to be more precise about the best German naming (if it should better be “Quick games” or “Fast games” instead of “Short Games”).
I think the naming scheme is ambiguous. One could think of a “Short Game” as a game which ends within a short time (e.g. within 30 mins) and a “Long Game” as a game which could last several hours.
Since the categories are about “Blitz/Live Games” and “Correspondence Games”, a naming scheme highlighting those aspects could be more beneficial.
Blitz is a German word meaning flash or lightning. Blitz as short form for Blitzkrieg (lightning war) is not used in Germany, it’s considered to be an English word when used in that context.
Like lightning, Blitz can refer to something quick when used as adjective or adverb.
Sorry perhaps I was unclear or misunderstood. The post is regarding translating English terms to German, correct? And you’re looking for the best words to convey Blitz, Live, and Correspondence in German.
I understand Live and Correspondence needing translation, but can’t German use Blitz for gameplay as English do? Or are you saying it means something else when used properly in their language?
I was probably unclear.
What I wanted to propose is a general change from “Short Game” -> “Blitz/Live Games” and “Long Games” -> “Correspondence Games” for all languages.
To me short and long seems to be ambiguous, since short and long aren’t well-defined durations. One can easily think of long as taking more than 1 hour.
I’m simply not sure if “Blitz/Live Games” and “Correspondence Games” would be better. (and what the German equivalent for correspondence game would be if we would go for it)
Blitz / Live / Correspondence are industry standards that at least apply also to chess but I think also to other similar games. Short and Long, to me, seem more subjective and tricky to pin down on a specific meaning. As you say a 1 hour game could be considered long, normal, or fast, depending on whether you’re talking to someone who normally plays blitz, live, or correspondence respectively.
Germans must have a word for correspondence. How would a German person describe a conversation held between two people by mail over a long period of time? I would think they would have such a word.
To me Live seems trickier… but maybe it’s only a tricky word in English as live (time) and live (life) can be confused. This is probably less confusing in other languages as they would have their own unique words.
Would this be understood intuitively as the communicative sense rather than a connection/correlation?
But isn’t Blitz also real-time? That’s the only confusion I immediately see as possible (though this is speaking as essentially an English only speaker)
Edit: although I guess if you had blitz and real-time next to each other the distinction would be clear.
I’ve thought about Echtzeit but that only really works with, say, StarCraft. It would be nice to say “rundenbasiert” for correspondence, but we quickly see that even real-time Go is “rundenbasiert”.
I’d stick to Blitz/Live considering they’re the de-facto time controls.
I guess English to German is fairly easy since English stole a bunch of German in the first place and also English is (I assume) the second most common language in Germany anyway, so some cross level of understanding exists… the discussion might get more difficult in languages further removed from greater European roots.
Wow interesting (sorry flovo again for the offtopic ) what would you suggest is a contender for common languages in Germany other than German and English? Are there regional dialects that I’m unaware of? I guess Austrian counts as its own language, huh? That must also be a common language I guess… (please forgive my ignorance, not trying to be rude just genuinely curious)
I agree.
I think the only argument that splits the bunch in two is: correspondence (yes/no).
So I suggest to use just “Live games” and “Correspondence games”, since blitz games are nothing more than quick live games.
If, for some reason, the “blitz” argument needs to be stressed, I’d suggest to make three bars.
A separate section for live and blitz games would be useful.
Consistency of terms is a good idea. I would prefer “Blitz”, “Live” and “Correspondence” to replace “Short”, “Long” and “Normal” on buttons, game chart and game lists.
) what would you suggest is a contender for common languages in Germany other than German and English? Are there regional dialects that I’m unaware of? I guess Austrian counts as its own language, huh? That must also be a common language I guess… (please forgive my ignorance, not trying to be rude just genuinely curious)