Cover not available
Article published In:
The Journal of Internationalization and Localization
Vol. 5:1 (2018) ► pp.49–73

When a robot understands Brazilian Portuguese

This paper sets out to highlight some of the complexities involved in the game localization process by presenting a case study centered on the educational game Ludwig. It was released in Austria in 2011 just in German and later, due to its success, it was later localized into English, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese. The case study focusses on the localization of the language pair English-Brazilian Portuguese and the theoretical framework relies on the notion of Paratranslation (Yuste Frías 2012).

Keywords: game localization, translation, case study, educational games
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Game localization
  • 3.Paratext and paratranslation
    • 3.1Paratext
    • 3.2Paratranslation
  • 4.Educational games
  • 5.Case study
    • 5.1Educational games at steam platform
      • 5.1.1 Ludwig
    • 5.2Corpus of study
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1Peritexts
    • 6.2Epitexts
      • 6.2.1The game website
      • 6.2.2Go4Gold (Boa Compra) and Games for Change – Latin America websites
    • 6.3Educational content of Ludwig
  • 7.Final remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 10 August 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jial.00010.vid
References
Ministério da Educação e do Desporto
1998  Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (PCNs): Ensino Fundamental. Brasília: MEC/SEF.Google Scholar
Chandler, Heather, and Stephanie O´Malle Deming
2012 The Game Localization Handbook. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning.Google Scholar
Edwards, Kate
2011 “Culturalization: The Geopolitical and Cultural Dimension of Game Content.” TRANS: Revista de Traductología 151: 19–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Edwards, Tom
2009 “What is Localization?” Game Developers Conference Localization Summit. San Francisco.Google Scholar
Gee, James Paul
2005 Why Video Games Are Good for Your Soul. Common Ground Publishing.Google Scholar
Genette, Gerard
1991 “Introduction to the Paratext.” New Literary History (John Hopkins University Press) 22 (2). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heimburg, Eric
2003 “Localizing MMORPGs.” In Perspectives on Localization, by Keiran Dune, 135–154. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Hofstätter, Joerg
2012 Video Games: a Powerful Learning Tool (TedxVienna). Accessed February 2018. [URL].
Klopfer, Eric, Scot Osterweil, and Katie Salen
2009 Moving Learning Games Forward: Obstacles, Opportunities and Openness. The Education Arcade/Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Linderoth, Jonas
2009 “It Is Not Hard, It Just Requires Having No Life: Computer Games and The Illusion of Learning.” Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy 4 (1): 4–19.Google Scholar
Méndez González, Ramón
2015 “La Influencia de la Localización de Videojuegos en la Percepción del Producto por Parte de los Usuarios.” Translation Journal. [URL].
2014 “Localización de Videojuegos: Paratextos Materiales e Icónicos.” Scientia Traductionis (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina) 151.Google Scholar
Mitgutsch, Konstantin
2012 “Purposeful by Design: A Serious Game Design Assessment Framework.” FDG 12 International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games. Raleigh: ACM Publications. 121–128. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moriarty, Colin
2014 Valiant Hearts, World War I, and the Beauty of History in Games. Accessed February 2018. [URL].
Osterweil, Scot, and Lan Xuan Le
2010 “Learning and Change: A View from MIT’s Education Arcade.” The International Journal – Cognitive Technology (PMI Practical Memory Institute) 14 (2): 58–65.Google Scholar
Peterson, Mark
2011 “Digital Gaming and Second Language Development: Japanese Learners Interactions in a MMORPG.” Digital Culture & Education 3 (1): 56–73. [URL].
Wernbacher, Thomas, Alexander Pfeiffer, Michael Wagner, and Jonas Hofstätter
2012 “Learning by Playing: Can Serious Games Be Fun?” Edited by Patrick Felicia. Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Games Based Learning: ECGBL. Reading: Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited. 533–541.Google Scholar
Yuste Frías, José
2012 “Inhabiting the Image for the Para-Translation of Video Games.” Fun for All: II International Conference on Translation and Accessibility in Video Games and Virtual Worlds: Searching for Best Practices. Barcelona.Google Scholar
2014 “Paratextualidade e Tradução: A Paratradução da Literatura Infantil e Juvenil.” Cadernos de Tradução 34 (2): 9–60. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2015 “Paratraducción: la Traducción de los Márgenes, al Margen de la Traducción.” DELTA: Documentação de Estudos em Lingüística Teórica e Aplicada (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo) 311 (Iss spe): 317–347. [URL].Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

O’Hagan, Minako, Julie McDonough Dolmaya & Hendrik J. Kockaert
2019. Pandemic, localization and change of guard. The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 6:2 ► pp. 69 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.