How to enter a release with multiple languages?

MusicBrainz Style
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I have several CDs that I would like to enter into the MusicBrainz that are translated in multiple languages on the cover.

Here are 3 releases that I have entered so far.

Ер Малък 1
~ Release group by Ер Малък
Here all text on the cover and the booklet is in Bulgarian and the releases country is Bulgaria. So, I have used Bulgarian for the official release and English for the Pseudo-Release to enter a translated version.
I have 2 more CDs of this artist to enter and they are printed in 2 languages.

С красотата и мъдростта на българската песен
~ Release group by Oghnyan Nicolov & Ivelina Ivancheva
Here all text is presented in both languages equally Bulgarian and English. I was not sure what to do. I ended entering English for the official release and Bulgarian for the Pseudo-Release.

p.s. Because I did the English first and then Bulgarian based on it, all recordings were created with English titles. Now, I regret that because these are Bulgarian songs and it makes sense to enter them in Bulgarian. I may change that eventuality, but it is a tedious task.

Mozart / Brahms / Grieg / Weckerlin / Debussy
~ Release group by Mozart, Brahms, Grieg, Weckerlin, Debussy; Victoria Ivanova
Here all text is presented in both languages equally Russian and English, except for the cover. Because the cover is in English, I have entered an official release in English. I am ready to enter a Russian version.
I have 2 more CDs of this artist to enter and they are printed in 2 languages.

I got aware of a provision in the style guideline about release with tracks listed in multiple languages, but I am not sure how to do it.

If the release has tracks listed in multiple languages, the entry with both languages included is considered to be the official release. Entries with only one of the languages on the cover should be set to pseudo-release.
https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Style/Release#Status

I understand this as having 1 official release in multiple languages and several separate Pseudo-release for each language. Is this a correct interpretation?

I understand how to enter a release in single language, but I am not sure how to enter a release in multiple languages. Can you provide a sample for a release with multiple languages that conforms to this guideline?

For comparison, here is a Discogs guideline for such cases.

1.8.2.b When entering multiple languages, enter titles into the fields using an “ = ” between languages. Enter any main and track artist name translations in separate artist fields with " = " in the joiner, using ANVs as appropriate. For credits, please just pick one name using 1.8.2.a.
https://support.discogs.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005006334-Database-Guidelines-1-General-Rules

For example, the first release form my list is entered in Discogs with 2 languages in this format “Bulgarian = English”. https://www.discogs.com/release/5142586-Er-Malak-1

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For classical releases, one language per release is suggested (Style / Classical / Track Title - MusicBrainz). For the others, the suggestion is to generally yes, enter both, however the tracklist does it: often “One Language (Another Language)”. I see your release has two completely separate tracklists though, which seems a bit different - was I entering this I would probably just enter it in English as from the back cover, but I understand that you might want to also give weight to the Bulgarian titles. Maybe still do “One (Other)”?

Hopefully we’ll finally get the alternative tracklists option this year and then we can do this properly.

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4 posts were split to a new topic: State of React move and lack of large new features

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I think you did a good job with pseudo-releases!
It’s made for this.

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If @jesus2099 says you did a good job, then you did a good job :ok_hand:

Shouldn’t be too tricky, because you were great and used the same recordings. So you can do:
recordings

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Thank you all for the quick responses.

@reosarevok I will implement the suggested formula One (Other). Can to show me a sample how it has been implemented before. I am interested to see how the individual languages are done as well.
I understand it like this:

  1. Official release with “One Language (Another Language)”
  2. Pseudo-Release with One Language
  3. Pseudo-Release with Another Language

It might be a good idea to include this formula in the style guide and provide a sample.

@jesus2099 Thank you all for the encouragement.

@aerosol Thank you for the animation. It’s really welcoming and it worked.

It is my first post.

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For what it’s worth, here is an example of One language (Another language) release with its One language pseudo-release.

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Excellent timing with this post. I was wondering about similar as I have been working on The Ukrainians after buying a number of their CDs. They have a very consistent way of writing titles on the cover in multiple languages\scripts.

Their covers always have track lists listed in two languages. Ukrainian in Cyrillic on the left, Ukrainian in Latin on the right. Sometimes also English too.


I was thinking that Ace of Spades ・ Туз Пік was a closer representation of how the track lists look on the covers? Artist Intent.

Brackets are never used on the covers. Always the same two columns of text. And can’t use a dash\hyphen as that appears in some track names.

This thread says that brackets are more correct: Release “Pisni iz The Smiths” by The Ukrainians - MusicBrainz

And the dot is more like artist intent on the cover? https://musicbrainz.org/release/61abec3d-4425-4749-9fd8-ddeae6d2db49

Happy to go through and make them all consistent with Brackets if more correct. Just want to be able to go through them all at the same time and apply the fixes consistently as I am currently updating their whole discography. The dot just looks much more like the actual tracklists on the covers.

Follow on question on other details:

(a) The work name? Співає Соловей (Spivaye Solovey)(What Difference Does It Make?) or just Співає Соловей with What Difference Does It Make? in the disambig? Many of the tracks have three names like in this Smiths example. I am getting all three into the aliases as much as possible.

(b) Is the language English or Ukrainian or Multiple Language? This is an English band, singing in Ukrainian. The covers are mainly English text but track lists usually in Ukrainian.

(c) Is the Script Latin, Cyrillic or Multiple Scripts?

Brilliant music BTW - https://www.youtube.com/user/ukrainianszirka / https://www.the-ukrainians.com

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That’s about the titles only. If Ukrainian in both Cyrillic and Latin, then Ukrainian. If Ukrainian and English, then Multiple.

Multiple, probably.

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Thanks for the clarity @reosarevok. It was these releases that made me go back and re-read the guidelines as I am too used to adding all English releases.

A raft of compliance edits on the way… :slight_smile: