Development Info The Witcher 2 English Writing Confirmed?

VentilatorOfDoom · Mar 26, 2010

Tags: CD Projekt; Tom Ohle; Witcher 2, The

Elwro contacted CDProjekts Tom Ohle for clarification on the subject (whether TW2 is being written in english) and received some kind of confirmation:
 
 
In short, yes that's correct. We have a native English speaker on the team,
 
so while the game is being written by Polish writer(s) it's being
 
implemented in the game in English.
 

 
 
So, it is written - originally - in Polish I presume, but then they'll *implement* it in English.
 
I'm uncertain what's the difference between *implementing in English* and *translating to English* but I'm sure there has to be a difference.

Elwro · Mar 26, 2010

OK, so now I get the final part of the conference at last. The game is actually being written in Polish, but what the guys said implies the Polish text isn't in the game yet and no Polish voice-overs etc are currently being made. The text which is put in the game right now is in English, and we now know it's being written by a native-speaker.

So, 1) written in Polish but 2) implemented first in English, prepared by a native-speaker. Sorry for the confusing title of the previous newspost.

edit: this'll at least keep the patriotards at bay

Wise Emperor · Mar 26, 2010

THIS IS WRONG

English speakers wont appreciate the glory of Polish grammar!

DarkUnderlord · Mar 27, 2010

What? said:
In short, yes that's correct. We have a native English speaker on the team, so while the game is being written by Polish writer(s) it's being implemented in the game in English.

What? Given how confused I am right now as to what it is they're actually doing, if this is how they're saying this, I fear for whatever language the game ends up being written in.

Azrael the cat · Mar 27, 2010

I'm hoping you guys all caught the most important part of that (hate to be Skyway here, and I LOVED the first game): the fact that they felt they had to mention that there's a native english speaker on the team when explaining that it was going to be implemented first in english.

Wait one second. 'A' native english speaker on the team. What exactly does that mean? There's some programmer, or level designer, that happens to be an English speaker? And that's enough qualification to produce the english language script for a dialogue-heavy game?

They seem to be falling into the same trap as last time, and if this comment is reported correctly it is starting to become clearer how that pile of poor translation eventuated. Translating a piece of written entertainment (a book, a dialogue, a script) is NOT the same thing as translating for conversational purposes. It is NOT enough to be able to speak the language, even as a native speaker. Think of it this way: out of all the folk who are native english speakers, what percentage can write decent literature? Because words and phrases don't always translate perfectly, the translator for this kind of project needs to have writing talent themself. It's not just 'knowing the language' - it's being able to rewrite the script in that language, keeping not only the meaning but also the subtext, the internal referencing, the 'feel', sometimes even the alliteration and sound of the passage. Good translations will sometimes dump 'literal' translation altogether in order to maintain the same feel - e.g. when translating cultural tropes or sayings, they'll replace them with an equivalent english saying rather than a literal translation.

I'd feel a LOT more confident if they said 'one of our lead WRITERS is an english native speaker AND PROFESSIONAL WRITER in that language'. Though even then I'd be worried that all the delegated writing tasks would be amateurish in the english version. As it is, the setup (if it's as reported) seems to suggest that we'll get an english version that is a correct literal translation, but reads like an amateur fanfiction.

Gragt · Mar 27, 2010

That reminds me of that Chrono Trigger retranslation project that was just an insult to good taste. The team that did it tried to get as close as possible to the original script but doing so they certainly failed to produce anything in proper English. If anything the only useful part of the project was the part of the documentation that detailed the few errors or changes due to censorship (minor stuff about religion or alcohol) the official translation has.