Hello everybody!
I'm Armin Winterer aka Barbatrix - the guy who's done the major part of
the German translations so far.
Since new means of FD's translation have been introduced (Launchpad),
and a growing number of translation contributors are joining our cause,
I'm gonna jot down a few directive notes on the German translation (of
which some might apply to translations in general and story writers, too).
These are meant to provide some basic courtesy for new contributors and
to help us finding some fundamental base for our work - suggestions are
welcome!
* Important:
I've reviewed the whole German translation pretty thoroughly about 3
Weeks ago, trying to iron out inconsistencies and to bring some order
into the naming structure of basic terms (see below).
Currently, I'd say that the German version is more complete in this
respect, than the English one is. The numbers of bugs have been
increasing there lately.
As soon as I find the time, I'll tie up some loose ends in the original
text. So please focus your efforts on new, untranslated stuff!
* First of all:
it's very helpful to play the game at least once to its end. We had
several occasions, where contributors obviously had no idea of what they
were translating; sometimes things add up only in conjunction with the
story in mind...
* Reference-checking:
It's always a good idea to check the enclosing dialog passages in case
of uncertainties, in order to create coherent dialogs. The original
English text isn't free of bugs itself and contains many incoherencies -
I'll try to spare some time and correct some of them, the next few weeks.
* Launchpad trouble:
we were having trouble with our French and German translations via
launchpad. Many already translated text passages were edited and changed
to the worse (refer to 'important'). Often, just nuissances were changed
at will. Yet more alarming, contributors introduced lots of grammatical
errors , bad style of writing and even tons of spelling mistakes. Due to
that, we were forced to reduce them to a propositional base.
* Some essential guidelines on writing text:
before 'improving' text passages, focus on untranslated stuff
you need advanced skills in both your native and English language
no scatology ('shittalking')
no slang style, except where applicable (e.g. goon characters / thugs)
always review what you've written at least once and check for mistakes
* Suggestions on the style of writing (etiquette):
I mostly stick to the original text, but I tend to adapt more of a
free translation style, if I see it fits better into the story's context
(provided, that the original sense is being preserved - apart from some
things I'll adjust in the English version).
Finding the original text being somewhat monotonous, I like to make
use of the various punctuation marks, to make the text more lively (if
exitement and action is taking place, this should be reflected
appropriatly, I think)...
At times I get struck by some extraordinary exaggerations or weird
ways of expression, which I always try to adjust and translate in a
senseful manner, rather than sticking to the original
('double-wolf-fang...'-ufo's, e.g.).
When discovering incoherencies (quite some, due to the long
development history of FD - see below), I write them down, in order to
also adapt the changes to the English version.
Considering the open source community to be a pool of open-minded and
altruistic people, I always try to apply etiquette and some social
behaviour to Tux and other protagonists. Addressing other characters
informally should only take place at intimate dialog situations, or when
talking to machines / robots, I feel (=>'duzen' nur, wo es angebracht
ist). While keeping a polite basic tenor and a natural distance to
people mostly, in certain situations Tux or other characters can get
very angry and forget himself; that's where I use informal addressing
and/or expletives / bad language, too (handled with care). Generally,
good manners should be applied in the majority of cases, I suggest.
Naturally, a professor's character like 'Francis' has a different way
of expressing himself, than a goon like the 'Bender' character, which
might tend to slang language and being less eloquent. Another example:
the cyber-bitch 'Tanya' - again, completely different nature.
irony and humor is always welcome, provided it's not too clumsy.
* basic guidelinies regarding specific / fixed expressions:
specific expressions and terms (Stärke, Ausdauer, Geschicklichkeit,
Lebenspunkte... ) have to be used by default. I'm gonna update the list
soon. We need to keep those standards for reasons of consistency and
also due to game limitations (e.g. GUI: STR / AUS / GES / LP). Some need
the freedroidRPG's universe has a certain triangular shaped currency -
Arthur and I agreed on using the term 'Tribucks' from now on.
some contradictions between single dialogs and the story as a whole
have to be ironed out, still. I have made a list on some of them and
will update the thread with it soon. (why town=colony? interplanetary
travelling?? robo-freighters in orbit?) and so on.
We've settled on earth being the focus of the story (with possible
colonies on moon and mars in future episodes, to make the robot-ships
and beaming down from orbit plausible). Maybe the time needs to be
shifted some 100 years into the future...
a few terms will completely vanish, like 'force', 'magics'...
We still need some standards on things, in the English version, too.
I'll update the list in a few days - have some work to attend to currently.
Best regards,
Barbatrix
