German D&D 3E translation...
Helge Moulding
> I guess there is nothing like the Open Gaming Foundation in german?
Sounds to me as if you are a great candidate for providing the first
OGF translation to German. I bet you'd do better at it than I could.
--
Helge Moulding
mailto:hmou...@excite.com Just another guy
http://hmoulding.cjb.net/ with a weird name
Helge Moulding
> >> I guess there is nothing like the Open Gaming Foundation in german?
> >Sounds to me as if you are a great candidate for providing the first
> >OGF translation to German. I bet you'd do better at it than I could.
When you were younger, did you ever use the phrase, "angebrachtes
Schwein, muss es eben sein!" to decide who was "It" in a game of
Tag or Hide-and-Seek?
Helge Moulding
> No, never heard of this one. Are you sure about that "angebrachtes
> Schwein"?
No. In my experience, kids hear what they want to hear. I tend to
think that *my* hearing was quite good, but so does my brother,
and he'd hear the craziest things! If you've ever read around for
various counting rhymes and the like, then you'll have found that
there are as many variations as there are kids. The kids, of
course, are always convinced that *their* version is the One True
Version, and will get very excited if you try to tell them
otherwise.
Huh. Sounds like DnD.
> Something like "Und du armes Schwein, musst es eben sein!"
> would make sense =)
Yup. I like it, too.
ObDnD: I never heard that there would be a German translation of
the books. Were there German translations of the earlier versions?
Michael Dingler
>>the books. Were there German translations of the earlier versions?
>>
> least since 1995 the books (including source material, not just the
> core books) are translated to German. IIRC it was a different company
> in the early years which did the translation, now it is Amigo-Spiele.
All editions were translated, including the old (B)D&D
boxes. I still got my old red basic set and the first
edition PHB.
Still, my group probably won't buy any 'native' products,
as it's much better to live with a few English terms than
to have the awkward German translations. If you thought
Gygax writes cumbersome...
...Michael...
(wonders how they'll translate 'sorcerer' and 'rogue'...)
Lord Emm
>>(wonders how they'll translate 'sorcerer' and 'rogue'...)
Why not have "Magier" for Wizard and "Zauberer" for Sorcerer ? "Spitzbube" for
Rogue ;) I am kidding you know. Why anybody would care for a translation is
still beyond me. I still shudder whenever i see the German Monster Compendiums
;) Remember the "Grottenschrat" ;)
My oh my,
Mats
Sir Clarence
> Why not have "Magier" for Wizard and "Zauberer" for Sorcerer ? "Spitzbube" for
> Rogue ;) I am kidding you know. Why anybody would care for a translation is
> still beyond me. I still shudder whenever i see the German Monster Compendiums
> ;) Remember the "Grottenschrat" ;)
The translation of the 1E books was even worse. Translating 'torch' as
'Taschenlampe' is so incredibly stupid, it's hard to believe.
Clarence
Lord Emm
>'Taschenlampe' is so incredibly stupid, it's hard to believe.
Yeah. The worst was when they started translating placenames and character
names. Why ? I mean we don't translate Clint Eastwood into German either, do we
? So why was there a "Tiefwasser" and "Fernberg"... or "Sturm Feuerklinge".
Gods i used to get so mad at the translations ;) Thankfully we learn english in
this country ;)
Cheers,
Mats
Michael Dingler
Really? What book and page exactly, I never noticed that.
Must have been a preemptive attempt to balance the not-yet
published pseudo-German flavour names of Warhammer...
Well, monster names _are_ hard to get right, as no two language
offer the same range of vaguely similar terms. IIRC goblin and
kobold are just different spellings of the same mythic creature.
And 'bugbear' doesn't have anything to do with 'bear', even
if the MM wants you to believe so...
...Michael...
Sir Clarence
> Really? What book and page exactly, I never noticed that.
It was in the first translation of the 1st edition PH. Can't tell you the page but
I believe it was part of the equipment list.
> Must have been a preemptive attempt to balance the not-yet
> published pseudo-German flavour names of Warhammer...
Nope. The reason was that (at least that's what I've heard back then) TSR insisted
on letting the translation being done by german-speaking americans instead of
germans. No comment here...
There were other gems like 'Fremdenfuehrer' as a translation for 'Guide' (being the
level title of a 6th level ranger. :))
> Well, monster names _are_ hard to get right, as no two language
> offer the same range of vaguely similar terms. IIRC goblin and
> kobold are just different spellings of the same mythic creature.
That's right. But the secret of a good translation is the catching of the spirit
behind the words. If this means to make up a new word when an exact translation is
just silly, what's the problem with it?
In my campaigns we use a mixture of english, german and selfmade translations for
D&D specific terminology. It works well.
Clarence
Karl Knechtel
So it *wasn't* the gold pieces burning a hole in my pocket, it was what I
bought with them! ;)
Karl Knechtel {:>
da728 at torfree dot net