Doni.3402 Posted August 20, 2022 Share Posted August 20, 2022 (edited) The state of the german localization - an open letter to ArenaNet Since the start of GW2, the german community and the localization team worked together to find and solve mistakes in the german version of the game. The localization team responded quickly to reported mistakes, suggestions and feedback from the community. Errors were fixed and wrong voice lines re-recorded. If something that seemed like a mistake was intentional, they explained why it was translated this way. We had numerous discussions like the search for a fitting translation for "Novelties" or if a funny (but fitting) german voice line of M.O.X. should be re-recorded or not. Some word plays and references of the titles, that got lost during translation or didn't make much sense in german, were corrected or replaced by new word plays. The exchange between the community and the localization team was productive and resulted in a very high quality of the german version. This was till the middle of 2021 when Sabine Frost (german localization specialist at that time) left ArenaNet. We hoped that a successor for the position would be found shortly afterwards, but until today no one started to address the newly reported bugs, and ongoing discussions from that time are still unresolved. Even worse the overall quality of the localization deteriorated greatly since then, which can be seen especially in End Of Dragons. Starting with the german names of some of the new elite specializations and culminating in walking "(construction) cranes" in Shing Jea or cats and dogs that can be "tamed as a pet" (pet vs to pet). A look in the german localization forum shows that a part of the community is still active and post new translation mistakes in the hope that they will be addressed someday in the future. To improve the situation, and bring the german version back to its former quality, it is necessary to find someone as soon as possible, who is reponsible for the german localization and starts to fix the existing errors. Preferable someone who has some connection to the game and not only translates words and sentences in an excel sheet. Bonus points for someone who is familiar with the first game (Prophecies, Nightfall, Factions and GW:EN) because many names with a reference to GW1 (skill names, locations etc.) are often translated differently. ----------------------------------- German Version: Zustand der deutschen Lokalisierung - ein offener Brief an ArenaNet Seit dem Start von GW2 haben die deutsche Community und das Lokalisierungsteam zusammengearbeitet um Übersetzungsfehler in der deutschen Version des Spiels zu finden und zu korrigieren. Das Lokalisierungsteam reagierte zeitnah auf Fehlerberichte, Vorschläge und Rückmeldungen aus der Community. Fehler wurden behoben und Dialoge neu aufgenommen. Wenn etwas, das zunächst nach einem Fehler aussah, so gewollt war, wurde erklärt warum es auf diese Weise übersetzt wurde. Ich erinnere mich an zahlreiche Diskussionen, wie die Suche einer passenden Übersetzung für "Novelties" (= "Extras") oder ob eine lustige (aber passende) Sprachaufnahme von M.O.X. geändert werden sollte. Einige Wortspiele und Anspielungen bei den Titeln, die bei der Übersetzung verloren gingen oder im Deutschen keinen Sinn ergaben wurden korrigiert oder durch passende Wortspiele ersetzt. Der Austausch zwischen der Community und dem Lokalisierungsteam war produktiv und resultierte in einer sehr hohen Qualität der deutschen Version. Das hielt sich bis Mitte 2021, als Sabine Frost (bis zu diesem Zeitpunkt Leiterin des deutschen Lokalisierungsteams) ArenaNet verlassen hat. Wir hofften, dass die Stelle schnell nachbesetzt werden würde, aber bis heute hat sich niemand mehr um die gemeldeten Fehler gekümmert, und offene Diskussionen aus dieser Zeit sind nach wie vor ungelöst. Noch schlimmer ist, dass die allgemeine Qualität bei der Übersetzung seit diesem Zeitpunkt stark nachgelassen hat. Was speziell in End of Dragons zu sehen ist. Von den deutschen Namen der neuen Elitespezalisierungen über laufende "Baukräne" auf Shing Jea bis zu Katzen und Hunden die man zu "Tiergefährten" machen kann (pet vs to pet). Ein Blick in das Deutsche Lokalisierungs Forum zeigt, dass ein Teil der Community immer noch aktiv ist und neu gefundene Fehler meldet, in der Hoffnung das diese irgendwann in der Zukunft behoben werden. Um die Situation zu verbessern und die deutsche Version wieder zu ihrer alten Qualität zurückzuführen, ist es notwendig so schnell wie möglich jemanden zu finden, der für die deutsche Lokalisierung verantwortlich ist und anfängt die gemeldeten Probleme anzugehen. Bevorzugt jemand, der eine gewisse Verbundenheit mit dem Spiel hat und nicht nur Wörter und Sätze in Exeltabellen übersetzt. Bonuspunkte wenn derjenige auch mit dem ersten Teil (Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall und GW:EN) vertraut ist, denn häufig werden Namen mit GW1 Bezug (Skillnamen, Orte etc.) anders übersetzt. ---------------------------------- EDIT: seems the french players have the same problem: Edited October 5, 2022 by Doni.3402 8 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiscan.8345 Posted August 21, 2022 Share Posted August 21, 2022 What makes this whole situation even sadder is the fact that the last couple of years the Loca-team (basically just Sabine) was pretty much the only persons to interact with the german communiy at all (and they were really awesome at it -> usually they replied within 2-3 days when you reported an error and if got fixed very quickly... they even changed translations if community-members came up with better ones than the team did). Nowadays there is pretty much zero interaction btween any official ArenaNet staff and players, no matter what bugs/problems are posted. Even important stuff (except for Patch-Notes) is often posted with 2-3 days delay (if at all). And don't get me started on Patch-Notes - their quality is often pretty questionable, too. But all in all it's not only a localisation problem - ArenaNet has abandoned the german community years ago (even before Ramon Domke left there was little to no interaction) - and I'm really curious to know if the spanish / french communities are treated the same way. 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radiancee.6537 Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 (edited) It really isn't too much to ask for ArenaNet to start interacting more with the community. This not only affects the localization, but many other things that have been floating around here in the forum for ages. At least a short reaction would be a thousand times better than constant silence. Treat your players, your customers, with a little more attention. A little more love for the German localization really wouldn't hurt. Some translations are really bad and definitely not up to Guild Wars 2 quality standards. Edited August 30, 2022 by Radiancee.6537 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valfx.5416 Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 We have the same issue for the French version of the game. ArenaNet doesn't check the translation forum at all for months / year. I have open a topic aboout this in July : Hope they will do something ... 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashantara.8731 Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 I am so glad I am not affected by this as I play the game in English. I'm always having a good laugh at the EoD translations when someone mentions them (the crane vs crane is my favorite to date 😂). I also have no idea why Willbender (Willensbeuger) would be translated into Willtwister (Willensverdreher). I hope ANet will take better care of who is translating their game in the future. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doni.3402 Posted March 5, 2023 Author Share Posted March 5, 2023 https://de-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/9413-wir-stellen-lokalisierungsredakteure-ein/ https://fr-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/7115-nous-recrutons-des-éditeurs-de-localisation/ All job descriptions link to "Sorry, but we can't find that page." So we can only hope they found someone for the jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inculpatus cedo.9234 Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 The links work for me. Lead to posts in the forum, with links that lead to the Career pages on the NCSoft(ArenaNet) site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doni.3402 Posted March 9, 2023 Author Share Posted March 9, 2023 Yeah the links work but instead of a job description you can only read "Sorry, but we can't find that page." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inculpatus cedo.9234 Posted March 9, 2023 Share Posted March 9, 2023 Is that in German, or something? Because everything works for me in English. Nothing comes up 'Sorry, but we can't find that page' which is a forum message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galmac.4680 Posted March 9, 2023 Share Posted March 9, 2023 On 3/5/2023 at 2:22 PM, Doni.3402 said: https://de-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/9413-wir-stellen-lokalisierungsredakteure-ein/ https://fr-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/7115-nous-recrutons-des-éditeurs-de-localisation/ All job descriptions link to "Sorry, but we can't find that page." So we can only hope they found someone for the jobs. And they also need someone for their websites 😁😁😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProtoGunner.4953 Posted March 9, 2023 Share Posted March 9, 2023 As a German speaking person I am glad I play games in English (or movies) as the original is always better. But still sad to hear that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doni.3402 Posted March 9, 2023 Author Share Posted March 9, 2023 20 hours ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said: Is that in German, or something? Because everything works for me in English. Nothing comes up 'Sorry, but we can't find that page' which is a forum message. That is all that I can see when I open the job description links:https://s20.directupload.net/images/230309/jc6ise5s.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inculpatus cedo.9234 Posted March 9, 2023 Share Posted March 9, 2023 (edited) This is what I see when clicking on the job description links (https://de-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/9413-wir-stellen-lokalisierungsredakteure-ein/ ) : https://us.ncsoft.com/en-us/careers/job-detail?gh_jid=4437510&company=ncsoftwest&tab=all&sort=department https://us.ncsoft.com/en-us/careers/job-detail?gh_jid=4684547&company=ncsoftwest&tab=all&sort=department Edited March 9, 2023 by Inculpatus cedo.9234 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doni.3402 Posted March 10, 2023 Author Share Posted March 10, 2023 (edited) You just copied the links for the job details pages. But as I already mentioned nothing is wrong with the links. But instead of a job description the details pages only show the above mentioned error message. If you can see the job descriptions instead of the error message please provide a screenshot or a copy of the text 🙂 Edited March 10, 2023 by Doni.3402 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inculpatus cedo.9234 Posted March 10, 2023 Share Posted March 10, 2023 I can't find that error message anywhere. 🤷♂️ But, there are no localization positions offered, either. Your links must go to different places than mine. 🤷♀️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doni.3402 Posted July 16, 2023 Author Share Posted July 16, 2023 Good news for everyone who plays the game in another language than English: https://de-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/9836-begrüßt-mit-mir-hoelbraks-dohtar/ https://fr-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/7452-souhaitez-la-bienvenue-à-l’érudit-leroux/ https://es-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/4106-os-presentamos-a-astral-jungle-ranger/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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