German Translation: Du or Sie?

I’ve brought this up on Trello and wrote PMs to PixelTail but that’s the past of more than 2 years ago when I wasn’t sure if I should make a topic about translation issues in general or just focus on this one but I guess one topic per issue seems reasonable. I haven’t seen a decision already made on this and it’s not relevant yet until localization becomes a priority so there’s now time to calmly discuss the options:

In the German langauge, the “You” referencing a single person can be translated to “Sie” which is formal and polite but also “Du”, which is more personal on a friendly level. I personally would suggest to translate TU with “Du” because TU is a place to have fun in with friends and be silly, not a job interview location.

  • Du
  • Sie

0 voters

Just to be clear: I’m opening this thread just to raise awareness of and discuss the issue and get a sense of what people would generally prefer.

This is a thing in other languages, too, like French’s informal “tu” and formal “vous”. I think they should go with the informal option in most cases (unless the language has specific grammar rules that would dictate the use of another pronoun)

It’s the same with czech.
I’m not sure about the game’s menus, announcements and UI, but I think the NPCs should definitely vary. For example, the Central Circuit guy (Nick?) should use the formal form, while the Songbirds vendor (Linden??) should use the informal form. Some aren’t that obvious, though. And translating Shazza (the Oasis lady) is going to be a pain regardless. D:

4 Likes

egal beides gut