Briefings in German

[Centurian]

Where could I go to find German language briefings for the scenarios and campaigns in the combat mission games? Or at the very least for the German campaigns and the German side of the scenarios?

[ASL Veteran]

Hmmm, you know ..... I don't think that the scenario briefings are converted into other languages for the foreign language versions.  I think only the main menu screens and stuff like that is translated. 

[Centurian]

Well damn. I suppose I should look into doing it myself. But I won't have the fluency to do proper translations for at least another six months!

[ASL Veteran]

I don't know who BFC has that does all the translation work, but if someone was willing to translate all the briefings it might be worth contacting them just to see what they say.  I have to imagine that it would be a tremendous amount of work though!  I could definitely see value in having all the briefings translated.  I can only assume that it is a matter of cost at the moment.

[hank24]

I could translate these briefings to German language and would be ready to do that for a new game like CM:FB, because that is an amount bearable. Not for all the briefings which are there presently. Writing on military themes in English or German language is my usual work, I do not even notice the difference sometimes. Would just need the text in Word or better rtf format, because otherwise it is difficult with just one screen which is completely occupied by the game. See website on my profile.

[Ts4EVER]

I would also be willing to do it (for a free copy ). German is my mother tongue, I have a university degree in English and History and I have translated texts into German for a video game modification before.

 

edit: Also if you give me the psds I could also translate the picture files and tactical maps from the briefings.

Edited February 21, 2016 by Ts4EVER

[MikeyD]

I just copied some English text and dropped it into the Google Translate box and got what looks to my inexpert eye like a moderately passable translation into German. If you go into the game editor and open a scenario you can 'export' the orders as a .txt document. Here's a quick example of some fake scenario orders pulled from the game. German proficient readers can see how good or bad it is.

This is no use for campaigns, though, because the scenarios are locked and you can't get access to the orders text in the editor.

 

[permanent666]

Without the english original one would not understand the orders in that briefing.

[Centurian]

Without the english original one would not understand the orders in that briefing.

Well the idea is that the translation would be there for people who speak German. Or, as in my case, who are learning German and want to increase their degree of immersion.

[Centurian]

I could translate these briefings to German language and would be ready to do that for a new game like CM:FB, because that is an amount bearable. Not for all the briefings which are there presently. Writing on military themes in English or German language is my usual work, I do not even notice the difference sometimes. Would just need the text in Word or better rtf format, because otherwise it is difficult with just one screen which is completely occupied by the game. See website on my profile.

I would also be willing to do it (for a free copy ). German is my mother tongue, I have a university degree in English and History and I have translated texts into German for a video game modification before.

 

edit: Also if you give me the psds I could also translate the picture files and tactical maps from the briefings.

I will personally pay for both of your copies of the game. It would be awesome if you guys did that!

[hank24]

MickeyD said: 'go into the game editor and open a scenario you can 'export' the orders as a .txt document.'

Yes, now I remember that faintly, will check that tonight at home. Should be easy with an exported .txt file. And the proposal of Ts4EVER to get a free copy of CM:FB for the translation sounds fair for me, also.  But Ts4EVER seems to be better qualified, I am just an engineer concerned with military simulations.

The Google translation left me rolling on the floor, these guys from silicon valley have an admirably sense of humor.

Edited February 22, 2016 by hank24

[RockinHarry]

 

The Google translation left me rolling on the floor, these guys from silicon valley have an admirably sense of humor.

Yep, it´s totally crap, worst kind of.  Reminds me of him talking, but in even more riddled ways:

http://www.starwarss.de/media/yoda.jpg

 

[permanent666]

Well the idea is that the translation would be there for people who speak German. Or, as in my case, who are learning German and want to increase their degree of immersion.

Sorry if it was not clear that my reply was directed towards the google translation. I meant as a german speaker one would not have a clue what to do or expect in that scenario.

[poesel]

I'm quite happy that the briefings are not in German. The necessary writing patterns and phrases that would be necessary to get the full immersion would be IMHO a bit too close to the real thing for my comfort. That may be a bit silly but the different language is a differentiation that separates game and real thing for me.
Also I doubt it would be much fun if you don't read German. Just imagine you get your briefings in Cyrillic in RT.
And there are better ways to learn German than CM briefings - just think about how far you'd get with the ladies with that word pool?

 

Btw since most of the local Germans came out here: how about we do something really useful and re-record some of the sound files? Some of them sound really awful.

[RockinHarry]

I'm quite happy that the briefings are not in German. The necessary writing patterns and phrases that would be necessary to get the full immersion would be IMHO a bit too close to the real thing for my comfort. That may be a bit silly but the different language is a differentiation that separates game and real thing for me.
Also I doubt it would be much fun if you don't read German. Just imagine you get your briefings in Cyrillic in RT.
And there are better ways to learn German than CM briefings - just think about how far you'd get with the ladies with that word pool?

 

Btw since most of the local Germans came out here: how about we do something really useful and re-record some of the sound files? Some of them sound really awful.

Re recording german language sound files would be a good idea and it´s long overdue. Not that it matters much for non german speakers as said.

Whoever tries on recording stuff needs to consider that´s it´s not just talking into a cheap headset microphone at your computer place, like you do when chatting with a buddy in your favourite multiplayer online game. That ´ll sound totally crap. (a number of more technical prerequisites could be mentioned here...) Also if some minimum contemporary military phrases resemblance should be achieved, a bit of indepth knowledge is required. Maybe somewhat more than a dozen phrases or so, should be sufficient I think, as most the nonsense chatter in the game could simply be replaced with silent files. Have at least 3-4 people/voices to add tonal and phrase variety and you´re set. In theory...

Otherwise you´d achieve the same mediocre quality results as we´ve now in the game.

 

[poesel]

Is there someone who can do sound post processing?

A long time ago I made a list with all the in-game texts and put it on the Wiki. Some helpful soul then translated the German to English (with google most likely - 'gunner'->'Sagittarius' made me laugh). I'm afraid he missed the point of the list and so I reverted it back.

http://combatmission.wikia.com/wiki/What_the_Germans_say

My original list had a rating for sound quality but I seem to have lost it. Btw, I found this, too:

@RockinHarry - guess who participated in that discussion 5 years ago?

[Bulletpoint]

I think the voices for the German troops are decent enough (I'm not a native German speaker), but the voices of the fire support radio chatter is quite low audio quality, and the guys on the radio sound like kids - maybe intentional, as the soldiers were often young, but then I guess that would also go for the US side?

[Centurian]

I'm quite happy that the briefings are not in German. The necessary writing patterns and phrases that would be necessary to get the full immersion would be IMHO a bit too close to the real thing for my comfort. That may be a bit silly but the different language is a differentiation that separates game and real thing for me.
Also I doubt it would be much fun if you don't read German. Just imagine you get your briefings in Cyrillic in RT.
And there are better ways to learn German than CM briefings - just think about how far you'd get with the ladies with that word pool?

 

Btw since most of the local Germans came out here: how about we do something really useful and re-record some of the sound files? Some of them sound really awful.

You don't seem to quite understand.

I am not suggesting that any of the briefings in game would be replaced by German briefings. I am suggesting that German briefings be available in addition to the English versions. Probably in scenario files in the repository that you almost certainly wouldn't even bother to download if you couldn't read German.

Also(kind of a sidebar I suppose), since your post seems to suggest that you think CM is my entire plan for learning German, it isn't. No one thing ever is for any language. I have flashcards for vocabulary(over 5000 of them), a textbook for grammar and sentence composition, lots of books, movies, music, and audio books for immersion, a dictionary for stray words not on my flashcards, and I will soon begin finding some German friends to practice my speech with(once I gain a bit more confidence). But I found it very helpful last year, when I was learning Korean, to extend my immersion into my time spent playing computer games as well(fairly easy to find Korean language versions for several mainstream games).

Becoming fluent in another language quickly involves taking advantage of everything you can. Whether you are reading a book(Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen), relaxing to music(Luxuslärm, Elif, Fayzen, Christina Stürmer, Rammstein!), or reading your orders before smashing some American tanks, every chance to maximize your time spent using and practicing your target language is worth taking.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Centurian
Changed caps to bold. Caps looks too much like yelling, didn't want to be rude.

[Warts 'n' all]

My German is pretty much limited to beer styles, football teams and, a smattering of historical words. But, I do enjoying using the German UI when I play a battle or campaigns as the Germans. I think providing an optional German language briefing would be nice, although I suspect it would take quite a bit of work.

[umlaut]

 the guys on the radio sound like kids

Yep. I always think of Radar O'Reilly from M*A*S*H when I hear the german artillery dialogue.

[hank24]

Where could I go to find German language briefings for the scenarios and campaigns in the combat mission games? Or at the very least for the German campaigns and the German side of the scenarios?

Back to your original request. If you want to play a particular battle, just PM me the name and I will translate the German side text and send it back the same way. BN, MG, CW, FI, GL, RT.

[Kuderian]

It would be interesting if someone posted a real German briefing and then put it into Google translate and see if the  english was readable?

[hank24]

It would be interesting if someone posted a real German briefing and then put it into Google translate and see if the  english was readable?

Here it is:

Panzerbataillon 33 verteidigt mit Schwerpunkt links in 3 Stunden im Raum Adorf, Behausen, Ceweiler, um die Voraussetzung für den Angriff der Panzerbrigade 3 zu schaffen.

from Rainer Oestmann: Dazu befehle ich...!

my translation:

33th Tank Battalion defends with main effort left starting 3 hours from now within the area of Adorf, Behausen, Ceweiler, to create the precondition for the attack of 3rd Tank Brigade.

 

Google:

Tank Battalion 33 defends focusing left in 3 hours in space Adorf, able to house, Ceweiler to create the conditions for the attack of the armored brigade. 3

Not too bad, just the Name of the second village was misunderstood as a verb.

[Centurian]

Back to your original request. If you want to play a particular battle, just PM me the name and I will translate the German side text and send it back the same way. BN, MG, CW, FI, GL, RT.

That would be awesome. I'll let you know.