I also remember being particularly fond of Taran Wanderer. The scenes of him growing up, emotionally, really stuck with me—especially the parts with making an "egg" out of whatever people could find to eat, and the swordsmithing arc, when he was so set on breaking his ugly sword (but couldn't).

(Studies from this year have also shown that use of LLMs for tasks that require expertise take ~19% longer to get right than having an expert do the work [ doi.org/10.48550/arX... ], and may simply be *wrong* between 60% to 90%+ of the time.[ doi.org/10.48550/arX... ] But that's a separate thread.)

For every author wondering, "Where can I find someone to translate my book?" I guarantee there's at least one person with language credentials, desperately applying to publishers to translate, who would love to put experience on their resume.

Translators are out there, and they're worth paying.

The same problems that have always existed with automatically or slavishly applying terms from a "translation dictionary" or thesaurus without understanding context will tend to crop up in these translations: dull, odd prose that is inexpressive and not quite right.

And good luck with pronouns.

The Large Language Models (LLMs, aka "AI") that match one statement or phrase to a cognate in another language using statistical models, no matter how comprehensively trained, are incapable of expertise and have no awareness.

No, no matter how friendly you think your chatbot is, it's not aware.

The art of translation involves grasping one human's point of view and mode of expression, rendered in a particular cultural context and idiom, and re-expressing it as faithfully as possible for a person living in a different cultural context and idiom. Doing that requires expertise and awareness.

I have very strong opinions about the use of idiom and context in language, and how cultural roots inform meaning, both shaping thought and shaped by it in turn. Language and expression go hand in hand. Expression is why we have language: because someone, somewhere, has a point of view to share.

Obviously I was never going to be a fan of this service. I started French in Kindergarten, Latin in 1st grade, Greek in 6th grade, plus assorted bits of Spanish, German, and Esperanto. More Greek, French, and Latin with an emphasis on translation in college, with Japanese self-study on the side.

MISTAKENLY SAVING THE VILLAIN (NOVEL) Vol. 1 (SPECIAL EDITION)

Regular Edition book + 4 postcards, a double-sided bookmark, a sticker sheet with 10 peelable stickers, and a poster, featuring art by guest artists!

Price: $29.99
ISBN: 979-8-89561-099-2
sevenseasentertainment.com/books/mistak...

(My role: copyeditor, aka professional nitpicker, spellchecker, and grammarist. I go through the manuscript after team members forge it into Nearly It's Final Form, and look at it with a fresh and unforgiving pair of eyes, my keen sense of when to use hyphens, and the Chicago Manual of Style.)