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<blockquote data-quote="Gez" data-source="post: 344702" data-attributes="member: 1328">About French:The three core rulebooks have been translated by Eric Holwieck (who is actually working on the French translation of Morrowind) for Wizards France. After a long list of problems and difficulties (related in the French magazine &quot;D20&quot; (owned by Hexagonal), nice name isn't it ?), the adaptation in French of WotC products has been licensed to Spellbook, a new society co-owned by Asmodée/Siroz (Bloodlust, INS/MV...). Asmodée also translate d20 adventures (notably Freeport and Witchfire). Since Spellbook has taken the task of translation, the pace is much faster, and we now have the FRCS, Magic of Faerûn, the Psionics Handbook, S&amp;F, DotF, and probably T&amp;B... White Wolf products (including Sword &amp; Sorcery stuff) are translated by Hexagonal, at a reasonnable pace (most of Ravenloft books, all hardcover SL books, except the campaign setting, have been translated, as well as a number of softcovers). Errata and bonus material are often&nbsp; included, since Hexagonal was given the right to produce canon material for SL (look notably for Ankilia and the fighting guilds of Darakeen in the big Ghelspad book).Among the annoying translations:<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">All the Improved [Thing] feats by &quot;Science du [machin]&quot;, instead of &quot;Machin amélioré&quot;. 
Some animal-weirdness like what Aloïsius mentionned. &quot;Suppleness of the Snake&quot; ?!</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Irritating anglicisms, like &quot;attaque d'opportunité&quot; for the AoO... Sounds good ? It isn't. Although more and more people make the mistake everyday, &quot;opportunité&quot; is not the French word for the English &quot;opportunity&quot;, it is instead the quality of what is opportune. I.e., it means &quot;timeliness&quot; or even &quot;worthiness&quot;... Attack of timeliness ?</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sprite by &quot;Esprit Follet&quot; (fairy spirit). I would have used &quot;lutin&quot; (sprite).</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Warrior (the NPC class) by &quot;homme d'armes&quot; (man-at-arms), and Commoner by &quot;gens du commun&quot; (ugly, ugly, ugly ! &quot;Quidam&quot; (anonymous bypasser) and &quot;Roturier&quot; (non-noble, litteral translation of commoner) would both have been much better.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Outsider by &quot;Extérieur&quot;. Extérieur means &quot;outside&quot;, not &quot;outsider&quot;...</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Bad move, like &quot;molosse satanique&quot; (satanic watchdog) for &quot;hell hound&quot;. &quot;Chien (or Matîn, for more style) infernal&quot; would have been much, much more appropriate.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Pure drunkeness, like &quot;Rûhk&quot; for Roc, whose correct translation would simply have been &quot;Roc&quot;. I don't even want to know why Mr Holweck thought &quot;Rûhk&quot; would be better suited. Why not &quot;Gûhbelin&quot; for &quot;goblin&quot;, while he's at it ?</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Nécrophage for wight. That word (wight) is a problem, because it just means &quot;being&quot;, but is an old term and since Tolkien and his Wight of the Galgals, has an undead meaning. The word &quot;wight&quot; being too generic in itself, it has not been translated (we don't have an archaic term for &quot;being&quot;), but replaced in D&amp;D by &quot;dead-eater&quot;... Sigh.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">&quot;Cthuul&quot; for &quot;Chuul&quot;. Why that additional 'T' ? Not for ease of pronounciation, I can guarantee it. The only reason I could find is to make it sound a bit like &quot;Cthuluh&quot;. Not sure if that's really a good idea...</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Similarly, the Athach has become an Atch-Ach, or something like that... Strange. I didn't thought such a term really needed to be translated.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Also, I regret the blandness of the new translation for &quot;Nightmare&quot;. In AD&amp;D2, that was adequatelly called a &quot;paleffroi&quot;, nice play-on-word on &quot;palefroi&quot; (warhorse) and &quot;effroi&quot; (dread).</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">&quot;Gobelours&quot; for bugbear, which prove the translator didn't knew it wasn't a name invented by D&amp;D designers from bug and bear, but just how English call the Croquemitaine... I don't blame this on Holwieck, however, as it comes from previous editions.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Halfelin for halfling. Not bad, but too heavy. Holwieck said that was much better than the formerly used &quot;petit-homme&quot; (and I agree on that) and that it was used by Jack Vance's translators as well. False, they shortened it to the prettier and easier to pronounce &quot;Hafelin&quot;.</li>
</ul>On another topic, although &quot;roublard&quot; is primarily an adjective, dictionnaries acknowledge its use as a noun. My French/English one even propose &quot;dodger&quot; as a translation of its noun form. It seems quite appropriate, all things considered. And R-O-U-G-E means &quot;red&quot;, nothing else...Post scriptum: Some d20 products may follow the reverse way... Look out for &quot;Archipelago&quot;, translation of the French adventures and setting &quot;Archipels&quot;.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Gez, post: 344702, member: 1328"] About French: The three core rulebooks have been translated by Eric Holwieck (who is actually working on the French translation of Morrowind) for Wizards France. After a long list of problems and difficulties (related in the French magazine "D20" (owned by Hexagonal), nice name isn't it ?), the adaptation in French of WotC products has been licensed to Spellbook, a new society co-owned by Asmodée/Siroz (Bloodlust, INS/MV...). Asmodée also translate d20 adventures (notably Freeport and Witchfire). Since Spellbook has taken the task of translation, the pace is much faster, and we now have the FRCS, Magic of Faerûn, the Psionics Handbook, S&F, DotF, and probably T&B... White Wolf products (including Sword & Sorcery stuff) are translated by Hexagonal, at a reasonnable pace (most of Ravenloft books, all hardcover SL books, except the campaign setting, have been translated, as well as a number of softcovers). Errata and bonus material are often included, since Hexagonal was given the right to produce canon material for SL (look notably for Ankilia and the fighting guilds of Darakeen in the big Ghelspad book). Among the annoying translations: [list] [*]All the Improved [Thing] feats by "Science du [machin]", instead of "Machin amélioré". Some animal-weirdness like what Aloïsius mentionned. "Suppleness of the Snake" ?! [*]Irritating anglicisms, like "attaque d'opportunité" for the AoO... Sounds good ? It isn't. Although more and more people make the mistake everyday, "opportunité" is not the French word for the English "opportunity", it is instead the quality of what is opportune. I.e., it means "timeliness" or even "worthiness"... Attack of timeliness ? [*]Sprite by "Esprit Follet" (fairy spirit). I would have used "lutin" (sprite). [*]Warrior (the NPC class) by "homme d'armes" (man-at-arms), and Commoner by "gens du commun" (ugly, ugly, ugly ! "Quidam" (anonymous bypasser) and "Roturier" (non-noble, litteral translation of commoner) would both have been much better. [*]Outsider by "Extérieur". Extérieur means "outside", not "outsider"... [*]Bad move, like "molosse satanique" (satanic watchdog) for "hell hound". "Chien (or Matîn, for more style) infernal" would have been much, much more appropriate. [*]Pure drunkeness, like "Rûhk" for Roc, whose correct translation would simply have been "Roc". I don't even want to know [i]why[/i] Mr Holweck thought "Rûhk" would be better suited. Why not "Gûhbelin" for "goblin", while he's at it ? [*]Nécrophage for wight. That word (wight) is a problem, because it just means "being", but is an old term and since Tolkien and his Wight of the Galgals, has an undead meaning. The word "wight" being too generic in itself, it has not been translated (we don't have an archaic term for "being"), but replaced in D&D by "dead-eater"... Sigh. [*]"Cthuul" for "Chuul". Why that additional 'T' ? Not for ease of pronounciation, I can guarantee it. The only reason I could find is to make it sound a bit like "Cthuluh". Not sure if that's really a good idea... [*]Similarly, the Athach has become an Atch-Ach, or something like that... Strange. I didn't thought such a term really needed to be translated. [*]Also, I regret the blandness of the new translation for "Nightmare". In AD&D2, that was adequatelly called a "paleffroi", nice play-on-word on "palefroi" (warhorse) and "effroi" (dread). [*]"Gobelours" for bugbear, which prove the translator didn't knew it wasn't a name invented by D&D designers from bug and bear, but just how English call the Croquemitaine... I don't blame this on Holwieck, however, as it comes from previous editions. [*]Halfelin for halfling. Not bad, but too heavy. Holwieck said that was much better than the formerly used "petit-homme" (and I agree on that) and that it was used by Jack Vance's translators as well. False, they shortened it to the prettier and easier to pronounce "Hafelin". [/list] On another topic, although "roublard" is primarily an adjective, dictionnaries acknowledge its use as a noun. My French/English one even propose "dodger" as a translation of its noun form. It seems quite appropriate, all things considered. And R-O-U-G-E means "red", nothing else... Post scriptum: Some d20 products may follow the reverse way... Look out for "Archipelago", translation of the French adventures and setting "Archipels". [/QUOTE]

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