Subtitles Complete & String Bank

[Xiagan]

Можно узнать в какие примерно сроки появится патч с русскими субтитрами??
(Извините, что не по-английски)
You can learn about what time frame will patch with Russian subtitles?
(Sorry, that is not in English)

Существует не дата выпуска для субтитров, извините.
There is no release date for the subtitles, sorry.

(powered by google translate )

Actually, I don't know if he was asking what I was answering...

[RobertWalker]

Two questions:

How will we who are doing translations know what string bank entries you've changed for the 1.1 patch?

How should we refer to GUI elements in the string bank? For example, string #1 mentions the "Cook" button, which I'm guessing won't itself be translated since it's a graphic. So I figure we should refer to it by its English name. But maybe you've changed it to a string instead of a graphic in the 1.1 patch?

[Xiagan]

Afaik the subs won't be part of 1.1. Right, Alec?

[Alec]

Afaik the subs won't be part of 1.1. Right, Alec?

No, I haven't been able to come up with a good way for them to work yet.

[RobertWalker]

When the 1.1 patch is released, would you mind posting a link to updated subtitle and string bank files? That way we can at least make sure the translations are in line with the new text, and if you release a future version with internationalization support, the translations will be more up-to-date.

I've noticed a few other issues that I don't think have been mentioned yet in the thread:

English text updates
Regardless of when internationalization might happen, I've noticed a few minor issues with the English text. I'm double-checking my list for completeness at the moment, but when I'm done I can post it here or email it to you if you would like to have it for the 1.1 patch.

Recipe names
The recipe names don't seem to be available for translation in the string bank. Is there a separate place that they're stored?

Grammatical incompatibilities
Some messages are broken apart into separate string bank entries, which can cause grammatical problems in other languages. For example, the message "Learned the _____ Recipe!" is broken into two separate string bank entries, #23: "Learned the" and #24: "Recipe!" This might cause some confusion, especially if the parts are reused separately in other places in the game. In Spanish, for instance, the message would be translated as "¡Aprendiste la receta de _____!" With this translation, the parts would become: #23: "¡Aprendiste la receta de" ("You learned the recipe of") and #24: "!". If #23 was used elsewhere (for learning things other than recipes), you can see how this would be a problem.

Another example is #203: "Seconds". Presumably, this appears in the game as "__ Seconds", but syntax in other languages may dictate that the number come after the word instead of before. Other string bank entries that may have grammar issues along these lines are #27, #204, #205, #206, #211 and #852.

Having recently gone through the pain of internationalizing our application at my job, I can tell you that what seems to work best is to not break the message into parts, and instead using placeholders in the string. For example: "Learned the {0} Recipe!", with subsequent placeholders having increasing numbers: {0}, {1}, {2}, etc. Then in the software you replace the placeholders with their values. I don't know what language Aquaria's written in (C, I'd imagine), but it probably already has functionality to facilitate this.


Anyway, I hope this rather rambling post is of use.

[RobertWalker]

*** SPOILERS ***




So AsKoT and I are doing a Spanish translation for Aquaria, and we ran into a sentence that's a bit ambiguous. It's a little nitpicky, but I want to be sure that it really matches the intention of the text. It's during Naija's confrontation with Mia, where she says "Let me go."

AsKoT felt that this meant "Allow me to leave." Mia's response seems to indicate this, since she talks about the kind of life that Naija would have if she did not go with her.

Since Mia was holding Naija at the time, I got the impression that the intended literal meaning was "Let go of me" (in other words, "Remove your hands from my person"). This desire not to be touched would imply other sentiments, such as "You make me uncomfortable," "I do not share your feelings and goals," and "I do not wish to join you," which results in Mia's reply about the consequences of not joining her.

(Suddenly I got this very Empire Strikes Back feeling about this scene: "No! It's not true! I'll never join you!!")

So if Alec and Derek see this, I'd be interested in knowing what the intended meaning was, since it affects how it's translated. Failing that, the impressions of other players would be useful, too.

EDIT: I just realized that it's said again later: "No. Let me go back... Let me go!" (at 2:04) The tone indicates that she's struggling against Mia, which leads me even more to think that "Let go of me" is the intended meaning.

[Alec]

Interestingly enough, its both meanings.

I kind of imagined the scene as Mia hugging Naija in a friendly way at first, but then Mia refuses to let go. So its a physical thing, but Naija also realizes that Mia has other plans for Naija than what Naija wants, and wants to be left alone.

[ZealousD]

If I was translating, I'd go with the "let go of me" definition.

The first definition ("Allow me to leave") implies that Mia has authority over Naija, and Naija is asking permission to leave. But it sounds more like a demand to me.

However, I'm not a Spanish speaker so I don't know how gracefully "let go of me" translates. So here's a bit of a question.

In movies or tv shows or whatever, whenever a character is being held hostage, what does the character usually say to their captor as they try and break free? In English, it's usually "Let me go!" or "Let go of me!", but how is it in Spanish?

[RobertWalker]

Yeah, in English, "Let me go" can easily carry both meanings literally, and also imply emotional separation. While there doesn't seem to be any translation that carries both meanings equally, upon further research, I did find that the Spanish verb soltar would probably be the best. Its primary definition would be "to let go of something/someone," and someone shouting "Let go of me!" in Spanish would definitely say, "¡Suéltame!" (suelta = imperative familiar tense of soltar, "to let go" ; -me = direct object, "me") It was originally on this basis alone that I thought that soltar would be the best translation. However, several online dictionaries list "to release" or "to free" as alternate definitions for soltar, so suéltame could also be translated as "release me" or "free me," which are more easily interpreted in the sense of "allow me to leave," as well as communicating an emotional separation. So it seems like suéltame would be the most appropriate translation, since it does still carry both meanings, even if the "let go of me" meaning feels stronger.

[Crecerelle]

Now that I'm nearing completion of Aquaria, I thought I should check if I could help with translating (I'm a native speaker of French) From the last few posts above, I gather that the game cannot support translations at the moment anyway, but support is planned in an upcoming patch. Is that correct?

There were a few people working on a French translation, but I don't think anybody actually posted a completed translation, so if you are/were working on it and would like some help for translating or proofreading, feel free to get in touch

[Stalfos]

Hey! Another Native French Person!

I'll contact you by private messaging... just do know that there was someone that almost did all the work (90% translated) and the checking, but he seems away at the moment. :S

[Nemo07]

Huh... there seems to be some dialogue that's not in the game, mainly some exposition on the Transport Turtles.

0:00 Eventually I would find a use for these turtles,
0:03 but at the time I had no way to communicate with them.

0:00 I found that I could communicate with the turtle in Beast Form.
0:04 He told me a sad tale of his lost brothers, who had been separated by Aquaria's wars.
0:09 In exchange for finding the lost kin,
0:12 they would provide me with transportation between the regions of Aquaria.

The dialogue sort of assumes you'll only find one turtle before getting Beast Form and then head back to the same turtle to talk to it without finding any other turtles. The dialogue doesn't make sense if you've already found more than one turtle. Is that why it was taken out?

[Stalfos]

There is also the Two Weird Fish place that there is no subtitles (the Easter Egg place). Would be GREAT to add some, so when internationalisation (mouthful!!) occurs, others could understand the inside jokes!

[DanielS]

Has there been anyone working on a swedish translation yet?
I would love to give my sisters kids this game but since it's rather advanced english they would probably be lost at the very start

As i understand there is no current support for language packs, but when the game does will it support swedish letters Å, Ä and Ö without problem?
I think i can help with a swedish translation if needed.

And what about text within bitmaps? Perhaps the answer has been posted earlier but since i'm very used to work with advanced graphics i could help with that as well as long as there is some kind of source to manipulate.

[jakelr79]

Here are the complete subs for doing a fan translation if you're interested:

http://bit-blot.com/scrap/subs.zip

Here's the string bank:

http://bit-blot.com/scrap/stringbank.zip

Please post a link here to your translations when you're done. I'll add support for replacing the subs in the next patch.

Hi! Here follows the link to my own translation of Aquaria into Italian      http://www.megaupload.com/?d=843FXKPS
When you'll create the patch with my translation, i would wish you'll write "Translation by jakelr from rapidscene.altervista.org group". See you soon!!!