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Article published In:
The Journal of Internationalization and Localization
Vol. 8:1 (2021) ► pp.1–25

The localization of video games into less widely spoken languages that share a common history

An example of Slovak and Czech legislative parallels

| Constantine the Philosopher University, Nitra

Even though video games are highly popular, localization into Slovak is rather rare and the language struggles to maintain a presence in the video game industry. This is partly because Slovak is a less widely spoken language, and also because it is mutually intelligible with the more dominant Czech language, having a common history. Our paper examines the Slovak-Czech parallels in the respective language-, audiovisual- and multimedia- related legislation as well as market practices. A similar comparative analysis is conducted with other less widely spoken European languages, namely Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian. Our results show that among the examined languages, Czech is by far in the strongest position as a supported language in video games on various platforms whereas Slovak, Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian are hardly present. We hope that the results of our research will stimulate the discussion on this issue.

Keywords: localization, video games, less widely spoken languages, Europe
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Key terms and methodology
    • 2.1Key terms
    • 2.2Methodology
  • 3.Findings on the current situation in Slovakia
    • 3.1Slovak legislation related to the localization of video games
    • 3.2Slovak video game developers – the impact on the current situation
  • 4.Findings based on comparative analyses
    • 4.1Czech Republic – the current situation in comparison with Slovakia
    • 4.2Serbia
    • 4.3Croatia
    • 4.4Slovenia
  • 5.Conclusion and further research
  • Notes
  • References
  • Internet sites
Published online: 13 September 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jial.20013.kos
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Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Kabát, Marián
2022. The first courses on localization in Slovakia. The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 9:2 ► pp. 162 ff. DOI logo
Koscelníková, Mária
2023. Invisibility of Game Localizers and the Status of Localization in Slovakia. Acta Ludologica 6:2 ► pp. 80 ff. DOI logo

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