I18N - Translator's Guide
This page contains useful hints and tips for anyone who wants to translate the main menu mod, or any FM.
General Remarks
If you want to help translating TDM to other languages, or translate some FMs, please check first at the I18N status page, then post on the forum. Thank you!
Special Phrases
Some of the phrases and words are old English words, or outdated job names. Because not every dictionary contains these, here are a few explanations:
Job titles
Back in the medivial ages, people where already quite specialised, so there where a lot of jobs where someone did one step in the production of a item and this job had their own name. As example there where smiths who forged swords (Swordsmith), another special smith (or apprentice) who only polished the sword blade, someone who forges the sword grip, and so on. Most of these professions had their own name.
Here are some examples of the more uncommon words:
- XYZmonger - a monger is simple a (small-scale) dealer, someone who buys and sells wares, and where you go shopping for these. The prefix usually just says which kind of wares he deals in. Nowadays only the word "Fearmonger" is used frequently, because instead of specific dealers you have supermarkets which deal in all kinds of wares at once. Examples: Cheesemonger (deals primarily in cheese), Fishmonger (deals with fish), Peltmonger etc.
- Panecaster - an old job description for someone who casts panes (either of glass, or sheet metal)
- Gearsmith - a smith who casts and produces gears.
- XYZfounder - someone who builds foundations in the earth, where you can pour hotmetal to cast objects, and also does the casting etc. The first part just determines what type of objects he dealt with. Examples: Bellfounder, Typefounder (types are metal characters for printing books), etc.
- Knacker: Taking (no longer useable) animals and turns them into dog food, glue and fetilizer. See Wikipedia.
Tools and Links
- See the [[I18N.pl] script to transform an untranslated FM into one which can be more easily translated.
- dict.leo.org has good dictionaries for translating between German and Chinesese, French, Italian, Russian, and Spanisch.
- Google is also (sometimes very) good at phrases, esp. computer related ones.
Of course, always beware what online dictionaries and translators produce - very frequently their results are complete rubbish. If you are not firm in the target language, translate the result back into a language you know to do a basic check.
See Also
- I18N - Main article
Translation resources
- The charset TDM fonts use
- I18N.pl - a script to transform a FM into a mission and I18N data
- Bug Tracker entry #2779
- Text Decals for Signs etc.
- Fonts in TDM
- Font Conversion & Repair - with links to ExportFontToDoom3, Q3Font, Refont, and Font Patcher
Overview of translations
- I18N Status - Which FMs are translated into which language (not entirely up to date)
- Translating FMs
- List of translators
- Translator's Guide
Translation discussions
