weiter gehts. hier die nächste mail:
> I'd be happy to help. Go ahead and fire away with questions.
Avec plaisir, thank you!
- Dublin? Who did the localization then, Dublin university?
- What kind of material were they supplied?
As I mentioned before, I am solely (and dimly) informed about LoD's localization.
There, I had to take insight in the mpq-files to track down some especially absurd translations to be encountered in the Spanish version, such as "césped venenoso" ("toxic meadow") for "venom ward".
Which dark fate had led to this mother?
it was, in fact, an additional "s" in an obviously crucial mpq: "venomsward". Babblefish must have squealed that a "sward" is some kind of grassy place, and there we went with a nasty piece of garden.
Findings like this made me suspect that whoever was in charge of the translation
a) was not equipped with any final version of the whole "terminology" (if ever it exists
), and
b) had limited or no access to the stats of the items to be renamed / translated.
- Is either assumption correct?
The localizers seem to have had less time for bughunting, as well. When my Spanish sorceress recently tried to kill Diablo, he caught her first thing after materializing in a little bone prison. To my astonishment, she had to be freed not from the expected "evil force", but from "not used - tell ken".
- How long did the localization process take?
- How many people worked on each version?
- What kind of localisation .tools (translation .memory, glossary .tools etc.) were used?
you mentioned some adaptation of graphics ("fixed for country specific graphics").
- What did you refer to - adapting popups to allow vertical text, for example?
- Was there any particular detail such as some versions affording special treatment whatsoever?
_____________________
In case I bother you too much, please just don't let me!
I do hope that you chalk my possible lack of politeness up to my foreign tongue. [yes, sonne. you are Europe's N°1 diplomat!]
Hum... well. I have two nagging questions left
both a bit off topic and not too relevant for my work, both concerning names of uniques:
"Crainte Vomir". I thought this to be some mock-french until I referred to the stats. "Fear vomit" is the only weapon which makes a character run faster.
So do you happen to know what that was - a mock-french accident or purpose?
And, at last, the ominous "gimmershred", translated into something German / Spanish like "glimmershard", although the original words suggest the fleece of a young sheep. Well... they do, don't they?
I suspect that about three dozen questions are sufficient for one mail. Perhaps you can answer some.
Thank you very much!
Yours,
Sonne
bin mal gespannt.