Like manga, I hate it when they, for example, transliterate さん as -san, when there is an “equivalent” word for it, like Mr. but would it carry the same connotation as the source material? I cringe when I buy translated versions of Japanese literature due to this (which is why I stick to the source material), it just… does not sit well, I mean instead of writing -sensei, -senpai, or -sama there are “equivalents” in English for those but the catch is that would it work well upon translation?
I agree. I come from a country with a language that uses plural when speaking formally and many small language quirks that can’t be translated exactly, and I would find it silly if the translators just kept them as is in the book. I would also find it silly if they translated our polite plural as is in English.
I think that you can show the position of people by using similar words like sir,Mr,Ms, teacher, etc, and also by tone. However, this is a hard task, and you need to be skilled in translation to both keep the original prose and show whether someone uses an honorific that means they respect someone or not. I don’t think honorific are useful or make sense if you can’t understand them, basically.