German - Discussion Thread

[ivko]

We're discussing The.Vortex's translations of the game terms found here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1A4he3HsNK-19Qgr93pLH5gmOLhzqBHdt8dT9dfNduss/edit?usp=sharing

We are looking for the best translation of each core game term. Do use terms the players are familiar with from other games, but please avoid names of abilities/mechanics that match the ones in Magic the Gathering or other TCGs (except for exhaust/ready), if possible.

In English creature abilities such as Flying, Swift, Unstoppable, Deadly, etc. use adjectives. Then, on the cards you will see phrases such as "<name> is Swift this turn". You need to decide whether that's the best approach for German. If not, you can use nouns, and then these phrases will be translated as "<name> has Swiftness this turn".

Lastly, the length in characters of the translated texts does matter. We're still looking for a good-sounding translation, and prefer to not lose quality due to text size constraints, but where possible, use shorter translations. For example "Quick Battle" is used on a button on the main screen with not much space left, and "Schnelles Scharmützel" is hard to fit without extra effort. We're aware that keeping translations short is not always possible.

Please keep the communication in English so I can look at this topic once in a while, and see if I can help. Any questions for me not concerning the work organization should also go here.

Have fun

[The.Vortex]

The translations I have had some doubts about are mostly marked with a question mark. If you find better ones there, I would be really glad

Also I added a few remarks into the file (in german).

[VitamineC]

Ok I have some suggestions:

1. "im Spiel" and everything similar:
I find this expression to be a bit ambiguous. I suggest to use the literal translation of "on the field" "auf dem Feld".

2. Corruption
In my opinion "Verderbnis" is a much more thematic term (fantasy themed), as "Korruption" is mostly used for government officals and sounds like Corruption is a politically active aspect which it is certainly not.

3. Dominion
I'm all in favour of "Herrschaft". It catches the essence of what Dominion is. It is after all an aristocracy and "Herrschaft" lines up better with the political intrigue theme. "Dominanz" is a much more animalistic term, something that one dog can exert over another.

4. Rage
"Zorn" sounds much better. The german term "Rage" is very rarely used, if ever.

5. Blessing
"Segnung" is a little overcomplicated. A simple "Segen" (which is the actual noun) sounds a lot better.

6. Attack
I would use "Angriff". It's more commonly used and a better fit for the attack value of a creature, which "Attacke" doesn't really suit. (see bottom of my post for abbreviations)

7. Crafting/craft
I don't know about "Herstellung". It doesn't ring with me. Maybe "Handwerk" is a bit better? As for the verb "herstellen" is perfectly fine and also works with "Handwerk".

8. Deploy Phase
I don't like "Aufmarschphase" it sound too much like an attack phase. "Stationierungsphase" would be a little more along the lines of putting soldiers into position. "Aufstellungsphase" might be another option, it puts the emphasis on putting things on the board rather than making things ready to attack.

9. Friendly Game
"Freundschaftliches Spiel" is a bit clunky. Just "Freundschaftsspiel" is a bit simpler.

10. Front Line
"Vordere Reihe" is a bit gamey. I would prefer "Front Reihe". It's closer to the original and has a little military vibe to it that fits the functionality.

11. Lifebound
I would leave it as "Lebensbund". It just doesn't sound good as an adjective in german.

12. Might Emblem
I prefer the literal translation "Macht Emblem". "Stärke Emblem" (literally strength emblem) sounds a bit weak.

13. Quest
I would leave it as "Quest". "Queste" is a very old term. Most games nowerdays simply use "Quest" in german.

14. Quick Battle
"Schnelles Spiel" is much better. Noone ever uses "Scharmützel".

15. Swift
"Flink" sounds a little too cutesy. But I can't think about a much better translation. "Rasch" would be an option but it's another of those rarely used terms.

16. Trial
"Erprobung" sounds a bit forced. I suggest "Prüfung".

17. Unbind
"Zerlegen" (literally "to take apart") is a better term in the crafting context imo. "Auflösen" sounds like you're left with nothing afterwards.

18. Abbreviations
I would just leave the abbreviations (ATK, HP, SP) as they are. Mostly everyone who has played games is familiar with those. Some TCGs like Yugioh also just use ATK in german and write it out as "Angriffspunkte". It prevents confusion and a simple note in the tutorial showing the abbreviation should clear up the last bit of possible misunderstandings.


I mostly agree with all the other translations, including the ones The.Vortex is not sure about.

[The.Vortex]

Hello VitamineC,

Thanks for your input. It seems like it is a shame that you won't be part of the translation team

In response to your points:

1. I don't think that "im Spiel" is ambigous. At least not with the cards that currently exist. The more literal translation "auf dem Feld" would probably work, but it just sounds a tad wrong to me. Creatures can certainly be on the field, but I have always had problems with spells to be "on the field", thus I chose a translation that circumvents that problem.

2.-4. Yes, I agree that the translations you propose are better fitting in terms of meaning. The reason I went with the other ones was simply because they are MUCH closer to the english names and thus better prevent confusion in a mulit-lingual environment. Let us see what the other translators and maybe the devs have to say. As stated in the file: Dominanz vs. Herrschaft was already discussed (very briefly) with Ivko.
I slightly disagree with "Rage" never being used in german, though... "in Rage reden" for example is not THAT uncommon of a phrase. At least not in my experience.

5. Yes, Segen works fine. Segnung just had a nicer sound to me.

6. If it wasn't for the abbreviations, I would completely agree.

7. Handwerk, while being the literal translation of crafting, wouldn't really fit here. Your hands are not really involved, thus the term doesn't fit too well. "Basteln" would be another literal translation, but that doesn't really sound too good, thus I went with "Herstellung" (fabrication for all those reading here and not knowing german)

8. "Aufmarsch" is one of the possible literal translations of deployment. "Stationierung" and "Aufstellung" two different ones. All of them work equally well in my mind. I went with "Aufmarsch" since the playing area is a battlefield. And if you deploy units onto a battlefield, it is more of an Aufmarsch then a Stationierung.

9. Completely agree. I tried to keep it as a two word term too hard here

10. Frontlinie works perfectly fine, yes. Vordere or Vorderste Reihe would work in a military environment as well, but Frontlinie is probably better, yes.

11. Nothing to say here

12. Might in english has more of a physical component than the german "Macht", which is more often used in a less physical context and would better translate to Power. Thus I went with the closest physical thing, which is Stärke. And Stärke is the opposite of Schwäche (Weakness), Macht isn't.

13. Yes, Queste is old. But this is a fantasy game, so old terms work pretty well in my book. Quest just isn't german, that is why I used the antiquated word.

14. Battle isn't Spiel. Game is Spiel. Thus I was looking for another word. And "Schnelles Scharmützel" has a nice ring to it.

15. Yes, that was a pretty tough one for me, too. I think Flink sounds a bit better then Rasch, thus I went with that one.

16. Valid point. The main problem I had with translating Trial was that I am not completely sure why the mode is called Trial in the first place. That makes finding a fitting translation a little hard.

17. Agreed.

18. That is something I think the devs should decide upon. Keeping the abbreviations consistent across languages would make discussions between people easier. That is why I tried to find german terms that could use the same abbreviations. Having words that don't match the abbreviations would confse people that play only the localized version.

[MHDelany]

Hi everyone, seems like you´ve been doing some work already. TheVortex, you did a good job on most of the terms with a few exeptions which VitamineC already mostly pointed out. I want to give you some input on the terms i think still need some discussion:


1. End of turn: I would translate this as "am Ende des Zuges". "Rundenende" is usually the event after EVERY player has taken their turn.

2. Rage (Aspekt): I agree with VitamineC: Rage is not a common German word. It also leads to further problems: What if the devs decide to design a card with "raging" in the the name, for instance "raging Goblin"? How would you translate it? In MTG, "rage" is translated as "Wut".

3. and put the rest shuffeld on the bottom of your deck: As a player you don´t shuffle your deck actively. So i think we should translate it as "lege den Rest gemischt unter dein Deck". This way it´s also closer to the original.

4. swift: Possible translations could be "Ansturm" or "Stürmer", which would fit the military vibe of "Frontlinie" and "Aufmarschphase"

[The.Vortex]

Hello MHDelaney,

1. You are completely right on the "end of turn" issue. Didn't think about that.

2. No, Rage is not common, but it isn't really THAT uncommon, either. At least I don't think that anybody would have a problem understanding it. And as stated earlier: I am well aware that better translations exist. But they are not as close to the original term, which would make communication between different language users more difficult.

3. Good point. We will use your version

4. "Antsurm" has the slight problem that it is the word Hearthstone uses. And as far as I was told by ivko, they want to avoid using the same terms as Magic or other popular CCGs. Maybe to avoid possible future legal issues?
Stürmer would be a noun, which is less favorable then adjectives. Currently only Lifebound is still a noun in the translation, and that only because the alternative sounds pretty weird.

[VitamineC]

8. "Aufmarsch" is one of the possible literal translations of deployment. "Stationierung" and "Aufstellung" two different ones. All of them work equally well in my mind. I went with "Aufmarsch" since the playing area is a battlefield. And if you deploy units onto a battlefield, it is more of an Aufmarsch then a Stationierung.

I was also thinking about spells and artifacts. It doesn't really feel like an "Aufmarsch", when you just play a totem, a silencer or an overcharger or any inanimate object. But that just might be me.

14. Battle isn't Spiel. Game is Spiel. Thus I was looking for another word. And "Schnelles Scharmützel" has a nice ring to it.

Most other games I know translate "quick battle" with "schnelles Spiel". "Scharmützel" just sounds a little to ridiculous for that simple of a game type. It also fits in with "Freundschaftsspiel" and "Ranglisten-Spiel", plus it's a lot shorter.

5. Yes, Segen works fine. Segnung just had a nicer sound to me.

When I hear "Segnung" I think more about the person blessing someone and the actual act of blessing instead of the blessing itsself. Considering that there are blessings that aren't attached to anything like Grand Reunion and Angelic Song, I find "Segen" to be more fitting.

16. Valid point. The main problem I had with translating Trial was that I am not completely sure why the mode is called Trial in the first place. That makes finding a fitting translation a little hard.

I think the term originates from the idea of a hero proving one's prowess in battle like for example Hercules in greek mythology. That's why I think "Prüfung" is a good fit.


Front line, support line, line
The translations of those should probably match. So either "Frontlinie, Unterstützungslinie, Linie" or "Frontreihe, Unterstützungsreihe, Reihe"

[The.Vortex]

I just edited the Spreadsheet to incorporate a few of the suggestions from this thread.

Still open are:

Deploy Phase - I don't think that "Aufstellen" or "Positionieren" are much better fits for spells or artifacts, thusI am still thinking that Aufmarsch is the right way to go. Waiting for input from more people here.

Trial - When I hear or read Prüfung, the first thing I think of is an exam or test, not a trial. Thats why I don't like that word here

Lines - I am unsure wether Linie or Reihe would be better. For Front Line, Frontlinie would sound much better, but for Support Line, Reihe would be a better fit. Darn. But yes, they should use the same translation.

Swift - We still haven't found a good translation, so right now it is still "Flink" in the spreadsheet. Swift is kinda cutesy as well, so it might be the right fit.

Field - Feld or Spiel? What do the other translators think? My vote is for Spiel, since it makes more sense with the cards right now.

Abbreviations and Aspect Names - Should we try to stay as close as possible to the original ones here to avoid confusion when people playing in different languages talk to each other, or should we use the translations that fit better? (Rage vs. Zorn/Wut, Dominanz vs. Herrschaft, Korruption vs. Verderbnis; Attacke vs. Angriff, etc.)

[MHDelany]

Deploy Phase: "Aufmarschphase" sounds good to me.

Trial: "Prüfung" is also used in sports, so i think it fits.

Line: "Linie" just sounds better to me, even in "Unterstützungslinie". I would suggest to keep everything as close as possible to the original.

Swift: It´s really hard to find an appropriate translation. What do you think about "agil"?

Field: What about "Spielfeld"?

Abbreviations and Aspect Names: In my opinion the game benefits of an easier comunication between players of different languages. I still don´t like "Rage" as "rage" but the other ones are perfectly fine. I also think we should stick with the english Abbreviations, they´re used in other games as well.

[The.Vortex]

Swift: It´s really hard to find an appropriate translation. What do you think about "agil"?

Agil isn't the most common word, either. And it isn't really a translation of swift. More like agile. The word we need has to confer a sense of speed. Flink or Rasch are the best I could think of, but maybe someone else has a better one we haven't considered yet?

Field: What about "Spielfeld"?

I was thinking about that as well but in the end dismissed it because of the length of the word. Space on the cards is limited and german is a more complex language than english, so we will run into problems with that sooner or later. Keeping the words short will make it easier in the end.

Abbreviations and Aspect Names: In my opinion the game benefits of an easier comunication between players of different languages. I still don´t like "Rage" as "rage" but the other ones are perfectly fine.

Hmm, how about "Raserei" then? It is one of the possible translations of rage and closer to the english word then Zorn or Wut.