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WotC Takes Control of D&D Translations
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<blockquote data-quote="Jfdlsjfd" data-source="post: 8471706" data-attributes="member: 42856"><p>That's a question I had to English native... how do the place anf NPCs names sound to you? In published campaign I end up renaming 90% of them because </p><p></p><p>a) they might sound silly because it's an actual word -- ok this is unavoidable and it happens in all fields... they can't avoid all blunders in all languages </p><p></p><p>b) more commonly, they sound English. When the designers don't try to make exotic names up, they end up with decidedly English sounding names. It's jarring. Why would a mom in a fantasy setting call her son William? It works if the place is clearly not-England but often it happens in a default place... (worsened if there is an explicit not-France nearby).</p><p></p><p>c) It carries some meaning I want to keep. Thorin Oakenshield I am looking to you... I know I could go with Ecu de Chêne as a litteral translation but oftentimes it still sounds odd. So I must try to devise something evocative and... natural-sounding.</p><p></p><p>You question about the place name is an example of b or c. A fantasy place called Xzor is fine... but its surrounding Xzorshire isn't. Nor is nearby Rigelchester. Simply prononcing the names break immersion. </p><p></p><p>For d&d they did some effort in the past with... limited success (Neverwinter/Pasdhiver). But how would Neverwinter or Lonelywood sound to an English ear?</p><p></p><p>Caer... it's a tough one. No player of mine would understand the Caer thing in Caer Dineval or Caer Konig. It's a case of c) on my list above, as it doesn't sound English the way Bryn-Shander does.</p><p></p><p>And since we are in Icewind Dale (Valbise, now that's a good effort), what are we supposed to do with a town called Good Mead?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jfdlsjfd, post: 8471706, member: 42856"] That's a question I had to English native... how do the place anf NPCs names sound to you? In published campaign I end up renaming 90% of them because a) they might sound silly because it's an actual word -- ok this is unavoidable and it happens in all fields... they can't avoid all blunders in all languages b) more commonly, they sound English. When the designers don't try to make exotic names up, they end up with decidedly English sounding names. It's jarring. Why would a mom in a fantasy setting call her son William? It works if the place is clearly not-England but often it happens in a default place... (worsened if there is an explicit not-France nearby). c) It carries some meaning I want to keep. Thorin Oakenshield I am looking to you... I know I could go with Ecu de Chêne as a litteral translation but oftentimes it still sounds odd. So I must try to devise something evocative and... natural-sounding. You question about the place name is an example of b or c. A fantasy place called Xzor is fine... but its surrounding Xzorshire isn't. Nor is nearby Rigelchester. Simply prononcing the names break immersion. For d&d they did some effort in the past with... limited success (Neverwinter/Pasdhiver). But how would Neverwinter or Lonelywood sound to an English ear? Caer... it's a tough one. No player of mine would understand the Caer thing in Caer Dineval or Caer Konig. It's a case of c) on my list above, as it doesn't sound English the way Bryn-Shander does. And since we are in Icewind Dale (Valbise, now that's a good effort), what are we supposed to do with a town called Good Mead? [/QUOTE]
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