Want to Machine Translate?

Ever wanted to translate a Japanese novel, but don't know a smidgen of Japanese? Then why not just let the computer do most of the legwork. There are softwares that will help in your work, and I will point you out to the most useful ones.

First download Translation Assistant from Joeglens's website (Link). There's a more comprehensive guide on how to use this software at the source website, but here's the basics of what it does: it separates the chapters into sentences, copies the sentence you are on in the clipboard, and allows you to type the translation for the sentence right below the sentence. While it doesn't directly translate the sentences for you (yet), it does make it a hell of a lot easier. And with the next software, you will have a self sustained system where you can translate without any worries.

Translation Aggregator (Link) is the software that actually translates those sentences. Technically, it only collects translation from other sites and softwares, but by giving you several translation allows you to decide what actually fits in the context of the chapter. Make sure to download the latest version attached to the link. Do note that it's not linked in the opening post of the thread but rather in a post further down which I have linked directly. If you can't find the post, it's linked in the opening as well. The opening post also has a tutorial on how to use the software. Just extract the 7zip file to use it.

I recommend using Mecab (Link) along with translation aggregator to further break down the sentences into romaji words which also displays the meaning if the mouse hovers over the words. This helps deciphering the meaning of sentences that the translation websites tend to butcher. WARNING: You must install Mecab with any dictionary other than UTF16. I repeat. Do not install Mecab with UTF16 dictionary, as it does not work with Translation Aggregator.

You can also download edict2 (Link) (Right Click and select Save As) and place the downloaded file in the Translation Aggregator's dictionary folder and then activate the Jparser from the Window Menu in Translation Aggregator. It works similarly to Mecab, and helps in deciphering meanings of words that the websites would otherwise miss.

At this point, I must point out that while these softwares help in translating the novel, it is up to the translator to actually decide on what makes sense, as different websites give different results. I personally tend to change the sentence depending on what feels natural in context over a literal translation, which tends to be very awkward. I should also point out that there aren't any free offline translation solutions, so you will need the internet to access the free websites. But using these softwares, you will have a much easier time translating, even if you have absolutely no clue about Japanese.