Difficulties And Strategies Of The Chinese-English Translation Of Mobile Games

The gaming industry in China,especially mobile game industry,has seen a magnificent development in recent years.While the domestic mobile game market is getting saturated,overseas market is widely seen by Chinese mobile game developers as a land of opportunity.Many developers choose to translate their games into English and publish them in overseas market.However,only a few studies,if any,can be found,on the translation of mobile games.Mobile games are significantly different from other texts.Translators are often not familiar with the difficulties in translation and the strategies or solutions,which will affect the quality of the translation and the English-speaking users' gaming experience.In order to fill this gap,this thesis will analyze and discuss the difficulties and strategies in the translation of mobile games,based on a case study on the ChineseEnglish translation of an anime mobile game developed by a Chinese company.Most mobile games feature contents related to certain subcultures to appeal to their fanbase.This requires translators to have some knowledge on the background and terminology of such subcultures.In mobile games,characters usually talk directly to players to create a better interactive gaming experience.The lines often have a casual register and contain many humorous elements,which need to be conveyed in target language in a proper way.The characters also have distinctive characteristics and features,which need to be differentiated.Space limitation is another challenge for translators,due to the constraints of the UI display of games.In order to address these challenges,translators should first acquire the knowledge of subcultures and terminology through reliable sources.Translators can also use transcreation to better convey the humorous elements.Translators also need to correctly choose the best expressions after understanding the full characters in games.The lengths of translated texts should also fit into the UI display,by screening the important information in source language.