Video games today aren’t just a recess activity but have turned into complete careers. The fame of games has surpassed all the barriers, geographical, linguistic, and even cultural. Now who’s responsible for this? Game translations are responsible for the removal of these barriers.
But this still raises a question. We all know that games are present in billions and not all of these games are translated. Game translation services are surely translating these games but games being in huge numbers, not every game is translated yet. The raised question is, how long would it take before every game is translated for the massive multilingual and multicultural audiences? No one knows the answer but one thing is for sure it will take a lot of time.
So to not only speed up the process but also make game translation less expensive, game translation marathons are a must in the gaming industry. In this read, we are going to talk about these marathons in detail and explain to you why there is a dire need for these marathons in today’s age.
Breaking Language Barriers in Video Games
The debate about game translations being important or not has long gone. Why? Well, game translations are necessary for gaming companies as they help them cater to a wider audience. These gaming translations are responsible for breaking language barriers so that gamers all over the world can indulge in games of their choice. This translation also profits the gaming companies as they get to take their games on a global scale.
When gaming translation is done properly, it gives such an extensive experience that players don’t even feel the language difference. Why do you think Minecraft is famous all over the world and why is it called a cultural phenomenon? The game has been translated into more than 128 languages.
What are Game Translation Marathons?
Game translation marathons are events that bring together game enthusiasts, gaming translators, and gaming communities. All these individuals gather and take part in marathons that revolve around game translation. These are informal gatherings conducted by gaming communities. Sometimes even in translation universities, these competitions are conducted to see how eligible and skilled are gaming translation students. The results of these competitions and sessions are translated games with few to no errors.
These marathons act like test sessions for gaming translation students which help them get to know the pressure and skills they need to become full-time game translators. Later, these students are hired by a game localization company. These marathons are often conducted online so not only students but other gamers interested in gaming translation can participate in them.
What Happens in Game Translation Marathons?
In these marathons, players compete in groups and work together to translate gaming dialogues, menus, subtitles, and other text in the target language. Different members of the group divide the workflow of translation and translate each and every part of the game, making them free of linguistic and cultural differences.
As these marathons are often conducted on non-official forums, translators who access these translated games are professional translators who work in a game localization company.
The Process of Gaming Translation Goes Like This:
- Gaming text is extracted from source files. This involves the usage of a special tool to separate the text that needs to be translated.
- After text extraction, the process of translation begins. Participants translate the text into the target language.
- Localization is also an important part. Basically, translation is part of localization. Game localization involves making sure that not only linguistic but also cultural, graphics, and other functional features are adapted according to the target audiences.
- After translation comes the editing and proofreading step. These participants check for grammar and other mistakes and make sure that the end product is an error-free translated game.
Why Do We Need to Organize Game Translation Marathons?
These game translation marathons are very important as they are in informal settings where game translation services have the chance to find native gaming translators. The process of game translation becomes easier if game translators are interested in playing games. It is because these translators know what type of experience other gamers are looking for in the game. Hence, games translated by translators who are also gamers are epic games. Even the process of game translation becomes easy as more games are translated in less time.
Real Life Example
Students of Mulberry Institute took part in a game translation marathon conducted by LocJAM 6. They translated the game “Not Enough Time” from English to Japanese in just 4 days. One of the students said, “It wasn’t easy to complete everything in such a short time, but the challenge made it very exciting”.
Final Words!
To sum up, game translation marathons are informal competitions that bring forward the skills of students studying game translations and gamers adept in multiple languages. Here participants work on games and translate them into the targeted language. This not only shows skills but also games are translated in less time and less budget. Professional gaming translators often review these translated games and also get the chance to find skilled gaming translators from these marathons. So these marathons need to be conducted more and more.
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