The Guild Of Translators

zappenduster on 3/2/2010 at 18:18

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

* (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=37297) Apiai
* (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=56694) Azaran
* (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=13894) Stefan_Key

* English -> German

* (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=35816) Chiron
* (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=56131) Gnartsch
* (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=69134) Notesthes
* (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=61225) |~Râdîant~|
* (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=44348) Zappenduster

* English -> Italian

* (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/member.php?u=61620) Smallman_647

* English -> Russian

* (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=43746) Dront
* (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=56024) HellFier
* (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=57791) Kracky(Mina)
* (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=44280) sh_b
* (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=62124) Soldi

* English -> Spanish

*
* (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=42730) mabsy

Please send me a (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=44348) PM if you like to help others with a translation or correction, I'll put you on the list.

Translation FAQs

Inline Image:

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/images/icons/icon5.png In my translated .STR files there are several words that seem to have missing characters

Inline Image:

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/images/icons/icon4.png 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 (http://thiefmissions.com/telliamed/parched12.zip) ParchEd or (http://www.southquarter.com/christine/dromed/MadBull/Str-ConvV2.zip) StringConverter - these programms convert special characters automatically).

Inline Image:

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/images/icons/icon5.png I received the translated files. In which folders do I put them?

Inline Image:

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/images/icons/icon4.png The translated books&scrolls belong into the folder .\books\language, objnames.str and titles.str into .\strings\language, goals.str into .\intrface\missXX\language ... "language" means a folder named french, german, italian, ...
(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.)

Inline Image:

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/images/icons/icon5.png I have made custom dialogues and received the translated WAV/MP3 files. In which folders do I put them?

Inline Image:

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/images/icons/icon4.png The translated WAVs/MP3s belong into the folder .\snd\ai\language ... "ai" stands for the AI specific folder (p.e.garrett), the folder "language" means a folder named french, german, italian, ...
(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 <A HREF="http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=120936">here</A>.

(http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131453) http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131453

The Phantom on 3/2/2010 at 19:13

I think a list of translators is an excellent idea.

There's already such a list for voice actors though ((http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=120936) clicky).

intruder on 3/2/2010 at 22:54

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 :thumb:

zappenduster on 4/2/2010 at 06:27

Quote Posted by intruder

Look at the arrow ... UK -> DE of course means translating english missions into german. :D

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.

intruder on 4/2/2010 at 08:37

Quote Posted by zappen

If that wouldn't make sense why did LGS sell german and french editions?

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

zappenduster on 4/2/2010 at 08:48

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.

LarryG on 4/2/2010 at 10:40

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 ... :joke:

My real point, if I have one :confused:, 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.

MrMunkeepants on 5/2/2010 at 06:13

Quote Posted by LarryG

:laff:

Quote Posted by LarryG

I'm not certain if there is a skill difference in translation of English to German vs. German to English, as an example.

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).

Quote Posted by LarryG

Finally, this perhaps should be posted with the Fan Mission threads?

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

Zontik on 5/2/2010 at 07:28

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.

hopper on 5/2/2010 at 13:55

Quote Posted by LarryG

"German" is ... "Germano" in Italian

Not so, it's "tedesco". [/nitpick]

Quote Posted by LarryG

I'm not certain if there is a skill difference in translation of English to German vs. German to English, as an example.

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.