Trayamslator Readme
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Version 0.1, completed 03/03/2004
Introduction
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Trayamslator is an offline bi-directional lookup tool for EDICT-format Japanese dictionaries. It was initially developed out of a need to access the extensive EDICT dictionaries offline. There was also a need for some useful wildcards, such as 'a' for all syllables that end in a, (a, ka, sa, etc.) 's' for all syllables that begin with s, (sa, shi, su, etc.) and general wildcards (?, *). Trayamslator was then developed further to evolve into a learning tool that allows word lists to be formed, formatted and converted to HTML.
Getting Started
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Trayamslator REQUIRES a native Japanese Windows environment to run properly. This can be provided by Japanese Windows, or Windows 2000 / XP with the default encoding set to Japanese. To set the default encoding in Windows 2000, go to Control Panel -> Regional Options, click "Set default" under "Language settings for the system", and choose Japanese. The procedure for Windows XP is similar.
Trayamslator cannot do much without dictionary files, so you need to download some first. Trayamslator is not distributed with any dictionary files, however they are all available at the Monash Nihongo FTP Archive (http://ftp.cc.monash.edu.au/pub/nihongo/).
Once you have acquired the dictionary files, click on the 'Dic' button. The '+' button on the new window will bring up a dialog asking for the location of the dictionary to be added. Point it to the dictionary file, and Trayamslator will convert it to SJIS if necessary, parse it, and write a raw memory image (.aam file) in the working directory. The raw image will allow quicker access to this dictionary the next time you start Trayamslator.
A very useful dictionary containing detailed information about kanji is also separately available. To register the kanji dictionary with Trayamslator, click the 'KDic' button and point to the location of the dictionary file.
After registering the dictionaries, you are ready to start using Trayamslator.
How to use Trayamslator
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Features
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Dictionary lookup
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Trayamslator will attempt a dictionary lookup when Go is clicked, if:
- The words results tab is not hidden (See Results Box)
- At least one dictionary is registered and checked in the dictionary list. (See Dictionary List Window)
Trayamslator will cycle through all the entries in all dictionaries that have a checkmark, looking for matches.
If the direction is WaEi, then the search string will be compared against the Word and Reading fields of the dictionary entries, evaluating wildcards properly and according to the matching method selected. If it is EiWa, the search string will be directly searched in the Meaning field of the entries, implying the "Contains" method. Wildcards as well as other matching methods are not available in EiWa mode.
Wildcards
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[Wildcards] : [Character class matched]
[v] : [vowel-only syllables, including small vowels: ¢¤¦¨¡£¥§]
[k, g, s, z, t, d, n, h, b, p, m, y, r, w] : [all syllables beginning with the corresponding consonant]
For example, [k] matches [©«¯±]
[a, i, u, e, o] : [all syllables ending in the corresponding vowel]
For example, [u] matches [¤®·¸ÂÃÊÓÔÕÞäéÁã£]
[l] : [small characters: ¡£¥§áãåìÁ@BDFH
b]
[?] : [any one character]
[*] : [zero or more of any characters]
Kanji Lookup
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Trayamslator will attempt a kanji lookup if a kanji dictionary is loaded.
All kanji that appear in the search string will be added to the results.
In WaEi mode, if the search string is hiragana only, all kanji that contain the search string in one of their Kun readings will be added to the results.
In WaEi mode, if the search string is katakana only, all kanji that contain the search string in one of their On readings will be added to the results.
Main Window
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Toolbar Buttons
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Dic: Displays the dictionary list.
(See Dictionary List Window)
KDic: Registers a kanji dictionary. Only one kanji dictionary can be registered at a time.
Method: Chooses matching requirement for the search string. Clicking on the button face cycles through the choices.
Choices: Exact, begins with, contains, ends with.
Keyboard shortcuts: Next: Ctrl, Previous: Shift+Ctrl
Wild: Toggles whether wildcards such as a, i, s, t, * are evaluated. Leaving this button unpressed greatly improves search time.
(See Features)
CBoard: Toggles clipboard monitoring
(See Features)
WaEi / EiWa: Select the direction of the lookup. If WaEi is pressed, the search string will be looked for in the Word and Reading fields. If EiWa is pressed, only the meaning field will be searched.
EiWa search is very simple. It does not support wildcards and the matching method is always "Contains".
JPad: Creates a new JPad.
(See JPad Window)
History: Displays the history JPad
(See Features)
Config: Displays the Configuration Window
(See Configuration Window)
Help: Displays a short help message
Search Box
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This box is also a dropdown list that contains all the searches that were made since Trayamslator was started.
Results Box (Words)
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This box contains the entries in the dictionary that matched the search string in the requested method. The entries here are drag-and-drop enabled.
Clicking on the tab header will hide this tab and disable dictionary lookup. It can be restored by clicking on the tab header again.
Toolbar Buttons
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(From left to right)
View: Selects the viewing style for this box. Clicking on the button face cycles through the views.
Send to JPad: Adds the entries selected in the results box to the contents of the chosen JPad window. Only the dropdown arrow part is functional.
Font: Sets the font for this box.
Results Box (Kanji)
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This box contains the entries in the kanji dictionary that matched:
- A kanji in the search string in the kanji field,
- If the search string was hiragana only, one of the Kun readings,
- If the search string was katakana only, one of the On readings.
The entries here are drag-and-drop enabled.
Clicking on an entry in this box brings up a kanji information window.
Clicking on the tab header will hide this tab and disable kanji lookup. It can be restored by clicking on the tab header again.
Toolbar Buttons
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(From left to right)
View: Selects the viewing style for this box. Clicking on the button face cycles through the views.
Send to JPad: Adds the entries selected in the results box to the contents of the chosen JPad window. Only the dropdown arrow part is functional.
Font: Sets the font for this box.
Clear: Removes all items from this box.
Size Slider
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This slider determines the relative widths of the two result boxes.
About the Author
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I am Oxxide, aka Ozayam aka [Ishin]Ozayam, computer engineering student and a translator for Ishin Anime. I've studied Japanese in college for 2.5 years now. Since my native language is Turkish, which happens to have very similar grammar to Japanese, I was able to pick up rather rapidly. Shortly after I started doing anime translation, I noticed that hearing a word can be extremely difficult if one hasn't heard it before. To overcome that, I thought the consonant amd vowel wildcards would help. They did indeed ^_^ I'm working on tranlating PlanetES right now, check out our releases!
Special Thanks
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Jim Breen, for EDICT;
Kamio-san, for allowing me to use and distribute his handy EUC to SJIS converter utility;
Everyone who gave me suggestions on improving Trayamslator;
Everyone who contributed to the EDICT dictionaries.
Please tell me about any bugs or suggestions, no matter how minute, at oxxide@hotmail.com
To be added:
Dictionary List Window
JPad Window
Download Latest Version
trayam-src-2.1.21.zip (39.6 kB)
