<!--quoteo(post=1733919:date=Oct 25 2009, 04:52 AM:name=RobB)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RobB @ Oct 25 2009, 04:52 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1733919"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I prefer Community Translations for menus and helptexts, but everything else needs to stay the same, especialy speeches since i.e. a french guy doesn't need the same amount of time as a german to say the same thing, so the alien with german has a little advantage to identify his enemy, if you understand what I'm trying to get at.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I agree. I think menus and helptexts would be enough. Location names, weapons and buildings should stay in English, although it might seem weird for people to play a "half-translated" game. It might be good to add a translation for some terms in parenthesis, for example if they write tips on the loading screen, it could look like this: "The shotgun (name-in-other-language-here) is ideal for close encounters." Of course, the whole sentence would be in another language except for "shotgun" (I'm just too lazy to think of a real example right now :p) As for speeches, a good translation would make everything pretty much the same length, but I agree it's not that necessary, but it wouldn't hurt I think.
And to those saying people should "just learn English": I know what you mean, I've learned much by playing games, but remember that many people just want to play a game. They're not paying 20$ for an educational software, they're paying 20$ to play a game in which you shoot aliens and bite humans. If they see the game does not support their language and they aren't comfortable with English, I think they are more likely to say "Well, I won't buy it" than "Oh, I'll buy it to practice my English". I've worked with many students and adults struggling to learn even the most basic English sentences. Some of them just aren't good at learning languages, true, but there were also some who could already speak two, three or four other languages. I also know people who understand English almost perfectly, yet they prefer to install their softwares in their native languages.
And since UWE wishes to "unite the world through play", it just makes sense to support different languages.
<!--QuoteBegin-English+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (English)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->The shotgun. Rather useless on distance, but perfect for close combat or clearing a hallway.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-German+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (German)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Die Schrotflinte (Shotgun). Auf Entfernung ziemlich nutzlos, eignet sie sich perfekt für den Nahkampf oder dafür, einen Durchgang zu räumen.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sounds good. They just need to make sure that the wordings are ok. A contact of mine became a community manager -slash- chief game master for an mmo lately, and he told me that the bureau for translation did a massive f-up and used a name for an item that totaly didnt make any sense. Then the bureau had the nerve to act up and insult the company by claiming the items where all correctly named as ordered from the english ttable.
I just hope UWE will contract a more trustworthy company to do this. Or better yet: release the english tables and build a community translation project similar to a bugtracking wiki.
<!--quoteo(post=1604423:date=Feb 7 2007, 07:08 AM:name=Goldenprize)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Goldenprize @ Feb 7 2007, 07:08 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1604423"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><img src="http://666kb.com/i/almprbmzvtvvp7z9g.gif" border="0" class="linked-image" /> Hello there, thank valve, they support all populare languages with half-life 2 // mods. You made a game so i will ask, do you know yet, which languages you will supported in ns2?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
They managed to include some different translations on previous NS releases, all done by volunteers, they'll manage something for NS2 as well. I don't think we'll need to worry.
Please don't force the translations on us though! I don't think I have ever seen a good translation of a video game to my language (Swedish) so I always use English, and why wouldn't I? Actually if there's any languages you can just skip, Swedish/Norwegian/Danish are strong candidates because pretty much everyone here can understand English and no one with half a brain even expect translations to exist in the first place. Movies are not even dubbed here (thank god!) unless they're for young children.
<!--quoteo(post=1734077:date=Oct 26 2009, 10:17 AM:name=lwf)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (lwf @ Oct 26 2009, 10:17 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1734077"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Please don't force the translations on us though! I don't think I have ever seen a good translation of a video game to my language (Swedish) so I always use English, and why wouldn't I? Actually if there's any languages you can just skip, Swedish/Norwegian/Danish are strong candidates because pretty much everyone here can understand English and no one with half a brain even expect translations to exist in the first place. Movies are not even dubbed here (thank god!) unless they're for young children.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And Finnish.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Movies are not even dubbed here (thank god!) unless they're for young children.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Some things are going to be translated and others don't. Example, aliens name are not translated, there's no point on it. If your language have the name Marine (like in spanish), then you can use it too.
One example already used up there: Armory, in spanish is ArmerÃa (almost the same). In german is Waffenkammer or Waffenschmiede.
And I think the use of different languages can be set in game, not that crappy thing Steam uses and force you to use only one and reload the full game every time you change language. So you can set it to whatever you like, including modify the language files to your own taste.
And yes, UTF-8 and UTF-16 (asian languages) is a must. Adding support for asian languages could take longer, but it will be added.
The point on doing translations is to get as much players you can, making servers localized in every country, And for this reason we already have the wiki translated. For mod developers this is really handy because they can make his mod translated too.
Mendasp, nice to hear about you, I was thinking that I am the only spanish speaker player involved on the translation. =) If you have time, check the wiki at <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki/index.php/Main_Page:es" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki/index.php/Main_Page:es</a>
I saw the wiki and at first I thought it was translated in a very literal way (computer = computadora), then I saw your location and it made a little more sense, depending on if the translation is official or not perhaps they should be separate es-es, es-ar, etc.
But at the moment we'll have to wait a little longer to see what UWE wants to do.
Yes, there is no problem to call it "computador". The only thing you have to take in mind is that the translation is for all the spanish speaker people, not only from Spain. That is why I chose some words and not others, trying to make it as neutral I can.
Whit that particular word I found that most of the the countries says "computadora" and not "computador", just because is a female word (comes from computer machine or electronic computer, machine and electronic are female words in spanish). Actually, the RAE accepts both ways.
Register yourself on the wiki, check everything and use the discussion page to propose changes. This way can be more friendly for both sides of the Atlantic ;)
When the translation tool is ready, we could do the same for the game. Or make an Spain and Latinametican translations. We could see how it works.
In Spain "computer game" is translated as "videojuego". And computer is ordenador. Computador and computadora are common in Latin America, you'll never hear it here in Spain. That's why I mentioned it... There's no "neutral" way to translate without it sounding weird to people. That's why, for example Firefox is available in different spanish versions...
Edit: This forum goes crazy with quotes and ampersands when you edit a post D:
<!--quoteo(post=1733919:date=Oct 25 2009, 09:52 AM:name=RobB)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RobB @ Oct 25 2009, 09:52 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1733919"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Also, language is a smelter anyway. a few hundreds of years and every language will be the same, especialy those with the same stem of origin (european languages originate from a related base in case you didnt know).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Languages are constantly diverging and vocabulary diversifying, so I doubt this is true. It may be that certain languages will become neutral to all but finesse in those languages will never be a common trait. Just look at the language of the internet and ask a 60+-year old to unravel it. A virtual impossibility (pun intended).
Comments
I agree. I think menus and helptexts would be enough. Location names, weapons and buildings should stay in English, although it might seem weird for people to play a "half-translated" game. It might be good to add a translation for some terms in parenthesis, for example if they write tips on the loading screen, it could look like this: "The shotgun (name-in-other-language-here) is ideal for close encounters." Of course, the whole sentence would be in another language except for "shotgun" (I'm just too lazy to think of a real example right now :p) As for speeches, a good translation would make everything pretty much the same length, but I agree it's not that necessary, but it wouldn't hurt I think.
And to those saying people should "just learn English": I know what you mean, I've learned much by playing games, but remember that many people just want to play a game. They're not paying 20$ for an educational software, they're paying 20$ to play a game in which you shoot aliens and bite humans. If they see the game does not support their language and they aren't comfortable with English, I think they are more likely to say "Well, I won't buy it" than "Oh, I'll buy it to practice my English". I've worked with many students and adults struggling to learn even the most basic English sentences. Some of them just aren't good at learning languages, true, but there were also some who could already speak two, three or four other languages. I also know people who understand English almost perfectly, yet they prefer to install their softwares in their native languages.
And since UWE wishes to "unite the world through play", it just makes sense to support different languages.
<!--QuoteBegin-German+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (German)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Die Schrotflinte (Shotgun). Auf Entfernung ziemlich nutzlos, eignet sie sich perfekt für den Nahkampf oder dafür, einen Durchgang zu räumen.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sounds good. They just need to make sure that the wordings are ok.
A contact of mine became a community manager -slash- chief game master for an mmo lately, and he told me that the bureau for translation did a massive f-up and used a name for an item that totaly didnt make any sense.
Then the bureau had the nerve to act up and insult the company by claiming the items where all correctly named as ordered from the english ttable.
I just hope UWE will contract a more trustworthy company to do this.
Or better yet: release the english tables and build a community translation project similar to a bugtracking wiki.
Hello there, thank valve, they support all populare languages with half-life 2 // mods.
You made a game so i will ask, do you know yet, which languages you will supported in ns2?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm not sure... but we might get english.
And Finnish.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Movies are not even dubbed here (thank god!) unless they're for young children.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And yes! Thank god! ;)
Some things are going to be translated and others don't.
Example, aliens name are not translated, there's no point on it. If your language have the name Marine (like in spanish), then you can use it too.
One example already used up there: Armory, in spanish is ArmerÃa (almost the same). In german is Waffenkammer or Waffenschmiede.
And I think the use of different languages can be set in game, not that crappy thing Steam uses and force you to use only one and reload the full game every time you change language. So you can set it to whatever you like, including modify the language files to your own taste.
And yes, UTF-8 and UTF-16 (asian languages) is a must. Adding support for asian languages could take longer, but it will be added.
The point on doing translations is to get as much players you can, making servers localized in every country, And for this reason we already have the wiki translated. For mod developers this is really handy because they can make his mod translated too.
Mendasp, nice to hear about you, I was thinking that I am the only spanish speaker player involved on the translation. =)
If you have time, check the wiki at <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki/index.php/Main_Page:es" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki/index.php/Main_Page:es</a>
RobB, read Post #21 of this thread... ;)
But at the moment we'll have to wait a little longer to see what UWE wants to do.
The only thing you have to take in mind is that the translation is for all the spanish speaker people, not only from Spain. That is why I chose some words and not others, trying to make it as neutral I can.
Whit that particular word I found that most of the the countries says "computadora" and not "computador", just because is a female word (comes from computer machine or electronic computer, machine and electronic are female words in spanish). Actually, the RAE accepts both ways.
Register yourself on the wiki, check everything and use the discussion page to propose changes. This way can be more friendly for both sides of the Atlantic ;)
When the translation tool is ready, we could do the same for the game. Or make an Spain and Latinametican translations. We could see how it works.
Edit: This forum goes crazy with quotes and ampersands when you edit a post D: