In the latest Alpha server update, the game gained Portuguese and Spanish text. The language is chosen in the launcher, before you enter the game.
In this devlog we explain how that translation is being done, why we decided to keep part of the text in English, and how to report any errors you run into.
Important: we're still in development. Values and mechanics may change as we test, balance, and gather feedback.
At a Glance
- Two new languages: interface, dialogue, and descriptions in Portuguese and Spanish, with the language set in the launcher
- Automatic translation first: most of the text comes from AI models, and the detailed manual pass comes later
- Names stay in English: items, skills, locations, and lore characters are not translated
- Descriptions are translated: the item or skill name stays in English, but the text explaining what it does appears in the language you picked
- Translation errors: report them on Discord, in the bugs and suggestions forum
Where to Choose Your Language
You will find it in the launcher settings, under Language, with three options: English, Português (Brasil), and Español. Pick one, save, and enter the game. The language is applied the moment the game starts, so switch before you click play. The screenshot below was taken with the launcher itself in Portuguese, which is why the section reads Idioma.
The Current State of the Translation
What is in the Alpha today is the first stage of the process. Most of the text was translated by AI models running locally, with no line by line human review. That means you should expect odd sentences, word choices that miss the context, and passages that read mechanically.
Two cases account for most of the problems:
- Character gender. The model translates a line of dialogue without knowing whether the character speaking or listening is male or female, so the wrong gendered forms show up often.
- References to story characters. Without the context of the scene, a proper noun or a rank can end up translated as if it were an ordinary word.
In the image below, the quest “O Crepúsculo da Aurora”, handed out by the NPC Axelle, already appears in Portuguese.
The order of work is this: first refine the model until it covers the whole game automatically and consistently, and only then move into a more detailed manual review.
What We Do Not Translate
We deliberately adopted a partial translation model. We translate interface, dialogue, and descriptions. We do not translate:
- item names
- skill names
- location and region names
- lore character names
All of that stays in English in every language. The description of those elements, however, appears in the language chosen in the launcher.
The example below shows the rule at work. The skill is still Combo Attack II, and the skills mentioned in the text are still Decoy Jutsu, Double Cut, Skyfall, Circle of Steel, and One Thousand Cuts, but the entire explanation of what the skill does is in Spanish.
Why Names Stay in English
The decision looks counterintuitive at first, but it exists to keep the translation from creating a barrier between the communities. There are three practical reasons.
Server change announcements. When we adjust a skill or change an item, we need to announce it just once. With three different names for the same item, every patch note turns into a translation problem.
Market and player trading. An item with a different name in each language makes it harder to negotiate, search the broker, or arrange a deal in chat. The item name has to be the same for the person selling and the person buying.
Access to guides. Most TERA build material was written in English, over more than a decade, and is still written that way in most communities. A player running the game in Portuguese or Spanish who opens a build guide needs to map the skill name in the guide to the skill on their hotbar.
Reporting Translation Errors
Translation errors can be reported on our Discord, in the #bugs-and-suggestions forum.
What helps most is a report with a screenshot of the text, the language you are playing in, and, where it makes sense, a suggestion for what the correct translation would be. Cases of gender agreement and proper nouns translated by mistake are especially useful, because they help us fix the model and not just that one line.
What’s Next
The immediate work is widening the coverage of the automatic translation, including the interface labels that still show up in English, and improving how gender and proper nouns are handled.
The detailed manual review comes after that, and will prioritize the content a player meets first: the early quests, the tutorials, and the day to day interface.
We have no date for calling the translation finished. It is continuous work, and community feedback during the Alpha is what will set the order of the fixes.
See you next time! 🛠️