A little about the localization of video games on the other side. Localization Undertale, Hollow Knight.
I wish you all the townsfolk of the Stopgame site!
A little preface – now I would like to demonstrate my research work under the name “The nuances of translation localization in video games on the example of localization from English into Russian”. In this work, I touch upon my friend with my friend’s topic in our market (very original for SG, yes?). However, unlike Denis to. We decided to go from the other side to this topic and even tried to explain all the solutions of the localizers from a scientific point of view – using the terminologies by which they were taught.
This research received great demand at the Verndadsky reading contest and its authors (that is, I and my comrade) received the title of laureates of the CV. Next, I will show you this work in two types: as an abstract
I hope the topic raised in our work will receive great publicity.
P.With. To whom nothing is interested in the tedious entry of this work, go immediately to the tab “Practical part“
Right now you are reading a work on localization from English to Russian. At the moment, this topic is more relevant than ever for the reason that video games are increasingly carrying cultural value and philosophical thoughts for reflection, respectively conveyed ideas, as well as directly the thoughts of developers themselves is a very important task for localizers. Games become on a par with literature and cinema, therefore, the level of requirements for the localization of the game increases, t.To. It should be most reliably conveying the author’s idea to foreign gamers.
The object of study for the activity was taken by Russian -English translation localization, as the subject of research -transmission localization in video games.
Identify the nuances that should be taken into account when localizing computer games from English into Russian.
Three main tasks were also identified:
– Give examples of the most common types of translation transformations in video games.
– Analyze various options for localizing one game.
– find out what localization options can be considered high -quality and which are not and why.
Video game localization does not consist only of translation, it should take into account many factors accompanying the release of the game in another country.
– Analysis of various translation options
– Comparison of examples of various translations
– Formulation of goals, objectives and hypotheses
As sources, we took the games themselves directly, namely:
Hollow Knight, Undertale, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Far Cry 3/5.
Theoretical part
The knowledge of the topic in Russia has a fairly low percentage, judging by the number of work, since computer games are a relatively new field for scientific research. All authors, the works we learned agree that the localization of computer games is a complex and laborious process that requires many different skills from localizers.
“When adapting a computer game, various methods are used, so
how is it a complex and laborious task, which requires extensive from localizers
knowledge in various fields of life.”
“The study of the features and difficulties of localization
Standard video games showed that the process of video game localization
differs in multifaceted and diversity, demanding many from the translator
background and additional knowledge, as well as a clear understanding of the medium in
which he carries out.”
“It is almost impossible to avoid mistakes when translating, but to minimize them – it is always possible, and this requires not only the talent and skill of the translator, but also the ability to feel the text of the original.”
We completely agree with the statements of each researcher, as well as for a greater understanding of the situation, we created a survey on the topic “Localization of video games” for young people. A survey was also made among adults
over 30 years old, but respondents of this category are not fond of games, so the survey reflected only this fact.
The survey showed that most children consider localization simply by translation of the game. We do not agree with this judgment for the reason that banal translation will not always be the best decision. Each region and country has its own culture and its own perception of things, so that understandable and obvious for some can be radically perceived by others. The purpose of the localizers is to convey everything the same for everyone
As the main aspect of localization, the majority chose a competent localization of realities, the topic of which we will affect in this work. Here we agree with people and consider it a very important part. However, you should not ignore the item “Understanding by localizers of the context of the game”, which is also an important part. Many participants in this survey did not go around this item, which is a good indicator.
Let’s start the practical part.
For a greater understanding of examples, it is worth delating a little into the terminology of our topic – translation transformations:
Translation transformations – translation techniques that the localizer can use when translating various texts, in cases where there is no vocabulary correspondence, or cannot be used in this context of this context.
Below are the most common types of transformations, it is they that we will consider.
· Modulation – The main Tropic Slots casino translation transformation is a change in the structure of the sentence or artistic style of the word in translating the meaning. Modulation is used when literal translation is not the best solution to the transfer of meaning and artistry of sentences/words.
· Concretization – a change in the word to its more accurate analogue that has the right to exist in this context. Let us give an example: the original uses the word vegetation in the original, and we have translated it like grass. If this technique does not change the meaning of the originally laid down, then such liberties have the full right to exist.
· Transcription – translation of the word by his transcription. How the word sounds in the original, so we translate it
· Skalking – translation of the word/part of the word by its lexical correspondence in the language of translation.
Other types of translation transformations that we would also like to affect in the work itself will be issued in applications (see. Appendix 4)
Practical part
Consider translation transformations, some of their types on the example of the game Hollow Knight
We have two localizations. One official, made by professionals, and the second is a fan.
A fan localization is a banal translation in which artistic value is completely lost:
Let us pay attention to a better option for localization, which was able to preserve the artistic beauty of this elegy and convey its meaning using such translation transformations as modulation and concretization:
Consider two options for localizing the name of the area, namely the village of Dirtmouth.
The first localization was translated as mud. Using translation transformation tracing. In this case, the localizers tried to translate the name of this location, relying on the keywords, which was the word dirt – dirt.
The second localization used another version of the translation transformation – transcribing, that is, left everything: DirtMouth – Gryazmut.
Both options have the right to exist and both are correct solutions for good localization.
Let us now consider the moment in which the localizers converted differently the name of The Radiance.
In the first case, we can see the translation of radiance – the most logical and simple version of the translation of this word.
Other localizers decided to do more original and localized her name as radiation: a much more artistic and unusual option, which is combined with the entire style of the game, so both options are considered true. (Dugger examples can be found in Appendix 1)
In the original, the location is called “Ancient Basin”
In the first localization, Ancient Basin was translated as an “ancient pool”. This is a literal translation without the use of translation transformations.
In the second localization, the location was called the “ancient foundation pit” using such a translation transformation as modulation. This name sounds more artistic than the “ancient pool”.
It is impossible to consider the most interesting aspects of localization on the example of one game, therefore other examples will be given further: puns, untranslatable realities and free interpretation of the floor of creatures using the example of video games Undertale.
It is impossible to install the gender of the protagonist of the game Undertale due to the fact that Undertale does not give a clear answer: what gender is our main character? Throughout the game, we are addressed by words that do not say anything about the gender of the protagonist in English: Pal, Child, Buddy, Friend.
We’re All Counting on You, Kid
· We all count on you, small
In our language, it is not possible to maintain the structure of the uncertainty of the floor of the protagonist because of the phenomenon in the Russian language called the ending, therefore, by the word “small”, we immediately understand that the main character of Undertale’s video game is a boy.
Consider another example, for this time a puns:
· “I’m so sorry. ” – tells us the original character. Despite the fact that it seems that he apologizes to us, it is worth taking into account the following thing: when we come into contact with this character, we understand that SO Sorry is the name of the character, which is why the above words acquire a different meaning due to new information: from an apology to the appeal.
· “I’m so sorry. ” – we can observe this design in localization. When making contact, the character will have a name sorry. The localizers could not take this nuance, which is why an unusual design is lost.
It is worth considering that the moment is not unequivocal. We offer this option for the localization of this moment: “I apologize – I apologize”.
More kalamubrchikov? Keep
In the original, the character tells us that he hacked Firewall. Firewall is a software or software and hardware element of a computer network that controls and filter the network traffic through it in accordance with the specified rules. If you translate literally, then this is a fiery wall (and in the game a fiery wall is moving on us). This is where the pun is built.
To understand the next moment, you should delve into the terminology of localization, to the topic of realities.
Realities – These are words, terms and facts that usually do not have lexical equivalents in other languages and cultures. Take the word borscht, which is common in our Russian segment, but not used almost abroad somewhere in America, so there it will sound in the same way-Borsch.
In -game (contextual) realities are called realities that are created by the game itself and spread only in its space.
(well right now there is a right moment of the wahh)
You Never Gained Love, But You Gained Love
As you can observe, the word love is mentioned twice in this beautiful design. In the first case, Love is an acronym – LEVEL of Violence (violence), as a result of which in this context Acronym Love and the noun Love are contextual antonyms.
You haven’t earned UR, but got love.
Love has turned into UR -URENSE. All the beauty of the structure disappears, which is why these words are not so intelligibly and artistically perceived, as in the original (other examples can be found in Appendix 2)
The topic of dubbing is also affected in our work, but for readers of this site we will not be able to say anything new, so we decided to reduce our material.
In conclusion, I would like to notice that the quality of translation localization is extremely important for the perception of the game. It is important to consider both game realities and the nuances of localization.
Thanks to everyone who read this text. We hope you liked it!
1- Kulemina Ksenia Vladimirovna the main types of translation transformations // Bulletin of AGTU. 2007. No. 5. URL: https: // cyberleninka.ru/article/n/osnovnye-vidy-perevodcheskih-transformatsiy (accessed: 18.01.2021)
Bonus:
For those who liked the work and interested this topic even more, I can offer 2 things:
1) a link to a presentation on this topic where all this work is presented in a less “loaded” and “continuous” format (https: // vk.COM/doc177003851_593591466?Hash = 12a7212F4A0C0FE4C4 & DL = 5D68BD20C06D91BA40)
2) extended list of translation transformations. Suddenly someone like we like to be localizers
Syntactic likening (literal translation) – This is a way of translation in which the syntactic structure of the original is converted into a similar structure. This type of “zero” transformation is used in cases where parallel syntactic structures exist in Iya and Pa. Syntactic likening can lead to a complete correspondence of the number of language units and the order of their location in the original and translation: I always remember bis words – I always remember his words. As a rule, however, the use of syntactic likening is accompanied by some changes in structural components. When translating from English into Russian, for example, articles, verbs-bindings, other official elements, as well as changes in morphological forms and some lexical units, can fall
The division of the sentence – grammatical transformation in which the syntactic structure of the language of translation. The transformation of division leads to the transformation of the simple sentence of the original language into a complex sentence of the language of translation of the sentence in the original is converted into two or more predicative, or to transform the simple or complex sentence of the original language into two or more independent sentences in the language of translation.
Grammar replacement – A grammatical transformation in which the grammatical unit in the original is converted into a unit of translation of the translation with a different grammatical meaning. A grammatical unit of the original language of any level can be replaced: a word form, part of speech, a member of a sentence, a sentence of a certain type. In the process of translation, there is always a replacement of forms of the original language with the form of the language of translation. But the grammatical replacement, as a transformation, implies not just the use of the form of the translation language, but the refusal to use the form of the translation language similar to the original, since they do not allow to carry out adequate translation. Replacing the forms of the original language with other, differing from them in terms of expressed content (grammatical value) – this is the essence of this transformation. A very common type of grammatical transformation in the pairs of languages German/English and Russian/Belarusian is the replacement of part of speech.
Antonymic translation -This is a lexical and grammatical transformation, in which a replacement of the affirmative form is carried out in the original with a negative in translation or, conversely, negative to the affirmative. This is accompanied by a replacement of the lexical unit of the original language with a unit of translation of the translation with the opposite value.
He remembers everything. – He did not forget anything.
You must be silent. – You shouldn’t say.
I’m not kidding. – I tell you seriously.
Within the framework of the antonymic translation, the unit of the original language can be replaced not only by the directly opposite unit of translation of the translation, but also in other words, and combinations expressing the opposite thought.
The translation is common – Adequate replacement.
Most often, it finds use when translating idioms, traditional metaphors, etc. p.:
The essence of this technique is to replace everything or part of the statement in the original language with a statement or part of the statement in the language of translation with another meaning, but with the same semantic and/or emotional function. But far from always the idiom is translated by an idiom, and the metaphor – a metaphor:
Sometimes a metaphor is lowered. This technique is called demetaphorization.
The opposite of the content of the reception – Metaphorization.
Exclusion or descriptive translation – This is a lexicogram transformation in which the lexical unit of the original language is replaced by a phrase explicating its meaning, t.e. giving a more or less complete explanation or determination of this value in the language of translation.
For example, in German there is no such lexical units,
like a homeless person, a ticket, a sheepskin coat, a pillar road, etc.p. When translating these words, it is necessary to refer to the description of the concepts they denote: Tabor – Gypsy parking. With the help of explication, you can also convey the meaning of any unequivalent word. The disadvantage of descriptive translation is its bulky and verbose. Therefore, the most successful technique of translation is used in cases where you can do with a relatively brief explanation. Exclusion gives the content a more specific form of expression compared to the original.
Exclusion / implication differs from demetaphorization / metaphorization in that they do not include transition from allegressing to a direct way to express the content. Common for these techniques – giving the expressed more obvious or, conversely, less obvious form.
Compensation – This is a type of translation transformation in which
Elements of meaning lost when translating the unit of the original language in the original are transmitted in the text of the translation by any other means, and it is not necessary in the same place of the text as in the original. Thus, the lost meaning is “compensated” by the lost meaning, and, in general, the content of the original is reproduced with a greater fullness. Moreover, the grammatical means of the original are often replaced by lexical and vice versa.
Contextual replacement or occasional compliance -a lexical and grammatical transformation designed to carry out an irregular, exceptional technique of translating the original unit, suitable only for this context.
Lexical additions – use in the translation of additional lexical units to transmit implicit elements of the meaning of the original.
Pronoun repetition – repeated indication in the text of the translation to the already mentioned object with the replacement of its name with the corresponding pronoun.
Option – refusal to transmit in the translation of semantically excessive fishing, the values of which are irrelevant or easily restored in context.
Domestication and Forenization – These are translation strategies determined on the basis of the extent to which the translator seeks to bring the text to the norms of the host culture. If the translation discovers the desire to adapt as much as possible to the norms of the host culture, and the translator seeks to make the perception of the text convenient and easy for the addressee and can go for the sake of smoothing and even eliminating the language or meaningful features of the original, we can talk about a domestizing translation. Installation on the preservation and careful reproduction of the characteristics of the original, the entire completeness of the information contained in it, even the cost of the ease of reader’s perception and violation of the conventions of the host culture, corresponds to a forced strategy.
An important blot! Only the most common and simple transformation methods are used in this research, as a result of which some examples could be disclosed in much more details if we touched all types of PT (translation transformations), but this method was decided not to use it because of a simpler and more easy