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pedr wrote:

LFR is billed as 'more' global than LG, and LG had local-language modules, so LFR needs to have them.

I don't disagree with you, pedr (and, as a native English speaker, it's probably way too easy for me to dismiss this issue). However, there's one important difference between LG and LFR.

In LG, there are / were some regions which were clearly not Anglophone (e.g., Ekbir and Tusmit are French-speaking, Adri/Innspa are German-speaking, etc.). Since you could only play those region's adventures in those countries, the regional modules, at least, could be "natively" written in their home languages (though, I confess, I don't know if this is how it was actually done), rather than having them start out in English, then get translated into the region's native language.

In LFR, with no restrictions on where you can play regional adventures, every LFR module is, fundamentally, a "Core" -- and thus, RPGA is requiring that all modules be available in English. This might give RPGA less initial incentive to get modules translated into languages beyond English.

These points are of course true. I hope I didn't come across as suggesting that this was easy. But the decision to make modules from all regions playable everywhere, together with the decision to increase the level of HQ/WotC scrutiny from the situation with LG does have repercussions, and this is one of them.

Perhaps this has been discussed and WotC's decision is to have all modules in English only. I could understand that decision as it's clearly the cheapest and (possibly more importantly) the simplest. But I remain convinced that it isn't the only decision, and the real danger is that over the course of the campaign what will actually happen is that the residents of multi-lingual regions will play less and less of a role, until the regions are associated with a real-world area in name only and what is actually happening is British, Irish, North American and Australian/New Zealander authors are writing for all of the regions, with modules being played almost entirely in those countries - with some play in the more anglophone areas of northern Europe and other places where English is widely spoken. I'm pretty sure that's not what WotC and the RPGA want to happen, and it strikes me that having at least some (preferably all!) modules available in local languages is a necessity.

I can't believe that this hasn't been discussed at reasonably senior levels inside WotC (OP being one of the four pillars of D&D, remember) and so it surprises me when administrators seem to either know something that isn't good news but can't tell us, or do not know anything about the plans, this close to the launch of the campaign.

Usually I'm not one to get involved with "the RPGA should do x" discussions as I've seen the madness which that way lies too many times on these boards. But we're very close to the start of the campaign - so close that event organisers across the world are hoping to know what kind of things are going to be available - and this is one aspect of the campaign about which almost nothing has been said. I do think that this is the issue which will determine whether LFR is more successful than LG and not finding some way to provide local-language modules would seem to almost entirely restrict the campaign to the English-speaking world.

Of course that doesn't concern me too much as I'm a native English speaker, and so having all modules written in English is great for me. But it seems a shame that active RPGA communities in France and Germany (for example) may find things considerably harder as a direct result of attempts to make the campaign 'more' global.

IceV2 wrote:

Why this has to be expensive? All the translation job can be done by volunteers. Why do you think this will be too expensive?

No, it cannot. Translating a complex set of rules and concepts, particularly one that is so heavily based in fantasy, is amazingly difficult to do accurately. Just look at the sheer variety and varied translations of Sun Tzu's Art of War - they've had hundreds of years to get it right and it is less than 100 pages long!

Putting the reputation of a multi, multi-million dollar product in the hands of non-professionals (as dedicated as they are) to translate is begging for problems.

This means that not only will WotC have to maintain R&D staff fluent in every language in which the game in translated, the legal department will also have to, because it is their responsibility to clear any language which could considered offensive.

As a random example, even with the best of intentions, a volunteer could easily translate the sentence;

Tieflings are descended from demonic bloodlines and often have physical features that divulge their heritage.

to

Tieflings are the children of Satan and work to spread his legacy.

The sentences really aren't that different when attempting to find appropriate words in another language and again, if you ran your own business, would you put it to chance? I know I wouldn't.

So, either you pay a large team of language specialists (expensive) or you print the product in English only. There's only one option there I'm afraid...


Joe

A single translation is actually not that bad at least not in Dutch, although they translate descended as decreased.

English > Dutch > English: "Tieflings have decreased of diabolic bloodlines and have frequently physical properties which reveal their inheritance."

In any event, don't get me wrong, I personally would love translations to be available. I just wanted to warn eager vollunteers that there might cold showers along the way, especially since WotC has a much tighter control over LFR than LG.

One thing any vollunteer translater should do at the very least: wait for the official D&D translation and use those game terms. They might sound ugly (and belief me, I know, I still have a Dutch translation of the red boxed set somewhere and in the computer game Baldur's Gate clerics and paladins can become undead instead of turning them), but at least you stay consistent and the gamers know what you are talking about.