Blue Skies Over Mars

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Translation is Balls

I work as a translator for a video game localization company. We specialize in bringing niche Japanese rpgs/visual novels over to the States. These games focus heavily on story, which requires careful handling in order to give an experience that is naturally enjoyable to a U.S. audience, but is still faithful to the original material.

Keeping the general context of a scene or story in mind is all too important during localization. It's not enough to simply just "translate" sentences, and a good translator will carry over the correct context and filter out potential misinterpretations that may be made of a scene, with careful use of language.Translators also offer notes to editors in order to overcome the hurdle of language barriers. One of my crowning triumphs in this struggle is this comment I wrote, something to the effect of: " 'a dragon's balls' here, refers to the magic seven balls that grant a wish, not an actual set of dragon testicles." The word "balls" carries the same connotations in Japanese as it does in English, and the way the word is handled must be carried over as well.

Just say it. "Balls."

In the back of your mind, you know it's a pretty fun word to say.

Posted July 11, 2012 by bluevibes