If enough of you can come together and show them you have a voice, the company has no choice but to listen to you. If you’re into game, do not ever hesitate to complain about the quality of the game. But they will never have the finesse of actually skilled translators. They figured out machine translating is cheaper and does an okay job from translating from English to EU languages. Many European languages are already being machine translated in the gaming industry. The companies will think there’s no use in hiring a legit translator if all the end quality is going to be bad anyway - they will opt for a cheaper alternative. Lazy translation/localization is detrimental not only for the consumers, the company, but for us translators as well. Like that crunchyroll video I linked above, this push for quantity over quality is going to ruin us all. But with the current trend of many media going for the cheapest translations, it’s only going to get worse. You guys deserve more time and more money. And let me remind you this is not a shade on freelancing translators… You guys deserve better pay. Many of them go, “meh no one’s complaining, so why waste more resources on translations? Cheaper and faster is the best!”įrightening amount of companies want to shift away from hiring good translators, and go with cheap freelancers who can churn out a lot of low-quality translations faster. If something sounds stupid, if something sounds BAD in English, complain! If you play a localized online game, complain about the writing quality, the localization quality! If something sounds awkward in English, speak up!ĭon’t shoot down players who complain about the translation, us translators WANT you to complain! We WANT to spend more time on our translations! But we’re always rushed by the company to do MORE, FASTER which DROPS THE QUALITY. And I’m not saying nitpick on the translation/localization because they did or did not translate it literally. I know it’s difficult to tell if something is a correct translation if you don’t speak the language. From years of working with other newbie translators, I can see when people go auto-pilot mode and not think about their output - they just translate like a machine, without checking to see what they wrote flows naturally in English or not.Īs gamers, viewers, CONSUMERS, you guys have the power to demand better translation, better writing. To do translation well, you need to be good at writing too. Who cares at the end of the day, as long as you get the gist of what the translation is saying? No! You’re missing out on so many things from lazy/rushed translations! Not only can they be missing information, but there could be wrong translations too! Incorrect wording could confuse readers! This push for quantity over quality significantly drops the quality of the finished translation. Oh god please read their entire thread ( source) They want the translators to translate as many words as possible in the shortest amount of time as possible. Despite the importance of not only correct translation, but good localization, there are SO MANY COMPANIES who simply do NOT care about the quality “as long as it’s correct.” (The “correct” they mean here is “as long as the dictionary definition is correct.”) I want to address the current situation of localization industry. In order to do this effectively, you have to be well-versed in cultures of both languages! It can be easy but often times it’s difficult, and time-consuming. We do this so audience can enjoy and understand without having to learn the cultural, historical, or other context. We find substitutes that would fit into the situation, even if they’re not exactly the same thing the source language says. Localizing means as you translate, you change some of the references or jokes that would not translate well into the language you’re translating into. Translation vs Localization: Is There a Difference? “ Localization” is a more comprehensive process and addresses cultural and non-textual components as well as linguistic issues when adapting a product or service for another country or locale.
“ Translation” is the process of rendering text from one language into another so that the meaning is equivalent. We all get to experience the fun and the joy together. Translation is amazing! They connect everyone around the world as one, despite the language differences. I really live for that connection I make with the people I care about when they get to enjoy the same thing as I do. I started doing this because I loved sharing Korean game info with my English-speaking friends. I want to talk about translation!Īs most of you know, I work in game localization, Korean to English. I wanted to write this post for a while now, and I’m glad this day is giving me a chance to talk about it.
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