Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky. Bakalářská diplomová práce Iva Krombholzová

Transkript

1 Iva Krombholzová 2014 Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky Bakalářská diplomová práce 2014 Iva Krombholzová

2 Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Iva Krombholzová Fan and professional videogame localization Bachelor s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Mgr. Renata Kamenická, Ph. D. 2014

3 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography... Iva Krombholzová

4 Acknowledgement I would like to thank to my former supervisor Mgr. Jří Petrů for providing me with very kind and helpful feedback, to Mgr. Renata Kamenická, Ph.D. for taking over and giving me feedback in the last stage of this thesis completion, and to Marek Tvrdý for providing me with an unlimited access to his fan project s game database.

5 Table of contents 1. Introduction Thesis structure Terminology Computer game, video game, electronic game Localization, translation Amateur, unofficial, fan, user-generated vs. professional, official Video game localization Text types Other challenges of video game localization Fan and professional video game localization in the Czech Republic Comparative analysis methodology Sample game selection Sample text type and size Comparative analysis Mass Effect Hellgate: London Dragon Age The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Conclusions Bibliography Summary Resumé Appendix Appendix

6 1. Introduction Video games, video game translation and amateur (or fan) translation have only recently become the centre of attention of researchers and academic studies, including linguistic and translation studies. While the first studies and academic articles dealing with these topics have been published abroad around the middle of the previous decade (for example O Hagan, 2007 or Berlino, 2006), in the Czech Republic, there wasn t much academic interest in this field until only a few years ago. Even in the recently published works, the lack of studies or sources on the local situation remains a frequent comment (see for example Schubert, 2013a; Petrů, 2011 or Kořenek, 2013). This thesis presents a small contribution to the topic of fan and professional video game translation in the Czech Republic in the form of a comparative analysis of sample texts from four video games, two of them being localized professionally, the other two being localized through a fan effort. In all four cases, the source language is English. The aim is to identify possible differences between the sample texts in terms of translation procedures and tendencies and relate the results to the usual expectations one might have of a fan or professional translation, as backed by hypotheses or findings from a few other selected sources. The most important one is Petrů s pioneering thesis (2011), possibly the first study of this scope to be written in the Czech Republic. It provides an informative and interesting insight 6

7 into the history of video game translation in our country, while focusing largely on the fan scene, and also served as a direct inspirational source for this thesis. Besides Petrů s work, there are a few other theses that served, in a varying degree, as a source of information, methodology, insight or context for various aspects of the topic covered by this thesis, all written recently, thus also showing an increasing academic interest in all the related areas in the Czech environment. These include Schubert s work on the localization processes in the Czech Republic (2013a), Kořenek s bachelor thesis on a similar topic but with a different perspective (2013), Švelch s analysis of Czech amateur translation of television series in the social context (2011), Ešnerová s study of professional and amateur translation of Harry Potter (2012) and Wicha s thesis that covers several areas connected with the central topic of video game translation in the Czech Republic and includes a comparative analysis of the translation of two video games (2013). Wicha s work currently seems to be the only one that contains a systematic analysis of specific examples of Czech video game localizations, which is one of the reasons why, in absence of a wider selection of suitable Czech sources, the aforementioned two studies dealing with a similar topic but different media television series and book were also consulted. Lastly, it should be mentioned that the author of this thesis has worked in the localization business for 9 years both as a linguistic tester and later as an English-Czech video game translator. 7

8 1.1 Thesis structure Chapter 2 will deal with the basic terminology and explain the terminological decisions in the thesis. Chapter 3 will provide a brief introduction to the localization processes, explaining the way video games are translated and suggesting how this knowledge can be tied to the comparative analysis and its conclusions. Chapter 4 focuses on the topic of professional and fan video game translation in the Czech Republic. Petrů (2011) points out many times that the Czech environment is very specific in this regard. If we are to draw any (if only hypothetical) conclusions later on, the specifics of the Czech fan and professional translation scene should be mentioned. Chapter 5 introduces the sample material, explains the reasoning behind the selection of particular text samples and describes the methodology used for the analysis. Chapter 6 contains the actual comparative analysis. Chapter 7 will summarize the findings, put them in previously established context and formulate conclusions. 8

9 2. Terminology When it comes to the terminology related to the subject of video game translation, researchers and scholars have had to deal with frequent inconsistencies and a certain degree of confusion. There have been many articles written on the subject, for example Bernal Merino (2006) or O Hagan (2009) discussed the issue in detail and attempted to suggest solutions, however, the confusion hasn t quite been resolved, as can be demonstrated by the fact that most of the recently written theses consulted for the purpose of this work (Schubert, 2013a; Kořenek, 2013; Ešnerová, 2012) contain necessary subsections dedicated to explaining the authors terminological choices. With the same aim, a similar subsection will now follow. 2.1 Computer game, video game, electronic game Bernal Merino (2006) makes a distinction between an electronic game, computer game, console game, video game (or videogame) and a few other terms, pointing out that some of these categories overlap. Petrů (2011, p. 22) comments that perhaps the most important criteria for creating a useful terminological distinction here is the type of hardware used for playing the particular game. In this regard, the sample texts used for the comparative analysis presented in this thesis all come from computer games, described for example as a game played on a personal computer (either PC or MAC) (Petrů2011, p. 24). Nevertheless, since it s not important in the context of this thesis to specifically emphasize 9

10 what hardware (usually referred to as platform 1 ) the selected games are played on, it might be preferable to look for a hypernym. When faced with this question, Petrů (2011), Schubert (2013a), Kořenek (2013) and Wicha (2013) conclude that the most suitable and cumulative term seems to be video game, defined by Wikipedia (2014) simply as an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. This thesis will therefore use the term video game. 2.2 Localization, translation Whether to refer to the way the video game textual content is transferred from one language to another as translation or localization (or as something yet completely different) is another frequent point of focus in many articles and studies dealing with the topic. Bernal Merino (2006, p. 29) says that the translation of software products is generally referred to as localisation and then proceeds to define localization as the process of making a product linguistically and culturally, but also technically and legally, appropriate to the target country and language. This definition is important in that it shows that translation of text is just one part (or one phase) of the localization process, which consists of many other non-linguistic activities and tasks that are often carried out almost or entirely simultaneously (these would include anything from technical adjustments to the software made in order to implement new text to marketing decisions or cultural adaptation). With this in mind and in order to find a term that would be suitable for use in translation studies, 1 A computing platform is defined by Wikipedia (2014) as in the most general sense, whatever pre-existing environment a piece of software is designed to run within, obeying its constraints, and making use of its facilities and, in the most common and simplified view within the context at hand, it indicates the kind of hardware a game can be played on. In addition to the PC platform (to which all four sample games were designed for), there are also console platforms (such as Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3), mobile platforms, tablet platforms, and others, all of which present unique challenges both in terms of game development or game localization. 10

11 and which would therefore exclude the non-linguistic tasks of the localization process, Merino proposes the term linguistic or cultural localization, while still being open to the use of translation. It should also be noted that he adopts the British English spelling of localisation, while this thesis will be using the z variant. Petrů (2011) prefers the term translation, arguing that localization is mostly just used by the industry professionals. In reference to Merino s suggested term linguistic localization, Schubert (2013a) states it s simply unnecessary to call translation anything other than translation, but notices that localization is slowly finding a way out of the professional circles and becoming a commonly used term even on gaming websites. It should not be forgotten that besides the actual translation, the localization process can and should include other language related tasks, namely proofreading and localization testing. It s frequently pointed out that good localization testing is essential to the final localization quality (Schubert, 2013a; Petrů, 2011; Kořenek, 2013). Schubert greatly emphasizes the role of localization testing, stating that testing is an integral part of the whole localization process and contributes to the final quality of the translated text almost equally as much as the translation itself (2013b). It is for this reason that this thesis prefers to use the term localization to just translation in order to account for the fact that the final text of a localized video game is a result of a collective effort, probably much more so than in the case of other media. The term translation will be used when referring specifically to the translation phase. 2.3 Amateur, unofficial, fan, user-generated vs. professional, official 11

12 The third category that requires some terminological clarification is the one denoting the origin of the localization, more specifically whether the particular game was localized professionally (through a local distributor, by a hired translation agency or internally by the game s developer), or it received an unofficial localization by fans. In reference to the global phenomenon of amateur translation regardless of the genre or media, the selected English sources mostly operate with the term fan translation (O Hagan, 2009; Díaz Cintas & Muñoz Sánchez, 2006), which can be further divided into narrower categories. O Hagan (2009) defines fan translation as having the following key characteristics: (1) collaboration afforded by technology allows fans to form purposeful task groups to undertake a project and achieve a production often in a manner comparable to professional production in terms of the workflow process and the timeframe; (2) despite the dubious legal status copyright holders have largely condoned the practice, partly due to the fact that fan productions can facilitate the exposure of the given product to a wider target language public, thus in effect providing considerable free pre-publicity; (3) fan translators willingly undertake a translation project without remuneration, indicating a strong motivational factor and (4) domain-knowledge possessed by fans may in some cases compensate for the lack of formal translator training. (p. 12) The English term fan translation specifically in reference to video games was also used by Petrů (2011), although he doesn t explain the choice. 12

13 Of the consulted Czech theses, only Ešnerová (2012) and Švelch (2011) pay special attention to the terms used to classify translation according to the dichotomy professional vs. amateur and explain their terminological decisions in greater detail. Both of them deem the term fan translation ( fanouškovský překlad ) too narrow or restrictive, while the term user generated translation as proposed by O Hagan (2009) is rejected by them for the opposite reason as being too broad (and it doesn t appear in any other below mentioned sources either). Ešnerová and Švelch decide to adopt the term amateur translation ( amatérský překlad ), emphasizing the neutral aspects of its meaning that serve to define amateur translation on the basis of the external conditions surrounding its production, which include zero access to official materials, zero official support, no financial compensation or lack of linguistic education on the part of the authors, and excluding the negative connotations and implications of the word amateur. For the opposite side of the terminological dichotomy, Švelch (210) uses professional translation ( profesionální překlad ), while Ešnerová (2012) prefers official translation ( oficiální překlad ). Schubert (2013a) employed the English terms amateur, fan, official and professional more or less interchangeably, but it should be stressed out that his thesis is not primarily concerned with analysing the differences between each, as opposed to the two aforementioned examples. Wicha s Czech thesis (2013), whose subject matter is closer to that of this thesis, operates with a similar spectrum of terms, without an introductory terminological note, but adding detailed explanations wherever necessary to get a specific point across. His use of the term 13

14 fanouškovský překlad inside the quotation marks might be of note and could perhaps be explained by Ešnerová s (2012, p. 15) observation that the English term fan translation is more common and better established in the English speaking environment than its Czech counterpart fanouškovský překlad appears to be within the Czech context. For the purpose of this thesis, Wicha s convention will be adopted, which means that a wider selection of terms will be used, making necessary distinctions on a case by case basis. Unless such explanatory comment is added, the terms fan and amateur, and professional and official, will be used interchangeably. 14

15 3. Video game localization In order to be able to put the results or findings of the comparative analysis in context, but also to explain the selection of source text samples, a few words are necessary to briefly describe the way video games are translated, or localized. Video game localization is vastly different from translation of any other media, be it books, audiovisual media such as films and TV series, or non-entertainment software. Petrů s (2011, p. 6) comment that ( ) comparing translations of games to translations of general software is like comparing translations of Vladimir Nabokov s novels to translations of wash-machine manuals. is indicative of how large the gaps can be. The differences between video game localization and other media translation reach many different levels. 3.1 Text types In reference to the types of text used in video games, O Hagan (2006) says that From the point of view of the text typology, video games involve new hybrid content and comprise interactive elements in text and graphics, as well as multimodal user input mechanisms, and in some cases also include non-interactive audiovisual elements in the form of pre-rendered movies. Petrů (2011, p. 9) states that video games translators are expected to deal with ( ) anything from film subtitles, novel-like dialogues, poems, encyclopaedic texts, technical descriptions of car engines, up to IT-manuals for server set-up in scope of a single project. 15

16 Schubert (2013a) provides an extensive list of text types that can be found in video games with the basic distinction being between voiceover related text (dubbing subtitles) and onscreen text (all other text displayed in the game that has no dubbing). He divides the onscreen text into several other categories, which include technical descriptions, in-game instructions, tutorial instructions, in-game descriptions, encyclopaedic texts, and loading tips, and adds a few other subcategories as comprised by Merino (2007), which don t fall into the voiceover/onscreen groups and which consist of manual, packaging text, the readme file, and the official website. Many researchers (for example Schubert, 2013a; Petrů, 2011) dealing with the topic concur that this enormous variability of text types is one of the reasons the video game localization presents such a unique translation challenge that is difficult in its own right. It s also clear that each of these text types requires a different translation approach, style and register to be used, and in turn tests different translating skills and areas of linguistic knowledge and competence. Therefore, special attention was paid to the text types that were included in this thesis comparative analysis, as will be mentioned later. 3.2 Other challenges of video game localization In this subsection a few other issues that video game localization teams frequently face will be briefly described as this knowledge again played a certain role in the sample texts selection. The challenges of video game localization have been described well and in detail by many researchers, eg. Merino (2007), Díaz Montón (2007) or Dietz (2007), and among the Czech 16

17 consulted sources by Petrů (2011) and perhaps most extensively by Schubert (2013a) or Kořenek (2013). Only a few main concepts will be mentioned here. Text fragmentation, a term used for example by Bernal Merino (2007), is a key characteristic of video game text, describing the way it s organized within the product, written (or translated) and then experienced (and read), and accounting for its dynamic, interactive nature. 2 From a practical point of view, it simply means that there is no (or very little) fixed order in which various parts of the text appear in the game, as that largely depends on the players actions, which implies the translator also sees and translates the game s text strings 3 in little logical order and with only limited logical or thematic continuity. Blind translation, called as such by for example Dietz (2007), Schubert (2013a) or Dietz (2006), or in Czech by Wicha (2013) as naslepo (including the quotation marks), is another problematic feature of video game translation, arising from the simple fact that text in a video game provides only one part of the final experience and information. Professional translators do not usually get to play the game when translating its text (Petrů, 2011, p. 50; Schubert, 2013a, p. 68) and the absence of the necessary audiovisual component severely limits the amount of context they are able to extract from the text itself. When combined with text fragmentation, which makes drawing any conclusions about the correct context even harder, it s clear that blind translation can easily lead to many problems including, as summarized by for example Schubert (2013a), inaccuracies, 2 The unique (non-)linearity and dynamic nature of video game text is thoroughly explored by Espen Aarseth in his concept of cybertext (Aarseth, 1997) 3 The whole mass of text of a video game is separated into and stored in the form of the so-called text strings. A string is a separate unit of text, be it one word, sentence, paragraph or even a multi-paragraph unit, which is identified by a unique identifier. 17

18 wrong register and style usage, erroneous contextualization, and grammatical discrepancies (p. 69). It should be noted that fan translations are, in principle, less affected by blind translation as the fans have access to the game while translating it and in many cases the fan localization starts after the team have completed at least one playthrough 4. Petrů (2011, p. 50) expressly calls it the largest difference between professional and fan translations although it s fair to assume that specific conditions of fan localization projects vary case by case. The negative consequences of text fragmentation and blind translation on the translation quality are, in an ideal world, removed, or in reality at least mitigated, by the quality assurance (or quality control) phase of the localization process, called linguistic or localization testing (Petrů, 2011; Schubert, 2013a), during which an assigned tester or a group of testers play the game and check the translated text, making necessary corrections to adjust it to the correct context. Again, the way these difficulties affected the sample texts selection will be explained later. For the purpose of this thesis, it won t be necessary to describe the general principles and procedures of the localization testing process any further, it s only important to know whether or not all the sample texts went through the testing process to make sure they are all on the same or at least similar stage of completeness, and if not, to be aware of the possible implications. 4 A playthrough is one run through the game from the beginning to the end. 18

19 One last problematic practical area of video game translation will be mentioned in this subchapter, and that is the use of variables. In the text for translation, variables appear as placeholders, and once the game is played (ie. the the programming code is executed), they are replaced by specific values (words, numbers, graphical icons). As the value that will be displayed in place of the variable cannot be grammatically modified, it s important for the translator, if a variable appears as part of a phrase, to adjust the grammatical and syntactic structure of the whole phrase so that the result is grammatically correct. Although some of the sample texts in the comparative analysis do contain variables, any possible mistakes related to or directly stemming from their occurrence won t be counted or emphasized as they have only little to do with actual translation skills or linguistic knowledge (even though in some cases a lot of linguistic creativity is needed to build a grammatically correct sentence around a particularly problematic variable). 3.3 Professional game localization process This subchapter will list some basic characteristics of professional game localization in terms of procedures and specific problems. This topic is well and extensively described by Schubert (2013a), Kořenek (2013) and to some extent by Petrů (2011). To start with, a basic distinction needs to be made between 1) professional localization conducted through a local distribution company (a method thoroughly explored by Schubert, 2013a), and 19

20 2) professional localization arranged by a hired generic (a term used repeatedly by Petrů, 2011, ) translation agency directly for the global publisher without any local distributor. This second method is described by both Petrů and Schubert as much less frequent in the Czech Republic, although during the 2000 s it was a signature method (and to some extent it still is) of one of the world s largest video game publishing companies Electronic Arts. Other practices, such as professional localization conducted in whole by the game developer s in-house localization department (for example Lombard, 2006, p. 162), or by separately hired freelancers specialized in translating or testing of video games are not discussed by the consulted Czech sources. Petrů s (2011) thesis remains the only source discussing the possible differences in quality between the two basic methods (local distributor vs. external translation agency) within the Czech environment. His selection of examples for the latter method, choice of words ( generic translation agency ) and a few other statements could perhaps be interpreted as expecting this segment of professionally localized games to be more problematic in terms of quality. This thesis can in no way provide enough relevant data to confirm or disprove this expectation; nevertheless the sample text selection does reflect this distinction. Regardless of the chosen method, reading through the available sources, it s possible to extract a few key aspects of professional localization: Simultaneous shipment: the game is released ( shipped ) simultaneously in all regions, which means the development and localization phases are partially overlapping and the localization team have to deal with severe time constraints and tight deadlines. 20

21 Official support: if it s provided, it can include various design documents, information about the game, dialogue scripts, and official contact with the developers who are available to answer the localization team s questions, etc. Teamwork and collective effort: ensures effective coordination of all the linguistic and non-linguistic tasks carried out by different departments and teams and communication flow between the developer, publisher and the localization team. Limited ownership of the text: the localization team, let alone the translator, are never fully in control of what happens with the text. Petrů quotes one of his sources say The localization manager can t trust the developer, which illustrates this uncertainty aptly. 3.4 Fan game localization process Fan video game localization projects are perhaps more difficult to describe in terms of fixed processes or methods. Through a number of examples, Petrů (2011) shows that fan localization projects can vary greatly not just in terms of quality, but also in terms of organization, specific conditions or team setups. In contrast with the professional localization characteristics mentioned above, the following could be stated about fan localization projects: No time pressure and tight deadlines, unless the team decide to rush the localization release for various reasons or work on semi-professional terms for example in cooperation with gaming magazines (a method described in detail by Petrů, 2011). 21

22 No official support, no access to design documents or dialogue scripts. This disadvantage is compensated for by the fact that the translators can get to know the game by playing it. More centralized effort: although teamwork remains a key aspect, at least within larger fan projects, there are no other teams involved (again with the possible exception of the aforementioned semi-professional projects). Complete ownership of the text: putting aside technical difficulties, once the text is retrieved from the game in an editable form that can be also implemented back, the fan localization team have full control over it. Many of these characteristics could probably be applied to other fan translation projects, not just specifically the game localization ones. A closer look at fan game localization projects in the Czech republic is therefore needed, if more characteristics or at least roughly outlined categories are to be obtained, which could be used for the sample text selection and possibly for interpreting the analysis results. 22

23 4. Fan and professional video game localization in the Czech Republic Although the lack of comparative data makes it impossible to say exactly how unique the Czech Republic is in this regard, it s unique enough to affect the way the very subject of this thesis professional vs. amateur should be approached. This chapter will therefore give a brief summary of the findings and observations about the Czech professional and fan game localization scene as presented by Petrů s (2011) thesis, together with some additional information. Looking at the history of the fan and professional localization scene, the image Petrů draws is not that of two separate branches or environments with occasional overlaps or points of contact, but rather a continuous transformation of one into the other, until a state of coexistence, involving mutual interplay or differences (p. 8), is established. Petrů talks about gradual professionalization of the local fan scene, a process that according to him took place in the early 2000s, when fan translation teams began cooperating with gaming magazines and online shops on the previously already mentioned semiprofessional basis and when several publishing companies interested in releasing official Czech localizations entered the market, often recruiting members of the already established fan translation teams and creating new professionals. This development had several interesting consequences. Firstly, a number of translators/translation coordinators were simultaneously active within both the fan and professional environment. And secondly, the professional localization scene, as it got gradually established, in fact consisted of many translators without any formal linguistic or translation training. Results of a detailed survey among the Czech professional video game 23

24 translators, which Schubert conducted in 2013 as part of his thesis, largely confirm this understanding, showing an average Czech professional video game translator, based strictly on the results of the survey, to be someone who has been awarded a university Master s level degree (Mgr. or Ing.), although he has not studied any field of study related to translation or languages (p. 141). These findings might affect the way the key terms amateur and professional are defined or used for the purpose of this work, as the formal education criteria cannot really be applied, or at least not automatically. Even though most of the consulted sources (Švelch, 2011; Ešnerová, 2012) do not use this criterion to define their terminology and emphasize other characteristics instead, the formal education or lack thereof is often used as part of argumentation or description. For example, O Hagan says that the profile of a fan translator is by definition not a trained professional (p. 21). To make the dividing line between amateur and professional localization teams within the examined context even more fluid, it should be mentioned that the resources flow isn t necessarily always just one-directional (ie. from fan to professional). It s been mentioned that the professional scene recruited and absorbed many former fan translators, but in individual cases it could also work the other way round. One of the famous fan projects of late, Marek Tvrdý s localization of the third instalment of Bioware s blockbuster space opera Mass Effect 3 was publicly announced and even advertised as full professional localization (Eurogamer, 2012), a marketing statement that was possibly derived from and based on the fact that the Tvrdý s fan team included two professional translators, one of them being the translator of the Mass Effect series books and the other the author of this thesis. 24

25 The phenomenon of semi-professional or online shop sponsored fan localizations is also still alive, including the above mentioned Mass Effect 3 as one of the recent and wellknown examples (Xzone), which serves to show that the fan and professional video game localization scenes remain overlapping to some extent. When describing possible trends, Schubert (2013a, p. 124) states that the video game localization scene in the Czech Republic today consists of more of professional translators, testers and proofreaders with formal training and education, although it might still not be a norm or a rule and may vary from distributor to distributor. 25

26 5. Comparative analysis methodology 5.1 Sample game selection This subchapter will explain the reasoning behind the sample text selection. Flyvbjerg s (2011) classification of strategies for the selection of samples was chosen as the starting point. The two main approaches he recognizes are random selection and information-oriented selection. Based on this classification, the latter method was chosen, its purpose described as to maximize the utility of information from small samples and single cases. Cases are selected on the basis of expectations about their information content. Due to its limited scope, this thesis cannot rely on random samples as the amount of sample texts wouldn t be high enough to cover a sufficient number of possible variants (game genres, localization team setups etc.) to allow for any kind of even hypothetical conclusions. Therefore, the samples must be chosen based on pre-existing knowledge about their content. The key problem is the absence of a suitable case of a single game with both fan and professional localization. One possible example, a survival horror game Alan Wake, cannot be deemed representative enough as both versions were done by less known teams/authors. Therefore, the comparison is to be conducted between translations of different texts, which means these texts need to share as many common characteristics as possible, in order to ensure they represented a similar type of challenge for all the localization teams. 26

27 As the next step, the following criteria for the source texts were chosen: 1) They all belong to the same/similar game genre. 2) They all come from well-known and popular games. (Petrů, 2011, p. 87-8, sees a tentative connection between the game s popularity and the effort the fan teams invest in its localization.) 3) They all met with an overall positive reception. (This should ensure none of the texts is of a significantly lower quality than the remaining ones. As the sample size is extremely small, any deviant or extreme cases, named so according to Flyvbjerg s (2011) classification, would easily sway the results in one direction.) 4) They should represent, at least to some extent, a typical group or segment within the fan or professional category, as described in chapter 3. 5) They are not too far apart in terms of the realization date (to ensure the quality wasn t affected by technological or other trends). As for the 1) criterion, the game genre chosen is be RPG, or role-playing games. Roleplaying games are characterized by a large variety of text types (as mentioned in chapter 3) and thus offer a varied translation challenge. O Hagan (2009) states that some genres, such as RPGs, tend to involve more text and are heavily narrative-driven, and hence have more implications for translation. Once the genre was selected, the remaining criteria were combined together and the following games were selected: 27

28 Mass Effect The first game in a popular science fiction trilogy combining action and roleplaying elements. Professional localization was conducted by a well-known Czech publishing company CD Project (now Comgad), sometimes cited as an example of high quality localizations (Petrů, 2011). Final game database in an Excel form was secured through internal sources, the game was played in order to identify the exact text strings needed and these were subsequently located in the Excel database and copied into a separate file for the purpose of the analysis. Hellgate: London Action roleplaying game in a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting. Representative of the other of the two segments of professional localizations as mentioned in chapter 3, Hellgate: London was translated by a generic translation agency (Petrů s term) for the leading publishing company Electronic Arts. The localization received a positive review in the gaming magazine Score. 5 A game database in an Excel form was secured through internal sources. It should be noted that the author of this thesis worked as a localization tester on this game. The game database used is not the final one and contains only a minimum (if any) tester s changes. The game was played in order to identify the exact text strings needed, these were subsequently located in the Excel database and copied into a separate file for the purpose of the analysis. 5 See Appendix 2 28

29 The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Fourth instalment of a popular fantasy roleplaying series. The localization is an example of a large-scale well-known fan project. The organizer, both a fan and a professional translator, was interviewed in Petrů s (2011) thesis, being described for example as well known for his tendency to improve original texts in his translations or experimenting with style and creative translation. No text database was obtained. The text was acquired through playing the game, saving screenshots of the chosen parts and transcribing the text from the screenshots into a separate file. Dragon Age 2 Sequel to a popular RPG Dragon Age:Origins and another example of a large fan project coordinated by yet another well-known figure of the Czech fan localization scene, also interviewed in Petrů s (2011) thesis and described as organising high-profile large projects. Access to the final game database in Google Docs was given by the coordinator of the localization. The game was played in order to identify the exact text strings needed, these were subsequently located in the Excel database and copied into a separate file for the purpose of the analysis. 29

30 5.2 Sample text type and size Certain degree of arbitrariness is unavoidable when selecting the specific sample texts in this case. To reduce this risk and to make sure the overall size of the project doesn t affect the quality of the selected parts, the specific texts were either taken from the very beginning of each game, or from a part that is likely to be seen or discovered as early in the game as possible, or from the so called critical path 6. That way it s possible to assume that all the selected texts were given enough attention by their localization teams. Kořenek (2013) for example notes that depending on the size of the game, the tester can have enough time to double or even triple check everything the game has to offer, or, on the contrary, the tester can only review everything once (p. 23). If there are time constraints, the earlier parts of the game are more likely to be tested more thoroughly. Taking into account what s been said earlier about text types, the following segments from each game were selected to serve as a sample text: - Dialogue segment/s, in the form of Czech subtitles for English audio from an early part or a critical path of the game - Encyclopaedic text segment that is possible or likely to be encountered early on in the game - In-game instruction - The player class/background description 6 Critical Path is the longest necessary path through a network of activities when respecting their interdependencies (Wikipedia, 2014). Text displayed on the critical path through the game will always be seen by every player or localization tester regardless of their in-game choices. 30

31 From each game, a text sample of roughly 7-8 standard pages in total (4 English + 4 localized) was selected. 5.3 Translation analysis methodology Each of the four text samples (each consisting of four text type segments) will be analysed based on the following criteria. 1. Lexical equivalence Based on Knittlová (2010), this category tracks or analyses issues related to shifts in denotative meaning (such as generalization, specification, adding/omitting information, inappropriate lexical equivalents resulting in a shift or modification of meaning) or connotative meaning (expressivity, stylistic connotations etc.). 2. Word order Word order related issues will be assessed based on the functional sentence perspective principle, according to which the stressed or context independent sentence elements or sentence elements carrying new information should be placed in a rhematic position (for example Zehnalová, 2010, p. 265). 3. Language norm Based on Zehnalová (2010, p ), this category includes erroneous grammar, spelling mistakes, interferences, or literal or otherwise inappropriate translation of idioms. 4. Register 31

32 This category partially overlaps with the connotative meaning differences in 1) (based on Knittlová, 2010) but will be commented on separately with the aim to find out whether the localization teams recognize different registers and styles of the source text and use appropriate linguistic means to express these differences. This applies to differences between text types (instruction text, encyclopaedic text etc.) but also to registers of dialogue characters. 5. Various other findings 32

33 6. Comparative analysis This chapter will be divided into four subchapters, each focusing on one of the four selected sample texts. The sample texts are divided into separate text strings, following the exact same division in the original text databases. Each text string is identified by an individual identifier (for example, ME-1 or DA-2) chosen just for the purpose of the thesis. 6.1 Mass Effect Dialogue segment 1 The selected text is the very first dialogue in the game. A short exchange between the human ambassador and a military captain Anderson introduces us to Commander Shepard, the playable character and the main hero of the series. The following main scene takes place on board a space ship. The ship s pilot, a popular jovial character named Joker, performs a difficult long-distance jump, discusses the inconvenience of having a secret agent (Nihlus) on board, takes orders from the captain and causes a little faux pas in the process. The original text database contains both female and male statements in the localized strings, reflecting the fact that Commander Shepard can be either male or female, a choice made by the player upon starting a new game. Male variants were used for this analysis. ME-1 Ambassador Well, what about Shepard? Earthborn... but no record of his family. Tak co je s tím Shepardem? Narodil se na Zemi... ale o jeho rodině nemáme jediný záznam. ME-2 Captain Anderson Doesn't have one. He was raised on the streets. Learned to look out for himself. Nemá rodiče. Vyrostl na ulici. Tam se naučil, jak se o sebe postarat. 33

34 ME-3 Ambassador He saw his whole unit die on Akuze. He could have some serious emotional scars. ME-4 Captain Anderson Every soldier has scars. Shepard's a survivor. Na Akuze celá jednotka zařvala přímo před jeho očima. Tohle člověka prostě poznamená. Kaţdý voják dřív nebo později utrţí rány, které se nikdy nezahojí. Shepard přeţil jako jediný. ME-5 Ambassador Is that the kind of person we want protecting the galaxy? Myslíte, ţe to je pravá osoba, kterou potřebujeme na ochranu galaxie? ME-6 Captain Anderson That's the only kind of person who can protect the galaxy. Je to jediná osoba, která dokáţe galaxii ochránit. ME-7 Ambassador I'll make the call. Rozhodnutí je na mě. In ME-1, in the very first line, the phrase well, what about seems to be misinterpreted by the translator. Rather than requesting explanation about Shepard, implying the name has already been discussed (variant used by the translator), the Ambassador is more likely just giving a suggestion, which would normally in Czech be expressed as a co třeba. In ME1-7, the communicative flow of the localized dialogue is slightly weakened as the characters don t use appropriate thematic references to the preceding dialogue lines. For example, in ME-2, Captain Anderson states that he has no parents, while the logical reference to the previous line would be žádnou nemá, ie. doesn t have one. The same continuation discrepancy can be seen in ME-4, where instead of developing the preceding reference to the Commander being affected (for example so as to say this would affect anyone ), the Captain chooses to talk about scars, and partly in ME-6. In ME-3, the neutral saw his unit die is translated as strongly expressive jednotka zařvala ( kicked the bucket ), even though the source text doesn t seem to contain any expressivity marker. 34

35 In ME-4, every soldier has scars gets translated as sooner or later every soldier suffers wounds that never heal, adding significantly more information than the source string. ME-7 contains a grammar mistake in the pronoun mě/mně. Dialogue segment 2 ME-11 Joker Thrusters... check. Navigation... check. Internal emissions sink engaged. All systems online. Drift... just under 1500 K. ME-12 Nihlus 1500 is good. Your captain will be pleased. 35 Trysky... v pořádku. Navigace... v pořádku. Interní lapač emisí v činnosti. Všechny systémy v provozu. Posun... těsně pod 1500 K. 1500? To je dobré. Kapitán bude mít radost. ME-13 Joker I hate that guy. Jak já toho chlapa nesnáším. ME-14 Kaidan Nihlus gave you a compliment... so you hate him? ME-15 Joker You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom? That's good. I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead. So that's incredible! ME-16 Joker Besides, Spectres are trouble. I don't like having him on board. Call me paranoid. ME-17 Kaidan You're paranoid. The Council helped fund this project. They have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment. ME-18 Joker Yeah, that is the official story. But only an idiot believes the official story. ME-19 Commander Na zkušební mise se spektry Shepard neposílají. ME-20 Captain Joker! Status report. Anderson ME-21 Joker Just cleared the mass relay, Captain. Stealth systems engaged. Everything looks solid. Nihlus vám sloţil poklonu... proto ho nesnášíte? "Dobré" je, kdyţ si při odchodu ze záchodu nezapomenete zapnout zip u kalhot. Já jsem s náma právě přeskočil přes půl galaxie a trefil jsem plac o velikosti špendlíkové hlavičky. To je úţasný, ne? A navíc se spektrama jsou potíţe. Vůbec se mi nelíbí, ţe ho máme na palubě. Klidně si o mně myslete, ţe jsem paranoidní. Taky ţe to paranoia je. Rada pomohla tento projekt financovat. Mají právo poslat někoho, kdo by dohlédl na jejich investice. Jo, to je oficiální verze. Ale oficiálním verzím věří jen úplní blbci. Na zkušební mise se spektry neposílají. Jokere! Podejte hlášení. Zrovna jsem dal do kupy hmotový vysílač, kapitáne. Maskovací systémy jsou v provozu. Všechno vypadá v pořádku.

36 ME-22 Captain Anderson Good. Find a comm buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to Alliance brass before we reach Eden Prime. ME-23 Joker Aye, aye, Captain. Better brace yourself, sir. I think Nihlus is headed your way. ME-24 ME-25 ME-26 Captain Anderson Captain Anderson Commander Shepard He's already here, Lieutenant. Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing. He sounds angry. Something must have gone wrong with the mission. ME-27 Joker Pff. Captain always sounds like that when he's talking to me. Dobře. Najděte komunikační bóji, napíchneme se na síť. Chci poslat zprávu o průběhu mise zpátky velení Aliance, neţ se dostaneme na Eden Primu. Rozkaz, kapitáne. A na vašem místě bych se něčeho chytil. Myslím, ţe k vám má namířeno Nihlus. Uţ je tady, poručíku. Řekněte veliteli Shepardovi, aby za mnou zašel do komunikačního podat hlášení. Mluví dost naštvaně. Určitě se něco podělalo - něco s misí. Pche. Se mnou kapitán mluví vţdycky takhle. ME-28 Kaidan I can't possibly imagine why. I kdyţ teda nemám tušení, proč. Communication flow error can again be seen in ME-17. Instead of utilizing the theme from the preceding line in the form of the adjective paranoid, the character uses a noun, it is paranoia. Another case of added expressivity can be found in ME-26. Neutral something must have gone wrong is translated as something must have got screwed up. Some register inconsistencies can be identified, although this aspect is difficult to assess due to the source text containing very few register markers. The audio dubbing component might have played a role in giving Joker more colloquial way of speaking as characterized by colloquial noun and pronoun endings in the Czech translation. The character of Kaidan, whose dubbing doesn t generally add any additional layer of characterization on top of what can be extrapolated from the text, starts off with a standard language, but his last line contains a colloquial teda instead of tedy. 36

37 Possibly problematic translation of the idiom brace yourself appears in ME-23. The translator chose to emphasize the literal meaning of brace as in support by holding, while the idiomatic meaning to prepare for something was omitted. Just cleared the mass relay in ME-21 seems to be mistranslated as dal do kupy ( fixed ). Given the context (mass relays are giant transportation devices), Joker probably implied that they managed to get through. In Velký anglicko český slovník (Hais-Hodek, 1997), the equivalents for the verb clear include for example hladce překonat, opustit (about ships) or vyjet na volné more. This mistake might have been caused by the lack of context. Encyclopaedic segment ME-33 The Systems Alliance is an independent supranational government representing the interests of humanity as a whole. The Alliance is responsible for the governance and defense of all extra-solar colonies and stations. The Alliance grew out of the various national space programs as a matter of practicality. Sol s planets had been explored and exploited through piecemeal national efforts. The expense of colonizing entire new solar systems could not be met by any one country. With humans knowing that alien contact was inevitable, there was enough political will to jointly fund an international effort. Still, the Alliance was often disregarded by those on Earth until the First Contact War. While the national governments dithered and bickered over who should lead the effort to liberate Shanxi, the Alliance fleet struck decisively. Post-War public approval gave the Alliance the credibility to establish its own Parliament and become the galactic face of humanity. Alianční systémy, zkráceně Aliance, je nezávislá nadnárodní vláda zastupující zájmy lidstva jako celku. Je zodpovědná za správu a obranu všech kolonií a stanic, které se nenacházejí v soustavě Sol. Aliance vznikla jako praktické spojení dřívějších vesmírných programů jednotlivých států. Průzkum a vyuţívání planet v soustavě Sol bylo prováděno ještě jednotlivými státy, ovšem výdaje spojené s kolonizováním zcela nových slunečních soustav by se nevešly do ţádného státního rozpočtu. A jelikoţ lidé věděli, ţe kontakt s mimozemšťany je nevyhnutelný, našel se i dostatek politické vůle k zaloţení společné, mezinárodní organizace. Přesto přese všechno na Alianci mnozí lidé shlíţeli spatra - a to aţ do první vesmírné války s turiany. Zatímco se národní vlády dohadovaly a haštěřily nad tím, kdo povede osvobozující útok na Shanxi, alianční flotila razantně zaútočila. Po válce získala Aliance mezi lidmi obrovskou popularitu, bylo jí povoleno zaloţit vlastní parlament a stát se galaktickým zástupcem lidstva. 37

38 ME-34 ME-35 ME-35 ME-35 In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies, enabling travel to the furthest stars. The basis for this incredible technology was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time. They called it the greatest discovery in human history. The civilizations of the galaxy call it... Roughly 1200 years ago, the turians were invited to join the Citadel Council to fulfill the role of galactic peacekeepers. The turians have the largest fleet in Citadel space, and they make up the single largest portion of the Council's military forces. As their territory and influence has spread, the turians have come to rely on the salarians for military intelligence and the asari for diplomacy. Despite a somewhat colonial attitude towards the rest of the galaxy, the ruling Hierarchy understands they would lose more than they would gain if the other two races were ever removed. Turians come from an autocratic society that values discipline and possesses a strong sense of personal and collective honor. There is lingering animosity between turians and humans over the First Contact War of 2157, which is known as the "Relay 314 Incident" to the turians. Officially, however, the two species are allies and they enjoy civil, if cool, diplomatic relations. V roce 2148 objevili průzkumníci na Marsu pozůstatky starodávné rasy schopné cestovat vesmírem. Během několika následujících desetiletí probíhal intenzivní výzkum záhadných artefaktů, které odstartovaly technologický boom a umoţnily lidstvu cestovat vesmírem. Základem této úchvatné technologie byla síla, která ovládá samotné základy prostoru a času. Nazvali to největším objevem v dějinách lidstva. Galaktické civilizace tomu říkají... Turiané byli do Rady Citadely přizváni zhruba před 1200 lety, aby se ujali role galaktických mírotvůrců. Mají největší flotilu ve vesmírném prostoru Citadely a tvoří největší část jejích ozbrojených sil. Jak se jejich teritorium a vliv rozšiřovaly, začali turiané spoléhat na salariany, pokud jde o vojenskou špionáţ, a na asarijky, pokud jde o diplomacii. I přes poněkud koloniální přístup ke zbytku galaxie vládnoucí Hierarchie chápe, ţe by odstraněním dvou zbylých ras více ztratili neţ získali. Turiané pocházejí z autokratické společnosti, která klade velký význam na disciplínu a v níţ má velký význam osobní i kolektivní čest. Mezi turiany a lidmi přetrvává napětí kvůli válce prvního setkání v roce 2157, známé u turianů jako "Incident u vysílače 314." Oficiálně jsou však obě rasy spojenci a fungují mezi nimi zdvořilé, ač poněkud chladné diplomatické vztahy. The longer encyclopaedic texts seem to only contain minor issues. A few sentences in ME-33 do not strictly follow the principle of communicative dynamism. For example, in ovšem výdaje spojené s kolonizováním zcela nových slunečních soustav by se nevešly do žádného státního rozpočtu, the information about the costs not being 38

39 covered ( nevešly ) should preferably be placed in a rhematic position at the end of the sentence. Still in ME-33 receives an expressive, colloquial translation přesto přese všechno, which marks an unnatural shift in style, given the nature of the encyclopaedic texts. Zeugma occurs in dohadovaly a haštěřily nad tím. The verb hašteřit cannot, according to Slovník slovesných, substantivních a adjektivních vazeb a spojení, be used with the preposition nad. A spelling mistake also appears here. The localized variant of the ME-34 string gets extra information about intensive research that doesn t appear in the source text. Incorrect collocation appears in ME-35 in která klade velký význam na disciplínu a v níž má velký význam osobní i kolektivní čest., plus the word význam gets repeated twice. The correct collocation would either be klade důraz or přikládá význam. Instruction text ME-29 ME-30 ME-31 ME-32 Press %CODEX to access the Codex, your galactic encyclopedia. To access detailed Tutorials, click the Secondary tab, then the plus sign next to "Player Tutorials." Press %FORWARD, %MOVELEFT, %MOVERIGHT, %BACKWARD to move your character forward, left, right, and backward, respectively. %PAUSEMENU to bring up the Mission Computer. Stiskem tlačítka %CODEX se dostanete ke kodexu, coţ je vaše galaktická encyklopedie. K výukovým textům se dostanete, kdyţ kliknete na záloţku "Vedlejší" a pak na znaménko plus vedle nápisu "Výuka". Klávesami %FORWARD, %MOVELEFT, %MOVERIGHT, %BACKWARD pohybujete svou postavou dopředu, doleva, doprava a dozadu. Stiskem %PAUSEMENU vyvoláte počítač 39

40 Except for the missing full stop in ME-32, the instruction strings do not contain any obvious problem. The infinitive of purpose (with the pattern Press X to do something ), so typical for instruction texts, is translated using subordinate clauses or other appropriate means, avoiding interferences. Player class/background description ME-36 ME-37 ME-38 Engineers are tech specialists. Using the holographic omni-tool, they can decrypt security systems, repair or modify technical equipment, disrupt enemy weapons or shields, and heal their squad. Engineers can only use light armor, and can only receive weapons training with pistols. During your service, a mission you were on went horribly wrong. Trapped in an extreme survival situation, you had to overcome physical torments and psychological stresses that would have broken most people. You survived while all those around you fell, and now you alone are left to tell the tale. Early in your military career you found yourself facing an overwhelming enemy force. You risked your own life to save your fellow soldiers and defeat the enemy despite the impossible odds. Your bravery and heroism have earned you medals and recognition from the Alliance fleet. Inţenýři jsou specialisté na techniku. Pracují s holografickými uni-nástroji a dokáţí se nabourat do bezpečnostních zařízení, opravovat nebo upravovat technická zařízení, narušovat nepřátelské zbraně nebo štíty a dokonce léčit své spolubojovníky. Inţenýři se pohybují zásadně jen v lehké zbroji a podstupují pouze základní výcvik střelby z pistole. Během vaší sluţby jste byl vyslán na misi, která skončila strašlivým krveprolitím. Mnohokrát jste čelil smrti a musel jste překonávat fyzické útrapy a obrovský psychologický tlak, který by většinu lidí poloţil. Přeţil jste peklo, ve kterém všichni kolem vás padli, a jako jediný nyní můţete tento příběh vyprávět ostatním. Během jedné z vašich prvních misí jste stanul proti mnohonásobné přesile. Vaše vyhlídky na vítězství a přeţití byly takřka nulové. Vy jste ale riskoval svůj vlastní ţivot, abyste zachránil své spolubojovníky, a i přes všechnu beznaděj se vám podařilo dokonce zahnat nepřítele na útěk. Za prokázanou odvahu a statečnost jste byl vyznamenán několika řády alianční flotily. ME-36 contains a questionable translation for engineer. In standard military context, the correct equivalent would be ženista. Whether it was a conscious decision to avoid the 40

41 standard military term, or whether this is a case of the so called false friends (for example Zehnalová, 2010, p. 233), is open to interpretation. ME-37 and ME-38 combine several issues of the equivalency category. Went horribly wrong gets specified as bloodbath, you survived receives extra information about surviving hell. The ME-38 string gets completely restructured, with an extra sentence being inserted in the middle. While in the source text the enemy is just defeated, in the localized variant they even took to flight. Unnecessary and redundant personal pronouns are used, for example Během vaší služby in ME-37 or more exxessively in ME-38. Summary Based on this very short text sample, it can be concluded the translation doesn t contain any critical issues. Many of the problems encountered in the dialogue segments inconsistencies and inaccurate thematic references, as well as inconsistencies in the characters register, can be explained by text fragmentation, which means the problem wasn t paid attention to during the testing phase or (quite possibly) there simply wasn t enough time. The tendency to add more information and expressivity to the localized text, without any appropriate hints in the source text, and to be more creative with the sentence structure is certainly of note. The frequency of incorrect prepositional phrases could also be noted. 41

42 6.2 Hellgate: London Dialogue segment 1 The dialogue segment again comes from the earliest, partly tutorial parts of the game. During the first quest, the player meets a key character named Murmur, who serves as a guide throughout the game and provides the player with fundamental information, and a dying templar. This text is not dubbed, ie. it doesn t have an audio component in the game, and only appears as text. The text contains the [PLAYER NAME] variable, which gets replaced with the player s name when displayed in the game. HL-1 Murmur Hello? Can you hear me, [PLAYER NAME]? Please respond. I need help...oh, thank goodness you're there! Maybe there's still a chance. I was foraging when the Demons came. A Templar Seraph and his men took the brunt of it. Things went...wrong. I'm stranded. But maybe we can help each other? Holborn isn't far. We might actually make it together. I'm here somewhere. Close, for sure, but you'll still need to find me...and soon. I can help you whatever you need. I've studied the Demon, the world, anything, everything. Get me out of this and you'll see. I promise you will see. Just find me. I've got our Commlink units synched. We'll be in touch, whatever happens. By the way... I am Murmur. Haló? To je [PLAYER NAME]? Slyšíš mě? Prosím, odpověz. Potřebuju, abys mi pomohl..., díky bohu, ţe mě slyšíš! Moţná je ještě naděje. Sháněl jsem tu něco k jídlu, kdyţ přišli démoni. Templářský Seraf a jeho muţi to schytali v plné síle. Všechno se pokazilo. Uvízl jsem. Ale moţná si můţeme pomoci vzájemně? Holborn je nedaleko. Společně se tam snad dostaneme. Jsem někde tady. Určitě blízko, ale musíš mě najít... a rychle. Můţu ti pomoct s čímkoli, co potřebuješ. Studoval jsem démony, svět, cokoli, všechno. Dostaň mě odsud a uvidíš. Slibuju ti, ţe uvidíš. Hlavně mě najdi. Zesynchronizoval jsem naše komunikační jednotky. Budeme v kontaktu, ať se stane cokoli. A mimochodem... Já jsem Murmur. 42

43 HL-2 Murmur Thank you. Truly, thank you, [PLAYER NAME]. I wasn't always alone and helpless out here, you know. The Templar with me were butchered. These weren't ordinary Templar, either. These were Seraphim first among the Order's champions. So believe me, we do not want to meet whatever did them in. But and it's a big one their mission was critically important. There's no running from it. I'm afraid we can't flee to safety just yet. The Order committed an entire Fist of Seraphim to one objective. They were to retrieve a man named Fawkes. That didn't pan out, but the fallen Seraphim still carry vital information regarding this Fawkes character. We have to secure that info. For so many to have died for nothing... It's unthinkable. We must at least try. You lead. I'll follow. Don't worry, [PLAYER NAME], I'm quite used to it. HL-3 Templar Ambushed... Everyone's dead. The mission! It cannot fail. It must not fail. You! You must finish it. The doctor Fawkes, Dr. Fawkes... Listen, his device... You must bring word to Lann. Give him Fawkes' communiqué. He must find the device. Go to Covent Garden Station. Go and deliver Fawkes' communiqué to Lann. He'll understand. He'll find the Doctor...use the device. There's still hope. There's always hope... Always ho... Děkuju. Váţně ti děkuju. [PLAYER NAME] - to jméno si budu pamatovat. Nebyl jsem tu vţdycky takhle sám a bez pomoci. Byli tu se mnou Templáři, ale ti všichni padli. A tohle nebyli obyčejní Templáři. Byli to Serafové, první mezi šampiony Řádu. Takţe mi věř, ţe se nechceme potkat s tím, co je zabilo. Jenţe, a tohle je váţně důleţité, jejich mise měla zásadní význam. Nedá se před tím utéct. Nemůţeme jen tak prchnout do bezpečí, alespoň ne teď. Řád zadal celé jedné Pěsti Serafů jediný úkol. Měli se dostat k někomu, kdo se jmenuje Fawkes. To se sice nezdařilo, ale padlí Serafové mají cenné informace ohledně toho Fawkese. Musíme ty informace zajistit. Protoţe jinak by tolik lidí umřelo úplně zbytečně... A to je nemyslitelné. Musíme se o to alespoň pokusit. Jdi první. Já půjdu za tebou. Nic si z toho nedělej, jsem na to zvyklý. Přepadli nás Všichni jsou mrtví. Naše mise! Nesmí selhat. Musí se to podařit. Vy! Musíte to dokončit. Doktor Fawkes, Dr. Fawkes Poslouchejte, jeho zařízení Musíte donést zprávu Lannovi. Předejte mu zprávu od Fawkese. Musí najít to zařízení. Jděte na stanici Covent Garden. Jděte a doneste Fawkesovu zprávu Lannovi. On bude vědět. Najde doktora... pouţije to zařízení. Ještě je naděje. Vţdycky je naděje... Stále je nadě... 43

44 HL-4 Murmur This, [PLAYER NAME], is why Seraphim are regarded so highly. Even in death the Seraph cares only for his mission. It's disturbing that he and his Fist could be so ruined, but we can do them some justice still. We can deliver this Fawkes Communiqué to Brandon Lann and we can finish their quest. Lann is the Templar protector of Convent Garden Station. To reach him, we'll need to travel through Holborn, a remote station adjacent to this zone. There's a portal around here. If we find that, we find Holborn. Then we find Covent Garden, Lann, and reward. HL-5 Murmur Oh no... And I thought this place would be safe. Looks like these folks just survived an attack. Half the equipment here is on the fritz. Damn! That includes the passage security door to Covent Garden Station, unfortunately. Alright... I think we can still deal with this, [PLAYER NAME]. We're just going to have to get our hands dirty. Step into that Techsmith's life; he looks like he could use the help. Do the repair work for him if you have to. Just please assist these poor people in getting that door open so we can reach Lann in Covent Garden Station and complete the Seraph's mission. Right now it's the only thing that truly matters, [PLAYER NAME]. First steps are always the hardest. Tady vidíš, proč si tolik povaţujeme Serafů. Seraf se i po své smrti stará pouze o svou misi. Je to znepokojivé, ţe se on i jeho Pěst dočkali takové zkázy, ale ještě stále pro ně můţeme něco udělat. Můţeme doručit toto sdělení od Dr. Fawkese Brandonu Lannovi, a dokončit tím jejich úkol. Lann je Templářský protektor stanice Covent Garden. Abychom se k němu dostali, musíme projít satelitní stanicí Holborn, která je hned vedle této zóny. Někde tady poblíţ se nachází portál. Pokud ho najdeme, najdeme i stanici Holborn. A aţ najdeme Holborn, najdeme i stanici Covent Garden, Lanna a odměnu. Ale ne A já si myslel, ţe je tady bezpečno. Vypadá to, ţe tihle lidé právě přeţili útok. Polovina zařízení tady je v čudu. Zatraceně. A co je nejhorší, včetně tohohle bezpečnostního průchodu do stanice Covent Garden. Dobrá... Myslím, ţe to ještě můţeme zvládnout. Jenom si budeme muset trochu ušpinit ruce. Dej se do řeči s tamtím Montérem, vypadá to, ţe by se mu hodila pomoc. Kdyţ bude třeba, udělej za něj nějaké opravy. Hlavně ale pomoz těmhle chudákům otevřít ty dveře, abychom se dostali k Lannovi na stanici Covent Garden a dokončili Serafovu misi. Právě teď je to to jediné, na čem skutečně záleţí. První krůčky jsou vţdycky nejtěţší. At first glance, the source text is more complex and stylistically richer than the previous sample. It relies on idioms and imitates speech with all its pauses, repetitions and corrections. The translator closely follows the original sentence order and structure, including pauses and ellipses. For example in HL-1, the sentence I've studied the Demon, the world, anything, everything gets a word-by-word translation Studoval jsem démony, 44

45 svět, cokoli, všechno. This is in contrast to the creative tendencies of the Mass Effect team. A few issues related to word order can be identified. In HL-2, a person named Fawkes is introduced. The following sentence To se sice nezdařilo, ale padlí Serafové mají cenné informace ohledně toho Fawkese then places the already known information about Fawkes incorrectly at the end. Similarly, in the first sentence of HL-4, the Seraphs are already known from one of the previous text strings, while the translator places their name in a rhematic position. The use of capitalization throughout the whole sample text is of note. Following the conventions of the English text, the translator uses capitalization to put emphasis on words that can t be necessarily considered proper nouns. Examples include Serafové, Templáři, Řád, Pěst Serafů. The names Templars, Seraphs, Order seem to function as substitute nouns, rather than proper nouns, which would favour the use of lower case initial letters in Czech. Similarly, Fist of Seraphim seems to be an equivalent of a military unit, in which case there is no reason to use a capitalized initial letter in Czech. There s also a slight, most probably unintended comical side to the formulation Dostaň mě odsud a uvidíš. Slibuju ti, že uvidíš. in HL-1, where the simple you ll see from the source text gets a slight just you see twist. Dialogue segment 2 45

46 HL-6 Technician Filthy Demons! They hit us hard. It was all we could do to drive the bastards out. Now most of our gear is wrecked. Even this bleedin' door's jammed! Help from Covent Garden can't reach us even if we could call 'em. What a nightmare. Oh Did you need to get through, [PLAYER CLASS]? Well, I'm afraid the only way this repair is getting sped up is if some [QUEST COLLECT OBJS] fall into my lap. I could use the stored energy to power a few extra devices 'round here to get things moving, or opening, as the case may be. I know there's some in [QUEST LEVEL], but I'm not going out to get them. That's where the flippin' demons fell back to, friend. And frankly, I'm still enjoying life. But if you really and I mean really want this door open, you'll have to explore [QUEST LEVEL] and find [OBJECTIVE COUNT] [QUEST COLLECT OBJS]. HL-7 Technician I think that just might do it. Let's see here... Yep! Worked. Door's open. Problem solved! Zatracení démoni! Dali nám pěkně zabrat. Museli jsme se do toho opřít ze všech sil, abychom je zahnali. Většina zařízení je zničená. I tyhle dveře jsou zaseklý! Pomoc z Covent Garden by se k nám nedostala, ani kdybychom je měli jak zavolat. Je to zlý sen. Aha, ty tudy potřebuješ projít? Ty jsi [PLAYER CLASS], ţe? No, bojím se, ţe tyhle opravy by se daly urychlit jedině v případě, ţe by mi do klína spadly nějaké kondenzátory. Mohl bych pouţít jejich energii k napájení pár dalších strojů, aby se věci začaly trochu hýbat, nebo otvírat, kdyţ na to přijde. Vím, ţe jich je pár v oblasti [QUEST LEVEL], ale já tam pro ně nepůjdu. To je totiţ přesně to místo, kam jsme ty démony zahnali, kamaráde. A po pravdě, mě ţivot ještě nepřestal bavit. Ale pokud váţně, opravdu váţně chceš těmi dveřmi projít, budeš se muset poohlédnout po oblasti [QUEST LEVEL] a najít mi [QUEST COLLECT OBJS], konrétně [OBJECTIVE COUNT] kusů. Myslím, ţe to by mohlo stačit. Podíváme se Jo! Funguje to. Dveře jsou otevřené. Problém je vyřešený! HL-8 Technician Um... You haven't got all the [QUEST COLLECT OBJS]. Oh, I get it. You're one of them kids that compulsively clicks on every damn thing multiple times. Right. Nice. Click! Click! Click! Yeah, I get it. Funny. Well, I ain't saying nothing else until you get me my [QUEST COLLECT OBJS], Clicky McClickerson. [wave]hm Ještě nemáš všechny [QUEST COLLECT OBJS].No jasně. Ty jsi totiţ určitě jeden z těch človíčků, co na všechno pro jistotu klikají několikrát za sebou. Jasně. Hezké. Klik! Klik! Klik! Hm, já to chápu. Legrační. Ale já uţ ti nic dalšího nepovím, dokud mi ty [QUEST COLLECT OBJS] nedoneseš, ty Kliku Klikoviči Uklikanove. The second dialogue segment is taken from the first real quest of the game and has the same parameters as the previous segment in that it has no audio component and only 46

47 appears as text. It contains several other variables that stand for various values such as amount of quest objects, zone name etc. The source text contains more register markers than the previous one. The lower register is expressed for example by the colloquial contractions ain't, 'em, 'round, the g-dropping in bleedin' or flippin', or the double negative in I ain't saying nothing. While the Czech translation does combine standard and colloquial forms to account for at least some degree of the colloquialism of the source text, the extent of it isn t significantly larger than or different from the previous dialogue segment. See for example dveře jsou zaseklý, but on the other hand vážně chceš těmi dveřmi projít in HL-6 and Dveře jsou otevřené in HL-7. In terms of register, both localized segments seem to be on a similar level, while the source texts are much more varied. Apart from that, a spelling mistake in konrétně was found. Encyclopaedic segment In contrast with many other RPG games, Hellgate: London doesn t contain large amounts of encyclopedic texts, such as books, elaborated item descriptions etc. For this analysis, a few descriptions of items accessible very early in the game were used. Rather than real descriptions, these only contain various random citations, comments or excerpts related to the item in question. 47

48 HL-9 HL-10 HL-11 HL-12 HL-13 Implant technology targets the brain directly, making it possible to monitor the activity of neurons and correlate this data to events such as speech, stimulus response, memory recall and motor functions.\n- Operational log of Dr.Salus The Order of Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem was charged with the defense and care of the needy these days, that's just about everybody. This heavily modified military weapon aptly bears the name of the Greek god that controlled thunder and lightning. Its electrical beam can arc between nearby targets to devastating effect.\n- Training manual excerpt Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does all the work.\n- Mark Twain The ravenous and highly venomous creatures released from this bizarre creation infect and devour as much as they can in their extremely short life spans.\n- Operations manual excerpt Technologie implantátů se připojí přímo k mozku, coţ umoţňuje monitorovat nervovou aktivitu a získaná data korelovat s procesy, jako je řeč, odezva na podněty, vybavení z paměti a motorické funkce.\n- Operační záznamy Dr. Saluse Rytířský řád v nemocnici sv. Jana jeruzalémského byl pověřen ochranou a péčí o ty, kdo potřebují pomoc v současné době tedy prakticky o kaţdého. Tato těţce upravená vojenská zbraň se právem honosí jménem řeckého boha, který vládl hromům a bleskům. Její elektrický paprsek dokáţe mezi blízkými cíly vyvolat obloukový výboj s ničivým účinkem.\n- Výňatek z výcvikové příručky Hromy jsou fajn, hromy jsou úchvatné; ale veškerou práci nakonec odvedou blesky.\n- Mark Twain Draví a vysoce jedovatí tvorové vylétávající z tohoto podivného vynálezu nakazí a pohltí vše, co se jim během jejich extrémně krátkého ţivota připlete do cesty.\n- Výňatek z provozní příručky No major issues were found in these strings. Zeugma appears in HL-10 in ochranou a péčí o ty, kdo. In HL-11, the lexical choice těžce upravená for heavily modified could be questioned as the literal translation doesn t result in a correct collocation. Instruction text HL-14 HL-15 HL-16 Press "Enter" to view this and all other transmissions. Go ahead and read Murmur's text. He's a helpful NPC. Use the arrow buttons on dialog windows to advance conversations. Tuto zprávu, stejně jako všechny ostatní, zobrazíte stisknutím klávesy ENTER. Neváhejte a přečtěte si text zprávy. Murmur vám ve hře bude velmi nápomocný. Pomocí tlačítek se šipkami u dialogových oken můţete posouvat rozhovor vpřed. 48

49 HL-17 HL-18 Press "L" to open your quest log. It keeps track of quests for you. There's also a little check box next to each quest up there. See it? Klávesou L otevřete záznamy misí. Tam se vám ukládají informace o misích. Vedle kaţdé mise je navíc malé zaškrtávací tlačítko. Vidíte ho? HL-19 Click that check box to "track" a quest. Klepněte na něj, chcete-li misi sledovat. As was the case in the Mass Effect sample, the infinitive of purpose is translated using appropriate syntactic equivalents without any interferences. HL-14 contains a punctuation error. Player class/background description HL-24 HL-25 As highly trained ex-military operatives, these long-range specialists know their weaponry and are highly adaptable to any combat situation. This lethal combination ensures that they are inflicting the most damage possible in any given situation. Technologically adept, Engineers apply their knowledge of theoretical science and practical engineering to build Drones, Bots and Weapons. Whether focusing on controlling numerous smaller devices or building up a single, highly advanced combat machine, they provide fantastic firepower against the Demons. Jakoţto vysoce trénovaní bývalí vojáci, tihle specialisti na boj na dálku se dobře vyznají ve zbraních a dokáţí se výborně přizpůsobit jakékoli bojové situaci. Taková smrtelná kombinace zajišťuje, ţe za kaţdých okolností působí to největší moţné poškození. Mistři technologie, Technici vyuţívají své znalosti teoretických věd a praktického inţenýrství k sestrojování dronů, robotů a zbraní. Ať uţ se soustředí na řízení mnoha malých strojů nebo postaví jedinou, velmi vyspělou bojovou mašinu, jejich palebná síla proti démonům je fantastická. Both localized strings closely follow the syntactic structure of the source text, which results in slightly unnatural syntactic constructions. This wasn t observed in the previous segments. In HL-24, there is no reason to separate the first phrase Jakožto vysoce trénovaní bývalí vojáci by a comma from the rest of the sentence. The first sentence of HL-25 contains a similar sort of interference. 49

50 A colloquialism tihle was used HL-24, even though the class descriptions are written in a standard language. The same tendency to capitalize initial letters as a form of emphasis that was observed in Dialogue segment 1 can be identified in HL-25 in Technici. It should be noted that in contrast with Mass Effect, the HL translator chose a more appropriate equivalent for Engineer. Summary No major issues were found. Despite the translator s tendency to closely follow the sentence structure of the source text, including all the syntactic devices such as ellipsis, the resulting translation flows rather well without apparent interferences, with a few exceptions that have been mentioned. Occasional issues related to word order appear. One of the more notable aspects of the HL team s approach seems to be the use of capitalization as a form of emphasis, a problem that will be observed in the following sample texts, too. Similarly to Mass Effect, the localized texts don t always express register differences well. 6.3 Dragon Age 2 Dialogue segment 1 The first dialogue segment contains dialogue from two of a series of scenes that appear at various stages of the game and serve as a frame narrative to the player s story, the first one also being the very first scene of the whole game. Varric is interrogated by Cassandra as to 50

51 the whereabouts of the player (titled the Champion). These are voiced dialogues and the text appears in the form of dialogue subtitles. DA-1 Varric I've had gentler invitations. Uţ jsem zaţil laskavější pozvání. DA-2 Cassandra I am Cassandra Pentaghast, Seeker of the Chantry. Jsem Cassandra Pentaghast, Hledač z Oltáře. DA-3 Varric And just... what are you seeking? A... Co hledáš? DA-4 Cassandra The Champion. Šampiona. DA-5 Varric Which one? Kterého? DA-6 Cassandra You know exactly why I'm here! Víš moc dobře, proč jsem tady! DA-7 Cassandra Time to start talking, dwarf. They Je načase začít mluvit, trpaslíku. tell me you're good at it. Říkali mi, ţe jsi v tom dobrý. DA-8 Varric What do you want to know? Co chceš vědět? DA-9 Cassandra Everything. Start at the beginning. Všechno. Začni od začátku. DA-10 Cassandra Bullshit. That's not what really happened! DA-11 Varic Does that not match the story you've heard, Seeker? DA-12 Cassandra I'm not interested in stories. I came to hear the truth. DA-13 Varric What makes you think I know the truth? DA-14 Cassandra Don't lie to me! You knew him even before he became the Champion! DA-15 Varric Even if I did, I don't know where he is now. DA-16 Cassandra Do you have any idea what's at stake here? DA-17 Varric Let me guess: your precious Chantry's fallen to pieces and put the entire world on the brink of war? DA-18 Cassandra And you need the one person who could help you put it back together. DA-19 Varric The Champion was at the heart of it when it all began. DA-20 Cassandra If you can't point me to him, tell me everything you know. DA-21 Varric You aren't worried I'll just make it up as I go? 51 Kecy. Takhle se to ve skutečnosti nestalo! Copak se to neshoduje s příběhem, který jsi slyšela, Hledači? Nezajímají mě příběhy. Přišla jsem, abych se dozvěděla pravdu. Co tě přivedlo k domněnce, ţe já pravdu znám? Nelţi mi! Znal jsi ho ještě předtím, neţ se stal Šampionem! I kdybych znal, nevím, kde teď je. Máš vůbec ponětí, co je v sázce? Nech mě hádat: váš drahocenný Oltář se rozpadl na kousky a přivedl svět na pokraj války? A tak potřebujete jedinou osobu, která to dokáţe zase dát všechno do pořádku. Šampion byl v samotném srdci toho, kdyţ to vypuklo. Pokud mě k němu nemůţeš nasměrovat, řekni mi všechno, co víš. A nebojíš se, ţe si to prostě jen tak vymyslím?

52 DA-22 Cassandra Not at all. Ale vůbec ne. DA-23 Varric You'll need to hear the whole story. Tak to si musíš poslechnout celý příběh. This dialogue text doesn t represent a difficult challenge for the translators, which is perhaps one of the drawbacks of the decision to limit the sample text selection to the earliest parts of the games. Some possible issues that can be noticed immediately fall into the category of the language norm no indication of female gender in Cassandra s surname (Pentaghast) and title (Hledač), and again, not necessarily incorrect but at least debatable emphasis capitalization in Hledač, Oltář and Šampion. Seeker is a title given to members of a special group within the religious organization called the Chantry, while the Champion is a spontaneous title given to the player. Too literal translation, bordering on interference, can be seen in DA-7 in Říkali mi, že jsi v tom dobrý or in DA-19 in Šampion byl v samotném srdci toho, když to vypuklo. The word story appears several times in the text, each time being translated using the most common dictionary equivalent příběh. In DA-11 and DA-12, the context suggests the connotative meaning is closer to something that is made up, rather than just any story. In DA-23, the word didn t need the literal equivalent příběh at all and could easily be omitted (so as to say for example just poslechnout si to celé ). Dialogue segment 2 In this scene from the beginning of the game, the player meets a mysterious character Flemeth, an elderly looking woman who can transform herself into a dragon. 52

53 DA-24 Flemeth Well, well, what have we here? Ale, ale, copak to tu máme? DA-25 Flemeth It used to be we never got visitors to the Wilds, but now it seems they arrive in hordes! DA-26 Player I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't arrived. DA-28 Flemeth I do! You would have perished. You still may. DA-29 Flemeth If you wish to flee the darkspawn, you should know you are heading in the wrong direction. DA-30 Player Wait! You can't just leave us here! DA-32 Flemeth Can I not? Nemůţu? DA-33 Flemeth I spotted a most curious sight: a mighty ogre, vanquished! Who could perform such a feat? DA-34 Flemeth But now my curiosity is sated, and you are safe... for the moment. Is that not enough? DA-35 Player We won't be able to get through the darkspawn on our own. DA-37 Flemeth They are everywhere or soon will be. Where is it you plan to run to, hmm? DA-38 Player We need to get to Kirkwall in the Free Marches. DA-39 Flemeth Kirkwall? My, but that is quite the voyage you plan. DA-40 Flemeth Your king will not miss you, hmm? DA-41 Player Lothering is gone, and Ferelden may soon follow. We have to go. V Pustině jsme nikdy nemívali moc návštěvníků, ale teď se nám tu nějak přemnoţili! Nevím, co bychom dělali, kdybyste nepřišla. Já ano! Zahynuli byste. Stále můţete. Pokud máte v úmyslu utéct zplozencům, měli byste vědět, ţe jdete špatným směrem. Počkejte! Nemůţete nás tady jen tak nechat! Všimla jsem si nanejvýš zajímavé věci: Mocný zlobr přemoţen! Kdo by jen mohl takový čin vykonat? Ale teď je má zvědavost ukojena a vy jste v bezpečí... pro zatím. Není to dost? Nedokáţeme se přes zplozence dostat sami. Jsou všude, nebo za chvíli budou. Kam tedy plánujete utéct, hmm? Musíme se dostat do Kirkwallu - ve Svobodných markách. Kirkwall? Panečku, to jste si ale naplánovali dlouhou cestu. Nebude tě postrádat tvůj král, hmm? Lothering je ztracen a Ferelden ho můţe brzy následovat. Musíme jít. DA-42 Player Our home was just destroyed. Náš domov byl právě zničen. DA-43 Flemeth Hurtled into the chaos, you fight... and the world will shake before you. DA-44 Flemeth Is it fate or chance? I can never decide. Vrţen do chaosu, bojuješ... a svět se před tebou bude třást. Je to osud nebo náhoda? Nikdy se nemůţu rozhodnout. Flemeth is characterized by the use of a higher register, as indicated by the vocabulary consisting of words such as perished, flee, vanquished, voyage. The translating team s 53

54 effort to choose appropriate equivalents, or compensate by using more formal style in other strings, is rather inconsistent. On one hand, there is zahynuli byste, ukojena, přemožen, but on the other, in DA-39 Flemeth suddenly uses expressive, colloquial panečku. DA-32 contains a literal translation of a rhetorical figure Can I not? In DA-44, the phrase I can never decide also gets a too literal equivalent. A better solution could perhaps be Nikdy nevím, jestli. Passive voice is used rather excessively, for example in DA-41 or DA-42, even in dialogues lines not spoken by Flemeth, where it could be deemed appropriate. Encyclopaedic segment DA-45 A mage who does not receive the teachings of the Circle and who does not have the words of Andraste in her heart is an apostate, and a danger to us all. Without the guidance of the holy Chantry, a mage may foolishly dabble in the darker arts blood magic, or demon summoning, thus becoming maleficarum. And a mage's mind will ever be a doorway to spirits of the Fade; without proper instruction, this doorway remains open and unsecured. If a demon should come through this doorway and possess a mage, an abomination is created. Abominations know only madness. They cannot be reasoned with and will slaughter man, woman and child without thought. Whole cities have fallen to these creatures. Thousands have died at their hands. Mág, jemuţ se nedostane vzdělání Kruhu a který ve svém srdci nedrţí Andrastina slova, je odpadlíkem a nebezpečím pro nás všechny. Bez vedení svatého Oltáře si můţe mág pošetile zahrávat s temnějšími technikami - krvavou magií nebo vyvoláváním démonů - a tak se stát černokněţníkem. Mágova mysl se stane bránou pro duchy Úniku a bez potřebných instrukcí zůstane nezabezpečená a otevřená. Jestliţe skrze ni projde démon a mága posedne, vznikne ohavnost. Ohavnosti znají pouze šílenství. Nedá se s nimi domluvit a bez dlouhého přemýšlení zabijí jak muţe či ţenu, tak i dítě. Díky těmto stvořením padla celá města, tisíce lidí zahynuly jejich rukou. 54

55 DA-46 DA-47 The Chantry and her templars have a duty to ensure that this does not happen. If I knew a better way to deal with magic, I would seize upon it immediately. You say we should let the mages guard themselves. I tell you that this is no solution. Look at the Tevinter Imperium. Their magisters do not know restraint. Without Chantry oversight the magisters abuse their power. Those without magic are trampled underfoot and forced to serve. Slaves are slaughtered by the hundreds to feed the magisters hunger for power. Even some mages are not spared, for in mages as in all humans, there exists a spectrum on one end, the very powerful, on the other, those that can barely light a candle. The Empire cares only for the strongest, and those who do not compare favorably are thrown to the wolves. Povinností Oltáře a jeho templářů je zajistit, aby k tomu nedošlo. Kdybych věděl o lepším způsobu, jak se s magií vypořádat, ihned bych to udělal. Tvrdíš, ţe máme nechat mágy, ať se starají sami o sebe a já ti říkám, ţe tohle není řešením. Podívej se na Tevinterskou říši. Tamní magistři neví, kdy přestat. Bez Oltáře, jenţ by na ně dohlíţel, magistři svoji sílu zneuţívají. Ti bez magických schopností jsou donuceni slouţit. Otroci jsou vraţděni po stovkách, aby nasytili touhu magistrů po moci. Ušetření nejsou dokonce i někteří mágové, neboť kaţdý z nich, stejně jako kaţdý člověk, dosahuje určitého stupně - na jednom konci jsou velice mocní, na druhém jsou ti, jeţ sotva dokáţí zaţehnout svícen. Císařství má zájem jen o ty nejsilnější a jedinci, jeţ takové štěší nemají, jsou vrţeni vlkům. While the translation of this encyclopaedic segment feels a bit less natural and stylistically less smooth, it doesn t contain any major issues or problems. At the end of DA-45, díky ( thanks to ) is inappropriately used in relation to a negative situation. The verb nedošlo in DA-46 is used with a perfective aspect, while the context would favour imperfective form. Excessive use of passive voice can be noticed ( donuceni, vražděni, vrženi ), although this could be in line with the higher register of the source text. 55

56 A few language norm related problems are found an incorrect pronoun jež instead of již in na druhém jsou ti, jež sotva dokáží zažehnout, a missing comma in Tvrdíš, že máme nechat mágy, ať se starají sami o sebe a já ti říkám, or conjunction i instead of more suitable ani in Ušetření nejsou dokonce i někteří mágové. Instruction text DA-47 DA-48 For easy access to potions, click on Quick Heal or Quick Mana/Stamina on the right side of the quickbar. You can also drag usable items into the quickbar as if they were spells or talents. To take control of different party members, simply <LeftClickDefault/> click on their portraits or <LeftClickDefault/> on the characters themselves. To select multiple party members, hold Shift while selecting them. Pro snadný přístup k lektvarům klepněte na Rychlé vyléčení nebo Rychlá mana/výdrţ na pravé straně vaší rychlé nabídky, stejně jako to děláte s kouzly nebo talenty. Pro převzetí kontroly nad členem druţiny stačí <LeftClickDefault/> klepnout na jeho portrét nebo <LeftClickDefault/> na samotnou postavu. Chcete-li vybrat více postav najednou, stiskněte při výběru klávesu Shift. Here, the infinitive of purpose gets translated using the combination of pro ( for ) and a noun ( přístup ) or a verbal noun ( převzetí ). In comparison with the previous two game samples, this solution is less natural and bordering on interference. Player class/background description DA-49 Male Rogue Muţ Lotr DA-50 Rogues can wield a dagger in each hand or rain arrows from a distance. They are particularly adept at tearing down individual opponents and are the only class that can pick locks or disarm traps. 56 Lotři mohou třímat v kaţdé ruce dýku nebo zdálky ostřelovat šípy. Jsou schopní především v boji s jedním protivníkem a jediným povoláním, které dokáţe páčit zámky a vyřazovat pasti.

57 DA-51 Female Mage Ţena Mág DA-52 Mages command arcane spells and hurl bolts of magic from their staves. Despite their immense power, mages are vulnerable when their allies fall or whenever enemy troops attack them directly. Mágové ovládají tajemná kouzla a svou holí metají výboje magie. Navzdory své ohromné moci jsou velice zranitelní, pokud jejich spojenci padnou nebo nepřátelé mága napadnou přímo. The class descriptions are characterized by similar categories of mistakes or elements described in previous sections. In DA-50, the verb ostřelovat is a transitive verb and is missing an object. In the same txt string, zeugma appears in the sentence Jsou schopní především v boji s jedním protivníkem a jediným povoláním, které dokáže páčit zámky a vyřazovat pasti. In DA-52, when is incorrectly translated as if. The class headings contain another example of unnecessary capitalization. Summary Although it s been noted that at first glance, the DA2 localization gives linguistically less natural feel, stylistic quality is difficult to assess through the currently chosen methodology. Thus, if the focus remains on the more easily observable and assessable issues, it could be argued that even though the DA2 text seems to contain more of those than the examples of professional localization, they are roughly of the same level of severity. 6.4 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 57

58 Dialogue segment 1 This dialogue is taken from a scene that takes place upon starting a new game. The player, held in prison for an unspecified reason, is introduced to the emperor, who is on the run from mysterious assassins. The text is used in the form of subtitles for the voiced scenes. TES-1 Emperor You are the one from my dreams... Ty jsi ten z mých snů... TES-2 Emperor Then the stars were right, and this is the day. Pak měly hvězdy pravdu a dnes je ten den. TES-3 Emperor Gods give me strength. Bohové dejte mi sílu. TES-4 Emperor Assassins attacked my sons, and I'm next. Vrahové zabili mé syny... A já budu další na řadě. TES-5 Emperor My Blades are leading me out of the city along a secret escape route. Čepele mě odvádějí pryč z města tajnou únikovou chodbou. TES-6 Emperor By chance, the entrance to that escape route leads through your cell. TES-7 Emperor Perhaps the Gods have placed you here so that we may meet. TES-8 Emperor As for what you have done... it does not matter. TES-9 Emperor That is not what you will be remembered for. TES- Emperor I am your emperor, Uriel Septim. By 10 the grace of the Gods, I serve TES- 11 TES- 12 TES- 13 TES- 14 TES- 15 TES- 16 TES- 17 Emperor Emperor Emperor Tamriel as her ruler. You are a citizen of Tamriel, and you, too, shall serve her in your own way. So do we all. But what path can be avoided whose end is fixed by the almighty Gods? They cannot understand why I trust you. They've not seen what I've seen. Čirou náhodou vede ta tajná úniková chodba skrz tvou celu. Moţná tě sem Bohové umístili záměrně, abychom se my dva potkali. Co jsi provedl... to není podstatné. Proto si tě lidé nebudou pamatovat. Já jsem císař Uriel Septim. Z vůle boţí, slouţím Tamrielu jako jeho vládce. Ty jsi občanem Tamrielu a také mu poslouţíš svým vlastním způsobem. Stejně tak i my všichni. Ale musíme ctít osud a jít po cestě, kterou nám určili samotní Bohové! Nemohou pochopit, proč ti věřím. Neviděli, co já jsem viděl. Emperor How can I explain? Jak to mohu vysvětlit? Emperor Listen. You know the Nine? How They guide our fates with an invisible hand? Poslouchej. Znáš Devítku? Jak vedou náš osud neviditelnout rukou? Player I don't know. I don't think about it. Nevím. Nepřemýšlím o tom. Emperor I've served the Nine all my days, and I chart my course by the cycles of Celý ţivot jsme slouţil Devítce a svou cestu jsem řídil podle 58

59 the heavens. nebeských cyklů. TES- 18 TES- 19 TES- 20 TES- 21 TES- 22 TES- 23 TES- 24 TES- 25 Emperor Emperor Emperor The skies are marked with numberless sparks, each a fire, and every one a sign. I know these stars well, and i wonder... which sign marked your birth? The signs I read show the end of my path. My death, a necessary end, will come when it will come. Nebesa jsou poseta nespočtem hvězd, kaţdá září jako oheň a v kaţdé je ukryto znamení. Znám hvězdy jako by to byly mé děti a jsem zvědavý ve které znamení ses narodil ty? Znamení, která jsem přečetl, ukazují konec mé cesty. Má smrt, nevyhnutelný konec, přijde, kdy má přijít. Player Aren't you afraid to die? Nebojíte se smrti? Emperor Player Emperor Emperor No trophies of my triumphs precede me. But i have lived well, and my ghost shall rest easy. Men are but flesh and blood. They know their doom, but not the hour. In this I am blessed to see the hour of my death To face my apportioned fate, then fall. Mé triumfy mě nepředchází. Vedl jsem však dobrý ţivot a můj duch bude odpočívat v pokoji. Lidé jsou jen maso a krev. Vědí, ţe je jednou čeká smrt, ale neví, kdy nastane. V tomto spočívá mé poţehnání. Znám hodinu své smrti.... abych mohl čelit svému osudu, neţ padnu. The text is not very challenging and the few minor issues found concern word order or punctuation. In TES-9, the word order could be changed so that the emphasis is more correctly placed on nebudou. TES-19 is missing several commas, while TES-10 contains one comma too many. Better formulation, less closely following the source text pattern, could be used in TES-4, so as to say zabili mi syny, instead of mé syny. Dialogue segment 2 These other two dialogue examples were chosen because of the contrasting register. While they are not part of the critical path through the game, they either appear numerous times 59

60 throughout the game (the generic beggar lines that are used by more than one character) or are likely to be encountered early on in the game. TES-26 Beggar 1 I'm savin' up enough for some Šetřím na nějakou medicínu. medicine. TES-27 Beggar 2 Me children are starving. Please help. Mé děti jsou hladové, pomozte mi, prosím. TES-28 Beggar 4 Have pity sir. I gots nothin' ta eat. Mějte slitování pane, nemám co jíst. TES-29 Aelwin You know, stranger, there comes a time in every man's life when he has to admit that he's lost the fight. Well, I've fought and I've lost. TES-30 Aelwin Who did I lose to? Who is my great enemy? Well, don't laugh... it's a bunch of damn fish. TES-31 Aelwin Go on and lau... Wait. Help? Oh. Well, then... I'm a fisherman. Or at least, I was. Until one of those slaughterfish damn near took my leg off. TES-32 Aelwin I was collecting their scales, see. I had a contract with this young alchemist. You wouldn't believe what he was paying for those scales! TES-33 Aelwin Then last month, one of the bastards got ahold of my leg. Took me right out of the business. But this alchemist, he needs the scales right away. Víš, cizinče, v ţivotě kaţdého člověka přijde jednou chvíle, kdy musí uznat, ţe prohrál. Bojoval jsem a prohrál. Kdo mi to dal na frak? Kdo je ten můj velký nepřítel? Nesměj se tomu... jen zatracené hejno ryb. Jen do toho a smě... počkat. Pomůţeš? Ó, inu, pak... já jsem rybář. Tedy alespoň jsem býval. Dokud mi jedna z těch proklatých Zabijaček neukousla nohu. Sbíral jsem jejich šupiny, chápeš. Měl jsem dohodu s tím mladým alchymistou. Neuvěřil bys, kolik za ty šupiny dával. Pak ale minulý měsíc mi jedna z těch bestií vzala nohu. A teď nemůţu rybařit. Ale tenhle alchymista potřebuje ty šupiny hned. The colloquialisms and ungrammatical elements in the beggar s lines, clearly marking a lower register, are not reflected in the translation at all. 60

61 The colloquial style of Aelwin s lines, imitating less formal speech, is expressed through different means in the source text, including specific vocabulary (expressive bunch of damn fish or damn near took my leg off, discourse marker see in TES-32 or repetition in TES-33 ( But this alchemist, he needs the scales ). For the most part, it s not reflected in the translation either. On the contrary, the expressive bunch of damn fish is translated as standard zatracené hejno in TES-30, a discource marker Well, then in TES-31 gets a literal equivalent Ó, inu, pak. Literal translation, resulting in an interference, appears in TES-33, where took my leg off is translated as vzala nohu. Encyclopaedic segment TES-34 Biography of Queen Barenziah by Stern Gamgoge, Imperial Scribe Late in the Second Era, a girl-child, Barenziah, was born to the rulers of the kingdom of Mournhold in what is now the Imperial Province of Morrowind. She was reared in all the luxury and security befitting a royal Dark Elven child until she reached five years of age. At that time, His Excellency Tiber Septim I, the first Emperor of Tamriel, demanded that the decadent rulers of Morrowind yield to him and institute imperial reforms. Trusting to their vaunted magic, the Dark Elves impudently refused until Tiber Septim's army was on the borders An Armistice was hastily signed by the noweager Dunmer, but not before there were several battles, one of which laid waste to Mournhold, now called Almalexia. Little Princess Barenziah and her nurse were found among the wreckage. The Imperia General Symmachus, himself a Dark Elf, suggested to Tiber 61 Ţivotopis královny Barenziah, díl první od Sterna Gamboge, Císařského písaře Koncem druhé éry se vládcům království Mournhold, které je nyní císařskou provincií Morrowind, narodilo děvčátko, Berenziah. Bylo vychováváno v přepychu a bezpečí přiměřeně odpovídajícím dítěti z královské rodiny rasy Temných elfů, dokud nedosáhlo věku pěti let. V té době Jeho Excelence Tiber Septim I, první císař Tamrielu, poţádal, aby se mu dekadentní vládci Morrowindu podrobili a nechali jej provést císařské reformy. V důvěře ve svoji magii, jej Temní elfové drze odmítali, dokud na jejich hranicích nestanula armáda Tiberia Septima. Náhle Dunmeři nedočkavě a spěšně podepsali příměří, ovšem aţ po několika bitvách, z nichţ jedna zpustošila Mournhold, nyní zvaný Almalexia. Malá princezna Barenziah a její

62 TES-35 Septim that the child might someday be valuable, and she was therefore placed with a loyal supporter who had recently retired from the Imperial Army. Sven Advensen had been granted the title of Count upon his retirement; his fiefdom, Darkmoor, was a small town in central Skyrim. Count Sven and his wife reared the princess as their own daughter, seeing to it that she was educated appropriately - and more improtantly, that the imperial virtues of obedience, discretion, loyalty, and piety were instilled in the child. In short, she was made fit to take her place as a member of the new ruling class of Morrowind ošetřovatelka byly nalezena v sutinách. Císařský generál Symmachus, sám Temný elf, navrhl Tiberiu Septimovi, ţe dítě by jednou mohlo být cenné, a proto byla umístěna k loajálnímu stoupenci, který nedávno odešel z Císařské armády. Sven Advensen dostal při odchodu titul Hrabě; jeho léno, Darkmoor, bylo malé město v centrálním Skyrimu. Hrabě Sven a jeho manţelka vychovávali princeznu jako vlastní dceru, dohlíţeje na to, aby byla vhodně vzdělaná - a co je důleţitější, aby byly dítěti vštípeny císařské hodnoty, jako je poslušnost, rozvaha, věrnost a zboţnost. Stručně řečeno, byla vyškolena tak, aby mohla zaujmout své místo jako člen nové vládnoucí třídy v Morrowindu. A few less severe issues can be identified. Several extra commas are used throughout the text, possibly copying the source text punctuation (for example V důvěře ve svoji magii, jej Temní elfové drze odmítali, with the source text being Trusting to their vaunted magic, the Dark Elves impudently refused ). The verb nalezena at the beginning of TESO-35 has an incorrect person (instead of nalezeny ), possibly pointing towards text fragmentation as the cause. The verb suggested in the sentence The Imperia General Symmachus, himself a Dark Elf, suggested to Tiber Septim that the child might someday be valuable is misinterpreted 62

63 as proposed ( navrhnul ), while the intended meaning was probably indicate or hint at. Incorrect participle form is used in TESO-35 in dohlížeje (instead of the correct plural form dohlížejíc ). Unnecessary capitalization occurs in Císařské armády or Temných elfů (a name of a race). Instruction text TES-36 You need a weapon. Check Captain Renault's body. To open any container, approach it and push Space when its name appears. To ready your weapon or fists, push F. To attack, push L-Button. To block, push R-Button. To move forward, push W, push S to move back. To move left, push A. To move right, push D. The mouse turns you. To run, push L-Shift. Potřebuješ zbraň. Prohledej tělo kapitánky Renault. Kdyţ budeš chtít cokoliv otevřít, přijdi k tomu blíţ a stiskni Mezerník aţ se objeví jméno předmětu. Pro vytasení zbraně, stiskni F. Útok, stiskni Levé tlačítko. Kryt, stiskni Pravé tlačítko. Pohyb dopředu, stiskni W, stiskni S pro pohyb dozadu. Doleva, stiskni A. Doprava, stiskni D. Myší se otáčíš. Běhání, stiskni Levý Shift. Apart from the less suitable solution for the infinitive of purpose (the combination of pro and a verbal noun vytasení ), the localized text contains ungrammatical and broken syntax. The reason is unknown; perhaps the aim was to keep the instruction text as short, clear and informative as possible. Player class/background description 63

64 TES-37 TES-38 TES-39 Citizens of Skyrim, they are a tall and fair-haired people. Strong and hardy, Nords are famous for their resistance to cold. They are highly talented warriors. The people of the Wrothgarian and Dragontail Mountains, Orcish armorers are prized for their craftsmanship. Orc troops in heavy armor are among the finest in the Empire, and are fearsome when using their berserker rage. The most naturally talented warriors in Tamriel. In addition to their cultural affinities for many weapon and armor styles, they also have a hardy constitution and a natural resistance to disease and poison. Obyvatele Skyrimu jsou vysocí a světlovasí lidé. Tito silní a drsní seveřané jsou proslulí svojí odolností proti chladu a výbornými válečnickými dovednostmi. Lid, obývající Wrothgarianské a Dragontailské hory. Orčí zbrojíři jsou díky své zručnosti vysoce ceněni. Orčí těţkooděnci jsou jedni z nejlepších vojáků císařství a jejich schopnost propadnout zuřivosti děsí všechny nepřátele. Nejpřirozenější talentovaní válečníci z celého Tamrielu. Nejen, ţe mají ve své kultuře zanesenu rozsáhlou znalost v pouţívání různých typů zbraní a zbrojí, stejně dobře ovládají bojová umění a jsou velmi odolní proti nemocem a jedům. A few spelling/punctuation errors appear ( obyvatele instead of obyvatelé in TES-37, nejen, že in TES-39. Summary The selected text samples from the Oblivion localization contain a number of issues, although none of them could be deemed critical. Grammar or punctuation related errors seem to be more frequent than in the previous three localization samples. The absence of different registers in the dialogues, even in cases where the source text contains enough evident register markers, is definitely noteworthy (but could be a result of a conscious decision for reasons that are not known). 64

65 7. Conclusions This thesis aim was to perform comparative analysis of selected text samples from fan and professional video game localizations. The expectations about the quality of the professional and fan localizations were based mostly on observations made by Petrů (2011), who argues there are not enough conclusive comparative data to allow for any definitive statements about the quality, even though fan translations are quite often automatically, without specific proof, assumed to be worse (p. 88). The results of the analysis could be summarized by a simple statement that the analysed texts didn t differ so much in the severity of the identified issues, but rather in their frequency. The fan localizations seem to contain more issues in slightly higher frequencies, but not necessarily more severe issues. No critical issue, defined for example as a mistake severely altering or modifying the meaning as originally conveyed by the source text, was found in either of the samples, although some cases of mistranslation were found both in the professional and fan translations. All four texts samples struggled with expressing different registers. This could be due to the fact that style and register are difficult to get right within the fragmented text databases or during blind translation, and are possibly considered just a flavour aspect that doesn t receive enough attention during testing unless there is enough time (which there rarely is, 65

66 especially in the professional environment). The professional localizations seem to put more effort into differentiating various character registers, but are not consistent in it. Word order related issues, evaluated based on the communicative dynamism and FSP principle, appeared with roughly the same frequencies across all four samples. Spelling, punctuation or grammar mistakes were found in all four samples, but much more frequently so in the fan localizations (especially in Oblivion). Lexical and syntactic interferences were definitely much more frequent in the fan localizations, although it should be noted that the professional localizations were not void of them either. The frequency and severity of mistakes of this category is unavoidably linked to the complexity of the source text, therefore it s also possible to assume that more challenging texts would produce more errors of this type. This should be taken into account when evaluating for example the more straightforward and less demanding Dragon Age 2 sample texts. The fact that both types of localizations fan and professional contain mistakes or noteworthy elements of similar types and categories could be linked to the previously mentioned unique environment of the Czech Republic where the fan and professional localization scenes are or were largely overlapping in terms of personal resources, but also simply to the fact that both fan and professional localization processes face similar challenges and restrictions given by the nature of the media and of the localization process. This thesis doesn t produce enough data to allow for any conclusive generalizations or hypothesis of this sort. Even though certain measures were adopted to reduce the 66

67 arbitrariness of the text selection process, the limited size of the text samples means the results cannot be automatically transformed into assumptions about the quality of the rest of the text, much less so about the quality of fan and professional localizations in general. Moreover, the smaller the text samples are, the more the results are affected by the quality, complexity and demands of the selected source text. To reach more general conclusions about the quality of fan and professional video game translation, more thorough text analysis with larger text sample would be needed. This thesis, even though it doesn t offer many answers, could perhaps serve at least as an example of a possible approach to the sample texts selection. 67

68 8. Bibliography Written sources Bernal Merino, M. (2006). On the Translation of Video Games. The Journal of Specialised Translation, 6. Retrieved from Bernal Merino, M. (2007). Challenges in the transtion of video games. Revista Tradumàtica, 5. Retrieved from Computing platform. (n.d.). Retrieved 3 February 2014 from Wikipedia: Critical Path. (n.d.). Retrieved 3 February 2014 from Wikipedia: Díaz Cintas, J., Muñoz Sánchez, P. (2006). Fansubs: Audiovisual Translation in an Amateur Environment. The Journal of Specialised Translation, 6. Retrieved 12 November, 2013 from Díaz Montón, D. (2007). It s a funny game. Retrieved from Dietz, F. (2006). Issues in localizing computer games. In K. Dunne (Ed.). Perspectives on Localization. Retrieved from Dietz, F. (2007). How Difficult Can That Be? The Work of Computer and Video Game Localization. Revista Tradumàtica, 5. Retrieved from 68

69 Ešnerová, K. (2012). Harry Potter v oficiálním a amatérském překladu (Master's thesis). Retrieved from Eurogamer (2012). Mass Effect 3 bude v češtině. Nemyslitelné je realitou. Retrieved from Flyvbjerg, Bent. (2011). Case Study. In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln, (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. Retrieved from Knittlová, D. (2010). Překlad a překládání. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého. Kořenek, Martin. (2013). The Process of Video Game Localisation from the Perspective of Translation and Language Testing (BA Thesis). Retrieved from Lombard, R. (2006). A practical case for managing source-language terminology. In K. Dunne (Ed.). Perspectives on Localization. Retrieved from Petrů, Jiři. (2011). Video Game Translation in the Czech Republic from fan era to professionalism (Master's thesis). Retrieved from pdf 69

70 O Hagan, M. (2007). Video games as a new domain for translation research: From translating text to translating experience. Revista Tradumàtica, 5. Retrieved from O Hagan, M. (2009). Evolution of User-Generated Translation: Fansubs, Translation Hacking and Crowdsourcing. The Journal of Internationalisation and Localisation, 1. Retrieved from Schubert, V. (2013a). Video Game Localization Process in the Czech Republic (Master's thesis). Retrieved from Schubert, V. (2013b). TÉMA: Jak se překládají hry do češtiny? Retrieved from Švelch, J. (2011). Amatérský překlad televizních seriálů v sociálním kontextu (Master's thesis). Retrieved from Video game. (n.d). Retrieved 3 February 2014 from Wikipedia: Wicha, L. (2011). Fenomén počítačových her a jejich převod do češtiny (Master's thesis). Retrieved from Xzone (n.d.). Xzone sponzoruje překlad hry. Retrieved from 70

71 Zehnalová, J. (2010). Překlad a hodnocení jeho kvality. In D. Knittlová (Ed.), Překlad a překládání. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého. Video games Alan Wake (2012). Developed by Remedy Entertainment. Published by Microsoft Game Studios. Dragon Age 2 (2011). Developed by BioWare. Published by Electronic Arts. Hellgate: London (2007). Developed by Flagship Studios. Published by Electronic Arts. Mass Effect (2007). Developed by BioWare. Published by Electronic Arts. The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (2006). Developed by Bethesda Game Studios. Published by 2K Games. Dictionaries Hais, K., & Hodek, B. (1997). Velký anglicko český slovník. Praha: Leda Academia. Svozlová, N., Prouzová, H., & Jirsová, A. (2005). Slovník slovesných, substantivních a adjektivních vazeb a spojení. Praha: Academia. 71

72 Summary The aim of the thesis was to examine the question of differences between professional and fan video game Czech localization through a comparative analysis of selected sample texts. The games and the specific texts were chosen based on a pre-built knowledge about professional and fan video game localization processes and also about the specific situation and conditions within the video game localization environment in the Czech Republic. The professional localizations were represented by Mass Effect and Hellgate: London, while the fan localization category was represented by The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and Dragon Age 2. During the analysis, mistakes or deficits related to equivalency/meaning, language norm and register were tracked and searched for. There was no quantification method, no method for stylistic quality evaluation other than assessing the general flow and fluency of the text, and no assessment of compliance with various formal subtitling quality standards. The analysis identified similar categories of mistakes or noteworthy issues in both the professional and fan localizations. While the issues seemed to be more frequent in the fan localizations, the severity of individual issues didn t significantly vary between the texts, suggesting that all the localization teams face similar challenges or restrictictions. Due to the restricted scope of the thesis, it s been acknowledged the comparative analysis cannot claim to be more than an example of a possible approach to the problem. 72

73 Resumé Cílem práce bylo prozkoumat téma rozdílů mezi profesionální a amatérskou lokalizací počítačových her do češtiny prostřednictvím srovnávací analýzy vybraných vzorků textů zastupujících oba segmenty. První teoretické kapitoly slouţily nejen jako uvedení do problému, ale poloţily i základ k jednomu z moţných řešení problému jak vybrat vzorový text, aby postihl co největší šíři aspektů lokalizační práce a překladatelských problémů, se kterými se lokalizační týmy potýkají. Čtyři vybrané hry měly být v určitém ohledu alespoň částečně typickými zástupci svých kategorií. Během analýzy se sledovaly především problémy související s ekvivalencí, jazykovou normou a rejstříkem. Všechny zkoumané texty obsahovaly chyby či přinejmenším sporné prvky všech těchto kategorií. Na jednu stranu lze říci, ţe se různé chyby ve fanouškovských překladech vyskytovaly častěji, na druhou stranu tyto chyby dosahovaly v obou segmentech zhruba stejného stupně závaţnosti, a některé chyby zjištěné v profesionálních lokalizacích nebyly i nic méně závaţné neţ ty nalezené ve fanouškovských textech. Na hledání konkrétních důvodů v této práci další prostor nebyl a obecnější závěry o kvalitě nebylo moţné učinit s ohledem na velmi omezený rozsah práce i samotných vzorových textů. Spíše neţ konkrétnější odpověď na otázku po kvalitativních rozdílech mezi fanouškovským a profesionálním překladem počítačových her tak tato práce můţe poslouţit jako příklad moţného přístupu k danému problému. 73

74 Appendix 1 The original text databases The below figures show screenshots of the actual text databases used for the purpose of this thesis. These game databases are not publicly available. In the case of DA2 and HL, these were also the exact translation files used by the localization teams for translation. Figure 1: Screenshot of the original Hellgate: London text database in an Excel format 74

75 Figure 2: Screenshot of the Dragon Age 2 text database Figure 3: Screenshot of the Mass Effect database in an Excel format 75

76 Appendix 2 Figure 4: Localization quality or the lack thereof is rarely mentioned in game reviews. Hellgate: London was oe of the exceptions. (From a review published in an unknown issue of the Czech gaming magazine Score) 76