D&D in Foreign Languages

[johnsemlak]

Couple of Questions:

What languages has D&D been translated into?

Does anybody know what the main criteria are for WotC deciding to translate prods into a foreign langauge?

 

[Mjollnir]

As far as I know, French, Spanish, German and Italian.
I suppose they have made a market plan. Those languages are spoken in countries with millions of citizens, they belong to the occidental culture (no negative ethnic meaning, of course!), so the chances of success should be similar as those in the anglosaxon lands.

 

[Horacio]

As far as I know, French, Spanish, German and Italian.
I suppose they have made a market plan. Those languages are spoken in countries with millions of citizens, they belong to the occidental culture (no negative ethnic meaning, of course!), so the chances of success should be similar as those in the anglosaxon lands.

And, don't forget it, those countries have a 15-20 years presence of roleplaying games in their language. In Spain, D&D Basic was translated in 1985, and first Spanish RPG appeared in 1989. In France rpgs are even more developped, with lots of local games, some of them of very high quality.

 

[Ukyo the undead]

The 3D&D books are translated to portuguese too.

IIRC, the WotC don´t translate the books: those who do this are the local publisher with WotC autorization.

 

[Mindcrime]

I have it in Mandarin Chinese.

Chris

 

[Staffan]

Couple of Questions:

What languages has D&D been translated into?

Does anybody know what the main criteria are for WotC deciding to translate prods into a foreign langauge?

Well, Basic and Expert D&D were translated to Swedish back in the 80s. I think the company in question were planning to do AD&D as well, but went bankrupt instead.

AFAIK, WOTC doesn't decide to translate products. Local companies decide that publishing a localized version of D&D would bring them money, so they ask WOTC for permission (and give WOTC a bucketfull of money).

 

[Gez]

The 3D&D books are translated to portuguese too.

IIRC, the WotC don´t translate the books: those who do this are the local publisher with WotC autorization.

In France, the three core books were translated by WotC, with nearly two years of delay. Then, they licenced the non-core books to Spellbooks (Asmodée edition).

 

[Frostmarrow]

Re: Re: D&D in Foreign Languages

Well, Basic and Expert D&D were translated to Swedish back in the 80s. I think the company in question were planning to do AD&D as well, but went bankrupt instead.

They released the Player's Handbook at least. The SRD has been translated into Swedish as a web-project. It is called Dunder & Drakar.

Dunder & Drakar

 

[Arnwyn]

I have a beautiful D&D DM Screen and Accessory from Japan. Amazing work, that. The Japanese sure know how to do quality stuff for geeks like me!

 

[Henrix]

Re: Re: Re: D&D in Foreign Languages

Well, Basic and Expert D&D were translated to Swedish back in the 80s. I think the company in question were planning to do AD&D as well, but went bankrupt instead.

They released the Player's Handbook at least. The SRD has been translated into Swedish as a web-project. It is called Dunder & Drakar.

Dunder & Drakar

No, they never released anything AD&D, as TSR changed their policies and wanted a stiff fee for publishing the translation, or something.
The 2nd ed PHB was translated, by the same Mikael Boerjesson who is translating the SRD, but never published.

I know that Basic and/or Advanced D&D was translated to norwegian, and I think there used to be a finnish translation. And there were plans for a danish translation, if I don't misremember.