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面向多种语言进行游戏本土化的问题

发布时间:2013-08-02 15:26:41 Tags:,,,,

作者:Jan Werkmeister

对于许多本土化公司来说,使用多种语言去管理并协调项目具有许多潜在的问题。

总部位于米兰的本土化和翻译机构Synthesis的项目经理Emanuels Scichilone说道:“当提到多种语言时,可视化与当地部门和参与团队间的交流便成为了主要优势。”

“当我开始致力于项目时,我会先分析资产并进行整理。随后我会连同说明书,并使用自己的语言将其介绍给其它团队。这不管对于项目的启动还是整体的本土化过程都是有效的。当我们瞄准了一个问题时,我们便会将该信息告知项目经理,从而让他去协调每个语言团队。”

Scichilone继续说道:“在不同的方向上这一方法也能发挥作用:当任何团队发现问题时,他们便会向上级汇报,而项目经理便会与我的团队分享该信息。”

“很明显这是一个巨大的利益,因为我们拥有更多机会事先找到并解决问题。内部协调和交流过程也是一个明显的优势,即能够面向一个供应商同时处理多种语言,就像Synthesis——单一的本地供应商是不会轻易分享信息的。这种方法适用于所有本土化阶段;不管是翻译,所有音频录音阶段还是语言测试。虽然做到这点并不总是那么容易,但这却是我们必须做的事。”

手动翻译

这一方法是在20世纪90年代才开始发生改变,因为在那之前自动化还未普及,并且没有一个项目是相同的。

“我们需要游戏设计文件词汇表,即在此能够找到语音语调,人物关系等等。有些RPG需要维持一些现有的术语(如《龙与地下城》的规则集),有些游戏则是源于知名的授权内容,如卡通,漫画,电影,也有些游戏是以奇幻世界或中世纪背景展开等等。我们不能在任何地方都使用同样的风格。简单地说便是,护卫并不能像贵族那样说话。”

面向每个项目处理并计划不同的资产要求一个良好的组织,也就是说一个好的组织是稳定质量的基础。

Scichilone说道:“对于一款成功的AAA级本土化游戏来说,最重要的元素便是组织,本土化供应商的协调,以及来自客户的优秀资源。”

如今引起大轰动的游戏的工作流程都更加先进,因为它们的整体游戏内容都在不断壮大。除此之外,团队规模也在发展着,分享信息并确保这些信息的即时更新能够确保无故障生产。

Scichilone继续说道:“我将使用我们最近的2个项目为例。《天际》中有超过100万个单词需要翻译,有超过70万个单词需要记录,而《耻辱》则是关于9万个单词的记录。”

Dishonored(from develop-online)

Dishonored(from develop-online)

“显然,对于《耻辱》我们只需要一名翻译者和一名校对员。但是对于《天际》,我们便需要组建一个拥有4至5名翻译员的团队,再加上专门的审查团队才足以在时间期限内翻译完这大量的内容。”

全球市场

当提到实行本土化将游戏翻译成其他语言时,我们总是能够意识到优秀的组织与团队间的信息分享的重要性。Sythesis也与其它本土化供应商一样,即除了经典的FIGS(游戏邦注:法国,意大利,德国,瑞士)这四个国家的语言,它也希望接触到更多语言。

Scichilone说道:“虽然FIGS是欧洲中最重要的国家,但我也发现一些东欧国家,如波兰和俄罗斯的游戏市场也在不断发展着,所以对于这些国家语言的需求将变得更加迫切。许多发行商还跨过欧洲,开始寻求一些新兴市场,如巴西,南美洲,亚洲等等,他们还特别专注于中国和韩国市场。”

但是当客户需要其它额外的语言时,Synthesis的工作流程却未出现改变。作为委托人就需要有一个接触点,也就是项目经理,他/她将负责协调不同地区。

Scichilone说道:“我们拥有专门的团队去负责除FIGS之外的其它语言,包括荷兰语,北欧语和东欧语,以及东方国家的语言和所有亚洲国家语言。甚至曾有人要求我们提供塔加拉族语的翻译。的确,我们还需要面对不同时区,但是我们总是能够灵活地应对,并不断尝试着去满足客户的各种需求。“

因为全球发行的发展而导致客户要求更多语言只是本土化市场所经历的众多改变之一。在过去,Synthesis一直在回应着市场的发展,并且在将来,他们仍会继续这么做。

翻译未来

对我们来说,最重要的一点便是确保新语言,区域或工作流程能够始终遵循质量标准。创造并整合新语言到团队的游戏组合中需要花费一定时间,所以我们就需要确保任何本土化供应商不仅能够适应现状,同时还能预见市场未来的发展。

Synthesis的首席执行官兼创始人Max Reynaud解释道:“我们已经做了这项工作好几年了,我们已经在不同平台上完成了数千个不同的项目,面对着来自不同开发者的不同问题,我们总是能够立刻就清楚客户的需求。”

“我们的目标是将自己所有的知识贡献给客户的每日工作。这是我们过去20年里所有合作者和客户们所拥有的,也是今后的新客户能够期待的。市场在遵循着自己的方向发展着,而Synthesis则在努力适应着这种发展。为了实现这一目标,我们始终在努力确保辅助元素和积极性的平衡下尝试着每一个新项目。”

Reynaud相信游戏本土化的全球化刚刚开始,而电子游戏发行商的需求将更加趋于全球化和综合化。

“我们期待市场能够逐渐朝着全球多任务供应商靠拢。这就像是一个循环;20年前我们是从多语言供应商发展起来,这并不能完全满足发行商的期望,但是却向带有强大区域定位的当地代理开启了大门,就像Synthesis。同时,有些发行商甚至开始在内部运行着一种重要服务,如QA。”

挑战并不会在此结束

时间危机

Reynaud预测到:“对于该产业来说,接下来的几年都不会轻松。”

“我们已经看到过去5年里经济发展,所以我更加相信当前的危机会继续延伸下去,并且影响范围将不只是希腊,西班牙或意大利这些市场发展较‘疲软’的国家,甚至还会波及中欧和美国等国家,所以客户和发行商们将通过向新领域与市场的扩展而抗击这种问题。”

Synthesis将需要专注于服务的可靠性,并尽量把握住任何机会。

Reynaud证实:“这将是Synthesis所面临的最大挑战之一,并且我们也需要投入所有努力朝着这一方向前进。”

就像Scichilone所说的,经济压力也会推动着客户开始寻求一些低成本的提供,他便目睹了许多这样的项目。但是低成本的方法却并不适于长期的发展。

Scichilone总结道:“到最后,许多这样的客户都会回头寻求我们的帮助,并在接下来的项目中继续与我们进行合作。”

也许这也是推动Synthesis发展,并维持客户与其多年合作的一大元素:在困境下支持并努力解决问题。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Localising a game for multiple languages

by Jan Werkmeister

Managing and coordinating projects with multiple languages presents a myriad of potential issues for any localisation company.

“When it comes to multiple languages, full visibility and communication between the local departments and teams involved have some crucial advantages,” says Emanuele Scichilone, project manager at Milan-headquartered localisation and translation outfit Synthesis.

“When my work on a project begins, I first analyse the assets and clean them up. Once I have done that I share them along with all the instructions I would recommend for my own language to all other teams. This is valid both for the project kick-off, but also for the whole localisation process. When we spot a problem, we share this information with the project managers that coordinate each language team.

“This approach is also valid in the opposite direction: when any of the teams find a problem, they report it and their project manager shares it with my team,” continues Scichilone.

“This clearly is a great benefit because there are more chances to find and fix issues in advance. The internal harmonisation and communication process is a clear advantage of handling several languages with one vendor like Synthesis – single local vendors just can’t share information easily. This working method is applied at all localisation stages; translation, all audio recordings phases and linguistic testing. It’s not always easy, but that is a ‘must do’ for us.”

HANDS ON LANGUAGE

This approach has not changed since the 1990s because still nothing is automated and no project is the same. It remains hands-on work and experience helps assess a project’s needs.

“We require the game design document glossaries where we look at the language tone to be used, the characters relationships and so on. Some RPGs need to maintain some existing terminology (the D&D rule set, for instance), some games are IPs coming from known licenses as cartoons, comics, movies and some titles are set in fantasy or medieval time, etcetera. We can’t use the same style everywhere. Quite simply, squires don’t talk the same way as noblemen.”

Coping with, and planning, all the different assets for each project calls for a good organisation, as good organisation is the whole basis for consistent quality.

“The most important aspects for a successful triple-A localisation are organisation and coordination from the localisation provider, and an company with good source assets from the client side,” offers Scichilone.

The workflows of today’s blockbuster games have to be more advanced since their overall game content has grown. In addition, the team sizes grow and sharing information and keeping this information updated ensures a trouble free production.

“Using two of our recent projects as an example; Skyrim was over one million words to be translated, with over 700,000 words to be recorded, while Dishonored was actually about 90,000 words of recordings,” continues Scichilone.

“It’s evident that for Dishonored, according to the schedule, we could use one translator – and one proof reader – for Skyrim. However, we needed to build teams of four-to-five translators, plus a dedicated reviewing team that could cope with such a big amount of words within the given schedule.”

A GLOBAL MARKET

Good organisation and sharing information among teams becomes even more vital when it comes to localising a game into additional languages. As with other localisation providers, Synthesis is getting requests for more languages than just the classic FIGS.

“The FIGS countries are the most important countries in Europe, but I am seeing that with some of the eastern European countries like Poland and Russia where their games markets are growing, these languages are becoming required more and more often. Outside of Europe, publishers are now looking with interest to emerging markets, like Brazil, South America and Asia, with focus on China and Korea in particular” says Scichilone.

However, Synthesis’ workflow approach does not change when a client needs any additional language. As a client there is one point of contact – the project manager – and s/he coordinates the different territories.

“We have dedicated teams to cover all other European languages; Dutch, Nordics, Eastern European, Oriental and all Asian languages,” continues Scichilone. “Once we have been asked even for Tagalog. Indeed, we also have to cope the different time zones, but we are pretty flexible and always try to match clients’ needs.”

A client requesting more languages as a result of the global publishing approach is just one of the many changes the localisation market is experiencing. Synthesis has consistently reacted to market developments in the past and it will do in the years to come.

TRANSLATING THE FUTURE

The most important aspect is keeping up with the quality standard for any new language, territory or workflow. The process of establishing and integrating new languages into the group’s portfolio takes its time, so it’s vitally important for any localisation provider to not only adapt to the current situation, but foresee future development of markets.

“We’ve been doing this job for so many years now, working on literally thousands of different projects on different platforms, from different developers with different issues, that we got to instinctively know what the client expects from us,” explains Max Reynaud, Synthesis CEO and founder.

“Our goal is to put all our knowledge and dedication at the client’s disposal on a daily basis. This is what our oldest partners and clients have been experiencing over the last two decades and this is what every new client is going to receive from us. The market follows its own path and Synthesis adjusts to it. In doing this, we try to approach each new project with what we consider the best balance of assistance and proactivity.”

Reynaud believes that the globalisation of game localisation has only just begun and that videogame publisher’s demands will get even more global and comprehensive.

“I expect the market to progressively head towards global multitask vendor providers. It’s like a circle; we started 20 years ago with multi-language providers which were not able to fully deliver on the expectations of the publishers, and this opened the doors to local agencies with a strong territorial positioning to flourish, as with Synthesis. At the same time, some publishers have been bringing in-house some key services, like QA.”

And the challenges don’t end there.

A TIME CRISIS

“The upcoming years won’t be easy for the industry” Reynaud predicts.

“I’ve been studying how the economic scenario has been unfolding over the last five years, and I’m getting more and more convinced that the current crisis will extend and will not hit just the ‘weaker’ countries like Greece, Spain or Italy but also central Europe and US in a way that few could expect at the moment, so clients and publishers will be looking to counter this by expanding into new territories and markets.”

Synthesis will need to keep focusing on the reliability of the service it provides and take every opportunity coming.

“This is going to be one of the biggest challenges that Synthesis has faced and it is this direction where we’re channeling all our efforts at the moment,” confirms Reynaud.

Economic pressures also force clients to go for low-cost offers says Scichilone, who has seen a lot of these projects. But low-cost approaches seldom work well in the long-term.

“In the end many of those clients came back to us and asked for help with their localisation and then stayed with us for their upcoming projects,” concludes Scichilone.

Maybe this is one of the aspects that drives Synthesis forward and makes clients stay working with the company over so many years: support and solving problems, even under difficult circumstances.(source:develop-online)


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