An E-C Translation Practice Report For Civilization V: Brave New World

Computer and video games are thriving globally and have become an indispensable industry of the nationaleconomy of many countries. According to a statistic report, the market size of computer and video games wouldreach40billion RMB by2011. As one of the largest markets, China has become a popular arena for foreigngame publishers，which is the reason that video game translation (or “chinesize” on Internet) become more andmore prevail. However, the research on the translation of video games is still a relatively new field for Chinesescholars. So it is necessary for the scholars to study this topic.In the summer vacation, the author joined a translation group and translated parts of texts from videogames: Civilization V: Brave New World. This game is a turn-based strategy video game and also one of theexcellent examples of video games.The present author takes Peter Newmark’s text typology theory as the guideline in the translation.According to Buhler’s function theory of language, Peter Newmark classifies texts into three main categories:expressive texts, informative texts and vocative texts and indicates that different categories call for differenttranslation strategies. His work provides significant guidance for translation practice. Informative texts areusually truth-centered and the author’s status is anonymous. The effective transmission of information is of greatsignificance in the translation of informative text. Therefore, communicative translation is always used ininformative texts.This thesis elaborates all the procedures of the present author’s translation of the Civilization V: Brave NewWorld, including his preparatory work, translation plan and final modification. The author discusses thecharacteristics of his translated text, explains why it belongs to informative type and demonstrates how it wastranslated in the light of communicative translation. Based on this work, some examples are brought up andanalyzed. It is hoped that this thesis will help present author himself and other video game translators have agood understanding of video game translation and attract more and more scholars to further the research.