A friendly, native english speaking corrector, needed

[Shoonay]

Could someone with a huge english vocabulary up his sleave, please help me with "some" polish to english translation project?

I'm not really good with english, which is no suprise to anyone, but when it comes to some of the onomastics, like character/object names that are very specific, I'm even worse.
Yes, I know, I'm into nomina propria all the way, cause in most cases the translation sounds like a crappy craped-up carp, but... maybe we'll think of something together.

I'll wait for the thunderstorm of responses to this thread with revealing the title of the game to be translated... :laughing

[TheCyberDruid]

I'm no native speaker (obviously :D), but really looking forward to see the translation you are going to make Shoonay :great

[Dizzy]

7 nights :D

[Shoonay]

Nope, not 7 nights, Dizz, sorry to disappoint you ;)
My game's also an adveture, polish-only... up to now? :D

[Dizzy]

adult adventure :)

[Shoonay]

You're not going to get this information out of me until I'll find a corrector :D

[Yoto]

Maybe we will just spank that info out of you in some shady alley...:lol

[Shoonay]

Try Shady Sands in a couple of hundred years in the future... ;)

[mailman]

@5h00n4y

As you know I am not native speaker but I think both we could do it correct. How much of it to translate do you have? PM me.

[Shoonay]

Well, for now, all I have are a few prepearations in the source file, a few extra lines for the future translation. ;)
I think I'll manage to translate most of this, but to get "the right words in the right place" not to mention shorten the sentence into the available amount of space is a killer...
Oh, and the names - now THIS is hard. But doable... ;)

[Dizzy]

...
Oh, and the names - now THIS is hard. But doable... ;)

make a poll and we vote for the names ;)

[Shoonay]

Only if you let me post cat pics in it... ;)

[TheCyberDruid]

Only if you let me post cat pics in it... ;)

In a poll? Wanna see this ;)

[Shoonay]

lol, I mean in the post ;)

[blackcornflake]

I'm friendly and native and have a huge vocabulary :)

I'd be happy to help.

[gimbal]

you are not good at English? Who are you kidding buddy????

[Shoonay]

I'm friendly and native and have a huge vocabulary :)

I'd be happy to help.Great. :)
By the end of the weekend we should have the first translation ready.

you are not good at English? Who are you kidding buddy????my gf said i suck badly... :blased

[Yoto]

my gf said i suck badly... :blased

You must get another girlfriend with a different opinion then...see problem solved! ;)

[gimbal]

my gf said i suck badly... :blased



You need to use your tongue silly :banghead

Seriously, I find little fault (other than the mandatory typos) with your posts my friend, I was actually quite impressed by your written English skills, especially for someone from a country where the native language is so structurally different.

Have more confidence in yourself and sod all what your GF tells you, doctor Gimbal's perscription!

[Shoonay]

You must get another girlfriend with a different opinion then...see problem solved! ;)The new one would definitely have a different opinion, since she had not know me, lol, sorry, I prefer gimby's advice:You need to use your tongue silly :banghead:p t*zust t*tying it now...

[Yoto]

I was just kidding shoon´s, well you know me i never resist a good joke, ok some are not so good...but thats not the point here...:blased...well....
Your english is not bad, anyway you dont need to speak too well in order to translate text, your writting skills are quite nice for what i´ve seen here, you can tell jokes and post other funny stuff and thats very difficult for someone that dosent writes good english, so trust us man, you´ve got what it takes, even if you dont know it just yet!;)

[Shoonay]

Yeah, I know friend that you were joking there :)

Alright Yoti, you got me, it's just that I'm way too lazy to do it meself... ;)

But, well, you know, it is hard for a non-english speaker to comeup with the right words sometimes, to buildup sentences the correct way for that specific lanugage.
When I have to do both AND shorten the sentence to the available space, it's even harder.
Got to have a tiny bunch of helpers, even if we disagree most of the time... :blased

[Yoto]

Lol, i know the feeling!
Just be cool, this thread is still young and fresh, more polish > english translator guys will surelly give you a hand!

[Shoonay]

Actually it's looking pretty good! Mailman's gonna help me expose my feelings (damn, i just got dizzy's attention out, and fred's in, with those few words :blased) about how I see some of the dialogs to sound like. ;)
And blackcornflake's going to correct them and I'm sure it's gonna be pretty much perfect by then. ;)
But the testing part is also needed, so those who already finished it in the past (mailman and me only? :laughing) will have to do it again...

So, should I keep the title of the game still secret or did everyone already died of excitement? ;)

[Yoto]

Well...i guess we would love to know...

[Shoonay]

like i already said, it's an adventure, a polish adventure game, with 2 playable characters at the same time, on 3 disks... guess what it is... :cheese

[TheCyberDruid]

like i already said, it's an adventure, a polish adventure game, with 2 playable characters at the same time, on 3 disks... guess what it is... :cheese

Tell me, oh please tell me, 'cause I'm nearly dead :D

[Marcuz]

i died of excitement years ago. over some legs...

would you do with an hostile, non native english corrector too?

[Shoonay]

Tell me, oh please tell me, 'cause I'm nearly dead :Dyou're right, might as well tell the secret, it's not going to be finished anyways with that nasty mod changing my social group's name all the time... :rolleyes



:cheese

would you do with an hostile, non native english corrector too?uhmm, yeah, sure, why not. but now i think i'll also need a neutral, half-elf cleric who's speciality is illusion :D

[TheCyberDruid]

Must be the weather that everybody makes secrets and riddles now. First gimby now you Shoon. God damn, tell us what you are working on :D
About that half-elf : I think I have one of these on a save-disk somewhere :laughing

[Marcuz]

the weather made my brain melt days ago. i live on just out of lust.
if you need some help that doesnt require too much computer time, or even it do require to get some sun in the meadow, i'm your half elf!

[Shoonay]

thank you marco :)

maybe you would like to do an italian translation later? ;)
i try to write the translation as open as possible for the future, with hints on how it should look like and since it's assembler should be easy to compile

[Marcuz]

if there's no too strict a letter count for translations, sure, why not :)

[Shoonay]

we don't know for sure, yet, we will check with the beta of the translation later, but since it's the asm sourcode, almost everything can be changed/added :cool

the only problem is you will have to only use capital letters, some/most of the small ones are used as polish-language-specific

[Marcuz]

not a real problem for the fonts, as italian has no special characters it is enough if the punctuation and accents are available

[Shoonay]

great, if we will manage t successfully translate this title, i'd like it to be available for other languages too. :)
i mean, why not, if it is possible with the source? :cool

but let's not yet cut the cake we've not even baked ;)

[TheCyberDruid]

I volunteer to make the german translation as soon as the english one with comments is done :)
Can't wait to see the first results :agree
Btw : Have you mentioned the title of the game yet Shoonay? ;)

[Shoonay]

Thanks you guys, as a Polish Amiga user I'd be honored if this little gem would be commonly known all over the world ;)

The translation made a huge step to version 1.2, thanks to mailman who translated perfectly almost everything, where I left it.
Now, a few names are still needed and maybe a correction here and there, so stay tuned blackcornflake, a PM is imminent. ;)
But first It's up to me again, to copy and past stuff and write a proper description for the future...

[Shoonay]

Help needed for one sentence we don't entirely know if it's right, but we're kinda sure it is wrong ;)

As we see on one of the screenies from the game (http://hol.abime.net/4509/screenshot) (#8), there's Lubava holding the rolling-pin/cake roller.

1. When one of the characters sees her, he's kinda scared and he should say something like: "YES, LUBAVA HAS A SERIOUS ARGUMENT UP HER SLEEVE"
But that doesn't sound quite right... or does it?
I mean "up my sleeve" is kinda a different (yet similar ;)) thing than "an unbeatable argument", and doesn't sound right when merged, right?

2. Also 'THE SWORD IS TOO FRAGILE FOR ONE OF MY STRENGTH' sound kinda strange, doesn't it?
Should mean somethink like "i am too strong and i'm worried about this sword, that it may broke"

Native english speakers only, please! ;)

[gklinger]

1. When one of the characters sees her, he's kinda scared and he should say something like: "YES, LUBAVA HAS A SERIOUS ARGUMENT UP HER SLEEVE" But that doesn't sound quite right... or does it?
Not really. Saying that someone has something up their sleeve means they have a hidden advantage or resource that they can call upon when needed and that doesn't really fit with the "serious argument". You could use another poker related phrase and say, "Lubava has an ace in the hole." It's a bit better but it isn't perfect.

Can you give me a bit more context of the scene depicted in that screenshot? I'm sure I can come up with an idiom that will fit.

2. Also 'THE SWORD IS TOO FRAGILE FOR ONE OF MY STRENGTH' sound kinda strange, doesn't it?
Yeah, that doesn't sound like something an English speaker would say. How about, "I'm worried that I may be too much for this sword" or "I'm worried that this sword isn't up to the task"?

[Shoonay]

Not really. Saying that someone has something up their sleeve means they have a hidden advantage or resource that they can call upon when needed and that doesn't really fit with the "serious argument". You could use another poker related phrase and say, "Lubava has an ace in the hole." It's a bit better but it isn't perfect."Lubava has an ace in the hole." <--- sounds dirty :evilgrin

So this would be actually a pretty good expression?
HAVING AN ARGUMENT UP HER SLEEVE?

Can you give me a bit more context of the scene depicted in that screenshot? I'm sure I can come up with an idiom that will fit.She dries her cloth and bravely stands near it guarding it.
They want to take some of it, but she's got that cakeroller in her hand and they are aware of that.
One of them asks the other to ignore it and just take it, and other one goes like "oh yeah, so you do it wise guy"
Yeah, that doesn't sound like something an English speaker would say. How about, "I'm worried that I may be too much for this sword" or "I'm worried that this sword isn't up to the task"?Could you shorten that so it could be a bit more similar to the above sentece? Like "This sword and my strength aren't going well" lol, or something shorter like that ;)

[gklinger]

"Lubava has an ace in the hole." <--- sounds dirty :evilgrin
Don't worry, it isn't.

So this would be actually a pretty good expression?
HAVING AN ARGUMENT UP HER SLEEVE?
It really isn't. It just doesn't sound right.

She dries her cloth and bravely stands near it guarding it.
They want to take some of it, but she's got that cakeroller in her hand and they are aware of that.
One of them asks the other to ignore it and just take it, and other one goes like "oh yeah, so you do it wise guy"
So you need a phrase that one guy can say to the other to indicate why he's hesitant to attempt to take her cloth? I'm thinking something totally different would fit. Maybe, "I don't have a death wish!"

Could you shorten that so it could be a bit more similar to the above sentece? Like "This sword and my strength aren't going well" lol, or something shorter like that ;)
I'm not sure what you want here. You want me to use the word "strength"? My advice regarding translation is not to get hung up on using the same words in the other language. What's important is conveying the same meaning.

[Shoonay]

Sorry friend, I'm also against using similar words, but those expressions of yours sound way off of the main meaning imho.
I'd like another suggestion please ;)
Something simple, perhaps?

[gklinger]

Sorry friend, I'm also against using similar words, but those expressions of yours sound way off of the main meaning imho.
Then you're going to have to do a better job of conveying the meaning which is ironic because if you could do that you probably wouldn't need a native English speaker. The fact is, translation can really only be done by one person and they have to have a good working grasp of both language.

Sorry, that's the best I can do with what I was given to work with. :(

[blackcornflake]

Hiya :)

Here are some suggestions for the Lubava text:
-Yeah, but Lubava doesn't look like she'd be cool with that.
-I would, but Lubava looks like she'd give my head a good rolling.
-Oh sure, and ignore a rolling pin upside my head.
-That roller sure makes Lubava's case more convincing.
-I'd do it but that roller puts me off somewhat.
-Good point, but Lubava makes a good point too.

Screens really help, btw!

And the sword text could be reworked into:
-This sword is too fragile for me - I'll break it!

[Shoonay]

thanks, even those sound still kinda-not-in-the-right-place for my simple mind, i'll discuss with the others ;)

[TheCyberDruid]

-I would, but Lubava looks like she'd give my head a good rolling.

That one sounds quite okay. Maybe we can work from this one. I think it's a bit long, but has the best 'flow' in it.

[dlfrsilver]

This sword is too fragile for someone strong as i am.

:D

[mailman]

-I would, but Lubava looks like she'd give my head a good rolling.
-I'd do it but that roller puts me off somewhat.


I like these two and the best is the second one.

This sword is too fragile for someone strong as i am.

:D

Good, but I would suggest a little change:

"This sword is too fragile for someone as strong as I am."

[Shoonay]

-I'd do it but that roller puts me off somewhat."This sword is too fragile for someone as strong as I am."sounds good. anyone disagrees? ;)

[TheCyberDruid]

sounds good. anyone disagrees? ;)

Well, if you insist on it Shoon ;)
No really, it sounds okay :)
Only problem for me would be that
'I'd do it but that roller puts me off somewhat.' will be
'Würde ich ja, aber das Nudelholz hält mich irgendwie davon ab' in german. It's rather long, but hey let's see if it's going to work ;)

[Shoonay]

there's lot of other long sentences, we either shorten it later or... change the engine to support them ;)

[TheCyberDruid]

there's lot of other long sentences, we either shorten it later or... change the engine to support them ;)

:great Let's try to find someone who could do that :)
Do you know how many lines and characters the engine supports now. That would help translating the longer sentences :agree

[Shoonay]

no idea, but don't worry about everything so soon, i know a good cracker who cracked the game when it came out ;)

(he's definitely NOT a script kiddie ;))

[TheCyberDruid]

no idea, but don't worry about everything so soon, i know a good cracker who cracked the game when it came out ;)

(he's definitely NOT a script kiddie ;))

Yay, that sounds really good. Maybe we can also add special chars for french/danish/german letters, if someone can enhance the font :spin

[Shoonay]

all the resources are available at PPA (http://www.ppa.pl/rodzynki/kajko_i_kokosz.php), if anyone can do it, sure, go ahead!

[gklinger]

sounds good. anyone disagrees? ;)
My opinion as a native English speaker is that "This sword is too fragile for someone as strong as I am" is fine but "I'd do it but that roller puts me off somewhat" would be better as "'I'd do it but that roller scares me". It's more clear (although I'm not entirely sure that clarity is the goal here).

I thought you were looking for idioms which is why I made the suggestions I did.

[gimbal]

I'd make it "I'd do it, but that roller makes me nervous!" then, as "puts me off somewhat" is way different than being scared of it.

[blackcornflake]

I'd make it "I'd do it, but that roller makes me nervous!" then, as "puts me off somewhat" is way different than being scared of it.

Dry understatement, dear boy :) Or 'litotes', if we wanna be flash about it.

But the line works fine with "scared" too.

[mailman]

Dry understatement, dear boy :) Or 'litotes', if we wanna be flash about it.

But the line works fine with "scared" too.

Exactly, it is good with "scared" also. But "nervous" is not appropriate here.

[Shoonay]

"This sword is too fragile for someone as strong as I am.""I'd do it but that roller scares me".Right.
So I'm adding those to the final pre-compiled translation version of the game, and if anyone disagrees speak now or forever hold your tongue. ;)

[Shoonay]

I thought you were looking for idioms which is why I made the suggestions I did.Thanks and sorry, I'll ask one of the mods to add to the title of this thread the following "must know how to read silly Polish unpolished minds" ;)

[gklinger]

Thanks and sorry, I'll ask one of the mods to add to the title of this thread the following "must know how to read silly Polish unpolished minds" ;)
So is your mind Polish or un-Polish-ed? :laughing

It's all good as long as you get the translations you need for your project.