夜雨聆风'Translation increasingly emerged not as a technical step, but a form of cultural stewardship.'
“翻译越来越不再只是一个技术环节，而逐渐成为一种文化守护的工作。”
January 9, 2026
This week, there were two stories featuring artificial intelligence (AI) and the work of translators that illustrate how the technology is changing the publishing ecosystem, perhaps both negatively and positively.
本周，有两则关于人工智能（AI）与译者工作的新闻，引发了出版行业的广泛关注。它们从不同角度展现了AI正在如何重塑出版生态，这种变化，既可能带来冲击，也可能孕育新的机会。
As Talita Facchini noted in her year-end piece, "Amid rapid technological change, 2025 also brought renewed attention to one of publishing's most essential — and often under-supported — communities: translators."
正如Talita Facchini在其年终文章中所写：“在技术迅猛变革的背景下，2025年也让人们重新关注到出版业中最重要、却长期缺乏足够支持的群体之一：译者。”
"Debates around AI, language dominance, and geopolitical polarization raised fundamental questions about whose stories travel, who enables that movement, and under what conditions. Translation increasingly emerged not as a technical step, but as a form of cultural stewardship, trust-building, and long-term international exchange."
“围绕AI、语言主导权以及地缘政治极化的争论，引发了一系列根本性的追问：究竟哪些故事能够跨越国界传播？是谁在推动这种流动？又是在怎样的条件下实现的？翻译越来越不再只是一个技术性步骤，而被视为一种文化守护、信任构建与长期国际交流的实践。”
The first is a story which many media outlets* covered earlier this week prompted by a letter sent by the ATLF (French Association of Literary Translators) and the Collective "In Flesh and Bone: For Human Translation" noting that Harlequin/HarperCollins France has hired Fluent Planet, a communications company which specializes in translation, that will be using machine translation software for their books. According to the letter, the "stated objective is to increase profitability by reducing working time."
第一则新闻本周早些时候被多家媒体报道。事件起因于法国文学翻译协会（ATLF）与“血肉之躯：捍卫人工翻译”联合组织发布的一封公开信。信中指出，Harlequin/HarperCollins法国分部已聘请专门从事翻译业务的传播公司Fluent Planet，并计划在图书出版中采用机器翻译技术。据公开信透露，此举“明确目标是通过缩短工作时间来提高盈利能力”。
"These practices are a betrayal of book workers, but also a betrayal of readers. They completely devalue the translation industry, showing contempt for both translators and readers," the letter notes.
公开信写道：“这些做法不仅背叛了图书从业者，也背叛了读者。它彻底贬低了翻译行业的价值，表现出对译者与读者的双重轻视。”
"They set in motion a downward spiral of publishing quality, driven by a harmful 'good enough' mentality that robs book workers of their expertise and creativity, and deprives readers of access to vibrant and humane literature."
“这种做法正在推动出版质量陷入恶性的螺旋下行。其背后是一种危险的‘差不多就行’心态，它剥夺了图书工作者的专业能力与创造力，也让读者失去了接触鲜活而富有人性文学作品的机会。”
The letter goes on to note that this decision comes with immediate implementation, so translators, many of whom have had decades-long contracts for this work, are suddenly left without an income or ability to claim unemployment benefits. This decision could cause great impact not only on the quality of the books being published, but also on an entire community of publishing professionals who rely on this work.
信中还指出，这项决定将立即实施。许多与出版社合作长达数十年的译者，几乎在一夜之间失去了收入来源，甚至无法申请失业救济。这项决定不仅可能对出版作品的质量造成严重影响，也将重创整个依赖翻译工作的出版从业群体。
Alternately, the other story this week that may draw some raised eyebrows is the use of AI translation to battle another challenge in the industry—piracy. This piece on Nikkai Asia, highlights the growing problem of piracy in manga and what Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs is doing to prevent it.
而本周另一则同样引发关注的新闻，则展现了AI翻译在出版行业中的另一种用途——打击盗版。日经亚洲的一篇报道聚焦日本漫画盗版问题的不断恶化，以及日本文化厅为应对这一现象所采取的措施。
Authorized Books of Japan (ABJ), a publishers' association that works to protect copyright and fight piracy, released a report noting that they identified 900 piracy sites featuring Japanese publications which received 2.8 billion visits from 123 countries and regions in June 2025 alone. These pirated copies of popular manga titles are costing publishers $55 billion a year.
致力于版权保护与反盗版工作的日本正版图书协会（ABJ）发布报告称，仅在2025年6月，他们就发现了900个传播日本出版物的盗版网站。这些网站来自123个国家和地区的访问量累计高达28亿次。热门漫画作品的盗版行为，每年给出版商造成约550亿美元的损失。
What prompts this piracy does not appear to be purely because fans do not want to pay for the work, it is that manga translation has not kept up with demand from this eager and engaged audience.
而推动盗版泛滥的原因，似乎并不只是读者不愿付费，更重要的是：漫画翻译的速度，早已跟不上全球读者日益旺盛的需求。
To combat this problem, the Agency for Cultural Affairs has created a program that will use AI to help with the translation – not only will they teach specialized translation techniques and how to leverage AI for translation, they are supporting the creation of AI tools for translating manga. They are working with universities, vocational schools and industry groups to develop this program.
为应对这一问题，日本文化厅推出了一项AI辅助翻译计划。该计划不仅教授专业翻译技巧，以及如何利用AI提升翻译效率，还将支持专门用于漫画翻译的AI工具研发。目前，日本文化厅正联合大学、职业院校与行业组织共同推进这一项目。
Mantra, a startup at the University of Tokyo which is supported by publishers Shueisha and Shogakukan, offers a tool that can translate entire works, including characters' speech style and story setting. According to the story, "Mantra supports 18 languages and can cut translation times in half compared with conventional methods. It is already translating 200,000 pages per month."
由东京大学孵化、并获得集英社与小学馆支持的初创公司Mantra，已经开发出能够整部翻译漫画作品的工具，包括角色说话风格与故事背景设定的处理。报道称：“Mantra支持18种语言，与传统翻译方式相比，可将翻译时间缩短一半，目前每月翻译量已达到20万页。”
Both with the Fluent Planet and Mantra, human intervention is required to check the accuracy, tone, and fluency of the AI translation.
不过，无论是Fluent Planet还是Mantra，AI生成的译文最终仍需要人工审核，以确保内容的准确性、语言风格与表达流畅度。
These two situations are not unique. More publishing companies are turning to AI not only for translation but also audio production, writing, and more creative work. As the industry continues testing ways to implement this technology, many roles that currently exist in the industry will grow, change, and, perhaps, decline.
事实上，这两种情况都并非孤例。越来越多的出版公司正在将AI引入翻译之外的更多领域，包括有声书制作、写作以及其他创意性工作。随着行业不断探索AI的应用边界，出版业中的许多岗位都将面临扩张、转型，甚至衰退。
What both of these stories highlight is that there must be consideration of the reader. Quality should not be sacrificed and, as Facchini notes, the industry must consider the role of translators in "cultural stewardship, trust-building, and long-term international exchange."
而这两则新闻共同揭示出的核心问题在于：出版行业无论如何拥抱AI，都不能忽视读者的体验。质量不应被牺牲。正如Facchini所强调的，整个行业必须重新认识译者在“文化守护、信任构建与长期国际交流”中的关键角色。
