translation in french

[Rodmar]

1- Blaster: it can't be "Plasma Machine Gun" now that it was specialized into a short range weapon that don't even have a burst mode (besides the 3-beam attack). A new, short range, wide area attack would help in choosing "Tromblon"/"Blunderbuss"...

2- PB Weapon: I return your argument: every PB weapon could be called "Particle Beam Weapon"! Let's say it's a hand canon, and translate it into "Canon".

3- I read several wiki articles and military websites. It looks like:
3.1- Coilgun = Gauss Gun/Canon = Mass Driver = Fusil/Canon magnétique = Fusil/Canon à induction = Fusil/Canon de Gauss (games). Anyways, current "Fusil à bobinages" is not used anywhere.
It's basically a linear switched/pulsed/AC induction motor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coilgun

3.2- "Bolter" (ufoai) = Railgun = Electric Gun/Canon = Electromagnetic Gun/Canon = Fusil/Canon électrique = Fusil/Canon électromagnétique = Canon à rails.
It's basically a linear DC motor: http://science.howstuffworks.com/rail-gun1.htm

[Damyen]

Let the "blaster" case for a while (I thought the weapon had a burst mode... not sure, because I never use it).

In the current .po file (v 2.6, in the master branch), the word "weapon" is used in original msgid. As "weapon" = "arme", "Particle Beam Weapon" = "Arme à faisceau de particules". But I don't really mind if "canon" is used.

Bolter / coilgun: I told you, I have no preferences (just use "fusil", and not "canon"). I will someone else deal with this tedious search and replace (except that I think i will change "coilgun" in "fusil magnétique" in the next patch : shorter and more precise). Moreover, there are no "fusil à bobinages" in the current version of the .po file (v2.6), and i don't recall having read this name in the v2.5. So, what is the version of the game you are playing with ?

[Damyen]

Rodmar, I just gave a very quick look to you .po file (I'try to give a closer look later . Accordly to its contents, I think we should replace...
 Mind -> Mental
 Tolerant -> Attentiste
 Entrepôt à antimatière -> "Chambre à antimatière" (or "Dépôt à antimatière" or "Dépôt d'antimatière")
 Fleuve tropical -> Rivière tropicale
 OVNI sous les tropiques -> OVNI en zone tropicale ("en zone tropicale" is also better than "sous les tropiques" for other msgids)
 Coque -> Blindage
 Rafale de N coups -> Rafale de N
 Protection flood  -> anti-flood
 Coilgun -> Fusil magnétique (or "fusil à induction")
I will do this changes in the next patch if I can.

[Rodmar]

Yes, "tolerant" is a false friend here, it seems being more negatively connoted in English than in French.

I only worked on v2.5, not v2.6. What about you?

As for the subversion of the .po file, I can't tell, and perhaps such "original text" such as "fusil à bobinages" were old, first tries of mine, after all?

Multiple search and replace is very handy and easy with poedit, and such a procedure allows for testing a candidate expression in game instead of just reading a spreadsheet or poedit line!

I don't intend on working on v2.6 until this version is packaged for my distro, usually 6 month after official release.
I'll send you another file when I'm done with all the UFOpaedia entries (scheduled for the beginning of September), especially those which deal about physics. Chances are that v2.6 is similar to v2.5 for that matter, but you'll still have to review each English entry to assert that.

[Damyen]

I am using the v2.6 .po file (that is: the one you can find following the link in the "Contribute" tab of this site). Be careful regarding the v2.5: I read somewhere in the forum that there would be no 2.5.1 release of the game (lack of contributors). It may be wrong now, but I still fear that any change to any v2.5 .po file would not be committed.

I will rework on the v2.6 .po file soon: I would like to check your first file more carefully (it contains real improvements; ex.: "Mental" is more adequate than "Esprit", "Attentiste" more elegant, etc.) As you are telling that you will do some more work on the long UFOpedia description, I will wait for your new file before checking these one. If you can (and have time to), it would be helpful to point the changes in your comments.

[Damyen]

Hello. I submitted a new translation today, with many changes (issue n° 5603: http://ufoai.org/bugs/ufoalieninvasion/issues/5603). Here is a summary (cosmetic changes, typos and long rewrinting not included).

 a) Many changes based on Rodmar's proposals (cf. his .po file). Examples : "Esprit" -> "Mental" ("Mind" in english), "Rafale de N coups" -> "Rafale de N", "Tir rapide" -> "Tir instinctif", "Tir ... retardé" -> "Tir ... à temps", "Coque" -> "Blindage", english "Coilgun" -> "Fusil à induction" (changed my mind here), english "Tolerant" -> "Attentiste", "Chargeur de lance-aiguille" -> "Chargeur d'aiguilles", "se dirige vers une mission" -> "en opération", "Tour radar" -> "Station radar", etc. I also reverted many "alien" into "extraterrestre" or "envahisseur".

 b) Many changes to shorten the texts (greatly improves the display in the graphical interface) and to be more accurate. Examples: "Entrepôt à antimatière" -> "Cuve à antimatière" (I really hesitated with "Chambre à...", but I think "Cuve" is good), "Centrale électrique" -> "Réacteur" (to comply with Rodmar's proposal "Arrêter le réacteur"), etc.

 c) Few elements renamed, to shorten their names to improve display or accuracy. Main examples: "Centre de commandement" -> "Salle des opérations", "Quartiers d'habitation" -> "Caserne", "Inferno" -> "Brasier", "Entrepôt à OVNI" -> "Parc à OVNI", and "Épée à plasma" -> "Broche à plasma" (I really never liked "Épée" because this is obviously not a sword, but something to pin and burn people painfully; thus, "Broche" adds something brutal, turning victims into simple dead meat).

 d) Uppercase labels turned into lowercase: in many occasion, uppercase labels were too long and did not display well (like "Télécharger", "Personnaliser", or even the name of the game, "UFO:Alien Invasion - with uppercase, the last N was nearly truncated over the main menu -, etc.)


EDIT (18/09/2016):
 An updated .po file was added to issue 5603. The reason is...

 e) "orbitron-medium" and "orbitron-light" polices translated into "DejaVuSans" police: better displayed of diacritics (é, É, è, È,à, À, etc.), and special letters and signs (Å“, Å’, «, », etc.). Less truncated captions in dialog boxes (ex.: connexion dialog => with orbitron : « mot de pas... » ; with DejaVu Sans : « mot de passe »).

[Rodmar]

Hello,
Could someone precise those acronyms' meanings, please?

HPGL = .... Grenade Launcher. I know there are High Velocity and Low Velocity grenades.
HPML = ... Missile Launcher. It's not a Multiple Launcher isn't it?
TR = Tactical Rocket?

[DarkRain]

I don't think the meaning of these acronyms is specified anywhere, they are just internal designations used by PHALANX, from reading the tech reports you could argue that HPGL = "Heavy-weapons Platform - Grenade Launcher" and HPML = "Heavy-weapons Platform - Missile Launcher" but as I said before there's no official meaning (that I know of anyway)

As for the TR-20, I assume that's the model number given by the manufacturer, as there's no mention of a PHALANX given designation for any of the aircraft weapons.

[Rodmar]

Reading your answer, and trying to translate HP "Heavy-weapon Platform" (as I adapted all the PHALANX ID (not the genuine ones)), just made me think about these:

"Human Portable Grenade Launcher"
"Human Portable Missile Launcher"
(perhaps Man Portable would be more correct?)

The easiest to translate however would be:
"Anti-Personnel GL" and "Anti-Personnel ML", given the rockets' lethal components are neither shaped charges nor ballistic penetrators. This then would give in French: LGAP and LRAP (R for rocket).
That is, quite like the irl acronym for anti-armour ML in French: LRAC (anti-tank ML)

[DarkRain]

Well, since these designations are prely for flavor I'd say go for it

[Rodmar]

Hello Damyen,

I'm over with reviewing the UFOpaedia (sorry to be so late, but I wanted to minimize the risk of letting typos, etc, behind). I touched virtually every single entry, and perhaps, you could copy and paste any corrected entry you want into your v2.6 version (or be inspired by them). Then, adapting to your own naming (e.g. "Broche à plasma") shouldn't be a tedious task.

There's no concurrence between this file and the one you currently maintain in the downloading section anyways, as it can be seen as a personal mod. I don't intend to play v2.6 until it's packaged for my system (and that means, until it's declared stable), so as far I'm concerned, I will now "work" on another topic.

I may post another version much later, however, in case the recent proposals I submitted on the Bugtracker are taken into consideration a way or the other (if they apply to v2.5), or in case I get returns from here.

I attach a text file to warn about the main changes from the first file (ufoai-fr160803.zip), chiefly about weapons and items' naming. Don't hesitate to be critical if you have look at it.

Now, have good holidays.

[Damyen]

Hello Rodmar,

Thank you for your proposal! I'll for sure have a close look at your po file. As you asked for some review, here are some comments about the .txt file; they only reflect my personnal tastes, of course, and are not meant to confont yours.

• « Arachnoïde »: still not convinced, sorry. Of course, I understand the origin of the word (arachnide + androïde), but this word sounds weird to me (note that "arachnoïde" is also the name of a membrane in the brain). Perhaps using some "Araignée cybernétique" / "Araigné cybernétique améliorée" (ou "de combat") (= that is : forgetting the "blood" part, that i don't like very much anyway), we could achieve better tranlations.
• « Blaster »: I still like "blaster" Should I change something, I would go either for "fusil-mitrailleur à plasma" (cf. previous post), or for "Lance-plasma" + something impressive (to fit the in-game description of an impressive weapon + to add something different compared to the rifle and the gun, which are also "lance-plasma" weapons) -> "Lance-plasma lourd" for example.
• « Broche à plasma »: I like "broche à plasma", and would stress that "embrocher" is also used to describe some weapons' effects (sword, spear, and so on), but I understand your point (and i agree with not using "mine"); what about "Poinçon à plasma"?
• « Caserne »: I really prefer this word because it adds something martial to the Phalanx organisation + it is accurate (cf. http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/caserne -> "Bâtiment destiné à loger des troupes" is the first meaning) + it is shorter than "casernement" / "baraquement" / "quartiers d'habitation" / "Quartiers".
• « Chargeur / Magasin / Bloc-chargeur »: too complex imho. Without your explanation, I would not have understood the differences.
• « Cuve à antimatière »: the name became obvious after seeing the picture of the device in the base (just look at it), and contains the idea of storing something (regardless of the complexity of the device). It also fits the 1024 x 768 display. ("Chambre à antimatière" was really good, but display was truncated on my screen).
• « Fusil électromagnétique »: in v2.6, there are 2 names left: "fusil magnétique" (Bolter), and "fusil à induction" (coilgun). These shorter names removed the "ÉM" or "FÉM" abbreviations that where somewhat cryptic.
• « Réacteur »: chosen because I found your "Arrêter le réacteur" accurate and short enough, and because the description of the electric generator clearly states that this technology is based about a nuclear reactor, and that we only see the upper part of it.
• « Stingray / Starchaser / Firebird, etc. »: I would not translate these names, unless you have a proper translation for each of them. Partial translation is really strange.
• other points: no clear ideas.

And happy end of year to you & to everybody

[Damyen]

Quick thoughts :

• another idea for the bloodspider, based on the translation of the hovernet ("Aérobot" + "Aérobot de combat") could be "Arachnobot" / "Arachnobot de combat" (based on "Arachnide + robot", - the "blood" word).
• another idea for the plasma blade to replace "broche à plasma", after noticing that its principle (cf. in game description) looks like the heat ammo. (that is "charge creuse") : "Dard à plasma".

Imo : "Arachnobot" could be a good option, and "Dard a plasma" seems better than "Broche à plasma" or "Poinçon à plasma"

[Rodmar]

Happy new year to all!

A last try (please, take this what it is: comments that make things going on, and let's continue to share our thoughts)

• Arachnoïde/Arachnobot (Bloodspider): the reason why we should abandon "blood" is that the name becomes too long; "cybernétique" would have an even greater length. Besides, cybernetics are the science of the communication and control, and not a synonym to robot, a non-biologic construct (granted, the hovernet does include some biologic mass, only in the same way we could figure a DNA computer, and a psi transponder) (cf. cyborg, rather a cybernetic organism, or an augmented animal).
  You could see "Arachnoïde" as "Araignée mécanoïde" too...
  However, what about a compound with "cyber" (despite the above!): "Cybertique" (Cybertick) and "Cybertique de combat" (one letter longer than "Arachnobot")? (It needs to be played and played again with this change before it can be seen fit)("Tique" is the French name of the arachnoids in the Starship Troopers movie).
  To my sense, both "arachno" versions are quite close to "Aérobot" (and "Arachnobot" is even closer): same general hearing/spelling, same acronym (A, AC or AB, ABC), and that doesn't look like a military habit to take the risk of getting confused by the naming.
  
  
• Lance-plasma/Blaster (Plasma Blaster): if we read the technical data, the main and important difference between this heavy weapon and the plasma rifle/pistol is that it spits forth a continuous stream of hot plasma instead of a plastic "jacketed" projectile. It spits it like a napalm flamethrower (except the plasma travels allegedly faster than pressurized liquid (or pressurized gas, as in PHALANX C90 flamethrower). Eventually, it too launches a huge projectile at short range (like the other plasma weapons). That makes it a virtual counterpart to the flame thrower, except that it has an attack mode more, a kind of "delayed ball" of fire. Indeed, the adequate naming for this weapon is strongly related to its current and future (?) fire modes.
  I see this weapon as still under work in process, anyways ("beam" range seems to large, and spitting simultaneous, yet "slow" beams is something hardly conceivable). So please, no "Fusil mitrailleur" unless it is made able to launch rifle-like plasma projectile in automatic mode.
  "Lance-plasma" (as in "lance-flamme") still has my preference, and why not "Lance-plasma lourd" if it's not too long.
  
  
• Broche/dard/lame plasma (Plasma Blade): I've came to finally understand your point; I figure that blade/sword/saber in your mind would rather stand for a permanent blade, or at least a multiple usage weapon.
  Hence, you/we would focus on the single fact of piercing armor and penetrate the body with something evanescent (a narrow, plasma spray), thus "embrocher". Yes, it's definitively not like a laser saber, even if Navarre once thought about it, and "Lame/Épée plasma" should still appear once, both in the preliminary and after-research reports.
  However, "dard" evokes more a missile, and "broche", although correct could evoke a jewel too (at worst, "broche" is better than "dard", or rather, a neologism "embrocheur"). "Dard" is also used for the high temperature gas or liquid projectile from a shaped charge, not the whole weapon. If we want to depict the gesture, why not "poignard". Granted, it's a blade item, but it primarily evokes a fist's gesture, and a handle too. Not to mention that "poignarder" is quite the same as "embrocher d'une seul main". Doesn't "Poignard à plasma" looks a better candidate than "Lame (à) plasma"? (Then, it wouldn't be necessary to talk about "lame" or "épée" anymore, except if the handle is very large for a dagger (the monomolecular weapon is already between a dagger and a short sword in length, anyways.). We would have "Poignard de combat", "Poignard monomoléculaire", and "Poignard à plasma".
  
  
• Caserne/Quartiers (Quarters): I still disagree with you, but perhaps, I'm persnickety a little. I think it's a matter of scale.
  "Quartiers (de troupes, d'officiers)" are more the place (the building) where any personals (not only the troopers) rest when not on duty, their housing, even if it can be used for a block of such buildings in large installations. It's a synonym to "casernements". When place is scarce, it's the living section of a fort, for instance. This should be the translation for "barracks" (the building).
  "Caserne" once had the same meaning (e.g. "la caserne du fort de Douaumont") but since after WWI, it seems that it's always depicted the whole installation (in this case, it means the place were any military stay when not on maneuver/on the field), be it for an army regiment, a national guard squadron, or a fire section. As far as I remember, you never say "Je retourne à la caserne" when you leave the mess or your office (a building) and want to return to your dormitory (another building), except when the dormitory is built at another location, another building block or postal address). This should be the translation for "barracks" (the site). A board ships and in tiny places, it should rather be "quartiers" (when there are corridors and passage ways instead of streets
  Now, when a "caserne" is made out of several buildings blocks, each own may be called a "quartier", with the same meaning of a civilian block; indeed, when a base is razed or reused by civilians, "caserne" is dropped and "quartier" is used instead (as a remember).
  Here are two links; the first one is about old photos of the barracks in the fortress town of Verdun, the second one is about barracks in the WWI forts.
  https://verdun.jimdo.com/photos-d-hier/les-casernes/
  http://www.fortiffsere.fr/forts/index_fichiers/Page1465.htm
  Perhaps we need an advice from a military?
  
  
• Entrepôt (Store): shouldn't the proper military term be "magasin"? In a base/fort/"caserne", it's where the quartermaster stores any combat and day-to-day furnitures and items. It has a more specialized meaning too: ammunition workshop and storage.
  http://www.fortiffsere.fr/verdun%20intervalles/index_fichiers/Page758.htm
  
  
• Fusil électromagnétique/Bolter (Electromagnetic Rifle/Bolter): If the name has to be short, I'd rather have "Fusil électrique" than "Fusil magnétique". Magnetic and electric fields are bound together as in any electromagnetic converter, but in the case of the Bolter, although magnets or electromagnets are welcomed to achieve a greater propulsive force on the projectile (or its sabot), as usually shown in physics classes ("rails de Laplace"), there is virtually no need of them to build a force. Any deformable circuit will tend to stretch out (up to its breaking point if frail) when a DC current runs through it (consequence of Lenz's law). Although this is caused by the own magnetic field built by the current, there is no macroscopic inductor (external magnetic source). In the railgun's case (here, the Bolter), the only deformable part is the sabot (or a projectile's "carriage"), and it's accelerated until electrical contact is lost. Although using an external magnetic source is theoretically useful for adding a much stronger field to the circuit's own field, this would last only as long as it's uniform in the rails' region.
  Hence, I'd rather use "Fusil magnétique" when a magnetic source is needed (either magnets or coils), and this is the Coilgun in game (or "fusil à induction").
  
  
• LGHP/LGAP, LRHP/LGHP (HPGL, HPML): I finaly found  that "HP" in "AT4 CS HP" (a version of the M136) means "High Performance". Hence, in French, we should have "LGHP" and "LRHP", that are more general than my last "LGAP" and "LRAP" ("AP" for anti-personal). As for what "high performance" really means, it's not a localization concern but it could be related to the reduced size of the grenades, the multichambering allowing a fast rate of fire, or a signature-less weapon system (sound, light, thermal), but that would need some textual change.
  https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT4
  https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance-grenades_individuel_modèle_F1
  
  
• Aircraft names: You are probably right. English is UNO's working language anyways, and modern PHALANX is an UNO agency. What "wrongs" me is that "Heracles" comes from nowhere: it's not English ("Hercules" would), and the Greek transliteration would be "Héraklès", which I use. Plus, several other names aren't English either: "Stiletto" is Italian I think; "SHIVA" comes from India; "Raptor" is Latin. As for the missile launchers, "Sparrowhawk" and "Cicada" are English, as is the "Raven" ECM suite; someone already gave us "Épervier" for the former and "Corbeau" for the later, and I'd obviously propose "Cigale" for the second. Also, "Sarracen" was translated into "Sarrasin" long ago (or by myself?).
  
  Should it be needed, I've found that:
  
  - "Firebird" comes from Russian folklore (a kind of phoenix). "Oiseau de feu" already exists in classical music, video games and anims, and I remember about a "Renard de feu" in the movie "Firefox".
  
  https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oiseau_de_feu_(homonymie)
  
  - "Starchaser" or "Chasing Star" comes from Hopi mythology, this blue moving (pursuing) star being either planet Venus (in cyclic meaning) or a comet (in apocalyptic meaning). It embodies one of the many invisible nature spirits, or Katchinas, named Nanga Sohu (lit. Chasing star). "Étoile bleue" (Blue Star), "Étoile filante" (Shooting Star) or "Étoile du Matin" (Morning Star) could be the equivalent in French. If these names sound weird for planes, remember the "Étoile céleste" (White Star) destroyer class in Babylon V. And why not straight "Nanga Sohu" or "Vénus"?
  
  http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_leyenda_hopi07.htm
  
  - "Stingray" could indeed rather mean "Raie" in French, as "Pastenague" seems to be specialized for the Common Stingray and family (Dasyatidae). Note that one synonym for the common stingray is the blue stingray, and blue is the in-game Stingray's hue. Btw, "Raie" is the name of a Boron vessel in the X2-Threat universe.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray
  
  Or we keep with English for these three aircrafts, and the Sarracen.
  
  

[Damyen]

Hello,

And, first, happy new year to everybody Next, some thoughts, as sharing is always welcome. Shortly...
 
* Arachnoïde/Arachnobot (Bloodspider). I don't get your point: as far as I understand you, we agree on possibly not translating the "blood" part. But it seems you fear some confusion with names or abbreviations; but words are meant to describe things even if spelling or pronunciation are close, and abbreviations are built after the words exist; thus, someone dealing with "Aérobot" and "Arachnobot" should build 2 different and distinct abbreviations (ex.: AEB & ACB).

* Lance-plasma/Blaster (Plasma Blaster). Ok, let's try "lance-plasma lourd" (my pref.) (if too long -> "lance-plasma").

* Broche/dard/lame plasma (Plasma Blade). Ok, let's forget "Dard à plasma". "Poignard à plasma" is a good idea. I'll try it.

* Caserne/Quartiers (Quarters). Ok, I'll revert "Caserne" to "Quartiers" (my first concern was to reduce the size of the display).

* Entrepôt. Yes, "Magasin" could do (I even hesitated to do it before, but "Entrepôt" seemed fine).

* Fusil électromagnétique/Bolter (Electromagnetic Rifle/Bolter). I don't get your point. I'll let the current translations ("fusil magnétique" / "fusil à induction"), but might perhaps change later, after some thoughts. Not really convinced at this very moment.

* LGHP/LGAP, LRHP/LGHP (HPGL, HPML). Thanks for explanations & research

* Aircraft names. Thanks for explanations & research again. I prefer keep english because it sounds better than french it these few cases (except for Sarracen). Just note that "Héraclès" (with c) is fine in french (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Héraclès (title & bibliography), http://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/divers/Héraclès/123664, or http://www.louvre.fr/routes/heracles); and that there are many myth of a star being chased by something (ex. the stories of the "grande ourse" and the "petite ourse", often their names come from a story of a bear being chased by hunters)