Foreign (non-English) Text in Game titles

[tripredacus]

Foreign Language Cheat Sheet
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VGCollect uses English as the primary language and this is reflected in many ways. Our search will substitute most special characters as their plain versions. For example, searching for Pokemon will return Pokémon in the results and vice-versa. This is helpful for people to not know how to type these special characters, or people from other countries that do not use them or
understand the language being presented.

As chroniclers of video game history, we must use the correct representation as much as possible, even if we ourselves do not use that language or type of script. As such, we should be using the appropriate characters and item names as it currently fits within the existing rules of the Style Guide.

If you feel this is too much to worry about, then I suggest that you do not work on game entries in a foreign language where you are not comfortable.

NOTE: If it is found that a certain letter does not translate to a plain Latin letter used in the English language, it should be reported on.

Special Characters for use in foreign language titles

À ALT+0192 Latin Capital Letter A with Grave
Á ALT+0193 Latin Capital Letter A with Acute
È ALT+0200 Latin Capital Letter E with Grave
É ALT+0201 Latin Capital Letter E with Acute
Ë ALT+0203 Latin Capital Letter E with Diaeresis
Ñ ALT+0209 Latin Capital Letter N with Tilde
Ò ALT+0210 Latin Capital Letter O with Grave
Ó ALT+0211 Latin Capital Letter O with Acute
Ù ALT+0217 Latin Capital Letter U with Grave
Ú ALT+0218 Latin Capital Letter U with Acute
Ü ALT+0220 Latin Capital Letter U with Diaeresis

ß ALT+0223 Latin Small Letter Sharp S

à ALT+0224 Latin Small Letter A with Grave
á ALT+0225 Latin Small Letter A with Acute
ã ALT+0227 Latin small Letter A with Tilde
ç ALT+0231 Latin Small Letter C with Cedilla
è ALT+0232 Latin Small Letter E with Grave
é ALT+0233 Latin Small Letter E with Acute
ê ALT+0234 Latin Small Letter E with Circumflex
í ALT+0237 Latin Small Letter I with Acute
ñ ALT+0241 Latin Small Letter N with Tilde
ò ALT+0242 Latin Small Letter O with Grave
ó ALT+0243 Latin Small Letter O with Acute
ô ALT+0244 Latin Small Letter O with Circumflex
ö ALT+0246 Latin Small Letter O with Diaeresis
ü ALT+0252 Latin Small Letter U with Diaeresis

ł ALT+0142 Latin Small Letter L with Stroke (currently Search does not convert this character)

English Language
(In)Definate Articles are not to be used at the beginning of a game's title. These words are:
A
An
The

French Language
(In)Definate Articles of French language
Le, La, Les (the)
Un, Une (A or An)

The situation where À is at the beginning of a title. As opposed to English, the À at the beginning of a French title means At. At is allowed to start a title. The Golden Compass was released in France as À la Croisée des Mondes: la Boussole D'Or. It is a little strange to see that A is allowed at the beginning here but not in English, but it is because it is not A.
http://vgcollect.com/item/91109

The situation where L is added as a prefix to a French word does not apply to the Style Guide.
For example:
The Incredible Hulk (Nintendo) NA would be put into the database as Incredible Hulk, The
http://vgcollect.com/item/29908
In France, the title is L'Incroyable Hulk (The Incredible Hulk) Because the L (The) is part of the word Incroyable, it cannot be then removed and placed at the end of the title. Therefore the title is correct as L'Incroyable Hulk:
http://vgcollect.com/item/105517

German Language
- TBD

NOTE: German can be found on games from Germany and Austria. Austria specific releases tend to have PEGI rating instead of USK.

Spanish Language
- TBD

Portugese Language
- TBD

NOTE: Portugese can be found on games from Portugal and Brazil.

Japanese
See Telly's topic on this specifically:
http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,7164.msg115005.html#msg115005

Greek
Russian
Arabic
Chinese
Korean
These languages are depicted in symbols that are not Latin letters. We currently do not use the original fonts for item titles. Instead we are to use the best translation. Here are some examples:
Golden Compass, The (PS2) [RU] http://vgcollect.com/item/105436
Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: Cosmic Drive (PSP) [CN] http://vgcollect.com/item/81188
Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers (PS3) [KR] http://vgcollect.com/item/52376

[mastafafik]

Greek
Russian
Arabic
Chinese
Korean
These languages are depicted in symbols that are not Latin letters. We currently do not use the original fonts for item titles. Instead we are to use the best translation. Here are some examples:
Golden Compass, The (PS2) [RU] http://vgcollect.com/item/105436
Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: Cosmic Drive (PSP) [CN] http://vgcollect.com/item/81188
Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers (PS3) [KR] http://vgcollect.com/item/52376

I don't know Greek, Arabic, Chinese or Korean, but I learned Russian in school for five years, so I know a little that language and I can help with translating Russian titles into a plain Latin letters used in the English language, according to our Style Guide, as with Japanese titles:

Use the item's regional release title, written in the language written on the case, but in the Latin alphabet (the letters we commonly use).

So, for example that Russian version of The Golden Compass http://vgcollect.com/item/105436 should be named "Zolotoi Kompas" and "The Golden Compass" should be as an alternative name.

I think that it will be the best solution about Russian titles.

What do you think about it?

[tripredacus]

That will work out. There are a LOT of Russian game releases that are hard to find online. Even as an example, Nintendo's Russian website has some pictures of their RU releases on it (found on Google Images) but if I try to visit the site it says blocked in my country. I can sometimes find Russian games on Ebay.co.uk (set to Worldwide, Russia doesn't show up if you pick EU only) which is typically how I find them to exist.

If you or anyone wants to fix titles for those (You can tell I didn't even try lol) feel free. You can just search for [RU] on the db to find them.
http://vgcollect.com/search/%5BRU%5D
14 results

[mastafafik]

No problem.
I'll try my best.

[telly]

Love this, very easy to read and understand.   I had a couple of questions:

Do we want to extend the rules for foreign language titles for box text as well? If someone wanted to add the box text for a French game, it would just be a copy of the French that's on the back of the box, or would it be translated?

Would it make more sense to link my topic directly to the reply where I put in the rules that we agreed upon (#16)? That might keep people from getting confused since my first post in that topic isn't what we eventually agreed upon. You could use this link:

 http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,7164.msg115005.html#msg115005

[mastafafik]

Do we want to extend the rules for foreign language titles for box text as well? If someone wanted to add the box text for a French game, it would just be a copy of the French that's on the back of the box, or would it be translated?

I think that the best solution would be to copy the foreign text as it is on the box. It is "Box Text" section, so the text should be the same as it is written on the box.

[telly]

Do we want to extend the rules for foreign language titles for box text as well? If someone wanted to add the box text for a French game, it would just be a copy of the French that's on the back of the box, or would it be translated?

I think that the best solution would be to copy the foreign text as it is on the box. It is "Box Text" section, so the text should be the same as it is written on the box.

That makes sense to me, was what I was thinking too

[Flashback2012]

Do we want to extend the rules for foreign language titles for box text as well? If someone wanted to add the box text for a French game, it would just be a copy of the French that's on the back of the box, or would it be translated?

I think that the best solution would be to copy the foreign text as it is on the box. It is "Box Text" section, so the text should be the same as it is written on the box.

That makes sense to me, was what I was thinking too

That's what I ended up doing for Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence... http://vgcollect.com/item/92413 . Oh what a chore that was to type and get right. 
I can assure you I'm not in any hurry to update any more box text listings with dual languages on them. 

[metshael]

Thanks you for the guide tripredacus 

I can assure you I'm not in any hurry to update any more box text listings with dual languages on them. 

I totally understand that, i've started to add a few box text for the European release and they can have up to six differents languages, you're lucky to only have two 

[tripredacus]

Do we want to extend the rules for foreign language titles for box text as well? If someone wanted to add the box text for a French game, it would just be a copy of the French that's on the back of the box, or would it be translated?

Box text should only be in the Latin language. Do not put in the non Latin symbol language in for box text. So for a game of that type (Japanese, what-have-you) it would only be English or other type words.

Definately not do translations of box text on foreign releases. It should be how it is shown on the package, IF you decide to put that in. In my usual db work, I often skip box text because I am more focused on having the entries in the db. If you see how many things I add on a weekly basis, you will understand. BUT sometimes I may put in partial text, such as the tagline that appears on the back rather than the whole thing. It really depends on my mood.

EDIT: Oh I put your direct link into the first post.

[telly]

Sounds great! I will update the first and 16th post of my topic so it makes sense for those who navigate from here, if that makes sense. I suppose the official style guide should have a link to this topic too.

[Flashback2012]

Thanks you for the guide tripredacus 

I can assure you I'm not in any hurry to update any more box text listings with dual languages on them. 

I totally understand that, i've started to add a few box text for the European release and they can have up to six differents languages, you're lucky to only have two 

LOL. There's a part of me that would want to see it entered for the sake of completeness and then there's another part of me that invokes King Arthur and his knights from The Holy Grail by going "RUN AWAY!"