Reply With QuoteI think a list of translators is an excellent idea.
There's already such a list for voice actors though (clicky).
Hi @ all,
want to release your new FM? How about a translation for foreign-language players?
Most FM players feel more comfortable when they can play a FM in their own language. This thread lists those TTLG members who offer translation service for your new FM. The best idea is to contact the translators mentioned below before you release your FM to avoid patches - maybe it can be combinded with a beta test.
Current translators are:
- English -> French
- English -> German
- English -> Italian
- English -> Russian
- English -> Spanish
Please send me a PM if you like to help others with a translation or correction, I'll put you on the list.
Translation FAQs
In my translated .STR files there are several words that seem to have missing characters
No problem: Those are special characters which belong to some european languages. They must be encoded to DOS conventions to be readable in game so they are not visible or appear changed in notepad. (The translators are recommended to use ParchEd or StringConverter - these programms convert special characters automatically).
(The text translators are recommended to include the necessary path information in the ZIP file so that the FM author only has to extract them in his actual thief folder.)
(The voice translators are recommended to include the necessary path information in the ZIP file so that the FM author only has to extract them in his actual thief folder.)
__________________________________________________
Want a voice actor? Just look here.
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131453
Last edited by zappenduster; 29th Apr 2023 at 04:39. Reason: Added FAQ; New members
I think a list of translators is an excellent idea.
There's already such a list for voice actors though (clicky).
If you meant "translating german missions into english" by "UK -> DE", you can count me in.
But translating english missions into german doesn't make much sense to me, respectively it is not worth the effort compared to the small amount of german players without knowledge in english.
There has been a topic on translating english missions into german on the german Thief board, but the whole idea was abandoned quite fast since there are too many english FMs to be translated by too few people...
But anyway, good idea to keep track of translators as well
Look at the arrow ... UK -> DE of course means translating english missions into german.Originally Posted by intruder
If that wouldn't make sense why did LGS sell german and french editions? Why did the italians translate several FMs in their native language?
Most of the players prefer playing FMs in their native language because they never have to interrupt for looking up in a dictionary.
You're mixing up two things here; Eidos as a publisher wanted to sell as many units as possible. Doing the voluntary work of translating something into your native language is something different.
The point is:
If you offer the "English-To-German" service, how do you decide which FM gets translated and which not? I mean, there are more than 800 FMs being released in the last 10 years and 95% of them in english. Even if there were 2-3 people translating FMs into german, they could probably never catch up...
As I said before, the "translation-project" on ttlg.de didn't die without a reason
No I'm not mixing up two things: LGS wanted to sell as many units as possible and some FM authors might want to have as many players as possible.
It's not me to decide which FM gets translated and which not. It's the FM author who can ask for assistance and this thread was ment to be an orientation. I read several threads where authors asked for a translation and I already made some. So did others ... with those good reasons mentioned above.
Z.
But don't forget the all important UK -> US and US -> UK translations. I'll bet that lots of us in the ol' US of A would love to play some of those missions by the Brits if we could just understand the readables ...
My real point, if I have one, is that the translation matrix should be by the language and not the country of origin. Sure sometimes they are the same, but, for example, an Argentinian would want a Spanish translation. I also suppose there might be a need for the matrix to be offered in the various languages for it to be truly useful. Consider that "German" is "Allemand" in French, "Alemán" in Spanish, "Alemão" in Portugese, "Germano" in Italian, and "Tysk" in Norwegian.
All kidding aside, this does seem a good idea, if a trifle unwieldy. Perhaps this might be easier to maintain if it were just a list (rather than a matrix) of people willing to do do translations with an indication of their claimed language knowledge. I'm not certain if there is a skill difference in translation of English to German vs. German to English, as an example. Don't get me wrong, organized into a matrix would be nice, but maybe more work than the value ... ?
Finally, this perhaps should be posted with the Fan Mission threads? You don't need DromEding skills to do translations, just language knowledge ... You'll probably get more translators that way.
But don't forget the all important UK -> US and US -> UK translations. I'll bet that lots of us in the ol' US of A would love to play some of those missions by the Brits if we could just understand the readables ...
I think there's a large difference. I can read enough German to catch the gist (and use a dictionary for words I don't know) and put it into English, but any native German speaker would find my grammar when writing in German painful at best. that said, put me down for DE->EN. I'm also happy to proofread English texts for readability/spelling/punctuation (I was a paid editor for a little while in college).
that is where I found it; there are many people who can proofread a text watching the FM forum that would never check the Editor's Guild
As for me, I can read books and scrolls in English, but I get tired too quick (on the 3d page usually) and give up. So I miss maybe the important part of a gameplay.
The people are lazy, the most of them. If the author wants to TELL his story, the shortest way is translation.
Good idea, zappen.
Not so, it's "tedesco". [/nitpick]
Well there is. Even professional translators usually translate only in one direction, which is into their own mother tongue. That's why job advertisements for translators usually list the criterion that applicants' mother tongue be that of the target language. And even if it's not listed, native speakers are usually muchly preferred.
Maybe that is just the "Italish" I heard growing up in NYC Italian neighborhoods and not an Italian's Italian ... ?
That makes sense. But I still think the language should be the key not the country of origin.
I can confirm. While we refer to German country as "Germania", still a German person and the German language is "Tedesco" for us.
As for the translation matter, I didn't understand too much. I just can say that it would be preferable for us foreigners to have our readables directly translated into the other not-English language without passing through English, when possible. I.e. Italian->German, not Italian->English->German. Great part of the significance of the original writings sometimes gets lost.
Hi @ all,
sorry, of course the (country domain) abbreviation UK stands for english ... the table was ment to be short and simple.
DE includes AT, CH, LI and LU, too ...
Of course there is.skill difference in translation of English to German vs. German to English
Well, I always tried to translate my FMs into english. But it's always a draft, far away from being perfect.
I was always glad to receive assistance (thanx to Tannar, MrMunkeepants and Namdrol!)
Why? The english grammar is definitely easier than german or french grammar ... but the english vocabulary is far and away the largest, since english has germanic, latin and celtic roots.
I personally will never be able to access the whole variety of english explanations.
In the direction UK -> DE only a good native german speaking person can transfer our ... let's say special thiefy style.
Did it here ...Posting with the Fan Mission threads
Last edited by zappenduster; 11th Apr 2010 at 10:09.
Hello! I am posting here because I have just registered, so I can't send private messages. I suppose I can help you to translate missions into Russian.On Darkfate.ru I'm known as Krackly, so please, if you decide to include me in the list of translations, write that nickname, OK?
Last edited by Mina; 8th Feb 2010 at 06:36.
I think this may be the reason why Chinese-produced English-language manuals are often in possession of such finely crafted language.
Speaking of your example...the difference is huge...English to German is much easier than the other way round. The German language tends to build massive sentences, with a lot of relative and subordinate clauses, which would make the English sentences unnatural long. Breaking them down can be one of the hardest jobs.
But I guess almost all languages have pitfalls like that, and of course there is colloquial language which sometimes is close to impossible to translate !
=> In my opinion it makes it sense to distinguish between from what language to which you are actually able to translate.
Please do post this on the FM forum. I suspect the majority of players don't check this forum but you'll probably find a larger pool of people willing to help with translations there. Excellent idea, by the way!
Although I believe one can theoretically translate both ways successfully, this does not mean IMHO that everyone is apt to do so (for example, from German to English and from English to German). The original language of a text simply implies that a translator must understand what's written, while a translation implies a relative mastery of the target-language. One must also be aware that there is a lot of crap in some of the translation forums out there...
I've done a fair bit of French to English translation at Uni, and wouldn't mind properly translating a few French-language FMs into a relatively universal English if need be (FR -> EN). Can't say that I'd be any good the other way around, except perhaps from English to French-Canadian or Québequois and vice versa (QC -> EN, EN -> QC?). I'm still having trouble translating into traditional French, especially regarding some of the older idiomatic expressions, even though I speak it fluently.
This is a very good point. Methinks Zappen should also add categories like IT -> DE to the list.
Last edited by Sperry; 19th Feb 2010 at 12:45.
FAQ section added.
Thanks zappen for the German translation!
Please add me to the list as an English -> German translator by the name: |~Râdîant~|
You can add me as well for german->english and english->german.
Including translations for T1, T2 & T3
Hello, you can add me as english-->italian translator.
Gnartsch added.
Smallman_647 added.
|~Râdîant~| added.
You can add me for:
English-French-Portuguese
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