ID:157397
 
Would it be possible to make a translator for a game that takes English and translate's it to Greek and vice versa?

Or has something like this been done before?
I don't think you understand at all how ridiculously complex and still extremely inaccurate translation programs are.
In response to Popisfizzy
I think the better question is has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?
In response to Airjoe
Wow, Airjoe, I didn't understand anything you said. X_x
Well, translating individual words wouldn't be difficult. Translating sentences so they made sense, with proper word placement on the other hand would be completely different. Either way it would take a great deal of time and you would need a very good understanding of both languages.
In response to Ulterior Motives
With the addition of slang and considering a word can mean many different things, this is not a viable solution.

This is like creating a Human AI that can 100% replicate the Human problem solving process ECT.
In response to Ashi Productions
If you were simply making a word translator you could list all words it could mean in the translation.

note - translation to gibberish

jugnot - A written thought
moztog - A musical symbol

Then for more complex languages that have several different words meaning the same thing just in a different situation.

love - translated to gibberish

goozna - Feelings for a possession
merka - Feelings for a family member
dutac - Formal feeling expressed toward another human

All of this would take massive time. Unless you could find a website that actually lists every word in the English language translated to Greek and vise versa. Slang wouldn't a be a problem, to translate either. Have the slang word first translated to the English meaning then to Greek.

Homie --> Buddy --> Greek Meaning

When you get into sentence placement, or grammar it would become extremely hard to do. Online translators from professional companies can't even pull this off. It would take extreme dedication and work to do this. You would have to have vast knowledge on the subject, and even then the amount of work would be almost skull crushing. Then, even through all of that it would still have mistakes.

You would literally have to tear apart the entire sentence and reform it based on the new languages grammar and standards. Which in most of cases would end up still outputting improper format. I really wouldn't suggest wasting your time. It's hard enough trying to make a spelling and grammar filter, for when you have people in your game ho tlk leik dis. There are just so many possible variables to look at when doing it.
In response to Ulterior Motives
No, it's still difficult. Words have many meanings often, and often there are idioms that are meaningless as individual words, which can be quite complex to translate properly, both to and from. Plus, Greek is actually quite a bit more difficult due to its morphology.

So, please, stop talking about stuff related to language when you don't really know what you're talking about.
In response to Ashi Productions
Ashi Productions wrote:
With the addition of slang and considering a word can mean many different things, this is not a viable solution.

Pragmatics also becomes an issue.
In response to Popisfizzy
Popisfizzy wrote:
No, it's still difficult. Words have many meanings often,

See [link]

and often there are idioms that are meaningless as individual words

Hence why I said, "translating individual words" and not phrases, sentences, etc. Of course some words wouldn't even have a translation at all. I didn't say it would be a good single word translator.


So, please read my post before you comment saying things aren't possible when I never said they were.
In response to Ulterior Motives
Ulterior Motives wrote:
Hence why I said, "translating individual words" and not phrases, sentences, etc.

Yes, but translating individual words does not work in the least. If you translated "screw the pooch" as "baiser le chien" in French, you get something with a very different meaning. Similarly, "le petite mort" as "the little death" is not a very meaningful phrase in English, while it is meaningful in French. Translating individual words just doesn't work at all.

Also, translating "words" is also not necessarily helpful, as the usefuleness of a word as a concet isn't clear across languages. Depending on what version of Greek you use, it could be clear or it could be difficult.
The best advice I can give is pretty limited.

Try to translate a whole, generally used sentence, as in:
"Can someone point me to a Greek game guide."
"My character is stuck/bugged/etc"

You can set it up as verbs, written in a Greek "help" tab.

I think that's the limit to what you can do with translation.