Thread by @alchimique

I hope more overseas fans can reconsider how they interact with official Japanese media twitter accounts. The team on the other end of that account isn't paid enough to deal with salty comments written in different languages that come across as very mean or threatening.

You know how Google translate spits out really weird English when you plug Japanese into it? It also spits out weird English -> Japanese. And Japanese language doesn't do sarcasm or irony well at all to begin with.

Also please be careful even if your message is GOOD!

Something like "WOW THIS IS GARBAGE, BESTIE 💕" or "THANKS I HATE IT SO MUCH IM SCREAMING!!!!" is also very confusing when translated directly.

Simple is best! Tell them "I love it!" or "wonderful", etc. Same w/ fanartists.

Interacting w/ accounts that aren't in your language:

❌ Slang and Abbreviations (especially very recent)
❌ Irony / Sarcasm
❌ Rudeness (Genuine or playful)

✅ Simple straightforward message in your language ("Beautful!" "I love it!")
✅ Emojis to reenforce your good feeling🥰

I personally often default to "Thank you for your hard work!" especially for industry people I follow as well.

Simple really is best if you don't know the other language. Assume that Google Translate does not have your best interests in mind; it makes a lot of mistakes.

I know it sounds like simplifying your message simplifies your feelings, but trust me, they will understand your feelings better if it is 100% clear.

More positive and simple interactions means that these accounts will continue to interact with overseas fans! Keep the good mood!

Nothing is stopping these accounts from disengaging if they feel like it's not worth catering to overseas fans.

Lets show them we're worth engaging through our good interactions. :)

Right, I forgot:
Please don't tell non-English accounts STFU/SHUT UP if their work makes you speechless & want to keysmash with glee/rage.

When in doubt, imagine if you suddenly got foreign messages that directly translates into something rude and mean and then don't do that.

"DELETE THIS" also sounds very rude and hurtful for the same reason. I honestly and personally wouldn't use this beyond your own friends who understand your intentions even if they know English.

There's other things too but those are the main ones I often see.

TL;DR Messages that are rude (genuine or playful) don't translate well. It might be fun for the sender but it's not fun for the receiver.

At best, it's annoying. At worst, it's extremely hurtful. You don't know how much the other person knows. Default to simple until you know.

This informative rant is brought to you by my wish to not see people posting pictures of guns along with threatening messages on official anime twitter accounts. Please save that for your own account if you must express it and don't ruin the experience for other overseas fans. 😣

I don't care how much you hate something or if you're trying to make a cute joke. Don't give these accounts reasons to not consider their overseas fans in the future.

It's happened before, it can happen again & it will make everyone sad. It's very easy to avoid. Thanks! /end

Adding to the list of things❌not to do❌
Never 100% trust the "translate tweet" feature especially for non-European languages.

It's often inaccurate & sometimes even the EXACT OPPOSITE meaning of the original text. Cross reference with trusted sources.

https://twitter.com/GrandMoffJoseph/status/1388263494902894594?s=20

Thanks for listening! I'm running a charity fanzine benefiting the Skatepark Project and the Trevor Project. We're looking for interested contributors through May 23rd! Check it out if you'd like.

Otherwise just be kind to one another & yourself.😚

❤️adamdirtzine.carrd.co❤️

This tweet got a lot more attention than I anticipated. I'm trying hard to keep up but I appreciate everyone weighing in with their own experiences and additional advice! Sorry if I missed your comments. I might have to mute this later on but I'm glad it was useful in some way.

Since people've brought it up, I want to clarify:
I didn't mean that "Japanese language lacks sarcasm/irony" here. I meant that foreign (ie: English) sarcasm/irony does not translate 1:1 across very well especially through machine translation.

https://twitter.com/alchimique/status/1388196959014424577?s=20