Re: "chan, san, kun, senpai, etc. have no English translation so you should keep them as is and if you remove them or attempt to translate them into English, you're racist, post-colonialist, etc.":

I used to feel the same way! I was wrong. And so are you. A thread:

There is no literal 1-1 translation of ANY Japanese word into English. Each Japanese word has slightly different nuances than English words do. So by your logic, NOTHING should be translated at all.

This is obviously a silly take, so let's drop that for starters.

Also, there ARE English equivalents for san, chan, kun, senpai, etc. There is pretty much always an equivalent, which will vary, depending on context. I'll go through some of these equivalents below. Fellow pro-translators, feel free to chime in with your go-to equivalents.

"chan": it's like a baby-speak suffix for a person's name. A way of making a name cute. We have this in English! Baby, sweetie, dear, etc. As a suffix to a name, it would be like if you called me "Sarah-boo," "Sarah-dee," or "Saree." It's also a suffix generally used for girls,

so if you were calling a masc person "chan" in a mocking way, it would be like calling a dude named "Harry" "Harriet" or "Chad" "Princess."

"san" is so generic it's one of those suffixes you can honestly just drop. It's like keigo (polite speech.) Should I add "desu" to the end of all my translated sentences if they're in keigo to show that they're in keigo? Hell, no! If we want to be polite in English,

we use more formal-sounding words, we do not use contractions or slang, etc. But honestly, san isn't even that polite. SOMETIMES Mr. Ms., Mrs., Mx., whatever, will work, but usually, it's best to just leave it out.

"senpai" as a suffix is similar to san. It's like using keigo to show that you're younger (or of lower status) than someone. We indicate this in English with our word choices, etc.

Though, depending on context, senpai can be translated as "Sr." (senior) or even Mr./Ms./Mx./etc.

If you're using "senpai" to describe someone (as in, "my senpai over there") English equivalents are: upperclassman, senior, mentor, superior, etc.

If you're calling someone "senpai" on its own, the person's name will suffice. In some stories, I might leave "senpai" as is.

I'll pause here to note that all of my opinions are moot when it comes to commercial translations because ultimately, we have style guides to follow that are given to us by our clients.

If my client wants me to translate it as "senpai," I leave it as senpai. If they want me to localize it, I localize it.

Sometimes the Japanese developers/writers are the ones who ask me to localize these terms! They are most certainly not racist or post-colonialist.

"sama" can change greatly, depending on context.

On letters/invitations/place cards, it's really more like Mr./Ms.

If a classmate is called that in an anime, it's like implying they're royalty to you. Like how I call Contrapoints "QUEEN" or Oliver Thorn "Prince Olly."

If "sama is a suffix for actual royalty, the corresponding titles of "prince," "lord," "sir," "duke," "queen," etc. apply.

If you add "sama" as a suffix to watashi/atashi/ore, etc., then it's like "yours truly" or "ya boi" or "your girl," or "this bitch." A cocky version of "me"

"kun" as a suffix for young boys has a softening effect and can be similar to "chan."

Depending on context, it can be Mr. (like how I call my boy cat "Mr. Flufflebottom" sometimes), boy ("Oh, Danny-boy"), dear, sweetie, etc.

Can also be used for work colleagues, so Mr./Ms./Mx.

Leaving these suffixes as is in Japanese sometimes does work, depending on the context of the scene &the overall tone/theme of the story.

While I default to localizing them into their English equivalents, sometimes I'll leave them if it makes sense and if my client is ok with it

But usually, insisting these suffixes are special and can't be translated is a bit Orientalist and insulting to professional translators.

I read/listen to reviews of my translated work and 99% of the time a line is praised for "good writing" it's bc I localized that line well.

A lot of the hangups over kun, chan, san, sama, senpai, etc. comes from older anime translations that were, frankly, not as good as the translations are today.

I used to be one of those bad translators! I learned and grew, and hopefully the fans can learn and grow , too.

Anyway, brb, gotta go translate a game and omit the senpais bc the story doesn't take place in Japan and my client asked me to remove them anyway.

Ok, one more point: in anime (etc.) honorifics are also a way of showing which character is talking and what their personality is like. (If char-A always uses the "kun" suffix w/ protag, if she's calling his name offscreen, we know it's char-A.) It's not even how JP ppl talk irl.