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Translating
In Candy Dialogue Engine, a translation is written in the Line itself: each language is a Variation of the Spoken Line's text. Translating a Dialogue means writing those Variations. This page is for translators, and for writers who prepare a Dialogue for them. Before You Start
  • The language you translate to must exist in the profile: add it in Settings > Dialogue > Languages & Tags (see Variations).
  • Load the Dialogue to translate: a save with File > Load Dialogue..., or an exported file with File > Import Dialogue....
  • In Settings > Dialogue > Languages & Tags, hide the languages you don't work with, so that the lists stay short.
The Translate Tab Click a Spoken Line, then open its Translate tab. The tab has two Variation Selectors: one for the language you translate from, one for the language you translate to. Pick a language in each. The two can't be the same. Under them, the tab displays one Group per Variation. Each Group contains:
  • The text in the language you translate from, to read.
  • A text box for the language you translate to, to write in.
  • Counters that compare the two.
Type the translation in each text box. Text is written to the Dialogue when you leave the box.
Spoken Line Translate Tab
Counters The counters indicate whether a translation has the right length:
CounterDescription
Words, Chars.The words and characters of the translation. BBCode tags aren't counted.
LimitHow far the translation is from the character limit: -100 is 100 characters under it, +20 is 20 over.
C. Diff., W. Diff.The translation's characters and words, compared with the original's: +12 is 12 more.
The limit is set in Settings > General > Counters. See Counters. Group Selection A Line with tags or random Variations has several texts to translate. The Variation Editor's Translate Groups option, in its Options, chooses which ones the tab displays: every Variation of both languages, the selected Variation and its random Variations, or the selected Variation alone. See Variation Editor. Line to Line
  • Alt+PageDown opens the next Line, and Alt+PageUp the previous one. The Editor stays on the Translate tab from one Spoken Line to the next.
  • The languages picked in the selectors stay picked.
The Dialogue Navigator displays the text of each Line's first Variation, normally the original language. Translating One Text at a Time The Write tab also serves for translation: pick the language in the Variation Selector and type in the text box. This displays one language at a time, which suits the rereading of a finished translation. What Else Is Translated
  • Text direction. A Variation in a right-to-left language starts with the Right to left direction, when its language is declared with it.
  • Voices. Each language has its own voice files, with the same file name. Nothing is entered in the Line for them.
  • Names and interface texts. Actor names and the texts of the game's interface aren't translated in the Lines but in your game's tables. See the Candy Dialogue Engine documentation, under Translation.
Returning the Translation Save the Dialogue, and send the save file to the person who gathers the translations, or export the Dialogue as agreed with them. To merge a translated Dialogue into another one, import it with the Update mode, by Blocks: only the Blocks that exist in both are replaced (see Importing). An import replaces whole Blocks, not single Variations, so two people shouldn't work on the same Block at the same time. A Layout for Translators A window layout can be built for translation only: the Translate tab first, the fields a translator must not change locked or hidden by filters, and no Dialogue Buttons. Save it with Window > Save Layout... at the user level, or send its file to your translators. See Saved Layouts.