Gifts for translations

[Samantha90]

Hi everyone, i hope you are all well despite this bad time!

I'm writing to find out what you think about something that's been happening for some time now in the site community.
We all know that Board Game rewards with gift points those who help in the translation of its texts, but the ultimate goal should be the good translation and not trying to make each other's shoes (it's an Italian way of saying that means cheating each other)!
Somethimes i go to translate some strings too because i realize, reading them, that they are badly translated and after a few days i find them changed, but not to correct my right mistakes, just to make sure to have an extra point. Maybe the capital letters, punctuation or synonyms are changed just to excel, but the translation gets worse! Well, i find it incorrect, immature and not useful for those who will have to read and understand that translation!
I think it would be useful for BGA to intervene in some way to prevent such nonsense and for all translators to be more mature in translating!

Thank you for reading and have a good day to everyone.

Sam

[KongKing123]

If some users are really purposefully changing translations just to earn gift points, you should report the offenders from their profile page (e.g. https://boardgamearena.com/player?id=87774915) for "corrupting translations" under "Read more". Or perhaps try sending them a private message first.

However, changing capital letters and punctuation, assuming it's done to match the original, is not point farming. And sometimes a synonym just fits the context better, is an official translation, or was already used in other translations. These are changes I commonly make, though I usually add a comment to explain the change.

I do understand it can be frustrating to lose credit because of a small modification. I'm also on the receiving end from time to time, but I don't mind as long as it's an improvement. I haven't really encountered "tampering" with the translations for points in the Dutch-speaking community.


P.S.: Please just use the standard forum font, this big blue text is annoying to read.

[Samantha90]

Thanks for your answer, i will follow your advice about the reports for sure!

I wasn't referring to translations that improve the text, but to unnecessary changes or even make it worse! That's why i feel bad about it, and i'm not satisfied with it. I don't translate for points, but just to make the reader understand the game better!

Thanks again for your time and advice.
Sorry about the font and its colour, i was hoping to attract attention!

[Een]

Hi!
A quick note about this, indeed you can report players who misbehave in the translation system and if there is a clear case they'll be banned from translating and get their gift points cancelled.

But:
- please make sure that you give detailed evidence with all necessary information to be evaluated by someone who doesn't speak your language (most likely the person who'll moderate wont know your language)
- please make sure that you are right. It happened that we got this kind of complaints about someone who happened to be a professional translator in real life and was really improving things, just the person being corrected was too convinced about being right

That being said, the purpose of collaborative translations is indeed to get the best translation. If some players are degrading quality, they should indeed be reported.

[Samantha90]

Thank you very much for your answer!
I will pay attention to everything and of course i will be very careful!

[GoldenScout]

Hi Samantha90.
This is quite a big issue in the Italian translation community on this site. Some users clearly tend to make minor changes, many times adding mistakes and typos, for example adding capital letters not needed or even wrong in Italian, just to get gift points. We (we = Italian translators) all know who they are and keep reporting them.
Anyway, I have to point out that I have had to change some very poor translations that you had made. Here is an example of your work of translation: "I giocatori sono cowboy che si affrontano in un duello, giocando contemporaneamente le loro carte Revolver. Un puro minimalista doppio indovinello nel cuore del Far West!"
I am sure that you get how poor this translation is.
Plus, this was a sentence that had already been changed many times with some important double checking work from other translators.
So, while I completely agree with you on the core of your message, I invite you to more carefully think through your translations, because your work and appreciated effort is not always as "improving" as you may think.
Please notice that all this issue has, of course, nothing to do with the hunt for gift points, which I neither care of.
Thanks a lot

[Samantha90]

Sorry, i only saw your answer just now.
I'm not a professional translator, so sometimes i'm definitely wrong. In fact, thank you for telling me, so i will go check your translation and learn something new. But i certainly don't change a letter or another little thing to hurt someone else.
With my forum posting i didn't mean that i am perfect, but at least i don't even try to make fun of others!

[GoldenScout]

Good for you!
I must admit that very often some changes to translations I've seen look like an intention of "hurting someone else", as you call it.
Anyway, a capital letter, for example, for months in Italian (I'll take this example because I've changed some of them recently, so maybe that could have looked like "hurting someone else") is WRONG and, if somebody changes it, she/he is doing a favour to the community of this website.
I am sure you understand, thanks for this useful conversation!

[Samantha90]

I wasn't referring to uppercase or lowercase letters or punctuation changed to improve something, but to make it worse or to leave it the same.
I would say that i have explained myself sufficiently.
Thank you for your answers.

[Billy Idle]

I agree with Samantha90 on what she says, which is that some people like to correct translations in a minimal way, certainly not as a translation improvement but (I don't know what else to think) just to get gifts. I, like you and others, try to make translations better, more understandable to everyone.
I take this opportunity to point out to everyone that the string highlighting the date and time of the translation is not correct in Italian. Example: in a translation of today (November 27) it says "11/11/AM day" as the translation date (which can only be viewed by selecting the translation history. I tried to see in the translation string, but I don't know how modify it.
Thanks