NetHack in other languages - Revision history

Caesium-132: added some Chinese translations

2026-07-03T09:39:52Z

added some Chinese translations

Netzhack: /* Chinese */ "Simplified Chinese" is a writing system, not a language.

2026-06-15T10:07:55Z

‎Chinese: "Simplified Chinese" is a writing system, not a language.

Netzhack: /* Korean */ Add link text; also wording: avoid undefined term "subpage".

2026-06-15T10:04:13Z

‎Korean: Add link text; also wording: avoid undefined term "subpage".

Caesium-132: added https://github.com/timfr09/HanNetHack

2026-06-15T08:10:23Z

added https://github.com/timfr09/HanNetHack

Ricard1974: fixed link syntax for nethack-es

2026-06-12T22:30:12Z

fixed link syntax for nethack-es

Ricard1974: added nethack-es (Spanish translation of NetHack 5.0)

2026-06-12T22:24:20Z

added nethack-es (Spanish translation of NetHack 5.0)

Umbire the Phantom: snip

2026-05-20T22:32:49Z

snip

Umbire the Phantom: lede, spacing

2026-05-12T14:39:32Z

lede, spacing

Netzhack: /* Character sets */ Rewriting hopes for UTF-8

2026-05-12T09:37:30Z

‎Character sets: Rewriting hopes for UTF-8

Netzhack: /* The problem */ Clearer wording

2025-11-23T16:32:40Z

‎The problem: Clearer wording

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:39, 3 July 2026
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	[[NetHackWiki]] contains Chinese versions of some articles in Simplified Chinese script. These can be accessed by appending <code>/zh-CN</code> to the page URL.		[[NetHackWiki]] contains Chinese versions of some articles in Simplified Chinese script. These can be accessed by appending <code>/zh-CN</code> to the page URL.
		+
		+	In 2019 there was a translated version [https://github.com/SunnyYuer/NetHack-cn SunnyYuer/NetHack-cn] based on NetHack 3.6.6.
		+
		+	In 2025 there was a translated version [https://github.com/Dasffafa/NethackCN Dasffafa/NethackCN] based on NetHack 3.7.
		+
		+	Integrating former translations, [https://github.com/StackC00ki3/Nethack-cn StackC00ki3/Nethack-cn] based on NetHack 5.0.0 was opened, supporting UTF-8 interface, wishing/genociding in Chinese, and following Chinese word order in most cases. Alternative orthography supported, on the strength of [https://github.com/BYVoid/OpenCC OpenCC]. Guidebook translation adapted from [https://github.com/w4ngzhen/NetHack_GuideBook_CN w4ngzhen/NetHack_GuideBook_CN]. Still working in progress. Website: [https://nethack-cn.github.io/].

	==Incomplete or stalled translations==		==Incomplete or stalled translations==

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 On January 28th 2009 a Chinese translation called [https://code.google.com/p/nethack-cn/ nethack-cn] was begun on Google Code, but the last update was on June 25th 2009.
-Simplified Chinese-language articles can also be accessed on [[NetHackWiki]] via the /zh-CN subpages.
+[[NetHackWiki]] contains Chinese versions of some articles in Simplified Chinese script. These can be accessed by appending <code>/zh-CN</code> to the page URL.
 ==Incomplete or stalled translations==

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 * [https://wiki.kldp.org/wiki.php/nethack-ko nethack-ko]. The last update was on May 29th, 2007.
 * Another Korean translation is in progress, based on jnethack, at [https://github.com/teabarley/KRNethack KRNethack].
-* Another translation opened in 2026: [https://github.com/timfr09/HanNetHack].
+* Another translation opened in 2026: [https://github.com/timfr09/HanNetHack HanNetHack].
-Korean articles can also be accessed on [[NetHackWiki]] via the /ko subpages.
+[[NetHackWiki]] contains Korean versions of some articles. These can be accessed by appending <nowiki>/ko</nowiki> to the URL.
 ==Chinese==

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 * [https://wiki.kldp.org/wiki.php/nethack-ko nethack-ko]. The last update was on May 29th, 2007.
 * Another Korean translation is in progress, based on jnethack, at [https://github.com/teabarley/KRNethack KRNethack].
 Korean articles can also be accessed on [[NetHackWiki]] via the /ko subpages.

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 ==Spanish==
 Ray Chason has published [https://sourceforge.net/projects/nethack-i18n/ Internationalized NetHack] as a work in progress.  It presently supports English and Spanish, and will eventually supersede [https://spanish-nethack.sourceforge.net/ Spanish NetHack].
-A more recent project, [nethack-es](https://github.com/Ricard1974/nethack-es), provides a Spanish translation of NetHack 5.0 using its own lightweight translation system (nh_gettext) with no external dependencies. As of v1.0.0 (June 2026), it covers 71% of all game text (13,400+ strings), including 100% of C code strings, help files, commands, epitaphs, rumors, oracles, and descriptions. It includes a one-click installer for Linux and is distributed under the NGPL.
 ==Korean==

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{RogueBasin|Translation}}
-[[NetHack]]'s text output is in English. Although the program's structure does not easily lend itself to [[Wikipedia:Internationalization and localization|localization]] because English [[wikipedia:Morphology_(linguistics)|morphology]] and [[wikipedia:Syntax|syntax]] are hard-wired into the [[source code]] on all levels, several localization projects for other languages currently exist.
+[[NetHack]]'s text output is in English. Although the program's structure does not easily lend itself to [[Wikipedia:Internationalization and localization|localization]] because English [[wikipedia:Morphology_(linguistics)|morphology]] and [[wikipedia:Syntax|syntax]] are hard-wired into the [[source code]] on all levels, several localization projects currently exist.
 ==German==

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{RogueBasin|Translation}}
-[[NetHack]]'s text output is in English. Although the program's structure does not easily lend itself to [[Wikipedia:Internationalization and localization|localization]] because English [[wikipedia:Morphology_(linguistics)|morphology]] and [[wikipedia:Syntax|syntax]] are hard-wired into the [[source code]] on all levels, several localization projects currently exist.
+[[NetHack]]'s text output is in English. Although the program's structure does not easily lend itself to [[Wikipedia:Internationalization and localization|localization]] because English [[wikipedia:Morphology_(linguistics)|morphology]] and [[wikipedia:Syntax|syntax]] are hard-wired into the [[source code]] on all levels, several localization projects for other languages currently exist.
 [[User:Netzhack|Tony Crawford]] and Karl Breuer have completed a German-localized version called [http://www.netzhack.de/ NetzHack] (note the 'z'), which runs on GNU/Linux, *BSD, and OS X (console and X11), and on Win32 (console and Windows graphics). Early versions up to NetzHack v1, released in 2017, were based on NetHack 3.4.3; NetzHack v2.0, released in December 2021, is based on NetHack 3.6. Source and binaries available [http://www.netzhack.de/download/ here].
 A different German translation attempt by [[User:Bhaak|Patric Mueller]] called [http://nethack-de.sourceforge.net/ NetHack-De] was released as a playable, although incomplete, alpha release on 11 October 2007. The [https://sourceforge.net/projects/nethack-de/files/nethack-de/3.4.3-20120127a/ latest release] (2012) includes source code, a [[Debian]] package and a graphical Windows binary.
-== Japanese ==
+==Japanese==
 [https://web.archive.org/web/20221220005450/http://nethack-users.sourceforge.jp/ JNetHack] by Issei Numata has been in existence for several years.  The older version (based on ''NetHack ''3.2.2) by Issei Numata is [http://www.jnethack.org/ here]. In addition, beta versions of [https://web.archive.org/web/20200222122336/http://jslashem.osdn.jp/ ''JSLASH'EM''] is also available now.
@@ Line 16: / Line 14: @@
 [[NetHack brass]] can be compiled as an English or Japanese version.
-== Spanish ==
+==Spanish==
 Ray Chason has published [https://sourceforge.net/projects/nethack-i18n/ Internationalized NetHack] as a work in progress.  It presently supports English and Spanish, and will eventually supersede [https://spanish-nethack.sourceforge.net/ Spanish NetHack].
@@ Line 33: / Line 30: @@
 Simplified Chinese-language articles can also be accessed on [[NetHackWiki]] via the /zh-CN subpages.
-== Incomplete or stalled translations ==
+==Incomplete or stalled translations==
 A SourceForge project for a French translation called [https://sourceforge.net/projects/nethack-fr/ nethack-fr] was registered on August 6th 2009. The last update was on August 15 2014.
@@ Line 202: / Line 199: @@
 UTF-8, the ISO-8859-x encodings, and Shift-JIS are all supersets of the 7-bit ASCII used by original NetHack, but they are all mutually exclusive. Only UTF-8 is designed to encode the full Unicode character set, grouping the writing systems of all languages in one scheme. Hence a fundamental port to UTF-8 encoding might facilitate other translation projects.
-[[Category: Variants]]
+[[Category:Variants]]

@@ Line 183: / Line 183: @@
 ===Character sets===
-[[ASCII]] is inadequate for most languages other than English.  All translations use a larger character set for messages.  Case mappings and fuzzy matches for wishes and other inputs must take the character set into account; if the Spanish-language user wishes for "cota de escamas de dragon gris", he should get a [[gray dragon scale mail]], even though the correct spelling is "dragón".
+Original NetHack is entirely in [[ASCII]], which is inadequate for most languages other than English.  All translations use a larger character set for messages.  Case mappings and fuzzy matches for wishes and other inputs must take the character set into account; if the Spanish-language user wishes for "cota de escamas de dragon gris", he should get a [[gray dragon scale mail]], even though the correct spelling is "dragón".
 '''JNetHack''' uses [[wikipedia:EUC-JP|EUC-JP]], with tests in the code to detect if the source has been converted to [[wikipedia:Shift-JIS|Shift-JIS]]; EUC-JP is adapted for [[Unix]]-like environments, and Shift-JIS for [[Microsoft Windows]].
@@ Line 198: / Line 198: @@
 '''NetzHack''' is also in ISO-8859-x. The MS Windows console version actually uses two charsets (or "code pages" in Microspeak): the dungeon map is drawn in the system's default code page, while the Windows 1252 code page, containing the German characters ÄÖÜäöüß, is used for text messages.
-In recent updates of Windows 10, Microsoft has finally begun to offer some support for UTF-8 output, which has been standard for some time now in the Unix world. Future versions of NetHack in other languages can therefore be expected to use UTF-8 encoding.
+In recent updates of Windows 10, Microsoft has finally begun to offer some support for UTF-8 output, which has been standard for some time now in the Unix world. Hence there is hope that future versions of NetHack in other languages may use UTF-8 encoding.
-UTF-8, the ISO-8859-x encodings, and Shift-JIS are all supersets of the 7-bit ASCII used by original NetHack, but they are all mutually exclusive. Only UTF-8 is designed to encode the writing systems of all languages in one scheme. Hence a fundamental port to UTF-8 encoding might facilitate other translation projects.
+UTF-8, the ISO-8859-x encodings, and Shift-JIS are all supersets of the 7-bit ASCII used by original NetHack, but they are all mutually exclusive. Only UTF-8 is designed to encode the full Unicode character set, grouping the writing systems of all languages in one scheme. Hence a fundamental port to UTF-8 encoding might facilitate other translation projects.
 [[Category: Variants]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:32, 23 November 2025
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−	Because NetHack has output text in the form of string literals scattered throughout the code, the ~~customary~~ approach is for the translator to go through the source code and substitute translations for the string literals. What complicates this process is the fact that many messages are composed of elements that can vary with the ~~runtime~~ context. For example, an output statement like "the dagger hits your little dog" would be generated by a line of code more or less like this:	+	Because NetHack has output text in the form of string literals scattered throughout the code, the obvious approach is for the translator to go through the source code and substitute translations for the string literals. What complicates this process is the fact that many messages are composed at runtime of elements that can vary with the game context. For example, an output statement like "the dagger hits your little dog" would be generated by a line of code more or less like this:

	pline("%s hits %s.", objectname, monstername);		pline("%s hits %s.", objectname, monstername);