Multilingual Support

Japanese, English, and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) interfaces, switchable in Settings

日本語 English 简体中文 繁體中文

Screenshots were captured on Linux. Apart from the four interface examples under Each Language, they use the English interface.

Each Language

Each screenshot shows the same Japanese game record under Consideration

1 日本語 (Japanese)

Menus, buttons, and tabs appear in Japanese. Moves use Japanese notation (such as ▲２六歩), and board ranks are 一 to 九.

ShogiBoardQ Japanese interface

Japanese interface: a Japanese game record under Consideration

2 English

Menus (File, Edit, View, Game, Settings, Help) and tab names (Game Info, Thinking, Consideration, and so on) appear in English. Moves use Western notation (such as ▲P-2f), and board ranks are a to i.

ShogiBoardQ English interface

English interface: a Japanese game record under Consideration

3 简体中文 (Simplified Chinese)

Menus and tab names appear in Simplified Chinese. Moves keep Japanese notation, including the piece names and symbols such as 同, 成, and 打.

ShogiBoardQ Simplified Chinese interface

Simplified Chinese interface: a Japanese game record under Consideration

4 繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese)

Menus and tab names appear in Traditional Chinese with Taiwanese terminology. As with Simplified Chinese, moves keep Japanese notation.

ShogiBoardQ Traditional Chinese interface

Traditional Chinese interface: a Japanese game record under Consideration

Switching the Language

Choose the interface language from Settings → Language

1 Open the Language Menu

Choose Settings → Language in the menu bar. In the Japanese interface, it is 設定 → 言語設定.

  • Use System Default: Japanese if the operating system language is Japanese, Simplified or Traditional Chinese if it is Chinese, and English otherwise.
  • Japanese (日本語)
  • English
  • 简体中文 (Simplified Chinese)
  • 繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese)
Settings → Language menu

Settings → Language: the current language is marked with ●

2 Restart to Apply

After you choose a language, a message asks you to restart. When you restart the application, menus, dialogs, tab names, and buttons all appear in the new language.

Move Notation and Board Coordinates

Choose the move notation separately from the interface language

1 Choose Move Notation and Board Coordinates

Choose it from Settings → Move notation and board coordinates. Changes take effect after a restart.

  • Follow UI language: Japanese notation in the Japanese and Chinese interfaces, and Western notation in the English interface.
  • Japanese (▲７六歩; ranks 一–九)
  • Western (▲P-7f; ranks a–i)
  • Always show origin in Western notation: by default, Western notation shows the origin only when it is needed to distinguish moves.
Settings → Move notation and board coordinates menu

Settings → Move notation and board coordinates

2 Reading Western Notation
  • Pieces: K=king, R=rook, B=bishop, G=gold, S=silver, N=knight, L=lance, P=pawn. Examples: ▲P-7f, △Bx8h+, ▲P*5e.
  • A leading + marks a promoted piece; a trailing + means promotion, = declines promotion, x captures, and * drops a piece. [+] marks a branch in the game record.
  • Files are 1–9 and ranks are a–i (Japanese notation uses 一–九 for ranks). Flipping the board does not change square coordinates.
  • Tooltips always show the origin.
3 Show the Notation Guide

Choose Move notation and board coordinates → Reading move notation… to see the notation guide at any time.

Notation guide

The Reading move notation… guide

Original Text and Save Formats

Changing the language or notation does not change the game record itself

1 Game Information Keeps the Original Text

Player names, event names, comments, and unknown fields are shown in their original text without translation. Known game information labels, handicaps, and values such as unlimited time are translated for display only; editing works with the original strings.

Game Info with translated labels and original names and event

Game Info: labels and the handicap are translated; player and event names keep the original text

2 Shared Save Formats

Every language uses the KIF, KI2, CSA, JKF, USI, and USEN formats for saving and copying game records. KIF and KI2 moves are written in Japanese. There is no save format specific to Western notation.

Notes

With Use System Default, the language depends on the environment ShogiBoardQ starts in

1 If ShogiBoardQ Starts in an Unexpected Language

With Use System Default, ShogiBoardQ chooses the language from the environment variables it was started with. On Linux, LANGUAGE, LC_ALL, LC_MESSAGES, and LANG take priority in that order. Even if your desktop uses another language, ShogiBoardQ starts in English when the program that launches it sets these variables to English.

  • Resetting settings: Settings → Reset Settings to Defaults… also resets the language to Use System Default. Even if you had chosen a language, ShogiBoardQ then uses the language of the environment it starts in.
  • Running from Qt Creator: To keep build output in English, Qt Creator adds LANGUAGE=en_US:en and LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8 to the build environment. If the run configuration still uses Build Environment as its base environment (the Qt Creator default), ShogiBoardQ inherits these variables and starts in English. In Projects → Run → Environment, set Base environment for this run configuration to System Environment.
  • To always use the same language: Choose a language under Language. Your choice stays until you reset the settings.
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