Please don't change the german translation

[aoszx2p2drd9]

In the german version of Warcraft 3 the most characters and locations have the same name as in the english version. But in WoW they translated nearly every name which is very stupid. As example Frostmourne is called Frostgram, Hellscream becames Höllschrei and Proudmore becames Prachtmeer which isn't even a correct translation. For germans the english names sounds much more fantasy like and fit the universe better. It would be better to just keep the old Warcraft 3 or at least offer a way to toggle the texts and not only the voice to the old version.

 

[Sieben]

I think it's the same issue with all languages. In French WoW, for example, Hellscream has become Hurlenfer, Blackrock is Rochenoire, Stormwind is Hurlevent...
Proper nouns remained untouched in Warcraft I, Warcraft II, Warcraft III and WoW vanilla, but for some reason they were all translated after that. I wouldn't mind it if the translations had been made from the very beginning of the Warcraft franchise, back in Warcraft I and II times. But we were used to the names in English for years, and it is very weird when an iconic character or town gets a different name.
I totally agree with you. I really hope no translation will be done, or at least, I wish they gave us the choice to display translated or original names. It's always better to have a choice.

For the anecdote, there is the same problem with French versions of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books: for some reason, Bilbo Baggins kept his original name in The Hobbit, but he magically became Bilbon Sacquet in LOTR. Very startling and disturbing.

 

[Chaosium]

I do hope they translate it and follow WoW translations, which are pretty solid.

Having English names right in the middle of sentences does feel natural at all, especially when Warcraft does not happen anywhere in the English-speaking world.

Obviously I'm biased, because that's my job.

 

[Sieben]

I do hope they translate it and follow WoW translations, which are pretty solid.

Having English names right in the middle of sentences does feel natural at all, especially when Warcraft does not happen anywhere in the English-speaking world.

Obviously I'm biased, because that's my job.

I would totally agree with you if those translations had always been around, as I mentioned. But they suddenly popped out of the blue when Burning Crusade came out, after years of being used to those original names.

But I don't want you professional translators find yourselves unemployed because of some nostalgic maniacs like me So I'll stand by my opinion and suggest Blizzard gives us the choice between original and translated names

 

[Chaosium]

Hehe sure, I do believe it might have seemed weird to switch from one to another, but I think that was a good decision in the long run.

That being said, I doubt they'll be able to satisfy everyone, because having both would also mean having twice the audio to record, and voice acting is pretty expensive. I don't know how much budget they'll allocate to localization (aka the last minute "oh damn there are other languages" phase), but that sounds a bit overboard for such a project.

 

[IcemanBo]

Maybe using english names sound very weird for some country-languages more far away from western culture, dunno. But yes, for germans and alike it would be probably better keeping the original.

 

[Sieben]

That being said, I doubt they'll be able to satisfy everyone, because having both would also mean having twice the audio to record, and voice acting is pretty expensive

Dammit, I didn't think of that. Well you must be right. Since the audio is going to be re-recorded anyway, sounds won't make me get the same original feeling, with nostalgia, so I might as well play with the game in English then.

 

[Chaosium]

We'll see what will be their approach, it's definitely an interesting question to ask in a possible Q&A if we have a chance.

 

[ISL]

The new russian translation sounds and feels terrifyingly cringeworthy compared to the old one

An interesting fact is that the undead Abominations were called "Butchers" in the old version. And that name quite fit them! Look at the meat cleavers and hooks that they used as weapons, or that team-colored piece of cloth that I thought was an actual apron!

A few years later, however, the Abomination became known as the "Filthiness", or even "Disgust" in some versions, which is really stupid.
And even if you take the literal translation of the word "abomination", which is "Поганище" in WoW, it will still sound unfitting compared to the old one.

Literal translations were always bad in russian localisations, take Warhammer: Total War for example.
That's why the old russian translators often preferred Semantic translation over Literal translation. They actaully had enough creativity to come up with something of their own; Something that would make sense and sound more interesting.



Other facts about russian translation:

• For a period of time, Ghouls were actually called "Vampires" in WC3. I'm actually glad they changed it in WoW.
• The Forgotten One turned from "Забытый" into "Позабытый", which sounds incredibly lame.
• Every time a person says "Malfurion Stormrage" in russian WoW, they pronounce it as "Malfurion the Rage of the Storm" (Малфурион Ярость Бури). The same goes for his brother, Illidan, Tyrande Whisperwind, Maiev Shadowsong, etc.
• Grommash Hellscream actually got lucky on this one; His name in russian sounds like "Grom Hellish Scream" and not "Grommash the Scream of Hell". Thanks god.
• Another interesting fact is that Grommash was called "Grom the Bully" (Гром Задира) in the old versions. (yes, that's kinda silly)
• Most of the original WC3 voice actors are no longer with us, so the probability of losing the old Warcraft 3 spirit is even higher for the russian segment.

 

[pyf]

For the anecdote, there is the same problem with French versions of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books: for some reason, Bilbo Baggins kept his original name in The Hobbit, but he magically became Bilbon Sacquet in LOTR. Very startling and disturbing.

@Sieben: ... or is it Bilbo Bessac, hehe...?

 

[Akolyt0r]

I do not care that much about this topic as long as we will be able to switch languages easily. If they fuck up the german translation i will just switch to english and that will be fine. Although i must say that the localization in WC3 was really great for the most part. The only problem was the difference in hotkeys for different languages, which caused big problems especially for custom maps.