Multiple languages - anyone tried this yet?

scitunes

A month ago I was getting nearly 1000 DLs per day from france and switzerland of XMB Lite and in the first week of the full version being out I have not had a single DL from either of those countries. In fact very few from any non-english speaking countries. So I just updated both versions with a few minor changes and included french as a second language. I went to a web site called babel fish that will translate enitre blocks of text into a number of different languages. I am hoping that telling French speaking people in french that the full version of XMB is out will make a difference. Anyone tried this approach?

iDeveloperz

No, I just filter them to certain countries. I might think of it as a possibility though.

Cap

"I went to a web site called babel fish that will translate enitre blocks of text into a number of different languages. "

Oh my god. Is babel fish something like Google Translate? Please don't do that. This will never replace a good translator. I think people either want proper translated apps or apps that are not translated at all. But nothing in between.
I bet here are guys from different nations on the board. I'm sure some people are willing to help you to translate your app.

SteakKnivesForSciTunes

I haven't done anything to the actual app itself - just the description that is shown in iTunes. Do you think it is worse for someone to get an update with a description they can't read or a description that is poorly translated into their own language? (not a rhetorical question)

I just thought it was weird that thousands of french speaking people likely got the update and not a single one has bought the full version. I guess it is entirely possible that they all hated the game, but you'd think there would be one person in the french speaking world that would give it a try after hearing about the release of the full version in the lite version update description.

Anyone tried this?

scitunes

Oh crap! I used the wrong log-in ID - my carefully crafted cover has been blown!

maniraptor

@cap: Google Translate is much more accurate than BableFish in most cases. But I agree that neither can produce results comparable to a capable human translator.

@SteakKnivesForSciTunes: OMG, scitunes totally hax0red your account!

@scitunes: just kidding!

As far as description translations, I'd prefer to have both the original language description and an English translation (even a computer-generated one). If there's a mis-translated idiom, for instance, I could then figure out where in the original the phrase occurred, and get a better translation for it. And for non-roman alphabets/orthographies for languages I don't know, a goofy English translation is definitely better than my utter incomprehension of the original text. ^_^

scitunes

So in the french version have both french (as translated by the internet) and english?

maniraptor

Yes.

Oui.

scitunes

Thanks!

StormyStudio

surely got to be worth it, if you've already got a succesful english game, something in French, German, Spanish, would probably pay for the effort eventually even if only a few sales.

That being said....could I be bothered to do it....probably not...but maybe one sunny Spanish speaking day I might.

maniraptor

De rien. (j'espere que les smilies veulent dire la meme en les deux langues!)

No prob. (I hope smilies are the same in French and English!)

(Thinking about it: I'd put the French first, then the original English description below. That way, the French description would be the first thing they'd see on the iTunes page.)

MarkOnTheIron

// Forced lurk mode - off //

Until GS provide us (maybe only pros) with a localization option (pretty please) the only way is to upload the same app with translated texts only on that country.

While this may seem a pain it could actually help getting more visibility. Obviously translation must be good.

Example:

Day 1: My untranslated-only-english app goes on sale worldwide. If I'm lucky I'm on first page and get some sales.

Day 15: Sales start dropping in one country (p.e. Italy). I start to prepare the same app changing only the texts in italian.

Day 30: My italian-translated app goes on sale. On iTunes connect I change the original app by unchecking the italian availability and on my new app I make sure it's available only in Italy. And magically my app it's again on Italy new release first page.

Repeat those steps for any country you want.

Results: You get to be on first page again resulting in more sales.

Attention: remeber to leave the app title as it is (maybe adding a space or a "Italian Version/Edition")

I haven't done this yet but I know many devs do it (even EA that has an internatinal version of its apps).

Cheers

// Forced lurk mode - on //

scitunes

thanks for the advice. I just added the english below the french. let's see if this works

-baguette

bladeolson

I am fluent in Japanese and have actually put some effort into selling there. It is about 20% of the sales.