materials, a cookbook etc etc)
...though that isn't all that relevant here

Otherwise it's akin to "translating" onigiri into hamburgers, /.../ Which was totally appropriate when that audience was actual 4 year olds, but that's clearly not the case we're talking about.

No! Translating onigiri to hamburger or doughnut, is NEVER appropriate or even slightly justifiable. Leaving it as onigiri, to anything but a anime/manga nerd (or general japanophile) audience, is improper, but changing it to a completely different food. (which also isn't even faintly equivalent, to an onigiri)
If there is no equivalent term, in the target language, and it's for kids: describe it! Also, there is an English term, and one that anyone who hasn't heard it, even a little kid, will instantly understand:
Rice ball.

There are cases. Those are rarely the cases. These are the cases of lowest-bidder people, who have no business in translation, littering the text with them simply because they can or just don't know any better.

This is, indeed, very common in official English translations. Bad inclusions of slang, where there is no possible justification for it's inclusion.
Also just generally making the characters speak in certain ways, that don't in any way reflect how they speak in the original. Adding random words and phrases, with no basis in the original.

Sure, when it aligns with their political views, people are capable of ignoring even a hyperspace whale in the room.

There are absolutely cases, of claimed political insertions from translators, that absolutely aren't. Plenty that are, but that doesn't mean that there are no cases of false accusations.

Sure there are (mysteriously, still rarer than in pUrOfeSsHunal official translations), but at least they aren't paid for those, nor do they send legal threats to shut down alternative translation groups.

Indeed!

Not even sure what are you even on about. Competing groups do exist, and when other group decides that some other's translation is inadequate, they usually translate from the start (or from the place where good translators stopped)

NO THEY DON'T!
They don't touch the series, if another group translates it! Also, what's with the "when other group decides that some other's translation is inadequate"? Why would that need to be a requirement? Why can't you just start translating a series, that another group is translating, simply because you want to?

not snipe the lastest chapter, in any case.

Why not?
Sure, it's good to start from the start, but... If you want to start translating a series, and the reason isn't that the others are bad, then what would be the problem with starting with the most current one, if there are other translations of the previous ones?

It's not ideal, but far better than the unwarranted exclusivity of the official translations.

I fail to see how an unwarranted exclusivity of fan translation, is any better than an unwarranted exclusivity of official translations.

What's "decent"? /.../ While by your standard, it seems, almost anything goes. And that, in the end, amounts to perpetuating the current situation.

Given that Random_user147 appears to mainly talk about French translations, I don't see how you can conclude what Random_user147's standards are.

I personaly would gladly see certain companies in this market to go under entirely and painfully

A lot of people were sad, when Tokyopop went under. I was delighted!

P.S: You seem to assign some sort of intrinsic value to the official translation industry existing.

Ah! That's a good point. I hadn't quite thought of that, but you're right that (bad) notion is a large part, of why a lot of people defend bad translations.

A lot of factors. People simply being passionate about this kind of media being the chief of them, surprisingly enough.

Indeed!

Or the bulk of those 'other translations' being done from IE languages of countries much culturally closer to the US, and thus suffering much less in transition.

Well, either that, or it's from a less known language/culture, such that most people who read/watch it, won't have any way of knowing about any flaws in the translation. (whereas with manga/anime, you have a notable amount of people, who know some Japanese [a minority, certainly, but...], and have some familiarity with the culture)

Oh, and you're assuming that all the translations are made into English, and all manga/anime nerds we're talking about, are all Americans.
Both assumptions are 100% false.

This being an English language site, it's mainly for Westerners, but...
In an old poll, on this site, asking where people are from, there were more people who stated that they're from Europe (adding together the answers "Eastern Europe" and "Western Europe". 21.8%+10.5%), than who answered "North America" (30.8% ...which includes Canada. So less than 30.8%, from the US)
...and a remaining ~37%, from neither. (I won't bother listing all the options and numbers)

Quote from zarlan

This is, indeed, very common in official English translations. Bad inclusions of slang, where there is no possible justification for it's inclusion.
Also just generally making the characters speak in certain ways, that don't in any way reflect how they speak in the original. Adding random words and phrases, with no basis in the original.

My "favourite" are probably gratuitous accents. While there might be a time and place for them, a typical translator plain lacks the skill to not to make them sound like a caricature.

Sure, when it aligns with their political views, people are capable of ignoring even a hyperspace whale in the room.

There are absolutely cases, of claimed political insertions from translators, that absolutely aren't. Plenty that are, but that doesn't mean that there are no cases of false accusations.

Probably, but while I don't follow those scandals much, when I looked, those typically turned out to be mostly or entirely true.

Not even sure what are you even on about. Competing groups do exist, and when other group decides that some other's translation is inadequate, they usually translate from the start (or from the place where good translators stopped)

NO THEY DON'T!
They don't touch the series, if another group translates it! Also, what's with the "when other group decides that some other's translation is inadequate"? Why would that need to be a requirement? Why can't you just start translating a series, that another group is translating, simply because you want to?

not snipe the lastest chapter, in any case.

Why not?
Sure, it's good to start from the start, but... If you want to start translating a series, and the reason isn't that the others are bad, then what would be the problem with starting with the most current one, if there are other translations of the previous ones?

It's not ideal, but far better than the unwarranted exclusivity of the official translations.

I fail to see how an unwarranted exclusivity of fan translation, is any better than an unwarranted exclusivity of official translations.

Not sure why you're complaining about all this to me, I've no axe to grind here; simply stating what the common etiquette in the scanlation scene is. And it is indeed that - an etiquette: neither universal, nor enforced through legal threats.

What's "decent"? /.../ While by your standard, it seems, almost anything goes. And that, in the end, amounts to perpetuating the current situation.

Given that Random_user147 appears to mainly talk about French translations, I don't see how you can conclude what Random_user147's standards are.

So far they've basically dismissed nearly any complaints about the official translations' quality, so, well. Admittedly, I've plain missed when did we start speaking about French translations, nevermind mainly about them.

I personaly would gladly see certain companies in this market to go under entirely and painfully

A lot of people were sad, when Tokyopop went under. I was delighted!

P.S: You seem to assign some sort of intrinsic value to the official translation industry existing.

Ah! That's a good point. I hadn't quite thought of that, but you're right that (bad) notion is a large part, of why a lot of people defend bad translations.

I gave some more thought to it later, and my position is: to have any right to exist (my personal opinion) and to be long-term viable in this digital age (now this is an attempt at objective analysis), official translations will have to get on the same playing field as the scanlators.

Rather than having DMCA and legal threats as the only weapons in their arsenal, they'll have to convince people that their translations are worth paying for, compared to what people do for free in their spare time. If 90% of the industry doesn't make the cut, then, maybe, it didn't deserve to be around in the first place.

Or the bulk of those 'other translations' being done from IE languages of countries much culturally closer to the US, and thus suffering much less in transition.

Well, either that, or it's from a less known language/culture, such that most people who read/watch it, won't have any way of knowing about any flaws in the translation. (whereas with manga/anime, you have a notable amount of people, who know some Japanese [a minority, certainly, but...], and have some familiarity with the culture)

Oh, and you're assuming that all the translations are made into English, and all manga/anime nerds we're talking about, are all Americans.
Both assumptions are 100% false.

This being an English language site, it's mainly for Westerners, but...
In an old poll, on this site, asking where people are from, there were more people who stated that they're from Europe (adding together the answers "Eastern Europe" and "Western Europe". 21.8%+10.5%), than who answered "North America" (30.8% ...which includes Canada. So less than 30.8%, from the US)
...and a remaining ~37%, from neither. (I won't bother listing all the options and numbers)

I'm not making any assumptions, I'm simply talking about the English (read: US) animanga translations here, because they constitute the majority of all official animanga translations (okay, in the recent decade, not counting Chinese, probably), and are used by people around the world.

In any case, most of what I've said probably applies to any language industry (other than my local one, which is basically inexistent because of the small market and irrelevance due to common knowledge of English, I'm somewhat knowledgeable of another sizeable one, and it's no less miserable than the US industry, although sometimes in different ways).

My smile is stuck - I cannot go back to your frownland.

Keep on tearing each other up! (popcorn.gif)

Meanwhile,

AI is getting less and less terrible, thanks to the use and theft of the LLM skimming of already translated works.

And

We shall see live synchronous releases of Original Language media available across the globe in ALL languages.

And finally the capability to go back to previous original works that were badly translated or never translated at all, and finally read them.

(Barring pesky geoblocking and individual country licensing.)

And people will be purchasing and reading/watching from the original author/publisher.

Human translation, professional or amateur, will become a specialized endeavor, or a boutique luxury “hand/human-crafted” passion for those who believe and love words and the complexities of languages and the worldviews that inform them.

Coming sooner than you think.

"No matter where you go, there you are."
Buckaroo Banzai

Thought I'd mention this: a few years ago I came across a service that, although pricey, would buy the original physical graphic novel, translate, and then physically print their translation into an English version that matched the original. They'd then send you both the original and the translation... or maybe they kept the original? It's been so long I don't remember what they did with the original, but my memories lean towards them sending you both.

Unfortunately, I don't remember what they were called. I was thinking of doing this for a manga that came out over 10 years ago that never got an official translation despite it being one of my favorites.

I'm a jack of all trades but master of none. Too many jars and not enough hands.

Quote from ghostosaka

Not sure why you're complaining about all this to me, I've no axe to grind here; simply stating what the common etiquette in the scanlation scene is. And it is indeed that - an etiquette:

You didn't merely state how things are, but clearly defended it, and essentially stated that it is (relatively) good.
Not to mention the implicit statement, that translating a work that has a translation group, is only justifiable, if the existing group is doing a bad job.

neither universal, nor enforced through legal threats.

Is pretty much IS universal. (exceptions are almost unheard of. They do technically exist, with all instances being pretty much universally condemned [except maybe if the group that was translating it, were really terrible], but...) As for not being enforced by legal threats... They might as well be, considering that no one dares to do it.

Admittedly, I've plain missed when did we start speaking about French translations, nevermind mainly about them.

"We" didn't.
As I said: Random_user147, and Random_user147 alone, did
...and it was specifically Random_user147's attitude, that you were responding to.
Did you not read this post?
...which is a comment that you replied to, but apparently didn't read, prior to replying to it, which is an extremely rude, disrespectful, and unacceptable thing to do!
Never reply to anything, unless/before you actually bother to read it!
(if I had a penny, for everytime someone's done that to me, I'd be filthy rich...)

If 90% of the industry doesn't make the cut, then, maybe, it didn't deserve to be around in the first place.

I skip the "maybe".

I'm not making any assumptions, I'm simply talking about the English (read: US) animanga translations here, because they constitute the majority of all official animanga translations

Fair enough.

Quote from MlleAdler

AI is getting less and less terrible, thanks to the use and theft of the LLM skimming of already translated works.

Machine translations are unacceptable abominations! And no, they haven't gotten less terrible.
You're a monolingual English speaker, I take it? Not that that'd be an excuse, mind you.

Human translation, professional or amateur, will become a specialized endeavor

That is simply physically impossible.
The only way that you can get machine translation, to be anywhere near good enough, to be anywhere close to decent enough, would be if you create machines that would essentially have to count as people. As sentient beings, with their own lives and rights.

@LazyReviewer
Sounds kinda similar, to how some translators wanted you to show you have a copy of the original, to get their translation.

I'm still waiting for an answer, as to how people are, in practice, rewarding bad fan translations, BTW.