[2Black2Strong]

I'm strongly considering learning Japanese just to translate this - http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2175/

I probably should ask this in the newbie section, but does anyone have any advice for me on my journey? I can make my way around an editor, but I have no 'ASM hacking' or any other high level hacking experience. I'm pretty sure I know how I'd go about it (ripping the script, translating and reinserting, etc), but I figure I'd ask the experts.

I'm not being lazy and asking for links and guides, but if you could kindly point me in the right direction (aka tell me what to google haha)

Long story short - Assuming 100% knowledge in Japanese - I'm asking how should I go about this project? I'll google and research any terms and tools that you tell me if I don't know them.

Thanks!

2B

[Tomato]

At the moment it's sort of a fool's errand as the Japanese patch is continually still being updated (sometimes several times per week!) and data is shifted around all the time.

Many ROM hackers hung out in the chat as I played and live-translated this, and the general consensus was that it'd be a LOT of work and take a good amount of skill. It might be simple to do some basic menu patches, though.

[2Black2Strong]

Oh hey, tomato himself!

Thanks for the heads up. What's the general consensus of the hackers in the chat? Is anyone thinking of picking up the project when the releases stabilize?

[Seihen]

Further to what Tomato said about the difficulty of patching the data itself, I'd just like to go out on a limb and say as someone who majored in Japanese, has lived in Japan for nearly a decade, and works professionally as a translator, "learning Japanese just for..." is a horrible, horrible idea.

Learning Japanese itself is great, and has done a lot for my life, career, and even got me married. However, it's no simple task and requires many years of hard work before you can even reasonably work your way around it. So before setting off on that lofty goal, I'd take a look at something a little simpler, or team up with someone who already knows the language.

[2Black2Strong]

Congrats. Nice to see how picking up a language has paid dividends and some for you.

I'm well aware of the challenge. I've spent quite a few years (years I wish I could have spent on Japanese) learning Spanish, and I'm living in the UAE for the next year and a half. I understand what goes into learning a language and the culture behind it, I am definitely not insinuating it's a light task.

When I realized I can get by during my time here without having to pick up any Arabic, it finally hit me - I've been a fan of all things Japan my entire life and for the first time in a while I have sufficient free time and flexibility to dedicate myself to the language. I'm actually very excited, I'm looking forward to pouring several hours a day into this.

After 764 ( and counting) eps of Detective Conan, hundreds of games, movies, and other anime I was super intrigued, but not yet compelled. An expansion of one of my favorite RPG's ever - one of which I'm currently playing a custom Leo Edition Eviltype version of - was the final straw. I'm going to eventually play that hack!

So yes, I'm learning Japanese to play Final Fantasy VI : T-Edition. The rest of the culture is merely a (huge) bonus.

Now if you have any recommendations for me before I start my journey Seihen, I'm actually going shopping for materials today. Would love to hear what a seasoned veteran like yourself has to say. I'm quite lucky to have drawn responses from two of the very best people I could ask my questions to.

Thanks,

2B

Edit - Regarding taking on something simpler - I exhaled, I have "an excuse" to focus solely on learning the language and not on having to orchestrate / lead a long-term project.... All project aspirations shelved for now.

[Seihen]

Now if you have any recommendations for me before I start my journey Seihen, I'm actually going shopping for materials today. Would love to hear what a seasoned veteran like yourself has to say. I'm quite lucky to have drawn responses from two of the very best people I could ask my questions to.

Sorry, kinda let this fall to the way side and forgot to reply. As for recommendations for starting to learn Japanese to a complete beginner, unfortunately the best I can do is recommend actually taking classes and/or picking up a textbook series and working through it from the top. I know I've met a great many people who say "hey, I can listen to j-pop music, read through manga with a dictionary, and buy a book on grammar!" and that may be true, but unless you're some freak of nature, this lack of structure just isn't going to teach you anything effective.

Once you have the basics down, sure, you can self-study and pick up more than a classroom would ever teach you (I read Japanese novels and blogs in my spare time to improve my language ability), but it's not a good place to start. The absolute best-case scenario would be to do a language study program in Japan where you have to use Japanese to live, but that's obviously not practical for working adults.

The most important thing? Take baby steps. Rome wasn't built in a day, and you're not going to be fluent in a year. But by working hard and putting in the effort, you will grow, even if the process is slow.