8BT translation projects

[gundevako]

I remember seeing a LONG time ago a Spanish translation of 8-Bit Theater and was wondering if there are any translations in other languages out there for it? I looked through the forum archives and didn't find any mention even of the Spanish one, which I know exists(if you have the link to it I would appreciate that as well). I am kind of a foreign language nerd, so to speak, and that is why I ask.

If there aren't any, has anyone thought of starting such a project?

[Clord]

It ruin comic. Some thingys you cannot translate without making eg. black box with text.

[gundevako]

But I am still curious if it has been attempted, especially because I have many friends who don't speak English.
Also I think that a comic can be translated with enough effort, it just seems bad because a lot of times with comics people tend to just put half-assed effort into it.

[Clord]

If Brian not have every comic without text version then it is very hard to make look good translation.

[Meister]

If Brian not have every comic without text version then it is very hard to make look good translation.
It's certainly possible to make a good-looking translation from the finished comics alone. You just have to white-out the speech bubbles (or fill them with a gradient if necessary) and insert the translated text. Sound effects are a problem in that regard, but most of those would be left untranslated anyway. Where it's necessary to translate them one would certainly do well with textless files - although it is possible, depending on the background, to erase the sound word (using clone brush) and insert a translated one. It looks surprisingly good since you primarily see the sound word anyway, but the professional way would of course be textless files.

With 8-Bit Theater, the main problems are a relatively high content of puns (things like the "wooden stake" joke are a translator's nightmare fuel, especially since it's accompanied by pictures) and Brian's relatively complex writing style and syntax. It's not easy to translate it properly, but it's far from impossible.

There are also minor considerations, of course... such as the decision whether to leave the character names in English or translate them.

And also it would take really damn long at this point. Nothing dedication can't solve.

[gundevako]

Just a few thoughts before I go to bed,

I think you could keep the onomatopoeic in English. I always thought it adds character to a comic when they are left like in the original language, kind of like a little subliminal reminder that it came from a different country.

I agree with the joke problem as well, although I am reminded what my literature teacher told me, 'A good translation is in itself a new work' which really means you don't need to translate the meaning exactly but the essence. I would still have a problem with this because I wouldn't want to lose Brian's jokes, and that would be a major consideration. I of course would never be able to make that decision, I do speak more that one language fluently but I would never trust myself to translate.

The names should be up to the translators. I would personally translate it to the name that is most common under FF fans in the respective country, if that name is in English than it should be in English if not than in their respective languages(which might be difficult because many countries with common languages don't share common names for things, especially if it is from another country).

[Meister]

I think you could keep the onomatopoeic in English. I always thought it adds character to a comic when they are left like in the original language, kind of like a little subliminal reminder that it came from a different country.
Most people are used to English ones anyway. "CRASH" is universal. Sound effects like "SHIPWRECK" aren't, but those should retain their humour when simply translated.

I agree with the joke problem as well, although I am reminded what my literature teacher told me, 'A good translation is in itself a new work' which really means you don't need to translate the meaning exactly but the essence.
Your literature teacher is a wise man, woman or other. In the case I mentioned it's not coming up with a new pun that's difficult - and when it comes to translating puns, you often have no choice but to invent a new one altogether - no, it's integrating the cow.

The names should be up to the translators. I would personally translate it to the name that is most common under FF fans in the respective country[...]
Once again I agree. Strangely blessed are therefore they who have never had an official translation of the game, for they can make shit up. (And looking at your location, you might know about that. We're growing in numbers...)

[Transcend]

Why, right here! I've got your Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Chinese (in traditional, to mix it up), Italian, Japanese (again) and English translations, cooked up ready to order. Only...well, budgets were short, so we could only do the first episode, and even then, due to my extremely limited knowledge of some of the languages, the translation needed to be bent a bit, and I did have to Babelfish the Korean one and kinda guess a bit at most of the Romance ones, and again, do to time, I had to condense all of them into one comic.

But hey, enjoy!

:bmage: 那, 我们怎么走通过巨人的森林?
:fighter: Porque la Cueva de Ninguna Vuelta está detrás de ella.
BM: はああいい。私達はなぜそこに行きたいと思うか?
Fighter: Hörten Sie nicht auf den alten Mann?
BM: 나에게 말하십시요.
Fighter: À l'intérieur de la Caverne Sans Retour est l'armure d'invincibility.
BM: 如果這是不讓回來的洞, 怎麼知道內容?
Fighter: Se non qui, dove?
BM: はい、馬鹿. 私は次の冒険を選ぶ。
Fighter: Phooey.

[gundevako]

:bmage: 那, 我们怎么走通过巨人的森林?
:fighter: Porque la Cueva de Ninguna Vuelta está detrás de ella.
BM: はああいい。私達はなぜそこに行きたいと思うか?
Fighter: Hörten Sie nicht auf den alten Mann?
BM: 나에게 말하십시요.
Fighter: À l'intérieur de la Caverne Sans Retour est l'armure d'invincibility.
BM: 如果這是不讓回來的洞, 怎麼知道內容?
Fighter: Se non qui, dove?
BM: はい、馬鹿. 私は次の冒険を選ぶ。
Fighter: Phooey.

That made me laugh.:D

But anyway does anyone(other than myself) even remember the ONE attempt(I think it was in Spanish, but don't quote me on that) to translate it into another language? And if you do, could you send me a link IF it still exists(which at this point I doubt)!

[BlackMageFF1]

The english language has been butchered so much since the eleventh century (when modern english was born) that it's almost impossible to perfectly translate even one sentence of it.

[Meister]

It was French (www.t8b.fr.st) and Italian (http://nemesis.ngx.sm/mogtom/8bit), respectively.

Don't start kissing my feet just yet (though financial donations won't be objected to); those links are defunct and probably have been for quite some time. www.archive.org has copies of the pages, I think, but not of the actual comic files as far as I could see. If you want to track those down, I think you have a real load of disgusting work in front of you.

[Ultima08]

if anyone translates every 8-bt comic into other languages they deserve the biggest cookie in the world foer allowing 8-bits fan base to increase by... (carry the two) a lot
it would also be a lot easier if one managed to get the original .psd photoshop files from Brian

[Meister]

*shrugs* Hell, I'm up for it.

[gundevako]

I just noticed that this post was still going(I thought all had forgotten). I would take up the challenge myself for German or Japanese but because neither are my native language(for the record I study in Germany and my family comes from Germany which is why I am here), I don't feel confident in my abilities as a translator(I can have a conversation over Descartes' Meditations in German but translation...don't get me started), also I have no photoshop skills. But thanks for the help in finding those links, even if they are dead(I will try to find a copy somewhere). I am just glad someone remembers them other than myself!

[WingedLion]

Well, maybe the best approach if possible, is to gather a "team" of ppl who want to do it and given them different responsabilities, e.g. fans that are native speakers of any language can write in a word document the translation (because honestly, the translation engines usually lost the real meaning of the sentence in favor of a literal one) of each episode, making a more fluid, exact translation of the pun/joke spirit, and give numbers to each paragraph, making ties between each dialogue bubble and the translated text.

Then the work is upon those with good Photoshop skills just to copy and paste the texts using the list and the number relationship and that is all.

Well, just my two cents.

[Clord]

Those quotes outside bubbles need box to background when translated.

[gundevako]

Well, maybe the best approach if possible, is to gather a "team" of ppl who want to do it and given them different responsabilities, e.g. fans that are native speakers of any language can write in a word document the translation (because honestly, the translation engines usually lost the real meaning of the sentence in favor of a literal one) of each episode, making a more fluid, exact translation of the pun/joke spirit, and give numbers to each paragraph, making ties between each dialogue bubble and the translated text.

Then the work is upon those with good Photoshop skills just to copy and paste the texts using the list and the number relationship and that is all.

Well, just my two cents.

This is all very good. I believe we would need many, let's call them, translation groups to do this, each for a different language. I have pretty much thought it over and have figured this much out.
a)Based on the locations of people on the board and this (http://forum.nuklearpower.com/showthread.php?t=3169)thread I would say the biggest language possibilities for translation would be right now German, Spanish, and possibly Chinese and Japanese. Most definitely German and Spanish because there seem to be a lot of people from or living in these countries on the board(myself included), so they would be able to easily set up a group.
b)Each would need their own photo shop person, because in some languages it would be better to keep some things in the original English and in other languages not.
c)It would take much longer to translate a comic as it would take Brian to write a comic, the group would have to be prepared for this!
d)Japanese would cause problems, there are a lot of people who are learning Japanese here, but I think almost no native speakers. I would really be worried that it just wouldn't come out right. This leads me to think maybe native speaker exclusive groups would be the best idea, however that would shut out too many people who might be interested in starting such a project, so we have there a gray area. I single out Japanese because I would not even think to start it until you have a native speaker in the group. I guess my suggestion would be minimum one native speaker groups.
and
e)It goes without saying but I say it anyway, they would have to take it seriously

That was extremely long but I think worth it. After typing all of that out though I think that maybe i would be willing to start or join one of these groups, if anyone forms one. I would LOVE to be a part of a German or Japanese language group as a consultant or something,(I would probably do much better in German though)again IF ANYONE FORMS ONE. I don't have the courage to start one myself(I am not a native speaker of those two languages, that's why) but if I have to I am willing to.

I am just hoping that anyone who reads this thinks, 'hey that isn't a bad idea and it doesn't seem difficult, I think I will do it!'

[Meister]

I can see that setup working. It's best if the letterer speaks the language, too (okay, it's best if one guy does everything, but it would certainly reduce the workload). It's not done with copy/pasting, though; you have to fit the text into the speech bubbles (and of course you have to translate it so it fits), you have to know your way around text options for recreating sound effects, and so on.

[WingedLion]

That is why we need to work with ppl who has good if not excellent photoshop skills. (In the spanish case I'm regular with the photoshop, but only to a basic level, and 8-bit deserves a good design in the translations).:sweatdrop

Again in the case of Spanish, a friend of mine from Argentina and me can be part of the spanish group (since spanish has too many slangs according to the country, is best to have different spanish based speakers to settle a neutral slang) to translate.:)

Also I was thinking that until we get ppl with image editing skills for each group, still post the word document with the translation, like the manga translationn that you can find in the web (I know, not the best solution, but is better than nothing) and in that way, those who want to read the comic in their native language can use the word document as a help until the release of a full translated comic.

Anyways, as gundevako said, given the speed of new releases of the comic and the HUGE amount of episodes already in the archives, is going to take a looong time, so patience both from the translation groups and from the readers would be needed.:)

[gundevako]

WingedLion, if you want to start a Spanish group go ahead, I am after all not the final authority on the matter. If you decide to go ahead with it Would love to see it eventually.

For the record I separated it into groups because I know it would be too much for one person to handle, and because good photoshop skills no not equal good translation abilities. If you can do both well that is great but I think that would be seldom. I also thought it would be good when it comes to the translation to have at least one other person to double check the translation and say, 'hey that did not translate right!', you know things someone would not notice sometimes when translating alone. Another reason is just practical, if one person can't do it anymore there is at least still someone on the project to keep it going so it doesn't die. And also for the same reason that WingedLion said, sometimes somethings don't make sense in every country that speaks a language.

[WingedLion]

Agree with you, neither do I am the final authority in this. And my photoshop skills are very basic (I agree with you in your planning, but maybe I wrote my idea wrong and ended meaning another thing, damm you launguage barrier!! :) ), so if a spanish group is formed, we still are going to need a photoshop guy/gal to do that part of the job. Still is going to be a hard job... 656 episodes and counting... phew:sweatdrop

If anyone else is interested, yeah we can start to do that. Just other thing, besides the patience is that remember that this is going to be just for fun and hobby (still qualitu control is requiered, this must be a quality product). I said this because there is always someone that as soon as you stop for attending your real life, start to bug you with nonsense. :)

[Transcend]

I've got enough going on that I don't really feel like signing on to such a massive undertaking, so nah, I'm out. But I'd be happy to glance over to edit any Chinese ones.

[gundevako]

WingedLion-Don't worry you were completely understandable, I just have the habit of explaining things in details after I say or write them, so it wasn't you it was me.

Transcend-I am at least that you would want to help with one at all.

I am really glad though that I was able to get some people interested in discussing this seriously, I think that this would really be worth doing, especially if someone has a lot of spare time or if they want to get into translation in the future.

[Regulus Tera]

I can help with the Spanish: my first language is that, since I'm from Mexico. In any case, you can contact me at omni_reg@hotmail.com

Edit: By the way, I think you should take something into count: Spanish has lots of modismos, since I can't find a better word for it. A modismo is a variant of a specific word from one country to another, or even from one state to other.
For example, we have straw: in Mexico, it is called popote, while in other places (like Argentina) it is called pajilla, carrizo, etc etc... I think you should stay with a specific regional translation, anyways.

Well, I did my best. I took some liberties, since there are some words that do not have an homologous in Spanish (phooey -_-). Nevertheless, I think the message still is the same. Here you have the first comic translation:

Title: 001 ¿A dónde vamos?
=Panel 1=
Black Mage: ¿Por qué es que estamos atravesando el bosque de los gigantes?
=Panel 2=
Fighter: Porque tras él esta escondida la Cueva sin Retorno.
=Panel 3=
Black Mage: Claro. ¿Y queremos ir ahí porque...?
Fighter: Wey, ¿no le estabas prestando atención al tipo que nos ayudó?
=Panel 4=
Black Mage: Sorpréndeme.
=Panel 5=
Fighter: Dentro de la Cueva sin Retorno se encuentra la armadura de la Invincibilidad, duh.
=Panel 6=
Black Mage: Espera un momento. ¿Si es una Cueva sin Retorno, como puede alguien saber que hay dentro de ella?
=Panel 8=
Fighter: ¿Dónde mas sugieres que escondan una armadura mística de Invincibilidad?
=Panel 9=
Black Mage: Okay, Chuckles. De ahora en adelante, yo escojo las aventuras.
Fighter: Aguafiestas.

[Draco.Kun]

Great job, i am from argentina, and i love it,but i dont agreed whit you, all over latin america, the tranlations are made by mexican tranlation companies, so is veri easy to make a nautral spanish, for example "popote" can be tranlate as "sorvete" despite "pajilla" (or "pajita" we say that...), at least it is like that that i remenber it is call in the Simsom...

Nos vemos...

[Mondt]

Wouldn't there be a problem with speech bubble/box sizes as some things in Spanish become 'The _______ of _______' instead of '________'? Some things get smaller too, so re-doing that would suck. So would you just have to take the comics back to the original form without any speech and make it yourself?

[Technocloud]

Most jokes woulndt sounds so good in other language. I am from sweden and I rather read the comics in English than Swedish.

[Number 81]

I can do Latin!

Magus Niger: Cur imus per Silvam Gigatis?
Bellator: Quod supra ei Antrum Reversionis Impossibilis est
Magus Niger: Et vellemus umquam ire illuc quod...?
Bellator: Vir! Animadvertone vir vetulus qui dicit nos?
Magus Niger: Luxuria me.
Bellator: Intra Antrum Reversionis Impossibilis Armum Defensionis Perfectae est.
Magus Niger: Mane, si est Antrum Reversionis Impossibilis, ergo qui potest aliquis scit quidnam continet?
Bellator:... Ubi consulas ponent armatum majestativi Armi Defensiois Perfecta?
Magus Niger: Gratus, Ludibrium. Nunc Ego diligam itinerem heroicum.
Bellator: Heu.

It wouldn't matter if the jokes didn't make sense because no one can read them!
Note: This is a very lose translation, even in latin you can't find exact translations, so "ok, Chuckles" becomes "Gratus, Ludibrium" or "thank you, laughingstock". And Phooey become Heu which mean alas.

[Meister]

It's a rushed job, technically speaking... the GIMP's text rendering abilities are somewhat sub-par, and the font doesn't have umlauts, but here ya go anyway.
http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/4064/010302deu2xq.th.png (http://img395.imageshack.us/my.php?image=010302deu2xq.png)

[gundevako]

Technocloud-I know that it probably is funnier in English, but I know a lot of people who do not speak any English(or very little) which is the reason for me bringing this topic up in the first place. But that is a problem that all translated works come up with, so sometimes it makes a lot of sense to translate loosely in order to keep it funny.

Number 81- I don't know why but I love the Latin idea. I haven't been learning Latin very long myself(and I am only learning it because it is required for one of my minors) but I found your translation extremely amusing.

Edit; I think I love you Meister(platonic)
PS. I was wondering if you think it is a good idea to sticky this thread, I know I am kind of new and all(and am suggesting it for my own post) but I don't want the topic to be lost in old topic purgatory after it has been brought up again.

[Technocloud]

Hehe okey I see.. Well here's is an Swedish translation by me. O___o ( Just wanted to see how it turned out. )

Black Mage - Svart magiker - Så varför går vi igenom den gigantiska skogen?
Fighter - Stridare - Därför bakom den ligger grottan av ingen återvändo.
Svart magiker - Okeeeej, och vi skulle någonsin vilja gå där för?
Stridare - Dude, lyssnade du inte på den gammla mannan som tippade iväg oss?`
Svart magiker - Tillfredställ mig bara.
Stridare - Inne i Grottan av ingen återvändo döljer sig rustningen ov odödlighet.
Svart magiker - Vänta. Om det är en grotta av ingen återvändo, hur vet någon vad som finns inne i den?
Stridare- Var föreslår du att dom skulle lägga en mystisk rustning av odödlighet?
Svart Magiker - Okej, från och med nu väljer jag ädventyr.
Stridare - Bluff!



Wow, that sounded very wierd to mee :P There was some word I couldnt get translated corectly either...

Well, good practice for me :)

btw, woulnt it be hard translating all the 650+ comics? I dont think anyone would do that for free? :P Or maybe I am wrong...

[gundevako]

btw, woulnt it be hard translating all the 650+ comics? I dont think anyone would do that for free? :P Or maybe I am wrong...

You'd be surprised. It would require patience, and it would take longer than making a comic for each one but I would definetely do it for free if I had the talent, and I think some a lot of others would too.

edit: I don't understand any Swedish(sorry), but because I want to encourage the idea of translations, good job!