《On the Translation of Video Games》.doc

On the Translation of Video Games Miguel Bernal Merino, Roehampton University, London ABSTRACT Since the development by the MIT of the very first video game called Spacewar in 1962, the video games industry has evolved dramatically to become a worldwide phenomenon worth billions. Although most games are developed in English and Japanese, the new global market and the great investment required have pushed developers and publishers to translate their games into many other languages. This has brought about a new field of specialisation in translation, commonly known in the industry as game localisation.?Without much debate on the topic, terminology has spread in all directions, with new terms being coined, and old terms being appropriated by the industry to convey new realities. The aim of this article is precisely to explore the terminology and clarify terms to help future research in this area of translation studies. KEYWORDS localisation, localization, video game, entertainment software, game BIOGRAPHY Miguel Bernal was born in Spain in 1971. He has been involved in education and translation since 1995. He is now a Lecturer in Audiovisual Translation for the University of Surrey and Roehampton University in the UK. He is currently writing his thesis on The Translation of Video Games in Roehampton University.?Miguel Bernal has a BA in English Studies (Universidad de Alicante), an MA in?Hispanic Literature (University of Rhode Island), and an MPhil in Audiovisual Translation (Universidad de Alicante). Miguel Bernal is a member of TILP, LRC and ESIST. He has recently created L4G, a meeting place for people involved in the translation of video games (/L4G).E-mail: m.bernal@roehamtpton.ac.uk 1. Introduction The twentieth century saw the emergence and popularisation of a new branch within the leisure industry: the electronic and interactive entertainment. Great technological improvements have taken us from the early pinball machines in the late 1920s, to todays third ge