@CameronTofer : we have a tool in our forums to implement automatically texts already translated in one mod (for example), so we can implement BG2 texts if there is no change on BGEE in one click. We call it Translation Retriever. It can also work if there are changes...
I guess it works in latin languages, maybe it can be adapted on cyrillic ones.
@CameronTofer I may not fully understand, but there is a french version of BG2. Thus, news strings imported from BG2 may be imported from the original BG2 french edition.
Or at least, copied
You are correct. I'll be adding the BG2 strings soon now that the final list of imported items is almost done.
It's an estimate on my part at the moment. Right now the French translation hasn't been edited from the original game. I'm estimating another 25% to go for edits, new strings imported from BG2 and new strings from the Enhanced Editions.
If I understand you, there are 25% for edits strings, and 25% for strings imported from BG2 and new strings from EE? Sorry if I didn't understand you correctly, I'm french.
It's a huge job in any language. I don't understand... @DanBoulos told me by pm 1 month ago that you have french translator for EE. I guess you have professional translators for this. I mean, to translate 8 000 texts (even 5 000 if you replace BG2 texts) and to edit 8 000 others in two months... nobody can keep the cadence for free. This job must be done by a professional. Anyway, I have asked the d'Oghmatiques.
@Graoumf he probably meant 25% for all of the three options, not 25% for each categories (otherwise french would be up tp 25% and not 75% haha), but it does seem a lot nevertheless
We have a mix of paid professionals and volunteers depending on the task.
The major task at the moment is correct spelling, grammar and formatting errors from the original BG1. This is done mostly by volunteers.
Next will be translating new interface and programming strings, also done by volunteers.
Translating of the new Enhanced content will most be professionals and volunteers who prove their quality in translations and are willing to sign our NDA.
Even, you're right @Medillen, it's a lot. Our last translation (Romantic Encounters which represents 8 200 texts) lasts 1 year and 3 months, and we were 4 to translate it.
Hi! I want to contribute to the Polish translation. I like gaming, but haven't played BG (please, no! don't throw stones!). Nevertheless, I think I could be useful for this project: I'm a certified English translator with Polish as my mother tongue. I also do a lot of proof-reading at work. So, if you can find a job for me in this project, just let me know, I'm gonna check this thread every once in a while.
Hi, I'd like to take part in translating BG for Polish gamers. I have lots of experience regarding Black Isle RPG's, have been playing paper-based D&D for some time, read most of Forgotten Realms books and love Baldur's Gate! As for my English, I've smashed my A-levels at advanced level and I'm living in the UK since 2007. If you think I might be the right person to help you, let me know.
Hey, I was born in Singapore and moved to Poland after a couple of years. I've been brought up as a completely bilingual child. I moved to the UK a year ago and am currently studying here, hit me up if you need a hand with the Polish translation.
@CameronTofer Hi, I'm also a member of the translation team "the D'Oghmatiques" (I've been for the past 6 years now, and I worked on many mods ^^), and, as a big fan of the BG saga, and the IE games in general, I'm very interested in working on the french translation.
I have a few questions, though : right now, how many people (volunteers and/or professionals) do you plan to work on the french translation (and other translations as well) ? Like I said, I'm a big fan, and it would be my pleasure to help you guys out to the best of my abilities, but, just like Graoumf said, 8000 texts in two months is HUGE, even for a team of 5-6 volunteers (we can say that from experience).
Which leads me to my next questions : are you already in contact with professionals ? If so, do you know if they have plans about how they will work with the volunteers ?
Is the 75% completion status estimation likely to decrease ? And does it include all of the planned DLC ? Do you plan to work the same way regarding the translation of BG2EE (and other hypothetical future EE games as well) ?
I'm sorry if this is too many boring questions. I imagine you have lots of other, more urgent things to do, but I'm just trying to gather some details about the amount of work to do.
Anyway, thank you for the amazing work on the EE You have no idea how excited I am about this project ! I jumped from my chair when I knew BGEE was officially on the works !
Beings a delicate subject as it is, i have to give my moral support to @Graoumf for the courage to ask the hard questions:
Why this serious work that even has a time limit to be done is not paid? Why not enough "professional" translator"s" where hired? Why only 21 days before the release a true organization for volunteers is done?
Lemme just remember that the question was done in a nice way, indirect and touching light on the subject.
before i end lemme just let clear that those questions don't have or need an answer, just reflection on them, cos obvious that only will volunteer, whom want.
Beings a delicate subject as it is, i have to give my moral support to @Graoumf for the courage to ask the hard questions:
Why this serious work that even has a time limit to be done is not paid? Why not enough "professional" translator"s" where hired? Why only 21 days before the release a true organization for volunteers is done?
Lemme just remember that the question was done in a nice way, indirect and touching light on the subject.
before i end lemme just let clear that those questions don't have or need an answer, just reflection on them, cos obvious that only will volunteer, whom want.
I'm welcoming volunteers after receiving literally dozens of offers by e-mail. Normally this is not how we go about it but Baldur's Gate is not your normal product!
We are hiring professional translators as well, I like to have a mix because usually the volunteers are more intimate with the game and the D&D context.
Yes, the time is short between now and release, just keep in mind it will be the first release. We have plenty to offer for the next long while.
Being a complete amateur on the translation job I was about to dismiss but apparently you need all the help you can get. :-) My only experience on translation was a mod for NWN but : - I'm french speaking working every day in english. - I'm (very) familiar with D&D mechanics and Forgotten Realms stories. - My (wonderful) job allows me quite some time off.
So pm me if you need any help with the french translation !
If there's still someone needed to speed up translation into German, feel free to contact me. I can give feedback on the translations as well or just do some proof-reading. I'm familiar with the original BG/BG2 style regarding story/dialogues.
Hi @CameronTofer. I guess I'm kind of late to the party, but still - should you need any more Polish translators, I'm here to help. I'd be really happy to contribute to this project and would do so as well as I could. I've posted in the thread in the polish subforum and even sent a message to powerfulally, but have been ignored since (probably due to the massive response). It's a shame I didn't see this thread before, I asked Trent on Twitter how translations would be done (ages ago), but he never got back to me.
I'm quite sure you've got more than enough of polish translators, but just in case... I've got some experience in english/polish translations - I've done translatons for Amnesty International, one of the polish consulates and a bit through my old job. I've got a degree in Law (from UK). I've got fond memories of Baldur's Gate from my childhood - it would be cool to become a part of this project.
@CameronTofer I could help with the spanish translations. My mother is British and my father Spanish, lived all my life in Spain and attended an English School. I should have no problems translating from English to Spanish as they are both my native languages.
I would love to help with the German translation if help is still needed. I've been doing some voluntarily translation work before (not professionally, though). I've been using English for a while now and had the English intensive course in my school.
@Artstein I'm temporal teamleader for the fan Polish translation. I'm afraid we already have plenty of people helping us, but if you want, feel free to send me a message about yourself. Perhaps we'll have you join us if some of our current members become inactive.
Are there any guidelines for translating names, organizations, items and such? Try and keep them unchanged? Adapt them to something similar? Translate them at any cost?
I'd love to be part of the German translation team. I'm not a professional translator (I'm a psychologist), but I believe I'm quite familiar with the English language and how to translate it into German. It has always amused me that there are several instances in the German version of BG where you can clearly infer the original English sentence.
I have some knowledge about D&D apart from Baldur's Gate, and if push comes to shove I could still call on my sister, who actually *is* a professional translator. Well, maybe just in severe emergencies
Comments
@CameronTofer : we have a tool in our forums to implement automatically texts already translated in one mod (for example), so we can implement BG2 texts if there is no change on BGEE in one click. We call it Translation Retriever. It can also work if there are changes...
I guess it works in latin languages, maybe it can be adapted on cyrillic ones.
It's a huge job in any language. I don't understand... @DanBoulos told me by pm 1 month ago that you have french translator for EE. I guess you have professional translators for this. I mean, to translate 8 000 texts (even 5 000 if you replace BG2 texts) and to edit 8 000 others in two months... nobody can keep the cadence for free. This job must be done by a professional.
Anyway, I have asked the d'Oghmatiques.
The major task at the moment is correct spelling, grammar and formatting errors from the original BG1. This is done mostly by volunteers.
Next will be translating new interface and programming strings, also done by volunteers.
Translating of the new Enhanced content will most be professionals and volunteers who prove their quality in translations and are willing to sign our NDA.
If you think I might be the right person to help you, let me know.
Hi,
I'm also a member of the translation team "the D'Oghmatiques" (I've been for the past 6 years now, and I worked on many mods ^^), and, as a big fan of the BG saga, and the IE games in general, I'm very interested in working on the french translation.
I have a few questions, though : right now, how many people (volunteers and/or professionals) do you plan to work on the french translation (and other translations as well) ? Like I said, I'm a big fan, and it would be my pleasure to help you guys out to the best of my abilities, but, just like Graoumf said, 8000 texts in two months is HUGE, even for a team of 5-6 volunteers (we can say that from experience).
Which leads me to my next questions : are you already in contact with professionals ? If so, do you know if they have plans about how they will work with the volunteers ?
Is the 75% completion status estimation likely to decrease ? And does it include all of the planned DLC ?
Do you plan to work the same way regarding the translation of BG2EE (and other hypothetical future EE games as well) ?
I'm sorry if this is too many boring questions. I imagine you have lots of other, more urgent things to do, but I'm just trying to gather some details about the amount of work to do.
Anyway, thank you for the amazing work on the EE
Why this serious work that even has a time limit to be done is not paid? Why not enough "professional" translator"s" where hired? Why only 21 days before the release a true organization for volunteers is done?
Lemme just remember that the question was done in a nice way, indirect and touching light on the subject.
before i end lemme just let clear that those questions don't have or need an answer, just reflection on them, cos obvious that only will volunteer, whom want.
We are hiring professional translators as well, I like to have a mix because usually the volunteers are more intimate with the game and the D&D context.
Yes, the time is short between now and release, just keep in mind it will be the first release. We have plenty to offer for the next long while.
Being a complete amateur on the translation job I was about to dismiss but apparently you need all the help you can get. :-)
My only experience on translation was a mod for NWN but :
- I'm french speaking working every day in english.
- I'm (very) familiar with D&D mechanics and Forgotten Realms stories.
- My (wonderful) job allows me quite some time off.
So pm me if you need any help with the french translation !
Feels as though I was a leper.
I'll let you know what we do in a minute.
I've got some experience in english/polish translations - I've done translatons for Amnesty International, one of the polish consulates and a bit through my old job. I've got a degree in Law (from UK). I've got fond memories of Baldur's Gate from my childhood - it would be cool to become a part of this project.
I could help with the spanish translations. My mother is British and my father Spanish, lived all my life in Spain and attended an English School.
I should have no problems translating from English to Spanish as they are both my native languages.
I've been doing some voluntarily translation work before (not professionally, though).
I've been using English for a while now and had the English intensive course in my school.
Hey, I just sent you a message. I'd like to help with Polish translation.
Try and keep them unchanged?
Adapt them to something similar?
Translate them at any cost?
I imagine that with the versions that already have a partial translation, you'd want to keep the same style.
For all new translations though, its a sticky question.
There are a lot of people who would be astonished if BGEE comes in Turkish...
I have some knowledge about D&D apart from Baldur's Gate, and if push comes to shove I could still call on my sister, who actually *is* a professional translator. Well, maybe just in severe emergencies
I think we can help for Turkish translation. We would like to see a Turkish BG