Katawa Shoujo Forums

I found out about KS about when v2 came out, and I've been in love with it ever since.

When i read that act 1 had been translated into french, I got the idea to translate it into swedish, my native language.

So I have three questions:
Is it possible to use the swedish special characters in the Ren'Py engine? They are å, ä and ö.
Do you think a swedish translation would be worth it? I mean, is there too little interest, or are we swedish people good enough at english?
And if it's worth the effort, is there anyone willing to join the team? As explained in the translator guide, we need at least 3 people. I'm willing to be translator (or possibly proofreader) so I need at least one editor and one proofreader.

What do you think?

Diacritics for latin alphabet is trivial. As for the motivation, well... it's up to you to decide what your motivation is. It is very likely that most swedes who'd read KS in swedish could and would also read it in English, but then again, there are/have been translation projects to even more obscure languages. Silentcook translated Act 1 to Italian just because he likes translating, not in hopes of expanding the readership (at least majorly). Otoh, both the chinese and japanese translation certainly opened up KS for a much much wider audience.

Well, my motivation would be that it's fun to translate. I'm thinking more along the lines of "if the swedes see that there is both an english and a swedish option, would most of them pick english anyway?". Because I know I might have done so.

Swede here, I know for a fact that I would avoid a swedish version if one existed just cause it seems wierd.

RandomAnon wrote:Swede here, I know for a fact that I would avoid a swedish version if one existed just cause it seems wierd.

So... it would feel like a dub?

More like, there are people (like myself) who prefer to read in original language when possible because that's how it was "meant" to be experienced. Translation is an adaptation too and I wouldn't read KS in my native language either since I understand the original language well enough. It's a matter of tastes and elitism, but a valid point of view.

Well I guess I wouldn't know about that, since the last time I got to read foreign literature in its original language was when I read Catullus's poetry (and even then it wasn't so much "reading" as "struggling".)

The Canterbury Tales might count too...

Aura wrote:More like, there are people (like myself) who prefer to read in original language when possible because that's how it was "meant" to be experienced. Translation is an adaptation too and I wouldn't read KS in my native language either since I understand the original language well enough. It's a matter of tastes and elitism, but a valid point of view.

This.

Also, this thread made me wonder how it reading KS in Finnish would be.
Probably either hilarious or horrible. I tend to dislike translations, even if they are really good or even of professional quality. And I really doubt I'd like reading Hanako scenes in Finnish. I dunno why, just feels weird.

Um, I'm sorry for derailment.

Esa94 wrote:Also, this thread made me wonder how it reading KS in Finnish would be.

Just imagine Rin pondering: "Ehkä ongelma onkin pöksyissäsi?"

Nordic people seem to share an equal dislike towards their native languages when it comes to using them in entertainment. I'm the guy who did the Finnish language translation of this project's main website (you know, because I could), and I can tell you that the feedback has been very crushing and the reactions negative, in the vein of "this is gay and the translator's a fag".

To the Swedish dude... Lycka till if you decide to go for it, haters are always gonna hate.

Shockproof Jamo wrote:Just imagine Rin pondering: "Ehkä ongelma onkin pöksyissäsi?"

Nordic people seem to share an equal dislike towards their native languages when it comes to using them in entertainment. I'm the guy who did the Finnish language translation of this project's main website (you know, because I could), and I can tell you that the feedback has been very crushing and the reactions negative, in the vein of "this is gay and the translator's a fag".

TBH, I thought the Finnish version of k-s.com was a machine translation :/

But Rin in Finnish? Fucking awesome

I'm planning on revising the Finnish language sections when the full game comes out and the infos on the main page get updated accordingly. That is, if the devs haven't by then found somebody else to do it. Who knows, maybe they'll ask konflikti to do some creative rape on it.

Yeah, you guys are probably right. Just for fun though, here is a segment translated into swedish, for all of us to groan at.

Rött tegel, smidesjärn och gips, sammansatt till en helhet som inte kändes välkomnande alls. Jag går mot Yamaku-akademiens huvudbyggnad med fortsatt rask takt. Jag är ensam, eftersom mina föräldrar tar mina grejer till sovsalarna. Det är meningen att någon ska vänta på mig. Området är väldigt frodigt, fyllt med växter. Det känns inte som ett typiskt skolområde, mer som en park, med en ren stig bredvid träden, lukten av nuklippt gräs och alla andra parkliknande saker. Ord som "renlig" och "hygienisk"poppar upp i mitt huvud och får mig att rysa. Jag skakar bort det. Detta är ditt nya liv. Du får ta det som det kommer. Det var vad jag intalade mig.
  Några byggnader skymtar bakom löven, för många och för stora för en skola. Allt känns konstigt, det stämmer inte med vad jag trodde jag visste om skolor. Det känns kusligt. Trots att jag vet att det är min nya skola så känns det inte som det innerst inne. Jag undrar om känslan är verklig eller bara som jag inbillar mig för att det är en skola för handikappade. På tal om det, jag ser ingen i närheten. Det är nästan läskigt. Det får mig att önska att det fanns någon här så jag kunde förankra mig vid något verkligt, istället för att ha känslan att jag klivit in i en annan dimension.
  Träden susar i vinden och de skiftande gröna färgerna omkring mig fångar min uppmärksamhet. Det får mig att tänka på sjukhus igen, att de säger att operationssalar målas gröna för att grönt är en lugnande färg. Så varför känner jag mig nervös, trots all grönska? Inte förrän jag kommer fram till huvudbyggnaden inser jag varför jag störde mig på grinden. Det var sista chansen att vända tillbaka, även om jag inte hade något liv att vända tillbaka till. Men nu när jag gått in fanns det ingen chans att vända tillbaka. Med detta insett och med en nerväs känsla öppnar jag den huvudporten.

How succesful a translation is is often dependent on (aside from the quality) the media culture of the targetted country. In my homeland (the Netherlands), just about everything gets subbed. The only time movies get dubbed is when part of the target audience isn't expected to be able to read very quickly. (so Disney movies and such usually get dubs) As a result, most dutchies are fairly well-versed in English and avoid translations from english products because they feel it's better to experience as much original material as possible. Germans and French, on the other hand, get almost nothing but dubs in the theathers so not only are people there a lot more comfy with translated material (even if it's slightly Woolseyfied), a part of the audience there won't even consider trying it if it's not in their native language. If you're dealing with an audience who's used to subs (like dutchies), your translation will have to be a significant step up from the quality of the source material in order to get the time of day. Compared to that, German and French translations get way more leeway.

If you just want to start because you like translating...go ahead, though I've personally found translating is an effort that's very easy to underestimate in terms of workload.

Shockproof Jamo wrote: and the infos on the main page get updated accordingly.

Ohgod no.

Shockproof Jamo wrote:Who knows, maybe they'll ask konflikti to do some creative rape on it.

OHGOD NO.

Silentcook wrote:

Shockproof Jamo wrote: and the infos on the main page get updated accordingly.

Ohgod no.

Shockproof Jamo wrote:Who knows, maybe they'll ask konflikti to do some creative rape on it.

OHGOD NO.

What are you so shocked about?