How to translate a Japanese game to English (beginner’s guide)

Want to play a Japanese game in your own language? RuneTranslate is a Windows app that reads the text out of a game, translates it with the provider you choose, and writes a playable build back out. It auto-detects 18 engines— RPG Maker, Wolf RPG, Ren'Py, Kirikiri, Unity, Unreal, Godot, TyranoBuilder and more — so you don't need to know how the game was made. Here's the whole flow, start to finish.

What you need

• RuneTranslate for Windows.
• The Japanese game's folder (the one with the game's .exe).
• A translation provider. Free Google Translate and free unofficial DeepLneed no key; DeepL's API, OpenAI, Anthropic and DeepSeek are bring-your-own-key. See the provider comparison.

Step 1: Install and sign in

Install RuneTranslate and sign in with Patreon — it's a free account and the app opens straight after. Free means signed in with no active pledge, and free unlocks every engine and every provider; a paid pledge only speeds translation up and adds a few power features (more on that below).

Step 2: Create a project

Click New projectand point RuneTranslate at the game folder. It detects the engine automatically, shows you what it found, and pulls every translatable string into the project — dialogue, menus, item and skill names — grouped so it's easy to work through. Your original game is never modified; RuneTranslate works in its own workspace.

Set your source language (Japanese by default) and one or more targets. Pick several targets and RuneTranslate creates one project per language.

Step 3: Pick a provider

Choose how the text gets translated. Free Google Translate is fine for menus and item names; an LLM like DeepSeek, OpenAI or Anthropic Claude reads context and handles dialogue and stylized speech far better. You can also run a local model (Ollama / LM Studio) fully on-device for privacy. All nine providers work on every tier.

Step 4: Translate

Hit Translate. RuneTranslate batches the lines, masks the engine's control codes so they survive the round-trip, retries anything that fails, and caches results in a translation memory so repeats are instant. A live progress bar shows how far along you are. You can edit any line by hand at any point — the editor stays open.

Step 5: Refine (optional)

For dialogue-heavy games, run the AI refiner— an optional second pass that re-reads each translated line next to the original Japanese and its surrounding lines, then rewrites it to fix mistranslations and stiff phrasing. It's free on your own API key or local model. Want names and terms locked across the whole game? Add a glossary.

Step 6: Export a playable build

Click Exportand choose an output folder. RuneTranslate writes the translation back the way each engine expects — a patched copy of the game, a loose-file override, or an override patch archive — so you can run the result straight away. Launch it and you're playing in your language.

Free vs paid

RuneTranslate is a speed throttle, not a paywall. Free users get every engine, every provider, the full editor and the AI refiner — translation just runs slower (roughly 2× on AI providers, less on the free scrapers). Supporter ($3/mo) removes the throttle and adds translation memory, provider routing and glossary; Pro ($5/mo) and Developer ($20/mo) add power features on top. Download RuneTranslate and translate your first game.