This is an English language wiki, but the works we cover aren't always in English - some have official translations, some have unofficial translations and some aren't currently translated at all. This doesn't stop us from troping them, it just means that we need to follow a few extra guidelines and ensure that pages are accessible to English-speaking users.
General guidance
- If a work page is not listed under its original, untranslated title, that title (or a transliteration, if it's in another alphabet) should be set up as a redirect.
- By default, any quoted text or dialogue should be in English. Where appropriate, the page should note that it wasn't originally in English (this can be done with a sentence in the page description — it doesn't necessarily need to be repeated for every example, or for crosswicking).
- If a translation significantly changes a quote (e.g. by adding Cultural Translation) then it may be worth comparing both versions and noting the difference.
- Where a translation (official or otherwise) only covers part of the work and titles or character names are translated in a way that misrepresents the full work, we may — on a case-by-case basis — decide to retain the original title and character names when troping the work, at least until a full official translation exists.
- Where a translation rewrites and very significantly changes a work (e.g. Battle of the Planets vs. Science Ninja Team Gatchaman) we may treat them as separate works and disregard the translated names and titles when covering the original.
Works with an official translation
This approach applies to works under copyright - the concept of an 'official' translation starts to blur once works are in the public domain.- The most recent official translation of the title and character names should be used for the wiki. However, if the only difference between versions is American and Commonwealth Spellings, the usual "first come, first served" rule applies (but ideally to the work as a whole - e.g. character names should not change between examples).
- If there are multiple official English translations and it's not clear which is "most recent" (e.g. parallel translations take place in America vs. Europe, dub vs. subtitles), the usual "first come, first served" rule applies to the page content (e.g. character names) and title.
- If a work also has previous official English translated titles, these should be set up as redirects.
- If a new official translation is released after content is added to the wiki, character names and titles should be updated accordingly (e.g. the work page may be moved to a new title). Previous names and titles should still be referenced on the work page, or in examples where relevant.
Works in the public domain
For foreign language works that have entered the Public Domain, we no longer follow the "latest official translation" rule, as newer versions may not be official.- The preference is to use a widely known English title, if one exists, rather than an untranslated title.
- Untranslated titles may be used if that's entirely or almost entirely how the work is presented to an English-speaking audience (e.g. for many songs or operas).
- If there is no consensus as to which title should be used (e.g. translated or untranslated), the usual "first come, first served" guidance applies. In this scenario, once a title is recorded, it should not be changed unilaterally.
