Universidad Autnoma de Nuevo Len.

Facultad de Filosofa y Letras.

Analysis of RPG Video Games Bad Translation

Presented by
Mara Fernanda Nevrez Jothar
Mariana de Jess Sierra Vzquez
Oscar Ulises Saucedo Flores
Teacher: MC Nallely Garza Rodrguez

May 8th, 2017

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INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................3
Statement of the Problem....................................................................................................3
Purpose Statement...............................................................................................................4
Questions and Hypothesis...................................................................................................4
Research objectives.............................................................................................................5
LITERATURE REVIEW........................................................................................................6
Annotated Bibliography......................................................................................................6
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK.....................................................................................10
Storytelling videogames................................................................................................10
Audiovisual Subtitling..................................................................................................11
Role-playing Videogames.............................................................................................12
METHODOLOGY............................................................................................................13
Methodology Description.................................................................................................13
Population and Sample......................................................................................................14
Instrument for Collection Data.........................................................................................14
Analysis of Data................................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................15
References.........................................................................................................................16
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INTRODUCTION

Statement of the Problem

Translations in video games are significant topics for video games players.

Therefore, translations have to be considered as a notable detail for video games

developers, moreover that is why translators should be provided with the appropriate

tools and work space for them to not translate without the context and avoid a

mistranslation.

How videogames are translated and the topics they develop has gained more

importance than before and with that, a good translation can help the player to know

what the message is about. But as well an accurate translation is a tool, a

mistranslation is a sabotage element for the message reception. For example, in past

editions of certain video games, their translations even have grammatical errors, and

those errors apart from being a reason of mockery for the video gamers, it also

affected in a horrible way the message transmission. Because, whereas the

videogame genre an error in the syntax, meaning or context of what the game and

the story is trying to tell you. It can drift you out of the games atmosphere, the game

can pass from a tense, stressing and immersive environment to an unrealistic and

even funny moment. The translation passed to something in a secondary plane or

even a third one. And that is why the problems get created. This research will help, in

first instance, all video games players, this will allow to enhance their experience due

to the appropriate acknowledgment of the topic spoken in the work. Also, it will help to
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the workers in the field, to facilitate their jobs and create awareness to investors or

producers, as well as potential workers of the same field.

Video games have represented across the last 20 years or so, a way to

communicate across countries. Therefore, this products get translated in several

languages and in some occasions they are translations of a translation and this

consequently promotes common errors in translation. We will try to develop in a

precise way the kind of translation problems that can be found in video games and

also we will try to find a solution to them. We will take in consideration some

quantitative and qualitative research elements to add veracity to this investigation.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this research is to know the problems found with translations in

classic video games of RPG (Role Playing Game) genre, merely in the decade of the

90s (1990) and the beginning of the 00s (2000.)

Questions and Hypothesis

How the translators knowledge of the video games history can influence the

translation?

What are the factors in a translation of a video game that can make it

inappropriate? And how can they be corrected?

How a translation from a translation of a video game can affect the original

message and it reception?

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What are the most common problems in a video game translation? How can be

connected a translation to the history?

Our hypothesis is: bad videogames translations in most of the cases (a percentage

above 60) are due to the work conditions of the translator or the tools they are given

to work with. For example, they only have a script, but no visual material to improve

the context they acquire with the script.

Research objectives

We are trying to represent here principal problems in the translations and how

the fact of been translated can cause these problems. We will explain too why

certain factors can be elemental, just as the knowledge of the story and the

principal message are.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Annotated Bibliography

Merino, M. (2006). http://www.jostrans.org (J. D. Cintas, Ed.) Retrieved March

25, 2017, from On The Translation of Videogames:
http://www.jostrans.org/issue06/art_bernal.php.
This article explains and deepens into what the video games translation is and its

importance in the industry. It statistically demonstrate the videogamers population,

their gender and age range. It make a breakthrough with the main stereotype existing

about video games, which it states that video games are only for male teens who

have free time to pull through this type of leisure. We think that this article will be very

helpful for this research because of the info that presents. Statistics, information,

definitions and video games history with a social perspective, where it mainly centers

in how the populations varies across the years and how the industry evolves in order

to attract more population.

O'Hagan, M. (2007). Video games as a new domain for translation research:

From translating text to translating experience:. Retrieved March 25, 2017,

from Revistes Catalanes amb Accs Obert

http://www.raco.cat/index.php/Tradumatica/article/view/75768/96198

The article defines, explains and details video games, their translations,

relevance and how studying the translations related with videogames can be the

bottom reference to much more studies. This article is merely descriptive and with

a qualitative methodology. It does not focus in statistics or so, it just makes

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opinions and mentions several theories that could be developed from translation

studies.

Bernal-Merino, M. . (2007, March). Challenges in the translation of Video

Games. Retrieved March 25, 2017, from dipsit digital de documentos de la

UAB: https://ddd.uab.cat/pub/tradumatica/15787559n5/15787559n5a2.pdf

The article talks about the incredible quantity of production and importance that

exist in the videogames art, and in the same way the quantity of pressure that exist

on translators, because (as the text said) they are carrying with them the knowledge

that they need to express different and very multicultural versions. The article says

how the translations can express from the top of the videogames examples (just as

Grant Thief Auto) to the video games just like The Hobbit, and ideas like that. The

article is talking about a lot of restrictions that the game localization (check the first

article in the list for the unknown definition) and how the translators needs to fight

against this with their idea and the experiences about their own jobs. Things like

culture, ideas, taboos according to the places, time, etc. A translator needs to be

constantly ready to fight against the limitations without hurts anyone susceptibility.

O'Hagan, C. M. (2006, November). Game Localisation: Unleashing Imagination

with 'Restricted' Translation .Retrieved March 25, 2017, from The Journal of

Specialised Translation:

http://www.jostrans.org/issue06/art_ohagan_utf_test.php
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As we have seen, the difficulties that can make a translator go crazy comes to us

again. This article talks about how the incredibly big industry of the videogames is

getting bigger and bigger since 1970. And how, with this increment and this particular

quality of getting more and more complicated , translator have to get a big

commitment to do a get well job and represent in a good way any cultural aspect in

the videogame (without taking in count the nationalities or the origin)

Besides that, interpreting in the best way any cultural aspects of the new country or

culture that we are talking about. Making the idea completely appropriate for any

challenge, and, even ready to get a fight with any kind of research that can be long

and boring, but useful for the quality of the job. Getting, just before a large way to the

end, to an excellent and understandable job.

O'Hagan, M. (2005). Multidimensional Translation. En H. G.-A. Nauer (Ed.), EU

High Level Scientific Conference Series (pgs. 80-91). Dublin: MuTra. Retrieved

March 25, 2017, from

http://translationconcepts.org/pdf/MuTra_2005_Proceedings.pdf#page=80

This author shows the concept that this globalization era has brought GILT which

stands to Globalization, Internationalization, Localization and Translation. This

concept due to the lack of academic knowledge in this field. The author use analysis

of different topics as Modern Developments, the histology of the video games, or the

production and reproduction of the results (the translation), and comparison of

different situation and aspects. It objectives is to inform about all the envelopment of
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the translation, and the video games and how the GILT works in the multimedia

society.

At the end, explains how the video game localization works as a GILT practice

type. Shows the multidimensionality of translation which arises from that medium as

digital entertainment, which incorporates software features, games and non-

interactive films as well. All that in one single platform. This give us accurate

information of a certain topic that we can use for our research to know how the

development of the translation in video games are, and how this affect in the results.
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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Storytelling videogames

According to Scolari (2009) TS (Storytelling) is a particular narrative structure that

expands through both different languages (verbal, iconic, etc.), and media (cinema,

comics, television, video games, etc.). TS is not just an adaptation from one media to

another, (p. 587). So, the author explains the storytelling as an expression of different

concepts collected in one topic, in this case the narration of the story that is in the

videogame. It is important to show the relation among the culture, the narration, and

the media where it is presented, in this case in a videogame to a younger public.

When we look at things from that perspective, it becomes easy to say that

traditional storytelling reached its peak a long ago and can advance no further as an

art form, (p. 248). They want to give us a different point of view of the Storytelling,

where the storytelling as we know it- it is more than just a narration, can be an art

expression and it can be related to the Scolari explanation, also Lebowitz and Klug

give us an explanation of how the evolution of the Storytelling constantly give us new

experiences of an important part of videogames (Lebowitz & Klug, 2011).

Then, Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Smith & Tosca try to explain the Storytelling and all the

development that it is involved in this topic with three questions who, why/how, and

what: The categories are the fictional world which includes the storys settings and

actors; the mechanics of the narrative, or how the action of the story is organized

(p. 205). With this explanation we can have a different point of view of how the

storytelling works, and how we can interpret the different points that the story,
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videogame or narration has and give us. At least, this can help us to can see in a

different way all the Storytelling work (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Smith & Tosca, 2016).

Audiovisual Subtitling.

Daz explains the subtitling as a written mode by adding text to the screen that can

be cheaper and quicker than the dubbing, this happens because the subtitling just

puts the words in a certain moment, and the dubbing has more points to have in

mind, also they said It has more recently become the favored translation mode in the

media world and comes hand in hand with globalization (p.4). So, this can be

catalogued as a dubbing in written mode, but these authors also want to show us

that the subtitling can be a shorter way to say what the actors are saying in the target

language (Daz Cintas & Anderma, 2008).

Danan (2004) states that Subtitling can also increase language comprehension

and leads to additional cognitive benefits, such as greater depth of processing.

However, learners often need to be trained to develop active viewing strategies for an

efficient use of captioned and subtitled material (p.230) With this we can express that

subtitling is not just only for a better comprehension, it can also help to the public to

develop different activities like being able to read and also watch at the same time

without missing anything, sometimes it might help teaching how a word or a phrase

can be explained in shorter sentences.

Finally, the last author shows us a little bit of the experience of how Subtitling

works Firstly, as is also often the case with translations for dubbing, the translator

has no real control over the finished product. The constraints of subtitling mean that

much of the translation is re-written and summarized during the adaptation stage
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This explains how the person in charge of the subtitling has to follow some strict rules

that sometimes can influence on the final product or final subtitling and this can be

something different of the expectative that the translator had had, and sometimes this

happens because of the censorship that the media has in this century (Orero, 2004).

Role-playing Videogames

Videogames nowadays have built their own categories according to some specific

features they fulfill. According to Verhulsdonck (2013) the Role Playing Game, a form

of a game where players assumed imaginary roles and characters, with this makes

reference to the old-fashioned pen-and-paper typo of game which has existed

before videogames were even conceived. Just as Verhulsdonck (2013) says, players

assume roles as imaginary characters inside a fantasy world. When we pass it to

videogames, it happens the exact same thing. The player takes the role of a fresh-

created character, a character which the player can personalize at please for it to be

adapted to their game style needs.

What if we think that what Verhulsdonck said is still ambiguous for non-player

people to understand? According to Ratliff (2015) a Role Playing Videogame (RPG) is

A type of videogame characterized by a strong narrative and playing the role of an

individual. We can see with this new definition that you not only have to assume the

role of a character, but as well. The videogames has to be filled with a strong

narrative that tells how the story is developing and how your character evolves

throughout the adventure.

Even it is a simple category inside a vast quantity of genres and type of games, the

Role Playing Games, according to Hitchen and Drachen (2009) can be divided in
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subcategories: Pen-and-Paper/Table-Top, Systemless, Live-Action Role-Playing,

Single Player Digital, Massively Multi-Player Online, Pervasive and Freeform..

In this paper, the definition which will be taken in consideration for the research will be

the Single Player Digital, which they refer to as a type of game that is derived

directly from the table-top form () some examples use digitized versions of pen-

and-paper rules. These games rely on quantitative representations of the character,

with character development following the quantitative improvement in skills and

abilities typical of pen-and-paper games. The most obvious differences between the

two forms are there being only a single player, with the software taking on the

functions of the game master and the presence of the visual, digital, representation of

the game world. With this slightly more complete definition of what a Role Playing

Videogame is, we can conclude that is a digital representation of the classic board

trying to imitate the experience of the same original game. The player has to rely on

the software programming and the randomness of the same software to be guided

across their adventure as an epic new character in some uncharted land from an

unknown world.

METHODOLOGY

Methodology Description

We will use the mix method in our research using both quantitative and qualitative

approaches to study all the collected data. As state by Creswell in 2005, the

qualitative addresses the process while the quantitative, the outcomes (p.15). Our

objective with the qualitative approach will be analyzing the different translation errors
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and the quantitative approach will be focused in counting the times an error is being

made in a translation and the type of errors repeated during the translation.

Population and Sample.

In this document we will use different kinds of examples for backing our

information. As our population, we will use Role-playing games and about them we

will use some specific references just as Chrono trigger, Final Fantasy VII and

Final Fantasy IX. Those ones will be our specific samples.

Instrument for Collection Data

More than anything we will be using observation as the instrument for our data

collection. We will use this in the observation of the different videogames translations

and the comparative points between a kind of translation between various kinds of

samples, just as we just said in the las point; Population and Sample. (Describe why

it is observation and describe about the comparative chart for identifying errors)

Analysis of Data

We will try to understand what kind of translations methodology works best in the

different samples. We will check the differences and the similitudes between each

kind of videogame, and how the procedure in the translation works better or worst in

the entire context. For this comparative point, we will use the famous videogame

Final Fantasy which has been already translate to Spanish.

January February March April May June

Selecting
topics
Introduction
s
Literature
review
Methodology
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Conclusion

CONCLUSION
After the complete analysis of different and (in certain cases) complicated texts,

we could end with a concrete idea about what were we looking for, and how we

could find some answers to our questions. We started trying to understand some

ideas about the videogames translation. And against all the ideas that could

represent a conflict to our knowledge we could (through the semester) understand

some ideas of specifications in this area that will help us on future investigations.

Under the pression we understand the complications that could had come with our

topic, and, even in that situations, the semester and the information that we could

receive in it, helped us to move along the problems and made a solution to our

problem. At the end of everything the activities left us a complete conjunction of

ideas that will help us along our career to make investigations and understand any

area in the best way. Completing this point we can take with us all the important

ideas that we could catch in the semester and with them all the knowledge that will

be incredibly useful for our day-at-day school trip.

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References

Cintas, J. D., & Anderman, G. (2008). Audiovisual Translation: Language Transfer on Screen.
London: Imperial College.

Creswell, J. W. (2002). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and evaluating Quantitative

and Qualitative Research. New Jersey: Pearson Education.

Danan, M. (2004, Abril 1). Captioning and Subtitling: Undervalued Language Learning Strategies.
Retrieved from Meta: http://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/meta/2004-v49-n1-
meta733/009021ar/

Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S., Smith, J. H., & Tosca, S. P. (2016). Understanding Video Games: The Essential
Introduction. New York: Routledge.

Explorable.com. (2009, Nov 03). Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Retrieved from Explorable.

Kilborn, R. (1993). Speak my language: current attitudes to television subtitling and dubbing.
Media, culture and society.

Lebowitz, J., & Klug, C. (2011). Interactive Storytelling for Video Games: A Player-Centered
Approach to Creating Memorable Characters and Stories. Amsterdam: Focal Pr.

Orero, P. (2004). Topics in Audiovisual Translation. John Benjamins Publishing.

Rahman, M. S. (2016, Nov 11). The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Qualitative and
Quantitative Approaches and Methods in Language Testing and Assessment Research: A
Literature Review. Retrieved from ResearchGate:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309889936_The_Advantages_and_Disadvantag
es_of_Using_Qualitative_and_Quantitative_Approaches_and_Methods_in_Language_Testi
ng_and_Assessment_Research_A_Literature_Review

Scolari, C. A. (2009). Transmedia Storytelling: Implicit Consumers, Narrative Worlds, and Branding
in Contemporary Media Production. Retrieved from http://dspace.uvic.cat