Translating wiki articles

[Obsttorte]

I was thinking about writing some wiki articles in german for some time now. It seems to me that it may prove useful to have all this stuff also available in other languages. Not just german, but beneath english this is the only language I speak so I could only provide informations in this one.

 

I guess it would be easier for non-english speakers to get into DarkRadiant or map creation in general if the informations needed would be provided in their mother tongue. However, the question is if

1. There really is a need for translating existing wiki articles or writing new ones in different languages
   
2. if there are other mappers willing to provide such articles in different languages
   
3. the people hosting the wiki have the capacities and the will to host these articles
   

Let me hear what you think about this.

[Sotha]

I dunno.. I think it would be a crime if you wasted your obvious talents in just translating wiki articles. You should be mapping an' stuff.

[Obsttorte]

I am actually.

 

I'm not talking about myself only. There are other people who could contibute translations, too. And I think it may help gathering new mappers. As the responses about the topic of translating the game (readables and briefing mainly) has shown, there are a lot of folks out there who may have their problems with english (in terms of speaking it ). A technical article may be even harder to understand for them then an ingame note telling them where to find some extra loot.

 

Btw.: Translating an existing article wouldn't take me too long.

[Baal]

If I new there were people who would benefit from a german translation I would help with this. I don't think it's really necessary though assuming that people who are interested in games, modding and computers in general need english anyway.

[STiFU]

Well, if you want to spend time translating wiki articles, you should translate it to the languages of countries that don't have such a good english education as germany has. I mean seriously, nowadays the kids start learning english in 3rd grade.

[Serpentine]

Rather fix old articles imho. English is the language of the Western Internet. Besides for French people who actively fight it.

 

It'd be nice if we had a list of articles which no longer apply or are out of date (e.g. DoomEdit related) - that's a pretty good task, and if you're not sure I'm sure we can answer.

[7upMan]

Well, if you want to spend time translating wiki articles, you should translate it to the languages of countries that don't have such a good english education as germany has. I mean seriously, nowadays the kids start learning english in 3rd grade.

 

Actually, in some areas they already begin in Kindergarden.

[Tels]

I'm inclined to agree - translating the wiki to German is a daunting task (its HUGE) and of little benefit because of German speaking people being quite good with English (look at you, 7upman, greebo, angua, even me etc.).

 

Fixing old articles or documenting existing things would be more useful IMO.

[Obsttorte]

Well, if you want to spend time translating wiki articles, you should translate it to the languages of countries that don't have such a good english education as germany has. I mean seriously, nowadays the kids start learning english in 3rd grade.

As I said I can only provide german translations. But there may be other people around here who could translate them in other languages (italian, czech, russian, whatever). On the second note, on of the purposes of this thread is to find out whether or not this is needed.

 

I learned english since the 3rd grade, too. But when I've started working with DR and therefore reading the wiki articles I often overread or misread some points in the articles. I don't know if this hadn't happen with german articles, too, as it's maybe a matter of the information amount provided in such articles, who know.

 

Another point is, that if that is true ("everybody learns english in school", "english is the language of the western Internet", ...) then why the hack do so much people here spend their time translating FM's?

 

EDIT: Two points to the school-english:

• I've met lots of people who had french as first foreign language
  
• the fact that you learn a language does not mean that you understand it
  

[Obsttorte]

I'm inclined to agree - translating the wiki to German is a daunting task (its HUGE) and of little benefit because of German speaking people being quite good with English (look at you, 7upman, greebo, angua, even me etc.).

 

Fixing old articles or documenting existing things would be more useful IMO.

The one does not exclude the other.

[Tels]

Yeah, but I'd rather have you spent your time on something useful. Translating articles to German means we have afterwards more articles to maintain, not less. Of course, you can do whatever you want

[PsymH]

Maybe not all articles, but I think the basic A - Z beginner tutorial should be essential.

[demagogue]

Yes there are a few key articles where it could be useful to translate, definitely that one and some others that are fundamental.

[7upMan]

Maybe it would be useful to have Forum sections for the different languages, where folks from different regions, who aren't as fluent in EN as we are, can post in their native language and ask their questions. Here, they could request translation of Wiki articles, should the need ever arise. But I do see the complication here, because to create a section for every language is unpractical at best. And to create it solely for the main languages (French, German, Spanish, Russian, Portugese) would exclude many players.

 

Hm, what do you think?

[Obsttorte]

That's a nice idea IMHO.

[Serpentine]

Hm, what do you think?

No, it only results in division. We have no problem with people using google translated text and have done well so far. It can also lead to a lot of unsatisfiable expectations and wasted time.

 

TDM needs sustainable, simple systems.

[Obsttorte]

You may have a point here. But over all it may prove useful to have at least one single thread for such questions. The first post could ask the people to first try to post their request in english. I just remember the polish guy (don't know his name anymore).

 

EDIT: Actually I think that people who can speak english will post in english to take part (orin other words: to avoid the division). It should be really just for people who does not speak english at all.

[demagogue]

We've had people post questions in foreign languages before and it hasn't been a problem. If there's an issue it's PR; people should feel comfortable posting in their native language if they have to. But you know they're already posting on their home-language Thief forums... I know in Google searches I'm seeing TDM threads in the Russian & French forums, and some of those are editing threads.