Crowdin is our localization platform. This platform will periodically be updated with strings for unreleased game content, so be sure to check this occasionally and inform team members if you spot a string update that has not yet been announced. Volunteers are able to use this platform to suggest new translations for untranslated strings and localization improvements if they spot any errors or vote for localizations they like and downvote those they dislike.

Please see the bottom of this document for Localization Guidelines.

If you are looking to become a translator, please join our Discord server and assign yourself the translator role for more information!
 

What Is A String? 

A string is a short phrase for the source text. A string can be one word or an entire tex field such as an ability description.

Crowdin Anatomy

To start off, you want to be logged in to your Crowdin account once you are logged in, you need to navigate to the Path of Titans project. The Path of Titans Crowdin project is linked in our Discord server.

Here you can see the status of each language we provide support for. The green represents the percentage of translations we have approved in each language. The blue represent edits suggested by our volunteers and grey represent strings that have not yet been translated by anyone.

Untranslated strings are your top priority before you go back an improve existing strings. You may still go back and improve existing while you are working with new strings if you spot an inconsistency.

For the sake of this guide, we will select a language with Latin based letters.

Danish is a language which has both suggested edits and missing translations.

There are two ways to work with localization, Translate and Proofread, which can be accessed by hovering over the language and press the arrow down button to the right of the translation percentage.

This opens the Language Details. Here you can either enter the Translate feature which is a good all-round tool for both translating and approving translations, or the Proofread feature which is more aimed towards approving edits. They are both very similar, except Proofread is less aimed towards writing your own translations. We will begin with Proofread.

Translate

If we click on Danish, it takes us to the Danish language translations. What we need to approve and translate is the Game.po section.

Click on the Game.po to enter the Translate tool.

This is the Translate tool. It can be viewed differently depending on your page layout. This is the layout called Comfortable which is recommended to use in order to see strings and comments for the language you are working with. The page layout can be changed among the option at the top in the right hand corner. 
We will break it down the layout into sections to make it easier to understand.

On the top of the left side panel you will find the string search bar. You can filter this tool for already approved strings, specific strings etc.  which can be good when you make sure certain words are translated consistently.

Under, you can find the current filter setting and the source strings.

• Green checkmark means the translation has been approved.
• Blue box means there is an unapproved translation suggestion pending.
• Red box means the string has not been translated.

In the middle at the top, you will find the source string that volunteers will submit a localization for.

In this example you can see some words marked in yellow, these are static and cannot be translated or edited.

Below is short information on where in the game this string can be found, as it is not always obvious to tell. For example: for abilities, you may find the word “ability” . Here we can see that this is a chat command.

Underneath is the suggested translation which you may edit and save, which can be helpful if the suggestion is not using capital letters to match the source string or other minor tweaks.

After that we have the translator who submitted the translation. Here we can either approve their translation through the checkmark (ALT + Enter) or delete. 
Note: Only delete your own submissions. You can inform a staff member if there is a submission which should be deleted!

Last, we have machine translations and suggestions for the source string. Crowdin will sometimes suggest translations that are either the same or identical. It looks like this:

At the bottom of the suggestion, you can see the match percentage. Please be aware that the match must be 100% as Crowdin will suggest translations that are not correct. These translations are pulled from previous translations on Crowdin which is not necessarily identical strings.

The suggested translation above is an example of a suggestion that should never be considered due to the high risk of it being incorrect. This example shows where there is a translation conflict in Red and Green. Please do not use these suggestions for longer strings and look out for other users who may have mistakenly suggested one of these suggested translation without checking.

To the right, you can see comments made on the source string. Comments marked as an issue will be red, and it is generally a user struggling to translate the specific string either due to lack of context or an issue with the string.

Please be aware that these comments are global on this string. As you can see, this comment was created by a user translating the string to Norwegian. If you are translating a string, and you are yourself unsure of the translation, please ask Alderon staff for assistance.

Proofread

Proofread is even more similar to Translate with the exception that it by default filters for proposed translations to simply proofread instead of giving you everything. You can still change the filter settings to show everything that is normally shown via Translate.
 

Localization Rules and Guidelines

There are some important guidelines you need to know when translating. 

• You must be fluent in the language you are localizing!
   
  • It is not allowed to rely on machine translators or AI in order to localize our strings. Machine translations including AI are often lower quality and looks off to native speakers.
     
  • Alderon Staff may enter machine translations as placeholder. If they are unfit, please suggest a better translation!
     
• This is a localization project not a translation project.
   
  • This means that you are not only translating strings, you are localizing them. We seek to localize strings to sound fluent and natural in each language. You may need to change the sentence structure or use several words to describe a word or action in order to achieve this.
     
• You must have played Path of Titans in order to translate.
   
  • This will help you understand our setting and context as certain strings might not make a lot of sense if you have not played the game before.
     
• Path of Titans uses several made-up words!
   
  • As a translator, you may have to get creative to find a suitable translation which sounds alright in your language. The phrase you submit does not have to be an actual phrase in your own language as long as it fits the purpose and the player will be able to understand what is going on while it still fits into the Path of Titans universe. An example of such a word is Homecave. Waystone is a made-up word with no translation for most languages. You may need to get creative or submit a literal translation for what is better suited in your particular language.
    
    Literal translation example, the Swedish translation for Homecave is a literal translation where the word was split in two and each part translated to create a new word which has as little meaning as the original word but still useful for a user who plays in Swedish to be able to guess what others are talking about when they use the English word for Homecave, and they will also be able to guess the English word for Homecave basing it on the Swedish word.
    
    Here is how the word is built: Home = Hem, cave = grotta, and it made the word Hemgrotta.
    
    If this formula works in your language, you can apply it to other made-up words, such as “Waystone” if there are no translations available.
    
    In other cases you can make up something new which explains what is going on using different words.
     
• Make sure the translation is consistent!
   
  • There are many volunteers participating in this project and there are many ways to translate the same word into different words. It is very likely that some words were translated to different phrases throughout Crowdin. We must make sure they are all consistent to not confuse players!
    
    Examples of words that are commonly translated in different ways: Marks, skin vs hide, Homecave, Waystone, shedding, and group/party.
     
  • Early versions of Path of Titans had two different words for “Group”, which is visible in Crowdin. The words “Group” and “Party” were both used interchangeably, while they still mean the same thing and refer to the same feature. Please make sure they are both translated to the same word in all languages you are approving! Machine translators may translate party as a synonym to “fest” or with the meaning of political party.
     
  • The word Marks is a repurposed word used for our currency, which may make it difficult to translate. This word is translated in some languages and in others not. It is one of very few words that it is currently OK not to translate if need be for Latin character-based languages. It is often translated to words with similar meanings, such as “Points”.
     
  • Every time you localize a string which contain an ability or specific mechanic, make sure you use the same translation as used in previous strings. Players will be confused if an ability for example is called something different every time its mentioned.
     
• Work together not against each other.
   
  • There are often many ways to translate the same string. Before suggesting an improvement to a translated string, please attempt to read the string with the perspective of the other translator. The suggested translation might only look bad due to how you are reading the source string and actually look good on its own.
     
  • If you are multiple individuals working in the same language, it is recommended that you co-ordinate and find common ground in the way you are approaching the translation. Getting your strings approved and used in the game is not a competition but a team effort.
     
  • There are regional differences for many languages, sometimes within a single country or sometimes due to the language being spoken in many countries. Please attempt to localize the game as neutral as possible and/or avoid unnecessary edits and conflicts between other translators due to regional differences.
     
  • It is not ok to downvote translations due to personal feelings towards the user who submitted the translation. This can increase Alderon workload and be viewed as work sabotage.
     
  • Do not engage with problematic individuals and report them directly to Alderon Games.
     
  • If you are a proofreader you cannot unapprove and re-approve other proofreaders approved entries just to have your name attached to the approval. You may only unapprove strings that are too inaccurate to be ported into Path of Titans.
    
     
• Differentiate similar keywords.
   
  • With the exception of "group" and "party" and, for some languages, also "poison" and "venom", similar phrases must be differentiated so users can tell they are tied to different features. Examples of such phrases would be skin and hide or fracture and full bone break to avoid suggesting overlapping translations instead of differentiated translations.
     
• Map locations must be localized!
   
  • Path of Titans has a feature to toggle off translated names for those users who do not like to see the names of locations. Make sure the names are localized and translated for the language you are working on.
     
  • This is another one of those areas where you, as a translator, may have to get creative to make a suitable name, as the name may contain words that do not even have translations in some languages. You may have to break down the meaning of the name to simpler terms that are easier to translate. 
     
  • Please be aware that certain languages (particularly Scandinavian languages) may require the translated word to be bent in a certain way to appear fluent and not like a literal translation in the game. If your language requires this, please feel free to apply a grammatical change that did not exist in the English language if it makes your translation look more native and less of a literal translation.
    • The translated name will appear in game as both a name on the map and when entering a new area “You have discovered X”
       
• Never translate Admin/Chat Commands or programming variables!
  
   
  • Chat commandd must all be written in their original language to work in game. If you translate these, players who use this language will be provided with an invalid chat command that does not work.
     
  • All chat commands are written in the following format, sometimes containing what appears to be code entries within the command such as <Attribute> or similar. If they are in the command line before the semi colon (;) they can be localized but if they appear in the description they cannot. Crowdin automatically highlight text within angle brackets. Here are a few examples:
    
     
    • Command; Explanation
    • Command <Username>; Explanation
    • Command [Value]; Explanation <Attribute>
    • Command <Attribute> [Value] [Username]; Explanation
    • Command <Username> [Location]; Explanation <filter>

All sections marked in green must be localized. These colours are just for demonstration purpose in this document. There are no red or green text in Crowdin. Crowdin will give you a pop-up alert when you are attempting to save translations within angled brackets. This alert should be ignored.

In instances a curly bracket might appear as a translatable part of a chat command. Inconsistencies like this should be highlighted to Alderon.

Individuals with permission to approve translations must be extra vigilant to not approve translations where the admin command or programming variables are translated.

Most admin/chat commands already have a comment attached to them in the comment section, either from a staff member or another volunteer, informing volunteers not to translate the command itself. If you spot a command that does not have this comment, please add it to prevent confusion.

Programming variables are typically written like {This} in curly brackets and are also highlighted just like angle brackets. They must not be translated, or they will break the string in-game. 

There are exceptions. These are typically chat commands which contains brackets or square brackets such as [Username]. Since the player do not need to write “Username” but instead the username of another player, you can safely localize this part.

 

• Path of Titans uses artistic Uppercase.
   
  • Path of Titans uses stylistic uppercase for certain phrases that makes the phrase look better in UI or as a name or to point out key-phrases, similar to what I have done with bold text in this document. Make sure to reflect this as best as you can in your translations and for the translations you approve. If this interferes with readability in any way such as if the translation is much longer than the source string, please alter as you see fit.
    
    Examples: Interactions such as “Drop Trophy”, and key-phrases such as “Player has left Homecave”
    
    A key-phrase is a word which is meant to stand out in a text so the user can quickly gather what the text is related to. Mechanics are often utilising key phrases such as Bone Break, Venom or Stamina.
     
• Do not use made up acronyms and abbreviation or slang.
   
  • Path of Titans uses acronyms such as POI (Point of Interest). You cannot make up an acronym for the translated phrase as other players will not understand what it means unless it is a widely known acronym. Instead localize the full length phrase (Point of Interest) to make sure players can understand what the text is talking about.
     
  • Widely known slang phrases can be used creatively to name abilities if there are no other suitable phrases or words. Otherwise, please prefer to avoid slang. Please be mindful that slang might be regional which will make the text difficult to understand for other players!
     
• Path of Titans references real life Flora and Fauna.
   
  • More often than not, Path of Titans will reference real plants and animals, living or extinct. Plants and animals must always be translated in a way, so users may use online search engines to find pictures and/or articles of the real-life counterpart.
    • Prefer names based of the Latin name, group or family if no translation is available in your language.
    • Do not make up a literal translation unless absolute necessary such as if the flora or fauna specified is not tied to a specific species or group. Always research and/or ask questions before decide to go with this option.
       
  • We do not translate the names of playable creatures.
    • Exception: Phrases that does not specify a single playable species but instead a group of related dinosaurs such as: Ceratopsians, hadrosaurs, Ichthyosaurs etc.
       
  • Some critters may not have translations beyond their Latin name and are not required to be translated.
     
• Report flawed strings to Alderon Games.
   
  • This includes grammar, spelling, broken code, strings with only code and nothing to translate and similar.
     
• Compliance Terminology.
   
  • When going through translations, particularly old content, do not modify any words or terms related to console names, console buttons, beta or game preview messages, etc. so that we remain in compliance with console vendors. If you run into these terms and aren’t sure whether it applies, please ask a moderator before modifying.
     
• Special strings.
  
  There are a few special strings which may allow you to add additional bending of the word in order for the game to locate what word to use when, in order to keep the grammar correct. We will be notified by a programmer if a language needs an alteration.
  
  {PLAYER_COUNT} {PLAYER_COUNT}|plural(one=Player,other=Players) Online is one such string. Here the words highlighted in this document need to be translated. Please be aware these words are not highlighted in Crowdin! The word Player will be used when there is only 1 player online while the word Players will be used when there are multiple. Some languages have more than two variations of this word and to avoid any errors within unreal we will add additional bending to be on the safe side.
  
  For this string, please keep the majority of the string intact and translate what is marked in green in this document.
  {PLAYER_COUNT}{PLAYER_COUNT}|plural(one=Player,few=Players,many=Players,other=Players) Online
  
  It is ok if some plural forms share the same bending of the word if there are no others. Some languages, like Swedish, for example, will have the same word for all these bindings, even the singular. Not all languages need all of these added, some might need one variation removed or added depending on which error is thrown in Unreal.