MSX-C User Manual - Eng

Rookie (21)

20-12-2022, 03:28

Hello,

I started a side project awhile ago for translating and editing the MSX-C Manual from Japanese to English. As you will read in the book preface, I don't speak Japanese, so the translating process was tedious and far from perfect. Please feel free to correct/edit and re-share as needed.

I have the book uploaded to my blog here:
https://blog.agdn-online.com/hbahnassi/file.axd?file=/MSX-C.docx

I hope someone finds it useful :)

Best!

By eimaster

Champion (282)

20-12-2022, 12:42

There are lots of Japanese MSX lovers who are good in English. Why there is no one of them translate important Japanese books and/or magazines' articles into English? I don't know the reason! Maybe they feel that MSX is a Japanese national secret or a valuable Japanese tradition which should not be shared with non-Japanese people!

By Pencioner

Scribe (1564)

20-12-2022, 12:58

@eimaster That's a childish statement. I wonder how many Arabic books did you translate to English? Maybe the reason they don't do so is just that they can read Japanese so the books are just OK for them as-is and they do not want to invest their own time end effort for translation and rather would spend it to something more interesting? Maybe if you offer enough money for the job some native Japanese speaker would translate a book for you?

By ray2day

Paladin (743)

20-12-2022, 13:13

Nice work! @homamo

By gdx

Enlighted (6213)

20-12-2022, 14:25

Exactly Pencioner, in general, people translate documents from another language to his own.

By eimaster

Champion (282)

20-12-2022, 15:57

Pencioner wrote:

I would if there are Arabic MSX books worthy of translation, but unfortunately, Arabic computer books in general and MSX once are very very basic. And if there is any good book you'll find that it is actually an Arabic translation of a book written originally in English or other western language. That's why I'm eager to find translations of non-Arabic msx/computer books. And that's why there are very few Arabs - if not no one-who are experts in computer in general and in MSX in special.
You may see my post as a humiliation to the Japanese or to other non-Arabic MSX users around the world, I am very sorry but to put yourself in my shoes and feel the frustration I feel about not getting much knowledge about MSX since my teenage till now because of lack of good Arabic books and magazines in the Arab world. Yes now I understand English and could teach myself from English books found here an there nowadays but the brain ability and capacity to learn of a 50 years old man is definitely is not that of a 15-16 years old boy. I'm very sad and enraged to know how much knowledge I missed till today. I could've been an MSX expert just like most of you friends.
Sorry again if I was hard on you.

By edmsxtrek

Supporter (10)

20-12-2022, 16:56

It's a great job homamo. Thanks a lot

By Pokun

Expert (72)

20-12-2022, 16:57

Like Pencioner said translating is hard work, especially between languages like English and Japanese which are not related, so expecting to see a ton of fantranslations of MSX documents is unrealistic and could be considered looking down on other people's time.
I sometimes do Japanese->English translations using up some of my free time purely out of passion for the subject, but there are a lot of things that needs a translation out there and not so much free time to spare.

Good job on the translation BTW.

By homamo

Rookie (21)

20-12-2022, 19:53

Thanks all for the great feedback

I don't think the statement about the lack of worthy Arabic books (for MSX or programming in general) is very accurate. I was lucky to came across many original Arabic books when I was young that I learnt from them and owe them a lot of my current career as a professional game developer. IMO, such books are worth translating from Arabic to other languages including English.

However I think one of the main issues with vintage Arabic books is there rarity. They weren't very popular at their days, so they were already rare. And now they are collected by few guys who don't believe in sharing knowledge or archiving such important content.

By Pencioner

Scribe (1564)

20-12-2022, 21:05

eimaster wrote:

You may see my post as a humiliation to the Japanese or to other non-Arabic MSX users around the world, I am very sorry but to put yourself in my shoes and feel the frustration I feel about not getting much knowledge about MSX since my teenage till now because of lack of good Arabic books and magazines in the Arab world.

What humiliation? I only meant that claiming "guy didn't spend time for me means that they are keeping stuff in secret" etc is just childish. There are other simple reasons for this. I hope you understand and stop distorting quite clear and straightforward meaning of my words. Thank you very much, my friend

@homamo: Thank you very much! I was going to try MSX-C so this is valuable asset!

By wbahnassi

Master (192)

21-12-2022, 01:28

My memory for Arabic MSX books is that many were already bilingual.. like the official booklets that came with the machines. They always had Arabic & English (sometimes even French). I also agree with Homam, most Arabic MSX books and ROMs which have survived till today are hostages to people who prefer to keep them away from scanning/dumping for reasons I personally don't appreciate.

Regarding Jap->English translation.. Automatic Google Translate is a starting point, but then you need a full human pass to correct and make things make sense.. Programming books are full of terms, once you figure out how that term got translated, it becomes easy. It is time consuming, but better than nothing if one has the time.. it can even be kinda funny as you humor yourself with how Google translated certain terms

Anyways, I think this one deserves to be added to MRC Wiki's books section, don't you think?

Great work Homam!