Author Archives: Matt Roszak

EBF5 Translations Are Go

Hey guys, this is an announcement to say that I’m closing applications for translator roles, and we’re starting to work on the translations. If you’ve been selected, you’ll have recieved an email and been invited to Google Docs by now. I’m sorry I can’t reply to you all individually – I got almost 200 emails.

But even if you haven’t been selected to translate directly, you can still contribute to the translation effort on the EBF Discord. We’ll be discussing translation issues on there. I’ve also made a list of everyone who emailed me, so if anyone drops out, or we need more help, I may invite more people.

Big thanks to everyone who emailed me, and please wish us luck! It’s going to be a big project…

Translation Update

Hey guys, I’m still preparing the translation stuff and reading emails from people who want to help out. I haven’t replied to most people yet, maybe I’ll be able to do that tomorrow. You’ll be invited to Google Docs if you’re in. I’ll make an announcement to tell everyone else that they’re not in – but I’m still making a list of everyone who emailed me, so I’ll have your name for later if needed.

Spanish is by far the most popular language – so if you want to help out with Spanish, you’re probably out of luck. Everyone wants to do Spanish.

I’ve decided to do both Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese, since people have convinced me that it’s very easy to do the other once you’ve done one.

If you’re interested in helping with Korean, please email me with your details ASAP (see my previous post). I got a few volunteers, but probably not enough yet, and Korean’s a good language to support if possible. I could also use one or two more helpers for Japanese.

I’ve created a channel for each language on the EBF Discord. This way translators can talk to fans and get feedback or suggestions easily. That’s a good place to contribute even if you’ve not been invited to the Google Docs team.

That is all, I’ll keep you updated. But I’m overwhelmed by the response at the moment.
Thanks!

EBF5: Looking for Translators

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 kupo707@hotmail.com.
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!