Looking for translation jobs (English to German, for free)

[Nipsky]

Hey guys,

I’m doing a lot of translations in my spare time and would like to contribute something by translating games into German, to build up my skills (and eventually get together some kind of portfolio). As a writer myself (well, kind of ), I’d be glad to get some experience in working on story driven, atmospheric, maybe poetic stuff, but I have also fun doing small and simple projects, so drop me a message if you need something done.

Oh, and to make it clear: I do this voluntarily, just for fun and experience.

Cheers
Nipsky

[acme_pjz]

Hi Nipsky,

Could you look at my project https://code.google.com/p/puzzleboy/ Recently I created a project on Transifex https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/puzzleboy/, but I'm not quite understand the setup process so you can also download pot at https://code.google.com/p/puzzleboy/sou ... a%2Flocale

[Nipsky]

Hey acme_pjz,

I attached your translated mo and po files

Btw, seems the font you are using in your game is missing a character for the german umlaut "ö" (the rest seem fine), it those cases I only see a small box.

[Evropi]

Hey Nipsky, great to see a fellow translator here. I am quite the opposite to you, translating software almost exclusively. My expertise is primarily in making consistent translations with a high degree of care for the overall user experience (which is one of my main interests).

Creative writing is easily my weakest suit. I was never able to finish the translation of Enigma into my own language. Perhaps you will be able to manage the task, but for the German language. I strongly recommend playing the game first. Even if you don't like puzzle games, I think you will enjoy it. I don't fancy them much myself, but Enigma's playful writing, interesting environments and high skill requirement saw me enjoy playing it a lot.

You can here, but be warned: the Transifex web interface cannot handle double spaces and TAB characters properly, so make sure you use an offline translation program instead. I suggest Virtaal, which comes with web-based translation memory out of the box and everything is presented in an amazingly intuitive and powerful interface.

Also consider Neverball for similar reasons, though that has less creative writing flair than Enigma does. I also hear the German translation for it is already quite good, compared to Enigma's (apparently) lackluster and all-too-direct translation.

[acme_pjz]

Hi Nipsky,

Thanks for your translation

Btw, seems the font you are using in your game is missing a character for the german umlaut "ö" (the rest seem fine), it those cases I only see a small box.

Yeah I also found this issue, I'll try to fix it.

[Nipsky]

Hey Evropi,

consistent software translations is something I surely would like to see more often At least regarding German there are so many poorly or inconsistently translated applications, not only in the Open Source Community…

Thanks for pointing me to Enigma! I played that many years ago and completely forgot about it. Seems the game itself is already translated but most of the levels with all their messages are not.

Internationalisation platforms like Transifex are a good thing but I always had problems finding worthwhile projects with open translation jobs there, just too many entries and too few ways to search and filter, when I want to have something to translate just now

I think I might start lurking around in the Battle for Wesnoth community a bit, translating a campaign with dialogs and all could be a nice experience.

[NaN]

Hi Nipsky,

if you're up for some challenge, I'd recommend to have a look at Valyria Tear. I did the the initial translation, mostly to get a feeling for translation workflow, as I am more a software guy myself.

I think someone with writing experience could certainly do better, especially working out the characters and their interrelationships, and maybe even contribute to the story.

[Evropi]

I think I might start lurking around in the Battle for Wesnoth community a bit, translating a campaign with dialogs and all could be a nice experience.

Ahh! How could I forget about that... that's pretty much the perfect translation project. It even allows for custom scenarios and add-ons to be translated. I personally "maintain" (not) a coop multiplayer scenario for it (which we totally need more of, by the way). It's not in the add-on repo at the moment. Be warned however that if you want consistency, you will have to do a lot of reading and playing first, so you're really grounded in the world of Wesnoth.

If you want a test of your skills and a great appreciation for the world of Wesnoth, you should install Legend of the Invincibles. It's an epic 200-scenario adventure over two campaigns (which were further split into some 7 parts, though they have now been merged into two campaigns). It will probably never be integrated into the codebase as it's next to impossible to maintain, but virtually every skilled ladder player has complete it. If you reckon you don't want to help translate Wesnoth, you should still play LotI. It's the best TBS experience I've ever had, bar none.

Another game that could use your help -- particularly when it comes to style -- is Xonotic. It has a great German translation, aside from the hilarious messages that appear when someone is fragged. Those could certainly use a good writer's attention. Xonotic is one of the most polished FOSS games out there and deserves a bit of love.

[Nipsky]

Hey NaN,

Valyria Tear certainly looks like a challenge, but I’m intrigued… I took a look at the game and yeah, I think its translation could use a revamp here and there I also spotted a few smaller mistakes and the typography seems a bit messy (I have to admit, I’m a bit picky in that regard).

Hmm, what do you think would be a good way to start working on this project? I tend to jump right in, maybe even starting from scratch (using the existing translation as a comparison of course) and figuring out the details and nuances on the way, but maybe a different approach would be wise for a project with this much text…

Is there some kind of glossary available for all the characters, places, items, etc. yet? I think I first of all would aim for consistency regarding game terminology and, in the end, style of writing.

[NaN]

Hey NaN,

Valyria Tear certainly looks like a challenge, but I’m intrigued… I took a look at the game and yeah, I think its translation could use a revamp here and there I also spotted a few smaller mistakes and the typography seems a bit messy (I have to admit, I’m a bit picky in that regard).

Hmm, what do you think would be a good way to start working on this project? I tend to jump right in, maybe even starting from scratch (using the existing translation as a comparison of course) and figuring out the details and nuances on the way, but maybe a different approach would be wise for a project with this much text…

Is there some kind of glossary available for all the characters, places, items, etc. yet? I think I first of all would aim for consistency regarding game terminology and, in the end, style of writing.

Given the large amount of text I'd recommend to build up a glossary. I did the translation in a very ad-hoc manner, mostly relying on my experience playing other rpgs and my string search/match capabilities.

If you have the time and muse, I'd say start with the original, get a feeling for the characters and story and go from there.

[Akien]

Hmm, what do you think would be a good way to start working on this project? I tend to jump right in, maybe even starting from scratch (using the existing translation as a comparison of course) and figuring out the details and nuances on the way, but maybe a different approach would be wise for a project with this much text…

Is there some kind of glossary available for all the characters, places, items, etc. yet? I think I first of all would aim for consistency regarding game terminology and, in the end, style of writing.

I'd recommend to start by playing the game in English, to become familiar with the characters and their personalities. Don't hesitate to give feedback on the English text too (Valyria Tear has its forum on FreeGameDev too) if you feel that the writing could be improved once you've become familiar with the atmosphere that Bertram tries to convey in his game.