Is there a possibility for a Spanish version of the main site?

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successoroffate
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Is there a possibility for a Spanish version of the main site?

Post by successoroffate » Tue Apr 04, 2017 5:21 pm

I know it may sound like a stretch but DB has a huge Spanish Speaking fan base. Look at the Clickbait DB Videos in Spanish, they are around the million views mark.

Is this the right to place to ask about something like this?
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Re: Is there a possibility for a Spanish version of the main site?

Post by VegettoEX » Tue Apr 04, 2017 5:58 pm

Highly unlikely. For basic things like the "Music Database" or the "Home Video Guide"... maaaaaaaaaybe? If someone volunteered? And we coded it somehow?

But when you get into things like the "Translations" section, the responsible thing to do would be to do an original translation of the source material from Japanese to Spanish directly. We... can't do that! People have asked about doing a translation of our English translations to other languages, and while none of us can actually stop anyone from doing so, I heavily suggest not doing so.
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successoroffate
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Re: Is there a possibility for a Spanish version of the main site?

Post by successoroffate » Tue Apr 04, 2017 6:54 pm

VegettoEX wrote:Highly unlikely. For basic things like the "Music Database" or the "Home Video Guide"... maaaaaaaaaybe? If someone volunteered? And we coded it somehow?

But when you get into things like the "Translations" section, the responsible thing to do would be to do an original translation of the source material from Japanese to Spanish directly. We... can't do that! People have asked about doing a translation of our English translations to other languages, and while none of us can actually stop anyone from doing so, I heavily suggest not doing so.
I would never go that far. But let me ask you something else, what about Youtube videos from your channel? Take the Cell-God debate one you uploaded. I'm sure a Spanish version of the same video with the same thumbnails and title would get the attention of some Spanish-speaking people in my opinion. I know you don't do it for the views, just a suggestion.

By the way, I wouldn't mind volunteering for any potential section getting translated into Spanish, like the two you mentioned.

Thank you for taking the time in responding.
Big Green: Do whateveryoulike, Ghos
Broly: haha He calls me a goohst, but IMMMD DA DEVVVVAAALLL! RAHAHAHAHA!
-----
Trunks: "Dhe computer selffishy intesnafiy dosuementos."
Android 13: Yum Boy
-----
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Re: Is there a possibility for a Spanish version of the main site?

Post by Cold Skin » Tue Oct 31, 2017 4:23 pm

It would be interesting for many languages, but as VegettoEX said, it would only be possible for part of the website's articles (which would already be a good thing to expand its access to those who don't easily understand English across the world).
I'd be more than happy to contribute myself, since I have a Master in Translation that's never really put to use (since I chose to be a teacher), so translating some pages to French for specific pages when I have some spare time (mostly during holidays?) would prove entertaining for me, and hopefully useful.

But the truth is, we'd have a few things to consider if it ever became reality...

1) Three kinds of articles: easy to translate, a pain to translate and simply impossible to translate

VegettoEX gave the perfect example of what wouldn't be able to transfer properly from one language to another, at all: articles that are very specific about English translations. For example, the one that compares fansub translations to the official English subtitled translation to the Kanzenshuu translation. It compares those very specific English words chosen by people to better convey the original Japanese lines, it wouldn't make any sense to translate those translations, then it wouldn't be a study of those specific English translations in every chosen word.
This is the kind of article that couldn't and shouldn't offer any localized version, as it would completely go against what it was meant for.
--> No translation possible. This is meant, at its core, for an English-speaking audience.

The other kind of article that would be problematic is the very technical one, like the Production Guides (for example how Kai was remastered).
It can be done properly, no doubt about it. But the very specific professional tools or staff roles mentioned would require research to know how they are properly called in the target language, which is sometimes very specific and hard to guess on your own (hence the need to refer to research to confirm how they're all officially and professionally called in the intended language).
--> The translation is possible, but a pain. For those who would have the courage to do so, it will be slow and take extensive research to confirm a lot of technical terms. It can quickly get annoying for the translator, and might inspire a risk of inaccuracy to the Kanzenshuu staff.

The final kind is the easy one: articles that are not specifically based on translations (and therefore not restricted to English) and not about very specific technical aspects. Those articles are fairly simple to translate for whoever is a foreigner that understands English pretty well. It's not difficult for the translator, the risk of inaccuracy is minimal for Kanzenshuu, nothing about the article should be lost in translation. It's the case for the Rumor Guides for example: it's not specific to a language and not technical in its vocabulary either.
--> The translation is easy and shows next to zero risk of inaccuracy when being translated. They should be the first articles to possibly offer a translated version, perhaps even the only articles to do so.

2) More to deal with for the Kanzenshuu staff

Although new translations would not happen that often anyway, let's not forget that it could punctually give extra work for the Kanzenshuu staff handling the whole website: we have no control over the website, which is a guarantee that it is in good hands, but it also means that for every translation done, someone in control will have to properly write them in the flow of data of the website, so that it becomes accessible and looks as good as the original English version.
Even in the case that this person would have to just copy/paste the page and then copy/paste the translation in the proper places of the "new page", it's still extra work when the staff already has so much to handle on a regular basis.

Plus, there would be the question of how to implement those localized pages: the "Youtube way" (detecting from where the user is connected and automatically showing the localized version if available) or a more classic way (creating a new page that's just a copy of the original with the text replaced by the translation, with just an extra link to add to the original page saying "Spanish version" or "French version").

Plus, I don't know about how websites work, but I don't know if an infinite amount of translated pages can be added without consequences (limited amount of date available for the website?).

Finally, to limitate the Kanzenshuu staff's load of work, there's no way we can drown them in 25 different languages for various pages.
Much like many video games, we should limitate the Western side to the five usual languages as an absolute maximum: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian. Not all pages would have translated versions in those languages anyway, it would be exceptional to have even one or two of them in just a few specific "translation-friendly" sections.

So all in all, let's not forget that for all the extra work some people like me would be willing to give from time to time, it would also mean a bit of extra work for the Kanzenshuu staff, and they already have their hands full with covering news, updating sections and creating new pages.
Plus, let's not forget that they might feel uncomfortable with trusting others in handling those translations: they don't necessarily speak the target language and wouldn't be able to fully check on the quality. So it would be a big exercice in trust, although the original English pages would be left uncompromised in any case.

3) A certain set of rules

For Kanzenshuu to be sure that the integrity of their own vision if maintained, certain rules would have to be decided for the translators, such as sticking to the staff's choices when it comes to the adaptation of names for example. This means for example that if I had to translate an article mentioning Freezer, and while all current translations in all media have it written as "Freezer" as the best French adaptation, I would still write "Freeza" in my translation, as chosen by the staff.
This seems logical: as translators, we would work for Kanzenshuu, to convey their vision of the franchise, which includes the choices they've made, which in turns include the adaptations they have chosen as the most fitting.

Conclusion

I think it's possible, but:
- only for specific, chosen sections of the main website (possibly decided by Kanzenshuu themselves, depending on the three categories of pages - easy translation, riskier translation and impossible translation).
- only if Kanzenshuu is willing to spend a bit of time putting those translations online (and trusting a few selected members), which is not to be taken lightly given the amount of work they already have, even if nothing would rush them and they could do it whenever it suits them.
- only for a few main languages.
- only with certain basic rules meant to preserve Kanzenshuu's vision, such as keeping their adaptations for names.

All in all, I think it's perfectly manageable if Kanzenshuu is willing to do so, but it has to be clearly limited in scope to work fine, especially for a start.

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Re: Is there a possibility for a Spanish version of the main site?

Post by Cold Skin » Tue Oct 31, 2017 10:20 pm

Here's an example of a French version of the Rumor Guide (video games), translated by myself as a quick prototype demo.
This picture compares the original English page to a hypothetical French page, showing what it could look like.

[spoiler]Image[/spoiler]

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Re: Is there a possibility for a Spanish version of the main site?

Post by VegettoEX » Fri Nov 03, 2017 8:47 am

While I appreciate the effort and example, part of the "problem" is that we're constantly adjusting or reworking certain sections. The "Rumor Guide" in particular is one I'm fairly often jumping into and rewriting for clarity, adding new tidbits, etc., beyond adding entirely new sections to it. I'm in absolutely no mood or position to further project manage someone external to our administrators to keep up with my daily editing whims to make sure that a translation that I can't personally vouch for is representing us faithfully. Pages on our site aren't static (beyond MAYBE things like the home video and music guides), and it would be a logistical nightmare.

Websites are dumb.
:: [| Mike "VegettoEX" LaBrie |] ::
:: [| Kanzenshuu - Co-Founder/Administrator, Podcast Host, News Manager (note: our "job" titles are arbitrary and meaningless) |] ::
:: [| Website: January 1998 |] :: [| Podcast: November 2005 |] :: [| Fusion: April 2012 |] :: [| Wiki: 20XX |] ::

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Re: Is there a possibility for a Spanish version of the main site?

Post by Cold Skin » Fri Nov 03, 2017 12:01 pm

It's understandable, I expected as much. :)
As you said, you can't notify people for every little change you do and people like me - as enthusiastic as I could be about it - surely can't spend their time checking if there's any change in any article either...

But it was still nice for me to go in depth with the idea to really see what it would imply and what it would look like.

It's not great, but I guess those who can't understand English properly still have other ways to get the info, such as Google Translate which will likely offer them poor translations of the articles on the main website or on the potential future ultimate wiki, but they'll be more or less able to understand the result.

It does make me a bit sad that not everyone has access to the professional quality you guys offer. The DB community across the world is so easy to misguide and sometimes has developped so many misconceptions about a whole bunch of things during years, that it would have helped to grant more people the best access to what you guys did.
But there are things one just can't be expected to handle with the means one has.
Especially for something which is not a company's daily job with a whole network of staff, but some extra activity during spare time from a few fans already having their hands full with it as it is.

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