作者：Volker Morbach

本土化——自由职业者的看法：

作为过去曾替各代理机构和发行商处理各种已发行作品的自由译者，我非常愿意分享我的个人经验，帮助大家更快更好地完成本土化过程。

理想情境是：

* 游戏存在数据库，数据库包含需要进行有组织转换的字符串。

* 理想情况是数据库存在道具（游戏邦注：最好包含统计数据）和NPC截图（+ NPC性别）。

NPC game from gameshastra.in

* 更重要的是，我们要能弄清所说的字符串是按键、工具提示、系统信息、会话登陆、玩家反馈、任务描述、道具描述、帮助文本、网站文本、道具名称、NPC名称、怪兽名称，还是地点名称。

* 在转换过程中，若译者能够直接从数据库下载和上传译文，帮助很大。

* 更有益的是集中交流平台（论坛）、消除转发需求、以及记录各种邮件。

* 数据库的主要目的是查找字符串X。若译者知晓字符串在游戏中的位置，就能找到最佳解决方案（和“最安全”的解决方案）。

若数据库能以Excel文本输出，那再好不过，译者将会怀着万分高兴的心情调整保存得当、组织有序的内容。之所以出现许多转换糟糕的条文是由于文本/大图丢失。我过去主要处理游戏内容，其中的会话登陆、系统信息和玩家回答都一同呈现，没有指明谁和谁交谈。我投入更多精力探究进展情况（游戏邦注：而非在此种情境下阅读的趣味所在）。

数据信息：

译者每周能够翻译1.25万字，这包括校对、研究和查询归档。

费用是80-160美元/1000字，这取决于雇佣对象、其经验和内容。虽然聘请中介进行本土化所获结果更可靠，但这不是最便宜、最快速的选择。中介机构基本都是营销公司，他们通常不会聘请最佳人选。

组织：

从理论角度看，创建数据库就已足够。译者团队需要的是大量excel文件，以及说明字符串源地的“地图”。显然你还需要某人配合团队。其中的某个译者就能够完成这项任务。

主要困难在于将内容转换成独立字符串，旨在创建需转换字符缝纫“存储库”。对更大项目而言，数据库是个不可或缺的元素。否则我们会因此浪费大量时间和劳动于归档查询，初步猜测，然后剪辑猜测错误的地方。

对于小型项目而言，我们可以选择直接在原内容中转换，但这不是最合理的方案。

精挑细选的小型译者团队表现最好。此外，在最初阶段创建论坛，回答各种问题要比通过中介机构过滤有价值信息效果显著。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Translation: What’s the point when localizing?

by Volker Morbach

Localization – A freelancer’s point of view:

As a freelance translator who has been working on various published titles for various agencies and publishers in the past, I’d like to share my experience with anyone who is interested in organizing a faster and better localization process.

The ideal scenario is as follows:

* The game has a database which contains every string that needs to be translated in some kind of organized order.

* Ideally this database has a screenshot for items (preferably with stats) and NPCs (+ NPC gender).

* Even more importantly, it should be possible to find out whether the string in question is a button, tooltip, system message, dialog entry, player’s response, quest description, item description, help text, website text, item name, NPC name, monster name or place name.

* During translation it will be very helpful if translators are able to upload and download their translations directly into and from the database.

* Even more helpful will be a centralized communication platform (forum), eliminating the need for forwarding and keeping track of countless emails.

* The main purpose of the database is to be able to locate string X. If the translator knows where the string is used in-game he can come up with the most appropriate solution (as opposed to the solution that is the “safest” choice).

If this database can be exported into a excel file, everything will be fine and translators will be overjoyed to be working with something properly documented and organized for a change.
The majority of poorly translated terms come into existence because the context/big picture was lost. – I have been working on material in the past where dialog entries, system messages and players’ answers were happily presented together, without any indication about who is actually talking to whom. I spent more energy trying to figure out what’s actually going on than actually thinking about what would be fun to read in this situation.

Some data:

Translators can translate about 12500 words/week, this includes checking, research and filing queries.

The cost can be anywhere from $80-$160/1000 words, depending on the people that are hired, their experience and the material. Although hiring agencies to do the loca will eventually produce acceptable results, it is neither the cheapest nor fastest option. Agencies are basically marketing corporations who may or may not hire the best people for the job.

Organizing:

In theory setting up the database should be enough. All a team of translators needs is a bunch of excel files and some kind of “map” to know where the strings have been taken from. Obviously you will also need somebody to coordinate the team. One of the translators (the best/most experienced one) will be able to do this.

The main difficulty is transforming the material into segemented strings (preferably sentences) to set-up some kind of “library” of all strings that need to be translated. For larger projects a database is mandatory. Otherwise a lot of time and quality will be lost with filing tons of queries and doing many hours of first guessing and then editing where guesses have proved to be wrong.

For smaller projects translation directly in the source material is possible although not very desirable.

Small teams of carefully chosen translators will perform best. Also setting up a forum somewhere and answering all kinds of questions during the start is much better than filtering valuable info through an agent.

This article tries to give a general idea about what would be desirable from a translator’s point of view. Any thoughts, comments and ideas on this subject are welcome.（Source：Gamasutra）