WoW's Spanish Translation Quality.

Blizzard.

As a person who can speak both English and Spanish fluently, I feel the need to inform you that your Spanish translation in World of Warcraft is way below what most people would expect from a company with as many resources as you do, as it’s full of inaccuracies, awkward phrasing and questionable meaning decisions.

Since pointing out every single instance of this would be very time consuming, I will make some bullet points on the more important issues with a few examples and a short explanation of why that particular translation method/instance is not up to par.

  • Compound words/names are rare in Spanish, and translating them literally sounds really awkward

  • This is the big one. Most translation problems stem directly or indirectly from this. Let’s keep the expansion theme in line and use the word “Warlord” as the first example. It’s a compound word using “War” and “Lord”, really straightforward. The current translation provided by you is “Señor de la guerra”, which is correct if evaluated in a vacuum. “Señor” means “Lord” and “Guerra” means “War”, but unlike English, we can’t compound them so “de la” is added, which in this case it basically means “of”.

    In this translation “Warlord” ends up becoming “Lord of War”, which is close, but is three separate words, and this really throws a wrench in the flow of a phrase, specially if stacked with other similar translations. For example, let’s take the expansion’s titular character.

      Grommash Hellscream

      <Warchief of the Iron Horde>


    The current translation is:

      Grommash Grito Infernal

      <Jefe de Guerra de la Horda de Hierro>


    Which reverse-translates into:

      Grommash Hellish Scream

      <Chief of War of the Horde of Iron>


    As you can see, it’s technically correct, but it murders the flow completely. In my personal opinion, names should be exempt of translation (You wouldn’t call a John Juan or the other way around, although compound names and last names make it a bit iffy, but that is personal preference), but a more flow-friendly translation of the previous could be something akin to:

      Grommash AullaInfierno (I’d rather keep Hellscream though)

      <Caudillo de la Horda Férrea>


    That would be:

      Grommash Hellhowl

      <Chieftain of the Iron Horde>


    And that is way less of a mouthful than the current one, while still keeping most of the original meaning at least in my opinion.

    <cont>
    1 Like
    Reserved for future use
    Reserved for future use #2
    Grommash Grito Infernal .......ROFL. Names should not be translated, period.
    Grommash Hellscream


    Grommash Grito Infernal


    Names are not translated though.

    Johnny Walker doesn't become "Johnny el Andador"

    He's just Johnny Walker.
    12/08/2014 11:19 AMPosted by Renalee
    Grommash Grito Infernal .......ROFL. Names should not be translated, period.


    12/08/2014 11:22 AMPosted by Snowfox
    Grommash Hellscream


    Grommash Grito Infernal


    Names are not translated though.

    Johnny Walker doesn't become "Johnny el Andador"

    He's just Johnny Walker.


    The translation team seems to think otherwise.
    12/08/2014 11:22 AMPosted by Snowfox
    Grommash Hellscream


    Grommash Grito Infernal


    Names are not translated though.

    Johnny Walker doesn't become "Johnny el Andador"

    He's just Johnny Walker.


    It'd be more like Juanito el Caminante.

    I can see a cheap knockoff whisky being sold by that name though. Hilarious.

    But I agree wholeheartedly, names should never be translated. Most of the time they look ridiculous.
    12/08/2014 11:22 AMPosted by Snowfox
    Grommash Hellscream


    Grommash Grito Infernal


    Names are not translated though.

    Johnny Walker doesn't become "Johnny el Andador"

    He's just Johnny Walker.


    Of course they are.

    Stormwind is "Vento Bravo" in portuguese.

    Tyrande Whisperwind is Tyrande Murmuréolo

    http://pt.wowhead.com/npc=7999/tyrande-whisperwind
    12/08/2014 11:27 AMPosted by Medíc
    12/08/2014 11:22 AMPosted by Snowfox
    ...

    ...

    Names are not translated though.

    Johnny Walker doesn't become "Johnny el Andador"

    He's just Johnny Walker.


    Of course they are.

    Stormwind is "Vento Bravo" in portuguese.

    Tyrande Whisperwind is Tyrande Murmuréolo

    http://pt.wowhead.com/npc=7999/tyrande-whisperwind


    Really? They tried to translate the proper names?

    That's surprising. No wonder they hit a quagmire.
    Well Grommash Hellscream in French is Grommash Hurlenfer.

    Hurl = scream
    enfer = Hell
    OP - No habla Espanol, Sorry.
    Garrosh Hellscream in Russian: Гаррош Адский Крик

    Literally means Garrosh Hell's Scream.
    12/08/2014 11:29 AMPosted by Babygrandpa
    they should change it to el shupo lupo craft.

    Just make it a taco creation simulator.

    Maybe throw a quicktime sequence in there where you hide from drug cartels.

    That will make the Latin Americans feel right at home.


    You're a funny guy.
    <Jefe de Guerra de la Horda de Hierro>

    Excuse me but what?
    Are compound names the only issue? Yes, I agree there is some.... awkwardness there, but I'd be more concerned over whether or not tooltips and quest text is understandable. One's an immersion problem but the other can be game breaking.
    12/08/2014 11:38 AMPosted by Alicecooperr
    some words just dont translate. if you want flawless spanish, then the spanish speaking population needs to get to work making games instead of trying to smuggle children and drugs across the southern US border.


    Of course some words don't translate, but there are still better equivalents than the ones provided in this translation. It's a matter of meaning and intent more than just the words themselves.
    My Spanish is not fluent and I agree that those translations are messy. It's like a person just learning a language who doesn't quite have the vocabulary down yet.

    Non-native speaker: I want ... um ... the thing that you put your water in and you drink out of.
    Native speaker: A glass?
    Non-native speaker: Yes! That thing!

    I found myself doing that sort of thing a lot when I was first learning the language (and even still because I don't know everything) and it's awkward and it makes my Spanish sound incredibly broken. Blizzard is a huge corporation, surely they can find someone around to help their Spanish sound less "High School Spanish 2."
    I second this post, a few of these translations are horrid.
    Ay chihuahua!

    Ese es necro!
    Apparently Google translate can only do so much.

    Good post OP.