Consistency question - Lithuanian language in item names

[Xenobius2501]

Hello.

So far I've been mostly reading the forums, but recently one thing caught my attention. As you probably know by now, a large number of in-game terms (locations, NPC names, items and recipes etc.) contain Lithuanian words.

In case of NPCs, cities and most locations it's reasonable, although IMO, some names like Kvailas Forest (stupid forest), Akmens Ridge (stone ridge), Verkti Square/Apsimesti Crossroad ("To Cry" Square/"To Pretend" Crossroad - yes, they used infinitive form of Lithuanian verbs) are somewhat sketchy, in case of items it's inconsistent, to say the least.

For example, many of rather common items (food or alchemy ingredients, as far as I can tell, since I haven't played the game yet) are in English - there's Onion, Garlic, Acorn, Peach and Strawberry, but some of them are in Lithuanian for no apparent reason - there's Aviete (Raspberry), Salavijas (Sage plant), Ramune (Chamomile), Medus (Honey), Dilgele (Nettle) and so on - which I personally find rather confusing.

Similarly, most of equipment is in English (Miner Hammer, Royal Mace, Ice Rod and the like) - but some item names contain seemingly random Lithuanian words - there's Sunkus Maul - which simply means "Heavy Maul", Bendras Sword ("bendras" could be very roughly translated as "common"), Saltas Staff ("saltas" means "cold") and probably the worst offenders - Zalia Leather Gloves/Boots/Pants Armor/Kite Shield - because "zalia" is Lithuanian for green, more specifically, it's a gender-specific form of "green" only used to denote "feminine" nouns, masculine form being "zalias".

Long story short, it brings us to the question - is such inconsistent naming policy (English terms with random bits of Lithuanian here and there) a case of "working as intended" or something should be done about it? Now, I do realize there aren't exactly many Lithuanian players, it's a small country after all, but to people actually familiar with the language such things appear rather silly at best.

As you might have guessed by now I happen to know Lithuanian language myself, and while I'm not even close to being a professional linguist I could (if necessary), given some time, point out such cases and perhaps suggest translations - that is, if leaving it the way it is wasn't the grand plan all along.

[Xenobius2501]

@zhouyu47 Ugh, that's what happens when people edit wikipedia based on the first source they find in google.

First off, "Austras Koks" is a Latvian word, not Lithuanian. https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austras_koks

Literally - Tree of the East/Tree of Dawn, definitely not "Tree of Twilight". World tree is also mentioned, but it's not a direct translation, rather a mythological meaning. This is most likely (as @ensata guessed already) due to a mix-up in Baltic myths - both Lithuania and Latvia are Baltic countries, after all, and they have a number of cultural/language similarities.

Now, as for the skill, I don't really know if it's a good idea to leave it in Latvian. There's a problem of "koks" meaning "what [kind of]?" in Lithuanian. For example "what a fool!" in Lithuanian is written as "Koks durnius!". And while I'm not really an expert in old Baltic religions, I think it's better to pick a different name for this particular spell.

[imcgames]

@eincentas Yup, we won't be using special letters.

I guess since these are new names, it doesn't really have to follow the Lithuanian grammar very strictly but rather we can treat them as names that somewhat has its roots in or took hint from Lithuanian words. (unless they are like really really absurd or have two meanings where the other is actually a curse or something) In such case, can't we go with Vaidentis Shrine? or would it really need to be changed?

[Xenobius2501]

In such case, can't we go with Vaidentis Shrine? or would it really need to be changed?

My gripe with "Vaidentis Shrine" is that it's a "to see ghosts/to haunt shrine" - i.e. it's a verb in infinitive tense. I explained above how Lithuanian doesn't have a good match for "Haunted" adjective using the "Vaidentis" stem.

So far, as I see it, feasible choices consist of: 1) Vaiduokliu Shrine. Word-by-word it means Ghost Shrine, but whenever a book or a movie with "Haunted" in it's name is translated from English to Lithuanian this word is often used - see what comes up in google, for example - https://www.google.lt/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=vaiduokliu%20namas in this case, we preserve some similarity (namely, we keep the "vaid" part) and convey the "Haunted" meaning.

2) We keep it as is, "To Haunt Shrine" (Vaidentis Shrine, that is), in broken Lithuanian.

[imcgames]

The map in wiki has been updated. It's the one without the changes yet so we'll be updating them again when names are changed.

[imcgames]

For sub area names, we've added where the name was based from :wink:

[Xenobius2501]

Another thing I missed earlier... There's an item in the list - 라이데카 Lydeka Lydeka is a kind of fish, (https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europin%C4%97_lydeka) and for a change, it was spelled correctly so I did not pay it too much attention. Problems started when I found out what kind of item it is. http://tosdatabase.net/us/item/253103/

It's a spear. A pike. Anyway, Lydeka is Lithuanian for pike (fish) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_pike

...But NOT for Pike (weapon). That would be "pika" (pike) or "ietis" (spear).

[imcgames]

@Xenobius2501
Ooohhh, I'll have that checked with the dev. Thanks for pointing that out :+1: