This thread is for asking about any bizarre strings you don’t know how to translate.
I know I saw some variant of “%s %s %s’s %s%s” when i was marking strings for translation. Well, maybe not quite that bad, but there were and are some definite WTF strings in there.
So if you come across anything weird or confusing while translating, post here, and hopefully someone will be able to clarify.
Actually, there aren’t that many confusing strings. Since I did what I told I’m due, I’ll try and share some insight.
You’re expected to keep a line of text under 80 (the 79th being the last) characters. Keep in mind that some items will be listed in the right portion of the screen, like when i[/i]xamining them; those are the names of the items throughout the game and so must be under 40 chars, or that’s what I’ve counted with the default font.
There are \n and %s special characters, only by usage of course, and are used for formatting. Keep in mind that when aiming at the 40/80 limit; they will use a portion of the space text-line-wise.
There are some, clear errors in English text. For example, my favourite was “Ratting” which is still a mystery to me, since its code is somewhere withing the disease.cpp and could be either Rotting or Rattling, respectfully. It’s no SuperNova stuff so even you are allowed to make mistakes, but making notion hopefully helps.
Also, you’re obligated to follow the --> " <-- formatting rule. When Cpp picks up a string, it expects its pairs.
In addition, I’m fairly happy with what I’ve encountered while working on Serbian translation file; very few archaic terms, a portion of common slang and some technical terminology that you’ve got to expect when aiming at a goal this high; the CataDDA.
Here are my WTFs, as of 822622149aa16770627096a77c08dddb9f9178be (in order of appearance):
[ul][]“OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!”
[]“Perv” (line 12266)
[]“Ssssss” (line 12092)
[]“Suss” (line 14356)
[]“TATATATATATATAT!” (line 14382)
[]“Torr” (line 16648)
[]“Umbr” (line 16778)
[]“VRRRRMP!” (line 17080)
[]“Viv” (line 17296)
[]“Warr” (line 17449)
[]“You %s %s’s %s%s.” (line 17999)
[]“Zor” (line 22268)
[]“ab” (line 22465)
[]“al” (line 22537)
[]“amt” (line 22569)
[]“an”
[]“antr”
[]“arn”
[]“astr”
[]“ate”
[]“cor”
[]“cot”
[]“den”
[]“e” (line 23522)
[]“ed”
[]“el”
[]“ell”
[]“emm”
[]“empr”
[]“en”
[]“eset”
[]“ev”
[]“fes”
[]“ial”
[]“ian”
[]“id”
[]“ier”
[]“ill”
[]“ilter”
[]“in”
[]“ior”
[]“ious”
[]“ish”
[]“ive”
[]“kal”
[]“ler”
[]“mal”
[]“oo”
[]“ordr”
[]“ous”
[]“oxo”
[]“pan”
[]“qua”
[]“ros”
[]“s” (line 25602)
[]“sin”
[]“ssss…” (line 26106)
[]“ul”
[]“ule”
[]“ulv”
[]“un”
[]“urn”
[]“urr”
[]“uv”
[]“ven”
[]“wel”
[]“y” (line 26903)
[]“zu” (line 26915)[/ul]
1st edit: The line numbers refer to the file “de_DE.po”, as of 822622149aa16770627096a77c08dddb9f9178be.
2nd edit: Additionally, these are the WTFs in the “*.pot” file, as of 822622149aa16770627096a77c08dddb9f9178be:
[ul][]“I/E” (line 1266)
[]“Bohm… Bohm… Bohm…” (line 1835)
[]“.” (line 5249)
[]“, ” (line 5262)
[]“, and ” (line 5266)
[]“src” (line 7142)
[]“KXSHHHHRRCRKLKKK!” (line 11834)
[]“Pouf!” (line 32657)
[]“vvrrrRRMMPOP!” (line 42153)
[]“BRZZZAP!” (line 42178)
[]“hrm” (line 42288)
[]“hrmmm” (line 42292)
[]“HRMMM” (line 42296)
[]“VRMMMMMM” (line 42300)[/ul]
3rd edit: WTF indeed.
"TATATATATATATAT!” (line 14382)
This is onomonopiea (word used for its sound rather than meaning) for the noise a jackhammer makes.
“OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!”
As above, but for the joke french “jaqueshammer”. Yea, translating jokes… This is basically um, loud and abraisive laughter. Makes me think “Sāpento no Nāga” actually, heh.
"VRRRRMP!” (line 17080)
As above, for the bio resonator, the sound of a device activating that causes intense vibrations.
“ssss…” (line 26106)
Onomonopiea for a fuse burning. Actually we have several of these with different spellings, should just be one 
"You %s %s’s %s%s.” (line 17999)
Yipes, this one probably needs to be redone for translatability, this is the code:
add_msg (_("You %s %s's %s%s."), ftype == "battery" ? _("recharge") : _("refill"), veh.name.c_str(),
ftype == "battery" ? _("battery") : (ftype == "plutonium" ? _("reactor") : _("fuel tank")),
veh.parts[part].amount == max_fuel? _(" to its maximum") : "");After the substitutions you end up with something like:
“You recharge Killdozer_MKII’s battery.” or
"You refill DoomBike’s reactor to its maximum."
We probably need to change this to enumerate the options, like so:
if( ftype == "battery" ) {
add_msg(_("You recharge %s's battery."));
if( veh.parts[part].amount == max_fuel ) {
add_msg(_(The battery is fully charged.));
}
} else if ( ftype == "gasoline" ){
add_msg(_("You refill %s's fuel tank."));
if( veh.parts[part].amount == max_fuel ) {
add_msg(_(The tank is full.));
}
} else if ( ftype == "plutonium" ){
add_msg(_("You refill %s's reactor."));
if( veh.parts[part].amount == max_fuel ) {
add_msg(_(The reactor is full.));
}
}Most if not all of the rest are phonetic chunks that are assembled to make random names for factions.
“I/E” (line 1266)
I think this is short for “Include” and “Exclude”… i think the letters are used in pattern matching, so perhaps leave as “I/E” for now? I know i saw some english users confused by it as well.
“Bohm… Bohm… Bohm…” (line 1835)
the sound of a church bell ringing
“.” (line 5249), “, ” (line 5262), “, and ” (line 5266)
used to make lists of things. Leave as they are for German (well except for “, und “). It’s mainly for CJK languages so they can be replaced with the fullwidth forms (”、” and “。” for example). In-game it might be turned into something like “A, B, C, D, and E.”, but with an arbitrary number of items.
“src” (line 7142), "amt"
advanced inventory column title, “src” is short for “source” and “amt” for “amount” (i assume). needs to be exactly three letters.
I just made a commit to my local branch making this a little easier to translate, but it still raises issues. I added some comments.
“KXSHHHHRRCRKLKKK!” (line 11834)
the sound of a noise emitter being turned on
“Pouf!” (line 32657)
the sound of a fungus dying, and/or releasing spores
“vvrrrRRMMPOP!” (line 42153)
the sound of a telepad functioning
“BRZZZAP!” (line 42178)
the sound of a dissector dissecting
“hrm” (line 42288), “hrmmm” (line 42292), “HRMMM” (line 42296), “VRMMMMMM” (line 42300)
humming sounds, from quiet to very loud
I’m adding special translator comments for some of these in the code. They’ll show up in the .po file, which will make it easier for others to translate.
For the faction naming syllables, just choose some random syllables, i guess? Or leave them as-is.
EDIT: and i’ve fixed that “s”, that shouldn’t have been there at all.
I’m seeking help here, really.
If there is anyone out there that’s been involved in writing the textual component for the CataDDA game, I’d like to know - what’s someone’s relation to rats if he’s feeling “rat-like”, and as I wrote in the “Translations” board before, if he’s “Ratting”? Am I just missing a cultural reference? I’m pretty imaginative myself, and also have a memory I won’t brag about here, but nothing comes up. Being as-is, I thought of “ratting” to be “rotting” as if someone’s contracted a rot-illness.
Also, I’d like to be clear about one more thing, if someone’s had some more work done than myself; the expression of “skin being slithery” doesn’t exactly ring the bell. I’m well aware that if someone’s behavior has led to a certain point, he’d be called Slithery and stuck with it; I was willing to go for a translation that would feel and sound more like ‘smooth’ and ‘silky’ but it feels well around the grasp of the named expression.
If there’s anyone who’s willing to help me with above, he may as well feel as to explain what kind of character would be “Nefarious”. (faction.cpp)
If I get all of this done prior to the start of the next week, all I’d be left with comes up to some final editing
jobs, so the work could be wrapped up before wednesday.
Thx, fellow CataDDAtor!
{edit} googled up slithery - is it a reference to squid tissues, perhaps?
[quote=“vultures, post:6, topic:2519”]I’m seeking help here, really.
If there is anyone out there that’s been involved in writing the textual component for the CataDDA game, I’d like to know - what’s someone’s relation to rats if he’s feeling “rat-like”, and as I wrote in the “Translations” board before, if he’s “Ratting”? Am I just missing a cultural reference? I’m pretty imaginative myself, and also have a memory I won’t brag about here, but nothing comes up. Being as-is, I thought of “ratting” to be “rotting” as if someone’s contracted a rot-illness.
Also, I’d like to be clear about one more thing, if someone’s had some more work done than myself; the expression of “skin being slithery” doesn’t exactly ring the bell. I’m well aware that if someone’s behavior has led to a certain point, he’d be called Slithery and stuck with it; I was willing to go for a translation that would feel and sound more like ‘smooth’ and ‘silky’ but it feels well around the grasp of the named expression.
If there’s anyone who’s willing to help me with above, he may as well feel as to explain what kind of character would be “Nefarious”. (faction.cpp)
If I get all of this done prior to the start of the next week, all I’d be left with comes up to some final editing
jobs, so the work could be wrapped up before wednesday.
Thx, fellow CataDDAtor!
{edit} googled up slithery - is it a reference to squid tissues, perhaps?[/quote]
Rat-like: you feel like a rat
Ratting: the Rat King’s special is (extremely) slowly turning you into a Rat-category mutant. (In practice, you’ll puke yourself into starvation before being markedly mutated.)
Skin feeling slithery: This is an artifact effect. When you get hit, shadow snakes may spawn to defend you. So I guess you’re kinda snake-coated?? (Snakes slither: it’s how they move. Your skin feels like moving snakes?)
Nefarious: Not very nice, villainous, malevolent. Basically, Intelligent Evil.
Thank you x10
Thank you x1 and you destroy your tool. 
Oops, just remembered: “Nefarious” is fairly old-style. I tend to use it when I’m talking black-hatted, moustache-twirling, comic-opera villains tying GlyphGryph to a train track or something. Still intelligent, but not in the Die Hard/James Bond villain sense. (Well, they might be…but I wouldn’t think to use that term. :-/ )
Close to British School of Comedy, Dr. Evil maybe?
I still can’t believe Seth Green was in the same picture, being Nefarious as he is in RL.
[quote=“vultures, post:10, topic:2519”]Close to British School of Comedy, Dr. Evil maybe?
I still can’t believe Seth Green was in the same picture, being Nefarious as he is in RL. :-)[/quote]
I don’t know where it’s used in-game, but that sounds accurate.
Naaah, just kiddin’ …
Seth Green is kinda big nerd, also known to mess with coleagues more than often. In real-life (my best guess), a great hipster for twisted comedy and a known trendsetter in popular cartoon subculture so his ideas are commonly snatched for interactive content. Roles he enjoyed were in junction with his mere apparel, well, a long way from a ZORK fan-fictioned bedroom comedian he’s actually comfortable with. 
Nevermind, ‘nefarious’ is more ears-steamin’ from filth and greed than in classic ‘vicious’ sense theatrical.
Unleashed the Gracken.What is Gracken?
Furthermore, i don’t understand what this code does:
[code]Q: Why does my crafting fail so often?\n
A: Check the difficulty of the recipe, and the primary skill used; your\n
skill level should be around one and a half times the difficulty to\n
be confident that it will succeed."),
press_x(ACTION_EXAMINE, _(“examining”)).c_str());
wrefresh(w_help);
refresh();
getch();
werase(w_help);[/code]
I talking about string: press_x(ACTION_EXAMINE, _(“examining”)).c_str());
examining is never show in help.
[quote=“LazyCat-rus, post:13, topic:2519”]
Unleashed the Gracken.
I think that’s supposed to be a movie reference: there’s a line “Release The Kraken!” or somesuch. The Kraken is a sea monster, I believe pretty much a giant octopus/squid.
Here, that line shows up as the health-status for having used Grack Cocaine. I think that gives the player a Matrix-style speedup (“time seems to stop”, IIRC), so if the joke doesn’t work when translated, such a massive speedup would be the way to go.
IIRC Grack-y stuff is a reference to a retired pro Starcraft II player? There’s a thread somewhere here about that, I think.
Yeah, Greg Field is a proffessional SC player, and the MC once called him Grack and it stuck. The Gracken is an in-game monster whose end move so fast they’re blurred.
So, string context is: relase Gracken(monster).
Thank you!
btw, what is Grack Cocaine? It’s cocaine + crack mix?
It’s a joke item as well, and I don’t think it actually appears ingame. (It’s definitely not supposed to anyway), so it could be left untranslated. Or removed altogether from the codebase.
Could we make it a gracken drop?