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Auto-translated manuals
08-20-2023, 01:31 PM
Post: #1
Auto-translated manuals
I recently imported some Sharp gear from Japan which luckily came with the users' manuals. The manuals were in Japanese of course which I do not know. On a whim I scanned the documents and touched up the scans like I normally would. Then the 'Images' option of Google translate was used to translate each page, one at a time, into English. The nice thing is that it pastes the translation over the original text keeping the original format of the document.

The translation is not bad. It is not perfect of course but it produces a useable document allowing you to learn how to use the device. The first manual processed this way was the Sharp CE-515P. The auto-translate was really confused by the Katakana character tables though and the converted text is humorous. Someone in France later found a poor scan of the English version which I cleaned up as much as possible and added to same page on Archive.org. Links below.

Just thought I would share this as it is quite nice to have some sort of documentation even if it is not perfect. The automatic translation is really quite impressive.

https://archive.org/details/sharp-ce-162...l_English/

https://archive.org/details/sharp-ce-515...anslation/
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08-20-2023, 04:20 PM
Post: #2
RE: Auto-translated manuals
Thanks for sharing these Jeff, they definitely fill some gaps, I've not seen these since I was at Sharp (btwn '88-'00).

Indeed some of the auto-translation is humorous, starting with this jem on the Introduction page:

"In the unlikely event that something you don't understand or something bad happens during use, it will surely be useful."

Now that's a warning! Smile

--Bob Prosperi
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08-20-2023, 07:40 PM
Post: #3
RE: Auto-translated manuals
(08-20-2023 01:31 PM)Jeff_Birt Wrote:  I recently imported some Sharp gear from Japan which luckily came with the users' manuals. The manuals were in Japanese of course which I do not know. On a whim I scanned the documents and touched up the scans like I normally would. Then the 'Images' option of Google translate was used to translate each page, one at a time, into English. The nice thing is that it pastes the translation over the original text keeping the original format of the document.

Thanks, Jeff! I just bought a NOS CE-515P and was dreading having to translate the manual myself. Now I don't have to. Your timing was perfect.

Tom L
Cui bono?
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08-20-2023, 08:05 PM
Post: #4
RE: Auto-translated manuals
(08-20-2023 01:31 PM)Jeff_Birt Wrote:  I recently imported some Sharp gear from Japan which luckily came with the users' manuals.

Manuals, plural? I bought a CE-515P that was NOS and it only had one manual in the box. It's a 48 page manual. I wonder where that second manual came from.

Speaking of the CE-515P, you don't happen to know of any US suppliers of pens and paper, do you? I ordered a set of pens from a guy in France but I'd prefer to get a supplier closer to home. The shipping might take less time.

Tom L
Cui bono?
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08-20-2023, 10:32 PM (This post was last modified: 08-20-2023 10:33 PM by Jeff_Birt.)
Post: #5
RE: Auto-translated manuals
One manual for CE-515P and one manual for CE-162E.

Best Electronics in California used to have some NOS Atari branded pens. Their website it terrible though and you have to email them to order. I have scads of small diameter rolls for the Convergent Workslate version of the printer which I think might work. I tried some roll paper on mine from an MCP-40 and it was too slick and did not work as well as a sheet of ink jet paper.

Did you happen to get the English version of the manual? Never mind I just reread your message about not needing to translate it now.
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