Game Localization: A Blossoming Industry in South Korea
By Chloe Chan
According to Cambridge Dictionary, the term localization is generally defined as “the process of making a product or service more suitable for a particular country or area.”1 Technically, localization is mostly applied to the business activities where cultural elements are highly involved, such as applications, software, and websites. Under the strong influence of globalization, businesses have begun to recognize the significance of accommodating cultural differences while selling or designing a product. In order to cater to the needs of certain demographics, it is considered crucial for businesses to find out what kind of “cultural flavor” suits customers best.
One of the common ways to localize is simply through languages. Although language is not the sole cultural element in a localizing process, it is definitely essential. Yet, one might doubt, have we not come to a consensus that English is the lingua franca? We are less likely to encounter situations where a global product fails to provide English as an alternative language support, so is it not enough to have everything translated into English? Why is it important to have the products or services localized?
Localization of language is indeed an “advanced” form of translation. Through translation, essential information is ostensibly delivered to the audience. However, in terms of effective communication, having only the content literally translated might appear to be insufficient. According to a survey conducted by the management consulting company Common Sense Advisory,in 2020, 76 percent of online shoppers in 29 countries claimed that they preferred to buy products with information in their native language. In addition, for respondents from countries with relatively lower English competence, such as South Korea, the percentage even reached 92 percent .2
In the gaming industry, localization is particularly requisite in determining a successful launch. Whether or not the language used in a game is localized and fun can cause a major difference in users’ experience. Besides the game’s language, other localized lingual supports, including user guides and CS services, also contributes to increasing the level of satisfaction for users. Even for the seemingly minor components of a game, such as the tone and speaking habits of a character, subtle changes can remarkably affect the aesthetics and finish of a game.
Therefore, localization can be challenging in actual practice. From the consideration of cultural differences, the balance of creativity and accuracy for intonations, nuances, sentence structures, and word length – basically all the little linguistic details – ought to be deliberated when localizing a piece of text. After all, an 80-year-old, dialect-speaking village lady clearly sounds way different compared to an 18-year-old young adult living downtown.
Although the pandemic has had a negative impact on almost all kinds of businesses, the gaming industry, on the contrary, happens to be fortunate enough to benefit from it. By utilizing high-tech devices and tablets, games have become more accessible than ever. On top of that, people are likely to use games as a social platform to connect and, no doubt, fight against lockdown boredom. As a significant sector in tech, game business operation can therefore be handled virtually without a physical working environment. This is indeed very beneficial for localization since linguists across the world are able to contribute to the foreign gaming business by simply working from home.
Taking the game localization studio in Gyeonggi-do, Marimu, as an example, the company’s localization projects are assigned to overseas linguists with no limitation on national borders. This enables businesses to achieve high quality of localization, and in the meantime produce great job opportunities for foreigners, as well as those who are currently living abroad. Under a collaborative working system, linguists can manage tasks in real time, working side-by-side with the managers in South Korea, which greatly improves projects’ consistency and efficiency.
Let us say our dear GN reader – who possesses incredible language ability – is now chilling in Gwangju (or any corner of the world) wondering perhaps if it would be nice to work at home during some feasible time. If that is the case, it might be a good idea to seize this opportunity and consider starting off a new career of becoming a freelance localization specialist.
To learn more about the localization business, please visit Marimu’s website: http://marimu.net/?lang=en.
First-hand information in this article was provided by Marimu.
Sources
1 Cambridge Business English Dictionary. (2011). Localization. Cambridge University Press.
2 CSA Research. (2020, July 10). Third global survey by CSA Research finds language preference of consumers in 29 countries. Slator. https://slator.com/third-global-survey-by-csa-research-finds-language-preference-of-consumers-in-29-countries/
The Author
Originally from Hong Kong, Chloe Chan is currently working in Gyeonggi-do as a project manager, but her heart always belongs to Gwangju. Instagram: @hoi0305.