Baka-Tsuki:About - Baka-Tsuki (2024)

This page is a DRAFT.

Please use caution. There many be inaccurate or incomplete material.

Baka-Tsuki (BT) is a fan translation community that hosts translations for light novels in the Wiki format. Founded in 2006 by thelastguardian, Baka-Tsuki has since expanded to become the largest fan-based English light novel agglomerate on the Internet. Apart from physically hosting 257 projects in 29 different languages, Baka-Tsuki aims to promote the popularity of light novels and serve as a hub to connect readers with fan translations of East Asian light novels on the Internet.

Baka-Tsuki is not a translation group. Independent translators come to Baka-Tsuki and voluntarily upload their translations to the Wiki for public sharing. Baka-Tsuki does not control what translators choose to translate or how fast they translate. Do not ask when the next chapter will be updated.

All materials' copyrights are reserved by their respective authors and the associated publishers. Works will be deleted upon request by copyright holders.

History

The Suzumiya Haruhi translation project was started on November 11, 2005 by "Big Boss" thelastguardian, which he stated was his "favourite" novel series. He loved it so much that he wanted to share with others, and pushed the first translated chapter by December 24, 2005, to a silent reception. Unfortunately, time and personal commitments forced his hands and he regretfully had to put that work aside.

Fast forward to April 15, 2006, when KyoAni aired an anime based on the Suzumiya Haruhi novel series. Sensing a shift in the tide, the "Big Boss" moved his work to the still new wiki format and, in order to encourage new people to help him bring this series to the world, formed the Baka-Tsuki Translation Group. Soon afterwards, Baka-Tsuki expanded to include numerous other light novels.

In 2008, Baka-Tsuki's two largest projects at the time, Suzumiya Haruhi and , were licensed by English publishers. As per Baka-Tsuki policy, the licensed material was removed from the site and the projects were declared abandoned. Since 2010, Baka-Tsuki has experienced an extensive administrative shift due to the number of retiring staff, and has evolved from a formal Translation Group to a decentralized Translation Community.

Today, Baka-Tsuki is a vastly different body than the original core group of Haruhists; it is now stronger, more diverse, and growing faster than ever before.

Organization

Baka-Tsuki is Not a Translation Group

Baka-Tsuki differs from your typical fan translation group in several important ways.

1. We are not a rigidly cohesive group. Rather, we are a collection of people who hold roughly similar interests. There is little in the way of control structure or specialized tasks, and we are very open to anyone who wishes to come and go.
2. We deal exclusively in the "novels" genre, which is somewhat rare since most groups focus on anime and manga.
3. Unlike other fan translation groups, we do not "release" anything. All of our translations exist on the Baka-Tsuki Wiki page, and are always open for discussion and revision.

Due to these unique traits, Baka-Tsuki is viewed by its members to be a fan translation community rather than a group, and we welcome anyone who wants to join us.

Administrative Hierarchy

See Baka-Tsuki Administrative Hierarchy

Translation Projects

See List of Approved Baka-Tsuki Translation Projects

See List of Baka-Tsuki Teasers

Valid Projects

Any unlicensed light novel originally published in Japanese, Korean, or Chinese can be a valid project on Baka-Tsuki.^[1] Baka-Tsuki accepts visual novel projects, and in special situations, original light novels as well.

Translations are accepted from all varieties of raw sources and languages. Second-hand fan translations (Japanese -> Chinese -> English) are generally also allowed, unless explicitly prohibited by specific Project Managers. Please consult with Project Managers prior to joining a project.

Translations posted on Baka-Tsuki must be a contributor's own original work. Otherwise written permission must be obtained from the original translator to host the material.

Affiliated and Hosted Projects

See Affiliated and Hosted Projects

As a hub for light novel translations on the internet, Baka-Tsuki is interested in networking with external light novel translation groups to promote the general popularity of light novels in the English-speaking world. Please contact a Wiki Supervisor for more information.

Removal and Abandoning of Projects

Fan translations hosted by Baka-Tsuki may be removed and projects may be declared formally abandoned without warning.

The most common reason a translation may be removed from the Wiki is that a light novel series has been licensed by an English (or Alternative Language) Publisher. Baka-Tsuki Administration considers how quickly and much material will be removed on a case-by-case basis.

All decisions are final, so please do not complain. We are most interested in preserving the integrity of Baka-Tsuki as a site, and we're sure you wouldn't like to see us shut down from a DCMA Takedown Notice.

Rules

See Rules and Guidelines

Baka-Tsuki Media Platforms

The Wiki

All light novel translations are hosted on the Wiki (powered by MediaWiki version 1.35.2 (58fbcac)). Baka-Tsuki pioneered the MediaWiki platform as a public fan translation interface open to virtually all contributors. To protect against vandalism, each revision of every page is stored in the MediaWiki system, and differences between each edit are readily traceable and revertible. New Wiki users are encouraged to register an account and read the New Member Guide.

Recent updates to all English projects are tracked at our twitter and official Facebook page. Feedback and suggestions for the improvement of the Wiki should be directed to the forums.

Because of server downtime and maintenance, the Baka-Tsuki will occasionally become inaccessible to readers several times every month. Please recognize that this is a normal occurrence, and the server is usually back up running within 24 hours. We apologize in advance for the inconvenience.

Offline Media: PDFs and EPUBs

• Some Wiki projects offer download links to PDFs and EPUBs that contributors have generated and shared with the Baka-Tsuki community.
• It is also possible to export individual Wiki pages as a PDF or EPUB using the "Download as PDF" option on the "Print/Export" section of the left sidebar. The Book Creator is another effective alternative for generating your own PDFs and EPUBs.

Several of our members have graciously developed wonderful tools for offline reading of Baka-Tsuki content. Please thank them for their contributions and hard work.

• The official E-PUB Generator is an application developed by Baka-Tsuki member Simon. It is a very useful tool for generating E-PUBs of Baka-Tsuki translations for your Android, iPhone, and other mobile devices. Feedback for the E-PUB generator should be made here.

Android App: Baka-Reader EX

The official android application for reading novels, that can be found on Baka-Tsuki, on your mobile devices. Developed by Erakk and Nandaka as a replacement for BakaReader by andyrobo123. Currently supporting English, French, Indonesian and Polish translations. The project is Open Source and can be accessed on GitHub. If you wish to contribute and/or find any bugs in the software, be sure to comment in the Forums and/or open an issue on GitHub.

Community

Wiki Changelog

SECTION TBA (pending writing)

• TO DO: Write about Forum
• TO DO: Write about Facebook Group
• TO DO: Write about Blog
• TO DO: Write about Twitter
• TO DO: Write about IRC (and relevant channels)

Staff List

SECTION TBA (pending writing)

• Will be a transclude from another page that lists staff

References