Update #8: New Digital Tier, Novella by Chris Avellone, and Translations at $2.2M

[Sleepyreaper]

Also by all that is holy in this world. When you do the localizations. Don't. Just don't. Translate the names of places, people etc etc to the other language. More often than not it's totally cheesy (play German Skyrim. I have to keep myself from laughing when I see the translated names).

 

Since the English speaking crowd here probably won't understand what I mean. Let's take for example badly localized Chinese movies where characters all of a sudden are called "Gentle Could" and "Flying Water" or **** like that. Kinda like translating Hebrew names and instead of calling someone Michael they'd translate it to "Who is like God?"

 

 

"Hey Who-Is-Like-God? come over here."

Well, you are wrong, and it's obvious that you don't know much about translating, so let me say a few words on this behalf.

You see, there is a term charactonym used in linguistics. It means that the name of the character is given by intent and with some purpose.

The brightest example is probably Bilbo Baggins. J. R. R. Tolkien stated himslef that the language of the Middle-Earth is not English, and that's why translators have to translate his name. As a result Bilbo became "Торбинс" (Torbins) in Russian, where "torb" means some kind of bag. And so on and so forth, there are tons of other examples in different books.

What I mean is you have to translate wisely. Your example - Michael - doesn't have anything to do with charactonyms as it is a usual name. While Bilbo, and Mr. M'Choakumchild from "Hard Times" (translated into Russian as "Чадомор", "Chadomor", where "chado" means "child" and "mor" means torturing) were named for a reason.

The same goes with the name of the places. "Pearl Coast" is like that for a reason, even if the reason is that it just sounds poetically, and that's why translators should probably translate it.

Unless guys from Obsidian are against, of course.

[Lokamb]

Yeah

 

I'm going to transfer some money to be a backer.

I was waiting for a translation.

 

Great news

[mya79]

Ho so awesome et so nice !! I hope we will have translation for french, german and spanish, it's a very a big great news.

 

Thanks Obsidian

[horocaust]

Also by all that is holy in this world. When you do the localizations. Don't. Just don't. Translate the names of places, people etc etc to the other language. More often than not it's totally cheesy (play German Skyrim. I have to keep myself from laughing when I see the translated names).

 

Since the English speaking crowd here probably won't understand what I mean. Let's take for example badly localized Chinese movies where characters all of a sudden are called "Gentle Could" and "Flying Water" or **** like that. Kinda like translating Hebrew names and instead of calling someone Michael they'd translate it to "Who is like God?"

 

 

"Hey Who-Is-Like-God? come over here."

Well, you are wrong, and it's obvious that you don't know much about translating, so let me say a few words on this behalf.

You see, there is a term charactonym used in linguistics. It means that the name of the character is given by intent and with some purpose.

The brightest example is probably Bilbo Baggins. J. R. R. Tolkien stated himslef that the language of the Middle-Earth is not English, and that's why translators have to translate his name. As a result Bilbo became "Торбинс" (Torbins) in Russian, where "torb" means some kind of bag. And so on and so forth, there are tons of other examples in different books.

What I mean is you have to translate wisely. Your example - Michael - doesn't have anything to do with charactonyms as it is a usual name. While Bilbo, and Mr. M'Choakumchild from "Hard Times" (translated into Russian as "Чадомор", "Chadomor", where "chado" means "child" and "mor" means torturing) were named for a reason.

The same goes with the name of the places. "Pearl Coast" is like that for a reason, even if the reason is that it just sounds poetically, and that's why translators should probably translate it.

Unless guys from Obsidian are against, of course.

Translating names is the cancer of translation. This should not be done under any circumstances. If a character's name has a meaning, then it's better to note that outside the context of text — yes, it's not ideal, but translation can't be ideal by its very nature. Also, do you know how "Pearl Harbor" is translated to Russian? "Пёрл-Харбор" ("Pyorl-Harbor"), not "Жемчужная гавань" ("Zhemchuzhnaya Gavan").

[Sleepyreaper]

Translating names is the cancer of translation. This should not be done under any circumstances. If a character's name has a meaning, then it's better to note that outside the context of text — yes, it's not ideal, but translation can't be ideal by its very nature. Also, do you know how "Pearl Harbor" is translated to Russian? "Пёрл-Харбор" ("Pyorl-Harbor"), not "Жемчужная гавань" ("Zhemchuzhnaya Gavan").

Pearl Harbor is a real place so it should not be translated. Please study how to translate (there are a lot of manuals) before talking.

[Pidesco]

Translating names is the cancer of translation. This should not be done under any circumstances. If a character's name has a meaning, then it's better to note that outside the context of text — yes, it's not ideal, but translation can't be ideal by its very nature. Also, do you know how "Pearl Harbor" is translated to Russian? "Пёрл-Харбор" ("Pyorl-Harbor"), not "Жемчужная гавань" ("Zhemchuzhnaya Gavan").

Pearl Harbor is a real place so it should not be translated. Please study how to translate (there are a lot of manuals) before talking.

 

Translation is a disputed and divisive subject. In the apst, place names were routinely translated, for example. Which is why there's translated words for major cities, even to this day. Example: Göteborg, Gothenburg, Gotemburgo. Respectively, Swedish, English and Portuguese.

 

 

In any case he's agreeing with you. And so do I.

[horocaust]

Translating names is the cancer of translation. This should not be done under any circumstances. If a character's name has a meaning, then it's better to note that outside the context of text — yes, it's not ideal, but translation can't be ideal by its very nature. Also, do you know how "Pearl Harbor" is translated to Russian? "Пёрл-Харбор" ("Pyorl-Harbor"), not "Жемчужная гавань" ("Zhemchuzhnaya Gavan").

Pearl Harbor is a real place so it should not be translated. Please study how to translate (there are a lot of manuals) before talking.

And that's what's wrong with prescriptive approach to linguistics: it's completely arbitrary. There's just no point in making a distinction between real and fictional as it is the same entity, but no, we must have another rule that makes no sense just for the sake of having it.

[Wintersong]

No very interesting. I'm a Spanish language speaker and for me the translation is a waste of resources. It's like movies the original language always is better.

It's about accesibility and not about being better. I don't see people learning spanish to be able to read "The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha". And surely, the "You're fired" in True Lies is funnier than the "Estás despedido" of the translation, and translating Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels means losing some of the jokes. But that's not the point. I enjoyed watching "Raise the Red Lantern" in chinese with spanish subtitles but I'd have enjoyed it quite more in spanish because certainly I don't know chinese (any version of it) and subtitles suck (for movies, in games it's ok due to several reasons). I know because I did enjoy more "The story of Qui Ju" from a language point of view.

[Sleepyreaper]

Which is why there's translated words for major cities, even to this day. Example: Göteborg, Gothenburg, Gotemburgo. Respectively, Swedish, English and Portuguese.

Well, it's not really translation, it's just different transcription in different languages.

And he disagrees with me completely, as my opinion, which is based on different manuals on the matter, is that names of places and of some characters need to be translated.

P.S. May I ask you, how does Middle-Earth sound in Portuguese?

And that's what's wrong with prescriptive approach to linguistics: it's completely arbitrary. There's just no point in making a distinction between real and fictional as it is the same entity, but no, we must have another rule that makes no sense just for the sake of having it.

It's just your opinion.

Anyway, it's up to Obsidian and translation team. I just hope that they will choose the right variant.

[horocaust]

It's just your opinion.

Wow, against an argument so strong I have no hope to defend. You defeated me; I yield.

[Sleepyreaper]

Wow, against an argument so strong I have no hope to defend. You defeated me; I yield.

You didn't provide me with any argument that is based on something, so what do you want from me?

[Fable]

My rolist friends and i will be happy to help with the english to french translation, and/or french grammar/spelling checking.

 

I don't know if that is the right place to offer our help, if not please tell me how.

[The Dark One Avoozl]

Also by all that is holy in this world. When you do the localizations. Don't. Just don't. Translate the names of places, people etc etc to the other language. More often than not it's totally cheesy (play German Skyrim. I have to keep myself from laughing when I see the translated names).

 

Since the English speaking crowd here probably won't understand what I mean. Let's take for example badly localized Chinese movies where characters all of a sudden are called "Gentle Could" and "Flying Water" or **** like that. Kinda like translating Hebrew names and instead of calling someone Michael they'd translate it to "Who is like God?"

 

 

"Hey Who-Is-Like-God? come over here."

Well, you are wrong, and it's obvious that you don't know much about translating, so let me say a few words on this behalf.

You see, there is a term charactonym used in linguistics. It means that the name of the character is given by intent and with some purpose.

The brightest example is probably Bilbo Baggins. J. R. R. Tolkien stated himslef that the language of the Middle-Earth is not English, and that's why translators have to translate his name. As a result Bilbo became "Торбинс" (Torbins) in Russian, where "torb" means some kind of bag. And so on and so forth, there are tons of other examples in different books.

What I mean is you have to translate wisely. Your example - Michael - doesn't have anything to do with charactonyms as it is a usual name. While Bilbo, and Mr. M'Choakumchild from "Hard Times" (translated into Russian as "Чадомор", "Chadomor", where "chado" means "child" and "mor" means torturing) were named for a reason.

The same goes with the name of the places. "Pearl Coast" is like that for a reason, even if the reason is that it just sounds poetically, and that's why translators should probably translate it.

Unless guys from Obsidian are against, of course.

 

 

Fine and dandy that you think like that. Only that they translate every ****ing name even if it doesn't make sense. Even the most generic ones. Like Riverwood. Heck. They felt the need to change stuff for no reason. They changed Riften to Rifton. Or lets take WoW for example where they also translated EVERYTHING. Jaina Proudmoore. Became Jaina Prachtmeer. It doesn't even mean the same thing. Prachtmeer in English would be Splendorocean. You could also say Glorysea.

[Lucas]

For other, unsupported languages, it would be great if Obsidian could provide some kind of tool in order to ease the extraction of the text dialogue files, so that amateur translation teams can do their job (I would gladly contribute to the italian translation of the game, for example).

Edited September 25, 2012 by Lucas

[Rostere]

Also by all that is holy in this world. When you do the localizations. Don't. Just don't. Translate the names of places, people etc etc to the other language. More often than not it's totally cheesy (play German Skyrim. I have to keep myself from laughing when I see the translated names).

 

Since the English speaking crowd here probably won't understand what I mean. Let's take for example badly localized Chinese movies where characters all of a sudden are called "Gentle Could" and "Flying Water" or **** like that. Kinda like translating Hebrew names and instead of calling someone Michael they'd translate it to "Who is like God?"

 

 

"Hey Who-Is-Like-God? come over here."

Well, you are wrong, and it's obvious that you don't know much about translating, so let me say a few words on this behalf.

You see, there is a term charactonym used in linguistics. It means that the name of the character is given by intent and with some purpose.

The brightest example is probably Bilbo Baggins. J. R. R. Tolkien stated himslef that the language of the Middle-Earth is not English, and that's why translators have to translate his name. As a result Bilbo became "Торбинс" (Torbins) in Russian, where "torb" means some kind of bag. And so on and so forth, there are tons of other examples in different books.

What I mean is you have to translate wisely. Your example - Michael - doesn't have anything to do with charactonyms as it is a usual name. While Bilbo, and Mr. M'Choakumchild from "Hard Times" (translated into Russian as "Чадомор", "Chadomor", where "chado" means "child" and "mor" means torturing) were named for a reason.

The same goes with the name of the places. "Pearl Coast" is like that for a reason, even if the reason is that it just sounds poetically, and that's why translators should probably translate it.

Unless guys from Obsidian are against, of course.

 

 

Fine and dandy that you think like that. Only that they translate every ****ing name even if it doesn't make sense. Even the most generic ones. Like Riverwood. Heck. They felt the need to change stuff for no reason. They changed Riften to Rifton. Or lets take WoW for example where they also translated EVERYTHING. Jaina Proudmoore. Became Jaina Prachtmeer. It doesn't even mean the same thing. Prachtmeer in English would be Splendorocean. You could also say Glorysea.

 

Ugh. There are so many stupid translations of names it's impossible to name them all.

 

Yes, maybe there are people who truly don't know English in Germany, France and Spain who will be happy for the translations. Personally I would feel insulted if they translated the game into my native language.

[lolaldanee]

For other, unsupported languages, it would be great if Obsidian could provide some kind of tool in order to ease the extraction of the text dialogue files, so that amateur translation teams can do their job (I would gladly contribute to the italian translation of the game, for example).

this is a VERY good idea

[pedroantonio]

One question about the novella; can you get it if you have pledged more than $50 but chosen a reward tier below $50? Or do you have to specifically chose a tier of $50 and upwards?

[Lucas]

For other, unsupported languages, it would be great if Obsidian could provide some kind of tool in order to ease the extraction of the text dialogue files, so that amateur translation teams can do their job (I would gladly contribute to the italian translation of the game, for example).

this is a VERY good idea

 

A few years ago, an italian translation team, called "ITP" (unfortunately the website is no more), translated Planescape:Torment (yeah, all the dialogue and interface), and also morrowind (and maybe Divine Divinity too, can't remember). Problem is that, from what I understand, text dialogue files are often quite a mess, and translators have to rummage through them, re-order them and the process becomes quite tiresome.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Lucas

[norolim]

Great news. A Polish and Italian translation is a must IMO. Traditional RPGs are very popular in those two countries. Russian would probably be a good idea as well. I'm a translator and I already sent a message to Josh Sawyer about Polish localization. I hope he reads those PMs

Edited September 25, 2012 by norolim

[Bill Gates' Son]

Great news. A Polish and and Italian translation is a must IMO. Traditional RPGs are very popular in those two countries. Russian would probably be a good idea as well. I'm a translator and I already sent a message to Josh Sawyer about Polish localization. I hope he reads those PMs

 

If it's going on GoG (owned by CD project), then I would I actually be surprised if there wasn't a Polish translation.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Bill Gates' Son

[Sleepyreaper]

Fine and dandy that you think like that. Only that they translate every ****ing name even if it doesn't make sense. Even the most generic ones. Like Riverwood. Heck. They felt the need to change stuff for no reason. They changed Riften to Rifton. Or lets take WoW for example where they also translated EVERYTHING. Jaina Proudmoore. Became Jaina Prachtmeer. It doesn't even mean the same thing. Prachtmeer in English would be Splendorocean. You could also say Glorysea.

You're right, the golden middle in such questions is always the best option.

[hideo kuze]

I sort of liken it to a very, very savvy investment: Spend 200K and potentially raise 1 million in capital. Not a bad ROI.

 

 

Unfortunately I doubt it. At least during this funding phase.

When they sell it on steam and GOG, then it may be the case.

[Waywocket]

Edit: I shouldn't respond to obnoxiousness in kind.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Waywocket

[Darustet]

Big thanks to Obsidian for this update! Especially for the language confirmation! (+ the realistic way you're going with artwork is very promising:P )

 

English players won't lose anything with this update. Most likely the non English speakers pledge enough to cover the cost for translation, so even if there won't be that much extra money, it pays for itself without being away from other contents. And comparing to the final sum they are going to get via Kickstarter (now that the language pack is confirmed, +3mil seems much more likely) the text translation doesn't cost that much.

 

Going to give my bledge (now, I might as well put that $50 for the book^^)

[Sleepyreaper]

You can start by being less of a condescending ass, and try to make a point more coherent than 'everything you say is opinion; everything I say is the objective word of God, because I'm so much smarter than you'.

 

Not that it makes much difference to me personally -> *plonk*.

I'm sorry if I sound like this.

I'll try to be a little bit less arrogant from now on.