欧美国际化的建议 - A localization guide to Western countries

A localization guide to Western countries 
(Americas & Europe)
欧美国际化的建议

Written by Jaewon Lee(jaewonlee)
Translated by Jiezhou（周洁）

   Launching a game in your home country is tough enough. But, taking on regions where you are not familiar with can be an even harder and more tough situation. The key is understanding the barriers you meet while you try localization. It could be language, habits, or cultures from different place and countries. Basic factors to localize to global western division (includes North America)

一般在自己国家发行一款游戏都是一件困难的事，何况在其他你并不了解的国家发行可能困难超乎你的想象。国际化所遇到的障碍可能是语言，习惯，或文化的不同。欧美国际化的基本要素可以分为（包括北美）

1.  Translation

   Basically Asian languages are very different from Alphabet based languages. For the basic example, English is always longer phrase than Asian languages. So when you translate it to English, occupying screen space is very different. So you will need to make sure your interface can accommodate that change.
So sometimes you need to rearrange your game's UI design from vertical to horizontal one. Additionally when you make a translation, do not use automated translation. Bad translation could make your game as low-rated game quality. Find professional translator and multiple time's of checking will be highly needed. Also as a translator, you need person not just translator, but translator with cultural knowledge. Then you will have real native translated language in your localized game.

1.  翻译

         亚洲语言和字母语言是非常不同的。举个例子，英语句子总是比中文句子长。所以当中文翻译为英语的时候，屏幕上的排列是比较难的问题。所以你必须确认你的界面可以匹配这个变化。所以有些时候你必须改变你的UI界面从垂直的变成横向的。另外当你翻译的时候，不要用字典直接翻译的字眼，不恰当的翻译会降低你游戏的品质。找一个对行业充分了解的专业翻译并且经常检查游戏效果是非常有必要的。因为对于翻译来说，人比字典好的地方显而易见，人会灵活运用字典和对于当地文化了解做结合，这样做出来的翻译更容易被当地人接受。

2.       Voice Recording

   Many of western players expect most of game voice to be localized as well. If already your game has English based voice-acting for characters, it could be no problem. But, if not, you may need to localize the voice recording. This process is somewhat complicate. You will need some of specialists such as dubbing actor, sound director, sound engineer and recording manager. And of course you will need high-technology of sound equipments to  work on it. 
And sometimes you need to hire famous voice actor or actress. It could affects to many players to good and familiar feeling of games.

2.  录音

  大多数当地玩家是期待游戏声音能够听起来很本土化的。如果你的游戏角色本身有英语配音，应该没问题。但是如果没有，那么你需要本土化的录音。这个程序某种程度上说是比较复杂的。你会需要专业的配音演员，音效导演，音效工程师和录音管理者。当然你还需要一套高科技音效设备来工作。有些时候你需要雇用有名的配音演员。这样能带给玩家很好的熟悉的感觉，让玩家快速融入游戏玩法中去。

3.      Art & Graphics

   Localization doesn't end with translation. Visual items can be a serious concern. For the art-side, Eastern and Western people's preference is so much different. For East Asian prefer Japanese-looking art, but Western people still prefer more realistic shape of looking art. You may need to adjust the style of your game in order to have great success in Western countries. Partnering  with a local design house could be an option. Because you need current trend of local design for art. Some region needs special needs for localization. Specially you need to avoid using religious design and racism related. And political factor could be also removed. Some pose and color concept also could be changed.

3. 美术&绘图

  本地化并不是指文字翻译成当地文字就完成了，画面的视觉效果是非常相关的。在美术方面，东西方玩家的审美非常不同。对于亚洲玩家来说可能更喜欢日式卡通的风格，但是西方玩家喜欢写实风格的美术。为了能在西方市场的成功，我们必须调整我们的美术风格。比如参考当地房屋的设计，因为你需要的是当时当地流行的美术风格。

4.       QA / TEST

QA (Quality Assurance) is one of the important job for localization. Even during basic game developing, QA is also one of key part. But, for localization, QA from localized people is most important part of localization process. For language and cultural gap, they can find the problem and develop to be well-localized in each country-side.

4. 品质保证/测试

    QA(品质保证)是本土化的重要一环。当然在游戏开发当中QA都是很关键的。但是对于本土化，来自当地的QA反馈是最重要的一部分。对于语言和文化分歧，他们可以找到问题和优化方案来达到很好的本土化效果。

5.       Translation vs. Localization（翻译VS本土化）

上面的图表是说明“本土化”和“直接翻译”成当地语言的区别。 

South America南美

   Expected to be the highest-growing mobile games market, South America has huge opportunities for games developers. 
First, you should be even more careful about the languages. Latin America – known as LATAM – speaks Portuguese and Spanish, but these are not the same as their European counterparts. 
   Some translators or agencies will propose that you translate your game into a ‘neutral’ form of Spanish or Portuguese, in order to save money. I strongly recommend against this. ‘Neutral Portuguese’ or ‘neutral Spanish’ doesn’t really exist, and doesn’t reflect real-world experiences. You need to hire native translators from South America. And make sure you choose the right form of Portuguese or Spanish when submitting your app description to the local iOS and Google Play store. 

期待在全球成长最快的手游市场成功，南美有巨大的机会提供给游戏开发商们。

首先，对于语言要非常小心。在南美的拉丁美洲，（缩写为LATAM）当地人说葡萄牙语和西班牙语，但是生活在欧洲的拉丁美洲人是不一样的。为了省钱，一些翻译者或代理商会建议你用中立的西班牙语或葡萄牙语。我个人非常反对这种做法。“中性的葡萄牙语”或“中性的西班牙语”是不存在的，而且和真实世界没有联系。你必须聘用北美本地人做翻译。然后确认你选择了正确的葡萄牙语或西班牙语的形式提交给IOS和Google游戏。

   You should also be aware that South America is, mostly, in the southern hemisphere, so the seasons are different. Christmas is hot. A school vacation in July can get pretty chilly. Keep an eye on references to weather or seasons in your game. It helps to ask your translator to pay special attention to climate-related content.

你需要认识到关于南美是属于南半球，所以季节和我们不一样，圣诞节很热。七月份的学生暑假是很冷的。所以在游戏里最好贴近当地的天气。翻译需要了解并关注当地的气候，以便达到游戏内的反馈精准贴近当地用户。

Europe欧洲

   In the European market, the challenge lies in the linguistic diversity. There are 24 official languages of the EU, while Switzerland alone has four. Each has its own grammar and character system. 
   Your game's source code must do internationalization very well. Apart from extracting your strings from the source code, you must ensure that the infrastructure is compatible with various grammar rules in European languages.
   Grammatical gender and plurality is a common issue. German has three forms of gender, Polish four forms of plurality. You may need to refer to the Unicode standard and structure your code accordingly.To bring your game to Europe, you have to work with a couple of translators. Forget about email and spreadsheet. Use a translation management system to automate the localization workflow and smoothen the communication process.  In general, give flexibility to translators to adjust content for the target market. Allow them to bring their own creativity and communicate with them closely.

在欧洲市场，语言分歧是一个挑战。欧洲有24种语言，新西兰就有4种语言，每一种都有其独特的语法和性格。

你的游戏源代码必须非常的国际化。除此之外从你的源代码中提取的字符串，必须保证里面的代码结构和欧洲不同的语言的语法规则是兼容的。

语法性和多元化是共同的问题。德国有三种性质的语言，波兰语就有4种形式，你必须参考Unicode标准适配代码结构。对于欧洲的本土化，你一定会和多个翻译一起工作，不要用email和电子表格。用翻译管理系统使沟通过程更自动化。总的来说，让翻译工作更具有灵活性来适应当地的目标市场。允许他们发挥创造力，和他们沟通更密切。

End

Currently world-wide game player is changing. Before that time, they usually are satisfied from the fact that they can play other countries game directly. And sometimes they studied other languages for playing games from other countries. However, situation is changing. For the last I want to show this phrase for current players in the world. Now they are no more players who were already known by us.

结束

目前全世界的玩家正在改变。在那之前，他们通常对于可以直接玩到其他国家开发的游戏而感到满足。有些玩家甚至为了玩游戏而学习其他国家的语言。无论如何，情况正在改变。最后我想对全世界的玩家说这句话，现在他们已经不是我们已知的游戏玩家了。

Consumers no longer  tolerate gaming experiences 
which are not tailored for them.they have money 
and they'll spend it where they're embraced and charmed。

用户不再容忍游戏体验不是为他们量身定做。
他们有钱而且会在他们能够接受并且觉得有魅力的产品当中花钱。