Russian Translations of Rayman series.

[☭ CrazyKyoto ☭]

Greetings, comrades!

Here I create a specialized topic where users can discuss Russian localizations of all games in the Rayman series. The main topic of discussions is not only the official localizations, but also fan and/or non-licensed "pirate translations".

As a Russian Rayman fan I think this topic will be interesting for fans from all over the world, who could know a lot more about the features of Russian translations of games of our favorite game series.

[dr_st]

A couple of topics I would like to see in relation to this:

1. Rayman 2 Russian translation (as far as I know there was never an official one)
2. Rayman 3 official localization (Buka) versus pirated one (Fargus?)

[Hunchman801]

Rayman 2 Russian translation (as far as I know there was never an official one)

I find this one particularly important as we're not sure yet what to call Rayman 2 stuff on the wiki. Maybe we can start by listing the various localizations and the names they use?

[☭ CrazyKyoto ☭]

1. Rayman 2 Russian translation (as far as I know there was never an official one)

Rayman 2 have no official Russian translation. That game was translated only by 3 pirate publishers - "Дядюшка Рисеч" (rus - Uncle Risech) text for "City" (27.12.1999), "Седьмой Волк" (rus - Seventh Wolf) and "Русский Проект" (rus - Russian Project) (26.01.2007). In the Internet I found russificators from Russian Project and Uncle Risech's City from Playground's archive site. They translated only a text.

Translate from Seventh Wolf as I understood is lost. I check it out for a long time and I don't find a media with modificaded localizations from these publishers.

[dr_st]

Can any of these pirated versions can still be obtained from Rutracker or similar? Which of the two (not lost) is more common?

In the absence of official terminology, we may opt to use "the popular voice".

Edit:

I just found an active lot for the "Russian Project" CD on Meshok, and a torrent for Uncle Risech's version is available on RuTracker (Rayman 2. Побег из Шоушенка - LOL), but I guess that if we mostly care about the text translation, it is easier to go off your playground.ru links.

[☭ CrazyKyoto ☭]

Oh, yes. I must say that, then Uncle Risech is translated a name of game as "Побег из Шоушенка". Pirates alike Fargus like do this funny names of games alike "Хачи Трюкачи" or "Воевать-Мастерить: Трон заморозили" XD

[dr_st]

In the Internet I found russificators from Russian Project and Uncle Risech's City from Playground's archive site.

Well, I've downloaded both of these. It's remarkable how easy it is to install them - just two files need replacement. So I wrote a little batch file that allows me to go back and forth between the original and either of the translations. Here's what I can say from a first glance:

1. Translation quality is good in both of the localizations, but not great. Typos, grammar/language mistakes are present but not overwhelming. From a reason I cannot understand - it seems that random pieces of text (a word here and there) are translated as gibberish, and it is not always the same place in the two versions.
2. Russian Project variant seems to be slightly closer to what is now "accepted" translation. For starts, lums are called "лумы" and not "цвета" (colors). Fairys are Феи and not Эльфы (if you wonder WTF - remember that "elves" and "faerie" are often identified as the same or related races in fantasy.
3. Also some names are localized closer in the Russian Project variant - ПолОкус and not ПолУкус, and Мерфи instead of Мерфай (seems like Uncle Risech did not know that "Murphy" is a name in English or how to pronounce it).
4. With that said - Хранитель Святыни Камня и Огня - ФМБДС (Russian Project) probably takes the crown.

My suggestion would be to use some sort of combination between the two translations - where they differ greatly, use the own that is closer to the English canon. So for example - Лумы and Феи instead of Цвета and Эльфы (which is consistent with the current status of the wiki).

[Hunchman801]

In the absence of official terminology, we may opt to use "the popular voice".

I agree. We can also specify alternate names at the beginning of each article, along with footnotes explaining where they all come from.

With that said - Хранитель Святыни Камня и Огня - ФМБДС (Russian Project) probably takes the crown.

Please tell me the other localization has something better in stock.

[dr_st]

Yes, Амбер.

[Hunchman801]

Definitely closer to what we know, and most importantly, much, much easier to pronounce.

I guess we could start with level and character names, listing them for each version, and then decide which are best for the wiki?

[PluMGMK]

What does a Cyrillic keyboard look like? That looks like a typo with one hand off by one or something, like "Eaynan" that was doing the rounds here for a while

[dr_st]

I guess we could start with level and character names, listing them for each version, and then decide which are best for the wiki?

I suppose this is what we should do. I hope to get around to it within a day or two.

What does a Cyrillic keyboard look like? That looks like a typo with one hand off by one or something

It's probably more complicated than that; I couldn't identify a single pattern. There is also no consistency between the two translations (as to which one is logical and which one is not). The first Guardian name makes sense in the Russian Project translation, but the other two are much more reasonable in the Uncle Risech one. Go figure.

AXEL = АКСЕЛ = АЧДЛ
UMBER = ФМБДС = АМБЕР
FOUTCH = ЕОФУВЗ = ФОЧ

[Hunchman801]

I suppose this is what we should do. I hope to get around to it within a day or two.

Sounds awesome! Hopefully each character and level will have at least one name that makes sense.

[☭ CrazyKyoto ☭]

Rayman 3 official localization (Buka) versus pirated one (Fargus?)

As far as I know Rayman 3 have only one localization - from Buka. Just I checked out a lot of cites, but I don't find a translates from another pirate publisher alike Fargus or Akella.

[dr_st]

As far as I know Rayman 3 have only one localization - from Buka. Just I checked out a lot of cites, but I don't find a translates from another pirate publisher alike Fargus or Akella.

It seems Fargus did a 2-in-1 repack (English + Russian), although it is not clear which translation they used.

Somewhere you can also see a 7Wolf/DDeM localization mentioned.

[☭ CrazyKyoto ☭]

Oh, thanks, Doc! In next time i will check up translations from this site. And... It seems then I must see what's here they do in localizations.

Edit:
But for this I must buy this disc.

[dr_st]

Sounds awesome! Hopefully each character and level will have at least one name that makes sense.

OK, I'm going to kick it off. Let's start with the levels. Below are the names of all the levels in the game, and the two variants for each (left one if from Uncle Risech, right one is from Russian Project). They are split into two because I couldn't find a way to have more lines under the "code" tag without a forced scrollbar.

Code: Select all

The Woods of Light			Лес Огней			Леса Света			
The Fairy Glade				Чудо Поляна			Поляна Фей			
The Marshes of Awakening		Болото Пробуждения		Болота Просыающихся		
The Bayou				Болото				Бэйо				
The Walk of Life			Тропа Жизни			Прогулка Жизни			
The Sanctuary of Water and Ice		Храм Воды и Льда		Святыня Воды и Льда		
The Menhir Hills			Холмы				Холмы Статуи			
The Cave of Bad Dreams			Пещера Плохих Снов		Пещера Дурных Снов		
The Canopy				Балдахин			Ковер				
Whale Bay				Бухта Кита			Китовая Отмель			
The Sanctuary of Stone and Fire		Храм Камня и Огня		Святыня Камня и Огня		

Code: Select all

The Echoing Caves			Пещеры Эхо			Пещеры Эха			
The Precipice 				Пропасть			Сталактит			
The Top of the World			Вершина Мира			Вершина Мира			
The Sanctuary of Rock and Lava		Храм Камня и Лавы		Святыня Скал и Лавы		
The Walk of Power			Тропа Силы			Прогулка Мощи			
Beneath the Sanctuary of Rock and Lava	Под Храмом Камня и Лавы		Под Святыней Скал и Лавы	
Tomb of the Ancients			Могила Предков			Могила Древних			
The Iron Mountains			Железные Горы			Железные Горы			
The Prison Ship				Корабль-Тюрьма			Тюремный Корабль		
The Crow's Nest				Гнездо Вороны			Гнездо Вороны			
The Hall of Doors			Зал Ворот			Холл Дверей			

What follows is my initial recommendations. I encourage everyone to weigh in.

The fairly straightforward ones:

• The Echoing Caves, The Top of the World, The Iron Mountains - nothing to discuss really - in all three cases, the translation is the same (except what looks to be a typo/conjugation error in the case of Эхо vs Эха. There is also nothing wrong with any of the translations.
• The Woods of Light - I prefer Леса Света because "cвет" means "light" whereas "огни" means "lights" - not quite the same thing. "Woods" can be translated both in singular and in plural, I believe.
• The Fairy Glade - I prefer Поляна Фей which is an accurate translation, whereas the other option is like "The Wondrous Glade" or "The Glade of Wonders" - I see no reason to deviate from the original.
• The Marshes of Awakening - I prefer Болото Пробуждения because "пробуждение" is the act of awakening while the other word refers to those waking up (never mind the typo that Russian speakers will notice). Translation of "marsh" vs "marshes" in plural is secondary in this case, in my opinion.
• The Cave of Bad Dreams - both translations are very close. I prefer Пещера Дурных Снов actually, because although "плохие" is a direct translation of "bad" in a general sense, specifically in the context of dreams, "дурные сны" is a closer description of nightmares, which better captures the atmosphere of the cave (i.e., these are not "bad dreams about being late to work").
• Whale Bay - Бухта Кита is self-explanatory. The other one is plain wrong, because "отмель" means sandbar / bank, not "bay".
• The Precipice - Пропасть is self-explanatory. Not sure who or why decided to translate it as "stalactite".
• Tomb of the Ancients - I prefer Могила Древних, since "Могила Предков" would be more "Tomb of the Ancestors". Close, but not the same.

The Sanctuaries:

The first decision here is whether to use Святыня or Храм. The former means "shrine", the latter means "temple". So, both are close but not 100% accurate translations of "sanctuary", which I am told is supposed to be "святилище". So in this case, I would prefer "святыня", but only slightly. However, I like it much more that the Russian Project translation uses "Скал и Лавы" and not "Камня и Лавы", similarly to how the English variant does not reuse the word "Stone", but instead says "Rock and Lava". So, my recommendation is to use the "Russian Project" translation in all three cases.

The Bonus Levels:

Here, Прогулка means "Walk", while Тропа means "Path", which is less true to the English version (although the French version used different words for both levels - Promenade and Tour, go figure). For the Walk of Power I would prefer "сила" (which is power/strength) and not "мощь" (which is power/might), but that is a very small point. Again, my recommendation is to use the "Russian Project" translation.

The difficult ones, where I feel that neither translation is fully adequate:

• The Crow's Nest - seems trivial at first glance, with both versions agreeing on Гнездо Вороны, which also seems to be correct. Except, the actual accepted maritime term in Russian is "Воронье Гнездо", which is what I would use. However, from looking at other languages on the wiki, it seems they also don't use the accepted maritime name for the construction, so perhaps Гнездо Вороны is fine?
• The Bayou - It's not a common word and obviously the translators struggled with it. The first one translated it simply as "Болото" (swamp/marsh), which is a bit off, since it is not really a swamp (although similar), and also since a similar word is used for the previous level. The German translation seems to do this, though, so I guess it may be OK? The other version - "Бэйо" is not an accepted word in Russian - the accepted direct translation is "Байу" - which is what I would have preferred, but alas, no version uses it. If I have to choose one of the two - it will have to be Болото, despite not being fully comfortable with it.
• The Menhir Hills - similar situation to "The Bayou". One translation is simply "Холмы" (Hills) and the oter is "Холмы Статуи" (Hills of the Statue). Although it may be a typo and the и should have been й, which would make it "Hills of Statues" - that at least makes some sense. Pity they didn't know 22-23 years ago that "menhir" has an accepted translation to Russian as "менгир". It really should have been "Холмы Менгиров".
• The Canopy - here, "Ковер" (carpet) is way off. "Балдахин" is what you would see as the first meaning in many dictionaries, but alas it refers to "canopy of state", whereas in the game the correct meaning should be the biological one, which in Russian would be translated as "Полог". This is probably the hardest one to pick, as both options are bad.

Finally, there is the Hall of Doors itself. Зал Ворот and Холл Дверей are both acceptable. Зал is a common Russian translation of Hall, but the direct transliteration Холл is also commonly accepted. While Ворота means Gate and not Door, it is close enough.

In fact, the Russian page on the wiki used to be called "Зал Ворот", until I changed it to "Зал Дверей" for consistency with the word Door. However, now I see that I don't actually have an official reference to how "Spiral Doors" are called in Russian. I don't think there are named directly in the game; the wiki source refers to the manual, and I do not know of any comprehensive Russian translation of the Rayman 2 manual. If someone has a source, please share.

Indeed, when Murfy introduces the Doors during the first visit to the Hall, both translations refer to them as "Дверь", which makes "Зал Ворот" a bit inconsistent. So I say either use Холл Дверей or leave it the way it currently is.

Guess, we have a long way to go, but it's a start.

[ICUP321]

Hi, so I figured I should mention that I re-uploaded a few Russian translations that I obtained from scene releases in this thread, including translations for games like Rayman 2, Rayman M, and Tonic Trouble:
https://raymanpc.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 9#p1361129
https://raymanpc.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 1#p1361151

Not sure if all of these were already discussed here, but I figured I should mention them. Also, I don't know how good the quality of these translations actually are because I'm not Russian, so there's a chance I might be completely wrong when I say some of them "look" professional.

[dr_st]

Not sure if all of these were already discussed here, but I figured I should mention them. Also, I don't know how good the quality of these translations actually are because I'm not Russian, so there's a chance I might be completely wrong when I say some of them "look" professional.

The Uncle Risech Rayman 2 translation (your first link) has indeed been discussed. You can scroll up to read my opinion, but in summary - they seem semi-professional. Mostly good, but with quite a few inaccuracies / typos / grammar issues.

Anyone wants to weigh in on the level name suggestions?

[Hunchman801]

Anyone wants to weigh in on the level name suggestions?

Yes! Thanks for the detailed explanation, that's really helpful.

Overall, I agree with your decisions whenever you made one. My thoughts when applicable:

• The Marshes of Awakening: "Болото Пробуждения" is acceptable, though the inconsistent plural is a minor issue.
• The Crow's Nest: "Гнездо Вороны" looks like a mistranslation. I checked the names of the various RayWiki articles and it looks like only the Polish version does not use the correct word, but then again I'm not even sure it's an official translation. I agree that "Воронье Гнездо" would be preferable.
• The Bayou: Neither "Болото" nor "Бэйо" are great, though I agree the former is acceptable. "Байу" would indeed be much better.
• The Menhir Hills: "Холмы" is acceptable, but "Холмы Менгиров" would be preferable.
• The Canopy: Neither are acceptable. Only "Полог" would really make sense. Also, "Canopy" from Rayman Rush is currently called "Навес" on the wiki, which does not refer to the biological canopy either. Any idea where this comes from, CrazyKyoto? In the absence of a source, both the Rayman 2 and Rayman Rush levels should be named in a consistent manner.
• The Hall of Doors: "Холл Дверей" is acceptable, if it doesn't sound any much worse than "Зал Дверей".

So, the main takeaway is, if we're to stick to the two unofficial translations, some of the names are going to have problems, ranging from minor inconsistencies to obvious, nonsensical mistranslations. Were the translations official, we'd be stuck with them, but they're not, so maybe we have the opportunity to standardize all this and fix obvious mistakes, all while drawing as much as we can from what they have established over the years?

That, or we stick to the unofficial translations as originally intended, and while some names won't be perfect, only two will be really bad: the Crow's Nest and the Canopy. But man, will they be bad.

And on a side note:

Here, Прогулка means "Walk", while Тропа means "Path", which is less true to the English version (although the French version used different words for both levels - Promenade and Tour, go figure).

The French version uses different words because both promenade de santé and tour de force are actually phrases (with more or less opposite meanings).