All you need to know about translation in the gaming industry.

Translation is a very tricky thing to pull off right. Highly accurate translation is even harder. Highly accurate translation that's near instant? Now you're speaking our language.

There are many industries that could benefit from extremely accurate, near-instant translation. We've already talked at length about how crucial and beneficial translation is for customer service, it's also very apparent how it could help in the sales process. On the other hand, there are more fringe applications of the tools like in the gaming industry.

In this article, we will explore why translation is so important in the gaming industry, plus how Transcom's cutting-edge technology can help you truly step up your game.

What is gaming translation?

Gaming translation is an increasingly important part of the gaming industry. It involves localizing video games, creating transcripts and subtitles for gaming videos, as well as translating game manuals and other documentation. All these activities are necessary to bring a game to different language markets.

Done correctly, gaming localization helps ensure that players have a great experience no matter what language they speak or where they live. It gives the game global reach, and makes sure the content is fully understood by players from different countries.

At Transcom, we understand just how important translation really is and especially how important it is for success in the gaming industry. We use cutting-edge technology to ensure our translations are accurate, consistent, and localized appropriately for each language market. Not only that but we can also fully integrate customized glossaries into our solutions. Making them truly one of a kind. 

Translation in games comes in two basic classes: UI translation and chat translation. Of course, they can have many different subclasses, for example, UI translation also pertains to subtitles or voice over translation, while gaming translation of chat can be focused on in-game chat, voice chat, etc.

UI translation.

One of the aspects is the translation of the UI elements. This is the most common type of translation to be found in video games. Today it is more commonly known as localization where it isn’t enough to just translate a game into a language but where you have to translate it into very specific subtypes of language like US or UK English, French or Canadian French, etc.

UI translation in video games is an essential part of the gaming experience. It involves translating anything and everything that pertains to the player interacting with the systems of the game, from adapting menus, HUD elements, story content, audio and more so that any player can understand and interact with the game.

The importance of UI translation in gaming can’t be overstated – it’s what makes games truly international. This type of translation takes a lot of time and effort and is done prior to the game being launched by teams of highly talented and skilled translators. 

Chat translation.

Another type of translation, one that’s specific to multiplayer games, is live chat gaming translation. In multiplayer games that require communication, coordination, cooperation between players understanding without errors is key to success. Players have long resorted to using a common language such as English or playing in tightly-knit communities in which everyone speaks the same language. 

When wanting to translate chats in this way, games resort to simple APIs to do a basic translation just to say that they have it. This doesn’t really do the job but it creates enough of a crack in the language barrier so that players can get at least some of their message across. Severe limitations of this approach are that it can only really translate text chat messages and that every game has a very specific vocabulary. This means that mistranslated lexical items are very common

How is translation beneficial?

The gaming industry has grown exponentially over the past few decades, ever since the “death” of the video game industry in the eighties. As a result, it's become increasingly important for game developers to ensure their products have global reach. Traditionally, this meant localizing games into different languages and dialects in order to access potential customers from various countries.

However, with the emergence of live chat gaming translation services, game developers can now reach gamers all over the world in near real-time. Gaming translation of chat allows players to communicate with each other despite language barriers and provides a more immersive gaming experience.

Live gaming translation also helps game developers increase their customer base by ensuring that players from different countries can easily join gaming tournaments or online play sessions. This type of service ensures that everyone is able to have the same gaming experience, regardless of language.

Moreover, live chat gaming translation services help game developers provide better customer support for their players. By eliminating language barriers, game developers can make sure that they are able to respond to queries or complaints in a timely manner and provide an overall better user experience.

How can Transcom help?

We have developed a solution specifically designed to provide fast and incredibly accurate translation that can be expanded with specific glossary. Our tool - Automated Translation - is an AI-powered, real-time translation solution that is created to provide translation for both voice and text.

The way we implement Automated Translation is to integrate it into our customer’s systems so that it is basically a part of the system itself. With one click it translates text in a fraction of a second in over 100 languages. Not only that but it could be integrated into games or apps like Discord to provide voice translation.

Our voice works by recognizing the words spoken, translating them and then using a synthetic voice to “talk”. This means that you wouldn’t even have to pronounce words in a foreign language in order to communicate with other people.

We know that speed is crucial in games, as it is in customer service, that’s why our solution does all translations in the blink of an eyes. This means that there are no unnatural pauses between responses and that communication can flow as uninterrupted as possible. This, along with a 97% accuracy rate ensure that translation done by Automated Translation is as close to normal speech as possible.