ROM Hack Translation Requests

[kikuchiyo]

I don't often start topics and HernanZh already covered some of this (both smartly and politely) in a now stickied thread but reading the board the last few days, I really just have to get something off my chest:

ROM Hackers and translators don't snap their fingers and make English games. It takes an insane amount of effort. It's a full time and translation teams take that upon themselves, for no pay, to get games that would otherwise never come out in the West, into your hands. (One of the threads linked above has a HIGH SCHOOL student requesting a translation and then implying his school work is as challenging and busy as college or a real job - wake up, it's not).

Trans. teams are doing this for games they want to do - it basically amounts to charity work (though I'm sure they gain by using Japanese, hacking roms, using those skills), but expecting someone to do this or that as charity is childish.

It sucks to do that kind of work and reap the reward that comes with it; i.e., people complaining about the speed of translations (comparing them to professionally translated games, no less!) or seeing a superior English version come out from the company itself.

While the blame is primarily for those people who do not or will not understand the effort that goes into these translations, one must also apportion some guilt to the people translating titles that will obviously come out in the U.S. (Final Fantasy TA 2, Fire Emblem). While I applaud the hard work people have put into those translation, they have made expectations of translating teams even worse - now people are expecting English translations for games a week after they come out (and there are requests for hacks and translations BEFORE games have come out). Moreover, the Google translated text (even proofread) is NOT superior to a real translation team's work or the official release.

• Don't request games that are already coming out in English. Maybe you'll get lucky and someone will start translating something coming out. But requesting it's a dick move, in my opinion.
• If you don't speak Japanese, don't guess how much time it'll take to translate something.
• If you don't hack ROMs don't guess how much time it'll take to extract/insert text into a game
  Google translation projects.
• Google search. Someone may already be hacking the ROM. Someone may have posted a guide that will get you through with out a hack. If you post and then someone replies with a FAQ, you'll look like an ass and no one will take you seriously.
• Google is your friend. Even if there's no FAQ or project underway, if you search and the last six titles for Random Battle RPG have come out in English, what on Earth makes you think Random Battle RPG 7 won't?
• Don't request games that aren't out yet - how would you know if they're translatable at all?
• Be patient. Translations take time. Even above that, if there's obviously an official release coming out, just wait. It's not the end of the world if you wait six months to play a version of the game you can read. Use that time to learn how to hack, read Japanese, or not be so damn whiney.
• Understand that some games can't be hacked (it just may not be technically possible for an amateur with no access to the source code to do it). Don't like it? Learn Japanese.
• On that note, for me, I know most translators learned Japanese because they love Japan and things like games, manga, etc. Using the phrase Jap probably won't endear you to their hearts (it certainly doesn't for me).
• Generally speaking, if you can't hack or translate don't request. And if you request, be polite - understand the effort that people doing more work than you put it into these projects.
• Know what you're requesting - the average puzzle game is going to be much easier than an RPG or a visual novel.

I could keep going on but my hope is to spark some discussion and for the newbies to understand what they're asking for when they request Pokemon or some other translations.

 

[Pimpmynintendo]

I don't often start topics and HernanZh already covered some of this (both smartly and politely) in a now stickied thread but reading the board the last few days, I really just have to get something off my chest:

ROM Hackers and translators don't snap their fingers and make English games. It takes an insane amount of effort. It's a full time and translation teams take that upon themselves, for no pay, to get games that would otherwise never come out in the West, into your hands. (One of the threads linked above has a HIGH SCHOOL student requesting a translation and then implying his school work is as challenging and busy as college or a real job - wake up, it's not).

Trans. teams are doing this for games they want to do - it basically amounts to charity work (though I'm sure they gain by using Japanese, hacking roms, using those skills), but expecting someone to do this or that as charity is childish.

It sucks to do that kind of work and reap the reward that comes with it; i.e., people complaining about the speed of translations (comparing them to professionally translated games, no less!) or seeing a superior English version come out from the company itself.

While the blame is primarily for those people who do not or will not understand the effort that goes into these translations, one must also apportion some guilt to the people translating titles that will obviously come out in the U.S. (Final Fantasy TA 2, Fire Emblem). While I applaud the hard work people have put into those translation, they have made expectations of translating teams even worse - now people are expecting English translations for games a week after they come out (and there are requests for hacks and translations BEFORE games have come out). Moreover, the Google translated text (even proofread) is NOT superior to a real translation team's work or the official release.

• Don't request games that are already coming out in English. Maybe you'll get lucky and someone will start translating something coming out. But requesting it's a dick move, in my opinion.
• If you don't speak Japanese, don't guess how much time it'll take to translate something.
• If you don't hack ROMs don't guess how much time it'll take to extract/insert text into a game
  Google translation projects.
• Google search. Someone may already be hacking the ROM. Someone may have posted a guide that will get you through with out a hack. If you post and then someone replies with a FAQ, you'll look like an ass and no one will take you seriously.
• Google is your friend. Even if there's no FAQ or project underway, if you search and the last six titles for Random Battle RPG have come out in English, what on Earth makes you think Random Battle RPG 7 won't?
• Don't request games that aren't out yet - how would you know if they're translatable at all?
• Be patient. Translations take time. Even above that, if there's obviously an official release coming out, just wait. It's not the end of the world if you wait six months to play a version of the game you can read. Use that time to learn how to hack, read Japanese, or not be so damn whiney.
• Understand that some games can't be hacked (it just may not be technically possible for an amateur with no access to the source code to do it). Don't like it? Learn Japanese.
• On that note, for me, I know most translators learned Japanese because they love Japan and things like games, manga, etc. Using the phrase Jap probably won't endear you to their hearts (it certainly doesn't for me).
• Generally speaking, if you can't hack or translate don't request. And if you request, be polite - understand the effort that people doing more work than you put it into these projects.
• Know what you're requesting - the average puzzle game is going to be much easier than an RPG or a visual novel.

I could keep going on but my hope is to spark some discussion and for the newbies to understand what they're asking for when they request Pokemon or some other translations.

CAN I GET A WITNESS!
Very good post and well thought out.

 

[HernanZh]

[*]Know what you're requesting - the average puzzle game is going to be much easier than an RPG or a visual novel.

Good post! Just a note on this point: a puzzle game isn't necessarily easier than an RPG or visual novel. It's just a less amount of text.

 

[Noitora]

I hope noobs read this topic and stop requesting games.

 

[kikuchiyo]

[*]Know what you're requesting - the average puzzle game is going to be much easier than an RPG or a visual novel.

Good post! Just a note on this point: a puzzle game isn't necessarily easier than an RPG or visual novel. It's just a less amount of text.

Which is easier for the translator (of course), but I forgot about the ROM hacking bit in this suggestion. You're totally right - less text is (generally) easier for the translator but has nothing to do with the hacking.

 

[kikuchiyo]

Oops. Up near the top I meant "a full time job."