Invisibility of Game Localizers and the Status of Localization in Slovakia Cover Image

Invisibility of Game Localizers and the Status of Localization in Slovakia
Invisibility of Game Localizers and the Status of Localization in Slovakia

Author(s): Mária Koscelníková
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Education, Media studies, Communication studies, Sociology, Theory of Communication
Published by: Univerzita sv. Cyrila a Metoda v Trnave, Fakulta masmediálnej komunikácie
Keywords: digital game credits; game localization; localization training; translator crediting;

Summary/Abstract: The standard industry practice in publishing or audiovisual translation should be mentioning the translators for their work in the credits. When it comes to technical texts, for example manuals or localized texts such as websites, translators or localizers are hardly ever mentioned, especially when translation agencies provide the entire process of translation or localization. Digital games usually do contain credits listing all people working on a digital game, but such lists tend to leave out translators or localizers. The paper aims to investigate the issue of crediting digital game translators or localizers in Slovak digital games and show different crediting practices. We inspect credits in digital games made by Slovak developers and show different crediting practices in the industry. We examine the use of credits in Slovak digital games and rationalize the situation by looking at the localization of digital games, localization training at Slovak universities, and language support for Slovak digital games. The paper contains reviews of 69 selected computer and mobile device games published by 34 studios or developers.

  • Issue Year: 6/2023
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 80-91
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: English