The Family BASIC manual translation project

[satoshi_matrix]

For those who don't know, the Famicom Family BASIC keyboard originally came with a massive, full-color manuel which details every nook and cranny of the software. Now that Scorp.ius has expressed interest in a possible translation I've realized that I took have interested in a translation for a while now.

I felt it might be time to see if there's intrist here to get this project off the ground. I have a copy of the manuel in resonablly good condition and am looking for someone who can image edit scans of each page into readable, followable English. The pages and font are large so editing should be a concern. The manuel makes use of all forms of Japanese script as well as a few english words. Prospective translators should be well versed in reading and reguritating the Japanese into English. Though not required, a working knowledge of how BASIC functions could be useful as many pages have what looks like BASIC lessons written in Japanese.

I'm very excited for a prospect of seeing an English translation so I can finally figure out how to use the Family BASIC, but before I get ahead of myself, I just want to ensure there IS intrist in this. Without you, there can be no project. The manuel comes in at 113 pages, making this is pretty massive undertaking. If you guys are with me and someone (or a group) is willing to hammer out English versions of each page, then I'll get scanning right away.

[Scorp.ius]

ha! great thread     

i have posted this project in a german board and there someone said it could be possible to scan the manual and use some OCR software that converts the grafik into text. and then to use a babelfish software to translate the japanese into english

it would be very buggy translation of course - but something to start with perhaps

[UglyJoe]

and then to use a babelfish software to translate the japanese into english

No no no

I would really urge against doing that.  Babelfish is really, really bad when it comes to large portions of text.

[manuel]

How about some test scans of several pages to see how difficult it is or how much text there is?

[Scorp.ius]

i dont think that those OCRs result in a perfect translation but perhaps it is good enough to do a "translation" of the translation

here is such a software, that is able to read japanese: click

[UglyJoe]

It's also $199 

I don't think OCR would be necessary.  If someone is willing to translate this thing, then they probably know enough Japanese to know how to use a dictionary to look up any kanji they don't recognize.

[Scorp.ius]

yes this would be better

[satoshi_matrix]

that's a good idea manuel. I'll post a few test pages to see what you (or anyone else) can make of it.

[Scorp.ius]

i make a promise:

if someone translates it into english i will translate it to german   

[UglyJoe]

Just a thought:

It wouldn't really be necessary to translate the whole manual.  BASIC languages are all pretty similar.  Most of the book will probably be teaching you how to use simple BASIC commands (sort of like a crash-course in programming).  There are plenty of guides like that out there already.  There's no real need to translate those parts of the manual.

The important parts to translate would involve how to setup/use the hardware (saving/loading and all that) and how to use the few commands that are specific to Family BASIC (such as the commands for displaying and animating a sprite).

[Doc]

Just a thought:

It wouldn't really be necessary to translate the whole manual.  BASIC languages are all pretty similar.  Most of the book will probably be teaching you how to use simple BASIC commands (sort of like a crash-course in programming).  There are plenty of guides like that out there already.  There's no real need to translate those parts of the manual.

The important parts to translate would involve how to setup/use the hardware (saving/loading and all that) and how to use the few commands that are specific to Family BASIC (such as the commands for displaying and animating a sprite).

100% correct. From what I could tell on my manual, most of the stuff is basic programming stuff that works the same no matter what language it is.

[Scorp.ius]

ok, i think it will be good to have a 100% scanned manual that is translated in parts.

how much of the manual describes the usage of the program, sprite maker and such?

[kite200]

something as big as that is generally never done for free.

plus it's not like the information in this manual is not obtainable in english.

get a basic for dummies guide or something

[satoshi_matrix]

I too would much prefer to have the entire guide translated. I picked up a BASIC guide but its confusing and I dont see a lot of it applying to the Family BASIC.

[UglyJoe]

I too would much prefer to have the entire guide translated. I picked up a BASIC guide but its confusing and I dont see a lot of it applying to the Family BASIC.

I would recommend getting a version of BASIC for your PC (QBasic is what I learned) and then follow a tutorial for that version of BASIC.  Once you've learned that one, you'll understand what FamicomJL and myself are talking about.