Seriously, people. It's not even that difficult to find. I mean, if you can find the link to the Message Board, then you can find the links to the Getting Started and FAQ sections.

To answer your questions more directly, they're all answered in the FAQ. -_-

well, what eles could you expect from a noob like me?  :beer:

thanks

It won't work.

You have to know both the on-yomi and the kun-yomi for about a 1000 base Kanji before you can begin reading. Then, after that, you can consider translating.

I've tried what you're doing myself as a way to learn japanese but it's not that simple.

I think you're first problem is your mentality. Being in the "I'm just a n00b and I ask stupid questions" mindset is only going to hinder you. You're translating a ROM, and not having any experience just means that you'll have to figure a few things out. Some things you can learn from a document, but others you'll just have to learn for yourself.

As for your question, I believe you're looking for script dumping and insertion. I haven't done translating myself, but I'm sure if you searched for it on Google or even in the Documents section here at RHDN you'd find a pointer or two. Keep in mind, though, that there's more to translating a ROM than translating the text. Often you have to mess around with the pointers to make room for more text, design a font for your text (unless one already exists), and be able to identify small, complicated kanji (assuming the game is Japanese).

Have a little more faith in yourself, and do some research on your own before asking here. Consider it practice for ROM hacking.

Excellent point. Translating まほう into "Magic" isn't tough (just a simple text hack, as long as you have at least 5 characters to work with), but trying to translate entire dialogs correctly is an entirely different story. Some people just get by with the basics (items, menu options, names, some magic/ability names and such), but to do a full-blown translation you'll need a good grasp of grammar. It helps to have someone who speaks the source language (preferably a native speaker or an instructor) to double-check your work.

The other thing that people conveniently AREN'T mentioning is that a lot of romhackers don't actually know Japanese. I for one am competent enough to be able to play a game in Japanese and to understand katakana words, a few of the hiragana phrases and a couple of kanji, but that's about it. I get people who DO know the language to do the actual translation for me.

You want to look at script dumping (romjuice), reinsertion (atlas), and changing pointers. If you can change text and understand tables without our help, you're already ahead of the curve.

how is this scenario?

after i learn to get the text out and put it back, I think i'll start translating some english game to russian or latvian language, to practice hacking n stuff. then i'll take the japanese game, get the text out and search for a translator? is this what i should do?

to get the text out of a japanese game do i need to know japanese (at least reading)?