Wheel of Fortune in other languages

[d***@yahoo.com]

This is not a legitimate linguistic question, but linguists are
probably the most knowledgeable people to answer it.

The Wheel of Fortune is a popular TV game show in the U.S. Its display
board consists of 4 rows, and spaces on the rows, from top to bottom,
are: 12 x 14 x 14 x 12. To see what American board looks like, open
following page and click on Play:

http://www.sonypictures.com/games/wof/

I am interested in the board configuration of WOF in other languages.
Are they all same as the American English one? It is said that besides
English, there are WOF in Portuguese, German, French, Vietnamese,
Dutch, Malay, Danish, maybe more.

Furthermore, are the boards of WOF in UK and Australia same the
American one?

Thanks in advance for information.

[Artem Baguinski]

Post by d***@yahoo.com
This is not a legitimate linguistic question, but linguists are
probably the most knowledgeable people to answer it.
The Wheel of Fortune is a popular TV game show in the U.S. Its display
board consists of 4 rows, and spaces on the rows, from top to bottom,
are: 12 x 14 x 14 x 12. To see what American board looks like, open
http://www.sonypictures.com/games/wof/
I am interested in the board configuration of WOF in other languages.
Are they all same as the American English one? It is said that besides
English, there are WOF in Portuguese, German, French, Vietnamese,
Dutch, Malay, Danish, maybe more.
Furthermore, are the boards of WOF in UK and Australia same the
American one?
Thanks in advance for information.

In Russia we have Pole Chudes (Unicode: Поле Чудес, which means "the
Field of Wonders"). The board is simpler: they have different board
configuration for each round, the board is white whole piece with the
little black letter blocks. (I don't know if the game itself differs - I
never saw the original WOF and I don't remember exactly how it works in
the Pole Chudes).

I have no idea if they pay royalties or they just borrowed the idea
gratis, I heard WOF mentioned when the show just started (early 90s I
think).

The funny thing about the name - "Pole Chudes" is from the book Buratino
which is loosely based on the story of Pinocchio.

[Yusuf B Gursey]

Post by d***@yahoo.com
This is not a legitimate linguistic question, but linguists are
probably the most knowledgeable people to answer it.

try translators. sci.lang.translation

in turkish C,arkIfelek (I for dotless i)

i.e. c,ark-I felek (persian annexation)

felek is the "the firmament" but generalized to "fortune, luck"

c,ark is a wheel, clog (persian *ch*arx)

it's the name of a flower, and also an expresion
with the same meaning as in english.

clever translation.

Post by d***@yahoo.com
The Wheel of Fortune is a popular TV game show in the U.S. Its display
board consists of 4 rows, and spaces on the rows, from top to bottom,
are: 12 x 14 x 14 x 12. To see what American board looks like, open
http://www.sonypictures.com/games/wof/
I am interested in the board configuration of WOF in other languages.
Are they all same as the American English one? It is said that besides
English, there are WOF in Portuguese, German, French, Vietnamese,
Dutch, Malay, Danish, maybe more.
Furthermore, are the boards of WOF in UK and Australia same the
American one?
Thanks in advance for information.

[m***@hotmail.com]

Hi,
the German version "Glücksrad" has a different configuration:
4 rows with 12 letters each, which is a little surprising, as German
usually has longer words than English (or at least that's my
impression) and
there are quite a few words with more than 12 letters. Probably they
used to be written on several rows, I don't really remember.
Maybe they changed the configuration in order to respect the German
need for order and regularity... (Just kidding)
You can find pictures of the display board at
http://www.gameshowkult.de/rad.htm or http://www.gluecksrad-fanpage.de/

By the way, does anybody know any statistics on the average word
lengths in
different languages and similar things (percentage of certain letters,
average sentence length)?

HTH,
Marc

[d***@yahoo.com]

Thanks for information. In the American WOF, the winning contestant is
then given a bonus game. Besides the blank spaces on display board and
clue, the contestant is provided with four consonants and a vowel: R S
T L N E. If those letters are included in the puzzle, they will appear
in it. Then, the contestant is allowed to give three more consonants
and another vowel. If any of those letters are included in the puzzle,
they will appear on the board. In the American edition, it is still a
very difficult job with these 7 consonants and 2 vowels.

Is this bonus game also a part of WOF in other languages? How many
letters is the contestant provided with? How many free letters can he
announce?

Thanks again.

Post by m***@hotmail.com
Hi,
4 rows with 12 letters each, which is a little surprising, as German
usually has longer words than English (or at least that's my
impression) and
there are quite a few words with more than 12 letters. Probably they
used to be written on several rows, I don't really remember.
Maybe they changed the configuration in order to respect the German
need for order and regularity... (Just kidding)
You can find pictures of the display board at
http://www.gameshowkult.de/rad.htm or http://www.gluecksrad-fanpage.de/
By the way, does anybody know any statistics on the average word
lengths in
different languages and similar things (percentage of certain letters,
average sentence length)?
HTH,
Marc