patolino Posted July 1, 2002 Share Posted July 1, 2002 One thing that came into my mind when reading the posts about the possibility of a Finnish translation: names of places. There are plenty of locations in the areas Finland ceded to Soviet Union that changed their names (either took existing russian names or were given a russified name) after the war; however during the war, and indeed still in Finnish language discussion, the Finnish names are used. Examples: "Viipuri" vs. "Vyborg", "Laatokka" vs. "Ladoga", "Syväri" vs. "Svir". If these sort of names appear in e.g. scenario briefings, I would take some offense if I would read russified names in the briefing of Finnish forces. Sorry if this sounds anal, but that's how I would feel -- my relatives bled and died for some of those places. And I can imagine Russian players would feel the same in the reverse situation. AFAIK there are similar things between other countries (e.g., Timisoara-Temesvar between Rumania and Hungary). I'd use the name specific to the language of each side in scenario briefings where this would be an issue, but maybe that confuses those who don't have such nits to pick. Comments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted July 1, 2002 Share Posted July 1, 2002 I think this could open a whole can of worms. For instance, the Germans used their own spellings of Russian names. And in any event, virtually all Western accounts of the war use Roman letters and spellings, not the Cyrillic. I expect that BTS will go with whatever is most common in Western accounts, and while I don't mean to slight the legitimate interests of other nationalities (including those that once comprised the USSR), given the audience for CM:BB, I can't see at this time a compelling reason for them to do otherwise. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted July 1, 2002 Share Posted July 1, 2002 There is also the question of using the current name vs. the WW II name. While researching a battle that GD fought in Lithuania, I encountered three different names for the same place. Wilkowischken was the German name, Vilkaviskis was the Lithuanian name (or rather, IS the Lithuanian name today), and I believe the place was also called Wolfsburg by the Germans. No idea what the Russians called it because I have not been able to find any Russian documentation on the battle. As Michael suggests, given the resources I have, I would have used "Wilkowischken" because most of the references to the battle use this German name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rune Posted July 1, 2002 Share Posted July 1, 2002 On several battles I have researched, I get multiple names. Current, Russian, German, etc. I went with the name that would be recognized. I have to get the briefings done in English, since that is what I speak, and understand. To expect me to know the Finnish spellings and names is not realistic, nor possible. There is no malice or disrespect intended, just the hard fact that I don't speak or know the Finnish names. Rune Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted July 1, 2002 Share Posted July 1, 2002 On the other hand, I suppose it wouldn't do us Anglophones too much traumatic injury to try to pick up a few words in other languages now and then. I mean, most of us seem to manage with Panzerfaust, don't we? And a few of us can even handle Kampfwagen. So if some enterprising Finn, just to choose one example, were to provide us with a short list of essential military terms in Finnish, we could start working our way through it. Who knows, by the time CM:BB is out, we could all be reciting the Kelavala by heart. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWB Posted July 1, 2002 Share Posted July 1, 2002 Ok, so I should insult the russians and use finnish names. Yeah, sure. WWB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warphead Posted July 1, 2002 Share Posted July 1, 2002 WWB: Nope. You have to use the Russian names for the Russian briefings and Finnish names for Finnish briefings. Of course if a Finn wants to play a scenario from the Russian side he will be insulted. Maybe a disclaimer in the general briefing would be at hand: "If you are a InsertAxisNationHere and play this scenario as the Russians you might find offensive village names in the briefing! Please only proceed if this does not piss you off and makes you show your teeth!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted July 1, 2002 Share Posted July 1, 2002 As an example, I have seen at least two or three different spellings of Belyi (Rshew/Rzhew sector) in German documents of the time - transcribing Cyrillic was obviously not everybody's strong point. In German, Temeschwar (IIRC) is the correct spelling. Since the place was populated mostly by people of German descent speaking German from the 1600s or 1700s until a few years ago, why would a German scenario designer call it something else for a scenario set in 1944? I think the best you can do is, if you notice a 'mistake' in a briefing, to send a polite email informing the designer. I am sure in most cases people do not design the scenarios with the aim to eff off one particular group of people and/or Finns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted July 1, 2002 Share Posted July 1, 2002 How about a pop-up menu on the start screen that would allow you to choose which language you want your place-names etc. to be in? Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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