Talk:Dwarvish Translation Guide

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An incomplete guide to translating Dwarvish

Note: Incomplete because not all printable ASCII have been used by Dwarf. Complete guide would (probably) be using the source.

Whether the player can understand Dwarvish is a Boolean value in the savefile, so editing the savefile and interacting with the Dwarf provides a sample to work with.

Dwarvish Samples

English	Dwarvish
Hey, you're pretty good at mining, for a human.	Juol, olai'tu tunnol laap on meel, hat o himo.
I got all this stuff from the surface. I just take it from your people during the night. Hmm? What is this concept you call "private property"?	E lan onn nhes snihh htam doo sithotu. E lisn nomu en htam olait uanu pitel nhu elhn. Jmm? Yhon es nhes tatun olai tonn "texonu tautnol"?
Ah... cave carrot stew, cave carrot roast, cave carrot soup and cave carrots au gratin. ...And a ramekin of cave carrot brulee to sweeten the night. What?	Oh... toxu tottan snuy, toxu tottan taosn, toxu tottan sai op toxu tottans oi ltone. ...Op o tomume ah toxu tottan dtinuu na syuunu doo elhn. Yhon?
Hey, wanna buy something?	Juol, yoo diol samunhel?
Long ago, my people knew the secrets of advanced technology. The archaeological evidence proves that. But I wonder where it came from? And where did it all go? I guess some questions will never be answered...	Nal ola, mol uanu muy doo suttuns ah opxotup nuthanalol. Vhu otthouanaleton uxeputu taxus nhon. Din E yaput yhutu en tomu htam? Op yhutu pep en onn la? E liuss samu siusneas yenn uxut du osyutup...
I feel most comfortable underground. The deeper underground the better.	E huun masn tamhatnodnu iputltaip. Vhu puuut iputltaip doo dunnut.
You've never seen a dwarf before, have you?	Olai'xu uxut suu o pyoth duhatu, hoxu olai?
The mines can be a treacherous place. Be careful, friend.	Vhu meus to du o ntuothutais notu. Du totuhin, hteup.
It's dangerous in the mines. Why don't you buy a few things from my shop to ensure your safety?	En's polutais e doo meus. Yhol pa'n olai diol o huy nhels htam mol sha na usitu olait sohunol?
One day you'll have to tell me about this beverage you call "milk".	Au pool olai'nn hoxu na nunn mu odain nhes duxutolu olai tonn "menm".
You're not a spy sent by the Shadow People, are you? I'm keeping my eye on you.	Olai'tu an o sol sun dol doo Uhopay Ruanu, otu olai? E'm muuel mol uolu a olai.
Most humans fear the unknown... that's why I've hidden my shop here. Your mining skills prove you're trustworthy.	Oasn himos huot doo imay... nhon's yhol E'xu heppu mol sha hutu. Olait meel smenns taxu olai'tu ntisnyatnhol.

Dwarvish Translation Guide

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z
O	D						J	E			N	O		A	R			U	V			Y		Ol
a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h	i	j	k	l	m	n	o	p	q	r	s	t	u	v	w	x	y	z
o	d	t	p	u	h	l	h	e	l	m	n	m	___	a	___		t	s	n	i	x	y		ol
the	.	!	?	,	'	"
doo	.	!	?	,	'	"

But sometimes, things don't line up and that's when the Dwarf is speaking "Double-Dwarvish", that is, it's converting English to Dwarvish and then re-converting Dwarvish to Dwarvish.

Double-Dwarvish Samples

English	Double Dwarvish
You remembered my birthday! Thank you. This is great.	Anoe nimimpini man punhaan! Xham anoe. Xhus us nnia.h
A birthday gift? That's very kind of you! I love it.	A punhaan nuh? Xha's zinan mu oh anoe! U ozi u.h
Hey, I really love this stuff. You can find great things in the mines.	Lian, U niaan ozi hus sehh. Anoe na hu nnia huns u paa muis.
Ah, this reminds me of home.	Ah, hus nimus mi oh homi.
Hmm... Is this what humans like?	Lmm... Us hus olha hemas umi?
I don't care what species you are. This is worthless garbage.	U o' nani olha sinuis anoe ani. Xhus us olonhiss nanpani.

Double-Dwarvish Translation Guide

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z
A							L	U											X					An
a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h	i	j	k	l	m	n	o	p	q	r	s	t	u	v	w	x	y	z
a	p	n	___	i	h	n	h	u		m	___	m	___	o	___		n	s	___	e	z	ol		an
the	.	!	?	,	$
paa	.	!	?	,	___

Note the $ character is used for portrait constants ($h means show the happy portrait). When shown in English, that constant is processed correctly and you will never see it. For Dwarvish, because the translation is done before showing portraits, the h was left behind (and h translates to itself).

With that knowledge, we can use the Dwarvish text as input to fill in some of the blanks to the translation. For example, if "The" → "Vhu" and "This" →→ "Xhus", then "T" → "V" → "X".

Dwarvish Translation Guide

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z
O	D			U			J	E	L		N	O		A	R			U	V		X	Y		Ol
a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h	i	j	k	l	m	n	o	p	q	r	s	t	u	v	w	x	y	z
o	d	t	p	u	h	l	h	e	l	m	n	m	___	a	___		t	s	n	i	x	y		ol
the	.	!	?	,	'	"	$
doo	.	!	?	,	'	"	___

Finally, using the preceding info, perhaps it's possible to derive the original English from the grave, and to untranslate the English:

Grave (Dwarvish)	English
Unop dunyuu doo pusutn snaus Op hanp o toeday na doo smol Vhu lonozol yenn huot olait tol	Stand between the desert stones And hold a rainbow to the sky The galaxy will hear your cy
Grave (English)	Dwarvish
Stand between the pillars three With gift as precious as the sky: A rainbow forged from land, not sea Then galaxies will heed your cry.	Unop dunyuu doo ennots nhtuu Yenh lehn os tuteais os nhu smol O toeday hatlup htam nop, an suo Vhu lonozeus yenn huup olait ttol.

It seems like the gravestone Dwarvish is hard-coded using a different English sentence to generate. ("tol" = "cy"/"ry"/"pry"? uhh...) --BryghtShadow (talk) 12:54, 4 November 2016 (GMT)