Translate a CSV string table into Korean

What Korean changes in a string table

Korean runs left to right with spaces between word groups, but its grammar breaks several habits common in localisation files.

• Word order. The verb comes last. Delete {item}? becomes {item}을(를) 삭제할까요?, with the variable moved to the front. It is preserved; only its position changes, which is expected.
• Particles. Markers such as 을/를, 이/가, 은/는 and (으)로 depend on whether the preceding syllable ends in a consonant. When that word is a variable filled at runtime, translators use the dual form 을(를) or rephrase to avoid the particle.
• Plurals. Korean has a single CLDR category, other. Quantity is expressed with counters instead: 항목 {count}개 for things, {count}명 for people. If your CSV has coins_one and coins_other keys, both Korean values will often be identical.
• Politeness. Register lives in verb endings: 저장합니다 (formal) or 저장해요 (polite, softer). Buttons usually take a bare noun, 저장 for ‘Save’. What matters is not mixing registers across screens.
• Punctuation. Full stops, commas, question and exclamation marks are the Latin ones, with no space before them.

What Manuce returns, and what it does not do

Manuce recognises a developer CSV: one key column (key, id…) and language columns (en, fr, de_DE…), as used in Unity or Godot.

• If a Korean column exists, it is filled; otherwise one is added as the last column. A comment or context column is read as context.
• The returned file is the same file: key order, quoting, comments, line endings, encoding and BOM are kept. Only the values change.
• Every translated value is checked against the source. If {0}, %s or <b> goes missing or is altered and the mismatch persists, the source value is kept and the report says so.
• Left untranslated: keys, empty values, URLs, email addresses, numbers, colours, date formats, identifiers and anything marked as non-translatable.
• Pricing is based on the words in the values, excluding keys and tags, with a ×1.6 coefficient for Korean.

A CSV with no key column is not treated as a language file; it is translated as plain text. Manuce does not change your fonts, does not test the display in your game or app, and cannot pick the exact particle for a variable whose value is only known at runtime.

Preparing the CSV before upload

1. Save as UTF-8. The original encoding is preserved, and a file saved as Windows-1252 or Latin-1 cannot hold hangul. Convert it to UTF-8 first; if your tooling needs a BOM, add it and it will be kept.
2. Set the column header. Unity, Godot or your own loader may expect ko, ko_KR or ko-KR. To control the header, create an empty column with the exact name yourself; it will be filled as is.
3. Add context. A context column saying ‘button, 6 characters max’ or ‘player name at start of sentence’ helps choose between a noun and a full sentence, and where the particle goes.
4. Merge split sentences. Three keys You have, {n}, coins cannot be reassembled in Korean, where the order flips: 코인 {n}개를 가지고 있어요. One string with a placeholder translates; three fragments do not.
5. Note proper names. Game title, characters, brand: check in the free sample, then in the delivered file, that they came out the way you want.

Checking the Korean file in your project

• Read the report. It lists strings left in the source language and why, for instance a placeholder that did not match. Fix them by hand or adjust the source string.
• Check the font. If your font has no hangul glyphs, text renders as empty boxes. You need a Korean font or a fallback font; that is an engine setting, not something the CSV can fix.
• Test particles. Display a sentence with a name ending in a consonant, 민준, then one ending in a vowel, 지우. The dual form 을(를) reads correctly with both; a single particle may be wrong with one of them.
• Check length and wrapping. Korean often uses fewer characters than English, but each glyph is wider. Lines normally break at spaces: make sure no word is cut in half in narrow labels.
• Open it correctly. If Korean looks garbled in a spreadsheet, the import is usually assuming another encoding; reopen the file and specify UTF-8.

In practice

1. Save the CSV as UTF-8 and make sure it has a key column.
2. Add an empty ko or ko_KR column and a context column if needed.
3. Upload the file, review the quote and the free Korean sample.
4. Download the translated CSV and report, then drop it back into your project.
5. Test the font, line wrapping and particles after variables.