Final Fantasy XI has an auto-translating function to bridge the language divide between Japanese players and English speaking players. Text entered using this feature will appear in Japanese to those using the JP version of the game and in English to those using NA or EU version. Players are not able to add words or phrases but there is a list of items that rotate depending on the player.
Using the Auto-Translate
There are two ways to input text: auto-complete or through a category search.
Auto-complete
When entering text in the game you can always press the Tab Button to activate the auto-complete. This will open up a menu which will give you all the words and phrases that start with the letters you have already entered.
Category Search
Choosing a bracketted word from the auto-complete menu, or pressing tab without any previous input will trigger the category menu to be displayed, which consists of 38 original categories. Choosing one of these will then open up a sub-menu of words or phrases pertaining to the category.
After you have already selected a word it will show in your input bar with {colored brackets} signifying that it is an auto-translated word; if you delete or modify any part of this word the brackets will disappear and it will no longer be translated.
This category contains entries based solely on the Key Items you currently have.
Items (varies)
This list of items changes constantly. With a maximum capacity of 200, it is populated as you view items in your inventory, equipment slots, bazaars, and the auction house, and when you see an auto-translated item name in chat. The items appear in alphabetical order, but the game maintains some kind of internal queue (FIFO) structure to replace the oldest items with new ones when it is full. Items currently in your inventory will always stay in this list. If you have already used the translation of an Item in the list, it will then allow you to use the auto-complete feature on that item if you wish to type it again for translation.
Trivia
The auto-translate function was first introduced in the October 21, 2003 version update to coincide with the North American PC release of FFXI.
The green and red parentheses that denote the start and end of an auto-translated phrase were not introduced until the December 16, 2003 version
