Is there an offline program that's like Google Translate?

[edmonddantes]

So here's my situation.

I know minimal Japanese.  There are some text-heavy games I find interesting.

Unlike the entire rest of the world I'm actually not in a position where I can get on the interwebs just whenever I want tho (if you've read any thread I've been in you'll have noticed days where I say nothing--because I literally can't get on).

So I was thinking, if there was some offline program that was like Google Translate, where I could enter the text (I know how to TYPE Japanese at least) and get a translation that I can muddle through, it might help me appreciate games I might otherwise simply not be able to play.

Is such program in existence?

Thanks advance in.

[moran]

www.barnesandnoble.com/p/merriam-websters-japanese-english-dictionary-merriam-webster-inc/1019230133/2680106584260?st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Core+Catch-All,+Low_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP79700&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpJHboNbY2QIVHS0ZCh0IOQ3oEAkYASABEgLjY_D_BwE

or

windowsreport.com/offline-translation-software-pc/

[edmonddantes]

I'll look at those, but a lot of them seem to be just dictionaries, and I was thinking more about something where I can insert an entire block of text and get a translation.

Before you go thinking I'm just lazy and looking for a magic translator (I am, but only in that weird slime cave a few feet from my house, not the internet) the thing is, when I'm using a dictionary and going a word at a time, I get to a part where I have to discern verb tenses, dialect changes, whether or not a word is a particle, and in general language that ain't exactly business school Japanese. Google Translate, at least, will give me an entire statement of what it thinks a part says... even if its brokenly translated, its still helpful in some cases.

Just for example, this image:

www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fr.mprd.se%2Fmedia%2Fimages%2F35114-Rockman_X_%28Japan%29_%28Rev_A%29-3.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.emuparadise.me%2FSuper_Nintendo_Entertainment_System_%28SNES%29_ROMs%2FRockman_X_%28Japan%29_%28Rev_A%29%2F35114&docid=eHH-LrX7j9a9cM&tbnid=joqS_2IXQAk_aM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjk9NX269rZAhUC1GMKHVTTCE0QMwiFASg8MDw..i&w=505&h=467&bih=640&biw=1366&q=Rockman%20X%20japanese&ved=0ahUKEwjk9NX269rZAhUC1GMKHVTTCE0QMwiFASg8MDw&iact=mrc&uact=8

I can interpret the "Ekkusu" since I know Mega Man X, but using a dictionary immediately brought up confusion with the next word, "yanari" (Typed as is, I got "the rattling of a house" and removing the "ri" got me a bunch of things). Immediately I'm lost (EDIT:  Well, offline I don't usually give up this easily, but this demonstrates the problem with "look up a word at a time" method).

Google Translate let me enter the entire string (I ommitted the "Ekkusu" part) in English letters, recommended a kanji rendering, then gave me a possible translation--its choice was "did you come home?"

If I had never played the game before I would've been able to infer from there (and from the fact that this is the beginning of a dialogue) that he's saying something more akin to "so you've come home" or "so you've come," (the latter being what the official SNES translation goes with).

That's something akin to what I'm looking for.

I'll be surprised if there's not actually a program like this, as I'm sure G Translate is just referring to a dictionary which I could see easily being something you could just download and install on your comp. Apparently GT itself can be used offline, but only if you use an android app... and I don't have an android -__- (Gah, everything seems to require either an android or a smartphone these days...)

[Purple Moss]

So I checked and yes, Google Translate can only be used offline in the mobile app. You could always use an Android emulator for PC, like BlueStacks. I guess it should run fine even if you don't have a powerful PC, as you would only be using a simple app.

Which games are you trying to play? And how much Japanese do you know? What if the game has kanji and not just kana? If you're going to attempt this, it might help to take some kind of crash course on Japanese grammar, or skim over a grammar book (like this one), or I'm afraid it will prove too difficult -- but if you're up for it, good luck!

Also check again, because in the image you linked, Dr. Light says やはり (yahari), akin to "as expected" [edit: sorry, I was confused with another term] (so the sentence could be "X, as expected, you came...").

[edmonddantes]

Ooh, you're right. Not sure how I read "ha" as "na."

I can read kana and some kanji are familiar to me (I usually recognize namae, machi, and ishi on sight... usually). For awhile I was using programs and things like vocabulearn (an audio vocabulary-building course).

Mostly I'm looking at some 16-bit JRPGs or even some 8-Bit ones. I'm thinking I might go thru the NES Dragon Quest games in Japanese since I know them in English (part of what happens is I get eager to get on with the game, which hopefully won't happen with a game I've already played). The other day I found a SNES JRPG called something like Daikaiju Densetsu (no, its NOT a Godzilla game) which begins with the world being destroyed but then a village of monsters find a meteor fragment? It just seemed interesting. Which actually, a lot of these JRPGs do and I'm surprised people haven't fan-translated some of these already.

But I'm thinking of starting with easier stuff first, like maybe stuff that just has kana. Or even manga since I have a few import volumes of various series. Its just like I said the "look up a word at a time" thing always gets tedious and disenheartening.

[Purple Moss]

Had any luck with Bluestacks, or did you find another program?

Yeah, even now there are many great (or simply curious) Japanese games hidden behind the language barrier. A shame, really. Are you interested in learning the language? I think that if you focused only on reading (building up grammar and vocabulary) and in Kanji recognition (just what you need for a game, honestly), you could get some good results to start with in 6 months (depending not only on the game but also on your experience with languages and Japanese). I've been learning Japanese this year, I might make a post about what I've been doing on that old JP thread.

[edmonddantes]

I wound up getting sidetracked due to offline issues, though I'm still trying out different programs.

I've made efforts at learning Japanese, but in my area there's not much incentive since I tend to have to order J-language materials off the internet (I almost never find them locally) and in some cases its hard to even hear about things that aren't already in English somehow.

That said, the games I mentioned in the Weird Japan-only RPGs topic and my desire to explore Go-based games on consoles has gotten me interested again. The main thing is just that when you're playing a game you don't want to spend half an hour at each textbox looking up each word.

I did once find this neat audio course called Vocabulearn, and I actually still remember a lot of words from that. I need to pick that up again.