MAGAZINE

#217 – July

Video games are big business — localizing and culturalizing them is no small task. Learn more about the finer mechanics of video game and entertainment localization in this issue of MultiLingual.

POSTEDITING

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ntertainment is as much a human necessity as food and rest — we all need to decompress from time to time. It’s also big business, and never more so than now, as movie studios, record labels, book publishers, and game developers reach out worldwide to find new audiences.

There’s perhaps no better example of that than the video game industry, which has grown over the last three decades to become the biggest entertainment industry in the world. That’s thanks in large part to the advent of the smartphone and the popularity of mobile gaming, but the industry also includes game studios across the globe that create state-of-the-art entertainment in console and computer games.

The annual MultiLingual games issue, which also touches on entertainment generally, tackles some of the thornier aspect of localizing games. For instance, how do you translate a game that is highly dependent on procedurally generated text? And what about the cultures you’re localizing into? This month’s featured profile is Kate Edwards, who built her career helping to pioneer ideas concerning culturalization and geopolitical strategy. We also feature articles about subtitling and dubbing — important services not just for video games but the entertainment industry as a whole.

The number of women contributing articles to this magazine is also terrific. Women have been fighting hard for the past 10 years to ensure their voices and contributions to the games industry are heard, often while enduring immense professional and cultural challenges. It’s heartening, then, to see any sign of progress.

Wherever this magazine reaches you in the world, I hope you’re taking the time to enjoy a good game, book, movie, or musical performance in your own life. A little self-care is important, after all.

Katie Botkin signature

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COLUMN

Art or Signage?

By Tim Brookes

In his latest column for MultiLingual, Endangered Alphabets founder Tim Brookes explores the history of the Kikakui script, which was developed about a century ago for Sierra Leone’s indigenous Mende language. Read on to learn about how he’s working with some Sierra Leoneans to revitalize the script.

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PERSPECTIVES

On the Psychology of Languages

By Vijetha D Jois

MultiLingual readers come from a diverse range of languages, cultures, backgrounds, and even generations. This essay was submitted by a language-loving eighth-grader living in Bangalore, India.

Be Fearless on Your Way to Multilingual Mastery

By Marina Pantcheva

Language learning can be a difficult task — that’s why RWS’ Marina Pantcheva put together this in-depth look at the different factors at play in the process of learning to speak a new language.

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PROFILE

Kate Edwards: Mapping Game Culturalization

Interview by Cameron Rasmusson

Listed among “The 10 Most Powerful Women In Gaming” in 2013 by Fortune, Kate Edwards pioneered a geopolitical strategy team at Microsoft and now works full-time helping companies ensure their products respect regional sensitivities while maintaining their business or artistic vision. In this conversation with MultiLingual, Edwards talks about her career and the evolving landscape of video game localization.

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VOICEOVER

Stretch, Bend, and Adapt: On the resilience of the voiceover industry

By Joan Dans

When it comes to industry-disrupting technologies, Joan Dans has seen a thing or two throughout the course of her career. In this piece for MultiLingual, Dans takes a look at the ways in which technological advancements have shaped the voiceover industry.

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GAMING

Brazilian Gamers Get Local: The rise of game localization in Brazil

By Melissa Harkin

Brazil is one of the largest gaming markets in Latin America — so why has the gaming industry historically overlooked the country when it comes to localization efforts? Here, Melissa Harkin takes a deep dive into the country’s untapped potential and the rising movement to localize and culturalize video games for the Brazilian market.

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CULTURE

A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words:
How tattoos and language are intertwined

By Heather Breaux

In this long read, writer and journalist Heather Breaux takes a look at how the art of tattoo is deeply linked to local cultures and languages. Follow along as she takes us on a journey from the art form’s early days to the cultural phenomenon it’s become today. 

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DUBBING

Africa: Dark continent or the last frontier?

Just as the African continent as a whole is often misunderstood by outsiders, so too is the continent’s localization and dubbing industry. Here, Louise Callcott-Stevens debunks some of those misunderstandings and outlines ways that you can break into local markets there with a strong content localization strategy.

HOW TO

How to Localize a Game with Procedurally Generated Text

By Mikhail AlekseevDaria Batrova, and Danil Belousov

Mikhail Alekseev, Daria Batrova and Danil Belousov are no strangers to working on games that feature procedurally generated text. Here, the trio explains their strategy for localizing games that feature procedural generation.

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GAMES

Translators and Ninjas Localizing Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

By Marina Ilari

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a popular action-adventure game developed by FromSoftware. The game, which won the Game of the Year Award in 2019, rose to widespread acclaim in part due to a strong localization strategy that allowed it to be enjoyed by players from all sorts of cultures. In her latest for MultiLingual, Marina Ilari takes a look at the localization process for Sekiro.

SUBTITLING/DUBBING

What Subtitling and Dubbing Have to Offer:
Despite it all, we’re in a good spot

By Bente Ottersen

Despite all the challenges we’ve seen over the last couple of years in the industry — take, for instance, the COVID-19 pandemic, or the looming specter of generative AI’s implications for many jobs — Bente Ottersen believes that the fields of subtitling and dubbing remain in a good position for future growth.

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REVIEW

ULUS: Legend of the Nomads. Ankle bones, calligraphy, and Mongolian super heroes

Review by Cameron Rasmusson

If video games aren’t your thing, maybe you’ll enjoy a more traditional board game instead. Try ULUS. In this piece for MultiLingual, editor-in-chief Cameron Rasmusson reviews the game developed by the folks over at Endangered Alphabets.

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