I know Breton (80% similar to Cornish), which has not even 20000 native speakers here. I wish independant French developers would make more effort in supporting regional languages, but it's hopeless asking Ubisoft to release their games in languages other than English and Canadian French.
That a Welsh game developer even thinks about translating its games into its local tongue is a business and cultural opportunity that no freelance translator should pass.
I'm really disappointed by the opinions in the comments. There seems to be so many people (most of them not Welsh) that think the language should just die.
Perhaps if those people had their native tongue ripped from them before they had a choice they might understand better. For example, I wonder how the French would feel if they were forced to speak English in their own country or how the Spanish would feel if they were forced to speak German. I doubt they'd be all to happy about it.
@bean is all work and no play: Yes and we fucking hate it which is why our english is filled with profanties. Tommy Tiernan said it best: The English language is a brick wall between you and me and fuck is my chisel!
@-MasterDex-: Cheers. I agree whole heartedly. I'd love to learn some Irish Gaelic, but it looks like something that I would have to seriously relocate to accomplish, but I cannot do so at this point in time.
A positive aspect of swearing, however, is that when my mum busted out the f-bomb, I knew she was seriously angry and that was time to make myself scarce.
[Disclaimer: this is written by my mum]
It depends where your emphasis lies.I believe its important to keep up the integrity if you are dabbling with the Welsh Culture and would disagree with some of the comments that there would not be enough Welsh speaking gamers.The Welsh language is an integral part of the identity and culture and there is a great untapped resource available. Welsh is taught in schools as part of the National Curriculum and there are funds available to encourage the useage of the Welsh language in industry.E.G. Try contacting the Welsh Development agency (WDA) for advice on possible grants- try Coleg Harlech or Aberystwyth Uni where many of the ancient scripts are already translated and originals preserved .For interesting Archytypes/Comparisons i would suggest Caitlin and John matthews-e.g. Mabon and the Mysteries of Britain-An insight into the Mabinogian.
Good luck -it sounds an interesting project- but don't underestimate the significance of the Welsh language and culture...get some expert advice or you may lose the credibility and an excellent opportunity to link with an ancient tradition which pre-dates the English Language.
@Pazu: So because a language is only spoken by a few (and 290 million isn't a few) it should be ignored?
I'm Irish, I can't speak my native tongue fluently because our primary language was made English. There's only a few select areas of Ireland that speak Irish in everyday life and I'd wager there's less than 2 million (I dare say 1 million) people living here that can speak Irish fluently. Even knowing that, I can't agree that there shouldn't be games made Irish. With our language dying, I see every reason to promote the speaking of it with the youth of today through games.
The Welsh language finds itself in a situation not unlike ours. Less and less young Welsh people are speaking the language and it endangers it's future so again, there's every reason to promote the language through Welsh games.
@-MasterDex-:
Well yeah in theory but the amount of money you have to put into it is just too much, unless more people who feel as adamantly as you about language preservation pay for it I guess.
@VampiricPadraig: common misconception, whilst there is a train station in the village (it's a really nice steam train service that takes you through forests and mountains... epic win!) the name encompasses the entire community.
Translated it means "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave".
Bwhahahaha. I can see why they'd pull something like this. As they say there's not enough welsh speakers (and not very many at all who can't speak english as well) to make it in any way worthwhile unless they get someone to do it for free. Welsh may as well be a dead language, heck I imagine there's more people who know latin than welsh.
I live in Cardiff, speak both Welsh and English, know loads of people who speak Welsh and hear it all the time from people that I pass in the street.
Just wanted to voice another side to the "no one speaks it", "it's a dying language" argument.
Are these the only serious game developers in Wales? They need a new Website.
I've lived in Wales all my life and the only bit of Welsh i know is "Dim siarad Cymraeg" Which means " I don't speak any Welsh. "
I'm assuming thats what it means anyway.. I was always terrible at it in school.
2@T_Spoon_UK: "dw'in ddim yn siarad cymraeg" is a closer translation :P
One of the few useful phrases I know (especially when you get stubborn old joskin farmers driving up in their tractors and bawling welsh at you)...
Why not ask some of the local cheese smugglers for assistance? They operate on the border of the Welsh Socialist Republic and would be fluent in both English and Welsh. Plus you'd be able to get around the 300% import tax on cheese. [www.jasperfforde.com]
I may be able to help, Im a fluent welsh speaker and well i live in wales i think that being long time gamer i should really help out with this, i am just so surprised that this is advertised on kotaku. This is also a shock because the sign is the village of where my best friend lives.
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"But I don't like coffee."
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That a Welsh game developer even thinks about translating its games into its local tongue is a business and cultural opportunity that no freelance translator should pass.
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Perhaps if those people had their native tongue ripped from them before they had a choice they might understand better. For example, I wonder how the French would feel if they were forced to speak English in their own country or how the Spanish would feel if they were forced to speak German. I doubt they'd be all to happy about it.
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A positive aspect of swearing, however, is that when my mum busted out the f-bomb, I knew she was seriously angry and that was time to make myself scarce.
08/13/09
It depends where your emphasis lies.I believe its important to keep up the integrity if you are dabbling with the Welsh Culture and would disagree with some of the comments that there would not be enough Welsh speaking gamers.The Welsh language is an integral part of the identity and culture and there is a great untapped resource available. Welsh is taught in schools as part of the National Curriculum and there are funds available to encourage the useage of the Welsh language in industry.E.G. Try contacting the Welsh Development agency (WDA) for advice on possible grants- try Coleg Harlech or Aberystwyth Uni where many of the ancient scripts are already translated and originals preserved .For interesting Archytypes/Comparisons i would suggest Caitlin and John matthews-e.g. Mabon and the Mysteries of Britain-An insight into the Mabinogian.
Good luck -it sounds an interesting project- but don't underestimate the significance of the Welsh language and culture...get some expert advice or you may lose the credibility and an excellent opportunity to link with an ancient tradition which pre-dates the English Language.
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I mean, Portuguese is spoken by only 290 million or so people in the world...
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I'm Irish, I can't speak my native tongue fluently because our primary language was made English. There's only a few select areas of Ireland that speak Irish in everyday life and I'd wager there's less than 2 million (I dare say 1 million) people living here that can speak Irish fluently. Even knowing that, I can't agree that there shouldn't be games made Irish. With our language dying, I see every reason to promote the speaking of it with the youth of today through games.
The Welsh language finds itself in a situation not unlike ours. Less and less young Welsh people are speaking the language and it endangers it's future so again, there's every reason to promote the language through Welsh games.
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Well yeah in theory but the amount of money you have to put into it is just too much, unless more people who feel as adamantly as you about language preservation pay for it I guess.
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*grmlgrlgrlgmrggrl*
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Translated it means "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave".
What a mouthful.
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Frnkly wh cn tll th dffrnc?!?!
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Just wanted to voice another side to the "no one speaks it", "it's a dying language" argument.
Are these the only serious game developers in Wales? They need a new Website.
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I'm assuming thats what it means anyway.. I was always terrible at it in school.
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One of the few useful phrases I know (especially when you get stubborn old joskin farmers driving up in their tractors and bawling welsh at you)...
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[www.jasperfforde.com]
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