Claudia Liu

Translation 4 Life

Graduated from National Taiwan Normal University with a bachelor’s degree in English literature and linguistics, Claudia wasn’t too interested in teaching in a public school, so she tried to find her place in local and international companies. Later, she gained her Post-Graduate degree from Hotel Institute Montreux as an honor student. During all these years at work, Claudia always remembers the games she played as a kid, and how those games touched her heart. One day out of blue, Claudia was chatting with Weifan, a good friend and also a wonderful music composer, about the good old days raiding in Wow. In one private tutoring class with Weifan for Business English, Weifan mentioned that many indie game developers need good translation to promote their games to the international market. That was the time Claudia started to believe that probably she could promote Taiwan with the only thing she is good at --- translation. Soon after she made up her mind, her met Shigeki, the producer of HeroG, and there she started the journey into game localization. 

In indie games, Claudia met Luke from Rune Rebirth, David from Goblin’s Shop, Kirby and Lenny from DaiDai Campus, John Lin from PAGUI, Pingyi from Wo Yao Da… etc. Despite the different background, we all have the same target: produce the best game and promote Taiwan in the international market. 

But is that all we can do? Is it possible for us to do something for the world with our passion for games and our strength? This, Claudia believes, is absolutely possible. While Claudia worked on the game, Liyla and Shadows of War, pro bono, she was thinking that we may not be able to change the current situation in many things, but hopefully we can influence those who have a say with our forte. Whatever we do, be it a game or translation, we have so many things to experience in this beautiful world. It is our responsibility to maintain the beauty and pass it on.

Sessions by Claudia Liu

Game localization: How to communicate effectively with your translator

Day 2 - 15:00 - 16:00

The talk will start with the format to work with translators, apprehension of game plot, terminologies, the corresponding translation, lingoes used by the plot writers, and proofreading done with screenshots or video clips from the game. If all done right, it’ll facilitate the translator greatly to work out the best translation which is closest in meaning and functions properly in the target language. 

 

The second part will cover the problems we might encounter in game translation, such as: 

  1. The game title translated into the target language. 
  2. Should we translate based on the meaning, the wording, or the pinyin system? 
  3. Just can’t find equivalent wording or phrases in the target language. 
  4. How to ask the translator to work out a better translation.

 

Examples based on real-life experience will be provided, together with a feasible solution. 

 

In the end, we will talk about the differences between localization and translation. Do we enjoy any advantage compared with AI translator? And the most important of all, how to negotiate for a win-win price for both parties. 

 

Note: This session will be conducted in Mandarin.