MICHAŁ LISECKI Akademia Techniczno-Humanistyczna w Bielsku-Białej From T9N to L10N (or I18N, or C13N) 1 . Prolegomena to translation and localization in video games Key words: video games, translation, localization, transcreation, multimodality, multidimen- sionality, proper names, onomastics, audio-visual translation Słowa klucze: gry komputerowe, tłumaczenie, lokalizacja, transkreacja, multimodalność, wielowymiarowość, nazwy własne, onomastyka, tłumaczenie audiowizualne Introduction In the contemporary world, communicative practices are predominantly mediated by a wide range of digital technologies supporting speech, image, video, and textual communica- tion equally. Digital environments, and in this paper specifically video games, do not only serve a purpose of new kind of interaction domains, but are, in fact, a new paradigm mediat- ing and augmenting their users’ social activities. (Lisecki, 2014:21-22) The current global status of the gaming market available to international communities of gamers from around the world equally has largely been possible because of all the translation (T9N) and localization (L10N) efforts, sometimes recently also preceded by more careful internationalization (I18N) practices, allowing for users across different cultural or language backgrounds interact and communicate with in those environments. Video games, although at first ignored and denigrated by scholars of various disciplines, who saw them rather as trivial and a medium for children (Newman, 2004:5), only recently 1 Across various texts on translation and localization those acronyms are widely used and therefore also briefly introduced here at the beginning in this paper. However, as a piece of scholarly writing, we shall refrain from using the abbreviated forms further in this paper. Their application in the texts results simply from a need to economize on the time taken to type these across various texts and includes the initial and final letters with a digit which stands for the number of the replaced letters. Thus, localization becomes L10N, translation T9N, internationalization I18N, and culturalization C13N. V8N for validation and G11N for globalization can also be found.
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MICHAŁ LISECKI
Akademia Techniczno-Humanistyczna w Bielsku-Białej
From T9N to L10N (or I18N, or C13N) 1.
Prolegomena to translation and localization in video games
Key words: video games, translation, localization, transcreation, multimodality, multidimen-
Present paper is therefore undeniably only prolegomena to a multitude of approaches
present not only in computer studies but notably in TS with special emphasis on translation in
video games involving rich narrative and lending themselves to a wide variety of translation
technologies, these days being largely a subject to localization (Costales, 2014: 226). To this
regard, it outlines a selection of issues that seem to be featured prominently across TS within
video games, especially the aspects that translation faces in a complex combination with tasks
involving game localization, and set against a background of somewhat better-established
areas of AVT studies. Rather than deliver a straightforward answer to any questions raised
across various studies, this paper seeks to present a concise and yet possibly most comprehen-
sive overview of the multitude of ways of approaching at researching translation in games,
quite often resulting immediately from the very limitations of the medium and the specificity
of the ephemeral nature of the gaming market.
The background: terminology and typology
The market of video games has seen a constant growth of interest, propelled by an unpa-
ralleled technological development in recent 10 years. At present, the game industry has
broadened its gamer’s profile as more and more players engage in social gaming interaction
and in casual gaming, not just on their computers or consoles, but also through various mobile
devices2 with multimodal gaming environments becoming more and more complex. The
stunning 11-digit figures in USD for the value of the gaming market in the leading countries
across the world (Polish Gamers report, 2017: 7-11) has also contributed to the fact that re-
searchers started to recognize the fact that digital entertainment has become a widespread
phenomenon and video games these days serve a tempting corpus of analysis for scholars
across various disciplines.
2 According to a recent report for IDATE the market of eSports (the practice of playing video games competi-
tively) attracts an audience of nearly 350 million people worldwide, mainly on the Web and the market of the so-
called “serious gaming” (applied games designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment) is worth
10 billion EUR.
163 From T9N to L10N…
The gaming industry has not only been researched for its technological potential, but it
has also served various types of social (Corliss, 2011), ludology studies (Newman, 2004; Mal-
liet, 2007; Frasca, 2011), as well as psychological studies seeking explanation on the relation-
ship between their highly addictive character and their structure (King et al., 2010). Additio-
nally, it is because of the need to “deal with compelling storylines, complex characters and
multimodal environments that need to be successfully adapted in order to maintain the game
experience […]” (Costales, 2014: 226) that translation efforts grew into bigger challenge
evolving into complex localization tasks.
At first, however, the status of translation in video games remained underexplored, with
noticeable inconsistency in terminology in research, where the same research domain received
different names of “electronic games”, “computer games”, “digital games”, or variations in
their spelling with “videogames” and “video games” (as noted by O’Hagan, 2013). Even
though research in this field is a relatively recent phenomenon in Poland, yet similar incon-
sistency in reference terminology persists as well: “gry wideo” (Szeja, 2012; Polish Gamers
Report – Raport Branży Gier Wideo, 2015 and later eds.), “gry komputerowe” (Domaciuk-
Czarny, 2016), with some authors recognizing the unique character of their objects of research
and foregnizing the names by retaining the original forms: “gry RPG” (Lisecki, 2016) or fully
domesticating them: “Tekstowe Gry Fabularne (TG)” (Herbut, 2017:73 ff.).3
This inconsistency may result from the very technical specificity of the multimodal me-
dium of games and, in fact, it seems that authors wished to convey this specificity of particu-
lar forms and devices they considered in their studies: computer-based form of entertainment
software used on various electronic platforms, game console-based systems4, as well as mo-
bile formats (phones and tablets) including such unusual applications as video-less games
3 A similar keyword terminology search across Google Scholar (as of December 2019) showed the following
tendencies: a search for “video games” returned a stunning 1M hits, and a runner up “computer games” scoring
roughly over 0.5M hits, with all the others being marginal, namely “digital games” (79000), “electronic games”
(38700). Bearing in mind that Google Scholar is still not very popular among researchers in Poland publishing
their articles in Polish, a comparable search for Polish counterparts of the above mentioned keyword terminology
does not seem to be representative, yet again it is as follows: “gry komputerowe” (3830) and “gry wideo” (998),
which is not a well-established and quite a misleading translation in Polish as it uses the latin based root (video)
which in Polish implies the use of outdated VCR technology and thus results in the use of this concept as
a whole to be deprecated across research papers as well. 4 These days, these are not single-user systems anymore but allow for seamless and highly immersive online
participation involving sound, text, as well as visual communication, thus blurring the distinction between com-
puter and console games (O’Hagan, 2013). This, in turn, together with high popularity of console gaming, has
allowed for the limited translation attempts to evolve into more complex localization practices, referred to later
more extensively further in this paper.
164 Michał Lisecki
providing immersive gaming experience to visually impaired players by conveying the audio
layer only to reinforce the feeling of fear or suspense (Mangiron & Zhang, 2016).
Principally, we can assume that since the first video games were made the core idea was
always the same – to entertain. Nevertheless, people entertain themselves in games in various
ways and these, consequently, result from the types of games they engage in. Some research-
ers apply a rough classification of game genres covering sports, arcade, action or simulation,
occasionally going into details with some more specific sub-types like first person shooters,
role playing games (RPG), hack and slash, multi-user dungeons (MUDs), narrative or later
graphic adventures (Newman, 2004; O’Hagan, 2013).
Unlike in some simple games in the early days of the industry, where gaming rules, the
plot and action were very simple because they were greatly limited by the capacity of the sys-
tem, video games these days present users with multitude of options they can get engaged in,
offering them highly immersive, multimodal and multiuser experiences.
In these, often richly narrated “cyber worlds”, where communication - not just with
a simple game interface, but also between global users – is the key to success, translation be-
comes a challenging task.
T9N, L10N, I18N and C13N
Across research the abbreviated concepts, some of which were mentioned at the be-
ginning –T9N, L10N, I18N and C13N, have been defined in various ways and detailed with
varying complexity. That is why it is vital to provide here at least some general description of
how they are understood further, before attempting at presenting their implications for transla-
tion in case of video games in more detail.
In brief, translation (T9N) in the context of video games will most often mean all sets of
translation and text manipulation strategies aiming at converting a text into another language,
most commonly involving translation of cultural in-text references, humor and intertextual
allusions, and “… the need for balance between transcreation and loyalty when selecting
translation strategies.” (Costales, 2014:227) However, it is clear that in case of modern games
standard text translation strategies are not enough and rather than translated the multimodal
content needs to be localized.
Localization (L10N) refers broadly to the adaptation of a product (application or docu-
ment content) to meet the language, cultural and other extra-linguistic requirements of a given
market. Commonly thought of as a synonym for translation of the user interface and docu-
mentation, localization is however quite often a more complex set of tasks involving, among
165 From T9N to L10N…
others, such customization tasks as: conversion and adjustment of all sorts of date and nume-
ric formats, currencies, keyboard usage (resulting from different regional settings for various
languages), adjustment of different sorting resulting from differences in the alphabets
(spelling), use of symbols, icons and colors, adjustment of those elements of text or graphics
which might be subject to misinterpretation or may be seen as offensive in any way. Of
course, L10N may necessitate much more than that and may involve “a comprehensive re-
thinking of logic, visual design, or presentation if the way of doing business (e.g. accounting)
or the accepted paradigm for learning (e.g. focus on individual vs. group) in a given locale
differs substantially from the originating culture.” (Ishdia & Miller, 2018)
Figure 1: How people sometimes see L10N
Source: https://www.nerfnow.com/comic/289/
Nowadays, some software products try to anticipate the need for localization by applying
internationalization (I18N for short), which is the process that enables for a product’s code
base, architecture, and user interface to display the game content in multiple languages. It
consists of adapting the product and its design so that it lends itself easier to localization.
Some companies (like Microsoft) define internationalization as a combination of world-
readiness and localization, involving enabling a product to be used with multiple scripts and
cultures.5
Video games, as a virtual form of recreating our reality, inevitably carry a subtle or some
more overt reference to culture they take their origins from. Culturalization (or C13N) goes
5 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalization_and_localization
Also, the interface in the game had several aesthetic changes introduced to make the dé-
cor of the items in the game more suitable for the Asian tastes. Figure 3 shows a modified
Asian geography screen with an Asian chef and the platter replaced with some Asian dishes.
Sometimes game developers resort to somewhat dubious tactics to get around the re-
strictions of, e.g. ban on violence, which is widely respected across China or Japan. It is often
a case that e.g. images of skeletons, werewolves, zombies, or mummies – quite common
idioms across various types of games, had to be somehow altered or replaced, e.g. bones of
dead players were replaced in World of Warcraft by tombstones. (Zhang, 2012:347)
Some culturalization attempts may seem ridiculous, although they result from some legal
requirements applying to a given country. Such was the case of Wolfenstein II in Germany
(see Figure 4), which at that time8 required Hitler’s characteristic moustache to be “shaved
off” so he wouldn’t be recognized – a case quite often openly laughed at by many players.
Apart from that also the dialogs in the game required for some elements to be removed from
6 See an entry on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea_under_Japanese_rule and the comment
https://ageofempires.fandom.com/wiki/Yamato_Empire_of_the_Rising_Sun 7 See https://medium.com/@99Games/localization-more-like-culturalization-eacead7aab1d 8 In August 2018 the ban on the use of Nazi symbols in the games was lifted.
en even a higher rating than the official translations or even earned an “amateur transla-
tor” a full-time job with the official translation, which was the case of PSP-based edi-
tion of Ys: The Oath of Felghana, a game by XSEED Games, who instead of localizing
the game decided to cut costs by buying the rights to the fan translation available for
previous PC editions of the game12. On the other hand, one might see it as a far better
practice than releasing officially translations, which quite often were very “artificial”,
or sometimes alarmingly poor. As reported by the players, such was the case of other-
wise official translations of Max Payne 3 including such language mistakes as
“*spowrotem*”, or Mount & Blade: Warband with some further an orthographic mis-
take of “*tarcze obite skurą*”. Apart from these cases of typos, in Magicka a dragon by
the name “Fanfir” is actually referred to as “mag Fanfir” (EN mage or spellcaster), and
the what zombies did in Resident Evil was “*zombie wychodzą z drewna*” (EN wood
– can be translated into Polish as “las” or “drewno”).13
The very fact that gamers tend to be very critical towards the quality of translation and
localization can quite often result in a given game gaining or losing popularity among
players whatsoever. Reportedly a Japanese developer of Final Fantasy VII, turned to
a carefully prepared in-house localization of the game, after it received a lot of bashing
by fans.14
g) Familiarity with global pop culture – similarly to the previous category, intertextual
allusions are equally valued and recognized by players. As many of the titles take their
origins in comics, books, or sometimes movies (e.g. The Lord of the Rings, Harry Po-
tter series, Spiderman) knowledge of the content they originate gains importance.
What’s more, recently we have seen a reverse practice of movies based on videogames,
with some well-acclaimed examples of the following series: Resident Evil, Tomb Rider,
or Wolfenstein.
From the above we can clearly see that despite a rather relatively low interest in the phe-
nomena of game translation and localization prior to 2010s (O’Hagan & Ashworth, 2002;
Newman, 2004; Chandler, 2005; Bernal-Merino, 2006), after 2010 we saw a considerable
growth, especially among TS researchers, in interest in game translation. One reason for this
reluctance to get interested in researching the domain of video games and recognizing it as
12 See https://www.gry-online.pl/newsroom/japonskie-rpg-ys-the-oath-in-felghana-oraz-ys-origin-trafia-na-
steam/z7104a1 13 For a rich collection of examples of fan translation in Poland see https://gadzetomania.pl/4418,polacy-nie-
gesi-lecz-swoj-jezyk-maja-rzecz-o-fanowskich-tlumaczeniach-gier 14 See https://kotaku.com/how-the-english-translation-messed-up-final-fantasy-vii-1834175294
It is also noticeable that the somehow rather stringent standards of film subtitles18 are not
strictly observed in games. This can sometimes be a real problem as all too often game pro-
ducers fail to recognize not just the basic standards, but simply make it too difficult to follow
the subtitled elements by making them too little, deliver them in too many lines with number
of characters exceeding the widely accepted 40 characters. (See Figure 7)
Figure 7: Deus Ex Mankind Divided with the lines exceeding the 40-characters limit, "stacked" in 7 lines (sic),
and lack of ellipsis avoiding irrelevant elements. https://youtu.be/WVjTrDGHylM?t=83
Of course, there is a lot more about subtitles in games that sets them apart from those in
other movie or video applications, all of which also results in a change for a translator. These,
among others, include a rather constant competition with other elements of the HUD19 which
can make the screen look really “cluttered” (Figure 6) and limits the space for the subtitles;
the fact that they can freely also appear, just like in comic books, appear in some kind of bub-
bles and tend to be interlingual more often than intralingual; the freedom games give with
changing the color, font style, the size, and the background. One might risk saying then that at
that point the job of a video game translator in terms of working with subtitles differs consid-
erably from that of others within AVT domain.
18 Although, there does not seem to be any agreement between the practitioners and translation theorists about
the number of characters allowed for one subtitle line, however, most commonly an accepted standard is two
subtitle lines, 35-40 characters each. (Cintas & Ramael, 2007:84) 19 HUD is short for Heads Up Display, which is the display area where players can see their character’s statistics,
overall game progress, quest completion level, armor level, current health or HP (hit points), etc.
Apart from simply getting familiar with the translated text (which quite often can be
a problem because of the before-mentioned “sim-shipping”) it is necessary to create a glossa-
ry for the translation, translate the script and text, the accompanying game manual and the
23 This is quite often a case of games based on books, e.g. Harry Potter series, The Witcher series, Metro 2033,
or those based on comic book characters, like Marvel Heroes, Spider-Man 2, or The Punisher. 24 At points referred to, in this paper, as “limitations”, although they rather all create a new paradigm for the
translation job than prevent it entirely. 25 In fact, software developers now know that even simple localization attempts can bring surprisingly high bene-
fits. One mobile app developer reported to gain record high 767% increase in his application downloads simply
by localizing keywords only, which basically involved translating the keywords for the software. See “iPhone
App Localization: How To Get 767% More Downloads By Localizing App Keywords”[URL
http://makeappmag.com/iphone-app-localization-keywords/] 26 This localization schedule timeline is for a small project, involving one translator per language, 2 weeks worth
of translation work, and 1 week worth of audio recording. For simplicity, regional holidays have not been ac-
counted for. The author makes it clear that if translators attend recording sessions, one week is to be added to the
schedule. The number of translators could be increased to shorten the translation time, but it will increase famil-
iarization and glossary creation costs; time should be balanced with costs.
game packaging, all the necessary promotional materials (videos, graphics, etc.), but also to
launch casting followed by a preparation of the recordings and then get the development team
embed everything in the program code in such a way that players are not confronted with
some dubious translation making it difficult to proceed or at best just spoiling the story.
Despite all the effort and costs, game developers are clearly aware of “what’s at stake”.
The global gaming market is no longer just a “playground for kids” and its value was estimat-
ed at a stunning 148.8Bn USD.27 In fact, gamers are no longer just teenagers28 and they have
a huge spending power worldwide. This has recently urged gaming developers to apply loca-
lization strategies largescale, and consequently propelled the market of all sorts of translation
services (apart from more regular content translation also those usually reserved for other
AVT media – dubbing and subtitling), applying holistic market strategies to translation (re-
sulting in L10N, I18N and C13N).
Conclusions
Despite the fact that gaming industry professionals have long been tackling the highly chal-
lenging field of game translation and recognizing its challenge for localization, this form of
audiovisual translation has only recently started to receive recognition among translation re-
searchers (O’Hagan, 2013).
This paper undeniably, as the title claims – is only a prolegomenon to some more exten-
sive, but at the same time – in-depth studies into a field of translation activity, which is in
a constant state of flux. The main aim here was then to present a possibly most complete and
comprehensive view of new variables in translation that stem from the market, the games as
content carriers and the highly multimodal and multidimensional environments they evoke.
Inevitably, this is a somewhat futile attempt at a domain so complex, with studies in statu
nascendi and in such high demand for research with some clear outcomes in a form of guide-
lines.
The new paradigm of video games imposes certain technical limitations, at the same time
transforming more traditional translation procedures and techniques, making translators ex-
tend their range of skills and putting them in an unusual situation in a domain where the ulti-
mate goal is “entertainment”. Accordingly, the choice of translation strategies gets determined
27 See Newzoo Report https://newzoo.com/key-numbers/ (December, 2019) 28 In fact, an annual report on the global and Polish gaming market (https://polishgamers.com/) reports even
distribution between the two leading age groups among gamers (e.g. it reported 39%, 43%, 31% in 2015-2017
respectively in a group 15-24 yo, and a stable 32% in the same years in a grop 25-34 yo).