(December 20, 2025; Updated December 27, 2025)Disclaimer Regarding Content Intended for Japanese-to-English Translators

by William Lise

Although some content on this website—both legacy and new content—is directed at translators, this should in no way be taken as an indication that translation is a promising career; it most certainly is not. Please bear in mind the following points.

While there is potential value in learning a foreign language such as Japanese, the author does not encourage readers to learn a foreign language for the purpose of becoming a translator. The function of translation is quickly and successfully being taken from human professionals by entities using AI to replace them.
Given this situation, although a small number of human professionals will survive for some time, just being an excellent translator is insufficient to survive, and very few freelancers bring to the task of survival what is required, which is the ability to acquire clients that are not yet using AI to replace humans. This is reasonably attributed to the longstanding two-tier structure of freelance translation, in which translators don't have access to and most are not capable of selling to the client demographic they need to survive for at least a while, which is made up of entities not in the translation business themselves.
The sometimes-heard notion from "AI toolists" that translators can survive by using AI themselves as a tool is not informed by the reality that—even if they use AI themselves—translators will still need to acquire non-AI using clients, meaning they will need to network, sell and have a presence in real life (not just online), in ways they have enjoyed not having to do by selling services to the agencies that are quickly replacing them.
The idea that translators can survive by taking on the task of post-editing AI-generated translations is equally flawed; such work offers only a fraction of the overall earning potential that was possible for professional translators before the appearance of AI.
The comforting predications of schadenfreude-inducing disasters such as brand destruction, deaths, and litigation caused by AI translation errors are not supported by evidence; all we hear are hopeful predictions and an occasional unverified and unverifiable anecdote.