Re: [tlug] Latex for translation

[Jens Oliver John <lists@example.com>]

On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 06:23:30PM +0900, Brian Chandler wrote:
> I recently took a translation job of a ronbun: to my astonishment, 
> perhaps for the first time in 25 years, the customer apologised for not 
> having a MS-whirred file. And I said "Yes I can do Latex" (just guessing).
> 
> I can edit the file, easy, but I get all sorts of errors trying to 
> "compile" it: as far as I can see this is all about "literally" millions 
> of "packages" which I might or might not have. The source starts with
> 
> \documentclass{jarticle}
> 
> and it said "jarticle.cls not found". So I changed it to "article" and 
> this went away. Trouble is his goes on and on - now it can't find 
> "proof.sty". I don't know whether this is something I should have been 
> given or what.

Both files are part of the TeXLive distribution. In Debian Sid, the file
proof.sty is part of the package texlive-latex-extra, jarticle.cls is part of
texlive-lang-cjk. In general, the j* classes contain code that handles specific
idiosyncrasies of pertaining to Japanese typography and should be preferred over
the standard classes when typesetting Japanese text. To avoid missing package
errors, you could pull in a complete TeXLive if you don't know exactly how it is
packaged in your distribution.

> Can anyone suggest my best approach - either how I 
> untangle this myself, or if anyone could perhaps look at the header and 
> say "You need to change A B and C" or "You need to ask the author for X 
> and Y". In particular if anyone has ideas on handling translating Latex 
> docs from Japanese to English.

I would make my definite answer dependent on what you need in the end: a pure
English (or so) language document or a mixed-scripts document with both Japanese
and English text. In both cases, there are multiple ways using different TeX
engines, and fine-tuning in respect to what is possible regarding fonts,
adherence to Japanese typography rules and such can become quite involved if
desired. A good (or even best) general reference for LaTeX + Japanese is I think
the TeX Wiki[0]. It has many examples on how to make Japanese + TeX work.

I myself often write Japanese or Japanese + Latin script documents in LaTeX. I
employ usually one of the following workflows. Each has its own advantages and
drawbacks:

  - pdflatex + CJK package
    http://oku.edu.mie-u.ac.jp/~okumura/texwiki/?LaTeX-CJK

  - xelatex + xeCJK package
    http://oku.edu.mie-u.ac.jp/~okumura/texwiki/?xeCJK

  - lualatex + luatex-ja package
    http://oku.edu.mie-u.ac.jp/~okumura/texwiki/?LuaTeX-ja

  - uplatex or platex: These are special TeX implementations as they were
    specifically adapted for Japanese typography. They deliver the best results
    for Japanese typography, but function differently in some aspects when
    compared to the more general-purpose implementations above.

Your current employer's workflow probably uses one of these, and maybe he set
some requirements? What specific kind of output/document do you need?

If you want, I can help with adapting the existing files. Also, I can provide
sample headers from my own documents for each of the above workflows.

Best regards,
Jens.

--
[0]: http://oku.edu.mie-u.ac.jp/~okumura/texwiki/

> 
> Thanks in advance
> Brian Chandler
> 
> 
> 
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