[native english] Translations - Fantasy Language

[Desdichado]

What about pest and critter?

Those too, although pest seems to be leaning more towards insects and arthropods. But not necessarily. Both are more colloquial. Critter especially; that's just a perversion via rustic dialects of creature.

 

[Flyspeck23]

I guess that'll depends on the language.

If your language is already full of agglutinated words like "Inksquirter" and "Shelltoad", then more words built in the same way will not sound weird.

On the other hand, a language whose words are no longer transparent, like "poulpe" and "tortue" (French for your two examples), then it'll be odd and clashes with real words.

The fact that the German words are similar ("Tintenfisch" for "Inksquirter", and "Schildkröte" for "Shelltoad") supports your theory.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Interestingly, feat in (British) english referes to the act of doing something, rather than the ability to do it as it does in D&D. Talent would be a better word in English too.

The Problem is, we already have something in D&D that has always been called talent - or at least as long as I can remember: Psionic "cantrips".

That was also cause for great amusement: The PsiHB was one of the very first rulebooks to be released for 3e. So I thought that it would be translated quite early as well (boy was I wrong. I mean, even the core rulebooks took ages. I think by the time they released the MM 3.0, the 3.5 was all but released). So we would have to rename the psionic talents into something else because we already had "talent".

A lichgate is a roofed gate into a graveyard, so the original meaning of the word survives in compound form at least.

Yes, in compound form. Do people usually know what the the "lich" part is all about, or has lichgate become just another word? So they don't really know about liches, only about lichgates, which is something that's on graveyards. And do most people even know the name of those gates?

 

[Cergorach]

Don't get me started on some of the translations MB used for the dutch version of Herosquest, Spacequest, and 'that other MB and GW colaboration game'. I still shudder when my mind blots out their dutch translation of Ogre. Someone ho doesn't know or understands fantasy games picked up an english/dutch dictionary and literally translated the words...

 

[Verequus]

I guess that'll depends on the language.

If your language is already full of agglutinated words like "Inksquirter" and "Shelltoad", then more words built in the same way will not sound weird.

On the other hand, a language whose words are no longer transparent, like "poulpe" and "tortue" (French for your two examples), then it'll be odd and clashes with real words.

French is an example of a language that's really not friendly to agglutinated words. They'll always be clunky and silly. That's why we have to look for greek and latin roots and create new names from those. In English, it's simple enough to turn "one who picks nits" into "nitpicker". This allows for names like "mind flayer" to sound somewhat OK.

Like Flyspeck23 mentioned, German has a strong tendency for compound words. In linguistic circles, German is often mentioned as a prime example for an agglutinated language. Hey, when you can create words like "Donaudampfschiffkapitänsmützenfabrikantentochterheiratseinladungsbriefmarkenkleber", then you are well prepared for embracing compound words.

 

[Gez]

I knew German's the worst offender when it comes to agglutinating words.

The second worst is chemistry, though, with things like diphenyldichlorotrichloretan.

 

[Desdichado]

Do people usually know what the the "lich" part is all about, or has lichgate become just another word? ... And do most people even know the name of those gates?

No, yes and no.

English still is sort of agglutinated, but not nearly to the extent of a language like German. And even then, it's kinda odd, but most of the agglutinated words are one of two types: 1) made of archaic elements to the point where most native English speakers may not even recognize the compound nature of the word, and 2) informal and colloquial in usage, and not often considered a "proper" word at all.

Of course, it's not hard to find exceptions, but that's my impression anyway, without having actually made (or read) any detailed study of it. But to me, that's why many of the MM names sound so weird; they're compound words, and compound words aren't that common in the English language to the point that new compounds sound "natural."

 

[Verequus]

I knew German's the worst offender when it comes to agglutinating words.

The second worst is chemistry, though, with things like diphenyldichlorotrichloretan.

In German, there isn't a difference between Chemistry and my creation. Oh, before some asks, "Donaudampfschiffkapitänsmützenfabrikantentochterheiratseinladungsbriefmarkenkleber" is translated like this:

"It is the glue, which is used on stamp, which is used on the invitation for the wedding of the daughter of the proprietor of the factory, which produces the hats for the captains of the steamships, which fare on the river Danube."

Really easy, isn't it

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Don't get me started on some of the translations MB used for the dutch version of Herosquest, Spacequest, and 'that other MB and GW colaboration game'. I still shudder when my mind blots out their dutch translation of Ogre. Someone ho doesn't know or understands fantasy games picked up an english/dutch dictionary and literally translated the words...

Do you mean "Battle Masters"? The one with whole units.

And the German translation of Space Crusade (Called Starquest here) was bad, too. While in the original version we had proper weapons like Rocket launchers and grenades, the German game met the same fate as many computer games: it was "de-violence-ized". The weapons would now decelerate the time fields of the monsters so they appeared to be standing still, or sap their strength or agression or crap like that. So we tell the exciting story of the Space Marine Corps called "Blood Eagle" which boldly enters that Space Hulk filled with Chaos Marines, Space Orks, and Soul Sucking aliens, and they use tranq guns on them. Yeah right.

In German, there isn't a difference between Chemistry and my creation. Oh, before some asks, "Donaudampfschiffkapitänsmützenfabrikantentochterheiratseinladungsbriefmarkenkleber" is translated like this:

"It is the glue, which is used on stamp, which is used on the invitation for the wedding of the daughter of the proprietor of the factory, which produces the hats for the captains of the steamships, which fare on the river Danube."

Really easy, isn't it

I see your "Donaudampfschiffkapitänsmützenfabrikantentochterheiratseinladungsbriefmarkenkleber" and raise by
llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

While we Germans use words like your Donau-example only for fun, the Welsh use words with more than 60 letters as town names ("The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave").