*This article is a finalist for the sixth anniversary essay contest
The title is more like questioning myself.
1.
Amazing channel only available to volunteer translators
What should a volunteer game translator in your imagination look like?
Chatting and laughing with the official, there is a unique logo in the game, you can see the first-hand plot before each game update, and get a monthly card / krypton gold point / real money after the update?
In this regard, I can proudly say that the above benefits – none of them concern me.
It’s true that volunteer game translators with these perks do exist, but unfortunately, I’m not one of them. I dare to guess that most of the volunteer game translators, like me, generate electricity with love, and it is good to write my ID in the credit list.
At that time, I probably didn’t expect that I, who have rich experience in using love power generation, would think repeatedly after a few months, is it worth it for me to do this?
2.
Before participating in the volunteer translation of games, I had a little translation experience. Localize old games, or translate five-year-old videos for your favorite musicians with permission. So, when I saw a “need Chinese” comment, the game developer said that he hoped players who had volunteered to translate ideas would contact them, and I had an idea.
To state in advance, I don’t just see games that require volunteer translations on a whim. Since I don’t want to be decoded, I only introduce the key words of this game here: mobile terminal, DND, adventure, text, plot. It’s the kind of well-made novel adventure game of the same type. I like it very much. It can be said that I couldn’t put it down during that time.
Promotional screenshot of a similar game
After some thought, I started contacting the developers.
The developer left cryptic code in the comments – the game’s Discord channel. I am not familiar with this chat software, and it took a lot of effort to find the developer. I briefly explained my purpose and ideas in a private chat. After waiting for two days, the other party replied. He first thanked me for my support of the game, and then asked for my email address for participating in shared editing. In the end, the developer gave me channel access and text editing access, and told me that he would appreciate it if he could help and cooperate with other volunteer translators.
Very kind developer, thank you
I first looked at the Discord situation. As the developer said, my permission level has been set to Translator, and I can see the translation channels that ordinary channel members cannot see. There are already sub-channels in more than ten languages. It is used to communicate with volunteer translators in this language, but I have not seen the Chinese sub-channel.
Every time I secretly observe the chat content of translators in other languages, I feel that I am illiterate.
Next is shared editing. The developer shared a Google document with me via email. The background of the text to be translated is marked with light green, and the tables on each page correspond to different content: items, achievements, attributes, monsters, main plots, Side storylines, main storyline endings, sideline endings, common events, battle events, etc. Each item contains dozens to thousands of items to be translated.
A volunteer translator said that he has volunteered to translate so many games, and this is the first one to use Google Docs to help translate
After getting a general understanding of the situation, I started looking for someone.
No, it’s not about helping each other with other volunteer translators. As mentioned earlier, there was no Chinese channel in the sub-channel at that time. I mistakenly thought that I was the only Chinese volunteer translator, but when I opened the document, some items have been translated. . I checked the revision log and found one person who has been translating entries.
Perhaps, there is no Chinese channel, not because I am the first player to participate in Chinese volunteer translation, but because there is only one person, so there is no need for communication.
3.
The Chinese-Chinese volunteer translator who was one step ahead of me was DC.
Although his ID in the document editing record is different from the ID in Discord, I still found him successfully – because he said in the introduction that his time zone is Dongba District. Couldn’t find him.
He was very happy to see that I took the initiative to speak to him, because there was finally another Chinese volunteer translator. He has been translating text since the beginning of the year, and he was alone from beginning to end. Although there is a volunteer translator with a Traditional Chinese ID in the modification permission list, DC has never seen this person with translation records.
In the process of telling, he shared with me the content of his chat with the developer, and I took this opportunity to learn part of his information: he is a Malaysian Chinese, a junior high school student, who wanted to join another game as a volunteer translator , but the game was submitted for translation using github. He didn’t quite understand it. After that, he played this adventure game and felt very appetizing, so he started volunteering to translate.
When asked why he came to translate, his answer roughly meant: I did it because I thought about it.
Very pure idea, very good.
I briefly explained one of the reasons why I participated in volunteer translation: to make up for regrets and to generate electricity with love.
When I was in junior high school, I especially liked an old game, but the Chineseization of this old game was not very good. I took the dictionary and slammed the words I didn’t know. After several times, I felt that I was invincible. After a while, I discovered the Sinicization tool, so the heart of conquest suddenly began to attack large sections of text.
Wow, that’s awesome, so are you done? DC asked.
Good question, I said, six or seven years have passed, I am now eight people early, and I have not finished the Chineseization of that old game.
4.
In the game, I have a deep memory of the plots of various side quests, so in terms of translation, I choose to start the translation from the documents of the side quests, not to mention, I have a little experience in attacking the kidney reflex area of large texts. .
The original text of the game is not in English, so when translating, I used to open two online translators: Google and Baidu. Google is used for machine translation of the whole sentence. Let me roughly compare the difference between the original text and the English language. If the difference is too large, I will put the original text into Baidu and search it word by word. I also found some errors in the English text. But that’s an afterthought.
My progress is not fast, and the developer told me to take it slow, I probably keep the speed of translating 20-25 articles per day. To be honest, I really want to translate a little more, but unfortunately, although I have one day, but After I exceeded my personal limit, it was difficult for me to continue to focus.
Those two months were the most productive time for me and DC. As soon as I opened the document, I could see the other party’s avatar lit up, and the progress was very gratifying. I will complain with DC about the funny content of the text, and I will discuss the translation of some proper nouns with him.
One day at noon, I wanted to share with my mother my experience of surfing the Internet, and at the same time, I talked about the volunteer translation of games.
Yo, cub, you can. That’s what my mother said, just the two of you doing this, game translation?
No, others may join in the future.
Do you have the money then?
No, it is a volunteer translator.
Oh, that’s fine. At the end, my mother added: Cub, I know you’ve always been very smart, and it’s good to experience this.
I should laugh at the compliment, but I can’t.
One night, in a small group of three close friends, for some reason, they talked about what they were doing recently.
A friend who is preparing for World War II said that he is quietly doing tutoring, 800 per week. Friends who are not prepared for World War II said that they are translating for the subtitle group, and a video is 300. When it was my turn, I said that I had nothing to do every day as a volunteer translator, and at the same time laughed at myself that I felt like a grievancer who was a freelancer.
Friends from World War II said that I do feel this way about volunteering. It is better to use this time to learn something else.
Friends who were not prepared for the Second World War expressed their agreement, I did not answer any more, and the group fell silent.
After another half a month, new Chinese volunteer translators joined the channel one after another. In order to facilitate communication, I asked the developers to add a Chinese sub-channel. My idea was to make it easier for everyone to communicate and translate, but I didn’t expect this channel. In the end, only me and DC were chatting, talking about daily life, talking about epidemic prevention, and talking about translation. It was like putting private chat on the table. Besides, Nothing has changed.
Later, I realized that very few people consistently submit translations. Some people try to translate some items and rarely go online. Some people say hello in the channel, but his translation records are not found in the Google document. More, it is like the first ID in the document, which is mentioned by DC. Volunteer translators without translation records appeared silently in the editing permission list, and have not been heard from since then.
When I wrote this article, there were a total of 12 IDs in the editorial authority list. Except for 4 developers, half of the remaining 8 IDs had not said hello in the Chinese sub-channel, and the only ones who had appeared were DC and I are still submitting translations.
I’m a little pissed, but I shouldn’t be pissed. I know in my heart that everyone has their own lives. As a junior high school student, DC has more time at his disposal, and he can persevere and do a good job… What about me? Claiming to be generating electricity with love, but am I really generating electricity with love? If I don’t do this and do something else, will it be more and more valuable?
The more silent IDs on the list, the more breathless I feel. The invisible pressure kept accumulating. From March to April, my routine began to be chaotic again, I went to bed late and woke up early, and had nightmares. All the emotions finally broke out in early April.
I gave myself a holiday, and I didn’t touch the document for half a month. In mid-April, I forced myself to do something, so I looked through the Google document, but found that DC didn’t do anything during this time.
I saw DC leave a message on the channel: I have been infected with the new crown, and I can also be infected by the school bus, I don’t understand.
I just said that you touched it, and I replied that I was suffering from depression, so I couldn’t get a follow-up consultation, and I couldn’t buy medicine.
5.
Although it was easier to say after the fact, the situation was not very optimistic at the time.
I must admit that the reason why I have not been able to answer my own questions for a long time is most likely because I asked the wrong questions in the first place. If it’s worth thinking about something that doesn’t ask for anything in return, doesn’t that just mean that it’s done with a purpose? Can this still be called generating electricity with love?
Unfortunately, in the past six months, as I typed the whole story on the keyboard, I gradually cleared my mind. Fortunately, I chose to use words to tell, and I was able to face the unreasonable pressure I put on myself.
Having said that, since my starting point for volunteer translation is not to generate electricity with love, should I have some conspiracy? That’s what motivates you to continue.
Um……
After deleting, deleting, modifying and modifying, I still haven’t decided what exactly I want to plot.
Then touch it first, give yourself a vacation, and reward yourself who figured it out.
Good luck in the second half of the year.
This article is reprinted from: https://www.yystv.cn/p/9433
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