Got lucky and won the bid for a Alphard Hybrid Van (Great Freaking car ). Its got all the extras, and I mean ALL. Unfortunately only got a User Manual(actually two manuals) in Thai . That's better than nothing(Alphard Hybrid is grey market in Thailand so I'm pleasantly surprised that the manual is available in Thai).

Unfortunately my thai is not very good so I wanted to do some automatic(computer mediated) translation.

Does anyone know of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software for the thai language. I would translate the manuals into english using a process such as :

1. Digital photographs of Manual pages

2. Run through OCR software

3. Run through Thai-English translation software

4. Error correct and iterate...

Some Thai OCR software and Thai-English translation software are all that I'll need.

Anyone got some ideas on this?

Thanks

P.S.: Topic should read "OCR" instead of Ocr

Edited November 20, 200817 yr by phormio

A 180 Baht this has to be worth a look http://www.thaisoftware.co.th/index.php?tpid=pro:NEC-0006

Wouldn't it be easier to try and buy a manual or a copy of one on eBay or Amazon something?

I think this car is available in New Zealand and Australia so English language manuals would be out there somewhere, maybe find a motoring forum in one of those countries?

Got lucky and won the bid for a Alphard Hybrid Van (Great Freaking car ). Its got all the extras, and I mean ALL. Unfortunately only got a User Manual(actually two manuals) in Thai . That's better than nothing(Alphard Hybrid is grey market in Thailand so I'm pleasantly surprised that the manual is available in Thai).

Unfortunately my thai is not very good so I wanted to do some automatic(computer mediated) translation.

Does anyone know of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software for the thai language. I would translate the manuals into english using a process such as :

1. Digital photographs of Manual pages

2. Run through OCR software

3. Run through Thai-English translation software

4. Error correct and iterate...

Some Thai OCR software and Thai-English translation software are all that I'll need.

Anyone got some ideas on this?

Thanks

P.S.: Topic should read "OCR" instead of Ocr

There is a name for this sort of translation, backtranslating or something, and when a piece comes up on the language forum it is almost impossible to put back into English which bears any relationship to the original. Technical work might be a little

easier but I would definitely try for an original.

Wouldn't it be easier to try and buy a manual or a copy of one on eBay or Amazon something?

I think this car is available in New Zealand and Australia so English language manuals would be out there somewhere, maybe find a motoring forum in one of those countries?

I don't believe this car is available in NZ or AUZ(except for grey market, like here) - I've looked around on the net and asked, and have not been able to find one.

Using OCR technology for word-to-word translation may be OK in the context of car user manual. Though its a lot of work - I'll try a few pages to see how if it'll work at all.

That is if I can get a decent Thai OCR platform.

Try contacting the manafacturer and ask them if they can send you one.

Worked for me.