The Translation of Realia and Irrealia in Game Localization: Culture-Specificity between Realism and Fictionality

Description

This book explores the impact of a video game’s degree of realism or fictionality on its linguistic dimensions, investigating the challenges and strategies for translating realia and irrealia, the interface of the real world and the game world where culture-specificity manifests itself. The volume outlines the key elements in the translation of video games, such as textual non-linearity, multitextuality, and playability, and introduces the theoretical framework used to determine a game’s respective degree of realism or fictionality. Pettini applies an interdisciplinary approach drawing on video game research and Descriptive Translation Studies to the linguistic and translational analysis of in-game dialogs in English-Italian and English-Spanish language pairs from a corpus of three war video games. This approach allows for an in-depth look at the localization challenges posed by the varying degree of realism and fictionality across video games and the different strategies translators employ in response to these challenges. A final chapter offers a comparative analysis of the three games and subsequently avenues for further research on the role of culture-specificity in game localization. This book is key reading for students and scholars interested in game localization, audiovisual translation studies, and video game research. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Abbreviations Acknowledgments Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Translation and Globalization: The Case of Video Games 1.2 Aims, Scope, and Structure of the Book 1.3 Summary Notes Chapter 2 Game Localization and Translation 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Definition and Terminological Issues 2.3 The Theory of Game Localization and Translation 2.4 The Practice of Game Localization and Translation 2.5 The History of Game Localization and Translation 2.6 Game Translation 2.7 Game Culturalization 2.8 Summary Notes Chapter 3 Culture-Specificity in Video Games: The Interface between Realism and Fictionality 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Realism and Fictionality in Game Translation 3.3 Methodological Issues in Game Translation 3.4 The Realism-Fictionality Corpus 3.5 Game Worlds between Realism and Fictionality 3.6 Realia and Irrealia 3.7 Translating the Name of the Game Wor(l)d 3.8 Summary Notes Chapter 4 Realia and Irrealia in Game Translation 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Individual References 4.3 Collective References 4.4 Intratextual Metaludic References 4.5 Intertextual References 4.6 Geographical References 4.7 Ethnic References 4.8 Sociopolitical References 4.9 Artifactual References 4.10 Summary Note Chapter 5 Military Language between Realism and Fictionality 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Military Language 5.3 Military Titles 5.4 Clock Code 5.5 Military Phonetic Alphabet 5.6 Radio Communication Procedures 5.7 Abbreviations 5.8 Summary Notes Chapter 6 Conclusions and Further Research 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Individual References 6.3 Collective References 6.4 Intertextual and Intratextual Metaludic References 6.5 Geographical References 6.6 Ethnic References 6.7 Sociopolitical References 6.8 Artifactual References 6.9 Military Language 6.10 Translating Realia and Irrealia in Video Games: A Summary References Gameography Index