I read https://theconversation.com/the-art-of-literary-translation-exposes-the-limits-of-ai-282955, which I found on google because I wanted to try to read something as recent as possible since AI is always changing (this was June 25, 2026). It was an Amherst College Professor's attempt at using AI for poetry translation (Urdu to English), which was very interesting and apt for this assignment. She found, unsurprisingly, that while technically correct in general, ChatGPT stumbled in various places to get across the nuances of the poem, and delivered an unsatisfying translation.
In contrast, for me I wanted to ask ChatGPT not about poetry since that is well-known as beyond its capabilities, but instead wanted to see if it could satisfy me with just prose translation from a novel I'm currently reading, 悲鳴伝 by 西尾維新.
Japanese: そして扱いの荒さに散々苦情を申し立てつつも、空々から『使い心地』をリサーチして、クレームはクレームとして受けつけて、付属品までまとめて、彼女は『グロテスク』を持って帰っていった.
English: Even as she lodged complaint after complaint about the rough way it had been handled, she researched its “usability” from Kū-Kū, accepted his complaints as complaints, and took Grotesque back along with all of its accessories.
This is from a random place in the middle of the novel (the place I'm at in the novel right now). I highlight this sentence since it struck me as especially poorly translated.
First of all the main character's name is Sorakara, but there is no way for ChatGPT to know that and Kū-Kū is the right guess in my opinion. Kuku is probably more palatable as a translation though, given the genre and expected audience (sci-fi, Teenagers/young adults). Kū-Kū feels too weirdly Japanese for a casual english translation of a casual novel.
Second of all, I don't like the usage of 'Even as...'. This (and my other complaints as you will see) is probably a problem with translating too literally (...つつも) such that it ends up a bit awkward. I would prefer something like 'Despite..., she was sure to...". Perhaps I feel this way because in English the つつも equivalent goes at the start which separates it too far from the next clause, so I want a callback to it in the next clause the form of e.g. 'was sure to'.
Thirdly, 'accepted his complaints as complaints' for 'クレームはクレームとして受けつけて' is weird (unobvious meaning) and obviously because it is way too literal. I was curious if chatGPT would notice this itself, and in a revision it did suggest 'taking note of all his complaints as legitimate feedback' which is a little wordy, but, it also suggested 'taking his complaints seriously' which I thought was pretty good.
From the same page -
Japanese: 「空々くんが殺した怪人だけど、無事に死んだってさ」
なにせ頭部を目掛けて踏みつけたのだ、大ダメージを与えたことは確かだろうが、しかしすぐに逃げてしまったので、結果までをはっきりと確認したわけではない──中途半端な脳挫傷とかで不要に苦しめる結果になっておらず、本当によかった。
English: “The monster you killed, Sorakara-kun? I hear it died without incident.”
That was what Redevelopment told him when she came to collect it. “Died without incident” was a pretty strange way of putting it, but hearing that, Sorakara felt relieved.
After all, he had stomped directly on its head. There was no doubt he had inflicted serious damage, but he had fled almost immediately afterward, so he hadn’t actually confirmed what had happened in the end—not for certain. He was just glad he hadn’t left it suffering unnecessarily from some half-finished case of brain damage or something.
I suppose I'm including this section more to praise ChatGPT than anything. I guess I would replace 'it' with 'Grotesque' in 'she came to collect it', and delete '—not for certain', and maybe nitpick it a bit more here and there, but other than that I think this is a perfectly great translation. Maybe 'without incident' is too literal... "...died just fine"? It's not bad though.
On the other side of the spectrum, here is ChatGPT's attempt at the start of コズミック by 清涼院流水.
Japanese: 天は号泣していた。
──なにをそんなに悲しむのか。『予（よ）』の考えを知ってのことか？
仰向けに寝転んだまま、密室卿（みっしつきょう）はごろりと首を横に向けた。バショウの葉にあたり、雨の滴（しずく）が窓から踊りこんでくる。
滴は密室卿の頰に接吻すると弾けてそのまま滑り落ちた。
English: The heavens were weeping bitterly.
—What is there to grieve so deeply? Is it because you know what Yo is thinking?
Still lying on his back, Lord Missetsu slowly turned his head to the side. Raindrops, striking the leaves of the banana plant, came dancing in through the window.
One of them kissed Lord Missetsu on the cheek, then burst and slid down his face.
This is laughably bad. Perserving '予' like that is so weird. Why is 密室卿 translated as Lord 'Missetsu'?? 'Still' is weird too - まま translated too literally without regard for context - and the last line's use of 'then' is also too literal in my opnion.
It's clear that ChatGPT needs attentive supervision even for prose - it can produce something absurd just as easily as it produces accurate and natural translations. It seems to orbit around the concept of a 'natural english translation'; too flowery or too literal depending on the passage.
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