EBF5: Looking for Translators

48 Replies

Hey guys, it’s time to begin translating Epic Battle Fantasy 5, and it’s gonna be a huge project!
I think the total word count is over 50,000 words, so it’s the size of a small novel.

This is purely volunteer work, as I couldn’t pay enough to translate that many words, but you’ll get a few copies of EBF5 out of it.

What I’ve done in the past is have 1 or 2 people translating for each language, and another 2 or 3 proofreading it and making suggestions. We’ll be working on this over October and November – hopefully 2 months is enough time.

The languages I’ve done before and I’m doing again:
• German (neutral dialect)
• French (neutral dialect)
• Spanish (trying to be neutral, but leaning towards South American)
• Portuguese (Brazilian)

New languages:
• Polish
• Russian
• Simplified Chinese (feel free to make an argument for Traditional Chinese)
• Vietnamese
• Maybe Japanese (not sure if I can find enough volunteers for this one)

I don’t know much about these new languages yet, so feel free to give me a quick intro about dialects and other problems that we might run into.

If you want to help out, shoot me an email at [email protected].
Stuff you should include in your message are:
• What language and dialect you want to do.
• Whether you’d like to translate (more work) or just proof read.
• Link me to some paragraphs you’ve written in English (a blog or something), so I know you’re fluent in English.
• Let me know how much free time you have, especially if I may need to replace you later.

Stuff you’ll need:
• A Google account for using Google Docs. (We might need to find an alternative platform for Chinese..?)
• You’ll have to be quite familiar with my games, the characters, and the style of humour.
• It’s best if you’ve played a few hours of the EBF5 beta.
• For legal purposes, you’ll have to agree that your translation can be used in every release of EBF5, and possibly in future games, indefinitely, and that you own no part of EBF.

I’ll start preparing the translation notes and I’ll get back to you soon. Translators who have worked on the previous games will get priority.

Also if you’ve played an EBF4 or BH2 translation before, now’s your chance to give feedback on how we can do a better job this time! Common criticisms in the past were about dialects, and translations being too literal sometimes. It’s also possible I may consider more languages in a future update, so suggestions are still welcome.

Thanks!

48 thoughts on “EBF5: Looking for Translators”

  4. Darrenic427

    Translations over October and November… So release sometime near Xmas? Or is it close and the translations would be a kind of patch? :wut:

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  5. TLO

    Nice there’s more languages this time. I might be able to translate into Simplified Chinese as I have access to Google where I live. Although I still have school so I might only be able to do a little bit. I have played till Poseidon on the beta and I’m also interested in helping for the free copyas I need to translate a piece for my Chinese class but I don’t really think my language is good enough to translate so I could also proof-read.

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  6. Vitklim

    I would be delight to assist with the translation of the game to Russian, or at the very least proofreading the translation. EBF4 is one of the best games I ever played and I helping out with something like this is beyond awesome. However, I haven’t yet actually played through the game, so I’m not sure how well I can handle something this size. Nevertheless, I will apply for this immediately :yay:

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  7. Relith96

    Man, I’d love to translate your game in Italian! I’ve been a fan of the series (first time poster tho) since the very first game and I’ve always had a couple of friends that don’t know English at all but wanted to play the game anyway, so I ended up playing it with them, they had tons of fun, but now we don’t have the time to play it together. I know they still play it tho 😀

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  8. HamFantasy

    Unrelated, but while I’m here:
    Is there only one shop’s worth of equipment avalible? Redpine has the same stuff as Hope Harbor. Nothing added, nothing lost outside of what I have bought.

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  9. Octave

    I’m french and i haven’t an incredible level in english but, I already have translated videos on youtube so I think i’m not bad, and I really would like to try to translate the game in french, I don’t know if can do it entirely, but if i can help, it would be a pleasure. :smirk:

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    1. Oxybulyx

      It means: I am french and I do not have a very developped English but I have already translated videos on YouTube so I think I am not bad, and I would really like to try to translate the game in french. I do not know if I could do it entirely by myself, but if I can help, it would be a pleasure.
      Je ne veux pas être impoli, mais tu devrais vérifier deux fois ta grammaire avant, Octave, pour éviter les imprécisions.

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  13. Water Melon

    I can translate the game into Vietnamese, Matt.
    I don’t know if my mail has gotten to you on your hotmail yet though 😐
    Maybe check it out?

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  15. Mark

    So all the dungeons and the content you can pay for will only be available once the game is released on stream, which we have to wait 2 months for? 😥

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  17. enzo

    yeah simplified chinese is probably the best option since most people who speak traditional can also understand it pretty well

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  20. sʞɔᴉɹp ƃuᴉʍɐp uǝǝq ǝsoɥʍ

    How many copies of the game does each translator get? One for each translator, plus possibly more giftable copies, I assume/hope? ❓ ❓

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  21. Mirion

    Oh boy…as a native Polish speaker I can tell that translating EBF5 will be incredibly tough for that language. The game’s “meta” nature (directly referring to game mechanics and other meta stuff) would work poorly in Polish. Still, good luck. If there’s not too many volunteers, I may try to give a hand.

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  23. Boshi

    Seems scummy not to pay the translators when you are making money off their work. You should just release the game.

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  24. Arthur, the dark god

    Hello, Matt! I would like to help in complementing the brazillian portuguese with jokes people from here would understand, i’m no professional translator, buti could help with some humor >:3 (btw i’m Water from discord) :yay:

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  26. Thalins Genohan

    Damn, guess I should’ve stuck with learning Japanese, huh? I have some basics, but I don’t know if I could do very good translation, at least TO Japanese, I’m afraid. Maybe I’ll be able to help out for a future game. ^^;

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  27. i know da wae

    apply greek languase (wait i dont know even greek *facepalm*
    a few hours later.
    Mhtsotakis
    OH NO (hide: when mhtsotakis go somewhere he burns the place. today R.I.P crete)

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  29. oof

    Will we really have to wait 2 months for the game to be released just because of translations? Couldn’t you add them in a patch later or something

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  30. ProPlayer

    Hi, will you support the idea of post launch fan translations? Just wanna know if you are against them or not :smirk:

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  32. EBF killed my social life

    If you ever consider Korean as an option, I’d be happy to translate. I don’t think too many Koreans have played your games, but apparently we like them enough to have a page on the series on our wiki! (Though it’s kinda lacking)

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    1. SolgrynTheGamer

      Hello, I am another Korean that wants to volunteer for Korean translating. Maybe we can work together. I already sent an application email. What do you think?

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