Difference between revisions of "Languages Department"

Revision as of 01:13, 4 November 2010

Role within the game

The Languages Department is responsible for translating the game and game-related messages to different languages, so that foreign players will find it possible to play the game with little (ideally: no) knowledge of English. This extends to working with the Marketing Department to help with advertisement on non-English sites by finding the sites and translating marketing texts. There are still many texts that are available only in English which translators do not even have the chance of translating, but work is being done to make more and more of them translatable. Translators spend a lot of time translating everything that is available, so please be patient if you still encounter untranslated texts in the game. If you really want to make a difference, apply as a translator yourself.

New language areas

If you would like to introduce a new language however, please make sure that it fulfils the following conditions:
- there have to be at least 4 players willing to play in that language
- there has to be at least 1 player willing to translate the game into that language (could be one of the 4 players required above)
- there has to be at least 1 player willing to advertise for more players speaking that language (could be one of the 4 players required above)
Through these conditions, Cantr tries to ensure that there will be enough players for every language introduced (playing alone isn't fun) and that the game interface will also be available in the players' language.
Once it has been decided to make Cantr available in another language, the translator will have to translate a significant share of the Cantr interface before characters speaking that language will be accepted. That is why, for example, Arabic and Latin appear as Cantr languages on the front page but you can't play an Arabic or Latin-speaking character yet. In both these cases, there are not even translators, so if you'd like to see these areas, please find somebody to do the translations.

Applying to this department

The most obvious attribute for this department is a fluency in two languages: English and any one other. The main task of the Languages Department is to translate the work of other departments, so a high level of grammar and language in all fluent languages is very important. Additionally, since the game is available in a number of different languages and most staff members are only fluent in English, this department frequently has to translate potentially confidential quotes. As a result, this department is vetted closely and feedback to the chair is especially important. For the game translation forms on the web are used, however no specific knowledge is required for this.

Current members

As of 1st October 2008.

Some former members

• Dina Hamza (Arabic)
• Francisco Vieira (Portuguese)
• J.-F. (French)
• Maria Ekholm (Swedish)
• Mike Sergeev (Russian)
• Nicklas Artagård (Swedish)
• Pepe Trueno (Spanish)
• Sigrid Wohlgemuth (German)
• Ugur Yazgan (Turkish)
• John Tsai (Chinese)
• Pascal Kastrop (Dutch)
• Kevin (Dutch)
• Paul Reed (Esperanto)
• Bartlomiej Iwanojko (Polish)
• Pilot (Spanish)

For the most up to date staff listings, please check the Cantr Departments Overview