X2 Nopileos - English Kickstarter? - Now an X4 CE bonus and available on Kindle

[Xebec22]

Dear X Fans,

This is my first login to the forums since Feb 2007.. I'm here because I finally noticed that Farnham's Legend was translated to English, and I **really** enjoyed the book and really wish there were an English translation for the rest of Helge Kautz's X books.

I'm curious if it might be feasible to get a kickstarter going to translate the book into English? With a certain amount going to a company that does the translation, and anything beyond that going to the author?

X2 Nopileos lists as a 411 page book; assuming 250 words per page, there are approximately 100 000 words to translate. "Google" says typical cost for translation is 10 to 25 cents (USD) per word, meaning a kickstarter (after cost) would need to make a profit of $10,000 for this to work.

Of course we'd need permission from the author, and the source material. We'd probably want some kind of approval and inclusion from Egosoft..

We could also do this as an Indiegogo with no time limit, or something similar so it's not 60 days and "dead".

What are your thoughts on this?

P.S. Yes I'm playing X again after reading the book

[HelgeK]

Of course we'd need permission from the author, )

Granted

Cheers,
Helge

[KiwiNZ]

If there is a conscious effort to translate it, I will happily volunteer my time again. I need to check because I think I had already started a translation after we finished Farnham's Legend.

[TTD]

count me in as a future purchaser, when translated to English

[Rapier]

Did I miss the translation of Nopileos into English? I see from the recent announcements that an ebook in English is part of the collector's edition. Whilst I'll happily pay for a copy, forking out 75 quid for it seems a tad expensive (okay, I get a game too, but I'm not much interested in that, sad to say). Did I completely miss this being translated in the past, or is this something new; either way, does anyone know how else I can (legitimately) get a copy? Thanks.

[X2-Illuminatus]

The Nopileos translation is done exclusively for the X4 CE. It's not based on a fan translation, as it was the case with Farnham's Legend. Hence why it's currently not available anywhere else.

[Rapier]

Thanks for the into.

The fan translation of Farnham's Legend* was ultimately ditched for a more traditional translation for the published version. Whilst I prefered the linguistic translation of the fan version, the published one has a better structure (they are quite different in that respect, I recall). I've been wanting to read a translation since that time (never quite getting round to learning to read German) so I'm really keen to get hold of a copy when it's available. I guess I'll have to decide whether to pay the money up front to guarantee myself a copy, or take the risk of getting it cheaper/not at all later.

*Of which I was a part, back in the day - one of two books in which I've got an acknowledgement (bucket list tick!).

[kentronic]

Ahh I read the first book a couple of months ago, just as I was getting into X3TC. Totally loved it and didn't realise there were more! I would LOVE if it was translated and would donate to help that happen!

[Rapier]

Ahh I read the first book a couple of months ago, just as I was getting into X3TC. Totally loved it and didn't realise there were more! I would LOVE if it was translated and would donate to help that happen!

It has recently been translated, but so far it appears it's only available with the pre-order of the collector edition of X4 - ie it will set you back a lot of money (though you get a game and some other stuff as well). I'm hoping we'll be able to buy a copy directly sometime soon after the release of the game.

[nhaines]

Just for trivia, Nopileos is 124,823 words long in German.

And probably in the neighborhood of 130,000 words in English--I'm not quite sure yet!

[nhaines]

I've been reading Nopileos this past month, and it's a very fun read. Exciting and very funny at times!

I think anyone who liked Farnham's Legend is going to enjoy this one as well. I know a certain green lizard made me throw my head back and laugh at least once....

In fact, I've been taking notes on Nopileos in English. A lot of notes. Actually, I'm translating it.

[UnknownObject]

Will we ever be able to buy X3: Hüter der Tore and X3: Wächter der Erde as e-books? Paper books are already sold out, only a few used ones are resold. I'm not asking about translations, just original books. Some Russian pilots would be interested.

[nhaines]

Will we ever be able to buy X3: Hüter der Tore and X3: Wächter der Erde as e-books? Paper books are already sold out, only a few used ones are resold. I'm not asking about translations, just original books. Some Russian pilots would be interested.

I'm working on preparing the English translation of X2: Nopileos for Amazon now, and once I finish that, I'll start preparing X3: Hüter der Tore and X3: Wächter der Erde in German for Amazon.

[nhaines]

I'm happy to announce that X2: Nopileos - A Saurien on the Way to the Stars is now available on Amazon for purchase and via Kindle Unlimited.

In addition, the rest of the series is also available in German on Amazon.

And last but not least, I've begun translating X3: Yoshiko into English, so you'll have plenty to read some time after you finish Nopileos!

[X2-Illuminatus]

Thanks a lot for the heads-up! (And of course, for the translation, too.)