Not sure what you are basing this on, but as someone working in the industry I disagree. Sure, some companies pay low rates, but there's equally many, or more, who pay pretty good. Some pay very good. You obviously can't get too much information about specific rates as an outsider due to NDAs and such, so whatever information you have to go on is probably just from specific cases of drama etc in the community, which can hardly be used as the actual industry standard.
It's absolutely possible to make a good living working in the VN loc scene. Many people do. Just know your own worth and have the guts to say no if you get offered a terrible rate.
Uh, once again I must disagree. In fact, most of the big names in the translation industry right now came from fan translation, and did so thanks to loc companies offering very nice deals bringing them onboard. I myself got started with a fan translation, and I know many others who did too, none of which were "screwed" by loc companies. Tbh, if you are good at what you do and you have a partial translation for a game, contact a loc company, chances are you will "get lucky." It's... not as hard as people seem to think. Very little screwing involved / 10.