WinBoard German Translation

[Roman Hartmann]

I agree with the previous poster that "Motor" doesn't sound right.

"Rechenmodul" or "Rechenkern" sounds better to me. "Schachhirn" doesn't sound as sexy but still better than "Motor" IMO.

Roman

[OliverUwira]

I agree with Oliver that "Motor" is silly. It is interesting that I too (like Oliver) preferred english Arena because I hated to see "Motor". "Schachprogramm" is 10 times better.
Though more accurate, "Rechenmodul" sounds less sexy.
Matthias.

I also think that "Schachprogramm" is better, but for Winboard, this might become tricky because it does support Xiangqi and Shogi and other stuff, while most users will associate "Schach" with, well "Schach", as we know it in these parts.

"Programm" is alright, but here the colloquial German usage will hurt. Nobody says "Applikation" or "Anwendung" and thus it is impossible to make a clear-cut distinction between the WinBoard application and the engine.

"Rechenmodul" would help. Maybe "KI-Modul" would work, as well. However, I see a significant benefit in sticking to "Engine". One is searching for help with Google. The English term "engine" is clear and will result in many hits, even in German. I just searched for "Engine and Schach" and the first hit is the German Wikipedia, which says here

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schachprogramm

Im engeren Sinne wird unter dem Schachprogramm nur die so genannte Engine für die Berechnung der Züge verstanden.

In general, I'm very much a supporter of avoiding unneccesary anglicisms but it this case I consider it justified to use an anglicism for both clarity and established usage. We can say "Engine" or "Programm" as well as we can say "Computer" or "Rechner", and in this case, "Engine" simply fits better.

[Matthias Gemuh]

Actually I do like the "Rechenmodul". "Modul" seems a more accurate description than "Programm"; it stresses the incompleteness. "Schachmodul" sounds even better to me.

I would prefer "Rechenmodul" to "Schachmodul", as it emphasizes that that is the guy doing the work. "Schachmodul" is too passive.

[hgm]

OK, so 'Engine' it is!

Users that do not like this can always change it. Al it requires is to edit the deutsch.lng file.

To me, 'Schachhirn' sounds pretty good too. But I am not a native German speaker, of course. But in English 'Chess Brain' does sound more to the point to me than 'Engine'.

That WinBoard also supports Xiangqi and Shogi is not really a problem. People playing those think of them as 'Chess'. Google translates any mention of Xiangqi in a Chinese text as 'Chess'. The executable of the commercial Xiangqi engine GaGaChess is called ggChess.exe. We happen to call it 'Chinese Chess', but the Chinese most certainy don't. They call our Mad-Queen variant 'Western Xiangqi'.

[Roger Brown]

[SNIP]

We happen to call it 'Chinese Chess', but the Chinese most certainy don't. They call our Mad-Queen variant 'Western Xiangqi'.

Hello H.G.

Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? In cricket (the game) George Headley was called the black (Don) Bradman. Guess how that description went in the Caribbean (where Headley was from)?



Later.

[OliverUwira]

To me, 'Schachhirn' sounds pretty good too. But I am not a native German speaker, of course. But in English 'Chess Brain' does sound more to the point to me than 'Engine'.

I've seen the English term "brain" refering to a chess engine in some papers. In German, the user would understand, I believe, but it's unusual and the top Google hits refer to the human brain, in particular to the brain of a chess GM.

I'd say we stick to "Engine", as you said, and if the forums or your e-mail account get flooded with mails complaining about the term, it still can be changed.

That WinBoard also supports Xiangqi and Shogi is not really a problem. People playing those think of them as 'Chess'. Google translates any mention of Xiangqi in a Chinese text as 'Chess'. The executable of the commercial Xiangqi engine GaGaChess is called ggChess.exe. We happen to call it 'Chinese Chess', but the Chinese most certainy don't. They call our Mad-Queen variant 'Western Xiangqi'.

Point taken