Toby Walters
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tobytranslates.bsky.social
Toby Walters
@tobytranslates.bsky.social
Translator for Square Enix Europe. Exhausted father to 4 humans and 1 dog. Opinions and idiocy are my own.
Just wanted to say thank you to everybody who responded to my "cry for help" post. It's been a busy day of meetings at work so I've not been able to digest all the information yet, but I just wanted to acknowledge the response and say thank you. 🙏
November 13, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Translators of Bluesky, this is a cry for help: I'm a J-E translator who's considering setting up as a freelancer. Where do I even begin? What should my rates be? Are there any good resources for people in my position? Any input at all would be helpful. Thank you!
November 12, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Unfortunately, my job is at risk of redundancy too, along with the rest of my team.
Square Enix announces more layoffs as part of US and Europe restructuring - “Nearly all areas” of Square Enix’s Western business affected by latest cuts, it tells staff www.videogameschronicle.com/news/square-...
November 9, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Who's picking up this beauty today?
October 30, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Reposted by Toby Walters
Tokyo friends, this is happening on Saturday - please come and join us!

#translation #literarytranslation #booksky

peatix.com/event/4568298
Parallel Words: Celebrating the Translation Boom!
Event Description Over the past few years, the English-language publishing market has witn...
peatix.com
October 15, 2025 at 6:12 AM
I was interpreting on a call this morning and I misunderstood a Japanese phrase meaning "please choose who goes next after you've introduced yourself" as "please wave your hand as you introduce yourself", so that all the Japanese managers waved very sweetly as they introduced themselves.
October 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
I've updated my desk setup! Before and after.
June 20, 2025 at 10:12 AM
I've discovered a new benchmark for testing the limits of AI assistants that I call "the Japanese joke test".

Copilot did not pass the test.
June 18, 2025 at 9:20 PM
My life is an adventure. I just bought a new desk.
June 17, 2025 at 9:05 PM
If you work from home and find that your feet get chilly around the house, I can recommend keeping one of these under your desk.
June 17, 2025 at 1:46 PM
I spent most of my year abroad in Japan listening to:
- Tool
- Steve Vai
- 80s King Crimson

So hearing Steve Vai and Danny Carey play 80s King Crimson with Adrian Belew and Tony Levin is making me feel all sorts of things. youtu.be/WSJxtZwJcd4?...
BEAT: Andrew Belew , Tony Levin, Steve Vai , Danny Carey / - Play King Crimson. full LIVE!
YouTube video by MOSHpitRecordsXRD
youtu.be
June 17, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Gex has joined the Amano-verse!
June 12, 2025 at 11:35 AM
When you're trying to eat healthily but your wife comes home from Costco with a massive tray of chocolate hazelnut mini beignets.
June 11, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Watching BBC archive footage from the 90s has quickly become one of my go-to coffee break activities.
June 10, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Ben Starr really can do no wrong.
June 10, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Happy Switch 2 day, everybody! What are you playing?
June 5, 2025 at 5:22 AM
Babe, the new Igorrr just dropped. youtu.be/PYRdJo3cG2Q?...
IGORRR - BLASTBEAT FALAFEL
YouTube video by Igorrr
youtu.be
May 21, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Today, in the category of silly little things that bring me an unreasonable amount of joy: Discovering that Nintendo has added the Pokémon Sword and Shield soundtrack to the Nintendo Music app.
May 20, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Today's big learning point was: don't eat a load of Reese's Pieces with your lunch if you've got an important meeting in the afternoon. My body was not ready for the ensuing sugar crash.
May 16, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Today's PSA is that if you notice a fishy smell in your home with no obvious source, chances are it's an electrical appliance overheating, as I learnt the hard way. Thank God my house didn't burn down.

Also, don't buy a Beko dishwasher.
May 15, 2025 at 3:49 PM
I also got to see the chocobo Steam Deck in person today!
April 29, 2025 at 8:48 AM
I sometimes worry that this office doesn't have enough cool swords in it.
April 29, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Today I learnt that Sleep Token is in the UK charts after one of their songs randomly came on (and totally killed the vibe) at my friend's kid's birthday party.

I'm happy about this, but seriously, how did this happen!?
April 13, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Now that my bass is back in working order, the first piece that I'm committing to learning is Feels So Good by Chuck Mangione, because it really does "feel so good" to play!
April 13, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Today I'm working in the garden until my laptop overheats.
April 8, 2025 at 9:33 AM