Post by tancients on Apr 2, 2010 18:06:20 GMT -5
All new news: bofgames.com/
For more detailed information, visit:
bofgames.com/
The current team:
Translation by:
tancients
Hacking by:
zzblue
Image editing by:
superlocke
Frequently Asked Questions
What versions will this be for?
Currently the patched original version and the plus version. There is a possibility of patching other language versions, but not currently being focused on.
Is it done yet?
No.
Well if it isn't done yet, when will it be?
Eventually. There is a lot more text to translate than one might think, along with a lot of things to alter in the coding. A more definite timeframe will be posted once things are closer to being finished.
Feel free to post other questions, comments, etc here. There currently is no website so this will be the only place for communication at this time. Over time there will be thoughts, comments, whyforwhats, and character introduction videos to whet one's palette. So stay tuned!
For more detailed information, visit:
bofgames.com/
- 4/16/2010
My other work has been incredibly busy this week and will likely continue throughout the month. So while the translation is over 90% done, it'll still take a couple weeks to finish it. That doesn't mean the project itself is nearly done however.
There is still a plethora of art files to work on and get finished, and it seems the programmer has gone MIA...But maybe he's just been busy with other things lately.
For the rest of this month, there likely won't be any regular updates. Though once the translation is finished, I can begin focusing a little more on PR as well as additional bonus content that will be added with the game. So keep an eye out! - 4/02/2010
This might be a bit boring to many of you who are only interested in the status of the game. In that case, scroll to the bottom of this entry for the blurb. For those who like learning however, I recommend reading the whole thing!
All the translating I've done on this project has shown me just how much goes into context when something is said. What is going on around the speaker, what is going on in their mind. It's not just a case of translating either; If you're unfamiliar with terminology or idioms in the language being spoken, you might get a little lost.
While trying to look up something for one of the scenes in the game, I came across an interesting (to me) read. www.percepp.com/japanese.htm This article talks more about the history of the languages in regards to the theological debate regarding origin than I'd care to know. However it brings up quite a few good points that I feel help explain my knack for picking up on languages I've never really studied.
Related to the article, if someone has studied other languages, there are large similarities in construction of sentences. Not so much the order, but rather the context. It's been amazing how well idioms have flowed between both Japanese and English for me. There was a line where it used the word 'umai' in Japanese. The English came out using sweet in the exact same application and context. And there was no food involved.
In English we have phrases like "Cold shoulder, sweet ride," etc, and they make sense when considered from an abstract frame of mind. While things like wordplay and riddles may not cross the cultural or language barriers, there are often similarities to be found even in those.
And now, for the fun progress news. Two whole areas of the game are entirely in English now, with well over 50% of the first pass of the translation done. Still a few months away and there are other things that need to be completed besides just the translation. But if you're wondering what is going on, there is an inkling. - 3/27/2010
This week was a little late due to me spending most of it travelling. All the votes have been tallied, and in a few weeks the video will be up and made. Stay tuned! - 3/19/2010
This week is another translator rant/ponderings post. When is it acceptable to use slang, and which slang is OK?
Are things like "My bad", "Dude", or even "sup?" acceptable in translations? Debatably, no. Unless you're trying to show the character as being a little bit 'off the hook', it's better to stick to more colloquial forms.
Of course, there are games that use slang and such in the Japanese. Things like 'waruiwarui' (Bad Bad) could maybe be translated as "My bad". It is a bit of slang, but is it really the same? Those kinds of things always make me wonder. Do people outside of America really understand 'My bad'? Is it in some form, globally recognized? So much slang is limited to regions. Even cities and districts have their own slang. A new one (to me) I heard today, was that anything of cheap quality, is called "K-Mart" (A shopping place similar to the globally recognized Wal-Mart), for example, "K-Mart Chocolate." But unless you grew up in this area I'm at currently, or had it explained to me. It doesn't make as much sense.
Currently, I'm keeping slang out of the translation as much as possible, though as I revise and smooth out, I'll likely slip some in here and there. Japanese slang (in terms of writing) is common sometimes even in informal business speaking, depending on the words used. Is it going to be appreciated? Understood? Acceptable? Will it properly enhance (or derogate) the character? I guess this is why I have a bunch of people look over things, and why professional translators have editors. - 3/12/2010
Good news and bad news abound. Bad news is translation has been slow this week with juggling work and sleep. Good news is I still managed to work on something related for those few spare hours I had. Bad news is, everyone who voted will have to vote again. Good news is, I've got a better poll to do it at!
zwei.talkspot.com/
Tada! A slightly more organized and optionally presentable website. There will probably be a little bit of adjustment and changes and such to it, but to avoid spending too much time not translating, here it be! I'll still post updates here, but the website allows me to spam a simple link rather than a long messy one for people who don't frequent these boards.
Let me know what you think, and of course, re-vote (or vote there if you haven't!) - 3/5/2010
Fan participation time!
Ever played a game, and wondered what goes on in some character's mind when something has happened? Well now is your chance. It's Q&A time for any Zwei 2 character (or monster!) you may have a question for!
Post, PM, e-mail, or comment on either of the two videos below to submit your vote.
Please keep the questions PG-13 at least, highly inappropriate questions will be ignored. Only the top 5 characters and/or the top 10 questions will be answered. You don't need to have played the game to ask a question either. Throwing off the wall questions is what makes interviews interesting!
If you don't know any of the characters at all, here are just a few:
www.falcom.co.jp/zwei2/character.html
You're also free to ask an open question to anyone and whichever character is most interested in answering it will! This will run for the next 3 weeks before questions will be stopped, and one week following that a video will be put up of fully in-game footage.
(As a footnote, any questions that can't be answered either by character personality or in the data files, will be directed towards Falcom for answers, so don't be shy!) - 2/26/2010
Thanks to those who posted the resolution they have/would play the game at. It'll help with making things cleaner and prettier!
This week it's just a bit of interesting tidbit in relation to the video.
What Alwen is eating are all Chinese dishes. While it is apparent that the main characters don't realize it, the interesting thing about all the dishes that Alwen mentions in the dialogue, is that they're almost exclusively only for weddings. Shark fin soup and so on are very expensive delicacies, which is why they're reserved in such a way.
This is why Mei reacts the way she does, completely ignoring Ragna's complaints to the contrary about being in a relationship with Alwen. She even goes so far as to tell the other townspeople that Ragna has proposed to Alwen and she had accepted on that night!
While Mei got the wrong impression about it all, it wasn't due to her ignorance, but rather the heroes who aren't aware of the cultural differences with food. It is because of all those references (found out by talking to unnecessary NPCs!) that the food was left as is, even if 95% of the people who play it in English will have never heard of such dishes (or perhaps even think they're completely made up!)
And that concludes this week's fun food for thought. Please continue to spread the word/links/question about resolution. There are some special surprises in store, but it is always better with fan participation! - 2/19/2010
Nothing new for now...I have no boot drive! Need me some moneys.
- 2/12/2010
A few people asked about doing the voice acting too. The Zwei 2 crew got very excited and decided to see what would happen when someone else played their lines.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=URJ-0SAWD3Y
We're currently ironing out the font settings. Please post your usual resolution you would play this type of game in. (Along with color level if you actually change that, 16 or 32bit)
640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1440x900, 1680x1050 or greater
As usual, any comments, opinions, etc, on the video are welcome!
P.S. There is some bleed from red text on a transparent background. This is only in the video and is fine in-game. - 2/05/2010
Way too sick this week to even prepare a screenshot. Sorry. - 1/29/2010
No pretty pictures or anything this week. Merely a reflection into my thoughts and give others an idea of my translation process. Since this is the first memoir of this, I'll give a little background.
I never went to a classroom for Japanese. (I went once while I was with someone else, but I don't even remember the lesson!), I pretty much learned it by immersion. But I've never been to Japan. I found out that PSO (The Gamecube one), had a Japanese language setting. So I looked up online for katakana and hiragana conversion, and off I went. Through trial and error I learned how to read hiragana and katakana, after which, I was ready! I set foot on the Japanese servers, and interacted. I talked, I asked, I learned. I started just like a child, learning basic words like 行く and moving up from there.
I bought a dictionary once. I think I used it 3 times. If I didn't know what something was, I asked in Japanese, and was answered in Japanese. This expanded outside of PSO and worked it's way into friendships, other games, and so on. I kept English and Japanese almost entirely separate. This was great from a learning standpoint. I learned to speak faster by forcing myself to adapt. Though when people started asking "What does this say?", I had to pause. My brain had to switch between the two languages in order to explain it. Often it was just a quick paraphrase, since the details almost never mattered to the person.
This isn't the only language I know. Including English I know 7, mostly learned in similar ways. Just by inoculating myself. Of course, a lot of become rusted from disuse, so I end up having to hear or read something in that language before I can push the switch and speak it. It's just something odd about how my brain handles languages. A two-edged sword.
Anyway, I used to always criticize translators who left things out, or translated a line without including what was in the Japanese. After doing my first Japanese -> English translation on a full scale, I understand a bit better why.
Not everything translated across, and sometimes you're better off just letting it get lost rather than confusing people by having someone act outside of their stereotypical role.
Here's a line from Zwei 2 that I recently had trouble with:
"お馬さんに蹴られたくないから ワタシ、そろそろ退散するネ。"
"I don't want to get kicked by a horse, so I should leave."
Kicked by a horse? What the hell? Obviously, it's an Idiom. The first one that popped into my head was stupid. People are called horses when they get answers wrong on quiz shows. That wasn't entirely wrong. It does mean "a stupid death" as in, to get kicked to death by a horse. Or "to die by the corner of tofu." (Another phrase, same meaning, less violent).
Turns out 'to be kicked by a horse', is actually from a love song about 120 years ago. It basically says that anyone who gets between two lovers should be kicked (to death) by a horse. But, in English...we don't have anything like that. Nothing as potentially violent.
I thought about using "...leave before you tell me to fuck off",(Not as violent) "...leave before you kick my shit in" (same energy as Japanese phrase, but really didn't sit well with my English side in this scene), and "...leave before you give me the hairy eyeball."
Ultimately though, because English culture doesn't really have a good equivalent, and anything that could potentially match was way out of character, I ended up dropping the idiom and simply putting in a comment about being in the way of the two lovebirds. Was it the right decision? I'm sure someone out there, like me before, will say "Should've just left it as is, and let people figure it out!" or "Could've added a footnote somewhere!" Yeah, I tried that with a few other things with test groups. Didn't go so hot. Sapid got voted out, and I didn't think that was all that far out there. You kind of have to be aware of the playerbase who is most likely to play the game. Nothing wrong with making them stretch just a little, but most people don't like having to go look up words in a dictionary when they're playing a game.
I might do more of these, when different deadlines and goals don't happen, and I need something to fill the update. Stay tuned in the next week or two. All that talk about getting voice actors has made the Zwei 2 crew preparing something special!
The current team:
Translation by:
tancients
Hacking by:
zzblue
Image editing by:
superlocke
Frequently Asked Questions
What versions will this be for?
Currently the patched original version and the plus version. There is a possibility of patching other language versions, but not currently being focused on.
Is it done yet?
No.
Well if it isn't done yet, when will it be?
Eventually. There is a lot more text to translate than one might think, along with a lot of things to alter in the coding. A more definite timeframe will be posted once things are closer to being finished.
Feel free to post other questions, comments, etc here. There currently is no website so this will be the only place for communication at this time. Over time there will be thoughts, comments, whyforwhats, and character introduction videos to whet one's palette. So stay tuned!
