NATIONSTATES IN OTHER LANGUAGES

[Varazhdin]

I am playing this game for a longer period of time and I have noticed that in this game there are players from many different countries who speak different languages.
So, I was wondering if anybody had considered to translate this game into other languages, like German, Croatian, Russian etc.
This is done in other browser games, so I don't think there is a reason that we don't do that in NationStates.

Thanks for reading!

P.S.: I hope I finally posted a topic properly...

[Herrebrugh]

Well there is quite a big Dutch community in NationStates...

[Meciene]

Would 'Translate NationStates' necessarily include the forums? Most people post in English here.

[Varazhdin]

In the case of forum, it wouldn't apply to the text of posts.
I don't know if there is a rule that you have to make posts in English, but even if you would make them in some other language, most people wouldn't understand them, so there wouldn't be much point to do that...

[Katganistan]

Coding different languages = programmers and translators.
Programmers and translators = money.

I'm not saying it will never happen, but I don't see it being a huge priority given that those who have been playing the game all these years have been playing it in English, and the discussion forums are also mostly geared towards English speakers.

[Herrebrugh]

Coding different languages = programmers and translators.
Programmers and translators = money.

I'm not saying it will never happen, but I don't see it being a huge priority given that those who have been playing the game all these years have been playing it in English, and the discussion forums are also mostly geared towards English speakers.

Hehehe i'm doing it for free

[Varazhdin]

In that case, you could ask for volunteers who would do it for free.
If nothing else, you could just ask them to translate tthe text into their languages and people who manage this game then do only technical issues about translation...

[GMC Military Arms]

In that case, you could ask for volunteers who would do it for free.

And we would have no real way of knowing if the translation was an actual translation or an advert for Viagra in Afrikaans.

[Herrebrugh]

In that case, you could ask for volunteers who would do it for free.

And we would have no real way of knowing if the translation was an actual translation or an advert for Viagra in Afrikaans.

Do we have a new mod

[Reploid Productions]

In that case, you could ask for volunteers who would do it for free.

And we would have no real way of knowing if the translation was an actual translation or an advert for Viagra in Afrikaans.

Do we have a new mod

Nah, GMC is one of the oldies.

On topic, Nationstates is an extremely text-heavy game. There's well over 100 different daily issues (close to or just over 200 if memory serves,) and that number is constantly (albeit slowly) growing. So that's an awful lot of existing text to translate and potentially localize, and an unending effort as new issues would need translation before they could go into the game. Even with volunteers, we would need some way to verify that the translations were accurate, and free online translation tools can only do so much. Unfortunately, that's a lot more effort in time and money than the potential benefit is worth.

[Flibbleites]

In that case, you could ask for volunteers who would do it for free.

And we would have no real way of knowing if the translation was an actual translation or an advert for Viagra in Afrikaans.

Do we have a new mod

Nah, GMC is one of the oldies.

On topic, Nationstates is an extremely text-heavy game. There's well over 100 different daily issues (close to or just over 200 if memory serves,) and that number is constantly (albeit slowly) growing. So that's an awful lot of existing text to translate and potentially localize, and an unending effort as new issues would need translation before they could go into the game. Even with volunteers, we would need some way to verify that the translations were accurate, and free online translation tools can only do so much. Unfortunately, that's a lot more effort in time and money than the potential benefit is worth.

Not to mention the headache that trying to keep the WA proposal list completely translated would be.

[Charlotte Ryberg]

I am unsure whether translating the whole game is going to be viable due to what others have said, but it should not imply that we cannot have a forum section for foreign language topics. I have previously suggested a dedicated forum for other languages to raise the profile of such communities: maybe the suggestion could be taken on board again.

[Topid]

Not to mention the headache that trying to keep the WA proposal list completely translated would be.

Or GHRs. Come to think of it, how do mods keep regions who post in different languages moderated?

I am unsure whether translating the whole game is going to be viable due to what others have said, but it should not imply that we cannot have a forum section for foreign language topics. I have previously suggested a dedicated forum for other languages to raise the profile of such communities: maybe the suggestion could be taken on board again.

Same question, can our current moderators speak Dutch, German, French, and all the others?

[Linux and the X]

Not to mention the headache that trying to keep the WA proposal list completely translated would be.

Conceptually, translation would be quite simple: users would submit translations, and a mod would run them through an automatic translator back to English to confirm it looks somewhat like the original (to avoid, for example, translating something into "all member heads of state are required to eat pig shit once per week"), and would then make the translation official. This would prioritise translations based on demand: the more speakers of a language there are on NS, the more diffused the workload would be, and therefore those translations would be more quickly completed.

However, particularly with WA resolutions, translation is not as simple as it seems. Many players depend on loopholes in their roleplay, and such loopholes would be very difficult to translate. For example, the English word "[to] regard" can mean either to "value" or to "consider" (both of which are, themselves, ambiguous). In Finnish, however, there are two different words for these definitions: "arvostaa" for "value" and "ottaa huomioon" for "consider". If a resolution required that nations "consider minorities", the translator would have to choose one of the definitions, instead of allowing each nation to use the ambiguity as a loophole.

A possible solution, then, is to have the translations not be binding, but merely available as a reference. This is the solution used, for example, by the GPL, which requires all translations to say that only the original English version "legally state[s] the distribution terms for software that uses the GNU GPL". This would, of course, require referencing the English original in order to exploit loopholes, but it would simplify things for non-native speakers who want to use a straight interpretation.

[Frisbeeteria]

Not to mention the headache that trying to keep the WA proposal list completely translated would be.

Conceptually, translation would be quite simple: users would submit translations, and a mod would run them through an automatic translator back to English to confirm it looks somewhat like the original

Conceptually, getting unpaid mods to run translations on HUNDREDS of weekly submissions is not going to happen. Any proposed solution MUST be automated without the need for human interaction, or it will never happen. It may look like we have lots of mods with lots of spare time, but not that much.

[Varazhdin]

In that case, you could ask for volunteers who would do it for free.

And we would have no real way of knowing if the translation was an actual translation or an advert for Viagra in Afrikaans.

Do we have a new mod

Nah, GMC is one of the oldies.

On topic, Nationstates is an extremely text-heavy game. There's well over 100 different daily issues (close to or just over 200 if memory serves,) and that number is constantly (albeit slowly) growing. So that's an awful lot of existing text to translate and potentially localize, and an unending effort as new issues would need translation before they could go into the game. Even with volunteers, we would need some way to verify that the translations were accurate, and free online translation tools can only do so much. Unfortunately, that's a lot more effort in time and money than the potential benefit is worth.

Actually, when I suggested that NationStates become translated, I was reffering to translating only the technical matters of the game so that, for example, a nations front page is displayed to a player in his own language, as well options on the left side of the screen, or the technical text in issues and the WA, or the game instructions...
I wasn't reffering to the actual text of WA resolutions or issues.
If translation would happen, and if issues would be translated, then if there is a larger group of people who speak a language, then the people who manage the game could determine a reliable member of that group to oversee the translation which might be made by volunteers.
I suggested to use volunteers not because I made that up, but because some other browser games that come in different languages use volunteers for assistance.

My point was that it would be much more comfortable for players if they had an interface in there own language...

[Bears Armed]

A possible solution, then, is to have the translations not be binding, but merely available as a reference. This is the solution used, for example, by the GPL, which requires all translations to say that only the original English version "legally state[s] the distribution terms for software that uses the GNU GPL". This would, of course, require referencing the English original in order to exploit loopholes, but it would simplify things for non-native speakers who want to use a straight interpretation.

Of course, there's actually no rule to keep bilingual players from providing such translations (on an "unofficial" basis) for their compatriots now if they want to do so...

[HunterBradleyLand]

Would 'Translate NationStates' necessarily include the forums? Most people post in English here.

i would suggest creating special forums to write topic for their native language. for example, a subforum for dutch, one for spanish and so one.

[Linux and the X]

Not to mention the headache that trying to keep the WA proposal list completely translated would be.

Conceptually, translation would be quite simple: users would submit translations, and a mod would run them through an automatic translator back to English to confirm it looks somewhat like the original

Conceptually, getting unpaid mods to run translations on HUNDREDS of weekly submissions is not going to happen. Any proposed solution MUST be automated without the need for human interaction, or it will never happen. It may look like we have lots of mods with lots of spare time, but not that much.

Hm, looks like you need more mods.


Y'know, on a completely unrelated note, I'm learning some new languages.

[Pythagosaurus]

Do I really need to point out that this isn't going to happen?

[Ananke]

i would suggest creating special forums to write topic for their native language. for example, a subforum for dutch, one for spanish and so one.

There's already regional forums in other languages. The regions Portugal, ITALIA, Belgium and Nederland comes to mind.

[The Most Glorious Hack]

Do I really need to point out that this isn't going to happen?

I wouldn't have thought so.