34 Technology
Game Localization
A Blossoming Industry in South Korea By Chloe Chan
Gwangju News, June 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
COMMUNITY
A
ccording to Cambridge Dictionary, the term localization is generally defined as “the process of making a product or service more suitable for a particular country or area.”1 Technically, localization is mostly applied to the business activities where cultural elements are highly involved, such as applications, software, and websites. Under the strong influence of globalization, businesses have begun to recognize the significance of accommodating cultural differences while selling or designing a product. In order to cater to the needs of certain demographics, it is considered crucial for businesses to find out what kind of “cultural flavor” suits customers best. One of the common ways to localize is simply through languages. Although language is not the sole cultural element in a localizing process, it is definitely essential. Yet, one might doubt, have we not come to a consensus that English is the lingua franca? We are less likely to encounter situations where a global product fails to provide English as an alternative language support, so is it not enough to have everything translated into English? Why is it important to have the products or services localized? Localization of language is indeed an “advanced” form of translation. Through translation, essential information is ostensibly delivered to the audience. However, in terms of effective communication, having only the content literally translated might appear to be insufficient. According to a survey conducted by the management consulting company Common Sense Advisory, in 2020, 76 percent of online shoppers in 29 countries claimed that they preferred to buy products with information in their
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native language. In addition, for respondents from countries with relatively lower English competence, such as South Korea, the percentage even reached 92 percent.2
In the gaming industry, localization is particularly requisite in determining a successful launch. Whether or not the language used in a game is localized and fun can cause a major difference in users’ experience. Besides the game’s language, other localized lingual supports, including user guides and CS services, also contributes to increasing the level of satisfaction for users. Even for the seemingly minor components of a game, such as the tone and speaking habits of a character, subtle changes can remarkably affect the aesthetics and finish of a game. Therefore, localization can be challenging in actual practice. From the consideration of cultural differences, the balance of creativity and accuracy for intonations, nuances, sentence structures, and word length – basically all the little linguistic details – ought to be deliberated when localizing a piece of text. After all, an 80-year-old, dialect-speaking village lady clearly sounds way different compared
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