The Translation of Realia and Irrealia in Game Localization: Culture-Specificity between Realism and Fictionality

This book explores the impact of video game realism or fictionality on its linguistic dimensions, investigating the challenges and strategies for translating realia and irrealia, the interface of the real world and the game world. It applies an interdisciplinary approach drawing on video game research and Descriptive Translation Studies to analyze in-game dialogs in English-Italian and English-Spanish language pairs from three war video games.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 232 pages
Publication date: 31 May 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive exploration delves into the profound impact of video games' realism or fictionality on their linguistic dimensions, shedding light on the challenges and strategies involved in translating realia and irrealia, the intricate interface between the real world and the game world. The volume meticulously outlines the essential elements in the translation of video games, including textual non-linearity, multitextuality, and playability, while introducing the theoretical framework employed to determine a game's respective degree of realism or fictionality. Through an interdisciplinary approach, drawing upon video game research and Descriptive Translation Studies, Pettini conducts a linguistic and translational analysis of in-game dialogs in English-Italian and English-Spanish language pairs from a corpus of three war video games. This approach enables a detailed examination of the localization challenges posed by the diverse range of realism and fictionality across video games, as well as the diverse strategies employed by translators to navigate these complexities. In the final chapter, a comparative analysis of the three games is presented, followed by avenues for further research on the role of culture-specificity in game localization.

This book serves as a vital resource for students and scholars engaged in the fields of game localization, audiovisual translation studies, and video game research. It offers a deep understanding of the linguistic and translational complexities inherent in translating video games, providing valuable insights into the industry's evolving practices and methodologies.

Weight: 453g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032073545