Compatibility and consensus in Translation

[Raylernia]

Hi! I'm a new translator in BGA. I was a translator in the Public and Media Dept. in my University, mainly translating CN to EN and EN to CN. I found that some translations between translators are not compatible and the validators are not careful enough for this when translating EN to CN.

Here are the 2 examples I found,
* In insider job, the "special role" is translated into both "特别的角色" by BGA and "特殊角色" also by BGA picture as follows. And also in the last translated string, the "play" is translated as "扮演" which means "pretend" in English in this content which is absurd and it should be "游玩"/"开始游戏" (请不要选用特殊角色游玩, "please don't begin the game with special roles") (and somehow these strange translations are validated......)



* In Ink, the "tile" is translated into "图块" by PaxAgatha and several others and "板块" by oyd064 and others. (good that the validator is not validating yet)




So, I'm proposing for the translator to check how those important terms are already translated by the previous translators using the search function in translation center. And I'm curious how to become a validator in BGA, and how can they not spot these little incompatible phrases.

[Raylernia]

Another one, the string "insider" is translated as "卧底" and "内幕者" by bga, "内部人士" and "内幕" by zhouyouyoughu. Interestingly even the same user has different translations for the same object in game. (this is a problem because "insider" in Insider Job game means the role "insider" always, and making 2 different noun referring to a same object is confusing.)

And those translations are verified.........

[cigma]

Hello Raylernia,

I am translating into German here on BGA, and I also think that consistency in translating on BGA is very important. I don't know Chinese, but as a general rule I think that using the key words from your local rulebook of that game (if there is any) should be basic for consensus. What's more, the specialist terms of the gaming community in that language should be observed, often found in rulebooks of other games and other sources.

There is no specialist validator role. Whoever is allowed to translate, is also allowed to corrected "not validated" texts in that language. If a text remains unchanged after the first translation or the last correction for 30 days, the text is automatically marked as "validated" and the author or last corrector will earn the gift point for it. So if a game is not played very often on its early days on BGA, and especially not by people of your language, a text might be "validated" only by this automatic process. That said, you don't have to play a game in order to translate or correct its texts, although playing it yourself can be very helpful for understanding the context.

If you think that not validated texts are not translated correctly or consistently, you may either correct them yourself (what I usually do) or contact the translator. If the error is not obvious, I try to explain my reason for correcting in the comments (like "for consistency", "according to the German rulebook", link to a grammar book or wikipedia etc.).

After a text is marked as validated, it still can be corrected by experienced BGA translators, but they won't get any gift points for that. You might ask in the Chinese subforum for volunteers.

I hope this helps!

[Raylernia]

Hi cigma,

Thank you for your detailed explanation. It helps a lot. I will try to correct those what I can correct. For those are ready validated, although it is frustrating to see the game I liked not being translated nicely, I can do nothing.

I don't think Insider Job has an official rule book in Chinese yet, at least I can't find it on internet. And the current Chinese translation is not consistent with many terms.

[Thomas]

For those are ready validated, although it is frustrating to see the game I liked not being translated nicely, I can do nothing.

To edit a validated translation, you have to
- speak English (in language setting of your profile)
- have a reputation of at least 90%
- have an account that is 3 month or older
- played the game at least 10 times (or played 100 games to edit translations for the BGA main site)

You have registered your account at BGA only 6 days ago. So, just be patient, in nearly 3 month you will be able to fix the translation by yourself. Or use the forum for your language at https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=415 and ask if someone can help to fix the translations.

[Raylernia]

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for reminding. I joined bga on 2025-06-06, so indeed I'm a freshman with only 1 month (not 6 days) in bga. And you can see that I like the game Inside Job very much and I had 300 games. haha. I'm not that patient to wait for 2 other months (because maybe I will just forget it), and I'm not confident to find volunteers in the Chinese forum.

Anyway, thanks for your reply.

[fruktansvärt]

If you feel the CN translations are too painful to endure, you can set your preferred language to EN and play in English. I know several of my Swedish friends do this.

[cigma]

and I'm not confident to find volunteers in the Chinese forum.

You never know! Personally, I correct validated texts quite a lot, because I love good translations

[Raylernia]

If you feel the CN translations are too painful to endure, you can set your preferred language to EN and play in English. I know several of my Swedish friends do this.

Haha, nice! I'm using the English interface in bga.