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Author Topic: Support for different languages?  (Read 790 times)

Lawec

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Support for different languages?
« on: September 10, 2009, 07:28:21 am »
Hello there.

I've been wondering about if it could be possible to have support for different languages.
Perhaps having some of the language files opened so volunteers could translate?
One of my friends would very much like to play Dwarf Fortress, however, he doesn't understand English very well. So, I thought of maybe translating it into danish for him.
But, as far as I know, there are no possibility of making a different language.
So, could it be possible?
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Vester

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Re: Support for different languages?
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2009, 07:30:34 am »
This is a nice idea.

I have several friends who also want to play DF, but they're from Burma/Myanmar, so their English is sketchy (they came here to study English).

It would do wonders for expanding the player base, I imagine.
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Tack

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Re: Support for different languages?
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2009, 07:52:26 am »
Mmm. Though language is usually implemented in beta.
But I think it probably should happen, a lot of people would do it.

Question though - what of languages spelt in different ways?

I know that they can be written in romaji, but what about arabic?
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Warlord255

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Re: Support for different languages?
« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2009, 07:56:38 am »
Opening the language files might have some repurcussions... I.E. if we're allowed to peek into the deepest, darkest, most secret announcement messages. Perhaps Toady could use a confidant or work with his brother on those while leaving the bulk of it to volunteers.
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Starver

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Re: Support for different languages?
« Reply #4 on: September 10, 2009, 08:08:34 am »
Quote from: Tack on September 10, 2009, 07:52:26 am
Question though - what of languages spelt in different ways?

I know that they can be written in romaji, but what about arabic?
Ah... for a moment I thought you were talking about English spelt in different ways.  (Armour, Colour, Aluminium... :))

Given the DF implementation of 'ASCII' as tilesets, I don't think there'd be a problem implementing a proper alphabetical tileset for the various languages.  And having setting up Right-To-Left tiling isn't too difficult.  If nothing else, shuffle it into the code that justifies the "Thoughts and Preferences" text with variable (equal-sized) spaces.  Or the Beta's successor that has variable em/en spacing.

With a little extra effort (initially by the Dev or a designated sub-Dev, but most of the regionalising specifics then left to the linguistic specialists cocnerned) kerning-compatible or ligature-based character methodology could implement cursive (as well as RtL) scripts like Arabic properly.  Or multidirectional hieroglyphs, I suppose.  It's all a matter of tiling, eventually, even with non-fixedwidth(/height?) fonts.

(NB: I don't want to suggest that it'd be "easy" to do, given I don't know how the relevent display code is currently set out, or how it is changing, I just suggest how it might be done!)
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IndonesiaWarMinister

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Re: Support for different languages?
« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2009, 09:13:21 am »
Quote from: Tack on September 10, 2009, 07:52:26 am
Mmm. Though language is usually implemented in beta.
But I think it probably should happen, a lot of people would do it.

Question though - what of languages spelt in different ways?

I know that they can be written in romaji, but what about arabic?

Yeah... Calligraphy in Dwarf Desert Human Oases? ::)

@Starver:

I think that could work out... Hmm...
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Craftling

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Re: Support for different languages?
« Reply #6 on: September 11, 2009, 12:10:32 am »
The Japanese would LOVE THIS.  ;D
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Footkerchief

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Re: Support for different languages?
« Reply #7 on: September 11, 2009, 01:40:53 am »
This idea is already a Core dev item, which means that it will be completed by the time version 1.0 comes out:

# Core54, TRANSLATION SUPPORT, (Future): Announcements and other interface text needs to come out of the game and be placed in an editable format to support any potential translators, though current font implementations restrict this process at the moment if non-ASCII characters are to be involved.
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Lawec

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Re: Support for different languages?
« Reply #8 on: September 11, 2009, 06:14:42 am »
Oh damn, thats great news Footkerchief!  ;D
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Granite26

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Re: Support for different languages?
« Reply #9 on: September 11, 2009, 08:29:51 am »
So it's planned for the Interface arc?
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Silverionmox

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Re: Support for different languages?
« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2009, 11:18:13 am »
The problem is not the display or the translations, but the different grammars involved in auto-generating text and messages. That's a huuuuuge undertaking. Toady would be wise to recruit a linguist -or team- that has the Universal Translator as pet project.

That said, languages similar to English could be implemented with relatively little effort. I volunteer for Dutch.
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Granite26

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Re: Support for different languages?
« Reply #11 on: September 11, 2009, 11:27:54 am »
Quote from: Silverionmox on September 11, 2009, 11:18:13 am
The problem is not the display or the translations, but the different grammars involved in auto-generating text and messages. That's a huuuuuge undertaking. Toady would be wise to recruit a linguist -or team- that has the Universal Translator as pet project.

Except the interface isn't set up to behave like that.  I'd imagine the next rewrite of the interface will include hooks for translations and all, but as it stands, all the text is inline with the code.


Side note:  Does anybody seriously expect the language behaviour for the made up languages to change to be less noun-verby?
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