Because kaku-kaku is an onomatopoeia, it’s prone to translation loss. English doesn’t have an identical system for matching “motion quality” with a repeated sound word. So translators often choose the closest explanation, which can shift slightly from one context to another.
That’s the main drawback: literal translation can mislead. If you treat kaku-kaku like it always means one fixed English term, you’ll run into cases where the motion is more “stiff” than “jerky,” or more “clunky” than “laggy.”
The best practice is to translate based on what’s happening in the sentence: motion type, timing, and whether the scene implies a mechanical or software issue.
