Wiki Translation Style Guide (Temporary)

Ship description:
Should follow a pretty similar formula but since the title of the ship varies on a case-by-case basis (see examples below) you can't really come up with a universal format. But in general, it should go something like:

[Ship nation (only if listed)] / [Ship class] / [Ship type] / [Ship serial number (if available)] [dash] [Ship name] / [English name (only if available and mostly optional since the ship's name will be translated right before this part anyway]

Punctuation for the ship description is optional but stylistically I think it looks better without a punctuation mark at the end.
Examples:
Metalblood Type VIIC Submarine - U-47
Kongou-class fast battleship number one - Kongou
Queen Elizabeth-class battleship - Warspite (HMS Warspite)



Acquisition/Introduction:
Introductions can vary a lot but I have one general rule I'd like to apply for a ship's acquisition specifically which is that their name should not be the last thing they state in the first sentence. It sounds really weird in English. It should be the first thing they say, followed by their title or whatever else they say.
Exceptions will exist where there might be little other choice, but most ships should preferably state their name upfront.

Example of where it sounds wrong:
I'm Nelson's little sister, Rodney. Yup! ......We sisters are quite famous.
Same example, corrected:
I'm Rodney, Nelson's little sister. That's right! …We sisters are quite famous.

Examples of exceptions:
The name ship of the Sakura Empire's fast battleships, the 7th flagship of the Combined Fleet, and the last capital ship the former Sakura Empire ordered from overseas, that's me, Kongou!
I'm the Furutaka-class heavy cruiser… just calling me Furutaka is fine!



Additional Voice Lines:
All that's really needed here is the format they're presented in.
It should be listed who you need to pair the ship with for the line to play as well as link the ship in question. The format to follow is: (Sortie with [[Ship]]). A link to the ship is not required if not applicable.

Examples:
(Sortie with [[Hood]]) Miss Hood, you shouldn't waver.
(Sortie with 5 Eagle Union ships) Warriors of the Union! Blaze your lives in combat!
(Sortie with [[Akagi]], [[Kaga]], or [[Hiryuu]]) Fighting alongside my rivals… Not bad!



Ellipses:
Preferably no double ellipses (……) anywhere, use single (…) ellipses instead.
Whether you choose to use the unicode character (…, one single character) or type it out with dots (...) is personal preference, but in the end they both look the same but the single unicode character takes up less space.



Ufufu/Ehehe/etc:
This, like other sound effects (はぁ、くっ、ハッ etc) can be tricky to translate and depend on the context, but "ufufu" and "ehehe" should preferably be gotten rid of. Write (Giggle) within italics instead. You can make text italic on the wiki by putting '' before and after the word/phrase you want to italicize, or you can select the text and press the italics button.
A VERY useful resource you can use to translate them better is this site: http://thejadednetwork.com/sfx/



Proper Nouns:
A lot of characters make references to either their real life past history or their ingame nation in some of their lines. These should be thought of as proper nouns and be capitalized. Examples:
Combined Fleet, 17th Destroyer Division, Royal Navy, Eagle Union.

In addition, some characters put words 『in brackets』 but they aren't simply quoting something. Take this line Jamaica says for instance:
海の奥底にある蠢く『悪』を感じる…ボス、ここは得難い『安心』を享受しよう
Quotation marks make no sense in English here. Instead, like above, treat them like proper nouns. Like this:
I can feel Evil squirming in the depths of the ocean… Boss, let's enjoy this Peace while we still can.



Honorifics:
As stated in the translation guide by Jifaru, we shouldn't have any honorifics in our translations. However, I'd like to make some additional notes on the subject.
In the case a character refers to you as something other than Commander (e.g. Nevada calling you 少年, London calling you 閣下) those titles should take priority. That is to say, instead of something like "Your Excellency Commander" or "little boy, [...] Commander," just drop the Commander part altogether.


Characterization:
It goes without saying that not all characters speak or behave the same way. English isn't the same as Japanese or Chinese, and sometimes in the process of translating a lot of nuance or characterization might get lost. You can work around this in several subtle ways to breathe life into a character.
Here are just a few examples of how this can be done:

Characters that speak in a polite/formal tone can use less contractions, less everyday vocabulary, use a lot more volitional/polite inquiry vocabulary (should we, how about, may I suggest, for a short while, etc. etc.)
Do it in moderation though since removing contractions might also make the character sound like they're emphasizing something instead ("I am" and "do not" are not always the best fit as opposed to "I'm" or "don't," for instance.)

On the other end of the spectrum, characters that speak in a cutesy/casual tone can use more contractions. "Gonna" instead of "going to," "wanna" instead of "want to," and more everyday vocabulary with an upfront tone. Which means: less questions and more statements, less asking for permission and more commands and urges, and so on.

Characters with a more specific way of speaking (e.g. Ayanami, Shouhou, Illustrious, Washington) need to be tackled on a case-by-case basis. But for the sake of example, here's how I personally tackled characterizing the aforementioned ships:
- Ayanami uses a ton of です even if it sounds awkward sometimes. She uses a lot of ellipses and clearly doesn't talk much. I made her talk in a more polite tone than the other characters and made her sentences shorter.
- Shouhou speaks in the Osaka dialect. I tried to translate this dialect the best I could by making her speak in a Southern United States dialect which included the classic g-removal (I don't know the technical term for it) such as changing "doing" to "doin'" and using some Southern vocabulary (I reckon, ya, ain't, etc.) without overdoing it.
- Illustrious is very feminine, speaks politely, and riddles her sentences with あらら's. To try to emulate this I basically made her speak like a polite old lady. Pretty straightforward, but it works.
- Washington speaks in a very rough, often masculine manner and she clearly gets angry a lot. Aside from the usual casual tone stuff, I added some swearing, which I admittedly toned down from my first edit of her dialogue. Generally I wouldn't include swearing in a game rated for teens, but since this is an unofficial wiki translation I thought why not. If you really want to go PG-13 you can tone down the swearing even more even though it makes her sound silly and undermines her character.