English to French IT Translator Blog

A new era starts at the IGDA LocSIG with a new committee. I am delighted to be one of its members this time again, and I will be true to my statement by working toward new events for game localization experts and hopefuls alike.

It also means I will be handling the newsletter for a bit longer, so this series of link roundups should stay alive at least for that time! Here is my selection for the months of May and June.

Falcom President Comments on Licensing Ys VIII to NISA and How Localization is Handled

Undertale’s Japanese Localization Is Causing A Fan Frenzy – Another localization controversy, this time around the pronoun used by a character in Undertale’s official Japanese version. A little over the top, dare I say

Text Adventures: The Story of Visual Novels in America – Interesting insights from some of the companies taking the increasingly popular visual novels outside Japan

Persona 5 Gets A Small Change To Avoid Further Controversy In South Korea

Music and Localization: Fine-Tuning the Universal Language

Once Again, Overwatch Isn’t Very Good At Picking Kanji Characters – A little surprising to see another kanji issue with Overwatch, as they got laughed at pretty hard the previous time around

I’m taking the chance to share again the game localization and internationalization checklist we created at the IGDA LocSIG, a very useful resource based on our Best Practices. Ideally, you will want to read it and keep these points in mind during development, then use it as a final reference when you are producing localized versions of your games.

If you follow the general advice given here, the whole process should go smoothly. To take things further and make the most out of your localization initiatives, you can dig deeper and look for more specific resources. Most development environments offer some sort of internationalization and localization features nowadays – that is the case for for Unity3D (some interesting solutions are available on the Asset Store), XCode and Android Studio, just to name a few. No need to reinvent the wheel when great solutions already exist.

You could also save time and money by following the cost-saving tips that may apply to your project. In the end, being prepared and informed is what will save you from headaches and help you release your games in new markets at a reasonable cost.

This is the text version of the presentation I showed on Crowdcast with SmartCAT (video available here). It is based on the notes I took to prepare for the webinar, hence the disjointed writing style. Still hope you will find it useful to start your journey toward a career as a professional translator!

Working in the game localization industry is a dream for many gamers, but the path that leads to a career in this young world isn’t necessarily obvious. Here are a few pointers to help you get started and work in the right direction.

What Studies?

An educational background in translation/languages is not a necessity, but always a welcome addition to your CV. Two scenarios here:

Relevant university studies

As far as I know, there are no university studies fully dedicated to game localization yet, but a few specializations will help you in your quest for a job. Here are the three types of studies you should be aiming at:

– Audiovisual translation: More and more universities offer courses in audiovisual translation, which generally include a part about video game localization. You can find a list of such universities here.

– Translation (general): More broadly available, courses in translation will teach you the general theories of translation and help you prepare your career in the industry. Although not as focused as the above, it is still perfectly relevant and appreciated in the industry.

– Languages and culture: Translation will have a smaller, but not insignificant role here. Such studies are also valued highly, especially if you study the language in a country where it is natively spoken. When I was working in-house, several of my Japanese to English translator colleagues had graduated from such schools in Japan and found a position soon after.

You’ve already graduated

A diploma is great, but you may be considering a career switch after working in a different industry. Don’t worry, there are still ways to fill the Education part of your CV.

– Lessons/Courses/Books online and offline: first of all, you will want to learn about translation as a profession. There are plenty of courses and books available online and offline, some as specific as teaching you the basics of game localization, while other covers different aspects of the job, from finding clients to managing your taxes. Perform an online search, compare the options and see what works best for you

– Go to seminars/workshops: look for relevant seminars and workshops in your area. A quick Google search will generally do wonders, but you can also check the websites of translator associations in your country. Most of them have a calendar listing such events

– Consider taking a certification exam: once you’ve learned enough about the job and are confident in your skills as a translator, you may consider taking a certification exam. The most famous one is probably the ATA‘s, but again, feel free to look for options closer to you

Freelancing vs. Working In-House

Game localization projects can be handled in-house by developers, outsourced to localization agencies working with their in-house team and/or freelance translators, or handed directly to translators. Your first decision in your journey will be to decide the way you want to follow: in-house position or freelance work.

Here are the main characteristics of both:

Freelancing…

– More freedom: as a freelance translator, work whenever you want, wherever you want. No commuting, no fixed hours.

– Possible better long-term income and security: once you’re established and projects keep flowing in, you will likely make more money than you would in-house. And you don’t risk losing your job all of a sudden. If one of your clients closes their doors, you still have other customers to keep you busy

– Requires motivation/self-discipline: freedom is great, but you’ll still need to dedicate enough time to your job. You’ll have to keep track of projects, chase clients for payment, keep marketing yourself, etc. That’s also part of “being one’s boss” job description. I know some extremely talented translators who never managed to succeed as freelancers because they didn’t have that self-discipline

– Getting established takes time: building a clientele takes time,  no matter how hard you try. Receiving enough work to live on translation will take you at the very least 6 months, while 2 years or more is not rare at all. Try to put some cash aside before taking the plunge, or keep a part-time job on the side to keep bills paid

Working in-house…

– Stable income, no need to hunt new clients: busy or not, your income is the same and you don’t have the pressure of finding new clients

– More focused work: you will be translating/editing most of the time (hopefully). No accounting, no marketing, no sales, just what you like and what you’re good at

– Comparatively limited financial prospects: the higher the risk the greater the reward. A busy freelancer will typically make more money than an in-house translator. In general game translator salaries are rather in the low end in the gaming industry. There are, of course, fortunate exceptions to this

Preparation

Qualifications alone won’t land you assignments. Before you start your job hunting efforts, you will want to make sure you are prepared for success.

– Learn about the ins and outs of the job (read articles/ebooks, take courses, etc.): this is especially true if you are going to work as a freelancer. Learn about the business aspects of freelance translation (how to define your rates, how to get paid properly, how to communicate with your clients in different situations, etc.). You will find a lot of articles, ebooks and courses online for a large number of topics.

– Build a solid CV/introduction highlighting relevant strengths: make sure you highlight every relevant educational or hands-on experience you’ve got with translation. Be specific: make it clear game localization is your main or one of your main specialization fields. Mentioning your favorite genres can be a plus when project managers will need to select the most suitable translator for their project.

Note about fan translations: in my opinion, that kind of experience is perfectly relevant and show your motivation, but you may not want to get too specific in public to avoid trouble. Mention word counts, game genres, etc. but only give names informally to parties interested in more details (small devs and game localization agencies will generally be curious and really just want to know what you’ve worked)

– Gain experience with a few projects: the best way to be ready for prime time is to actually try your hand at a few projects. Put everything you know in practice and make your beginner’s mistakes. More on how to gain experience in a minute.

About translation tests

Many potential employers and clients will ask you to take a test. All have different criteria for evaluation, but I would classify them in two categories:

– Ability tests: typical with localization agencies, a classical pass/fail test. Your basic translation ability will be checked: are your translations accurate, natural, free of typos/punctuation mistakes, do you follow instructions and terminologies? Most criteria here are objective, and a serious work should be enough, regardless of style considerations.

– Shootouts: typical with end customers. They want to find the one translator whose tone matches theirs. You’ll of course need to meet the basic quality standards expected of a professional translator, but the rest is very subjective in nature. You may deliver a great translation and still see someone else get the job.
As a general advice, check their games, see what inspired them and try to find something similar in your native language to give you ideas about what they may be looking for.

Gaining Experience (Part I)

Offer free translation to indie devs

To gain experience, it can be a good idea to offer your help for free. Rather than helping big companies for peanuts, I suggest starting with indie developers who really need help and don’t have the finances to hire a professional translator.

– Browse the Indie Game Localization group on Facebook. Devs regularly post help requests there.

– Contact indie devs directly: you can use social networks to find interested devs. I particularly recommend Facebook and LinkedIn groups for indie devs (there are too many of them to list!) where people like to share information about their upcoming games

– Offer to translate game mods, articles, fan sites, reviews, etc.: let your imagination do the work here, there’s so much to explore!

– [!] Keep word counts reasonable: be willing to help, but don’t let people take advantage of you. Politely explain than you can only handle a few hundred words for free. An App Store description, menus? Why not. A whole set of dialogs? Probably too much.

Gaining Experience (Part II)

The LocJAM:

– Online game translation contest, a chance to compare your skills to your peers. Winning entries are selected by reputable video game localization agencies, giving you a great chance to get noticed by professionals

– Free and open: no need to join the contest, you can translate and share your work anytime (translation kits available here). That’s concrete work you can show your prospects

– Local study groups: generally before/during LocJAMs. Great opportunity to learn & network with fellow translators

For more information about the LocJAM, you can read this related article.

Note: The contest is on a bit of a standby at the moment, the IGDA LocSIG is working hard to come back with a new formula

Gaining Experience (Part III)

– Start in a different position in the game/localization industry: many game translators started in testing, marketing, project management, etc. Once you have a foot in the industry, it’s much easier move toward a translation position, for the same company or somewhere else

– Consider internships: many localization agencies have some sort of internship program. It can be a good chance to gain experience and possibly impress your employer. Again, I know of people who started as interns and became full-time employees after that. I also know several freelance translators who still work with companies where they used to be interns

Finding Work In-House

– Specialized game job sites: browse industry sites such as games-career.com, Gamasutra’s job section and similar portals in your native language

– General job sites: big job sites such as Indeed, Monster or even LinkedIn have a lot of localization job listings. Make a smart use of filters and notifications, and check new postings regularly

– Local job sites: don’t underestimate the smaller job portals. Many of them are free and appreciated by employers for this reason. You may find exclusive offers there, so look at sites specifically covering your area

– Translation portals (Proz, TranslatorsCafé): while most projects posted on those websites are aimed at freelancers, offers for in-house positions, including in the video game industry, are occasionally published there. They’re also a great place to network with and learn from fellow professionals

– Dev websites, social media accounts: regularly check the websites of developers/agencies in your area that have a job page. Follow such companies on social networks and look for job offers in your feed

– Networking, online and offline: more on that a little later

Finding Work as a Freelancer

– Register and check job postings on translation portals (Proz, TranslatorsCafé): register on those websites and build a solid profile to gain visibility and be able to bid on projects posted. A lot of agencies are recruiting new translators and offering projects through such platforms

– Contact specialized agencies directly: there are lots of localization agencies specialized in video games, and many of them are constantly looking for new translators. Check their website, social accounts, etc. and see their preferred method contact.
Be careful to only contact reputable agencies with good payment practices. The Blue Board on Proz is a good way to distinguish good payers from the bad ones. To help you get started, I included a small list in the notes of the slideshow above.

– Freelance offers on job sites: you can occasionally find freelance (sometimes labeled as “part-time”, “remote”, etc.) job offers on all types of sites mentioned in the previous section

– Networking, online and offline

More on Networking…

I am a strong advocate for networking. It has plenty of benefits. You meet great people, build relationships, learn from each other and, yes, get access to jobs otherwise unavailable. Many experienced translators are happy to refer their clients to younger translations when they are busy, or to introduce them to colleagues in different language pairs.

– Prepare business cards and an introduction: always carry business cards with you. Make sure the key information is there: your name, language pair and specialization, contact info, etc. Also prepare a quick introduction you can repeat when you meet new people. Clearly tell who you are and what you do. Then forget a bit about business and try to build a genuine relationship!

– Go to game/translation conferences, seminars: conferences and seminars are great places to meet potential clients and colleagues. Don’t restrict yourself to just translation or game-related events, both are perfectly fine places to network. Don’t underestimate smaller, local gatherings. It’s easier to talk to people and have them remember you when the place is not awfully crowded

– Join associations, attend meetings: here again, target both game and translation associations. They will always have more or less formal networking events, besides conferences mentioned above. For those that have a directory of service providers on their website, it’s also a good way to earn visibility

– Also look for informal meetings around you: once you start networking with people and join their circles, you will realize that a lot also happens besides publicly advertised meetups. I can only speak for Japan here, but we have a lot of fun meetups, with a good mix of freelance translators, in-house project managers, developers, students, etc. Be curious!

– Use translation portals social media to interact with colleagues and game developers: establish yourself as an expert in your field. Share interesting content, interact with developers and colleagues, answer questions people may have about localization. Consistency is key here. If you regularly show up in someone’s feed with strong content about localization, they may remember you the next time they are looking for translation services. Websites like ProZ also allow you to discuss various topics with translator colleagues. It’s a great way to learn about best practices and business principles

Start acting now!

– Define your goals and strategy: decide if you will be a freelance translator or try to work in-house, do your homework and pick up a couple of strategies you feel comfortable with to get started. It always gets easier once you take that first step

– Look for communities around you: look for associations and groups in your area, as well as online. Join a few and start networking

– Join the IGDA LocSIG group on Facebook: because we’re a bunch of nice people who love games and languages. You will find plenty of useful information about translation case studies, interviews, tips for beginners and the latest news about the LocJAM.

And don’t forget to connect on LinkedIn!

The Best Practices for Game Localization is a true gem of information kindly shared by the IGDA LocSIG. It contains everything one needs to know about game localization. The format in which it is shared might make it a little hard to find and digest, so I decided to split it in a format easier to share and process.

The document starts with a very interesting part on game culturalization: its definition, its different aspects and best practices recommended for game developers. Often overlooked, that step of the globalization process is critical to avoid cultural issues down the road – some other which can have disastrous effects (an example of a game discontinued for that reason is given in the document).

That specific section was written by Kate Edwards, executive director of the IGDA and expert on the topic. She first worked for Microsoft, creating the Geopolitical Strategy, which evaluates and manages geopolitical and cultural content in software products. After her stint at the IT giant, she started her own consulting firm, Englobe, engaged in content culturalization and strategy, primarily for the video game industry.

Here, she shares her knowledge in a well-written, simple yet exhaustive text, with her main points clearly organized and summarized.

What is game “culturalization”?

Culturalization takes a step beyond localization, making a more fundamental examination of a game’s assumptions and choices, and then assesses the viability of those creative choices in both the global, multicultural marketplace as well as in specific locales. While localization assists gamers with simply comprehending the game’s content through translation, culturalization allows gamers to engage with the game’s content at a potentially more meaningful level. Or conversely, culturalization ensures that gamers will not be disengaged by a piece of content that is considered incongruent or even offensive in the game’s environment.

Cultural mistakes often prove to be costly for game developers and publishers – not just the loss of potential revenue but the greater effects of negative public relations, damage to corporate image, and strained relations with the local government. In the worst-case, a local government may not only ban the game but take more direct action against the company, including detainment of local personnel for questioning and even incarceration.

Levels of game culturalization

The need for game localization is a well-known necessity within the game industry; however the need for culturalization remains relatively unrealized. Culturalization isn’t just a specific task; it’s also a broader intent for all international adaptation of content. In its most basic form, content culturalization can be viewed as the following three phases:

1. Reactive culturalization: Make the content viable; i.e., avoid disruptive issues to allow a game to remain in the target market.
2. Localization & Internationalization: Make the content legible; i.e., perform “typical” localization to allow the game to be understood.
3. Proactive culturalization: Make the content meaningful; i.e., adapt and provide locale-specific options to allow the game to be locally relevant.

In regards to these phases of culturalization, some clarification may be helpful:

Localization is critical but the process of achieving legibility through translation is not the only step required in preparing content for other cultures. This is true for video games as much as it’s true for every other type of content.

It may be argued that a game title should be “legible” before it is “viable.” But a government will restrict a game based on sensitive content regardless if it’s localized or not.

These phases are not a hierarchy. As with localization, culturalization takes place in various stages within the typical game development cycle and is a coordination of various tasks and priorities being orchestrated across the entire development process.

Top Four Cultural Variables

The effort of thinking outside our given cultural worldview often makes it difficult for a game designer in one locale to be aware of the issues that could cause problems in another locale. However, by considering at least the following four cultural variables that most often generate conflict between the game’s context and local cultures, it is possible to reduce the potential for issues to arise:

1. History: Past and Present

The issue of historical accuracy is one of the most sensitive issues for local markets. Many cultures are extremely protective of their historical legacy and origins, so any alternate or inaccurate history can yield strong, emotional backlash. History is a compelling topic, but it’s rarely possible to provide the full context of a historical event in a game. But it’s not only distant history that can be problematic but recent history can be a very sensitive topic as the memory of the events and outcome are very fresh in people’s minds.

2. Religion and Belief Systems

Game content creators need to be sensitive to the underlying mechanics of the cultures into which their game titles are to be released. In general, a society based on sacred rules tends to be less flexible and yielding to the context in which information appears because they are following what they consider to be a higher standard than human judgment; i.e., if the problematic content appears at all, regardless of context, then there is potential for backlash.

3. Ethnicity and Cultural Friction

Besides the more volatile issues of history and religion, there are many of issues that fit under a broad category that addresses various forms of disagreement, misperception, attitude and ongoing friction between cultural groups. Chief among those is the use of ethnic and/or cultural stereotypes and the perception of inclusion and exclusion with a negative bias towards a specific group.

4. Geopolitical Imaginations

National governments often reinforce their local worldview and the extent of their geographic sovereignty through digital media, including online maps and video games. This involves a situation where the government claims certain territories and they expect those territories to be shown as integrated with their nation, whether it’s on a functional map or in the world of a video game (hence the term “geopolitical imagination,” as the depiction they’re demanding doesn’t reflect reality). With some governments, such as China and India, there is no room for error on this issue as they maintain laws that dictate how national maps must appear or how their local political situation must be shown.

Culturalization Best Practices

The underlying principle of culturalization is that a minor investment of time and effort during the game development process will offset a major loss of time, money and public relations in resolving post-release issues. Fortunately, there are some key steps developers can take to be more proactive about their culturalization strategy.

Gain awareness

1. Attain a basic awareness: A key step is to attain a fundamental awareness of the potential for cultural issues; content creators and managers need to understand that cultural issues can occur and in which key markets and which key types of content. For example, most people are aware that China, India, Korea, and the Middle East can be sensitive markets. Also, many people know that certain types of content can become a real flashpoint for backlash, such as maps, flags and historical information.
2. Ask questions: The goal isn’t to establish subject-matter expert proficiency, but to ask appropriate questions during development. For example, the game Kakuto Chojin (2002) contained a brief audio track with a chanted portion of the Islamic Qur’an, resulting in widespread backlash that eventually caused the product to be discontinued (note: this happened after an official protest from the Saudi Arabian government. Despite the problem being known at the time of the release, the developer assumed the issue wouldn’t be noticed. There have later been attempts to release an amended version of the game).
   This issue could have been avoided if someone had asked the question: “From where did these lyrics originate and what do they mean?” If something doesn’t seem quite right – even if the exact reason isn’t known – raise the issue immediately.
3. Create accountability: In order for culturalization to be successful, it must be treated as a standard component of the development cycle. This means that responsibility for the process should be assigned to a specific person/team, often times the content coordinators and/or editors. Also, a new bug type “cultural” or “geopolitical” or whatever appropriate should be created in the bug tracking system to ensure the issues are flagged and resolved.

Identify issues

As mentioned previously, culturalization is most effective the earlier it’s applied to game content, thus engaging in team discussions around meaning, intent and purpose of characters, plots, environments, objects and so on during the conceptual stages can often catch the majority of potential issues. Here are the fundamentals of identifying potential issues:

1. Context proximity: Stated simply, contextual proximity is the concept that the closer a content element approaches the original context in person, place, time and/or form, the greater the potential for cultural sensitivity. Developers should be looking for content that mimics real world locations, buildings, people, events, religions, nationalities, ethnicities and so on, and then evaluating the degree to which the content resembles its real world inspiration.
2. Leverage external resources:
   a. Text references: Many reference works can be useful for basic research, such as cultural studies, country-specific guides, symbol dictionaries, encyclopedias of religions and deities, etc.
   b. Online research: Wikipedia, official government websites, non-government organization (NGO)
   websites, religious organizations, etc.
   c. Local opinions: Accessing the knowledge of people from a specific locale and/or culture can be particularly useful. If you work in a large multinational company, make use of the internal diversity of the company and ask your fellow employees for opinions. Alternatively, you can solicit opinions online in various forums (e.g., Yahoo Answers). This ad hoc opinion gathering may contain subjective viewpoints, but a large enough sample can reveal a clear pattern.
   d. Subject-matter experts: If the above forms of research do not yield clarity, seek out people in different fields such as history, cross-cultural studies or geography.

Assess severity

Just because issues have been identified in the research, it doesn’t mean every potential issue needs to be fixed. After identifying potential cultural issues, the key in next stage is to be able to effectively determine the “must fix” issues.

1. Triage the found issues: Separate the “overt offenses” – the obvious things that you know for certain will be a problem from the “reasonable risks” – the things that might raise some concerns but won’t likely prevent a game from staying in the intended locale.
2. Document your choices: Every game publisher has a choice as to whether or not to change sensitive content. Most companies do but there are times when it may not make sense to make even a minor content change because the issue is borderline sensitive. In such cases, it’s critical to document the decision-making in a defensive explanation, in case it might be needed if a government or consumers raise the issue.

Implement with precision

Many game designers carry a preconceived notion that culturalization is about making massive changes and rethinking the entire game idea. This is a misperception, and one key reason why many don’t confront the geopolitical and cultural aspect at all, as they believe it’s going to be too disruptive. This highlights one of the most important principles of culturalization:

1. Be surgical: Make the most minimal change to the least amount of content. Only change what really must be changed in order to ensure distribution to the game’s target market. In the majority of cases with cultural issues, the resolution is a small, precise fix of a specific symbol, or word, or character design; it’s usually not a major issue such as the entire game’s premise (although this can occur).

Conclusion

Create the game you want to create, but don’t forget the global, multicultural audience who will be participating in your vision, and hopefully enjoying it without any cultural disruption. Well-executed culturalization within a development cycle isn’t turnkey; it takes time to implement successfully. However, the benefits to a company’s content quality, government relations, and public image amongst local gamers will prove to be a valuable long-term investment.