Wording Topic

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Some things in game are word very awkward IMHO.

First example I can think of is the use of word "malus-bonus." This is silly. Use word "penalty" instead. I am not native English speaker but even I can see "malus-bonus" is awkward.

There are other examples too. Anything come to the mind?

Edited January 19, 2016 by wowgetoffyourcellphone

[Itms]

Well native speakers should give their opinion, because for others the game should be translated... If the wording is ok for native speakers we don't have any reason to change, we're not Simple English Wikipedia after all

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Bonus / Penalty is very simple and "penalty" is something use in other games. I have never ever anywhere in any game see "Malus-Bonus." In fact, in Latin it mean "Bad-Good" which make no sense in the context. In fact, in English the word "Malus" is only ever use in financial matters: The return of performance-related compensation originally paid by an employer to an employee as a result of the discovery of a defect in the performance. - Wiktionary.

Trust me, Litmus, "Penalty" is much better. "Malus-Bonus" in fact sound like something someone made up because can't think of the right term (the right term is Penalty).

Edited January 19, 2016 by wowgetoffyourcellphone

[Itms]

I'm OK with trusting you but having the input of a native speaker would be nicer: maybe penalty is closer to the word in your language? In French we would use Malus actually, but that's because we have a Roman language.

[mimo]

Some things in game are word very awkward IMHO.

First example I can think of is the use of word "malus-bonus." This is silly. Use word "penalty" instead. I am not native English speaker but even I can see "malus-bonus" is awkward.

There are other examples too. Anything come to the mind?

What i find silly is your way to report this kind of possible mistranslation by a non-english native. That's a bit pathetic.

The important notion to convey is that it can be either negative or positive, which penalty does not as far as i understand it, or do you propose penalty-bonus ? that would look akward. So any input from a native speaker would be appreciated.

[historic_bruno]

I've never encountered that term before. Not that it necessarily has to change, but I have seen quite a few other Latin terms, so this must be a more obscure or specialized one. Maybe an AI description isn't the right place to use that particular term?

Also googling it brings up "bonus-malus", not "malus-bonus".

[WhiteTreePaladin]

I agree. I also hadn't heard of "malus" before. I'm fairly confident that at least ninety-nine percent of native English speakers haven't either. For those speaking Latin-based languages, it may very well be a different story.

The ordering of "bonus-malus" does make more sense as generally positive things are listed first.

Edited January 20, 2016 by WhiteTreePaladin

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

What i find silly is your way to report this kind of possible mistranslation by a non-english native. That's a bit pathetic.

The important notion to convey is that it can be either negative or positive, which penalty does not as far as i understand it, or do you propose penalty-bonus ? that would look akward. So any input from a native speaker would be appreciated.

Then it would be "bonus/penalty" if something can be either/or. I do not know why you take personally. English can be studied after all, so it does not matter where the critique come from, a native or non-native speaker as long as the critique is founded well.

Edited January 20, 2016 by wowgetoffyourcellphone