Chinese Localization of the Foreign Video Games

趙偉軒

In 2013， video games players are over 1.2 billion. Although the video games industry in China is thriving， the quality of many games is inferior as Chinese games developers started late. So most Chinese gamers prefer foreign video games. Nevertheless， most Chinese gamers who want to smoothly enjoy foreign games have to face language barriers. It is necessary to localize the foreign video games for Chinese gamers.

Excellent localization of the title always highlights the game. For instance， Square Enix published a game called Tomb Raider， centering around adventures of a British archaeologist. Tomb Raider can be literally translated as “古墓突襲者.” But the translator translated it as “古墓麗影.” The highlight is “麗影.” The protagonist， Lara Croft， is a female adventurer in search of ancient relics. “麗影” makes Laras consummate skill and perfect body shape get into gamers mind. Besides， “影” and “古墓” complement each other， manifesting a mysterious feeling. Its combination of literal and liberal translation that meets the principles of faithfulness， expressiveness and elegance is the best example of translating foreign video games titles.

Terrible translation exists as well. In early years， most foreign video games in China were pirate copies. Chinese games companies generally assigned the localization work to college students whose translating abilities were uneven， thus good and bad translations in that period were intermingled. For example， Bethesda Softworks， an American games developer produced a game called The Elder Scrolls. The proper translation of the title should be “上古卷軸，” but the then translator translated it as “老頭滾動條” according to its literal meaning became a laughing stock.

According to practical translation， we normally use literal， liberal translation and transliteration to localize the foreign video games titles. The following will propose some advice with case analysis.

1. Literal Translation

If the original game title clearly shows the background of the game， the translator should apply literal translation， letting TT gamers comprehend the same meaning foreign gamers receive when they see the title for the first time. However， the novelty of the selection of Chinese character should be carefully considered even when use literal translation， otherwise the title would not be attractive. Moreover， arbitrarily adding or omitting words should be avoided. For instance：

Final Fantasy is regarded as one of the most influential role-playing games on the Nintendo Entertainment System. But in the early time the translators in Taiwan and Hong Kong translated it as “太空戰(zhàn)士.” Although the game has some space scenes， “太空戰(zhàn)士” is flatly inferior to “最終幻想” which has artistic conception.

2. Liberal Translation

If the game original title fails to accurately deliver the background of the game， the translator should apply liberal translation through fully understanding the games substance and choosing proper words. Thus it will appeal to gamers， making them remember the title， e.g. using the Chinese four-character structure. For instance：

Resident Evil is a survival horror video games series. It was originally released in Japan as Bio Hazard. When it was published in the U.S.， its name was changed to Resident Evil owing to the problem of copyright. In Taiwan， it was translated as “惡靈古堡” while the mainland translator used its Japanese version translation “生化危機.” Obviously， the latter is better.

3. Transliteration

This sort of game is generally entitled by personal name， and most are based on novels or movies. Even though it is not difficult to translate， the translator should not arbitrarily apply liberal translation， for example：

Alan Wake is a survival horror video game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft Game Studios. Although it is a psychological horror game， the word “殺手”totally has nothing to do with the games content. Apparently the translator applied undue liberal translation. It might as well be directly translated as “艾倫·韋克.”

According the case analyses， there are some principles in translating the titles of foreign video games， including 1） The translation should accurately express the original meaning，avoiding using ambiguous expression； 2） Better adopt the Chinese four-character structure； 3） Commercial consideration. The Chinese titles should be attractive； 4） Taking its sequels into consideration.

In recent years， the video games industry develops so fast that makes the localization of excellent foreign video games become a very important field in translation industry. The translation of foreign video games titles is a critical part of the localization， since excellent translation would appeal to consumers while terrible translation might ruin a great game in the first place. Hence the translation of a game's title is vital to its success no matter in commercial or artistic consideration.