German Translation - Discussion Thread

[Mothman]

Hello everyone,

although lurking for a while now, this is the first time I paid attention to this part of the forum. I'm amazed how much thought and effort has been already put into this translation-project and I hope its fruits will help to make Xenonauts more popular in Germany.

But there is one think that bothered me a little - and one thing I make clear form the start: I'm biased, because to me english sounds mostly cooler - and that thing is, that not everything is translated into german, when it comes to technology/weapons. A few examples from the german military would be: Starfighter, Eurofighter, Patriot, Stinger, SAMOC (Surface to Air Missile Operation Center) and so on.

Because of this some things don't really need to be translated. Like "Hunter (scout vehicle)" could be translated to "Hunter (Aufklärungsfahrzeug)". Of course simple things like "Light machine gun" can be "Leichtes Maschinengewehr". But for the most part I'd stick to the english names.

Same goes for the Alien-Names but for a different reason: I noticed this a few times on the internet where people from different countries playing the same game had "problems" to discuss about it, because names were different. Well, Xenonauts is no big project where brand recognition in regard to future Xenonauts games is important (I guess?) but I still feel that this is a kind of unnecessary translation.

Yes, I know: First post in this thread and already nagging how everyone does everything wrong. Since I have the option to play in english anyway, a full translation would do no harm to me. I just wanted to give this perspective on the german translation or translations in general.

[Schnittertm]

Hello everyone,

although lurking for a while now, this is the first time I paid attention to this part of the forum. I'm amazed how much thought and effort has been already put into this translation-project and I hope its fruits will help to make Xenonauts more popular in Germany.

But there is one think that bothered me a little - and one thing I make clear form the start: I'm biased, because to me english sounds mostly cooler - and that thing is, that not everything is translated into german, when it comes to technology/weapons. A few examples from the german military would be: Starfighter, Eurofighter, Patriot, Stinger, SAMOC (Surface to Air Missile Operation Center) and so on.

Because of this some things don't really need to be translated. Like "Hunter (scout vehicle)" could be translated to "Hunter (Aufklärungsfahrzeug)". Of course simple things like "Light machine gun" can be "Leichtes Maschinengewehr". But for the most part I'd stick to the english names.

Same goes for the Alien-Names but for a different reason: I noticed this a few times on the internet where people from different countries playing the same game had "problems" to discuss about it, because names were different. Well, Xenonauts is no big project where brand recognition in regard to future Xenonauts games is important (I guess?) but I still feel that this is a kind of unnecessary translation.

Yes, I know: First post in this thread and already nagging how everyone does everything wrong. Since I have the option to play in english anyway, a full translation would do no harm to me. I just wanted to give this perspective on the german translation or translations in general.

I can give you other example, especially concerning ground vehicles, where the Bundeswehr uses German designations: Wiesel 1 + 2, Büffel Bergepanzer, MARS (Mittleres Artilleriereaketensystem), Panzerhaubitze 2000, etc.

While your argument about military vehicles holds up mostly fine for air vehicles (exceptions being scout drones like ALADIN, MIKADO, etc.), there certainly is no basis whatsoever for ground vehicles, as all of those that I currently know of have German designation. Because of these reasons a german translation for the ground vehicles definitely makes sense, as it keeps in tradition with naming conventions of the armed forces in Germany.

The alien races actually are not too detrimental in my opinion, as there are only 3 or 4 where I do have to do a full translation, but it is necessary as there are some that would either not get the meaning behind it or because they despise English in their localized game (Stichwort Anglizismen). But even then, most translations will be close enough that almost everyone that wants to discuss them in English, should be able to.

For now I will do a translation with full german designations for everything, however, after I'm finished I might consider to offer up an alternative translation with designations in English. Even if I were not to do the latter one, however, it would still be easy to go into the files yourself and adjust it to your liking, as you'd only need a text editor with a 'search and replace' function, let it search for the strings and replace it with the designation you prefer.

I will do it like this, because I have to make a decision and lock it in, otherwise I would get caught up in changing things around all the time and that would push back a finished translation more and more. I also do realize that my translation (which in all likelyhood might be nothing to write home about anyways) will probably not be to everyones taste, but that is the way it is in real life, you just can't please everybody, but at least in this case the system is flexible enough to handle different translation strains.

[Mothman]

you just can't please everybody

I think this is the most important part to remember.

Thank you for the long answer. Regardless of what names you use, I hope the german translation will encourage people to play this game who otherwise wouldn't.

[Chris]

Wow, German isn't exactly snappy, is it? We also need to bear in mind the UI space for some of these project names etc, as there may not be enough room. Anyway, here's my input:

Aliens: alien, extraterrestrial and invader etc are just used to ensure the text is not overly repetitive. Interchange them as you want.

Harridaner: I think that's probably the best choice.

Reaper: "Bladed Horror" is a perfectly adequate translation of the unit, if you guys think the word is evocative in German, or the direct translation of reaper would work fine too.

Wraith: Phantom sounds fine. It's basically just meant to represent something incorporeal due to their ability to teleport through walls.

Fury: "Wrath" sounds fine to me.

Hunter: Hmmm. It might be worth just using a translation for "Scout" here, if you can (I'm not quite convinced by the idea of calling it "pursuer" or something to that effect). The role of the unit has actually changed in the game quite significantly since it was drawn up, as it's now not actually intended to hunt enemies like it previously was and is rather intended to explore instead.

Scatterlaser: Yes, this is the laser machinegun. I'll let you guys decide on the most appropriate translation of it.

Plasma bolt: this is a powerful single-shot vehicle mounted weapon that does single-target damage.

MAG / MAC - Yes, this is Magnetic Acceleration Gun and Magnetic Acceleration Cannon.

Avalanche - this name is taken from the original X-Com, where the heavy missile is the Avalanche.

Overall, it's nice to see this level of discussion and hopefully a good quality of translation will arise from it.

[Schnittertm]

Yeah, German is actually quite complicated if you really think about it. It has rules, stacked upon rules, stacked upon rules, or so it seems. I guess in a way it confirms that bias that Germans are overly correct, overly precise and that we don't leave anything to chance. A language based in bureaucracy. Some things that can be expressed elegantly with a short sentence in English become a convoluted mess or more than one sentence if you want to carry and convey the same meaning in German.

We have a proverb here in Germany, which goes like this: "Deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache", which would translate to "German language, hard language". I think nowadays pupils still dread the German classes in school just as much as we did back when we were still going to school.

However, German can be flexible and adaptive at times. It is very accommodating to forgein language terms (e.g. Computer, cool, etc.) if a proper German word can't be found or might be too complicated or just isn't there (yet).

More UI space to work with would be nice, if it is not too much effort for you, however, if need be I'll try to find a workaround or a similar term that does not use up that much space.

Thank you for you input and explanation on some of the terms, Chris, makes it much easier to find a fitting translation for those words.

I, too, hope that the final version of the translation will be of good quality. I certainly know that it won't be as bad as the one they offered up in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. There, in a triple-A game and from a company with money in the millions to work with, they had a translation quality for which the term low quality would be doing it too much honor.

Or would you know what the effects of a potion called Schw.Tr.d.Le.En.W. (English = W.po.o.Li.En.R.) would be? Well, most German players didn't know that this potion was supposed to be a Schwacher Trank der Lebensenergiewiederherstellung (English = Weak Potion of Lifeenergyregeneration). And this was only on of many of these abbreviated items in the game. They also had quite a few text not fully translated or translated that it looked like they just used the google translator. So, yeah, we Germans have seen quite a few bad translated games, therefore a lot of people will be very critical about this translation, meaning I have a heavy burden to bear. I just hope I'm worth it.

[Chris]

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdcuf731071qcqscno1_500.jpg

[GreySciTe]

I have some prpositions for Fury and Reaper.

If you want a more emotional based name Raserei could also work and is also directly translated to fury or furiousness. I like this more than Zorn because it is even angrier and a state where you go into battle and striking without mercy and thinking about your own security. Like a berserk. Berserker (engl.: Berserk) is also a nice name then.

If you stick to Häscher for Hunter you could also call the fury Wüterich. It is like Häscher an old word that is barely used anymore and means also a furious guy. But it also sounds a bit funny so maybe that is not what we want here. If you want to go more into entities you can call it Vidar. That is the teuton god of revenche who retaliates Odin in Ragnarök. Ragnarök is the teuton armageddon. So the theme would be similiar and it would fit nice together with the valkyrie.

I just looked up tha background of Furie and i think that word would work as well.

For Reaper you can also say Sensenmann a synonym for Schnitter. Personally i don't think that many people will think about a farmer before thinking about death when reading Schnitter because practically nobody is reaping grain by hand in our time anymore.

For the "Klingen-"variants you could also use Klingentod or turn the words around like Horrorklingen Schreckensklingen or Terrorklingen because i think Klingenhorror/terror sounds more like something that happens or a state not a person/creature.

Another word for Wrath that came in my mind is Schreckgespenst. But i think Phantom is also fine.

For plasma bolt weapons i would say Plasmabolzen[weapontype] like Plasmabolzenpistole/ Plasmabolzengewehr/Plasmabolzenkarabiner/Plasmabolzenscharfschützengewehr. Perhaps you can use Plasmapfeilpistole for the smallest weapon and shorten the sniper to Plasmascharfschützengewehr.

Edited April 30, 2013 by GreySciTe

[adbrag]

Ich gehe einfach mal die Punkte aus dem ersten Beitrag nacheinander durch und geb mein Feedback.

Das Spiel selber hab ich bis jetzt noch nicht gespielt (ist noch am runterladen ), daher hab ich bei manchen Sachen (Aliens, Fahrzeuge, etc.) vielleicht ein falsche Bild davon, was sie im Spiel letztendlich sind.

1) Race names

a) Aliens: Hier ist wohl die allgemeine Bezeichnung für gemeint für "die, die uns da angreifen", und keine bestimmte Alien-Rasse. Von daher gibts da von mir auch nichts hinzuzufügen

b) Harridan: hier kann ich mir noch nichts drunter vorstellen, mehr dazu wenn ich mal welche ingame getroffen hab

c) Reaper: Schnitter wäre hier sowohl die wörtliche, als auch die Übersetzung aus dem originalen Ufo Enemy Unknown. Persönlich bin ich aber sehr dagegen diese zu benutzen. Ich kenne das Wort quasi nur aus Ufo EU und konnte schon damals absolut nichts damit anfangen. Schnitter erinnert mich irgendwie mehr an sowas wie 'geschnitten Brot' als an ein furchteinflössendes, ausserirdisches Monster . Deshalb ist mein Favorit hier 'Seelenernter'.

d) Wraith: Phantom passt super, kann man lassen

2) Vehicles

a) X-120 Fury: Hier fällt mir auch nichts besseres ein als Wut oder Zorn, obwohl die mir auch nicht wirklich soo gut gefallen.

b) Hunter: Anstatt sich hier auf die Synonymen für 'Jäger' zu beschränken (welche alle mmN irgendwie künstlich wirken), könnte man dieses Spähfahrzeug doch z.B. einfach 'Luchs' nennen ( http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luchs_(Sp%C3%A4hpanzer) ), oder vielleicht 'Späher'

c) Strikecruiser: Finde auch, dass hier Schlachtkreuzer ziemlich gut passt.

d) D-42 Shrike: FW-190 Würger, ganz deiner Meinung.

3) Weapons and items

a) Scatter Laser: Hier finde ich sowas wie 'Auto-feuer Laser', 'Auto-Laser' oder 'Schnellfeuer-Laser' am besten. Bei Maschinenlaser hab ich eher Maschinen in ner Fabrik oder sowas vor Augen.

b) Plasma bolt: Plasma-Geschoss? Plasma-Blitz?

c) MAG or MAC weaponary: Von dem was du geschrieben hast würde ich die einfach MBG bzw. MBW nennen.

d) Avalanche Torpedo: Lawine hört wirklich nicht sehr nach einem Torpedo oder einer Rakete an. Meine Meinung: Avalanche beibehalten oder eine neue ganz neue Bezeichnung überlegen.

[shuuk]

Gibt es irgendwelche news, ist jemand gerade aktuell dabei das game zu übersetzen?

[dd.d]

Guess I'm a little late to the party but for all it's worth, some my thoughts:

• Scatter Laser: What about Impulslaser? Both German Battletech and 40k call their rapid-fire lasers like that. It's not really scientific but it's popular and somewhat tropey.
  
• Harridan: I didn't even know that word before I looked it up so I wouldn't have known Harridaner either. Could be I'm just dumb. Maybe Harpyie will do the trick? It's roughly analogous to harridan in German and it's a vicious flying thingy anyway.

Generally, I'd rather leave the vehicles' and aircrafts' names as they are, since they're named and fielded by a multi-national force. IMO, it'd be way more immersion breaking to go UFO-hunting with a Krummsäbel rather than a Scimitar. It just sounds so... forced. Couldn't hurt to have a German translation of the name in the Xenopedia text, though.

Edited August 26, 2013 by dd.d