Here is one of the biggest mistakes people make when they try to decipher VMS text...
Find something here that looks like it works... now hunt for something else that seems to work, now hunt for something else that seems to work.
This is not a good way to do it.
If you find something that looks like it works, then go to the folios at the end of the manuscript, the ones without images. Now try the same character substitutions on a couple of lines from that section (or any section), at least two full lines. If it doesn't work, then it's probably a coincidence that a few of the VMS tokens can be turned into words. It's quite easy to turn them into words if you pick out a token here or there. It's possible to do it in many languages. The reason it's so easy is twofold:
Find something here that looks like it works... now hunt for something else that seems to work, now hunt for something else that seems to work.
This is not a good way to do it.
If you find something that looks like it works, then go to the folios at the end of the manuscript, the ones without images. Now try the same character substitutions on a couple of lines from that section (or any section), at least two full lines. If it doesn't work, then it's probably a coincidence that a few of the VMS tokens can be turned into words. It's quite easy to turn them into words if you pick out a token here or there. It's possible to do it in many languages. The reason it's so easy is twofold:
- The VMS has a lot of text, 200 pages of it. Even 200 pages of random text can be turned into words.
- The VMS has tall shapes and vowel-looking shapes more-or-less balanced in proportions that are similar to language. However, if you reverse the shapes, the same thing happens, which means you cannot be certain things that look like vowels or consonants are actually so.