Baka-Tsuki:About
Baka-Tsuki (BT) is a fan translation community that hosts translations for Japanese 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 over 130 projects in 0 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 World Wide Web.
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, 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 Spice & Wolf, were licensed by English publishers. As per Baka-Tsuki policy, the licensed material was removed from Baka-Tsuki and the projects were declared abandoned. Since 2010, Baka-Tsuki has experienced an extensive administrative shift due to the number of retiring staff, and Baka-Tsuki 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, but it 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.
- 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.
- We deal exclusively in the "novels" genre, which is somewhat rare since most groups focus on anime and manga.
- 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
Project Life Cycle
Every new project on Baka-Tsuki starts out as a Teaser Project, and must undergo the New Project Startup Guidelines. A Teaser Feedback Page is typically created in the Baka-Tsuki Forums at this stage.
After one full chapter is translated, and the project obtains a Project Translator willing to continue translating the project (and a Project Supervisor), it is upgraded to the Full Project. Currently, all full projects are listed the Sidebar. From this stage, the Project Supervisor is fully responsible for all activities and issues relating to the project.
If a project ever reaches 12 months of inactivity, it is categorized as a Stalled Project.
If an English or alternative language publisher licenses the novel of a project, the Baka-Tsuki hosted translations are deleted by the release of the first volume by the publisher at the very latest. (Baka-Tsuki reserves the right to delete licensed translations earlier and without warning). At this point, it is categorized as an Abandoned Project.
Affiliated and Hosted Projects
coming soon
Rules
Project List and Related Resources
coming soon.
Community
coming soon.
Staff List
coming soon.
