translating the puzzle game TRAILS to Toki Pona

[dense hatch]

I'm part of a small indie game dev collective and we have recently released a new puzzle game ( https://store.steampowered.com/app/3605120/Trails/ )

I already planned a secret that requires the user to read some toki pona, but I also want to translate the menus and need some help there 😅

let's start with the settings menu:

• I have tokiponized the name TRAILS as "musi Talise"
• Audio = kalama
• Music = kalama musi
• Sound Effects = kalama ilo ("useful sounds") kalama pi ijo musi
• gameplay = pilin musi (the "feel of the game")
• show level names = o pana lukin e nimi ma ("show the names of places")
• fullscreen = o kepeken ale ilo ("use the whole device") o suli ale e sitelen ilo
• unlock all levels = o ken musi e ale ma (should there be a mi somewhere? "allow me"?) o ken e ni: mi ken lon ma ale
• delete stored solutions = o weka e sona nasin ("remove the knowledge of the paths", solutions refer to the paths the player has painted ingame)
• are you sure? click to confirm = sina wawa ala wawa. wawa la o luka ("are you confident? if confident, click / touch / interact") wile sina ni li wawa ala wawa. wawa la o luka
• controls = ilo lawa ("control-things")
• accessibility = pona kepeken ("ease of use")
• UI scale = suli sitelen ("size of writing")
• toggle draw = esun pi pali sitelen ("toggle drawing-creation") open sitelen la o luka. pini sitelen la o luka sin
• dark mode = o kepeken kule pimeja
• credits = sitelen sona pi jan pali lipu sona pi jan pali
• exit game = o pini e musi

Steam

Trails

TRAILS is a cozy puzzle game in which you guide sand ships across a crumbling desert to reach isolated outposts. Draw paths for each ship across the treacherous sands, planning carefully to avoid collisions and ensure each ship reaches its goal.

Chart Your Course
Plan your route by drawing paths across the desert grid. All sand ships must follo…

Price

$7.99

▶ Play video

[lusty breach]

“kalama ilo” looks like “device sounds” since that’s the most relevant ilo in this context to me (with no knowledge of the game)

[dense hatch]

hmm do you have an alternative suggestion for "sound effects"?

[lusty breach]

maybe “kalama pi ijo musi” - “sounds of things in the game”

“o kepeken ale ilo”
i thought this might be referring to like graphics (“use all computing power”), but the interpretation of “use all of the computer screen” seems likely as well

i think it would be clearer to say “o suli ale e sitelen ilo” - “completely enlarge the device image”

[dense hatch]

oh i like it :-) ale ilo does indeed sound like all of the compute power

[lusty breach]

“ale ma” is “everything of land”
reverse it to make it “all lands”
and yea i do think using “mi” would be clearer, like “o ken e ni: mi ken lon ma ale”
nnn, the double “ken” might be confusing? idk
i could also see the first “ken” being replaced with “lon” or maybe “kama”

[dense hatch]

i'll trust your reading - but somehow the difference between ale ma and ma ale is not very clear to me. "ma ale" sound to me like the land that is everywhere while "ale ma" is "the all of lands" so all lands?

i think the meaning of “o ken e ni: mi ken lon ma ale” is closer to what i wanted to say than what i wrote. and at least at my level of udnerstanding it's finde to read - even if i wouldn't have thought of it :D

though why did you use lon? in "mi ken lon ma ale"?

[lusty breach]

“I can be at all lands”

[dense hatch]

ah, i see :)

[gloomy grotto]

the first word is the main word

• ma ale - ma is the noun and ale is the modifier, so "all lands" or "the entire area" is a good translation where "all" or "entire" are adjectives
• ale ma - ale is the noun and ma is the modifier, so "everything that is land-like" or "the totality of land" makes more sense here
  but these are fairly close to each other in this case

Also this game sounds awesome, thank you!!

[lusty breach]

i really don’t think “sina wawa ala wawa” would be understood
it might be seen as like “are you powerful” which doesn’t make sense (or maybe could mean something that isn’t what you meant)

think about what “are you sure?” really means
it’s asking if the player actually does want to do it
so, “wile”

i don’t think “esun” is a good translation of “toggle” since there’s no trade happening

maybe “nasin” instead

[gloomy grotto]

or ante (or both)

[lusty breach]

rest of it looks good to me!!

[dense hatch]

I would read "sina wile ala wile" as "do you want to?", which works but doesn't quite convey the same urgency.
does "sina wile wawa ala wile" work? is it even possible to ask yes/no questions with compound verbs like this or should i use anu seme ("sina wile wawa anu seme. wile wawa la o luka")?

[dense hatch]

esun has "to swap" in it's somantic space, that is why i took it - but if it is just swapping as in exchanging two items, it's not very fitting (though it is swapping between two states)

but wouldn't "nasin pi pali sitelen" just be the method of drawing? and "nasin ante pi pali sitelen" just a different method?

maybe we have to think in a different direction? with the option enabled we need a button press for every change (changing from drawing to not drawing and vice versa), so the drawing mode is less fleeting; or it has two stable modes now as opposed to always being in the not-drawing mode without button press; the drawing mode only stops after being ordered to instead of automatically

i think this is a bit above my skill level, but i would like to try something along the lines of "await an interaction to stop drawing" - "o awen e luka tawa pini pi pali sitelen" (this feels wrong 😅 )

my toki pona intuition says it should be possible to revert the order "to stop drawing do this: await an interaction" but i don't quite see how "o pini e pali sitelen lon ni: o awen e luka"?

[wary moat]

in my understanding "sina wile wawa ala wawa" works grammatically, but wile is more likely to be interpreted as a preverb here - "do you want to be powerful?" rather than "do you want powerfully?"

mi la "wile sina ni li wawa ala wawa?" works here

[dense hatch]

"your wish here: being strong or not?" ?

i see the problem with the preverb though :/ is there no way to mark it as not being a preverb? :(

[wary moat]

"wile sina ni" - a bit awkward to translate wile being modified by both sina and ni, but it could be thought of as "this wish of yours". The ni could be omitted but could help narrow down what "wile" refers to
"li wawa ala wawa" - this is a standard "X ala X" construction for yes or no questions. so, "Is this wish of yours strong?"

[dense hatch]

ah!

[wary moat]

there's no marker for whether a word is a preverb or a regular content word, ambiguity can be resolved by restructuring the sentence

[lusty breach]

yes it’s exchanging two items

[dense hatch]

ok i guess that does work indeed. i got confused by trying to translate 'wile sina ni' but it makes total sense

[dense hatch]

any opinions on my attempt to replace the "toggle draw" to something more descriptive?

[lusty breach]

your translations of “nasin (ante) pi pali sitelen” are accurate

[lusty breach]

i’m not sure how to translate it, but i don’t think i would understand these? like i barely understand the english

[wary moat]

I think they mean something like "drawing will not stop until you interact"

for which I think you could go in the direction of, "interact to start drawing and interact again to stop", so "open sitelen la o luka. pini sitelen la o luka sin"

[lusty breach]

“sina luka e [what is being drawn on] la sina sitelen. sina luka sin la pali sitelen li pini”

[dense hatch]

this is much simpler than what I was trying to write :D

[lusty breach]

i like this translation too

[dense hatch]

i like the "sina luka sin..." but in the first part it should be what is used to draw (the button press) rather than what is being drawn on (the ground in the puzzle), right?

[lusty breach]

wait i thought it was like a mouse click

that’s what i imagined when i heard “luka”

[dense hatch]

when controlled with a mouse that is what happens, but this option is only about controller input

(though maybe it should work for the mouse as well)

what about "pali sitelen la luka sin la pali sitelen li pini" ("while drawing, press again to stop drawing")?

[lusty breach]

i’d add “sina” to the first two “la” phrases

nn, maybe “e” after the first “pali” too since we have the room?

[dense hatch]

the problem with "sina" is that it is not obvious who it refers to. we are talking to the computer / game at the moment we are changing the settings, so is sina refering to the computer?

we could add mi instead 😅 "while I draw, my second interaction should stop the drawing"

[lusty breach]

i feel like it’s not a problem? i see it as referring to the person reading it

like the options menu is talking to me, so when it’s talking, it’s “mi” and i’m “sina”

[dense hatch]

but we give instructions a couple of times like "o pini e musi" to close the game. i don't want to mix up who sina refers to on the same page

[lusty breach]

oh right i forgot about that

“o” on its own definitely means you’re talking to the computer

-# pan tu

[dense hatch]

i think i will stick with jan Ekisi's translation. it just is so beautifully simple :D

[dense hatch]

thank you all for your help so far!

there is a second set of translations for the controls menu and then we are already done :-)

• Hide Gamepad Symbols = o weka e sitelen pi ilo luka musi

• Map = sitelen ma

• Open Menu = o pana lukin e sitelen pi ijo ante o pana lukin e lipu pi ante ijo

• Up = sewi poka sewi

• Down = anpa poka anpa

• Left = soto poka ni(left)

• Right = teje poka ni(right)

• Panning = lukin

• Select / confirm = toki wile (start the selected level OR change value of selected option in settings menu)

• Puzzle = musi pi ken lawa

• Previous Ship = ilo tawa pi poka tawa ilo tawa pi poka pini

• Next Ship = ilo tawa pi poka kama ilo tawa pi poka open

• First Ship = ilo tawa nanpa wan

• Second Ship = ilo tawa nanpa tu

• Third Ship = ilo tawa nanpa tu wan

• Move (cursor) = tawa ilo sitelen tawa pi ilo sitelen

• Draw = o pali sitelen

• Reset Paths = o weka e nasin

• Play (as in start playback) = o open tawa ("start movement"; the game world is static until this button is pressed and the planned movement is performed)

• Pause Playback = o awen

• Jump to Start = o tawa e open o tawa open

• Previous Step = tenpo pi poka tawa tenpo pi poka pini

• Next Step = tenpo pi poka kama tenpo pi poka open

• Fast Forward = o open tawa pi tenpo mute o kepeken tenpo lili lon tawa

• Return to Map = o tawa sin e sitelen ma o tawa sitelen ma

[lusty breach]

don’t use “soto” and “teje”!!

pretty much nobody uses them and there’s a lot of speakers who don’t know the words or which word is which direction

i think “sitelen pi ijo ante” could be more specific for “menu”?

[gloomy grotto]

have you seen other games that solved the left/right problem without these words in the context of a key map list or diagram?

[lusty breach]

nnnn ala

[dense hatch]

isn't that what i wrote? "Open Menu = o pana lukin e sitelen pi ijo ante"

or do you want something more specific than "sitelen pi ijo ante"?

[lusty breach]

ni

[dense hatch]

hmm

my thought process was that "ijo ante" = "change / modify thing" is a setting or option, so "sitelen pi ijo ante" could be a "list of options". now that i think about it maybe it should be "lipu pi ijo ante" instead - but I assume your problem is more with the "ijo ante"?

[lusty breach]

ohhh no it looks like “other stuff”

[dense hatch]

ah, hmm

[lusty breach]

since “ijo” is the noun and “ante” is acting as a modifier

[dense hatch]

would "ante ijo" be better?

[lusty breach]

yea

[dense hatch]

ok, it seems i still get confused about what the main word should be 😅

[lusty breach]

oh i also like “lipu” instead of “sitelen”

[dense hatch]

ok, so "o pana lukin e lipu pi ante ijo"

( i'll also replace "sitelen" with "lipu" in the translation of "credits" above (now: lipu sona pi jan pali) )

[dense hatch]

i would try to avoid soto and teje, but i think i'm ok with using them in this example. They should be farely obvious in this context (see the screenshot with the key bindings next to them)

[lusty breach]

i think it’d be clearer to use “poka ni” with the “ni” pointing left and right
in sitelen pona, “soto” and “teje” might be seen as “monsi” and “sinpin”

[dense hatch]

should "map" also use lipu instead of sitelen? "lipu pi sona ma"? for how few words there are in toki pona, lipu and sitelen are surprisingly close in meaning :/

[lusty breach]

it’s just an image right?

[dense hatch]

yes

[lusty breach]

so sitelen

[dense hatch]

ah lipu is just for text

[lusty breach]

yea

[gloomy grotto]

I think it's a little bit more fuzzy than that, like an atlas is definitely more of a lipu

but yeah usually lipu is focusing on communicating information with words while sitelen is focused on being a visual thing, so something could easily be both

[wary moat]

Previous Ship/Step - I don't think I would understand "poka tawa" as "previous" - maybe "poka pini"?

A few grammatical errors:
Move cursor - tawa pi ilo sitelen.
Jump to start - o tawa e open.
Return to map - "o tawa sin e sitelen ma" or "sin la o tawa sitelen ma". Though, I think the meaning is clear enough for "sin" to not be necessary.

Fast Forward - "tawa pi tenpo mute" sounds like "move with a lot of time", which I would interpret as "move slowly". I would use "o open tawa kepeken tenpo lili" or "o open tawa wawa".

[lusty breach]

ni li pona tawa mi

[dense hatch]

but "poka kama" was fine?

[wary moat]

yes, in much the same way as "tenpo kama" and "tenpo pini" are often interpreted as future and past

tawa is a fairly broad word, not specifying from where the movement started and where it moves to - I might interpret "pi poka tawa" as "neighboring in the forward direction" or "in the direction we are going"

[dense hatch]

hmm but tawa does specify where it moves to "mi tawa tomo" - "I go to the house"

I didn't know about the "future"and "past" translations. I guess pini makes sense too - but using "coming" and "going" had such a nice symmetry 😅

why is it not "tenpo open" (the starting time) if it is "tenpo pini" (the finished time)?

[wary moat]

I should speak in more specific terms - in the phrases "poka tawa" and "poka kama" without any other modifiers, both of them refer to movement, but I feel that kama has a more specific meaning of something that is not here right now and is in the process of coming while tawa could mean a lot of things.

That's a good question - to me, tenpo open evokes a sense of immediacy (the time is starting right now), while tenpo kama feels more like "in the process of coming" without describing its current position.

[dense hatch]

thanks for the explanation. this immediacy is something that would be very fitting in my case though. so should I use "poka pini" and "poka open"?

[wary moat]

I think that'd work very well - go for it

[dense hatch]

thinking about the fast forward again I don't really like the approach anymore. Unlike with "Play" it is not the start of movement, but rather a increase in speed.
would this work: "o lili e tenpo tawa" (reduce the time the movement takes) ?

or "o lili e tenpo lon tawa"?

[wary moat]

mi la "o tawa kepeken tenpo lili" or "o kepeken tenpo lili lon tawa" are least vague - I think it's good to emphasize that the tawa is using rather than just taking up an amount of time

kin la "o wawa e tawa" li ken

[lusty breach]

first one is more clear

oh and “o wawa e tawa” could also be used

[dense hatch]

i would like to thank you all in the credits. how would you like to be called there? i've got my own and jan Ke Tamis name in sitelen pona. how would your names be written in sitelen pona @gloomy grotto @wary moat @lusty breach ?

[gloomy grotto]

If possible ☺️ and thank you!!

a penpo

[dense hatch]

nimi "penpo" li toki e seme?

[lusty breach]

:3

[wary moat]

I don't have much of a preference but this would be okay

a

mi jo ala e wile suli, taso ni li ken!

[gloomy grotto]

it's a meme that's specific to this server actually heh, it refers to the "toki pona taso" event that happens here when the moon is full or new

[[penpo]]