Auto-translate Suggestions

I posted this in another thread, but I feel it deserves its own, and where the Loc team will see it. :] Hey guys~

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mychael

I agree. Obviously not places, but the auto-translator in XI was fairly well-developed. I'm going to drop all of my suggestions in this thread. It's not "complete" because I'm tired and lost the will to finish. >.>

Please add...
Some terms I think should be added (some from XI, some not):
- Everyone
- Fact
- Last Boss
- Good Afternoon
- Anyone
- Big (or Large)
- Small
- Full, or Whole (we have half!)
- Part (as opposed to Whole/Full, but less specific than Half)
- Alternate character (i.e. alt--"my {Alternate Character} is level 30")
- I have one already. (Refers to linkshells, parties, or items)
- Could you please move to another location?
- I don't need it, but I could use it.
- How will we handle the distribution of items?
- Please pass it to me.
- Good
- Great
- Poor
- Awful
- Resist
- Resistance

Questions with no answers?
We have a lot of questions, but no way to respond without Google Translate. So for the various questions, I propose that the loc team look through and come up with 2~5 answers each that actually make sense. Obviously, many questions cannot be answered out of a limited dictionary, but I think it's fair to ask for some general responses such as these:

Who?
- The classifications from the 2.0 screenshot: Attacker, Caster, Tank, Healer, Buffer
- Leader (purposefully non-specific to allow for {Party} {leader}, {Linkshell} {leader}, {Front line class} {leader}, etc.)

When?
- Now
- In a little bit.
- Soon
- After
- Before
- Any time
- As soon as we are ready.

How many?
- Many
- Few
- Too many
- Too few

Greetings mis-labeled?
How are any of these terms "greetings?" I think "Greetings" should be re-named to "Courtesies" or the like, and some of these fit better in other categories.
- Goodbye!
- I had fun today!
- See you again!
- Let's play together again sometime!
- I'm back!
- Welcome back.
- Congratulations!
- Good Job! (-> Exclamations... new category? ;D)
- Good luck! (-> Exclamations)
- All right! (-> Exclamations)
- Thank you!
- You're welcome.
- Take care.
- I'm sorry.
- Please forgive me.
- That's too bad. (->Answers)

Other mis-categorized terms..
(Current -> Where they should be)
- Casting Spell (Reasons -> Actions...new category?)
- Oops! (Reasons -> Exclamations)
- Have stuff to do, gotta go! (Reasons -> [whatever category "Goodbye" is in])
- I don't know. (Reasons -> Answers...or Responses, see below.)
- I'm interested. (Reasons -> Answers)
- Fighting right now! (Reasons -> Actions)
- Medicine (General Terms -> Game Terms)
- Food (General Terms -> Game Terms)
- Can you hear me? (Languages -> Questions)
- Please use simple words (Languages -> Questions?)
- Please listen. (Languages -> General Terms)
- I need some time to put together my answer. (Languages ->Answers)
- Recommend (Organize -> ???)
- My gear is in poor condition. (Organize -> ??? (Trade, but I think "trade" should be dissolved)

Abilities
There is a category for each DoM/DoW's actions, but DoH/DoL actions are in a huge "abilities" category. Split it into "Crafter Actions and Abilities" and "Gatherer Actions," both to alleviate the confusion (It's an ability...but oh wait, it's a Gladiator and Paladin action, too.) and to make it less huge. There are already two categories basically--"Crafter Actions" and "Gatherer Actions," but they are too literal. They only include the actions (Stone Throw, Wrist Flick) as opposed to abilities (which are the vast majority of skills used by DoL/DoH. Just split it into these already-existent categories; add the "and Abilities" if it bothers someone's OCD.

Answers... or responses?
The "answers" category seems to be more of "responses" than actual "answers," which most commonly would refer to a question's answer rather than simply answering to a statement. Maybe it could be better named? ;)

Job/Class?
I don't think all of these are necessary. I suggest they be re-thought, a little, and a compromise could be found that would ask what role someone wants to play
- What classes can you use?
- What jobs can you use?
- Can you use any other job? (This question needs a non-job-specific counterpart anyway, or the EN version is bad since "job" takes on a specific meaning in FFXIV)

Differentiate between synonyms (or similar phrases)
There are a lot of phrases/terms which mean almost the same thing in English, and they make me wonder if there's a subtle distinction in other languages.

Differentiate between homonyms
- Second (It refers to the time, but is often used to mark the second thing in a series. )
- Clear (It refers to the weather, but is often used to decribe a cleared dungeon, or a transparent object)

Is this mean or not?
In general, I always assume that no auto-translate term is intended to be "mean," but a few, in particular, have made me wary of using them since I don't know exactly how they translate.
- Um...
- Huh?
- Really?

Buy/Sell
I've always wondered how it appears to other languages. When I say "{Crab Bow} {Buy?} 200k", am I saying "Will you buy my Crab Bow for 200k?" or "May I buy your Crab Bow for 200k?" Even though I'm almost certain "Buy?" indicates MY interest in buying (since "Sell?" can only work one way), but it's not clear. I say replace them with:
- Can I buy it?
- Would you like to buy it?

Overlapping Categories
- While I appreciate that the terms are organized, it's difficult to navigate because the classifications are not mutually exclusive. In other words, the terms in "Trade" could easily be sorted into "Questions," "Responses," and "Reasons." There are questions in "Organize," and so on. It makes it difficult to quickly naviage--"It's a question, but about this trade...um...."

Unofficial Languages
Would it be possible to add the names of languages that are not officially supported? So that when the Japanese player asks a Spanish player what their language is, and the Spanish person sees the English translation, they can translate "Spanish"? I don't know if this is possible, however, because of the sheer number of languages in the world. Someone's feelings would be hurt if you didn't list their language, so it may be best as is.

My biggest complaint: CACHE
- While I understand for items and players' names, I believe that places or statuses should be permanently saved so that we're not asking around the LS for someone to translate a zone's name before we can shout. -_-
- There needs to be a way to manually add items or NPC names to the dictionary's cache--see my thread on /translate from XI.

Which job would you prefer me to be on?
What abilities should I use?
Which monster next?
Is there anything I should know before we start?

I'll post more as I go along.

Thank you very much for the post!

We have another post up regarding auto-translate dictionary suggestions here in the LOC forums and got a plethora of great ideas from not only EN users, but FR and DE users as well. I passed them along to the fine man in charge of the auto-translate dictionary, and they agreed to ninja several into the upcoming 1.23 patch.

I'll make sure that the ones on your list get passed along to the team, so hopefully we can get them in a future patch or at least in the game in time for 2.0.