Universal Game Translator – Use Google's Services to Live-translate Video Games

[Nz17]

Get ready to finally play and understand your imported Dreamcast, PC Engine, Saturn, Neo-Geo, and Playstation games!

1. Snaps a picture from the HDMI signal, sends it to google to be analyzed for text in any language
2. Studies the layout and decides which text is dialog and which bits should be translated “line by line”
3. Overlays the frozen frame and translations over the gameplay HDMI signal
4. Allows copy/pasting the original language or looking up a kanji by clicking on it
5. Can translate any language to any language without needing any local data as Google is doing all the work, can handle rendering Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc (The font I used is this one)
6. Controlled by hotkeys (desktop mode) or a control pad (capture mode, this is where I’m playing on a real console but have a second PC controller to control the translation stuff)
7. (Added in later versions) Can read the dialog outloud in either the original or translated language
8. Can drag a rectangle to only translate a small area (Ctrl-F10 by default)

Source and downloads:
https://www.codedojo.com/?p=2426

[Aussie2B]

I've heard of people using this kind of stuff before. Sounds like just an expansion on what already existed. As with any machine translation, I wouldn't have high expectations. It's fine if you want to understand a few bits and pieces of informational text, but don't expect to get a good grasp on any complex narrative. Expect loads and loads of Engrish and mistranslations, along the lines of these: https://legendsoflocalization.com/bad-translation/ (Especially the modern examples, which probably did use machine translation at least partially.)

It's not what people want to hear, but the best way to play and understand Japanese games is still to wait for a real person to do a translation (although even then you're not guaranteed an accurate translation) or learn Japanese yourself. Or just accept not understanding the full game and have the patience for some trial and error. Many gamers underestimate how many games are playable and enjoyable even if you don't understand the language. Unless your enjoyment hinges solely on understanding the story, even more text-heavy games like RPGs can be beatable and fun.

[gbpxl]

my girlfriends dad only speaks/reads Tagalog and watches English movies all the time and loves them. i personally cant imagine watching a foreign language film or playing a game but a lot of people do it

[Aussie2B]

Most of the world has no problem consuming foreign language entertainment. It's just Americans who are often living in a bubble, never exposing themselves to anything that isn't in English.

[gbpxl]

but to play devils advocate, most of the films that people want to watch are in English. there isnt really a Chinese Avengers: Endgame that I am aware of. i think non Americans dont have a lot of choice whereas Americans can choose to ignore foreign films and still see most the blockbusters

[Aussie2B]

Well, yeah, the situation exists because Americans have the luxury of a wealth of entertainment in English, along with all the big-name productions. The downside is sometimes that results in people who are closed-minded and don't even want to give foreign entertainment a try, even when it doesn't really matter what the language is, like with music, or even with subtitles because they insist on everything being dubbed or natively in English. When my husband was growing up in Eastern Europe, they got a lot of TV shows, music videos, movies, etc. in English, sometimes with subtitles, sometimes without. You learn to adapt, and in my opinion, you have a richer experience because of that. I would've missed out on so many things I love if I stuck solely to stuff released in the US.

[Gameguy]

There are plenty of movies and entertainment available in other languages, you don't have to depend on American produced content. A lot of English produced content would be available subtitled though in some fashion, or dubbed. It's sometimes funny to find Russian dubbed western movies as they tend to dub over other languages rather than replace the existing dialog, you basically hear people talking Russian over people speaking other languages. I watch subtitled films pretty regularly so I don't mind foreign language films.

As for what's described in this thread, does this method cause lag when playing?

[jb143]

I'm sure it would work well enough for getting the gist of the story. Even in a text heavy game. What would be lost are subtle context, figures of speech, idioms, jokes, etc...stuff that a good human translator could create an English equivalent.

As for what's described in this thread, does this method cause lag when playing?

I only skimmed it but it doesn't seem like it would. Other than lag in getting to read while waiting for the translation to come up.

Speaking of movies though, I was watching a foreign film once with English subtitles(I don't remember the film or language for that matter), and there was a scene in a restaurant that had a couple speaking English in the background and it was incredibly distracting.