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How to Prepare Terminology in Game Localization

By: Eric Nelson Posted on Sat, 28-04-2018

The Importance of Terminology

Consistent use of terms in the game translation makes the translation more readable and the translated game more understandable. Wrong translation or inconsistent translation in the key terms may mislead the users while playing games, which causes poor user experience. Thus preparing a terminology list is an important step before the translation starts.

What can be considered as terminology in game translation?

Go through the contents that to be translated, pick up the below types of terms:

  • Character names
  • UI names
  • Words no need to be translated
  • Product names or special objects used in the game
  • Abbreviations
  • Terms that should keep consistency
  • Special actions or movements

What you need to pay attention to while preparing the terminology?

During this phase, translator may have initial understanding of the content. Translators can double check the quality of the source content. For example, if you find the character names John Smith and Johnson Smith may refer to the same character, you SHOULD spot this issue and ask about it.

Gather some context information to the terms helps translator better understand the game. For NPC games, it’s important to know the background information about the characters. What is the gender of the character, what kind of tone the character should have etc.

Prepare a DISALLOWED list

In game translation, it is very likely that some bad words or rude words should be avoided to use in the translation. Make a list of them so that it can be checked in the later QA phase of localization phase.

Understand the game environment; define the interactive actions used in the game. If the game is developed for touch screen devices only, you cannot CLICK a button. It makes no sense in any translation.

A well prepared terminology list can be easily imported in CAT (Computer Aided Translation) tool and give good guidance to the translator during the translation. According to the industry research, more than 30% of failure translation is due to wrong or inconsistent translation in key terms. Spend some time in terminology preparation before translation starts, and you will find the worth.

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