Most gamers, specifically those who enjoy the adventure and RPG genres, have at one point or another beckoned for games to be released in their part of the world. If a game does receive the green light to be released abroad, there's a lot of work to be done. This is where localization specialists come into the picture. While some think that all it takes to translate a title is a strong understanding of both languages, there are actually a lot more factors that need to be attended to before the game is ready to be released outside of its home. I recently had the chance to talk to Brian Gray, a localization specialist who got his start with Square but now works independently, about just what it is a localization specialist does.

 

 

Hey there Brian! I compiled some questions and tried my best to be respectful of your non-disclosure agreements. I suppose the most obvious question to start with would be: how exactly did you end up in this line of work?

 

Hey Dant! I got my start as a localization specialist at Square Enix--which at the time was still known as just plain old Square. I was still finishing up school when I applied, and ended up flying to Tokyo for the interview the summer after I graduated. Something clicked, and I got the job. I was still 21 and in a lot of ways "the baby" among the staff when I got there.

 

What was it like to be so young and new to the business?

 

To be honest, the first half-year or so was tough. A lot of that wasn't so much that I was "new to the business" (although there was that!) It had more to do with the fact that I had just moved to a new city in a new country to start a new job, the first real job I'd ever had outside of internships and part-time jobs in college. Japanese businesses--even creatively driven companies like Square--are very rigidly structured. Not only did I have to handle the translation workload and learn about the issues that come up during localization, but I also had a lot of hard lessons early on about playing by Japanese rules. You can't approach problems in a Japanese office using American business tactics, no matter how fair and reasonable your logic might seem to you. Fortunately, at the time the localization team was still pretty small--about a third of its current size--and full of fantastic people who helped me out while I learned how the company did things and brushed up my Keigo (polite language).

 

I can only imagine how intensive that would be to not only be learning a new job, but to be learning it with a whole new set of rules! Has there been a specific game that you enjoyed working on the most?

 

There are a couple, actually. One would have to be Baten Kaitos Origins, a Gamecube title I worked on with a localization company called 8-4 from start to finish. That game, in particular, probably had the best Japanese script I've ever worked on--the characters really popped off the page, and the writing in general was just really polished.
 
I get the impression a lot of gamers think localization is what makes or breaks the English writing in their Japanese games. And it certainly can--but it's not the only factor. The script has to pass through the translators, an editor, and oftentimes the publisher's scrutiny. And these days scripts also get rewritten for ADR during voice recording. The director has input. The actor has input. All of these can have a huge impact on whether the English writing bristles or just winds up grating.
 
The biggest factor, though, is the quality of what you start with—the Japanese script. BKO was a fully realized world with great characters (especially Milly and Guillo) who always reacted believably. The writer also had a great sense of humor. It's so rewarding to be able to spend the localization process starting with great Japanese material and making it better, instead of taking average Japanese material and trying to just make it not suck.

 

The other project I really enjoyed was The World Ends with You. I first got my hands on the game when they demoed it at the Tokyo Game Show in 2006. I remember that they were handing out instruction cards to people in the line (which was about an hour long), trying almost to brace people for the experience--if you've played it, you know it takes a lot of conventional game logic, especially that of JRPGs, and just chucks it right out the window. I loved it. It's also a very special project because it takes place in Japan, in a part of Tokyo near where I used to live. Getting the chance to bring that world and those characters over was tons of fun. We were really careful not to try and "fix" Japan or localize anything that didn't need fixing. I think gamers really appreciated that.

 

The World Ends with You is one of my favorite DS games, actually. From what I understand it was Square Enix's first attempt at creating a game in modern times, and I thought it was really interesting, albeit unsurprising, that they took such an over-the-top approach. I haven't played Baten Kaitos Origins yet, but I do have a friend who is a big fan of it, so I'm going to make sure to pick it up soon. What you just said sort of hinted at the answer, but I was wondering if you were a fan of gaming in general and if so what some of your favorite games are?

 

I am a huge gamer! As far as my favorite games go, Fumito Ueda can do no wrong. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus both really satisfy everything I look for in a game: an immersive world, engaging game play, and most importantly, restraint. Both games end when they should, and they never get in your way with menus or unnecessary talking. They tell such great stories with minimal writing--although I guess as a guy who translates for a living, I shouldn't say that. I grew up with the NES, and enjoy RPGs and action games quite a bit. Back in the day I was also a huge Sierra fan, and designers like Al Lowe and Jane Jensen have been a big influence. Lately, I've been picking away at some of the holiday offerings. I recently finished up Mega Man 9, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, and Mirror's Edge. Right now I'm waiting for my copy of Tomb Raider Underworld to show up.

 

Team Ico is wonderful. I've only played Shadow of the Colossus, but I've been in pursuit of a copy of Ico for a while now. Unfortunately it's a bit rare here in the states. It's clear you're passionate about video games, but have you worked on any projects outside of video games? If so, is it a pretty different experience?

 

I have, and it is. I've done a little work in animation and film, and some academic translation. To be honest, though, I focus mostly on the game industry. There are a lot of fantastic translators out there already working on film (Linda Hoaglund) and literature (Jay Rubin), but not enough who work in games. One day I would love to subtitle films and translate novels, but for now, anyway, the unique challenges of the game industry keep me very interested on a day-to-day basis. Some of these challenges are obvious. Game text doesn't necessarily have the same order or logic to it every time somebody plays through it, so you can't just approach it like a novel and translate from start to finish. You have to make sure what you translate works regardless of how the dialogue branches or the player proceeds through the game.  A bigger challenge has to do with the fact that the game industry just hasn't quite grown up yet. Localization schedules are still too tight and budgets generally too low (or mismanaged). I would also say the majority of Japanese developers still don't understand the difference between an outstanding localization and just a serviceable one. More time goes into helping those developers understand how to reach out to overseas gamers than the actual translation of words.

 

That's a shame, because I feel, and there are many famous examples of this, that some games can really be ruined or at the very least taken less seriously due to poor translation. It seems more and more this kind of thing has faded, but I've noticed that it still rears its head on occasion. The first example that comes to mind is Phoenix Wright. I love those games, but I remember spotting typos in the text here and there and kind of snapping back into reality. When you're working on a project, what do you do to ensure that everything is up to your standards? What kind of editing process do you have?

 

I'm actually surprised you mention Phoenix Wright, especially the first one, when talking about poor translation, because I think that's an outstanding translation. The typos you're talking about are distracting, it's true, but my guess is that they have more to do with rushed schedules and maybe the lack of an editor than any sort of failings on the part of the translator. Ideally, everybody has enough time to do their job right and get everything perfect, but the most important thing is getting the Japanese language experience across to an English-speaking audience in the most natural and entertaining way possible, and on that count, I think PW is a huge success. As far as my own editing process goes, it depends on what the client asks for. Sometimes I just translate, and hand off my translation to an agency or publisher or developer who takes it from there. Other times, I get called in just to work as a "script doctor" and polish up somebody else's translation, fix the typos, or punch up the dialogue. My favorite projects are the ones I get to stick with from start to finish, helping out with translating, editing, casting, voice recording, bug checking, the whole product. The two projects I mentioned earlier were both like that.

 

Phoenix Wright does definitely have some excellent dialogue, which of course is very important for a game of that nature, but I suppose the issue of typos was really over-magnified in some corners of the internet. This is actually helping me to realize just how much work goes into localizing a game, and hopefully it does the same for others.  When you talk about getting the  Japanese language experience across to an English-speaking audience, do you mean potentially taking out references and things of that nature that other countries may not be able to relate to or understand?

 

Right, there is that. I try to be respectful of what the Japanese creators want to say, though, and not make changes that would meddle with that. You have to consider where the game is set, for example. A game like The World Ends with You takes place in Japan, and Japan is where it belongs. The goal there was to make English-speaking gamers feel like Japanese teenagers, so we did our best to couch the dialogue in terms they would understand without being overprotective and shielding them from the culture of the game. Other titles (especially those that take place in fantasy worlds) aren't tied specifically to Japan, so there's more freedom--and obligation--to step back from the Japanese ideas, look at the larger picture, and figure out what an English-speaking audience needs to have the same experience in their language. Every language has patterns it falls into that don't work in other languages. Japanese uses a lot of onomatopoeia and repetition (do you know where the exit is? the exit? yes, the exit) which don't render well in English. On the other hand, English speakers love sarcasm and idiomatic expressions which don't translate into Japanese. If you just blindly translate word-for-word--or worse, find yourself having to explain your translation inside the translation--then you're doing your target audience a huge disservice.

 

So when it comes to translating a game, it seems that there's a lot of careful decision-making to be done. If someone out there (and I know plenty interested in it) asked you for advice on how to obtain a job similar to yours, what advice would you give them?

 

Do you mean a job at a game company, or freelancing like I do now? As far as translation goes, I would say practice, practice, practice--really expose yourself to as much media as you can in both languages. You have to know both languages inside and out and be a good writer, and a critical one. A lot of translators fall short because they translate something literally, and it makes sense to them because they've read the original Japanese, but they're not able to separate themselves from it and see if it makes sense to somebody who hasn't. Japanese and English are so different as languages that it almost never works out translating word-for-word, or even sentence-for-sentence. Japanese don't even always say what they really mean. You have to be confident enough to peel back those layers of meaning, step back and look at what the Japanese is really saying (which might wind up being a completely different sentence), and then build the English that communicates the same thing. If you can do that, and do it well, then you can get a job translating games.

 

I suppose I meant getting started as well as becoming recognized, but you covered both of those bases! This talk of being bilingual actually reminds me of a study I read that gamers can multitask almost as effectively as those who are bilingual, so do you find yourself ultra-capable of multitasking? Kind of a silly question, but I couldn't help but ask.

 

Ha ha, it's funny you should ask--while I was waiting for your question, I just took a phone call from a Japanese client and fired off a few emails. Multi-tasking is important, although too much of it can affect the quality of your work if you're spread too thin. I personally found that to be a bigger deal working inside a company, because you have meetings and other non-creative responsibilities to deal with all the time. Now that I'm out on my own, I have a lot more control over how my time is spent. Depending on how involved I am in the projects, I usually take on one to three titles at once, since those seem to be the magic numbers for keeping the days filled while still being able to give everything my full attention.

 

See I knew you could multitask! It's good that you've learned to be in control of it though, because in theory you could really be a multitasking machine. Now that you're a freelancer, how do you track down projects? I imagine you have more freedom in terms of choosing what you want to work on, but do you express interest in the project or do companies contact you?

 

A little of both. I've been very lucky so far--100% of my business is through word of mouth. Clients usually approach me, although I will go after a project and try to make sure it gets localized if it's something that particularly interests me.

 

In order to do that, do you have to convince some of the higher-ups that there's a market for such a thing outside of Japan? Now that people know you potentially have some leverage in games becoming localized, there's a chance you'll be receiving some very forceful emails asking you to try and localize various games! Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Ha ha, oh no... I don't really have any power over when or if a company decides to localize a game. That's a marketing decision for the publisher to make--if the title even has an overseas publisher. All I meant by my last answer is that if there are offbeat games that only have a 50/50 chance of making it over, I want to be there to at least assure the right people that I'm ready to help. Sometimes it pans out, sometimes it doesn't.

 

That makes more sense. So maybe you won't be receiving sundry emails from gamers of all flavors.  I think that covers just about everything. I think a lot of people will go away reading this with a much stronger understanding of just what it is a localization specialist does. Thank you for your time! I can't thank you enough.

 

Thank you, Dant! It's always fun to talk about. Gamers are smarter than ever these days; they care about how their Japanese games get treated when released in English, and rightly so. I hope this sheds a little light on the many factors that go into the process.