Editor note: I moved this out from a topic about translating OJE, because it is much more general than just OJE…
There are several basic uses of an online Go server for players to stick around. From its core functions to optional ones are:
“Playing games”, (users need to be able to find games and enjoy them)
“Tools for Learning” (functions like joseki explorer, or puzzles)
“Place of Teaching” (functions like annotations, game analysis tools, groups, and in-game chat, etc.)
“Communities” - (getting news, watching games, finding friends, even gamification like betting virtual coins on Foxwq, their function isn’t just for fun, but people gather around due to a common goal and create engagements, although some Go servers have very little regarding this function, and they still work)
Let’s assume I am a young Chinese-speaking Go player, who doesn’t speak any English, which is pretty common for young kids. The most basic function - Playing games for OGS n its current form has already run into trouble. And I don’t think even the basic system interface meets the “reasonable success” level yet.
Just look at the “Play” a game page.
First of all, the game clock timers portion of the interface is still in English, and without looking at the “help” section, you wouldn’t even know what these option means (and as poorly translated the help page I’ve shown above, the help page, even if they can find it won’t help them either).
And then the drop down “options”
“精確” 選擇設定(一次性)
“可調的” 傾向於一種時間設定，但也可以接受另一種類似速度的時間設定
“多元的” 選擇多個可以接受的時間，以及棋盤尺寸的設定
If you give a Chinese native speaker to read this, they would probably need to read like 3 times to get a guess of what they might mean (let alone the extra texts under Multiple 將所有的設定調整至你認為適合的模式, which don’t convey the meanings of the original text, it is more akin to “adjust all the settings to proper modes you see fit”, they would just get confused as to “what settings”? and “what proper modes”?). Even the default Flexible, translated as 可調的 (it is more akin to adjustable with options, and they would start looking for options and might get confused as to what are they adjusting, and options are in English)
Then, the daily correspondence is translated as 日常訊息, which means “Daily messages” and I don’t think any of the students I spoke to tried OGS ever found out OGS has correspondence games on their own. Also the left side Handicap has the drop down default as “請求” meaning “asking”, not “required”, and there are lots of “smaller” translation problems (not in terms of how wrong they are, but the functions with error translation aren’t crucial), like “show plot” is “展示想法” (show thoughts), or Ineligible as “不合格” (means disqualified, or failed something, usually an exam) while the correct translation is shown in the listed games “不可接受”
And this is just the core function of “play a game”. How would you rank or feel a Go server has a translated interface like this, and its “professionalism” and “availability”?
