A SHAME : Horrible french translation

from GalCiv2 Forums
I just saw www.jeuxvideo.com 's critic of GalCiv 2 (they finally done it), and it lossed a lot based on the plainly BAD traduction in french.

QUOTE:
Nettement plus gênant en revanche, l'état de la traduction de Galactic Civilizations 2 dans notre belle langue qui a visiblement été faite à la va vite puisqu'on remarque que des morceaux de textes sont restés en anglais et que quelques erreurs se sont glissées ici et là. Encore pire, certains textes débordent des fenêtres et d'autres sont carrément illisibles. En cause, les caractères accentués du type "é" ou "à" qui sont remplacés par des symboles tels que "@" ou encore "$". Inadmissible ! Si vous êtes anglophones, je ne saurais donc trop vous recommander d'acheter le jeu dans la langue de Shakespeare qui connaît nettement moins de problèmes

TRAD:
Even more shaming, however, is the quality of translation of Galactic Civilization 2 in our beautiful language, that have seemly been botched because we noticed that some part of texts stayed in english and mistakes have been left here and there. Even worse, some texts get out of the windeows and others are absolutely unreadable. Because some caracters like "é" or "à" have been replaced by "@" or even "$". Non-acceptable! If you are anglophone, I cannot recomment you to buy the game in the tongue of Shakespeare.


here are some link to show you how bad it is:
http://www.jeuxvideo.com/screenshots/00015/00015443_097_finale.htm
http://www.jeuxvideo.com/screenshots/00015/00015443_101_finale.htm

(You will note that in the second picture, ENGLISH is used for the description of the Arcean).

StarDock, if you really want to get some popularity from the francophone gamer community, I really request that you fire your translator company. They have done the worst work I've ever seen.

My 2 ¢
14,601 views 23 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Well, Stardock has nothing to do with the translation. It is Paradox who was reponsible of the retail in Europe and the associated localizations. The Paradox forum for GC2 in French is http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=330

BTW, the problem with GC2 not correctly handling localized french files as the problem with Arcean may suggest is corrected in one of the latest beta patches. But if the french XML files are incorrectly build (like not telling to windows that it is an XML file with accentuated characters) then the problem should be corrected by Paradox  

 

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Cikomyr, you're right. That's by far the worst French translation for a game I've ever seen (the best I must say was either X-Com or The Settlers 2). How could anyone try to market a game with that kind of mistakes...
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Beautiful French language? If French was so great how come you are here in English? English is the language of business. It is hard to understand how French people are so easily offended yet surrender so easily.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Leppla, Maybe because he wanted to ensure you'd understand. If the topic had been french-only, you wouldnt have understood the point and either ignored the post or post something saying to speak english.
I am a francophone that fluently speaks english, but on english websites, I won't start speaking french. It's a matter of respect.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well, i got Paradox french version, and i enjoy it, makes me discover stardock and the pleasure of mods, it 's quite funny using your mods with my french version of the game, now i have a bilingual playing.  
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I would point out that this game has known problems with localization settings. This could be the cause of the strange characters in place of the accented ones, although the bad translation would be Paradox's problem.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The strange characters are simply because Paradox did not set the translated files to the correct encoding. I think Peace Pheonix has looked into that and tried to fix it on his own copy.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If the translation is so horrible change your setting to English. I've been to Europe and know that 75% of the educated people speak english, because it is required in their schooling.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Being it required doesn't mean that they are fluent enough to play a game in english. Not to mention that you won't find easily an english video game in France in the main retail channels.

Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
That, and they might prefer to play it in their native tongue even if they are fluent in English. If you even read another language, say, German, would you enjoy being told "well play it in German" as a reply to a poor job on the English version?

Beautiful French language? If French was so great how come you are here in English? English is the language of business. It is hard to understand how French people are so easily offended yet surrender so easily.


If you are going to lambast the French for taking pride in their language, please take the time to do a proper job of utilizing ours. It doesn't look very good to attack a language of grace by bludgeoning a language of poetry, you more often than not end up a fool in the eyes of those associated with both.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm an American and even I know the French get angry when people butcher their language. Better fix it or you'll be facing their wrath Americans don't care too much about English because half of us can't read and write anyway...just kidding
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
- I play the game in english because the english version was the first coming out. I talk relatively well this language, so I have no problem playing this game.

- Not all the world speak english. And even if english is the business-language, let me tell you, sir, that the rest of the world is not going to let itself by conquered culturally by the anglo-saxon without doing anything to defend our distinct way of being. Just because a game is developped in english doesn't mean it's no worth translating.

- I am no a French myself, but a Quebecois. And trust me, we are often more.. serious about protecting our way of speaking. (ask any anglo-quebecois)

For stardock:
- I am well aware that it's Paradox's job to translate the game. But I bet you have something of a minimum-quality contract? I mean, there are french-speaking gamers who will go see the french reviews and simply refusing to buy this game! Talk about a loss of your business.

The WORST thing is, I became addicted of GalCiv 1 because of www.jeuxvideo.com . They made a superbe review of the game, and convinced me to buy it. If I had discovered GalCiv2 solely based on their review, I bet my mind would have been different.

Stardock's label is in every version of your game, french, english, german, etc... You have a great reputation among english-speaking gamers because you listen to your fandom and try to live up to your reputation. I don't think it's a great marketing hit to let under-standard translated version of your game in free sale.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Salut ami de la belle province, le probleme de la mauvaise traduction ne m'a pas dérangé outre mesure mais je suis d'accord avec toi pour dire que ce n'est pas de la bonne publicité pour Stardock même si ils n'en sont pas responsables.
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
Actually, as Kyro has stated, localization into other languages is entirely in Paradox's hands as our European publisher. None of us speak/read French (or other languages for that matter) fluently enough to check on these things and doing so would require a great deal of time and effort. I thank you for informing us of these issues, but I strongly suggest you voice your displeasure to Paradox since this is their responsibility.
Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Cikomyr, apparemment il y a des solutions pour ce problème de traduction, mais comme je suis pas trop doué à manipuler les fichiers et que ce problème de traduction ne me gène pas trop pour jouer, je n'ai pas tenté l'aventure, si cela te tient à coeur tu peux essayer la solution proposée par Fiori sur le site de Paradox

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=330
Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Oh, I don't want to play the french version myself. I usually read the original version of books written in english, and play the original version of games.

And if you wonder "then why the hell did you blew the whistle?", it's because not every francophones (french-speaking people) can read english, and I think it was a magistrale slap in the face of the french-speaking gamer community.

And I wanted StarDock to know what kind of bull[...] Paradox is doing with their games.
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Je ne sais pas qui a fait quoi, mais la version française s'est améliorée sur le 1.3
Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Oh will you frenchies shut up and go back to grinding out your 35 hour work week.
Reply #23 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Leppla, that's uncalled for. Moreso, reviving a nearly three-month-old thread just to insult the posters.