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Old 12-24-2008, 05:36 AM   #6
Kuroshima
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: The ASS of the world, mainly Valencia, Spain (Europe)
Default Re: Translation problems in new GURPS Lite Spanish

I'm going to do a cursory search over GURPS Lite Spanish Edition, and try to locate all the mistranslations, pieces of the interlingua translation, strange sentence structures, etc. I'll bold the parts of a sentence that would need change. I'm going to tag each correction with one of the following tags:
  • [Interlingua] -> This is a fragment from the interlingua translation, should be replaced with the appropriate one form the spanish translation
  • [Mistranslation] -> This was either translated literally or simply the translator used a word that has the wrong connotation in spanish, even though it's a correct translation
  • [Sentence] -> The sentence, while maybe gramatically correct, doesn't make much sense in spanish, or is hard to understand.
  • [Style] -> This is a mere style suggestion, making the text more like something a native spanish speaker would write, instead of something translated from another language. Most of the time, it corresponds to either old sentence structures, old vocabulary, or simply that some parts can be left implicit
  • [Missing word] -> It happes to everyone, but it seems that someone forgot to put a word here.
  • [Grammar] -> Wrong adjective/noun concordance, or wrong subject/verb concordance, or some other miscelaneous grammatical mistake.
  • [Layout] -> This is a problem with layout
  • [Misspelling] -> A word isn't correctly written. Typos are included here


I'm no profesional editor, just a native Spanish speaker with a reasonable knowledge of English. My methodology might be incorrect, or my explanations might be less than clear. Sorry about that.
  • p1, in the index, "Mundos de jocar"-> "Mundos en los que jugar" (or, if too long, Mundos de juego. The later is in the glossary, so it's not a big deal.) [Interlingua]
  • p1, under "Que es GURPS", “Genérico: GURPS comienza con unas reglas simples, y va añadiendo más hasta el nivel de detalle opcional que quieras." -> “Genérico. GURPS comienza con unas reglas simples, y va añadiendo más, opcionales, hasta el nivel de detalle que quieras." [Sentence]
  • p1, under "Que es GURPS", "para garabatear." -> Either remove it, leaving it implicit, or change it to "para tomar notas." "Para garabatear" would means something akin as "to scribble". My recomendation is to leave it implicit[Style]
  • p1, under "Que es GURPS", Herramienta para iniciar a jugadores. -> This is indented and capitalized like it was a new paragraph, when in fact it continues the sentence above [Layout]
  • p3, under "disputas continuadas", "La de cada intento, en tiempo de juego, depende de la actividad y del juicio del DJ." -> "La duracion de cada intento, en tiempo de juego, depende de la actividad y del juicio del DJ." [Missing word]
  • p4, under "Tabla de Reacción", "pública humillación" -> "humillación publica" [Style]
  • p4, under "Table de Reacción", "una suplicas vitales" -> "unas suplicas vitales" [Grammar]
  • p5, under "Personajes", "quieress" -> "quieres" [Misspelling]
  • p5. under "Puntos de Personaje", "por ejemplo, -75 puntos en un juego de 150 puntos" -> "por ejemplo, -75 puntos en una partida de 150 puntos" [Style]
  • p5, under "Atributos Basicos", "Una puntuación de 10 en un atributo cuesta nada" -> "Una puntuación de 10 en un atributo no cuesta nada" [Missing word]
  • p5, under "Atributos Basicos", "El DJ puede prohibir puntuaciones por debajo de 8 a aventureros en activo." -> "El DJ puede prohibir puntuaciones por debajo de 8 para aventureros en activo. [Mistranslation]
  • p6, under "Fuerza (FZ)", "una FZ elevada permite absorber y distribuir el daño en combate cuerpo a cuerpo." -> "una FZ elevada permite absorber y infligir daño en combate cuerpo a cuerpo." "distribuir" most common meanings are "to spread" (as in spreading butter over bread) and "to distribute" (as in distributing mail) [Mistranslation]
  • p6, "Basic Levation" textbox [Interlingua]
  • p6, "Manetate" textbox [Interlingua]
  • p6, under "Fuerza", "La Fuerza es menos limitada" -> "La Fuerza esta menos limitada"[Mistranslation]
  • p7, under "Características Secundarias", "Puntos de Impacto (PI)" -> "Puntos de Vida (PV)". This sounds like a babelfish translation. It means "impact points". D&D and clones have used "Puntos de Golpe" that is a literal translation of "hit Points", but most other RPG systems use "Puntos de Vida" [Mistranslation]
  • p7, under "Características Secundarias", "Esquivar: Tu defensa Esquivar" -> "Esquiva: Tu Esquiva" [Style]
  • p7, "Basic Damno (Dam)" textbox [Interlingua]
  • p7, under "Imagen y aspecto", "Odiosos Hábitos Personales" ->This one is sort of borderline. IIRC 3rd ed used "Hábitos Personales Molestos", and either "Hábitos Personales Desagradables" or "Hábitos Personales Odiosos" would also work. My recomendation is "Hábitos Personales Molestos". The only advantage of the current translation is that it matches the abreviation of the original english term (OPH)[Style]
  • p8, under "Imagen y Aspecto", "Odiosos Hábitos Personales", see the above note
  • p8, under "Imagen y Aspecto", "Hábito Personal Odioso (HPO)" -> If "Odioso Hábito Personal" is maintained, then this one should be "Odioso Hábito Personal (OPH)". If "Hábitos Personales Molestos" is used, then it should be "Hábito Personal Molesto (HPM)"; if "Hábitos Personales Desagradables" is used, then it should be "Hábito Personal Desagradable".
  • p9. under "Riqueza e influencia", "soloe 1/2" -> "solo de 1/2" [Missing Word]
  • p9, under "Prestigio", "Tu lugar de reconocimiento en la sociedad es diferente de tu fama y fortuna." -> "Tu lugar formalmente reconocido en la sociedad es diferente de tu fama y fortuna." [Style]
  • p9, under "Prestigio", "hombre de la calle" -> "indigente" ("Hombre de la calle", by paralelism with "Mujer de la calle" could be interpreted as "male prostitute") [Mistranslation]
  • p10, under "Lista de Ventajas", "Caída Reducida" -> This matches the effect of the advantage, and is correct in itself. 3rd ed uses "Caida de Gato", that is mainly a literal translation. It, however, has the right connotations and any native Spanish speaker will understand it instantly. Either could work, and my personal preference matches the 3er ed translation [Style]
  • p10, under "Lista de Ventajas", "Defensas Intensas" -> "Defensas Mejoradas" Intenso means Intense, and while it might appear in a dictionary as a translation of Enhanced, it's not how most people will read it[Mistranslation]
  • p10, under "Defensas Intensas", "Escudar Intensificado" -> "Bloqueo Mejorado" Escudar means to shield someone or something, as it's first aception, and as such it's going to be understood. Escudar as Block is incredibply archaic. [Mistranslation]
  • p10, under "Escudar Intensificado", "Escudar" -> "Bloqueo" [Mistranslation]
  • p10, under "Defensas Intensas", "Esquivar Intensificado" -> "Esquiva Mejorada" [Mistranslation]
  • p10, under "Esquitar Intensificado", "tu puntuación de Esquivar" -> "tu puntuación de Esquiva" [Style]
  • p10, under "Defensas Intensas", "Parar Intensificado" -> "Parada Mejorada" [Mistranslation]
  • p10, under "parar Intensificado", "Tienes un +1 a Parar."-> "Tienes un +1 a tus Paradas."
  • p10, under "Difícil de Matar", "colapsas" -> Either "sufres un colapso", or if space is a premium, "caes" [Mistranslation]
  • p11. under "Saltador", "–o ta cerca como sea posible" ->"–o tan cerca como sea posible" [Misspelling]
  • p11, under "Lista de Ventajas", "Sin Miedo" -> "Valor". Replace the advantage name in the folloing paragraph too [Style]
  • p11, under "Talentos", "Artificiero" -> "Artífice". "Artificiero" is someone who is skilled in the handling of explosives [Mistranslation]
  • p11, under "Talentos", "Sutil Operador" -> "Labia" This one is hard to translate, but this is the most appropriate word. [Style]
  • p12, under "Desventajas", "tirada de autodominio" -> "tirada de autocontrol" Both are correct, but autocontrol is a term used in everyday speech, and autodominio isn't. Also, it is refered as Tirada de Autocontrol in the specific disadvantages[style]
This is what I have so far. I'll add more as I continue to thoroughly review the PDF
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Last edited by Kuroshima; 12-25-2008 at 05:15 AM. Reason: Added errata that I didn't notive.
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