Spanish Sisters codex - content omissions and translations

[Kastor Krieg]

Apparently, according to Spanish players, GW has not only cheaped out on a DTP team, meaning that since Spanish has greater word volume in translation, they've literally cut out some of the fluff to cram it into the very same layout as the English version, making the codex an 80-page book instead of 112 pages. This has also seen a lot of the new illustrations removed.

That would be bad on its own, but the translation is reportedly very poor, containing a lot of "Spanglish", etc.

Edited January 27, 2020 by WarriorFish
More meaningful title

[UtariOnzo]

That’s really poor, even for GW standards, to drop whole lore segments and illustrations just to trim the book length

[DeadFingers]

This has been the case for a good bunch of years now, sadly. They cut the fluff portions of the Codices I believe since the start of 8th (maybe the final days of 7th, I'll admit I was a bit out of it before Magnus showed up), and the Spanglish and bad translations were a thing waaaaaaay before that and have only been getting worse. I've been buying the English version of everything since AdMech was just Skitarii.

Edited January 27, 2020 by DeadFingers

[Marshal Rohr]

They talk about this in Stormcast/Podcast. Its the best they can do because of printing restrictions.

Edited January 28, 2020 by Dosjetka
=][= Removed sniping. =][=

[Marshal Loss]

That's extremely disappointing. I hope people complain & GW sees reason

Edited January 27, 2020 by Marshal Loss

[Master Umbra]

Hi there!

Thanks for this. To be honest. I outright stopped buying any new Codexes, Army Books and novels in Spanish (and I have barely bought any material in English since 2012) after they decided to keep all marketable terminology in EN, in order to make the brand cohesive amongst countries. This means that, terms that used to be translated, like your favorite Chapter and Legion names, got retconned and now even the novels need to leave these terms in English. Let me tell you that, for a sci-fi novel where EN is not the language being spoken (instead, most of times is High Gothic), makes zero sense to use any English terms in Spanish translations. It just takes you out off the book. It's just lame.

To illustrate my point, imagine that the inverse scenario was true:

Captain Belial of the capítulo de los Ángeles Sangrientos, strode through the deck, bolter in hand. The nefarious Legión Negra, led by the vile Abaddon el Saqueador, had obliterated all sign of Marines Espaciales in orbit. He wished that the Emperador de la Humanidad was at his side in this time of tribulation.

Yeah... not cool.

What strikes me as a surprise is the fact that both German and French, as far as I know, have a similar 30%+ word ratio in their translations as well, yet they don't seem to have been affected?

Weird and utterly lame.
 

Edited January 27, 2020 by Master Umbra

[Master Sheol]

Italian books have shortened fluff too

That's why i don't buy italian books anymore

[Lord Marshal]

That's extremely disappointing. I hope people complain & GW sees reason

 

GW presumably knows people will buy it anyway. Hell, look at all the people in this thread 'buying English versions anyway'.

 

The perks of all but having a wargaming monopoly.

Edited January 27, 2020 by Lord Marshal

[Grand Master Laertes]

What strikes me as a surprise is the fact that both German and French, as far as I know, have a similar 30%+ word ratio in their translations as well, yet they don't seem to have been affected?

 

 

 

 

The problem is not the word ratio, is the fact that sales in Italy and Spain are lower, so the translation teams are smaller for budget reasons, so they don't have enough manpower to translate everything in time, even though resorting to freelances for some products. Also, as the smaller print runs would make the prices rise, so they have resorte to cut a non-core part of the content to keep them in line with those of the other countries.

 

Source: I was there as in-house translator when this all began, and even though we tried to complain, there was nothing we could do.

 

EDIT: typos

Edited January 27, 2020 by Grand Master Laertes

[Kastor Krieg]

They talk about this in Stormcast/Podcast. Its the best they can do because of printing restrictions.

As a professional with over 15 years of experience in the field as an editor and translator who cooperates with DTP professional (games, pen and paper RPGs, 40k content even) I can assure you that there are literally zero "restrictions", even despite Spanish translation gaining volume (just like Polish ones do), that would force them to cut content from a book like that.

 

What they are doing is cheaping the hell out on DTP adjustment of the book format, while at the same time apparently cheaping out on translation and editing as well. This is the "how low can we go" edition - if they need to pay DTP to adjust the format to accomodate Spanish text, they cut Spanish text instead. And then the text itself is subpar quality.

Edited January 28, 2020 by Dosjetka
=][= Edited quote and removed sniping. =][=

[Thaliontil]

 

What strikes me as a surprise is the fact that both German and French, as far as I know, have a similar 30%+ word ratio in their translations as well, yet they don't seem to have been affected?

 

 

 

 

The problem is not the word ratio, is the fact that sales in Italy and Spain are lower, so the translation teams are smaller for budget reasons, so they don't have enough manpower to translate everything in time, even though resorting to freelances for some products. Also, as the smaller print runs would make the prices rise, so they have resorte to cut a non-core part of the content to keep them in line with those of the other countries.

 

Source: I was there as in-house translator when this all began, and even though we tried to complain, there was nothing we could do.

 

EDIT: typos

 

 

How low are the sales in 40k to justify this? I only have two Codex in Spanish, both the BA one of 2017 and Blood of Baal and they are terribly translated, and, in the case of the former, significantly smaller than its English counterpart (so this has been happening for a while). I know that we were the country were Fantasy was the most popular game out of all of the range, but I didn't know we were doing so poorly in terms of sales. Any ideas on any channel to present a formal complain to GW?

[Kastor Krieg]

Source: I was there as in-house translator when this all began, and even though we tried to complain, there was nothing we could do.

Sorry to hear that, man. I know how :cussty it feels when the publisher doesn't value your skill and ethical, professional feedback about QA.

[Marshal Rohr]

 

They talk about this in Stormcast/Podcast. Its the best they can do because of printing restrictions. She literally explains why in the interview. Nice click bait. 

As a professional with over 15 years of experience in the field as an editor and translator who cooperates with DTP professional (games, pen and paper RPGs, 40k content even) I can assure you that there are literally zero "restrictions", even despite Spanish translation gaining volume (just like Polish ones do), that would force them to cut content from a book like that.

 

What they are doing is cheaping the hell out on DTP adjustment of the book format, while at the same time apparently cheaping out on translation and editing as well. This is the "how low can we go" edition - if they need to pay DTP to adjust the format to accomodate Spanish text, they cut Spanish text instead. And then the text itself is subpar quality.

 

 

In the interview, she says they have set limits on pages. The language has to fit into the set number of pages. She explains the entire process.

Edited January 28, 2020 by Dosjetka
=][= Edited quote and removed sniping. =][=

[Kastor Krieg]

Captain Belial of the capítulo de los Ángeles Sangrientos, strode through the deck, bolter in hand. The nefarious Legión Negra, led by the vile Abaddon el Saqueador, had obliterated all sign of Marines Espaciales in orbit. He wished that the Emperador de la Humanidad was at his side in this time of tribulation.

 

Yeah... not cool.

Did the Marines Espaciales embark on a Gran Conquista by any chance?

 

EDIT:

 

PFFFFFF, I just googled that and the first thing pops out:

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_conquista_de_Ultramar

 

xD

Edited January 27, 2020 by Reclusiarch Krieg

[Marshal Rohr]

Episode 15, if anyone would like to get a better understanding of why this happens. 

 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/stormcast-podcast/

[Kastor Krieg]

Episode 15, if anyone would like to get a better understanding of why this happens. 

 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/stormcast-podcast/

You rather mean "if anyone is interested in their corporate spin on it".

[Allart01]

Same for Italy... This Is the reason why I haven't been buying translated publications in the past years. Edited January 27, 2020 by The_Bloody

[Kenzaburo]

That's kinda weird, really. All I can really say about that is, that this is not happening in Black Library, at least for the german market. To be honest, I was expecting german translations to be quite a bit higher in word count, too, but funny enough they aren't. 

 

Still, you have less trouble with layout and cut-offs in pure literary publications, so this will be a huge influence on the rules releases by GW proper.

[Frater Antodeniel]

It is trully sad for the Spanish segment of the GW market, and bad advertising for the company.

 

Speaking of translation, as a French i have witnessed years ago a clear drop in the quality of the redaction, notably after the 5th edition. (Being a Blood Angels player, i'm speaking of 5th edition codex and 6th edition rulebook).

 

It still anger me that, despite the easiness of the translation from english to french of many of the words , GW still, stubbornly refuse to return back to proper translations. Of course i admit that having all the names of the units in English make things easier for people who come to play from time to time with other people from other countries, but, lets admit it, young peoples, who are one of the target of GW marketing, will be more attracted to their own languages, which is normal.

 

(Captain = Capitaine, Sanguinary Priest = Prêtre Sanguinien, ...etc, with the Notable Mention of curious things, like having the Sanguinary Priest page entitled "Le Clergé Sanguinien", properly traducted so, but with the name of the units still in english right below^^)

 

I appreciate reading my Black Libary books in english, because i find it pure in essence, as the Warhammer universe come from english people who created a fictional universe with english words, and while some words cannot be translated (A bolter is a bolter, whatever language you use), but regarding the codexes/rulebooks/supplements, when a translation exist, i think that GW must use it, at least to make things more appealing for the country customers.

 

(Speaking of my 5th Blood Angels codex in french, which for me is the perfect example of translation but not to much, while the name of the units were translated, some "iconic" words like "Blood Angels" or "Flesh Tearers" remained un-translated, and it was OK. It was even "cool". Knights of Blood were named Knights of Blood, but Artificer armor was properly translated into Armure d'Artificier, and it was OK. It is so simple that i don't understand why GW don't understand the importance of  such little things...)

Edited January 27, 2020 by Frater Antodeniel

[Grand Master Laertes]

 

 

The problem is not the word ratio, is the fact that sales in Italy and Spain are lower, so the translation teams are smaller for budget reasons, so they don't have enough manpower to translate everything in time, even though resorting to freelances for some products. Also, as the smaller print runs would make the prices rise, so they have resorte to cut a non-core part of the content to keep them in line with those of the other countries.

 

Source: I was there as in-house translator when this all began, and even though we tried to complain, there was nothing we could do.

 

EDIT: typos

 

How low are the sales in 40k to justify this? I only have two Codex in Spanish, both the BA one of 2017 and Blood of Baal and they are terribly translated, and, in the case of the former, significantly smaller than its English counterpart (so this has been happening for a while). I know that we were the country were Fantasy was the most popular game out of all of the range, but I didn't know we were doing so poorly in terms of sales. Any ideas on any channel to present a formal complain to GW?

Even though I don't have the exact figures (I left the company years ago), it's not 40k sales that are low in our countries (40k was the best selling line at the time): GW's whole market in Italy and Spain is quite small compared to France and Germany. Their products simply don't appeal so much in the Mediterranean belt. Many explanations have been proposed for this fact, but never a definitive one. Edited January 27, 2020 by Grand Master Laertes

[Grand Master Laertes]

(A bolter is a bolter, whatever language you use).

Funny example, in Italian the bolter has been called requiem since the 3rd edition!

[Joe]

 

Even though I don't have the exact figures (I left the company years ago), it's not 40k sales that are low in our countries (40k was the best selling line at the time): GW's whole market in Italy and Spain is quite small compared to France and Germany. Their products simply don't appeal so much in the Mediterranean belt. Many explanations have been proposed for this fact, but never a definitive one.

 

I think I can help here.

 

Speaking from experience gleaned at my previous employer, the Mediterranean countries seem to favour the historical market more than the fantasy market. SAGA, Hail Caesar, Bolt Action and so forth all seem to take a larger share of the audience. It's an unusual reversal, but not entirely unheard of. It also goes a long way towards explaining why these war-games tend to put so much focus on getting the content right for those audiences.

[Dagoth Ur]

 

Episode 15, if anyone would like to get a better understanding of why this happens. 

 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/stormcast-podcast/

You rather mean "if anyone is interested in their corporate spin on it".

 

 

 

 

Evil resides in the very gaze that perceives Evil all around itself. - Friedrich Hegel

 

 

(A bolter is a bolter, whatever language you use).

Funny example, in Italian the bolter has been called requiem since the 3rd edition!

 

 

Is this a JoJo reference?

 

[Joe]

On a random note; it's hilarious that they've just started advertising for a new Spanish Translation Manager.

[Grand Master Laertes]

Is this a JoJo reference?

 

No, it's a leftover from the time of the old translation supervisor, who wanted to translate everything (the rhino, for example, become the Defensor until the short story explaining that it is called that way because it is the RH1NO STD project, while the Land Raider and the Land Speeder were, respectively, the Testudo and the Venator, until it was revealed that they are designs rediscovered by Arkhan Land). As bolter is untranslatable he chose requiem because the weapons of the space marines "sing the death of the enemies of the Emperor".

 

As for the Mediterranean belt question, I always associated the low sales to the cultural stigma non-physical hobbies face in countries with a lot of sun and to our higher temperatures (during the summer I cannot paint, because the paints dry almost instantly on the palette).

Edited January 27, 2020 by Grand Master Laertes