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[Micro102]

Well, toady is living off the donations from just us, and the game is awsome. So why not have this in different launguages as well? It probably wouldn't be hard to translate everything and toady could get more donations and more people will play dwarf fortress 

[Sizik]

# 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.

[Rowanas]

Hear hear! A bit of translation would go a long way to improve DFs fanbase worldwide. Unfortunately every mod, every update, every tweak would require some translations, so it would be a good job. I would like to team up with someone to do the japanese translation as it could be a foot-in-the-door to learning japanese (I've tried 3 times, but a different selfish lady stops me every time).

I'm a bit useless in translating as I've got no language skills (damn you, enforced french-instead-of-german lessons), but I fully support this.

EDIT: Hey, if Toady (armok be with him) implemented non-ASCII characters does that mean that we could be seeing Chinese pictograms eventually if they look like something? We could have some interesting looking Russian characters for stuff...

[Micro102]

so? the characters don't need to change, just the description text. It will only move that 90 degree learning wall a few more degrees towards you.

And so what if these foreign contries have to wait a few weeks for the new version? It's better then not having it at all.

[Bloogonis]

the language files are in the raws aren't they? why not just mod them?

edit: hmm, it wouldnt change the menu or messages... nevermind. but it would change names and such for units and entities.

[qwertyuiopas]

Better: Have the language files for characters(mistake. should be menus. I guess both work?) overlap with the translations. That way, you can set the language to "dwarf" and have the menus react.

[Rowanas]

I would learn dwarf for that. Hell, I'd probably learn dwarf because of that.

[Urist McDepravity]

Language is not that big problem for non-natives, DF is quite popular in Russia as well, for example. With translated wiki, russian fan forums, etc.

[Stargrasper]

EDIT: Hey, if Toady (armok be with him) implemented non-ASCII characters does that mean that we could be seeing Chinese pictograms eventually if they look like something? We could have some interesting looking Russian characters for stuff...

You have to realize that involves switching from ASCII to Unicode.  Technically speaking, that's a lot bigger a change than you actually think.  Especially when you consider how big Unicode is...a non-ASCII character is something like three times the size of an ASCII character in UTF-8.  I'm pretty sure that's the lightest weight of all the Unicode encodings.

[PTTG??]

Language is not that big problem for non-natives, DF is quite popular in Russia as well, for example. With translated wiki, russian fan forums, etc.

I don't see why... you'd think they wouldn't think much about bearded men constructing immense and possibly self-destructing artifacts in inhospitable environments.

[Neonivek]

Language is not that big problem for non-natives, DF is quite popular in Russia as well, for example. With translated wiki, russian fan forums, etc.

It tends to keep a lot of the casual players away. For example Dungeon Fighter Online is much more popular then its updated cousins.

Though I cannot remember if Russia or Germany are over-zealous about blood/gore censorship? (In their perspective mind you.) So DF's gore could be considered refreshing.

[Micro102]

I don't think casual players can get through dwarf fortress 

[Urist McDepravity]

Though I cannot remember if Russia or Germany are over-zealous about blood/gore censorship?

No idea about Germany, but here in Russia nobody cares, and neither do laws forbid such stuff.

I don't think casual players can get through dwarf fortress

Yeah. ASCII and complexity are far more restricting than language. Translations often lag behind english releases, so everyone is used to play untranslated versions.

[HAMMERMILL]

Translating the text would mean [my buddies] would be able to play and as a gentleman and scholer I cannot accept this course of events so I object strongly.

toad-edit: avoiding certain jokes to avoid thread implosion

[Timst]

Well, you can translate the raws (most of them are translated on the french wiki), but all the interface, dialogs etc.. stay in english, so it's weird at best and crashy at worst.

I'll be pleased to translate it in French if translation support is ever implemented, because it's another roadblock for foreign new players. When you're already struggling with the interface and graphics, you don't want to do it in a language you barely understand.