The babelfish option

If a week is a long time in politics then ten years must be akin to the lifetime of the solar system. That's how long ago that a slight majority of British voters opted for the UK to leave the European Union. The polling today shows a roughly 60/30 split reckoning it was the wrong decision. Oops. I wonder if that's because Britain is poorer, or because there's an obvious threat from Putin and no help to be had from the mad cadre of posturing jocks now in power in Washington?

Oh well, no sense in crying over spilt milk. We can still get a kind of twisted fun out of the situation. What could be more British than laughing like a drain while circling the drain? And now our (well, my) fellow Europeans in France, Germany and Poland can get in on the act, as I'm releasing app versions of my gamebook Can You Brexit? to mark the 10th anniversary of the referendum.

(Apologies to the many EU countries I haven't done translations for, but even with the turbocharging of Claude Code I only have so much time. Still, as the game runs in a browser anyone can play it in their native language just by enabling Google Translate.)

Brexit: Können Sie Großbritannien zusammenhalten? is the German version:

Sie sind Premierminister des Vereinigten Königreichs, und der Brexit läuft. Ihnen bleiben exakt zwei Jahre, um eine über vier Jahrzehnte gewachsene Allianz rückabzuwickeln. Und das ist noch die einfachste Aufgabe. Ihr Kabinett gilt als schwer steuerbar, Ihre Partei befindet sich in fortgeschrittener Selbstzerlegung, und das Land ist in dieser Frage weiterhin zuverlässig gespalten.

Schaffen Sie es, durchzuhalten und Großbritannien sicher in den Hafen zu manövrieren? Neue Handelsabkommen rund um den Globus abzuschließen? Die heimische Wählerschaft zufriedenzustellen und zugleich das Wohlwollen Ihrer ehemaligen EU-Partner nicht vollständig zu verspielen? Die Wirtschaft davon abzuhalten, sich eigenständig in Richtung Abgrund zu bewegen? Und nebenbei jene Parlamentskollegen im Blick zu behalten, deren politische Loyalität erfahrungsgemäß keine feste Größe ist?

Ein Spielbuch, in dem Sie sämtliche Entscheidungen treffen. Was sollte da schon schiefgehen?

Brexit: saurez-vous sauver le Royaume-Uni? is the French version:

Vous êtes Premier ministre britannique et le Brexit est lancé. Vous disposez de deux petites années pour détricoter une alliance patiemment construite pendant quarante ans. Et ce n’est que le début du parcours d’obstacles. Votre gouvernement ressemble à une cour de récréation, votre parti se fracture un peu plus chaque jour, et le pays reste férocement divisé.

Saurez-vous tenir jusqu’au bout et ramener le Royaume-Uni à bon port ? Négocier des accords commerciaux aux quatre coins du globe ? Composer avec une opinion publique versatile tout en ménageant vos anciens partenaires européens ? Empêcher l’économie de partir en vrille ? Le tout en surveillant ces collègues parlementaires dont les couteaux affûtés brillent déjà dans la pénombre?

Un livre-jeu où vous décidez de tout. Franchement, qu’est-ce qui pourrait mal tourner?

Brexit: Czy wyprowadzisz Wielką Brytanię z UE bez katastrofy? is the Polish version.

Jesteś premierem Wielkiej Brytanii, a Brexit właśnie się rozpoczął. Masz zaledwie dwa lata, aby wynegocjować rozplątanie sojuszu budowanego przez ponad cztery dekady. A to dopiero początek pola minowego, które musisz przejść. Twój gabinet trudno utrzymać w ryzach, twoja partia rozpada się na kawałki, a kraj pozostaje głęboko podzielony w tej sprawie.

Czy zdołasz wytrwać i bezpiecznie doprowadzić Wielką Brytanię do portu? Wynegocjować nowe umowy handlowe na całym świecie? Pogodzić poparcie wyborców w kraju z życzliwością dawnych partnerów z Unii Europejskiej? Powstrzymać gospodarkę przed wpadnięciem w spiralę spadku? A przy tym pilnować tych kolegów z parlamentu, którzy tylko czekają z nożami w rękach, by wbić ci je w plecy?

To książka-gra, w której wszystkie decyzje należą do ciebie. Cóż może pójść nie tak?

If you spot mistakes in the translations or any bugs in the game, let me know. At least those are the kind of blunders we can fix.

Coming attractions

Just a glimpse here of upcoming titles from Alkonost, our French publisher. Finally the complete Légende series will be returning to France -- that's both Blood Sword ("L'Épée de Légende") and Dragon Warriors ("Les Terres de Légende"). More details on my Patreon page -- and it's an open post, so don't be put off if you're not a backer.

These are just mock-ups and may not reflect the final covers or layout, but the important thing is that the books will at last get an accurate translation. I'll give you an example. In The Demon's Claw, the third Blood Sword book, you confront your longtime rival Icon the Ungodly (to give him his proper title, Aiken, Lord of the Singing Mountain) and he replies to your attempted brush-off thus:

"By my honour, this is a call to battle. Do you mean to suggest that I am unable to destroy you? I’ll crush you like the merest ant. Like a thing without bones, you’ll squirm and die under the heel of my boot. For five years I have pursued you, since the days of your callow youth when by stark chance you managed to get the better of me in Krarth. When I arrived in Crescentium at the house of my sister Saiki, I discovered you were also in Outremer. Since then I have remained on your spoor, prepared to hunt you for hate’s sake to the very boundaries of the earth. This petty concern of yours for that magic blade is as nothing. My feud with you is like thunder. My wrath is the spitting of lightning!"

But in the original 1980s translation that became:

"Je vous poursuis depuis cinq années, depuis que vous m'avez ravi la victoire. Ma sœur Saïki m'a averti de votre présence en Outremer. Peu m'importe votre épée magique, je ne veux que votre sang..."

Which is to say:

"I have been pursuing you for the past five years, ever since you robbed me of my victory. My sister Saiki warned me of your presence in Outremer. I don't care about your magic blade, I only want your blood..."

It was a busy time in the 1980s with a lot of gamebooks getting published. Gallimard's translator may have been rushing to meet a deadline, which accounts for why that version was so perfunctory. Alkonost's translation team have taken the extra time and care to make a version that's true to the original text, so for the first time French gamers will get to experience the Blood Sword books as they were written.

(By the way, I probably don't need to point this out, but if your French is as lousy as mine and you want to follow that discussion with Laurent and Patrick in the video above, you know that thanks to AI YouTube does auto-translate, right?)