

Common words translation sheet for indie game developers. - kolinko
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al1cNCkGdEJfdF8xX0dsaHl6ZVpzMDF2OW9JaWVWMVE#gid=0

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mootothemax
Reasons why translations are never simple #5322, Polish edition:

"You have won..." -> "Właśnie wygrałeś..."

 _Wygrałeś_ is fine if the player's a man. Otherwise, for a woman, _wygrałeś_
needs an A instead of the E: _wygrałAś_

There are lots of pitfalls like this in Slavic languages, and I imagine in
many others.

Speaking as an English developer, the first time you implement a proper
translation can be a painful - not to mention enlightening - experience.

~~~
ajuc
Genders in Polish are easy (but you can't say almost anything without also
specyfying your gender, except in a very contrived, formal way). Numbers are
even harder ;)

I have: 1 apple = "Mam 1 jabłko" 2-4 apples = "Mam 2-4 jabłka" 5-21 apples =
"Mam 5-21 jabłek" 22-24 apples = "Mam 22-24 jabłka" 25-31 apples = "Mam 25-31
jabłek" etc.

Also "one" = "jeden", "jedno", "jednego", "jednych", "jedni", ... there's
different version for almost all combinantions of plurality, grammatical case,
and gender.

"I have one apple" = "Mam jedno jabłko" "I don't have apple" = "Nie mam
jednego jabłka"

Nobody expects software to get it right.

~~~
tibbon
For counting, is that similar to a 'couple', 'few', 'handful' in english?

~~~
ajuc
I don't understand what you mean (I'm not really good with English).

In Polish every noun changes with the number in the way I've show. When you
count up, you use numbers in abstract wihout the noun, so no noun to change
ending.

If you mean the ranges, it's strict in Polish - 1 has one ending for noun,
2-4, 22-24, 32-34, 42-44, etc have other, and all the others have another
ending. I don't know how the ranges for "few", "a couple" etcare defined in
English.

I've heard that this strange system in Polish comes from the times Polish had
3 possible pluralities: singular, dual and plural, but I might be wrong about
that.

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mkilling
Some of the English phrases sound a little off to me: "You can download FREE
game NOW" - is it "you can download A free game now" (this is what the German
translation says right now) or "you can now download THIS game for free"?

~~~
swinglock
Makes it look more like a translation sheet for Indian game developers.

~~~
tinco
I hope for Chinese developers, I think they're making some pretty great games
we're missing out on.

~~~
bladum
feel free to update English keyword but not too much

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bladum
Hi, I am the owner of the file. Please tell me what you like to do with this
file inside file via comments etc.

We can create form for submit new files or add specific people to manage
single language etc.

I am you at your disposal.

Bladum

~~~
bladum
File is online for 26 hours now :)

I am force to make file private due to google server limitations. Still can
use it but after using gmail account.

Bladum

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martinml
As you obviously know, in English phrases like "share an achievement" can be
imperative or infinitive. Chances are it's the latter, since the former
usually is preceded by "please". In Spanish (and I guess that in most european
languages), these two forms are different.

Because of that, almost all software that was translated to Spanish (
_especially_ mobile apps) mixes this two forms and order the user to do
something ("hey you! open this file! copy this text!") instead of using the
infinitive form.

This was no exception. "Share an achievement" has been translated for
"comparte un logro" (although "share on facebook" and other phrases were
translated correctly).

As a developer, you should provide context for the strings ("label of a button
that if clicked allows the user to share an achievement" vs "label asking the
user to share an achievement"). Gettext and similar translation systems
provide a way to do this.

Software translations are hard. I had to set my phone to English because most
translations are wrong and many are barely understandable.

~~~
bladum
that is why i put CATEGORY as a fist column. This is for context purpose.

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bromagosa
If the English column is full of mistakes... how can you rely on the
translations?

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aquarin
Microsoft have Language Portal with a lot of technical terms translations in a
multiple languages. It gives you the translations in different context too.

<http://www.microsoft.com/Language/en-US/Default.aspx>

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druml
There are variants of the written Chinese languages and they are used in
different regions. E.g. Simplified Chinese characters are used in Mainland
China, while Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are still using Traditional Chinese
Characters. Also, different Chinese speaking regions have subtly different
vocabularies. E.g. Software is translated as 軟體 in Taiwan, while in Hong Kong
it is 軟件.

I guess there are similar issues for Spanish in Spain and Spanish in Mexico.

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melling
I'm building a dictionary for my iOS Spanish app.

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/h4-spanish-
lite/id388918463?...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/h4-spanish-
lite/id388918463?mt=8)

I'm paying some people to translate my Spanish/English words to
French/Mandarin/German/Italian/Korean/Japanese/Russian.

If people get the proper English expressions in, I can have these people go
over the sheets and try to fill in some of the blanks.

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Tomdarkness
Anyone else having trouble viewing this? I just get:

"We're sorry, but you have sent too many requests to us recently. Please try
again later."

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DrinkWater
I would be careful with this, needs definitely some revisions. (at least the
English and German columns )

~~~
itafroma
Indeed. An easy tell for English that isn't written by a native is a space
before the closing punctuation (e.g., "Collect Your Prize Now !") and that's
present on a few of the entries.

~~~
wololo
if anyone else is curious:

"It's a common typo by French (because in French, there is a white space
before a question/exclamation mark)"

"in most Indian schools, English grammar is taught from a book that was
originally authored by two Englishmen: PC Wren and H Martin. The earlier
editions of the book (including the one that I own) has a space before the
following punctuation marks are used: question mark, exclamation mark, dash
(em dash), colon and semi-colon"

\--[http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4645/is-it-
ever-c...](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4645/is-it-ever-correct-
to-have-a-space-before-a-question-or-exclamation-mark)

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nsxwolf
I don't have permission to view this?

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raverbashing
There is no 'j' in italian (for 'Congratulations')

They probably mean 'Congratulazioni'

Oh and the Portuguese column is fine, but don't try it in Brazil, go for the
'Brazilian Portuguese' instead

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MasterScrat
That would do a nice service: crowdsourced translations specific to various
game styles, with a rating system to have more reliable results + a simple
API.

~~~
emillon
For a self-hosted translation management system, you can have a look at
weblate :

<http://weblate.org/>

~~~
kal00ma
pootle is also an OK option, if you don't mind doing heavy customization

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pasiaj
Seems quite specific for "common words". I imagine someone wants to
crowdsource their translations. Well, no harm done to anyone.

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bladum
Guys, i am the owner, i am trying to setup it properly but Google docs is not
designer to work well with many non-signed users.

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kabouseng
Where can I reply to to help fill in some of the missing words? I can do the
Afrikaans section for you.

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zozu
I'm translating a lot of the Dutch blank spots. I hope it will be helpfull for
at least one person.

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kolinko
Done by my friend, I think it may be quite useful to some of the iOS devs out
there.

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kozlovsky
"You need permission to access this item"

