![\"Translation](\"https:\/\/glossingdress.com\/lib\/img\/all\/261\/0dcafb013ca4cf8f219195cc7d1bf1e59b26f1f6baebef6f86c1c8b8a1934ba4\/cd417efb7d4a9e459cff0825d6e2cc7db993a954db2bb29a2c859747b2745d70.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAll your base are belong to us.\u201d Funny as it is, it\u2019s a pretty janky translation. Thankfully for Zero Wing, the bad translation didn\u2019t affect it too much \u2013 it was one of the top-rated games in 1989 and even had a rerelease on Steam in 2022. But other brands haven\u2019t been so lucky.<\/p>\n
When Toyota released the MR2 in France and Belgium, they had to quickly rebrand the car. If you pronounce the letters, it sounds like merde (m-er-deux) \u2013 or s**t in French. Not a good look.<\/p>\n
![\"Zero](\"https:\/\/glossingdress.com\/lib\/img\/all\/261\/0dcafb013ca4cf8f219195cc7d1bf1e59b26f1f6baebef6f86c1c8b8a1934ba4\/748a2e51d34c294a6df1ddb58f6e0df925c74481dd8a7d22733fef6dbfebf973.png\")
<\/p>\n
This famous translation fail is from Zero Wing, released on Sega Genesis in 1989. <\/em><\/p>\n But those are translation errors. Sometimes, it\u2019s a cultural mistake. Even simple hand gestures can cause controversy. Did you know that the okay gesture is used like the middle finger in Brazil? We\u2019re sure that\u2019s tripped up some tourists.<\/p>\n So if you\u2019re looking to translate your mobile game into another language, we\u2019ve got a few best practices to follow. Practices that\u2019ll help make sure your game doesn\u2019t end up going viral for the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n Strictly speaking, we\u2019ll be talking about localization. Not translation. There are actually three types of translation to consider:<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the only slip up Aero Fighters 2 faced. We also had \u201cI never thought I\u2019d be frying over a jungle\u201d, and \u201cI am a Punk Rocker, and I fight for justice\u201d for someone who just did not look like a punk rocker\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n In gaming, we don\u2019t really want to translate. That way be dragons. Instead, we want to localize our games, so that any cultural references or phrases make sense to our players.<\/p>\n Now we\u2019ve got that cleared up, what are the best practices for localizing your mobile game?<\/p>\n Localization isn\u2019t just about the words. Colors, symbols, references \u2013 these all play their part. So you\u2019ll want to choose exactly which languages you\u2019re considering translating into as early as possible. And then you\u2019ll want to find locals \u2013 or professional translators \u2013 of that culture.<\/p>\n While there are tools like Trados, Smartcat and Phrase \u2013 automation will only get you so far. And it will only deal with the words.<\/p>\n Tell your translator which languages you\u2019re hoping to release in and ask them to send you a list of points to consider. For example, they might tell you that black is considered unlucky in Japan. So if you\u2019ve got a luck-based mechanic, you\u2019re going to want to change up your palette.<\/p>\n This report should contain cultural dos and don\u2019ts, as well as language and topics that are considered taboo or could have strange connotations. In China, for example, they don\u2019t allow red blood in their games. Instead, developers have to make it green. And it looks like China might be asking developers to remove any form of blood at all.<\/p>\n Once you have that report, you can use that information to make more informed decisions as you design your game.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve spoken about lore bibles before \u2013 and they\u2019re vital for making sure that you keep your narrative consistent throughout your game. But they\u2019re even more important for your translators. Particularly if you\u2019re translating into multiple languages \u2013 you\u2019ll want to have all your translators working from the same hymn sheet.<\/p>\n In your lore bible, list out why you\u2019ve made certain decisions. For example, why did you name your characters that way? Is it a made-up word that needs recreating in their language? What about your mechanics?<\/p>\n This is particularly important when it comes to dialogue. You\u2019ll want to note down the intent and subtext behind the lines, so your translator can decide whether to change it to suit the culture.<\/p>\n Context really matters when translating a piece of writing. But if it\u2019s too early to let them play it for themselves, make a short video walking through everything.<\/p>\n Never hard-code your writing. Use variables instead. That way, you can code a simple script to print or export all those variables into a spreadsheet. This will make the translator\u2019s job much easier.<\/p>\n Bandai Namco have a handsome portfolio of games under their belt. And usually without any flaws. But their \u2018The Tales of\u2026\u201d games skipped a backflip in its development. <\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s not just dialogue that needs translating. Think about your dates, currencies, item descriptions and hint text. Not only that, but what about the language around your game? Your App Store description, your logo, and your marketing materials. All of that is going to need translating, too.<\/p>\n When programming your game, you also want to consider how different languages will actually look. Aside from making sure you can deal with different characters, you\u2019ll also need to think about the layout. Some languages will take up far more space than others \u2013 take Cryllic script languages, like Russian, which on average use about 20% more keystrokes than English.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t want to cut any words short \u2013 you don\u2019t know what they might end up meaning. So imagine what would happen if the text became much longer.<\/p>\n Before you go live, make sure you test it out with a few local people first. These will help you spot the differences that might\u2019ve emerged during the translation process. For example, you might want to track whether people drop out of your tutorial more in French compared to English. Or maybe you want to see how many people use a mechanic after you\u2019ve shown them a tooltip.<\/p>\n Whatever you want to track and keep an eye on, our free analytics tool can help you get the data you need. Try it out for yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cAll your base are belong to us.\u201d Funny as it is, it\u2019s a pretty janky translation. Thankfully for Zero Wing, the bad translation didn\u2019t affect it too much \u2013 it was one of the top-rated games in 1989 and even had a rerelease on Steam in 2022. But other brands haven\u2019t been so lucky. When<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalgoodplay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalgoodplay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalgoodplay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalgoodplay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalgoodplay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=749"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globalgoodplay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1023,"href":"https:\/\/globalgoodplay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749\/revisions\/1023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalgoodplay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalgoodplay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalgoodplay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalgoodplay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Translation and localization are different<\/h2>\n
\n
![\"Aero](\"https:\/\/glossingdress.com\/lib\/img\/all\/261\/0dcafb013ca4cf8f219195cc7d1bf1e59b26f1f6baebef6f86c1c8b8a1934ba4\/f3b1454d879ead32d66fa96483415eef55de0294176543f1f27be0586ec53d18.png\")
<\/p>\nGet advice on the languages early<\/h2>\n
Ask for a cultural report<\/h3>\n
![\"China](\"https:\/\/glossingdress.com\/lib\/img\/all\/261\/0dcafb013ca4cf8f219195cc7d1bf1e59b26f1f6baebef6f86c1c8b8a1934ba4\/832eb301fe1cdbeaa86f78bb11bfb34ffa5ea0309fa29d0f3c914e6eb84443b6.png\")
<\/p>\nPut together a lore bible<\/h2>\n
Let the translators play the game<\/h3>\n
Make sure you can easily edit strings<\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/glossingdress.com\/lib\/img\/all\/261\/0dcafb013ca4cf8f219195cc7d1bf1e59b26f1f6baebef6f86c1c8b8a1934ba4\/72d5fa2a9692a33964304c85aa61b7e0e3afb422258eb0c08fe247be26ede1bb.png\")
<\/p>\nGive your words room to grow<\/h3>\n
Test out your translations<\/h2>\n