Should Wynn ever support other languages?

I know that the work that would have to go into that is massive, but it seems like a good idea to me.
On the other hand, if it truly were a good idea, they would have already done something with it, wouldn't they?
Is it just too much trouble to code into the game, too many man hours to translate everything, or does it just not seem like a big issue?

I know that the wiki offers some translations (of which many, many, many are outdated), and wynntills has a translation feature, but both seem far from perfect. People who have actually been on Wynn for a while know that these tools exist, but people who have just joined for the first time and have no basic understanding of English, wouldn't know where to find these tools, leave the server, and never come back. This feels like a waste to me.

I don't truly expect anything to happen here, I just want to know if there is some possibility for it to happen, even if it's when Wynn 3.0 comes out.

Edit: before replying, I suggest you read my comments, as they summarize some other opinions on the matter.

 

I know it'd take a lot of time translating, but I feel like having multiple languages for Wynn would be a good idea. There's plenty of Minecraft players who just don't speak English, and capitalizing on those communities wouldn't be a bad idea. +1

 

The more "popular" languages (e.g. French, Russian) already have a solid amount of the work done. This work up till now is limited to quests, but I feel like quests are the great majority of the work. There is currently a project (with a discord and everything) for the whole translating thing, which I am also involved in. It is just very hard to summon the energy and motivation if Wynn isn't ever going to do something with it.

 

nah, it can’t happen. It would take too many months and a ton of logistical changes to make that a thing

 

It could theoretically happen (3rd party - yes) but the amount of dialogue that needs translating is way too much. It's not as simple as putting it in a translator either, google translate will obviously get lots of parts wrong. You could make a mod or something if that's really what you wanted but you'd need people who can actually speak both languages to verify/translate the writing. A single translation for everything (seeing as wynncraft hasn't really had any progress on making translations already) into one language can take probably a month, maybe even more.

Good idea for wynncraft to maybe think about it but it'd be very timely and difficult for something they don't exactly want to have hassle with. I can barely understand french, nevermind 150+ other languages. Need to get some proper fluent or very good other language speakers to translate. As I said, I'm sure a 3rd party mod translating it all would be fine but that's on you - not wynn's team.

 

I wouldn't say add 150 languages to Wynn, only widely used ones, for example; French, Arabic, Mandarin

 

There are quest translations for multiple languages on the Wynncraft wiki (heavily incomplete), and that's probably the closest we'll ever gonna get considering support for other languages.
I'm a translator on the Wynn wiki myself, though I have to admit I'm slacking off as I haven't translated much in quite a while

https://wynncraft.fandom.com/wiki/Wynncraft_Wiki:Translations

 

A lot of people have said that it takes too much work to pull something like this off, which I don't agree with by the way, I feel like a month of work is worth the trouble for some languages, but that's me.

But you're saying that it can't happen, ever. You're a GM, so I'm going to assume that you know what you're talking about; would you mind elaborating on that? (even if it's just a little)

 

Do you know how much text is in this game? Yeah, all the dialogue would take at least a year alone, but the real issue is with items. How they have it set up they would have to make a new item for every language. At least, that’s what I parse.

 

A month of work you have take from your free time, which you already do not have much because you are working on other ct stuff. Also, you have to be more or less fully fluent in the languages so that it does not look like google translate. And you have to do this after you finish making the quest, otherwise the dialogue can change and you have wasted your precious time. Not to mention developing the framework for this, which also can take some time.

Look at the wiki. If it was simple and fast, everything would be already done*. As someone who did quite bit of translations on the wiki, I can tell you this: It takes time. I admit I am not the fastest, but a short-medium quest can take over an hour of work and you have to check for typos at least twice. Then you have quests like ???, AHC, RoL which are long. This means much more time and checking to be done.
* disclaimer: I realise the team is more or less dead, but if it was easy, they would do it while they were active

 

I myself am a head translator too, so I know a little bit about the project. I know that it is dead as can be. (also, 1 hour for a medium quest, really? I do appreciate your effort though!)
That said, I'm not saying that it has to be the CT that has to work on it. I'm sure that there are plenty of volunteers that want to help. Sure, you're not going to find a lot of people who speak Malay, but I'm not talking about every language out there.

I know that there is a wiki. But, one of the points of this thread is to point out that every new player who joins doesn't know that. I think it's fair to say that most people on the forums who engage in discussions like these have some sense of maturity, but an 11-year old who, say, only speaks french wouldn't know what to do when first joining the game.

I'm not saying this is an easy or a fast project. I recognize that it would take a long time, and a lot of work, but most major updates take a lot of work don't they? The only thing is that such an update won't affect any of the players who are already on Wynn, since none of them really need it.

 

That’s the main issue; it would be a shit ton of work that could’ve gone towards making new content or revamping existing content, and Wynncraft’s current playerbase wouldn’t need it like you said. Translating is a lot of work, especially since parts of the dialogue in the game use slang or made-up words like “Fleris,” so there isn’t an exact equivalence across languages. The only language I could ever see being implemented is French bc some CT know it, but even then that would suffer immensely from the problems mentioned previously.

 

I admit I am likely overexaggerating, it was quite some time ago (and my english was worse too). Still, it takes time.

There is a suggestion on the forums to use crowdin for it. The downside is that it will be delayed by possibly weeks or months after an update and the translations have to be checked. It is a possible way though.

 

For reference, even though I don't remember it exactly, translating AHC took me well over 6 hours. And Order of the Grook took me also at least 4 hours or more because it has a shitton of text.

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Also, an hour for a medium quest might be accurate, but not every medium quest is as text-heavy, and also it might take you longer if you actually think about what you're translating or if you're just hammering the translation in. (Not google-translate style, but just like not thinking about if what you're translating sounds natural in your native language)

 

The downside here is that there would be hints of anarchy in this system, as anyone could do what they want. I feel like If you put one person (or two), with approval from the CT, in charge per language who can coordinate everything, it could very much work.

Then again, Wynn has been here for years now, if they were going to do something about it, they would have done it by now I think :(

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I feel like it is heavily dependent on how efficient your process is. When you’ve developed a process that works for you (e.g. I use Microsoft translator instead of Google translate, as it is much, much better), while having memorized the format and other wiki features, it shouldn’t have to take as long.

That is if you devote all your attention to it. I never start translating without a Netflix show on my 2nd screen, and I hardly think that accelerates my process :p

 

And even then, the French translations are only vaguely decent at best, both in-game and on the wiki.

 

I was doing it by hand, since that was the most accurate option I had. Translators could speed up the process by quite some time, though I am not sure how good it would be even with manual corrections (but again, didn't try it so idk).

 

Again, with someone in charge of the project who can coordinate everything, meaning assigning tasks and checking each and every submission, I feel like it could be done.

If you were to pick it up again, I suggest experimenting a bit with what works best. It could very well be the way you currently do it, but it could also surprise you.

 

Look idk why you’re still being persistent. You said yourself that Wynncraft’s current players wouldn’t benefit from this, and even a CT member said that it’s just too much work. It’s just not gonna happen.

 

If I thought this would actually have a decent shot of making it, I would have categorized it as a suggestion. This is purely a discussion. People tell me what they think, and I reply with my thoughts on how they see things. When I speak to my friends about everyday politics (which isn't often), I don't expect them to do anything about it either :p

I might want to alter the name of the thread though, as it may be a bit misleading.