New program, GUI, Readme, Help, Support Forum... All in Japanese(?). Actually, the GUI is about half English. The rest is not Japanese; it looks almost like random keystrokes.
Here is a segment from the "Help" file:

　・自動でＩｎｄｅｘ（再生時、スライダーが使用できる）を付加します。
　　Ver1.0.2.0より、DLしたコンテンツに自動でIndex 付加する機能を追加しています。
　　過去にDLしたコンテンツにも極力Indeが付加できる ように、メニューに”Indexを付

This "Paste" is not the same as the section I just made the "Copy" from. The symbols changed from copy to paste. The original looks much more like a very long UPC product code (series of parallel thin and thick lines) with some English and Greek letters and Japanese symbols like "･" thrown in here and there.
Here's a sample from the "Readme":

　・ネットで公開されているＡＳＦストーミングデータ（動画／音声）をローカルＰＣ
　　にダウンロードするソフトです。
　　最近は、ノーマルコンテンツもダウンロードするようになって来ています。

This also changed between copy and paste. The original has squares, where the paste has the " ". And this is very interesting. Some of the symbols (I assume) you see are slightly different than those I pasted in the post when I composed it a moment ago. So these symbols have actually metamorphosed two more times going from my screen to writing/editing the post to displaying the final post on you screen. This is on top of the previous changes I mentioned. That's pretty wierd, you have to admit. Both, technically and the whole gestalt. So, question #1, How do I translate/decipher this... code? And question B, why should I have any confidence that the translation would be even minimally accurate?

I've seen this program work in a simple demonstration. I would use it if it does all it's supposed to do. It's small, efficient, apparently simple to use (if, well, you know...) and it's in active development. Slightly improved versions come out almost monthly. But, I want to understand at least the basics before letting it loose. This program is from Japan, definitely. It's called GAS, for recording streaming media. There are others in English, like StreamBox VCR, but this one is said to be better, "handles virtually all MS video and audio streaming protocols with ease". I found it at http://www.urltrim.com/ct/t.php?l=77. It has a support forum. The google translator does not do as well with Japanese as it does with some European languages. I can understand some of it (or think I can, which may be more dangerous than if I couldn't read a word). Syntax and sentence structure are so different.

So there's the immediate question. What language/code/heiroglyphics is this stuff, the "Readme" and the "Help" file? And how do I get it accurately translated into English?

But the big question is how do we do this, all of us, communicate to one another around the world? Actually communicate. When I can't even transfer the same symbols (undecipherable to me in both cases) between copy and paste on my own screen?.

I emailed a fellow in Germany the other day. His programs and support are entirely in German. I sent the note in German. I wrote it in English, put it through Babelfish, English -> German, pasted the result in the email and felt pretty accomplished. But today, I haven't heard back, so I reversed the process. I copied the German from my email, put it through Babelfish, German -> English, to see what it said. I could hardly read it! My own note! The Fellow probably thinks I'm nuts, and I'll never hear back from him.

Gee, do you think this question has ever come up before, or I am I the first to ask it? How are we going to do this, fellow Babylonians?
Rob