Found in Translation

[Domi]

I run into this thread on the aerie.ru, and I think it just have to be er... translated back into English for the world to see!

 

http://forums.aerie.ru/viewtopic.php?p=42226#42226

 

#1

 

NWN-SoU from Fargus:

 

'The Drawer Chest' in English NWN in Russian becomes "The Dwarven Chest"

 

#2

 

The Russian player of The Masquerade: Redemption has a "Touch" in his inventory... the English player would have a torch...

 

#3

 

In various games and translations, the Lay On Hands turns into well... place yourself on someone's hands.

 

#4

 

NWN-SoU from Fargus:

 

Turn Undead in the Russian game is The Dead's Passage

 

In BG, though it was translated as "Return to Life" and in another version: "Come back alive"

 

In IWD1, the same Turn Dead was translated as "Turn the Dead over", so a player was trying to use this handy ability for a while trying to ressurect his deceased companions.

 

#5

 

In BG, the Drow Fullplate became a "Full Plate of Kindling/Wood" (Russian for Kindling/Wood is 'drova')

 

And the Drow Chainmail Plate became 'Drow fills the Plate"

 

#6

 

In BG1, in the very beginning of the game Russian Charname was confronted by a very concerned monk that asked instead of the English one: "You've cut yourself above the brow. What's wrong, child?"" a more mothering: "You've cut your hair above the brow. It's wrong, too childish."

 

#7

 

In BG2, the "Cast Bark Skin" was succinctly translated as "Flayed"/"stripped of the skin"

 

#8

 

Another Russian Charname was "Cursed" in BG2; so he checked the status of his character to find out that it was "second-hand"

 

#9

 

The Bg1 players, after surviving the cultural shock of the first encounter with the translation managed to start the game and they had encountered the following creatures:

 

Kobold = gnome

Gnoll = gnome

Gnome = dwarf

Commoner = she-simpleton

Commonwoman = simpleton

 

#10

 

And last, but not least:

 

In the middle of the battle, furious Russian Minsc yelled: "Go for the ICE Boo, go for the ICE!"

 

TO BE CONTINUED....

[cliffette]

I love translation mix-ups. The following two are my favourites.

 

In BG1, in the very beginning of the game Russian Charname was confronted by a very concerned monk that asked instead of the English one: "You've cut yourself above the brow. What's wrong, child?"" a more mothering: "You've cut your hair above the brow. It's wrong, too childish."

In the middle of the battle, furious Russian Minsc yelled: "Go for the ICE Boo, go for the ICE!"

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Domi]

Few more short ones:

 

#11 An irresistable game takes place in a lovely locale:

 

The Russian cover of BG1 reads:

 

"The goal of the game is to loot all the treasure and defeat all monsters on the Ball Coast" (Russian for 'ball' is myach, while 'sword' is 'mech")

 

#12 Helping Lady Minsc - details, details...

 

Quest description (Minsc joins in): I agreed to help Minsc to save her friends. She was besieging Gnome's Stronglod on the far East of Nashkel...

 

#13 Nashkel Mines settle for the second best:

 

Journal entry: The mine only loads some ore, due to the lack of people

 

#14

 

The deadly spell of Larloch's Minor Drain would haunt Russian translators for generations. "Larloch's Small Leak" is creative, but I prefer the "Larlock's Emergency Drainage".

 

#15

 

The healers in the Russian version have a deadly spell called "Cure Luminous Wounds"

 

#16

 

And speaking of healers, Edwin is Red, and cross, so in a way his class being a "Healer" should come as a no surprise in a Russian game.

 

#17

 

The diligent Russian translator searched his dictionary when he encountered the horrible crossbow "Bolt" and bravely concluded that "Constipation" is just the right translation! (Luckily, he did not have time to browse to the end of the list; the word also means what every English word for anything elongated means) or Russian archers would have had a lot of fun shooting the targets...

 

#18

 

This one is for you, CamDawg:

 

gibberling = 'Walking Mumbling'

 

#19

 

And this is the action packed battle in BG2 as seen by a russian player:

 

The field agent of the berobed wizards: Read Vocalize

The field agent of the berobed wizards: Starts Singing

 

#20

 

The AD&D 2nd Edition "Monstrous" Manual starts the description of Beholders with the following statement:

 

Beholders are a material for nightmares.

 

NEXT: Evereything you always wanted to know about Classes but were afraid to ask! A unique Russian Prespective.

[BigRob]

The healers in the Russian version have a deadly spell called "Cure Luminous Wounds"

 

I hate it when my wounds get luminous. It's just a pain.

[Kania Blade]

One archer with poisoned arrows. State - Xzar:Vomits! (Кзар:Тошнит)

Xzar - Stop touching me! = Don't feel up me! (I'm not sure, I used this word correctly... Перестань меня ЛАПАТЬ! )

Montaron - Sleep lightly, taskmaster = Good night, my Lord!

Gee, our players like to be respected:

Haer'Dalis - My hound (sometimes, my Raven) = My Lord.

 

Edwin - My sword is your sword...

[Borsook]

And I always thought Polish translations are crap...

[Prezes]

Ehem... I'm from Poland.Not all Polish translations are bad.Translations of every language may be crap.

[Borsook]

Ehem... I'm from Poland.Not all Polish translations are bad.Translations of every language may be crap.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

True, but many Polish translators are simply lazy and e.g. translate idioms word by word without thinking (not to mention the fact that language competence on the level not higher than that of high school seems to be required for the job.) Now, I don't remember the specific instances, played Polish BG1 only once but I remember at least five major screw-ups (like aformentioned idioms)

[Domi]

While in France, we read a lot of information translated from French into other languages, so here are a couple of most amusing finds:

 

From French to English, in one of the castles:

 

"In sixteenth century, cannons became a common necessity...."

 

From French to English, in a few cases:

 

"Thank you for your comprehension." (instead of "your understanding", obviously)

 

And, my favorite, of course by the Russian translators:

 

An ancestor of the owners of one of the castles is credited with being "...a founder of the military genius..." upon quick comparison to English and French texts it became apparent that the genius in question was mistranslated French "Genie" for Engineering.

[BigRob]

From French to English, in one of the castles:

 

"In sixteenth century, cannons became a common necessity...."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Lotta wars in the sixteenth century apparently.

[yarpen]

Hey! Then what you say about that:

 

In Polish BG2 ToB manual:

 

"EVIL CLERICS CAN TURN INTO PALADINS"

 

Next.. many item's have got bugged descriptions. I've firstly see +2 to save vs. spell in Delver armor when I've translate Refinements

 

Armor of Archmaster haven't got description. History only, without abilities etc.

 

And maaaaaany other items have got bugs.

 

I'm making now bugfix. All kits must got tweaked description because they're writed in differents styles...

 

** I LOVE CD PROJEKT TRANSLATORS **

[Garfield]

You can also spot plenty of mistakes in the French version

 

First, we need to dialog.tlk: one for a male protagonist, and one for the female one.

Needless to say that the two of them mixes pretty often, creating weird things (most of the time, the adjective is in the feminine form just before "boy".)

 

Plus, I am playing with the ENglish soundset, but the French text (ToB suppresses my English tlk to put a French one )

Anyway, I do not know if it is some sophisticated humor but you've got Lilarcor saying:

"You know, once I was a moonblade" and what shows on your screen? "You know, once I was a +4 spoon".

 

And the mistake that traumatises every French player of SoA. The Cowled Wizard tells you that a magic permit costs 50000 (while he stills charge you 5000). There are plenty of them, I just tend to forget them in an effort to keep my sanity

[berelinde]

When I hit this one, I just about fell out of my chair laughing:

 

#14

 

The deadly spell of Larloch's Minor Drain would haunt Russian translators for generations. "Larloch's Small Leak" is creative, but I prefer the "Larlock's Emergency Drainage".

 

Is that what happens when the roads get flooded?

[Domi]

Yes, I suppose they thought that in a medieval-like CRPG fixing the roads was something the party did all the time. Those damnable dirt roads!

 

Anyway, I do not know if it is some sophisticated humor but you've got Lilarcor saying:

"You know, once I was a moonblade" and what shows on your screen? "You know, once I was a +4 spoon".

 

Well, at least this goes well with his statement that his grandma said he'd never amount to anything but a butter knife.....

[Bardess]

LOL ... Great topic.

Since there's never been a SERBIAN ("what the heck?") translation of any game, I just stick with English. I can only whine about Jaheira obviously wishing for my PC to be a male and her "with Nature's love and mine" notes, heh... Drow (wooden) armor, hehehe... And Luminous Wounds...