Macross Master File

[Seto Kaiba]

14 minutes ago, Devil 505 said:

Now I know Guld's selection as Omega One's pilot was more than a coincidence.

That was one of the few things that the VF-22 Master File did right... sparing the page count to talk about why Guld, a civilian, became the test pilot for the YF-21 No.2 prototype.  Who better to have test-piloting and calibrating your fancy new brainwave-based flight control system for a next-gen VF than a neuroscience researcher who just so happens to be a licensed pilot with a decent amount of experience?

(Then again, since General Galaxy's VF development center was basically run by a Zentradi man and made greater than average use of Zentradi overtechnology in its designs, there may have been a little favoritism involved.)

[jvmacross]

57 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

From the book's own in-universe perspective, it's devoted to the Siegfried custom instead of the military's model because it's published by the multimedia branch of Xaos Corp., as a shameless plug for their monstrously incompetent PMC division.

Pretty much all VFs from 3rd Gen on do... the YF-21/VF-22 just incorporated more than is typical.  Then again, it was developed at the General Galaxy-run Quimeliquola factory satellite in Eden's orbit, so...

LOL...

BTW, if they ever have a Macross Trivia contest.....you'd win!

 

3 hours ago, NZEOD said:

Be better served just doing a Macross The Ride Master file to cover all the freakish test beds out there

 

Been a while since I have browsed through those 2 MtR visual books....I should pull them out this weekend

[spanner]

4 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Or it comes with code so we can download digital file.

that would be epic to say the least..

[jvmacross]

VF-31 Squadrons...

Trans-googled:

Top: VF-31 Roll-out Commemoration Ceremony paint scheme

Middle: YF-31 Aeronautical Experiment Organization based out of Planet Eden, New Edwards Base

Bottom: SYF-31 Prototype Unit 3 Planet Eden, New Edwards Base

 

[Devil 505]

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

That was one of the few things that the VF-22 Master File did right... sparing the page count to talk about why Guld, a civilian, became the test pilot for the YF-21 No.2 prototype.  Who better to have test-piloting and calibrating your fancy new brainwave-based flight control system for a next-gen VF than a neuroscience researcher who just so happens to be a licensed pilot with a decent amount of experience?

(Then again, since General Galaxy's VF development center was basically run by a Zentradi man and made greater than average use of Zentradi overtechnology in its designs, there may have been a little favoritism involved.)

As a fan of the Sturmvogel, I naturally bought the VF-22 Master File for myself.  However, as I can't read Japanese, I've only been able to enjoy the pictures and diagrams so far.

2 hours ago, jvmacross said:

LOL...

BTW, if they ever have a Macross Trivia contest.....you'd win!

Well, Seto is pretty much the resident "loremaster" around here.

Edited March 25, 2017 by Devil 505

[Graham]

Hated the VF-22 Master Files, as at least the on drawings they completely got the shape of the micro missiles wrong for the dorsal micro-missile launchers.

I guess the authors never looked at the pics in TIAS Mac Plus.

[slide]

11 hours ago, Devil 505 said:

As a fan of the Sturmvogel, I naturally bought the VF-22 Master File for myself.  However, as I can't read Japanese, I've only been able to enjoy the pictures and diagrams so far.

Google translate app for your phone.

you can take pics of a block of text and translate the image. it's such a help for hase/bandai kits... and the Masterfiles too

[jvmacross]

100% agree.....The Google translate app is awesome....

 

More VF-31 Squadrons....

Top:  VF-31 S Roll-out Commemorative Ceremony paint scheme

Middle:   VF-31 A 1000th production unit commemorative paint scheme

Bottom:  Flight Demonstration Squadron Angel Birds

 

Seems like the VF-31 was being celebrated alot.....

 

[Devil 505]

12 hours ago, Graham said:

Hated the VF-22 Master Files, as at least the on drawings they completely got the shape of the micro missiles wrong for the dorsal micro-missile launchers.

I guess the authors never looked at the pics in TIAS Mac Plus.

I've always taken the Master Files with a grain of salt.  Their depiction of the VF-19E differs from Macross 30's depiction, for example.

1 hour ago, slide said:

Google translate app for your phone.

you can take pics of a block of text and translate the image. it's such a help for hase/bandai kits... and the Masterfiles too

 

39 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

100% agree.....The Google translate app is awesome....

You know, I had the app on my old phone, but I forgot to install it when I upgraded.  Thanks for reminding me.  It does help quite a bit.

[jvmacross]

Some more VF-31 Squadrons.....

 

Top:  NUNS Planet Laguna Valletta Base (?) SVF-551 Marine Fleet

Middle:  NUNS 7th Escort Air Division No 13 SVF-133 "The Three Guard" (?)

Bottom:  NUNS 79th Fighting Air Corp SVF-96 "Fatal Spikers" 

 

[Seto Kaiba]

23 hours ago, jvmacross said:

LOL...

BTW, if they ever have a Macross Trivia contest.....you'd win!

Who are you kidding... I'd be hosting it.

 

 

20 hours ago, Devil 505 said:

As a fan of the Sturmvogel, I naturally bought the VF-22 Master File for myself.  However, as I can't read Japanese, I've only been able to enjoy the pictures and diagrams so far.

Well, Seto is pretty much the resident "loremaster" around here.

Prior to the VF-4 book, the VF-22 book definitely had the distinction of "worst Master File" for the same reasons... it's like the writers did only the most basic research they could get away with, and the variants section reads like the result of a 3am brainstorming session two days before its print date and fueled by entirely too much coffee to be good for anyone's sanity.  I'm not sure what annoys me more, that half of them are just whatever garbage they could throw on the page, or that half of them look like Kamen Rider's mask.

When'd I get appointed that?  I always thought that was Sketchley or Gubaba, really.  Or maybe it's a "by our powers combined" sort of thing, since we each have different areas of interest.

 

 

20 hours ago, Graham said:

Hated the VF-22 Master Files, as at least the on drawings they completely got the shape of the micro missiles wrong for the dorsal micro-missile launchers.

I guess the authors never looked at the pics in TIAS Mac Plus.

The art problems are the least of that book's sins... 

 

 

8 hours ago, slide said:

Google translate app for your phone.

you can take pics of a block of text and translate the image. it's such a help for hase/bandai kits... and the Masterfiles too

Yeah, but like any machine translation you end up with a lot of "My hovercraft is full of eels" and "English as she is spoke"... which is sometimes even more of an impediment to understanding than not being able to read it at all.

(The machine translators also REALLY don't like loanwords... I've noticed that several times when I've gotten stuck on a particular term and chucked the kana into a machine translator to see what it makes of it.  Last time I tried, when I was working on Macross R, Schwalbe Zwei ended up becoming some gibberish about shwarma.)

[Devil 505]

39 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Prior to the VF-4 book, the VF-22 book definitely had the distinction of "worst Master File" for the same reasons... it's like the writers did only the most basic research they could get away with, and the variants section reads like the result of a 3am brainstorming session two days before its print date and fueled by entirely too much coffee to be good for anyone's sanity.  I'm not sure what annoys me more, that half of them are just whatever garbage they could throw on the page, or that half of them look like Kamen Rider's mask.

When'd I get appointed that?  I always thought that was Sketchley or Gubaba, really.  Or maybe it's a "by our powers combined" sort of thing, since we each have different areas of interest.

Yeah, but like any machine translation you end up with a lot of "My hovercraft is full of eels" and "English as she is spoke"... which is sometimes even more of an impediment to understanding than not being able to read it at all.

(The machine translators also REALLY don't like loanwords... I've noticed that several times when I've gotten stuck on a particular term and chucked the kana into a machine translator to see what it makes of it.  Last time I tried, when I was working on Macross R, Schwalbe Zwei ended up becoming some gibberish about shwarma.)

To be fair, some of the variants do seem based on some of the proposed variants of the F-22 Raptor, such as the delta-wing FB-22 and X-44 MANTA, as well as the swing-wing navalized Raptor concept.  I'm not sold on the bug-eyed canopy either, but the ideas of dual head lasers and a clear one piece canopy do seem to work in my opinion.

At the very least, you're the "technological loremaster," given your contributions to the Macross Mecha Manual.

I soon found out the limitations of machine translation when the app kept describing the GV-17L as a "Cancer Pod."

Edited March 26, 2017 by Devil 505

[ridgebacks]

I wonder how much money Aisha made from the 31 design, giving that she's the original creator of the YF-30.

[Seto Kaiba]

Doin' a quick skim of the Variable Fighter Master File: VF-31 Siegfried book for anything halfway useful or interesting...

• From pg22-23, it looks like in Master File's version of things the New UN Forces did the same thing to the YF-30 that they'd already done to the YF-29 once they got their hands on the blueprints... constructed an improved model for military use and designated the prototype YF-30B.  
• From page 25, it sounds like they've added this to the existing evolutionary tree that was published for the VF-31... 
  Originally it went YF-24 -> VF-25 & YF-29 -> YF-30 -> VF-31
  Theirs seems to be going: YF-24 -> VF-25 & YF-29 -> YF-29B & YF-30 -> YF-30B -> JYF-31 & SYF-31 -> VF-31A
• Very tight timeline on this one too... from the sound of page 25, the JYF-31 development kicked off just a year after the first flight of the completed YF-30 prototype, and around the same time the military debuted its YF-30B.  Sounds like they had a flyable prototype within two years (2063) and another two years down the road Xaos was receiving the first of the VFs that would become the basis for Delta Flight's equipment.
• The J in JYF is apparently denoting its status as a jointly developed program run by the Brisingr Alliance rather than one single planet or fleet.  
• I found the first detail I actually like... pg32-33, a clear and concise statement that (in the book's non-canon view) the Delta Flight VF-31s aren't even based on production machines.  They're an offshoot of prototype development used for field testing, technically considered to still be prototypes (and early prototypes at that.  It's suggested that the VF-31A that Arad flew in that flashback episode was actually SYF-31-1, the first prototype for the Sigfried, basically just a JYF-31 equipped with the FF-3001/FC2 engines.  It looks like Delta Flight's units are really SYF-31-2 (Arad/VF-31S) SYF-31-3 (Messer/VF-31F), SYF-31-4 (Chuck/VF-31E), Mirage's is unknown, and Hayate's was SYF-31-8 and SYF-31-9.
• They seem to have missed the memo from Kawamori on the VF-31's military adoption date... they have units here marked as being in military service as production aircraft five years or so before they were canonically delivered to the New UN Forces.

[sketchley]

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

When'd I get appointed that?  I always thought that was Sketchley or Gubaba, really.  Or maybe it's a "by our powers combined" sort of thing, since we each have different areas of interest.

(...)

(The machine translators also REALLY don't like loanwords... I've noticed that several times when I've gotten stuck on a particular term and chucked the kana into a machine translator to see what it makes of it.  Last time I tried, when I was working on Macross R, Schwalbe Zwei ended up becoming some gibberish about shwarma.)

Thanks  v(*^.^*);;;

I think it was more a 'by our powers combined'.  Different interests aside, of late I've always gone straight to the point (to avoid the TLDR response), and you (Seto) delve into the nuts and bolts.  Which may be why people are more cognizant of you.

 

Anyhow, having much experience with machine translators, all I can say is: if you can, break what you're trying to translate into smaller chunks (E.g. where commas or parenthesis show up), and double check with other automated tools (E.g. the Perapera kun add-on in Firefox).

In general, although powerful, Smartphones are not the best tool to use for this kind of work.  So, the sooner you can get the Japanese text into a proper computer, the easier/faster it will become.

 

Edit: the current lack of signatures on this site is frustrating.  So... one workaround for a link to my Macross Translations site is a hardlink (not hyperlink T.T) in the 'interests' section under my user ID on the left of this post.  Not ideal, but that's what we've got to work with.

Anyhow, check out my site for *some* translations of some of the books in the VF Master File series!  Thanks.

Edited March 26, 2017 by sketchley

[Devil 505]

16 hours ago, sketchley said:

Anyhow, having much experience with machine translators, all I can say is: if you can, break what you're trying to translate into smaller chunks (E.g. where commas or parenthesis show up), and double check with other automated tools (E.g. the Perapera kun add-on in Firefox).

In general, although powerful, Smartphones are not the best tool to use for this kind of work.  So, the sooner you can get the Japanese text into a proper computer, the easier/faster it will become.

 

Edit: the current lack of signatures on this site is frustrating.  So... one workaround for a link to my Macross Translations site is a hardlink (not hyperlink T.T) in the 'interests' section under my user ID on the left of this post.  Not ideal, but that's what we've got to work with.

Anyhow, check out my site for *some* translations of some of the books in the VF Master File series!  Thanks.

I'm still laughing over my phone translating "gun pod" as "cancer pod."

Honestly, your site motivated me to get the VF-25 Messiah Master File.  I'm also debating whether or not to get the VF-19 Master File, based on some of the discrepancies that I already know about.

[spanner]

55 minutes ago, Devil 505 said:

I'm still laughing over my phone translating "gun pod" as "cancer pod."

*snipped*

I noticed a similar thing using the Google translator phone app on the Chinese Taobao site! Got a few giggles here n there..

[jvmacross]

Still beats the old days of translating manually....

[Seto Kaiba]

22 hours ago, sketchley said:

Thanks  v(*^.^*);;;

I think it was more a 'by our powers combined'.  Different interests aside, of late I've always gone straight to the point (to avoid the TLDR response), and you (Seto) delve into the nuts and bolts.  Which may be why people are more cognizant of you.

You are kinda the gold standard by which mecha-specific translations are measured 'round here... I tend to get bogged down in the minutae when I'm doing translations, and it ends up being less important when we're decomposing reams of information into a few paragraphs of factoids for M3.

(I'll admit I've not actually fully translated the literal nuts and bolts bit in Variable Fighter Master File: VF-1 Valkyrie Vol.1... there are limits to even my love of the game, and surprisingly they start right about at the point where I have to start reading about the applications Overtechnology Materials had in threaded fastener design... if I want to bore myself stupid, I'll go chew over some more SAE standards committee feedback instead.)

 

 

6 hours ago, Devil 505 said:

I'm still laughing over my phone translating "gun pod" as "cancer pod."

Honestly, your site motivated me to get the VF-25 Messiah Master File.  I'm also debating whether or not to get the VF-19 Master File, based on some of the discrepancies that I already know about.

In all honesty, I'd recommend the VF-19 Master File... it's one of the best in the series, even if it does have a few minor issues like the engine types and thrust outputs.

There's some really, REALLY good info in there.  I think my favorite bit is the lateral g-mitigation techniques they used in the cockpit... having a mobile seat that can tilt ~25 degrees in any given direction to optimize the pilot's bloodflow.

 

 

3 hours ago, jvmacross said:

Still beats the old days of translating manually....

I'd beg to differ... I've found the translations I've done that were not machine-assisted tend to make more sense than the ones that are, thanks to the dubious grammar employed by many of the algorithms used.  We're still a looooong way from a Universal Translator.

 

 

 

 

Another fun continuity tidbit gleaned from the VF-31 book... someone writing the book was paying attention when they played Macross 30: Voices Across the Galaxy.  They've identified the ARIEL II airframe control AI in the VF-31 mass production type as Brunhild+ (sic).  That's a continuity nod to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it statement in Macross 30's first chapter, where they mention Reon was sent to Uroboros in a YF-25 Prophecy to deliver its airframe control AI for use in the YF-30 Chronos prototype.  The specific ARIEL II build was identified as Brunhild.  I didn't notice that line 'til the second playthrough (when I noticed Aisha also drops mention of the full term "thermonuclear reaction burst turbine" in that mission where her VF-19E is stuck grounded with engine trouble and you have to defend her).

[jvmacross]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

I'd beg to differ... I've found the translations I've done that were not machine-assisted tend to make more sense than the ones that are, thanks to the dubious grammar employed by many of the algorithms used.  We're still a looooong way from a Universal Translator.

 

I believe you misunderstood the context of my statement....for me, as someone who is not too hardcore about personally translating any of this material, the machine translators are way more convenient than doing the manual translation, which was the only option for me back in the day..............9 times out of 10, Google translate will give me what I am looking for, like a simple translation of squadron names or the brief paragraphs next to an illustration or other graphic.....for my purposes, the machine translators are amazing tools that help me get more out of my Macross printed media collection.....

With that said, I am sure I speak for everyone here who enjoys reading all of the thorough technical Macross information you provide....Thanks!

 

Edited March 27, 2017 by jvmacross

[sketchley]

46 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

 

I believe you misunderstood the context of my statement....for me, as someone who is not too hardcore about personally translating any of this material, the machine translators are way more convenient than doing the manual translation, which was the only option for me back in the day..............9 times out of 10, Google translate will give me what I am looking for, like a simple translation of squadron names or the brief paragraphs next to an illustration or other graphic.....for my purposes, the machine translators are amazing tools that help me get more out of my Macross printed media collection.....

With that said, I am sure I speak for everyone here who enjoys reading all of the thorough technical Macross information you provide....Thanks!

 

Good points, both.

The only thing that I'll add is: the only way you'll learn a skill (Japanese) is by doing it yourself (with machine translators for help, in this context).  The more you do it, the better you get.  Eventually you'll reach a point where you can get the gist of it just be glancing at it.

 

Of course, if you're just after a phrase here or there, then machine translation is convenient.

On that note, I've found Japanese sites translating into English better than English sites!  My recommendation for text translation (though the quantity of ads suck) is: http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english_japanese/ .  For individual words or phrases, the aforementioned Parapara-kun add-on in Firefox.  And for katakana words, Google with "Wikipedia + target word".

 

Re: Cancer Pod

The reason for that is just the way machine translators work: they use the most commonly used definition (or translation) of a word.  When it comes to Macross, we're down 2 counts: military terms are generally not that common in everyday Japanese (so anything military is a secondary or tertiary definition), and Macross is incredibly niche at the best of times... so you can see how the Japanese word for cancer (gan) can get mixed up with the borrowed term for gun pod (gan-podu).

[jvmacross]

3 minutes ago, sketchley said:

On that note, I've found Japanese sites translating into English better than English sites!  My recommendation for text translation (though the quantity of ads suck) is: http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english_japanese/ .  For individual words or phrases, the aforementioned Parapara-kun add-on in Firefox.  And for katakana words, Google with "Wikipedia + target word".

I am unfamiliar with those, will look them up...however, the other reason why I really like the Google machine translator is because I can snap a pic of the text and have it instantly 'translated" by the app...so basically, I can use it in somewhat "real-time" as I am thumbing through a book or magazine......are there other apps that do the same thing using an image capture process?  I only own an Android phone...so I'm guessing there must be some Apple app(s) that can do the same thing....

[Devil 505]

12 hours ago, sketchley said:

Re: Cancer Pod

The reason for that is just the way machine translators work: they use the most commonly used definition (or translation) of a word.  When it comes to Macross, we're down 2 counts: military terms are generally not that common in everyday Japanese (so anything military is a secondary or tertiary definition), and Macross is incredibly niche at the best of times... so you can see how the Japanese word for cancer (gan) can get mixed up with the borrowed term for gun pod (gan-podu).

Okay, that makes a lot more sense.  Naturally, cancer would be the least of your worries if you're fired upon by a VF with a gun pod.

15 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

In all honesty, I'd recommend the VF-19 Master File... it's one of the best in the series, even if it does have a few minor issues like the engine types and thrust outputs.

There's some really, REALLY good info in there.  I think my favorite bit is the lateral g-mitigation techniques they used in the cockpit... having a mobile seat that can tilt ~25 degrees in any given direction to optimize the pilot's bloodflow.

I'll look into it, then.

[jvmacross]

More VF-31 Squadrons....

 

Top: NUNS CV-440 Bonaventure (?) , SVF-144 "Fatal Spears"

Middle:  Xaos Third Fighting Aviation Group CV/C-109  Delta Platoon

Bottom: Xaos Third Fighting Aviation Group CV/C-109 Delta Platoon

 

[spanner]

I tried using the google translator app on the master file but its a slow process and a lot of it just comes across as gibberish..  what am I doing wrong?

[jvmacross]

I think it is best when used for simpler things, such as small descriptive paragraphs next to pictures, on titles, and other short text.  It is going to involve a lot more patience if trying to translate entire pages of text.  The tool is handy...but as mentioned before...not perfected yet.  Based on what the pros on this board have been saying is the problem with machine translators, it probably needs to be able to translate text based on what it is...like a technical manual vs newspaper, etc.  I am sure someday they will get there.

[Seto Kaiba]

10 hours ago, jvmacross said:

More VF-31 Squadrons....

 

Top: NUNS CV-440 Bonaventure (?) , SVF-144 "Fatal Spears"

Middle:  Xaos Third Fighting Aviation Group CV/C-109  Delta Platoon

Bottom: Xaos Third Fighting Aviation Group CV/C-109 Delta Platoon

On the occasions they've helpfully provided it to us in English, it's been written: "Xaos Third Fighter Wing" and "Delta Flight".  (They're apparently organized as an Space Air Force?)  So a full translation of that would be:

Xaos Third Fighter Wing CV/C-109 Aether (Delta Flight).

They broke the habit of three decades by translating shotai as "Flight" instead of "Platoon" in Macross Delta, though perhaps justifiably if they're (as noted above) organized as a Space Air Force instead of the more Army-oriented Spacy.

 

 

8 hours ago, spanner said:

I tried using the google translator app on the master file but its a slow process and a lot of it just comes across as gibberish..  what am I doing wrong?

In all likelihood, nothing at all.

Machine translators are still far from perfect on their own, and combining them with optical character recognition just complicates matters.  The Google Translate app's OCR feature has a limited pool of kanji characters to pull from, and is taking what amounts to a best guess at what any given character is based on a mathematical approximation of its shape as detected by color variations in a coordinate grid laid over the target image.  Kanji makes optical character recognition of Japanese a real uphill battle, since the size of the radical tends to be inversely proportional to the number of them in the character and that makes it easier for the OCR tool to be unable to differentiate them.  Below a certain font size, it all just becomes a smudge to the OCR tool, and even small variations in the source image like dust or a shadow can cause it to detect characters incorrectly.

So, basically, the reason it's coming across as mostly gibberish is because the already-imperfect machine translator with a propensity for choosing Definition 1 and running with it is being fed the "best guess" transcription output of an OCR algorithm that may not even possess the vocabulary to correctly transcribe the text selection.  The modest font size in Master File isn't helping matters either, I would guess.

(Back in graduate school, I developed an OCR tool for transcribing Japanese for a term project... the pitfalls of the technology described above caused no small number of all-nighters for me.  I never fed it anything as complicated as a technical document though, just excerpts from Momotaro and whatever manga I was reading at the time... IINM Saiyuki and Nagasarete Airantou.)

 

 

1 hour ago, jvmacross said:

I think it is best when used for simpler things, such as small descriptive paragraphs next to pictures, on titles, and other short text.  It is going to involve a lot more patience if trying to translate entire pages of text.  The tool is handy...but as mentioned before...not perfected yet.  Based on what the pros on this board have been saying is the problem with machine translators, it probably needs to be able to translate text based on what it is...like a technical manual vs newspaper, etc.  I am sure someday they will get there.

The OCR tool in Google Translate is, right now, mostly intended for stuff like helping tourists interpret public signage and restaurant menus... it's not really up to the task of handling a technical publication.

[jvmacross]

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

On the occasions they've helpfully provided it to us in English, it's been written: "Xaos Third Fighter Wing" and "Delta Flight".  (They're apparently organized as an Space Air Force?)  So a full translation of that would be:

Xaos Third Fighter Wing CV/C-109 Aether (Delta Flight).

They broke the habit of three decades by translating shotai as "Flight" instead of "Platoon" in Macross Delta, though perhaps justifiably if they're (as noted above) organized as a Space Air Force instead of the more Army-oriented Spacy.

 

The OCR tool in Google Translate is, right now, mostly intended for stuff like helping tourists interpret public signage and restaurant menus... it's not really up to the task of handling a technical publication.

Cool, thanks!

Yeah, clearly it has trouble with technical material.

But, for my needs and how I like to use it, it is a fantastic tool for helping me derive more value from my Macross printed media beyond just "looking at the pics".  

I think that is why many Macross fans/collectors do not bother with the books and video.  If they cannot read or understand what is being said, they feel they are not getting the "full value" from their purchase.  Which is why now we are seeing official Macross video releases with English subs and, also, a major Macross book release with some text translated into English.  

In terms of Macross printed items, I think the Google translate tools provide additional value by providing "some" translation instead of having none at all.  Until we get more officially translated Macross books, which will probably not happen often...all I can do is hope for the machine translation technology to get better over time.  If I had the time or interest, I suppose I could learn to read Japanese....but, at my current stage in life, I do not see that happening.  The Google translate tool is the best thing that I could have hoped for, in terms of my Macross printed media collection and, like all technology, it can only get better over time.  I went from spending hours to seconds in translating certain text from my Macross books.  And that is definitely a good thing.

[sketchley]

7 hours ago, jvmacross said:

Cool, thanks!

Yeah, clearly it has trouble with technical material.

But, for my needs and how I like to use it, it is a fantastic tool for helping me derive more value from my Macross printed media beyond just "looking at the pics". 

(...)

Good points.  For those kinds of uses, and as long as one is aware of the limitations, it's a great tool.

[hachi]

The pics convinced me to order the Siegfried master file from CDJapan along with several other items to get those points. Now the hard part is how to convince NY to cancel my order because CDJ was cheaper...

[jvmacross]

55 minutes ago, hachi said:

The pics convinced me to order the Siegfried master file from CDJapan along with several other items to get those points. Now the hard part is how to convince NY to cancel my order because CDJ was cheaper...

Cool...if you do not have the others sometimes they are available (used) on Mandarake at less than the original cover price....plus if you bundle up on them you can always save on shipping regardless of where you buy them from....for best shipping to the US, I go with Amazon.jp.

[Devil 505]

22 hours ago, jvmacross said:

Cool, thanks!

Yeah, clearly it has trouble with technical material.

But, for my needs and how I like to use it, it is a fantastic tool for helping me derive more value from my Macross printed media beyond just "looking at the pics".  

I think that is why many Macross fans/collectors do not bother with the books and video.  If they cannot read or understand what is being said, they feel they are not getting the "full value" from their purchase.  Which is why now we are seeing official Macross video releases with English subs and, also, a major Macross book release with some text translated into English.  

In terms of Macross printed items, I think the Google translate tools provide additional value by providing "some" translation instead of having none at all.  Until we get more officially translated Macross books, which will probably not happen often...all I can do is hope for the machine translation technology to get better over time.  If I had the time or interest, I suppose I could learn to read Japanese....but, at my current stage in life, I do not see that happening.  The Google translate tool is the best thing that I could have hoped for, in terms of my Macross printed media collection and, like all technology, it can only get better over time.  I went from spending hours to seconds in translating certain text from my Macross books.  And that is definitely a good thing.

I'm definitely going to need to find some better alternatives to Google Translate soon enough.  It seems less like I'm reading a Master File and more like I'm reading the script to Backstroke of the West.

[Seto Kaiba]

26 minutes ago, Devil 505 said:

I'm definitely going to need to find some better alternatives to Google Translate soon enough.  It seems less like I'm reading a Master File and more like I'm reading the script to Backstroke of the West.

It's loads better than it used to be... though I think the Excite translator is probably a little more accurate, even if its grasp of English grammar leaves a lot to be desired.  

(Sometimes it's the difference between "badly translated VCR manual" and "My Hovercraft is full of eels"... though it also isn't too great with the technical terms.  It seems to be especially unhappy with words like "thermonuclear reactor".)

Edited March 29, 2017 by Seto Kaiba

[jvmacross]

4 hours ago, Devil 505 said:

I'm definitely going to need to find some better alternatives to Google Translate soon enough.  It seems less like I'm reading a Master File and more like I'm reading the script to Backstroke of the West.

If you find something better that can use the phone's camera to translate text...let us know!  Oh, and I had to look up what you meant by "Backstroke of the West"...lol

[hachi]

CDJapan has shipped my order.

I also installed the Google translate app. It's nice but it's kinda hard to keep the phone steady over a book. I would have liked a function to transcribe the kanji to a text file so that I can look up the kanji on the web. It would be much faster to translate.