All about Game Translation | Thao & Company

Game Translation Services From marketing materials to in-game assets, Thao & Co. provides artful translations that resonate with your target audience. Whether you’re looking to expand your market reach or elevate your current global presence, we work with you throughout the entire process to ensure that your vision is fully realized in every language.

What is game translation?

Game translation, also known as game localization, refers to the process of adapting a video game for a specific target audience in a different region or country where a different culture and language prevail. The translation process encompasses the translation of various elements such as user interfaces, menus, subtitles, in-game text, voice overs, dialogue, and documentation.

What are the challenges of game translation?

Game translation/localization is a complex process that presents unique challenges in adapting in-game elements for different languages and cultures.

Cultural adaptation is a critical aspect of game translation, as games are intended to be enjoyed by people of different cultures.

The challenge lies in the fact that games are often designed to reflect the culture, norms, and values of their origin country. Therefore, game translators need to be able to convey cultural phenomena accurately without offending or confusing the target audience.

For instance, in a scene from the game Final Fantasy X (2001), the protagonist Yuna bids farewell to Tidus, her love interest, knowing that they will never meet again. While bowing slightly, Yuna says “ありがとう” (thank you) to Tidus. To the Japanese audience, this simple gesture carries deep meanings beyond the surface-level interpretation of the words. However, translators for the North American audience concluded that a literal translation of the phrase wouldn’t work, as a mere “thank you” would seem inadequate for Yuna’s last words to Tidus and wouldn’t align with the cultural context of the audience.

Furthermore, due to the close-up shot of Yuna in the scene, the translation process had an additional requirement of syncing the translated words with her lip movements for the voice over. This requirement, along with the significance of the moment, led to the decision to use “I love you” as the most appropriate translation.

Some fans of the series found the decision to use “I love you” controversial as they believed it was too direct and did not align with Yuna’s personality. Nevertheless, from a functionalist standpoint, this approach makes sense as it prioritizes the intended function of the translation in the target language.

Alexander O. Smith, one of the translators involved in the decision, contends that this approach met the cultural and technical (lip-synch) needs while serving both avid fans of the Final Fantasy series and casual gamers who just want to enjoy the gameplay.

This illustrates how game translators have to take creative liberty to strike the delicate balance between faithfulness to the source text and gamers’ enjoyment during the process of cultural adaptation.

Taking excessive creative liberty during adaptation, on the other hand, can sometimes lead to cultural complications.

In most types of translation, it is common to neutralize or omit certain taboo or discriminatory words. However, in game localization, as translators exercise their creative freedom, they may inadvertently introduce offensive elements that can be detrimental to the game.

An example of this is found in the English version of the game MindQuiz, which was released for both Nintendo DS and Sony PSP in 2007. The phrase “super spastic” was used as negative feedback on the player’s performance. This phrase was not originally present in the Japanese version of the game but was most likely the result of the translators’ creativity. However, the phrase proved to be highly offensive against disabled individuals in the United Kingdom, leading to Ubisoft recalling the product.

Similarly, the game Wii Mario Party 8 (2007) was recalled for the use of the word “spastic” in the blue wizard’s incantation: “Magikoopa magic! Turn the train spastic! Make this ticket tragic!” The word was chosen due to its rhyming effect without considering cultural nuances. In fact, the game was actually published earlier in the US without any issue as “spastic” is not a taboo word there.

These examples demonstrate the potential risks of unintentionally introducing negative elements, not present in the original, into the target language. It also highlights the difficulty in discerning between creative and offensive when translating into different variants of the same language.

Game translators need to carefully balance the need for accuracy and clarity with the limitations imposed by the game’s user interface.

In many cases, game developers design the user interface (UI) and allocate a specific amount of space for text that can be shown to the player at once. This space restriction can come in various forms such as text boxes, speech bubbles, captions, tooltips, buttons, etc., and it may vary according to the size and placement of the UI elements.

Translators, therefore, have to work within this space constraint while ensuring that they deliver a faithful and appealing translation that accurately conveys the intended message. They need to be aware of the target audience and cultural nuances while selecting the most appropriate phrases that can fit within the given space.

Some languages require more space to convey the same message as others. As a result, space limitations can be severe when translating from Japanese or Chinese, where one character can represent a concept that takes more words in Western languages. German and Romance languages require more space than English for in-game text. Handheld and mobile games face even more space constraints, with length measured by pixels instead of characters.

In such cases, translators may need to condense the text by reducing the number of characters in a sentence without changing its meaning or using abbreviations. Otherwise, the UI will have to be modified to accommodate the translated text, including changing the font size, reducing the size of graphic elements, or reorganizing the layout of the UI. From a game developer’s perspective, to accommodate for localization, menus and text boxes should be designed to allow for extra space and leaving at least 30% extra free space is recommended when translating from English. Using expandable or scrollable text boxes can also help. Icons, tooltips, and page breaks can prevent truncations and excessive abbreviations that may slow down gameplay.

Our solutions Thao & Co.’s highly specialized game translation services are dedicated to ensuring that your game crosses language and cultural barriers with ease. We offer a wide range of services, including Translation + Proofreading, Voice overs, and Consumer Language Research© to make sure your game resonates with players globally. With rigorous QA testing (upon request), we guarantee cultural accuracy and ensure that your game is free of any errors or inaccuracies that may detract from your players’ experience.