Video Game Localization

Video game translation and localization – namely that of games originating in Japan - have come a long way since the days of Zero Wing*. Back in the 80’s, it was common to come across unnatural, incorrect, and sometimes just plain ridiculous translations in video games.

Video game translation and – namely that of games originating in Japan - have come a long way since the days of Zero Wing*. Back in the 80’s, it was common to come across unnatural, incorrect, and sometimes just plain ridiculous translations in video games. Back in the late 80’s/early 90’s, with the comparatively extreme technological limitations and the relative 2-dimensionality of video games (compared to today’s standards), this wasn’t so much a problem as a source of entertainment for most gamers. Zelda II’s “I AM ERROR.” Final Fantasy II’s “You spoony bard!” Metroid’s “DESTROY THE MOTHER BRAIN THE MECHANICAL LIFE VEIN.”** These were amusing and even somewhat endearing little mistakes that gave us a bit of a chuckle. The stories from which they came generally weren’t all that deep and involving, and there usually wasn’t all that much text to begin with, so slight mishaps like these were easily overlooked.

But now, things have changed. We now have video games which more closely resemble interactive films and cartoons than the simple 2-D side-scrolling games of Ye Olde Dayes, and games that are much more rich and involving story-wise. Nowadays, there are many games in which the text and dialogue are by far the game’s main feature, and at the same time the world market for video games has expanded exponentially. With the expansion of the gaming market, the localization industry has also grown considerably. Unfortunately, there are many in the industry who either do not understand or else just plain don’t care about the importance of translating video game text directly from the original Japanese.

When translating/localizing, say, a sports game, there usually isn’t much trouble translating the text into English first and then into FIGS (“F”rench “I”talian “G”erman “S”panish) or other target languages, as most of the terminology used will have exact corresponding translations for each language, and there isn’t much dialogue (as in “conversational speaking parts”, as opposed to menus, rules, announcements, etc.) to begin with anyway. But when it comes to RPGs and other text-heavy genres, failure to translate from the original Japanese can cause significant discrepancies.

One reason for this is that Japanese is basically a “stand alone” language. It isn’t a Romance or Germanic tongue, and apart from a handful of foreign-derived terms its etymology is completely different from any European language. On top of this, the culture of Japan is also completely separate from most of the countries to which its translated/localized games are sent. Therefore, when translating a game from Japanese into any other language, you’re going to have to deal with very subtle and usually completely foreign linguistic nuances and cultural references that can be very tricky to handle. To take it one step further and translate the same game into a 3rd language from the already-translated text is to bring the true intended meaning of the text even further away from the source, when there is a good chance that localizers of the first translation have already been forced to make adjustments to – or even do away with altogether – many of the aforementioned subtleties and nuances. Obviously, this can take away a great deal from the gaming experience, sort of like making a Xerox copy of a Xerox copy of an original painting.

While translating a game from Japanese directly into English may be just fine for the large chunk of gamers in the world who are native speakers of/fluent in English, I feel that the widespread habit of waiting for the English translation of a game to be finished before even starting on translations into other languages is extremely detrimental to the non-English speaker’s gaming experience. Actually it’s downright unfair. People in Lima, Milan, or Moscow pay just as much money on and spend just as much time interacting with video games as someone in San Francisco, London, or Melbourne. It’s not fair that they get the short end of the stick as far as quality and retention of originality are concerned, especially when the technology and manpower required to fix this habit is not only completely feasible but also readily available. Hopefully, with the ever-expanding video game industry and the even more ever-expanding world of the Internet and IT, game developers and distributors will change their ways and start offering everyone an equal gaming experience, regardless whether or not they happened to be born in an English-speaking country.

* - Zero Wing was a game released in Europe in 1991 for the Sega Mega Drive. The game itself wasn’t very well-known, but it’s Engrish-laden opening sequence – featuring the now infamous “ALL YOUR BASES ARE BELONG TO US.” – is now legendary.
** - Admittedly, these examples do not exactly fit with the theme of this article, as these pieces of dialogue actually were translated directly from the original Japanese - only badly. Unfortunately, I’ve only ever played video games in English and Japanese, and was therefore at a loss for relevant examples. Sue me.

Translation-based Smartphone Apps: What’s The Score? (Part 2 of 2)

Awhile back, I mentioned how I had downloaded and tested out a few translation-related apps for the iPhone. This article will serve as a sort of basic review of those apps, and hopefully will also shed some light on the "How will these affect the industry?" subject.

Today, I'd like to review two particular (free) apps: the Infoseek-based "Japanese Translation (Lite)" app; and the wwwJDic (Japanese-English dictionary) app, based on the well-known wwwJDic website by Jim Breen of Monash University. As both of these apps are Japanese/English*-specific, these reviews may not come in extremely handy to translators dealing with other languages, but hopefully they can at least help give you a general idea of the kinds of translation-related apps that are currently out there, as I'd assume that iPhone/smartphone apps particular to other languages probably won't be that far off.

*(The Japanese Translation (Lite) app is actually Japanese-English/Chinese/Portuguese/Korean/French/German/Italian/Spanish, whereas the wwwJDic app is strictly Japanese-English.)

App #1: wwwJDic (Japanese-English dictionary)

The Basics

This app is basically an iPhone-ported version of the popular Japanese-English dictionary website of the same name. Since the dictionary used on the website is arguably one of the best online J-E dictionaries around, this should have been a nifty little app which could be used in a translation pinch or in times when you just can't think of/don't know a particular word and are nowhere near a computer.

Unfortunately, the app does not contain the actual dictionary database - rather, it connects you via the Internet to the website's database - so it's not always exactly lightning quick. In fact, I'm sad to say that about 5-7 out of 10 times I try to translate a word, I get an error message. As far as I can tell, either a LOT of people use this app, thus creating an unbearable load for the servers, or the app was just poorly designed on the tech side. Either way, it's a bit disappointing. (Judging by the App Store comments from other users who purchased this app, I'm not the only one having this problem.)

On the plus side, though, when I am actually able to fully utilize the dictionary, it's pretty much just as good as it's parent version. If only they could do something to fix the stability issues or else somehow include the entire database in the app itself, this would make for a really handy pocket dictionary.

Buy or Don\'t Buy?

Well, it's free, and when it does work it's quite useful, so if you're a Japanese-English translator with an iPhone then why not?

How it will Affect the Industry

Honestly, I'd have to say that this particular app should have virtually no effect on our industry and the way we do our jobs. This has nothing to do with the quality of the app - it's just nothing new or revolutionary.

App #2: Japanese Translation (Lite) (Infoseek-based text translation program)

The Basics

The Japanese Translation ("日本語翻訳LITE") app is - while not nearly as exact or concise as the previously-mentioned wwwJDic dictionary - a relatively useful little app. Put simply, it's an iPhone version of Google Translator or Babelfish, except you can only translate from Japanese into English, Chinese, Portuguese, Korean, French, German, Italian or Spanish, or vice versa, but not exclusively between any of the non-Japanese languages listed. Both single words and whole phrases/blocks of text can be translated.

Overall, this app is OK. I did have some minor issues with it, however. For example, the translation screen consists of two empty spaces, one on top of the other (top = your entered word/phrase, bottom = the translation), with a "Translate" button in between. Theoretically this is perfect, as it's simple, easy to use, and all you really need. Unfortunately, when you attempt to input text to be translated, the pop-up iPhone keyboard tends to get in the way of the Translate button, and according to some of the comments at the App Store, can almost completely obscure the button depending on the languages for which your iPhone is set to display keyboards.

My other issue was with accuracy. Word-to-word translations were generally OK, but like Google Translator (in most cases), you only get one possible translation per word. This means that, for example, were you to try to translate the word "lead" from English into Japanese, you may get the definition for the noun (the metal) or you might get the verb (to lead a battalion, etc.). For someone who has little to no understanding of the language into which they're translating, this can be quite problematic.

Buy or Don't Buy?

This app is also free (there is also a pay version with several extra features, which escape me at the moment), and it isn't by any definition a "garbage app", so if you think you may have a use for it, then go for it.

How it will Affect the Industry

Again, I doubt this will have any significant effect on our industry or how we do our jobs. As with the wwwJDic app, dictionary/translator apps and programs exactly like this have been around on regular cell phones (not to mention the Internet) for years, so I really don’t see this particular one upturning the translation world anytime soon.

Next week, I'll review a couple more of the smartphone apps I've been testing out. This time I'll try to focus on more broad-scale apps (i.e.: not only Japanese-based apps).

Anyone know of any good, helpful apps relating to translation or interpretation? On the other hand, know of any horrible ones that should be avoided at all costs? Let us know in the Forums.

Translation-based Smartphone Apps: What’s The Score? (Part 1 of 2)

Already for some time, with the rise in popularity of the iPhone and other smartphones, there has also been an increase in the number of translation- and language-related applications as well. How – if at all – do these apps affect the translator and his work? I have no idea. So I decided to do a bit of investigative reporting.

As an iPhone owner and translator, I was admittedly a bit worried when confronted with the fact that there was yet ANOTHER thing which may in some way threaten the future of my career/industry/source of income. But then I remembered The Process: this sort of thing pops up pretty much every week, and I write an article about how it will or won’t destroy the translation profession, and then a few days later I forget all about it and nothing whatsoever changes, then I find a new thing to write about.

So I’m going to break this article into two parts: Part 1 – this one – will consist of my completely uninformed opinion regarding smartphone translation apps, without ever having used one nor done research on them, and my predictions as to how they will affect me/my job/your job/the fate of the planet.

Part 2 – not this one – will be written in a few days, after I’ve actually downloaded and experimented with some of these apps, done a bit of research on the subject, and am actually able to formulate an informed opinion on the matter. I will then compare and contrast my uninformed predictions with my newly informed predictions, and see how spot-on – or shamefully off – I was.

So, here’s what I think:

Not much at all.

I don’t mean that as in “I don’t care enough to think about it”. I mean it as in “I really don’t think these apps are going to make much difference/cause many problems as far as translators go at all”. We’ve had Internet-based dictionaries/translation engines, electronic dictionaries/translators, and cell phone-based dictionaries/translators around for years now, and while all of those put together have certainly encouraged some changes – both positive and negative – in the translation industry, I don’t believe that the addition of the same exact product on a slightly different medium is going to have much of an effect on anything at all.

This sentiment is especially applicable if these smartphone translators are anything like the handheld electronic translators I’ve used in the past. I’ve owned a couple of them, and although it was admittedly several years ago, they were basically garbage. Expensive dictionaries that required batteries – that’s about it.

I’m assuming that these smartphone apps are probably closer to the normal PC/Internet-based translation programs/dictionaries out there, though, which means basically the same thing: nothing much will change. This is due to the fact that we already have all of this stuff, and in much more easy-to-use formats; although an iPhone is obviously more portable and less space-eating than an entire PC, it’s much easier to type up long sentences and paragraphs on a proper PC keyboard, as opposed to the tiny, touch-sensitive imaginary keys on a smartphone.

So basically, my hypothesis is this: these apps are probably going to be less than impressive, and will likely have no effect whatsoever on our work as translators. Now, for the actual research to commence...

I’m going to download and try out several of these apps on my iPhone now, and Part 2 of this article should be up in a day or two. How right are my predictions? Will I be proven completely wrong, and be regrettably forced to not only apologize, but also to warn you all that “THEY’RE TAKIN’ OUR JOBS!”?

I doubt it. But we’ll see...

To Be Continued...

Proper Names in Translation

There is one extremely common – and yet easily avoidable – problem that I come across all the time when reviewing translations: the mistranslation of proper names.

It can be rather disheartening when you’re reviewing or proofreading a translation from a translator whose skill level is obviously high, and yet there are tiny, mistakes of this nature sprinkled throughout the text. I’m writing this article in hopes that I can help people to avoid missing out on lucrative job opportunities (as well as to avoid looking amateurish) through easily avoidable and pointless mistakes like these.

When using the Internet to assist with a translation, I’d estimate that 95% of your Internet time is spent on online dictionaries and the like. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this; personally, I rarely use physical dictionaries for translation. However when looking up names of, say, government institutions and such, a dictionary can actually throw you a fake-out. For example, if you try looking up the name of the branch of government that controls roads, trains, etc. in a particular language, you may get “Department of Transportation” – which is what this institution is called in the United States. In Japan, however, the English name is the “Ministry of Transportation”, and in the United Kingdom, this branch is called the “Department for Transport”. While the functions of these particular institutions are fundamentally almost identical, the fact is that the “Ministry of Transportation” and the “Department for Transport” simply do not exist in the United States.

Some people will (and do) make the argument, “But anyone would know what I was referring to, so that doesn’t count as a mistake!”

Seriously?

Does that mean that if I translate a phrase which carries the meaning “Barack Obama is the President of the United States” into English as “Berick Obomah is the boss of the America”, then this shouldn’t be counted against me, either? Yes, the meaning comes across. Yes, most people reading that would know what I was attempting to convey. But the fact remains that it is a mistake. While I do understand that many people would not find the former example to be such a dire error as the latter, they are both still technically wrong.

As I was saying, a dictionary cannot always be relied upon for the proper translation of proper names such as these. When dealing with the names of companies, government offices, etc., such as “ABC Shipping Co., Ltd.” or “Department of Education”, there is one extremely important piece of advice to remember:

GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND. USE IT LIKE IT WAS GOING OUT OF STYLE.

Nowadays, most companies have their own websites – and a very large percentage of companies and corporations have websites in English – and virtually all facets of government in developed countries have their own websites as well. Use Google to track down these sites and find the official name for any company/corporation, government office, legal/professional/royal title, educational facility, or any other institution the name of which may come up in your translation project.

If you happen to be working on a project which involves a very small or new company that doesn’t yet have a website, or maybe even a government office from a smaller or underdeveloped nation which also doesn’t have a website, all is not lost. If worse comes to worst, you can always pick up the phone. I’ve actually had to do this several times in the past – call a company to find out the proper English or Japanese name, or even an embassy to find out how exactly I should translate the legal title of a diplomat or royal family member. It’s a bit of a task, but it will save you from making a mistake that may make it look like you just weren’t trying.

Again, I can’t stress enough the importance of this oft-overlooked facet of translation. There are so many translators out there who have wonderfully honed skills and who would normally be considered quite professional, and who often make the mistake of failing to properly translate a proper name here and there, thus lowering not only their image as professionals, but also chances of receiving bigger, important projects from PMs and outsourcers in the future. Don’t let this happen to you. Researching these proper names usually only takes a minute, and a lot of times it’s the little things like this that really count towards a translator’s good reputation.

Translating Dialects

“Translation” and “dialects” have a rather difficult relationship. Personally, I only speak English, Japanese, and some Spanish, and I know that (to varying levels) all of these languages contain a variety of dialects, and I’m sure that probably almost any language in the world has at least several local or chronological variations of the standard main tongue.

Some dialects may vary only slightly from the standard language (for example, the Osaka and Kyoto dialects in Japanese), and some seem to be a completely different language (Okinawan dialect and, well, the rest of the Japanese language). As for the reason these dialects exist, there are a variety of factors, including country of origin, local region, culture, history, etc. But on top of these dialects, most languages have a set “standard” or “official” dialect, which is used for things such as the news and newspapers, contracts, language arts classes in schools, and in business settings.

Let’s say you are contracted to do a Japanese to English translation – a contract, or a user manual, for example. Of course, the source text will be written in standard Japanese (known as “hyoujungo”), and it goes without saying that the translation you deliver will have to be written in proper English. But what if you’re contracted to translate a comic or book or movie script – and it’s all written in dialect... What do you do then?

This sort of job is relatively rare, but does come in every once in awhile. A long time ago, I was hired to translate the script of a Japanese indie comedy film into English, back when I had just started out as a translator. When I saw the script, I sort of freaked out. This was because about half of the actors’ lines in script were written in extremely thick Osaka dialect. Now this wasn’t a problem for me at all as far as comprehension goes, because I actually learned (REALLY thick) Osaka dialect before I could ever speak standard Japanese, but I was told to “make sure that (I) keep the style and tone of the characters’ respective ways of speaking and diction”. Since English dialects and Japanese dialects are totally different, I was stumped at first. Especially because the very fact that these characters spoke in such thick Osaka dialect, as well as the flow of the dialect itself, was basically the punchline or at least an important component of the majority of the jokes and gags in the film. The problem is, the difference between, say, “American English and British English” is completely different than the difference between “Standard Japanese (or “Tokyo dialect”) and Osaka dialect”, which I assumed meant that there was no way I could translate the script perfectly. After racking my brain for awhile (keep in mind, I had just started out), I came up with an idea: “The ‘standard Japanese characters’ would speak normal, proper English, and I’d have the ‘Osaka dialect’ characters speak with a thick, exaggerated version of the way kids back in my old neighborhood spoke, slang and all.” This not only helped make the translation go a lot more smoothly – it also made the job a lot of fun. (In the end, the client actually really liked the translation and I received a pat on the back, as opposed to having my translation thrown out, as I was kind of afraid would happen.)

Another example that has always stuck in my mind is an old episode of the famous manga “Ranma ½” by Rumiko Takahashi. When I was in high school, I used to watch that show all the time, but unfortunately I could usually only get my hands on the English dubbed versions. I don’t want to sound too much like an “otaku” or anything, but there’s a character in the story named Ryoga Hibiki, who in one particular episode is searching for a place called Nerima Ward in Tokyo. He ends up getting lost, and when he asks an old man on the street which way Nerima Ward is, the old man tells him “Tokyo? This here’s Shikoku!” (an island in the southwest of Japan, several hundred miles from Tokyo and generally considered to be deep in the countryside), in a thick, stereotypical Southern-American accent – as viewed by most non-Southern English speakers. In Japanese, of course, there is no “Southern accent” as we know it, and another viewing of the same episode in the original Japanese later revealed that that particular character actually spoke with a thick, stereotypical Shikoku accent – as viewed by most non-Shikoku-dwelling Japanese people. It was the sudden popping of this memory into my head that gave me the idea for my script translation when I was freaking out about how I was ever going to translate it.

There are some situations in which – even though the source text may be written in some form of dialect – you can just forget about the dialect aspect and translate the text into the standard version of the target language. But in situations such as the one I just mentioned, where you absolutely have to play the dialect card in order to keep the original tone, meaning, or style of the original, it’s necessary to think not only about the relationship between “one language and another”, but also “one dialect and another” as well. Of course, this problem doesn’t present itself when translating contracts, patents, etc., but every once in awhile you’ll find yourself translating a comic or book or something similar, when you’ll need to deal with dialects. Well, I say “need to”, but personally I find it to be fun to translate in and out of dialects every once in awhile, and it’s a good way to learn more about your language pair as well.

But for reals though, you hella couldn’t even do that for, like, some kinda article or whatever that you’re fittin’ to like, you know, post all up on a Website or whatever, dude. Cuz that would just end up looking all busted and broke and stuff, you feel what I’m saying, man?

Oops...

Tips for Being a Good Project Manager

Here are a few pointers to help you be a good Project Manager.

Being a translator can be tough – especially for a freelance translator. Getting stuck with a bad project manager can really be a downer for a translator, and this can cause drops in quality and reliability as well as lessen chances of getting to work with a good translator again in the future. Here are a few pointers – in no particular order - for being a good PM:

1) Remember your manners, as well as your place.

You are not the translator’s boss. You are his or her “manager”, and only temporarily at that. Don’t talk down to the translator, or order them around as if you own them. Remember: whereas an employee of a company usually has no recourse but to quit their job if they don’t like dealing with a particular manager for being bossy and rude, a freelance translator has the choice to never work with you again. Also, PM or not, do you really need someone to remind you not to be a jerk...?

2) Reply to inquiries and requests ASAP.

Many project managers - after contracting a translator for a particular job – basically just give up on communicating with the translator until the project deadline, ignoring questions and confirmation mails/phone calls. Not only is this just plain rude, but it can also cause a translator to feel uneasy and suspicious. When I was working as a freelance translator, I would often receive a job from a PM and then receive no word from them whatsoever after sending my confirmation mail. This would make me wonder... Am I really going to get paid? Is this even a real company? Or is it just some guy looking for someone to do his homework for him? It is especially important to answer any questions relating to the project that the translator may have to the best of your ability. Don’t forget that - as a PM – if you turn in a translation of poor quality, then that poor quality will reflect on you and your company in the eyes of the client.

3) Keep open lines of communication with not only the translator, but the client as well.

If a translator has a question regarding his or her assigned project, it is important that you be able to relay that question to the client, as it may affect the entire outcome of the project. This means that you need to try to the best of your ability (depending on the client and the project, this is not always possible) to keep open lines of communication with clients. This is not only for the sake of the translator and the translation itself, but for your company and your company’s profits. Think about it from the translator’s point of view discussed above: if you receive a job from a client and can’t seem to get ahold of them after accepting the job, how sure can you be that they’re actually going to pay you on time? Or at all? Whenever possible, try to get not only an email address but also a physical postal address and a telephone number for any clients you work with, and be sure to extend them the same courtesy and respect that you would expect from a translator. This will not only help to let you feel more at ease, but also to build a stronger, more trusting relationship with important clients.

4) Be sure to keep track of all aspects of your projects thoroughly.

Who translated this project? When is it due? Was it turned in on time? Who was the client? How much are you receiving? How much are you paying the translator? When will the payment come in? When are you scheduled to pay the translator? How was the quality of the translation? Were there any additions or changes? What was the format? What were the source and target languages? What was the name of the source file? Was it proofread? Who proofread it? How much are you paying them? These are all important aspects of any job, and should be managed and recorded thoroughly. Failing to handle this part of the job could cost you translators, clients, and most importantly: money.

Of course, there are many more aspects of the PM job that deserve attention and care, but these are some of the most important.

Happy Project Managing!

The Weird Side of Translation - The Voynich Manuscript

Part I – The Voynich Manuscript To kickoff this series, I’ve decided to introduce my own personal favorite of the genre: the Voynich manuscript.

The Voynich manuscript is one of the most famous and controversial “mystery texts” in the world, and to this day linguists, historians, and cryptographers have yet to find any solid proof of – or even real hint toward - its origins, meaning, cultural or religious significance, or purpose. In fact, it is widely debated whether or not this 240-page document actually even carries any meaning at all: many scholars dismiss it totally as a complete and utter hoax, created by an attention-monger or prankster, and some offer the theory that it is actually what was known as an “alchemical herbal” – a meaningless text, seemingly encoded or of archaic or mystical origin, that doctors would use to fool and impress gullible patients and clients. On the other hand, some claim that it is not only meaningful, but that it contains all sorts of important wisdom, magicks, and secrets of the ages. Personally, I dig the font.

Before I get into the content of the Voynich manuscript, I’d like to discuss the history of the thing. The origins of not only the writing system but the manuscript itself are still a mystery, and there are several theories as to where, when, and from whom it may have originated, but the name of the document was taken from one Wilfrid M. Voynich (1865-1930, born Michal Habdank-Wojnicz), a Polish revolutionary who owned and ran bookshops in London and later in New York. Voynich was said to have come into possession of the manuscript in 1912 via the Jesuits at the Villa Mondragone, which contained the Jesuits’ Ghislieri College, in what is now known as the territory of Monte Porzio Catone in Italy. The manuscript was thought to have been part of the large collection of books and other writings owned by Petrus Beckx, rector of the Collegio Romano, which was brought to the Villa Mondragone in 1870. There are virtually no records whatsoever of the manuscript during its tenure in the Collegio Romano library, and so it is generally believed that the book was filed away at random and most likely forgotten after Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher brought it there in 1666. Kirchner had received the manuscript from his friend Jan Marek Marci (Johannes Marcus Marci, rector of Charles University in Prague), who in turn had inherited it upon the death of his close friend, a little-known alchemist named Georg Baresch, sometime before 1662. Little is known about Baresch, and the history of the manuscript before this point becomes fuzzy, but it was thought to have been possessed by a man named Jacobus Horcicky de Tepenec. Horcicky was personal physician to and director of the botanical gardens of Emperor Rudolph II of Bohemia, and probably owned the book sometime between 1608 and 1622. Although there are several theories and speculations, the history of the Voynich manuscript prior to this point is a complete mystery.

Now, for the most puzzling part of all: the contents of the manuscript.

The Voynich manuscript is thought to have originally consisted of 272 vellum pages, divided into 17 quires; each quire containing 16 pages. Today, only about 240 pages are officially counted for, and it is not clear what happened to the rest of the document. The pages were apparently numbered sometime after the manuscript’s creation, and it is probable that the pages were previously arranged in a different order and put into their current order by persons unknown, for reasons unknown.
The manuscript contains a mix of text and illustrations, with most of the pages (save the final portion of the document) containing at least one illustration; usually several. The text consists of more than 170,000 “letters”, or “glyphs”, which can be seen to have been written from left to right and are divided into approximately 35,000 words (or at least what appear to be “words”). Assuming that the text actually carries some sort of meaning, and is an actual language – or some sort of variation or code representing an actual language – the letter-glyphs can be broken down into an “alphabet” of between 20 and 30 characters, with a few dozen special characters which only appear once or twice throughout the manuscript. While the text is completely devoid of any sort of clear punctuation, most of the lengthier sections appear to be divided into paragraphs.

According to statistical analysis of the document, there are some aspects that back up the assumption that the text actually carries meaning, such as linguistic patterns similar to Romance and Germanic languages. For example: some characters must always be contained in a “word”, much like English vowels; some characters are never doubled; and some characters never follow others. In addition, there are many words which appear numerous times throughout the document, while some words only appear once or twice, usually within the same section, which I’ll explain next. The entire document can basically be divided into six sections. These are known as the Herbal, Astronomical, Biological, Cosmological, Pharmaceutical, and Recipes sections. To borrow from the Wikipedia page on the Voynich manuscript, the contents of the sections are as follows:

1. Herbal: Each page displays one plant (sometimes two) and a few paragraphs of text—a format typical of European herbals of the time. Some parts of these drawings are larger and cleaner copies of sketches seen in the \"pharmaceutical\" section (below). None of the plants depicted is unambiguously identifiable.

2. Astronomical: Contains circular diagrams, some of them with suns, moons, and stars, suggestive of astronomy or astrology. One series of 12 diagrams depicts conventional symbols for the zodiacal constellations (two fish for Pisces, a bull for Taurus, a hunter with crossbow for Sagittarius, etc.). Each of these has 30 women figures arranged in two or more concentring bands. Most of the females are at least partly naked, and each holds what appears to be a labeled star or is shown with the star attached by what could be a tether or cord of some kind to either arm. The last two pages of this section (Aquarius and Capricornus, roughly January and February) were lost, while Aries and Taurus are split into four paired diagrams with 15 women and 15 stars each. Some of these diagrams are on fold-out pages.

3. Biological: A dense continuous text interspersed with figures, mostly showing small naked women bathing in pools or tubs connected by an elaborate network of pipes, some of them clearly shaped like body organs. Some of the women wear crowns. Cosmological: More circular diagrams, but of obscure nature. This section also has foldouts; one of them spans six pages and contains a map or diagram, with nine \"islands\" connected by \"causeways\", castles, and what may be a volcano.

4. Pharmaceutical: Many labeled drawings of isolated plant parts (roots, leaves, etc.); objects resembling apothecary jars drawn along the margins; and a few text paragraphs.

5. Recipes: Many short paragraphs, each marked with a flower- or star-like \"bullet\". (Note: The “Recipes” section is the only section which does not contain any illustrations.)

As mentioned above, each section has – for the most part - a relatively distinct set of illustrations, which were the main factor in the contemporary naming of the manuscript’s parts. Actually, if it weren’t for these illustrations, no one would have had any idea what to call these sections at all, seeing as how to this day not a single character of the manuscript has been decrypted. Over the past four centuries, many cryptographers, linguists, and scholars of all sorts have made attempts not only to translate the manuscript, but to find the answers to two major questions: WHO wrote it? And just as importantly, WHY?

Some names that have been thrown around over the centuries include Roger Bacon, Franciscan friar and renowned “Renaissance man”; John Dee, mathematician and astrologer; Edward Kelley, alchemist and probable pathological liar; and even Wilfrid Voynich himself. It should be noted, however, that most of these men – especially Bacon and Voynich – have been all but disproven to be the authors of the manuscript for various and extremely convincing reasons. The author/illustrator of this document remains just as much a mystery as its contents, purpose, and origin.

I could go on forever about this manuscript, from the different dating and analysis techniques used over the years to try to unlock the secrets of its origin, to the dozens of famous cryptographers and historians who have tried – and failed, every last one – to translate it, and from the theories put forth that the document is a complete hoax to the hundreds of tiny pieces of compelling evidence that act to either back up or disprove these theories, but I would need my own website - or probably my own server, actually - in order to make any sort of complete record of these. As stated earlier, this is one of the most mysterious and confounding pieces of (possible) literature ever discovered, and it has captivated me for years.

It’s a saddening fact that we will probably never get to know what is actually written in this manuscript, but then again, I must admit that I would be quite disappointed to know for certain that it was a fake, or, even worse, that the content was boring and mundane. I hope that I’ve managed to spark interest in this manuscript and its mysteries in at least a few people, and if not, well - this sort of field of study isn’t exactly for everyone. Much more information regarding the Voynich manuscript can be found online and in libraries around the world, and the original itself is currently being stored in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University as item "MS 408" (to which it was donated by antique book dealer Hans P. Kraus in 1969, after being inherited by Voynich’s wife Ethel after his death in 1930, and subsequently inherited by her acquaintance Anne Nill, who later sold it to Kraus), where it will most likely remain for a long time, periodically being examined and studied by various modern day scholars, who will no doubt leave just as confused and empty-handed as their predecessors. One can only hope – especially because one probably doesn’t have the time, resources, or motivation necessary to actually stand a chance at decoding this crazy thing.