As it is typically believed, localization is not just limited to translating the content into different languages. It is a more nuanced process that deals with all aspects of your brand and in the case of games and software, it’s about transforming the overall user experience.
For gaming and software companies, it is a critical procedure to go about localization for multiple foreign regions. Localization of software and games is a complicated job; however, it has become crucial for companies to localize their digital products to reach out to a wider audience. There are many challenges that a company has to cope with to localize its software or game effectively.
If you are a professional game and software translation agency, you must be familiar with all the localization problems that you might face while targeting a foreign market.
Analyzing Key Technical and Linguistic Localization Challenges
Technical Challenges
Varied Text Lengths
When you translate text between languages, it can lead to variations in text length that can cause many design problems. For instance, when you translate the word “settings”, it requires only 6 characters in English, but its translation in German “Einstellungen” takes around 12 characters that can affect the UI design and layouts of your software and games.
Format Changes
In different countries, they use various formats for displaying dates, times, and numbers. The date format in the US is MM/DD/YYYY, on the flip side, it’s DD/MM/YYYY in most countries. It is important to ensure consistency in these formats for multiple languages.
Language Scripting Method
Different languages use different scripting methods that must be kept in mind when you do translations. Languages such as Arabic and Urdu use a right-to-left writing style. So, if you are translating to these languages from English, you must handle it carefully and confirm proper display within the user interface.
UI Elements
All user-facing components in your software or game, like buttons, menu bars, and chat boxes, must be adapted to accommodate variations in text lengths and other format changes without compromising the overall utility or layout of the content. For this, it is important to keep the design framework of your game and software flexible to easily get adjusted with varied languages and formatting.
Compatibility of Fonts
Fonts used in software and games may not support all characters required for localization. Some Asian languages require fonts with extensive character sets to be displayed accurately. So, it may make it more difficult to select the right font that is compatible with your game and software.
Placeholder Variables
Some software and games also use placeholders within text strings that allow them to insert the translated content dynamically. This way, it will also confirm that all placeholders are localized accurately for every language. Moreover, it’s crucial to ensure your game and software function properly in spite of all technical and design changes.
Version Control
You need proper version control strategies for your localized content. It will help maintain synchronization with the code of games and software, as well as support localization changes happening across different target markets.
Linguistic Challenges
Culture References
Translations of games and software are not as simple as converting words from one language to another. The real challenge is to translate local culture expressions, idioms, symbolism, and humor wisely that go well with the target culture and are understandable for your foreign audience. A professional gaming translation company may help you navigate cultural challenges in content translation.
Gender Treatment
Different languages treat genders differently. It sometimes makes it challenging for agencies to stay inclusive while targeting diverse cultures and societies. For instance, the French and Spanish languages have grammatical genders, and if you are translating from these languages to other gender-neutral languages, you have to be very careful about the right use of genders.
Voiceover Recordings
Voice-overing games voices or software videos is a time-consuming and hectic job. Especially when voiceover scripts involve not only translating dialogues but also matching lip-syncing and pitch of the voices. It is essential to convey the message in the original tone of the target language. Make sure to cast voiceover artists with local accents that seem more familiar to audiences.
Language Consistency
When you are translating your game and software for multiple regions, it sometimes gets difficult to uphold language uniformity. From dialogues, UI text, and subtitles, keeping a consistent tone is imperative to maintaining a consistent brand voice in different markets. You must provide brand glossaries and proper guidelines to your software and gaming translation company to avoid any inconsistency in language.
Use of Wordplay
When it comes to translating sarcasm, wit and double meaning words, it requires an understanding of linguistic nuances to translate such content and recreate new content to deliver the same expressions and meaning. It can be challenging, especially if there are no direct equals of those words and phrases in the target languages.
Final verdict!
For any company that wants to have a global business identity, they must have technical and language expertise to localize their games and software efficiently. It will help them thrive in foreign markets. The easy way to deal with localization challenges is to hire a reliable translation agency that is skilled in optimizing your game and software user experience for international markets.
