Translation

Hi, I just recently discovered inform 7 and I like the way it works. I know translation is possible but could someone please show me the right direction. There doesn’t seem to be any mention of it in the documentation and I can’t just figure it out by checking out some of the translations. Thanks! :slight_smile:

Do you plan to translate Inform 7 into some new language? Which one?

Translation is mentioned in Chapter 25.26 of the documentation, but there is certainly no detailed info on how to proceed.

Generally speaking, you have to write an extension that replaces all English text that Inform standardly prints and whatever else needs replacing to account for the specific quirks of your target language (genders, inflections, cases etc.).

Much of this is written in Inform 6, and if your target language is sufficiently unlike English, you will have to figure out what work is done by the relevant parts of the Inform 6 templates that Inform 7 constantly uses under the hood (if you’re really lucky, you will only need to tinker with the Language Template, which is not too hard – otherwise you may find yourself in the situation of the German translators, who have had to rewrite very substantial parts of the I6 machinery).

However, coming builds of Inform will apparently handle translation rather differently from now. So, the present translations are today in some respects unreliable guides on how to go about an Inform translation.

Thanks for the quick reply. I’d like to translate it into croatian. But I have a feeling it could get very complicated. I’ll look into it and see if I’m up to it.

Croatian seems to be rich in grammatical cases. That does complicate things. Still, as the German translation proves, it can be done. I can’t tell if handling seven grammatical cases will be very much harder than handling four, but perhaps it isn’t.

We’ll see. It’s looks kinda scary atm. :neutral_face: :smiley:

If you are serious about translating I7, I would wait until the next release. There are some big changes coming concerning how Inform 7 handles translations, so most work done on the current version would turn out to be wasted. (You could contact Graham Nelson if you wanted to know more, and to let him know of your intentions.)

I’ll talk to some people to see if they’ll work on it with me. I run a hacklab in Zagreb and I think we could adopt the i7 translation as a group project. Hope the others agree, they aren’t really into IF - maybe if I get them to play nethack… :mrgreen:

What’s a hacklab?

A hacklab, media lab or hackerspace is basically an open space for compter enthuiasts. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackerspace

There are tons of hacklabs all over the world and all of them do different things. We at hacklab01 collect old PCs and give them away to people who ask (you wouldn’t believe how hard it can be to give something away), and promote the use of open source (as opposed to propietary) software - mainly Linux as opposed to Windows. We have free open-source related workshops and help people do the transition from Windows to Linux (if they want). Also a couple of advanced geeky Linux workshops like PAM or setting up a (secure) server enviroment. We alo do a lot of sitting around and drinking beer / coffee / playing games / talking about possible future projects (like this one). :slight_smile: We also offer free internet access (cybercaffe style) on recycled PCs. We’re situated in Zagreb’s AKC Medika. pierottijeva11.org/info/english

Anyway check it out if you like. hacklab01.org Croatian only - english version is in the works.

Edit: sorry for the OT - the man asked. :slight_smile:

So I did (I hope nobody minded the OT). Thanks for the answer. Interesting.