While the field of videogame translation can be said to still be in its relative infancy, literature translation dates back aeons. Translating videogames has its own unique qualities (such as the added consideration that must be paid to the animation on screen), yet at its core it is still based around the task of expressing the sense of a set text in another language. The majority of this blog's posts involve shining a spotlight on the English translations of Japanese videogames, pointing out moments of superb translation or when it diverges from the source text. The translation of some videogames (in particular, JRPGs from the nineties) have long been a target of criticism, and have even seen retranslations. Indeed, translator Tom Slattery did this for the rerelease of a number of Square Enix games (such as Final Fantasy VI), and once commented that his job was, "translating games that have been translated already." Some games have also even have fanmade retranslations; see Final Fantasy VII or Chrono Trigger. One day I intend to devote some time to analysing the necessity of these retranslations, but for this post I mention them as way to highlight how some classic videogames have translations that have caused tongues to wag and new translations to be produced. The same is true of classic literature!
One of the most common pieces of advice for aspiring translators is to read as much as possible. On the forums of Gengo (a freelance translation company), Mohamed Yehia, an English to Arabic translator offers the following advice...
