The solution is to find a creative solution which works along with these constraints. Translating a string of text which is going to be displayed in the game in a tiny box, requires respecting of specific length limits, and therefore it does not allow much freedom. Localization makes translators work within strict boundaries. I can move sentences, phrases, words and whole paragraphs if I feel the translation would benefit from it. My experience in translation is mainly bound to the literary field, where I can manipulate the format of the text, if I feel the need for it.
#The republia times game code
I remember being really worried about having to translate into an Excel data sheet, with little or none formatting and with code bits dispersed in the source text (which were essential to be left untouched otherwise the game dynamics would have been compromised). No wonder I didn’t qualify.Īfter trying to understand how I managed to create such a “unique” but unsatisfactory translation, I realised that I underestimated the work ahead.įirstly, I was startled by the format of the translation. It is difficult for me to pinpoint exactly what I did differently, but they seem to come from different planets. More interestingly, I found that the winning translations are extremely distant from my own.
If you want to have a look to the work of the winners also for other languages you can find their translated works here, under contest results tab.Īfter playing the game using the translation of both “pro” and “amateur” winners I noticed that each work is extremely different from one another. My observations, from now on, are referring to the Italian translations only, since Italian is my native language and it was the category I entered. Besides feeling a little bitter and disappointed (like any other loser participant), I took some time to explore the translation of the game done by other translators.
Today the results of the contest have been published, and as you might have guessed by the title of this post I didn’t win. Now, I have always loved videogames, and I am a PhD Student in translation studies … I thought it was a very good chance to test this new field and have some feedback. It was a “Localization” contest, meaning that we were required to translate a videogame, this game in specific “The Republia Times” by Lucas Pope (if you want to play it you can find it here). Back in April, I decided to partecipate in a very interesting translation contest.
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