An Report On E-C Translation Of Middle-earth:Shadow Of Mordor

This article is a report on English-Chinese translation practice based on a game entitled Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor(MSM).The MSM is a large-scale role play game(RPG).Set in fantasy literary fiction The Lord of Rings,this game presents the adventure of Talion and Elf Lord Celebrimbor defeating the dark lord Sauron together.This game is taken as the case for study for the following three reasons.Firstly,this article makes another innovative attempt in Translation Studies since game localization is an emerging sub-domain of the studies.Secondly,this game is typical since it encompasses the basic systems of other types of games.Moreover,its storyline is intricate,moving and ingeniously links with The Lord of Rings when paying tribute to the classic fiction,critically acclaimed and popular among players.All words in MSM are collectively called game text,which by different functions in the game are categorized as: in-game text,art assets,and audio and cinematic assets.In the process of translating this game,the translator found that the purpose of translation varies because different types of texts have different functions and characteristics.In-game text is clear,exhaustive yet succinct.And verb-object phrases are frequently employed in the text.Besides,its length is limited by interface space and simultaneously affected by the display time of the text on the screen.Art assets consist of beautiful words coupled with animated icons.The words in the assets are selected in a flexible and creative way.Audio and cinematic are largely made up of dialogues between characters.The personalities of characters determine diction employed in dialogues.Furthermore,the length of the assets is also limited by interface space.Based on the functions and characteristics of in-game text,art assets,and audio and cinematic assets,the author found that Skopos Theory is of great guiding significance to these three types of texts.The Skopos Theory proposed the important viewpoint that translation behavior is determined by the purpose of translation,and summarized the skopos rule,the coherence rule and the fidelity rule that a translator should follow when translating.The three rules have specific meanings in game translation embodying as follow.Firstly,the language style applied in the translation of game assets should keep consistent with the source text.Secondly,the length of the translation should be suitable for interface space;Besides,the translation should beadapted in the circumstances in relation to linguistic habits and culture in China,which help players understand game mechanisms in MSM and derive more pleasure from gameplay experiences.Finally,the personalities of characters should be revealed in the translation by employing different diction.With the guidance of the three rules,this article analyzes translation methods based on practical examples and sums up specific translation strategies for every type of text.Moreover,this article summarizes the translating experience of the game translation while accurately translating game text,hoping to provide other game translators with references.