Want an English translation of the Family BASIC manual?

[satoshi_matrix]

Recently, I've messaged our resident translator and japanese guru manuel and asked him if he would be willing to translate the large and rather thick Family BASIC manual.

The following is an abridged version of what he had to say:

"As for the Family Basic manual translation, of course I'd be willing to do it.  Length might be a problem, though. The manual has 140 pages, and I estimate about 300 Japanese characters per page on average, which comes to 42000 characters to translate. Even at 0.6 cents per character (which would make a very BAAAD hourly rate) this would make around 250$. The minimum rate I'm mostly working for in Japan now is around 6cents (US) per Japanese character. Normally a document like that would cost about 2000-2500$ to translate, and I'm on the cheap side when compared to other translators.

I don't want to seem greedy, but I fear I couldn't go far under 200-250$ if you asked me for a fixed price. I know it sounds expensive, but there's just very much work involved."

Taking all that into account, the price range he offered sounds very reasonable, but even still, is a lot to spend on a translation for a manual of a hobby, and is above the range I would be willing or able to send singlehandedly. 

Then I got an idea. I know I'm not the only one who wants an English guide to using the Family BASIC system. What if other people were willing to donate some money towards this goal? Even if the rest of the community was willing to generate even half of the price, I'd consider it worthwhile.

So yeah. the question is: would you be willing to donate for a Family BASIC manual English translation?




Side note: I want the entire manual translated, but it has come to my attention that there are other sources to learn BASIC, so for people who already know BASIC, it might be best for them as well as the cost if we only get the Family BASIC specific information translated.

[UglyJoe]

Since I have a copy of the manual now, I'd rather ask and pay manuel just for portions I need translated.  Should the need arise, I'll post whatever I get translated for the forum to see.

For what it's worth, I can see myself doing some tutorial videos for Family Basic some time after the site relaunch.

[ericj]

I'd be willing to donate. It would help out an awesome member with the added benefit of knowledge of how to use my Family Basic. Win-win situation IMO. Maybe you could offer a prize to the highest donor, kinda like what was done with the FDS disk-writing donation.

[L___E___T]

I'm definitely willing to donate ,this should absolutely be translated by a famicom fan, they need to understand the context.  Count me in.

[satoshi_matrix]

Okay! I'm glad to see that people are with me on this. What are you guys willing to donate? Like I said, if even half of the $250 can be covered by other donations, I'd consider it magnificent..

[L___E___T]

I'll donate $20, may not be much but it's all I can afford.  If we donate do we get a nice printed version or an early release? lol

Someone a while back on a blog was looking for Famicom Basic to be translated, get hold of him!! Google is the king but I'll dig a link up later on if needs be.

[Rogles]

There are $4 in my paypal... Who would I send it to?

[satoshi_matrix]

Well, I was thinking it should be myself, since I'm the one who shall be organizing this.

As for some sort of prize for those who donate, anyone have any ideas? I'd like to place some incentive for people to put up some cash. $20 seems like a very reasonable amount. If six or seven people can donate that, this project really does stand a chance.

[Rogles]

Money sent! Sorry it's so little, it was all I had.

[L___E___T]

If you can secure a translation the money is yours, but I'm not sure how you can do that...  As for incentive?  A high res scanned PDF would do me fine bud   I'd pay 25 for that!

[satoshi_matrix]

Money sent! Sorry it's so little, it was all I had.

Thanks! Its the start of something big! But we really need to hear from the man of the hour: manuel! Please post your thoughts if you're reading this!

[manuel]

Well, what should I say much? 

At first you should know that I personally am not very interested in (Family) Basic. If I was enthusiastic about it I would probably already have started translating it and also wouldn't ask for a reward.

So in these terms translating the manual will be just regular "work" for me. Work that has to do with something I like (games).
If some of you guys would be willing to donate at least a little bit that would be a nice incentive and reward for me.
It would be cool if I could buy a Wii from it. I still don't own one, because I'm waiting for a price drop that's not happening. 

A note on translating itself.
Because it's very cheap, I can't offer a fixed deadline and translation will probably not be very fast. I have to prioritize my regular paying work and family life. Then, when I have free time to spend, I can translate that manual (Family Basic V3, right?).
If everybody is fine with that I'm more than willing to do it.

[L___E___T]

To me, that seems totally fair.

Look for an older wii, it's great for homebrew, famicom included

[satoshi_matrix]

Oh yeah, I for one don't need a fixed deadline so long as the project doesn't go on indefinitely (i.e. it never comes to be). Otherwise, let me set this up offically:

If  you want to donate towards this, I am now collecting money through paypal. You can donate to the fund through paypal at satoshimatrix@hotmail.com. I will keep track of everyone that has donated and be sure to pass on your names to manuel and write you guys a big thank you note.

[manuel]

To me, that seems totally fair.

Look for an older wii, it's great for homebrew, famicom included

Won't firmware upgrades (that I'll need to play newer games I assume) stop me from using homebrew?