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The question is: How do you translate something? Do you focus on the general sense, the literal translation of words, the sound, the timbre, the cadence of the original sentences? Well, tough luck—you can only generally have one or two of these boxes ticked. Ya traitor.Fans of video games have a big problem with translation, just like whoever the Italian bloke was who decided "traitor" was a nice way to describe someone who's just doing his or her job. Accusations of censorship are particularly loud at the moment, with plenty of Japanese games having characters removed, hemlines lowered, and ages raised, alongside the more traditional "translation" of changing words around.A good localization job, like decent plastic surgery or a fart at a funeral, is best when it's subtle and expert enough to go unnoticed.
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If a game relies on silly puns and general comedy, like Pokémon, the translators have to consider the frequency, number and type of jokes, and whether they can replicate all of these factors accurately. A direct, 100 percent accurate translation definitely wouldn't be nearly as funny. If it's a logic game, like the Professor Layton series, the puzzles have to make as much sense as the original, and rely on common knowledge in both languages. If the game relies on visual jokes or a mystery hinges on a name, as with Ace Attorney, something similarly rib-tickling has to take its place.Localization is something that can bring people closer. It means that people who don't speak the same languages have a shared connection through being able to love something together.
There will always be differences—linguistic, cultural, and otherwise—between countries, just as there are between eras. It is a localization team's job to bridge these differences so that people can share and delight in the same things, in roughly the same way. Even though their work can often change the meaning and setting of a game in such a way that it ends up being quite different from the original, I still see localization as being something that can bring people closer. It means that people who don't speak the same languages have a shared connection through being able to love something together. Localization is a tough, taxing, and often thankless job, but it's because of their work that we can enjoy games that otherwise would have been lost to us.It takes a lot of work to find out the differences between the original and the translation—years of study in the language and an in-depth knowledge of the country and its culture. Sadly, we can't all speak other languages fluently. And yes, it sounds harsh to say that you should either learn a language or learn to appreciate a translation, along with all its flaws and downsides, but it's true. Translation is never, ever perfect. The translator will always be a traitor, and the best thing he or she can do is what he or she is already trying to do – offer you a different, but still enjoyable piece of entertainment. They might be traitors, but at least they're on your side.Follow Kate Gray on Twitter.New, on Broadly: Inside the Salty Grind of Professional Mermaids