FFXIV macros in another language: what changes and how to translate one

A user macro runs up to 15 text commands from one hotbar slot. Players share them for crafting rotations, openers and party callouts, but a macro copied from a player on another client language often does nothing in yours. The macro translator rewrites it for your client and marks anything it cannot translate.

Why does a macro from another language fail?

The game reads action, crafting action, mount, minion and emote names in your client's language. /ac "Fast Blade" works in the English client; the Japanese client needs /ac "ファストブレード". A name the client does not recognize is skipped, so a rotation silently loses steps.

What stays the same?

Most text commands, such as /action, /ac, /wait and /micon, are accepted by every client. Placeholders like <t> for your target, <2> for the second party member and <wait.3> for a three-second pause are the same everywhere, and so is chat text after /p or /echo. The German client also accepts German aliases such as /kmd for /ac and /warte for /wait, and its /micon categories are German words, such as kommando for action; the translator converts those too.

What cannot be translated?

Names the translator does not hold stay exactly as written and are marked: pet and companion actions, item names, and commands it does not know. When several actions share a name in the source language but differ in the target, for example a PvE action and its PvP version, it shows both and you choose. Japanese macros often leave names unquoted; the translator reads those as well.

Worked example

Open a short English macro with Japanese as the target. The source language is detected as English. /micon "Fast Blade" becomes /micon "ファストブレード", /ac "Fast Blade" <t> keeps its <t>, /wait 2 is unchanged and /ac Sprint becomes /ac スプリント. The Fast Blade and Sprint names link to their action pages. Copy the result into the User Macros window of the Japanese client.