Re: How to translate the gnotski puzzle names

["Richard Hoelscher" <rah rahga com>]

Telsa Gwynne said:
> ...
> There's a long list of gnotski layouts. Each one has its own name.
> Some of the names obviously fit together in groups. They are all
> marked for translation.
>
> Should we try to translate them literally, or try to keep the themes,
> or leave the names like Cleopatra untranslated, or what? If we should
> keep the themes, what are they? :)

The "puzzle name" comment was intended to give the translator a hint that
the fate of the gnome desktop doesn't hinge on getting these translated...
The Greek translation could revert "Cleopatra" to its original spelling,
while many others could simply leave the word alone.

> I can see five flowers: daisy, violet, poppy, pansy, snowdrop.
> But I have no idea what some of the other groups might be!
> ...
> PS: Do "Block" and "Climb" give hints about how to solve them, or
> are they just random words?

The puzzles are already grouped by menu: "HuaRong Trail", "Challenge
Pack", "Skill Pack", and "Minoru Climb". The first puzzle, "Only 18
Steps", is the only name that contains a hint.

If there is no native word for any of these puzzles, such as "Lodzianka",
translators could probably substitute it with their favorite flower or
exotic destination, and players can compare scores by the puzzle's id
number.

-Richard Hoelscher
http://rahga.com/svg/

============
The rest of this email is probably useless trivia, and not important to
your average translator. (CC'd games-list)
============

The low-down on gnotski puzzle names:

"Red Donkey" may be known better across Europe as "L'Ane Rouge"... The big
block has a picture of a donkey, and it is trying to escape a maze of
fences and pens to get to his carrot (the little pegs).

In real life, the entire group is often called "HuaRongDao", and it uses a
story from "Legend of the Three Kingdoms". General Cao Cao attempts to
pass through HuaRong trail, thinking that Zhuge Liang was to inept too
plan an attack there. He was surprised by Guan Yu's army, and faced an
almost certain defeat. Reminded of past favors, Guan Yu realized he was
honor bound to Cao Cao, and allowed him to pass through.

The block game is slightly diffent, though... Cao Cao gets attacked and
has to find a way through the army to escape the trail. "Trail" and
"Ambush" are the hardest variations of this puzzle.

There are several other real-life block puzzles in this collection. Aside
from "Pennant Puzzle" and "Traffic Jam", there's an entire set of
woodblock puzzles originally manufactured by Minoru Abe called "Minoru
Climb".

All the other puzzles were originally included and named in WEP Klotski.
As far as I know, these particular names are random and meaningless.