Translating Japanese text in a PDF/image

[Robbie J]

I have some PDF's of Japanese magazines, I used a phone and google translate but its not very good, there are a load of websites but most don't do a lot. Any suggestions?


Typical pages from the mags

 

[Jason McIvor]

Hey Robbie

I haven't tried this myself - maybe you could PM me the pdf somehow ?
But with the full adobe package (pro) you can convert the pdf to multiple formats including ppt - one of the formats might give a better representation of the text ?

 

[Albrecht]

I have some PDF's of Japanese magazines, I used a phone and google translate but its not very good, there are a load of websites but most don't do a lot. Any suggestions?

Apart from a lifetime's worth of language study?

No currently available machine translation software is going to do justice to pieces of that - specifically automotive, specialist technical - nature. It can get you in the ball park, but you'd have to fill in the gaps/mis-translations yourself - armed with a basic grounding in the subject. The photos themselves are the biggest clues to the points being put across, and the lower pair of pages follow the usual 'Zenki, Chuki, Kouki' sequence of 'Early, Mid, Late' production detail changes, but only in very general terms.

More to the point, what exactly are you hoping to glean from articles like these? They are - it has to be said - fairly lightweight treatments of what can be a very finely detailed subject. You could get more information from comparisons of the factory parts lists, sales brochures and factory workshop manuals. Nissan's original 'Service Shuho' booklets for the S30-series (there are 12 in all) cover most of the detail and mechanical changes during the production and sales of the S30/S31 in the Japanese market and - importantly - they usually get it right.

If there's anything specific you want to know about, you can ask here.

 

[Robbie J]

Yes the pages here are lightweight, there are others detailing the smaller tuning shops in Japan which don't have websites listed I would like to know where they are etc. The customer car pages are the best, even if the Japanese tastes are different to ours. We are planning a visit next year and I also have a back catalogue of GTR Magazine for the "other car", we have been to all the larger tuning shops before and Nissan factories so we fancied looking at some of the smaller places. I saw a youtube video of some Irish guys visiting some really interesting shops but I need to give more details to my mates in Japan than just random scanned pages.

Yes you can get a lot from the pictures but some context helps but the engineering based language is to much for most translators then.... I might need to ask internally my company to see if any ML is focused on Japanese to English is in the pipeline

 

[Bazzateer]

She seems to like the hand brake...........

 

[Robbie J]

it would be great if our timing was the same as a local event like this



Lots of the smaller shops have a stock of parts they don't sell online and you need to visit them in person, just going even if I don't find anything is worth the trip

 

[Robbie J]

 

[Robbie J]

Apart from a lifetime's worth of language study?

No currently available machine translation software is going to do justice to pieces of that - specifically automotive, specialist technical - nature. It can get you in the ball park, but you'd have to fill in the gaps/mis-translations yourself - armed with a basic grounding in the subject. The photos themselves are the biggest clues to the points being put across, and the lower pair of pages follow the usual 'Zenki, Chuki, Kouki' sequence of 'Early, Mid, Late' production detail changes, but only in very general terms.

More to the point, what exactly are you hoping to glean from articles like these? They are - it has to be said - fairly lightweight treatments of what can be a very finely detailed subject. You could get more information from comparisons of the factory parts lists, sales brochures and factory workshop manuals. Nissan's original 'Service Shuho' booklets for the S30-series (there are 12 in all) cover most of the detail and mechanical changes during the production and sales of the S30/S31 in the Japanese market and - importantly - they usually get it right.

If there's anything specific you want to know about, you can ask here.

It is nice to have it in a easy access format instead of asking a question at a time, it might be light weight but hey

 

[Albrecht]

Yes the pages here are lightweight, there are others detailing the smaller tuning shops in Japan which don't have websites listed I would like to know where they are etc.

Japanese magazines usually show the full address and contact details of 'shops' and specialists that they feature or collaborate with on articles. For S30-series Z related subjects its usually a fairly small and well-known coterie of specialists and there aren't really any secrets.

Some of the businesses are very small and request that any visitors make an appointment before just pitching up, and being forewarned of parts being sought is also appreciated, IME.

It is nice to have it in a easy access format instead of asking a question at a time, it might be light weight but hey

I'm not sure you've taken my "lightweight" comment in the way it was intended. What I'm saying is that you could go to a lot of trouble (or someone else could go to a lot of trouble for you...) to translate something that only turns out to be "...and in late 1973 the tail lights changed to a split design...", which is hardly news, is it?

I don't understand the pdf thing. If you've got the original magazine/mook, why is a pdf necessary?

 

[AliK]

Thanks for sharing, everyday is a school day in my Z life!!!

Some really interesting features I never realised appeared on an S30 ....

Swivel spot lamp (like an airplane) near mirror ...


Electric wing mirrors with individual joysticks (very cool!!) ...



A half open door (not shut properly) warning light - with freakin’ laser beams too!!!



Also I hadn’t realised that the floor temp / exhaust temp lamp was because of changes in Japanese fuel!! I had always assumed it was for American market catalysts - some Hail Marys for me to say!

@Bazzateer be nice! Poor innocent Ms. Mio Shizusawa was just resting her left hand! Go say some Hail Marys!!!

 

[Robbie J]

Japanese magazines usually show the full address and contact details of 'shops' and specialists that they feature or collaborate with on articles. For S30-series Z related subjects its usually a fairly small and well-known coterie of specialists and there aren't really any secrets.

Some of the businesses are very small and request that any visitors make an appointment before just pitching up, and being forewarned of parts being sought is also appreciated, IME.



I'm not sure you've taken my "lightweight" comment in the way it was intended. What I'm saying is that you could go to a lot of trouble (or someone else could go to a lot of trouble for you...) to translate something that only turns out to be "...and in late 1973 the tail lights changed to a split design...", which is hardly news, is it?

I don't understand the pdf thing. If you've got the original magazine/mook, why is a pdf necessary?

I know the etiquette for meeting Japanese people/ doing business, I even had a business card in Japanese I need to get updated. I'm trying to work out locations before I ask my mate to organise meetings. As westerners you can get away with more than locals but I would never overstep my welcome.

I have some physical books but now you can buy these off amazon with Japanese account hence they are digital.

 

[Robbie J]

Thanks for sharing, everyday is a school day in my Z life!!!

Some really interesting features I never realised appeared on an S30 ....

Swivel spot lamp (like an airplane) near mirror ...
View attachment 46382

Electric wing mirrors with individual joysticks (very cool!!) ...

View attachment 46383

A half open door (not shut properly) warning light - with freakin’ laser beams too!!!
View attachment 46384


Also I hadn’t realised that the floor temp / exhaust temp lamp was because of changes in Japanese fuel!! I had always assumed it was for American market catalysts - some Hail Marys for me to say!

@Bazzateer be nice! Poor innocent Ms. Mio Shizusawa was just resting her left hand! Go say some Hail Marys!!!

So at least somebody is interested, I'm enjoying the JDM version of restomods their access to parts bin is a lot better than we have

 

[Robbie J]

 

[Albrecht]

Some really interesting features I never realised appeared on an S30 ....

Swivel spot lamp (like an airplane) near mirror ...


Electric wing mirrors with individual joysticks (very cool!!) ...

Not to force the point, but these kinds of features are researchable at source in original Nissan documentation.

Personally I've always been surprised/dismayed that so few owners of these Japanese cars appear to take any notice of original Japanese manufacturer source material. Maybe they are just not all that curious?

You could get more information from comparisons of the factory parts lists, sales brochures and factory workshop manuals. Nissan's original 'Service Shuho' booklets for the S30-series (there are 12 in all) cover most of the detail and mechanical changes during the production and sales of the S30/S31 in the Japanese market and - importantly - they usually get it right.

 

[Robbie J]

Not to force the point, but these kinds of features are researchable at source in original Nissan documentation.

Personally I've always been surprised/dismayed that so few owners of these Japanese cars appear to take any notice of original Japanese manufacturer source material. Maybe they are just not all that curious?

View attachment 46388 View attachment 46389 View attachment 46390 View attachment 46391

Make it available here and we will look... not seen you post it before

The search is not the best on this forum before you post something from 4 years ago...

 

[AliK]

Not to force the point, but these kinds of features are researchable at source in original Nissan documentation.

Personally I've always been surprised/dismayed that so few owners of these Japanese cars appear to take any notice of original Japanese manufacturer source material. Maybe they are just not all that curious?

View attachment 46388 View attachment 46389 View attachment 46390 View attachment 46391

Oh wow!! Aren't you a mine of good info! I'll be pouring over those later, thanks for sharing.

 

[Albrecht]

Make it available here and we will look... not seen you post it before

The images I posted are - in case you missed the point - from original Nissan documentation, including the 'Service Shuho' booklets that I recommended previously. I'm not going to be scanning and posting the entire contents of these any time soon.

Again, I don't want to force the point. But if anyone has an interest in the Japanese market models and wants to follow it up for further research then there's plenty of freely available material to be acquired these days. The situation is far better than it ever was in that respect.

Personally I prefer The Real Thing (ie, on paper...) but pdf formats of weighty stuff like the factory parts lists are also available.

 

[Robbie J]

The Web needs digital, we all love paper but its not quite so easy to distribute

could you share the links of the factory parts list then?

 

[Robbie J]

 

[Albrecht]

could you share the links of the factory parts list then?

Your edit was too slow. I saw the original.