This is a free, open source collaborative mini-project.
The basic idea is to localize the most common terms used in games:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/135HgMYcRDt6vnJN0d-xFMEZUeWjVbc61ETf8uVwHERE/edit#gid=0
Everybody is welcome to add new terms and localizations.
All the text is MIT Licensed so you can use the localizations in your games for free.
Thanks so much, any help is much appreciated!
Common game localizations
Author
I've contributed a bunch of German translations. I have to remark that some things are unclear, either not well defined or not well considered. This makes translations a bit random and in the worst case appears wrong to the player.
a) For some words it is not clear what the original exactly mean.
E.g. "Jump", "Hit": Do you mean the noun, the verb, or even the imperative?
It would be helpful to have another leading column that eventually gives a hint.
b) For some original words there are more than one possible results in languages that are more gender-specific than English is.
E.g. "First", "Last", "Next", "Previous": The translations in German differ slightly whether the word stands in relation to a masculine, feminine, or neuter noun.
c) It isn't clear whether the familiar or the polite form should be used.
E.g. "Your points": "Deine Punkte" (German for calling the player "du"; familiar form) or "Ihre Punkte" (German for calling the player "Sie"; polite form).
I mean for games the familiar form would be okay, but it should be ensured that all contributors follow the same rules.
Author
Hey, haegarr, thanks so much for taking a look.
I agree that some phrases are broader than they should be.
If you have doubts, please leave comments in the doc so we can figure out a solution that will work with all the different languages.
You have to keep in mind that the project is very much a "work-in-progress". :)
Yes, you might be right that certain general words like "first", "next", etc should probably be excluded.
As for the formal versus informal, I suppose that it doesn't really matter as long as it's consistent with the rest of the translations.
Again, I can't really speak for every translation on there so please make comments on there so we can figure out a solution.
Thanks so much for your contributions!
I found the 'Would you like to etcetc' to sound a bit unnatural. I would expect something like 'Quit the game?' instead of 'Would you like to quit the game?'.
And yeah it would be better if most words had some context given (there could be the same word multiple times for different contexts too)
Author
Hey, kmgr, thanks so much for the contribution!
Waterlimon, I see what you mean. I guess we could add shorthand version of the questions.
But I think the more descriptive questions should be preserved too because it could be useful for certain games/applications.
Regarding the context, I think the different sections of the document sort of give it context, but please leave comments in the doc if you find something difficult to translate so we can find a uniform solution for the different localizations.
Thanks so much! 
PS. New phrases and languages are always welcome btw!
Author
Here is the latest snapshot of the translations, including 23 locales and around 43% complete.
It's in ini format which is probably easier to parse and integrate in your game.
Any help is much appreciated!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/135HgMYcRDt6vnJN0d-xFMEZUeWjVbc61ETf8uVwHERE/edit#gid=0
This topic is closed to new replies.
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