Re: How to translate the gnotski puzzle names

[Christian Rose <menthos gnome org>]

mån 2005-01-24 klockan 12:15 -0600 skrev Richard Hoelscher:
> Telsa Gwynne said:
> > ...
> > There's a long list of gnotski layouts. Each one has its own name.
> > Some of the names obviously fit together in groups. They are all
> > marked for translation.
> >
> > Should we try to translate them literally, or try to keep the themes,
> > or leave the names like Cleopatra untranslated, or what? If we should
> > keep the themes, what are they? :)
> 
> The "puzzle name" comment was intended to give the translator a hint that
> the fate of the gnome desktop doesn't hinge on getting these translated...
> The Greek translation could revert "Cleopatra" to its original spelling,
> while many others could simply leave the word alone.
> 
> > I can see five flowers: daisy, violet, poppy, pansy, snowdrop.
> > But I have no idea what some of the other groups might be!
> > ...
> > PS: Do "Block" and "Climb" give hints about how to solve them, or
> > are they just random words?
> 
> The puzzles are already grouped by menu: "HuaRong Trail", "Challenge
> Pack", "Skill Pack", and "Minoru Climb". The first puzzle, "Only 18
> Steps", is the only name that contains a hint.
> 
> If there is no native word for any of these puzzles, such as "Lodzianka",
> translators could probably substitute it with their favorite flower or
> exotic destination, and players can compare scores by the puzzle's id
> number.

Hi Richard, and thanks for the helpful explanation! Would it be possible
for you to add this very useful information in translator comments
(http://developer.gnome.org/doc/tutorials/gnome-i18n/developer.html#use-comments)
next to the places where these strings occur as translatable messages in
the source code?
By using translator comments, which end up in the po files where
translators can immediately see them, I'm sure more translators would
understand these strings better, thus being better suited to find an
appropriate translation and all in all be more successful in translating
these messages correctly.


[...]
> The low-down on gnotski puzzle names:
> 
> "Red Donkey" may be known better across Europe as "L'Ane Rouge"... The big
> block has a picture of a donkey, and it is trying to escape a maze of
> fences and pens to get to his carrot (the little pegs).
> 
> In real life, the entire group is often called "HuaRongDao", and it uses a
> story from "Legend of the Three Kingdoms". General Cao Cao attempts to
> pass through HuaRong trail, thinking that Zhuge Liang was to inept too
> plan an attack there. He was surprised by Guan Yu's army, and faced an
> almost certain defeat. Reminded of past favors, Guan Yu realized he was
> honor bound to Cao Cao, and allowed him to pass through.
> 
> The block game is slightly diffent, though... Cao Cao gets attacked and
> has to find a way through the army to escape the trail. "Trail" and
> "Ambush" are the hardest variations of this puzzle.
> 
> There are several other real-life block puzzles in this collection. Aside
> from "Pennant Puzzle" and "Traffic Jam", there's an entire set of
> woodblock puzzles originally manufactured by Minoru Abe called "Minoru
> Climb".
> 
> All the other puzzles were originally included and named in WEP Klotski.
> As far as I know, these particular names are random and meaningless.

This is of course also true for this information. For example, if a
translator is told in a comment that the string "Red Donkey" is the name
of a puzzle game that is also known in some places as "L'Ane Rouge", he
might very well be better suited to find out what the appropriate
translation into his language would be.

Again, thanks very much for the explanations. I just think the
information could be made even more useful by adding it where it is more
visible to translators.


Christian