Hello,
I can write english but I'm a frenchman who waits for the coming out of the french version of the RPG Deathwatch (french is still easier for me to read)

2 days ago the makers of the french version of Deathwatch, the "Bibliothèque Interdite" company, published the french version of "Final Sanction", it's introductory rules coming with a scenario...

After reading it all 3 times, I felt something was wrong so I downloaded it's english version to compare... So far I went rapidly up to page 14 only and found 2 omissions in the french version (no jump pack and powerfist on brother Elyas character sheet, and no statement that a roll of 94-100 on semi/auto bursts cause a weapon jam anywhere later). But only these 2 omissions change a lot of things in the adventure...

So much that I wonder if the french version of the full game will respect the english version... I thought I needed to tell you so that you can stress the need for quality work in the french version of this game... Do you guys think I should tell to Games Workshop too ?

Thank you for making such a great RPG for space marines. You wouldn't believe how long I have wished one would come out... I even tried on my own !

Sincerely...

I'm French, too, so if you'll give me the link to the translation of Final Sanction I could read it and see what's up.

GW has nothing to do with that, it's FFG who manages the 40k RPG line, but I don't know to what extent they control the translations. I guess the best idea would be to hint that to Bibliothèque Interdite, in order to help them avoid such mistakes.

Nice to meet you Stormast,
The link for l'Ultime Santion (www.bibliothequeinterdite.fr/images/stories/pdf/deathwatch/dw_ultime_sanction.pdf) can be found on Bibliothèque Interdite's main page (www.bibliothequeinterdite.fr/) And, of course, I told them that too... Thanks for the precisions about who's managing what.

I haven't seen anything about the French version, but I do know that FFG often takes quite a bit of time with translations and they're far from perfect. I've played Anima (originally in Spanish, I believe) and many of the rules in the American book were not very clear. Hopefully they'll do better with the Deathwatch translations.

I didn't cover the scenario section yet but, before that part, I found those translation mistakes :

• Page 8 under Balistic Skill - "boltguns" was translated by "arbalètes" (crossbows) and "plasma pistols" by "pistolets-mitrailleurs" (it's sad the french didn't discover the plasma technology yet)
• Same page under Endurance - "shrug off injury" was translated by "récupérer de vos blessures" (recover from injury... close but no cigar)
  
• Page 9 under Common Lore - "adeptus astartes" was translated by "adeptus arbites" (no comment)
  
• Same page under Scholastic Lore - the french version add to the list "codex astartes" (I hope it's because of an update though)
  
• And page 17 under Damage caused by Hordes - "autopistols" was translated by "pistolets-mitrailleurs" (I'd have translated by "pistolets automatiques" but... see how those french translaters make no difference between "autopistols" and plasma pistols !)
  

Saigneur said:

1) WOOOOT...Scary...

2) I'll have a look at that.

3) ...

4) I do believe they're actually doing better than FFG on this one (and it sounds legit ).

5) Hu-um, "pistolets-mitrailleurs" sounds OK to me, but I'd agree there's a (slight) difference.

****, whole day passed, no Interwabz. Will give it a look tomorrow, I guess.

From the first 4 pages of the scenario part, out of 17 pages in total :

• Page 22 under "An Overview of the Adventure" - "Well of Night" was translated by "Puits Nocturne" (Night Well... Lame translation... "Puits de Ténèbres" would have been better...)
• Page 23 under "Baptism by Fire" - "[Captain Ascote] blesses them for their arrival" was translated by "[Le capitaine Ascote] leur dit combien leur arrivée est bénie" ("[Captain Ascote] tells them how much their arrival is blessed"... For me it's not the same meaning)
• Same place below - "doomed to fall before the night is out" was translated by "condamnée à tomber avant la nuit" ("doomed to fall before night"... when it's night already at the beginning of this scenario !)
• Same page under "Part 2 : Lordsholm Burns", "Fabrica District" - "manufactoriums" was translated by "manufactoria" (when they could have copied)
• Page 24 under "Lordsholm : a City in Flames" - "murky" was translated by "boueux" (it's just incorrect)... And "they will probably visit each of the four districts at least once" was translated by "ils se rendront au moins une fois dans chacun des quatre districts" (exit all probability... why ?)
• Page 25 under "Magistria District" and "The House of Echoes" - "hollow guard" was translated by "garde vide" ("empty guard")... Et "when the uprising began, the Hollow Guard sealed the tower and barred all accesses to Elsharna to await orders from the Lord Governor - orders that have yet to materialise" is not told in the french version...
• Page 26 under "Portica District" and "Lordsholm PDF Base" - "the fall of this base may well be" was translated by "la chute de cette base sera" (exit possibility... why not "serait" ?)
• Same page under "Imperial Stores" - "sealed by the PDF at the start of the rebellion and then cut off as the tide of battle shifted" was translated by "scellées par les FDP au début de la rébellion mais dont tous les points d'accès ont été coupés" (overall I don't understand why "and" is translated by "but")... And "should the rebels manage to enter the stores instead, the PDF will surely pay a high price in blood" was translated by "si les rebelles tentent de pénétrer dans ces entrepôts, les FDP paieront un lourd tribut pour les en empêcher" (there, the translator seems not to have understood at all...)

After comparing pages 26 to 29 :

Page 26

• Under "Calistria District" and "Rag Markets" - "a few times in a single hour" was translated by "plusieurs fois en une seule journée" ("a few times in a single day")
  

Page 27

• Under "Shadow of the Hivemind" - "This is the terror that pervades the entire world" was translated by "C'est cette peur irrationnelle qui se répand dans Lordsholm" (the french translate "terror" by "fear", add "irrationnal" to it, and change "world" by "Lordsholm" in this sentence)
• Same place below - "as they extinguish" was translated by "alors qu'ils détruisent" ("as they destroy"... I fear they're not talking about the same protagonists)... And at the end of this paragraph, "gory" was translated by "répugnants" ("disgusting")
• Under "Allies and Antagonists" and "Inquisitor Kalistradi" (note fo french people only : au passage, pourquoi pas "Inquisitrice" puisqu'il est précisé que c'est une femme ?) - "backwater worlds" was translated by "mondes de cet acabit" ("worlds like this one"... I guess they didn't know it could be translated by "mondes reculés")... And "lest it leads to the spread of Hive Fleet Dagon" was translated by "sans quoi cela conduira inexorablement la flotte-ruche Dagon à se rapprocher"... (the french translated "spread" by "come closer")
• Below, under "Syndalla" - "reckless" was translated by "pas irresponsable" (not irresponsible)... And "have sound tactical reasoning behind their actions" was translated by "disposent d'un plan d'action bien établi et mûrement réfléchi" (exit tactic)
  

Page 28

• Under "Elsharna" - "shadow in the void" was translated by "ombres du vide" (again this "vide" word sounding so empty... when "l'ombre tapie dans le néant", sound better... at least to me)
• And under "Lord-Governor Perian Thorsholt" - "woefully ill-equiped" was translated by "pas équipé" (not equiped)

I'm not sure I'll go further... You got enough evidence now no ?

That is crazy...

They really did a horrible job here :/

Stormast said:

Welcome to FFG's horrible translations. It's probably my biggest complaint about the company.

Hello again, this is just to let people know that "l'Ultime Sanction" has been partly corrected and that it's available for download, along with a few others things, here : www.bibliothequeinterdite.fr/dw/