Translated ASLRB

Actionjick

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Having been through this myself without - for many years - somebody teaching me the game and without any opponent I can tell you this:

English not being the native language ain't the trouble.

ASLish not being the native language is.

In the beginning, when I was reading a paragraph it went like this:

You read a sentence or two. You stumble about some sort of ASLish term or abbreviation. You go to the Index to find out what this could be. If listed in the index, you'd go to the appropriate rules section.

There you would go through the same when trying to figure out the expression that you did not know in the original rule. ASL came down on you like a cascading misery.

When you had looked up the ASL lingo necessary for the first paragraph, you might have forgotten what you started reading. Horribly tedious business...

Yet, I do not think that translating the ASLRB does make any sense. It takes basically years to familiarize oneself to the English ASL abbreviations. If you took the pains to learn ( the necessarily arbitrary) German translations instead, then it would also take you years. Finally, you'd find out that you are alone in 'speaking' German arbitrary ASL lingo. Lost years if you ask me.

von Marwitz
Very nicely put. The fact that you learned the game without an opponent is a major accomplishment. Well done..
 

jyoung

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I'm thinking it would be nice if the ASLRB was translated into English in the first place.
Latin Vulgate ASLRB
A.XXVI.XVI. Ludius ad ludio locum/hexagonum/aedificium forisfaciat quod per ignem accendere die profectus exstitit.

King Perry ASLRB
Ch.A, V.26, L.16. He that should knowingly set a Fire in my fields and in my halls shall be forever condemned in my Sight. “Kindler” shall be his name henceforth, and never shall he inherit their stewardship, for that passeth unto his Brother.

Australian English ASLRB
A.26.16. Mate, go on, light ‘em up, you know you want to, she’ll be right. Just don’t let the other bugger catch ya doin’ it.
 

BattleSchool

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The SK1 and 2 rules have been translated, and that makes much more sense, as the rules are shorter than the full ASL tome.
It also makes sense because translations of ASLSK material is more likely to get players hooked on the system. A non-English speaker can sample ASLSK before going full bore when they have access to ASLSK rules in their native tongue.

By the way, I have a copy of the ASLSK3 rules and an ASOP for same in Spanish. Pretty sure that Catalans can manage these rules too. ;)

However, contrary to what the OP suggested, Spain does have a dedicated ASL crowd, complete with a small tourney scene, and ASL blogs.
 

BattleSchool

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Good point about the acronyms. Seems like a translation would be a massive effort.
Some ASL terms sound better when translated creatively. Consider Test de combat for a (P)TC, or Test de courage for a MC. I've heard both used by at least one player in France. Trouble is that both "French" acronyms for these colloquialisms would be the same. But it isn't an issue because, IIRC, most translations retain the English acronyms.

z.B.
Modificatore del Terreno (TEM)
Primer Fuego contra Movimiento en Campo Abierto (FFMO)
Tir à bout portant triple (TPBF)
 

Gordon

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"MC" That which my SMCs and MMCs invariably fail.
 

nekengren2

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Thanks for the feedback. I agree with everything said above.

Summarizing..................
ASLRB in English is all that is needed for the ASL community.
Acronyms in English is all that is needed for the ASL community.
 

MajorDomo

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I'm thinking it would be nice if the ASLRB was translated into English in the first place.
Exactly, the ASLRB would benefit greatly from an electronic re-write to reorganize and simplify it.

I do not know the current state of heuristic learning programs, but the ASLRB might be quite the challenge.

After a streamlined electronic version, then translations probably are another attainable computer task.
 

von Marwitz

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Apologies, late to the party.



Can be found here, including recent Croix de Guerre updates. This is entirely player-driven. I am constantly astounded.
That's just amazing! 👍

Whenever I don't understand a rule in the future, I will quote this Japanse ASLRB - and nobody can blame me... 🤣

von Marwitz
 

Michael Dorosh

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Exactly, the ASLRB would benefit greatly from an electronic re-write to reorganize and simplify it.

I do not know the current state of heuristic learning programs, but the ASLRB might be quite the challenge.

After a streamlined electronic version, then translations probably are another attainable computer task.
I'd keep the printed RB as the source of truth (as well as all the historical footnotes and rationle) and strip the e-book version to just point form and flowcharts. I can't count the number of times we've wished the book would just break it into point form - once you know the rule and the reason for the rule, all you need is a refresher on the effects and the exceptions, really.
 

Tigernaut

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I have a friend in Turkey who has translated the SK, and is working through the ASLRB for his playing friends within Turkey. Small group, but dedicated and my friend has a gift for languages.

As has been said, it’s a technical rulebook so doesn’t lend itself to translation apps. It would need a playing translator for it to make any sense I would imagine. Great to see that it is far wider than is readily visible to most English-centric search engines. 😉
 

nekengren2

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wow I'm amazed the dedication of people translating this stuff. Extremely difficult. Turkish. Japanese.

I have a vision of a master cheat sheet of ALL the rules. The translation of that could be crowd-sourced. Of course, this introduces the inevitable misinterpretations of consecutive translations.
 
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