Localization | A Game from Start to Finish

A Game from Start to Finish

07:Localization

Let the whole world play

So, up until now we’ve talked about how the game we’re making comes together, but at this rate the only people who will be able to play it are people who know Japanese.
Everything from the name and the story to the user interface is written out in Japanese.
”Localization” involves consulting and talking with people from many different countries so we can change the words and expressions made for Japan (that is, for “local” Japanese players) into content that matches the local areas of people from all over the world.
Localization is almost always translating words between languages, but there is also a connection to the graphics, UI design, and details of the game. For example, the cross (“X”) and circle (“O”) can mean totally different things in different cultures.
So, what we do is carefully check all the different expressions used in the game.

What’s needed for localization

Essentially, a translation can never have the same meaning as the original writing, no matter how hard you try. This is because languages from different countries are also languages from different cultures.
So, what a translator can do is try to get as close as possible to the original meaning.

That’s why it’s not enough to just translate each written word one by one.
Words don’t make meaning alone but are part of an overall meaning – they’re connected to words around them and contain all the information that’s already come up as well as the things that the readers know.

You don’t just look at the surface meaning of a word or sentence. You also need to be skilled enough at reading to look over the whole of a book, a game, or a comic and grab onto the real, necessary meaning.

How to build up localization skills

Work hard at foreign languages

Of all the languages in the world, the one known by most people as a kind of standard language is, of course, English. Even when we localize from Japanese to some other language, we’ll usually do our exchange in English. So, English is a good second language if it’s not your first. Learning any foreign language also gives you an outsider’s perspective of your own native language. Studying other languages is important because it can improve your reading abilities in your own language, too!