深入了解语言质量保证：让您的游戏更上一层楼

Original 王玟珺国际翻译动态

2024-09-10

Learn How Language Quality Assurance Can Elevate Your Game To The Next Level

深入了解语言质量保证

让您的游戏更上一层楼

（图片来自Localize Direct官网）

OK, you’ve developed a great game, successfully translated and implemented text strings, and even came up with the marketing strategy for the target countries. Is it enough? Well, not really.

现在，你已经成功开发了一款很棒的游戏，翻译、填充了文本字符串，甚至还为目标国家制定了营销策略。但这就足够了吗？其实，还不够。

Translating the text into the local language is likely to boost downloads or sales and increase player satisfaction.

将文本译成当地语言可能会提高下载量或销售量，也提升玩家的满意度。

Localization goes beyond literal translation. It aims at adapting the content to the target language and ensuring that a similar meaning is achieved, so it resonates with that culture in the way it should.

然而，本地化不仅仅是直译。本地化旨在根据目标语言对内容进行调整，以确保传递相近的含义，在目标语言文化引起共鸣，达到应有的效果。

How do you know that your game is striking the right chord in target markets?

那么，如何知道游戏在目标市场中引起了应有的共鸣呢？

That’s where Localization Quality Assurance (LQA) comes in. It involves LQA testers who attentively play your video game searching for any linguistic, functional or design issues. Testing professionals come equipped with in-depth knowledge on the platform, the audience, and the linguistic approach you’re targeting.

这就是本地化质量保证（LQA）的意义所在。这包括参与LQA测试的技术人员，会认真地玩你的电子游戏，寻找任何语言、功能或设计方面的问题。测试人员对平台、受众和目标语言方法都有着深入的了解。

In this blog post, we’ll talk about Language (Linguistic) Quality Assurance.

在本文中，我们将讨论语言（语言学）质量保证。

What is Language QA?

什么是语言质量保证（语言QA）

Language QA is a part of LQA that tests the integration of translations in the game and their adaptation for the market with a different language culture.

语言QA是LQA的一部分，用于测试翻译在游戏中的整合情况，以及翻译在不同语言文化市场中的适应性。

Linguistic game testing ensures that your game has the desired impact on players using different languages, and negates the risk of releasing something that might spoil the immersion you’re aiming for.

语言游戏测试可确保您的游戏对使用不同语言的玩家产生预期的影响，并规避一些风险，这些风险可能破坏你希望营造的沉浸感。

What can Linguistic QA do for you?

语言QA可以为你做些什么？

The impact that linguistic QA testing can have on your final product is profound. Games often feature fantastical storylines that rely on suspension of disbelief for true immersion. The wrong word, awkward phrasing or stiff language can erode the virtual world you’ve painstakingly created. Bad translations can even change the motivations of characters, destroy the mood of different environments and make your game a laughing stock.

语言QA测试可能对最终产品产生深远的影响。游戏通常以梦幻般的故事情节为特色，让玩家脱离现实，真正沉浸其中。错误的词语、尴尬的措辞或生硬的语言可能会影响你精心营造的虚拟世界。糟糕的翻译甚至会改变角色的动机，破坏不同环境的氛围，让你的游戏沦为笑柄。

Few people remember the game Zero Wing, but one of its biggest translation errors “All your base are belong to us” is still going strong as an internet meme.

很少有人记得《零翼战机》这款游戏，但其中一个最大的翻译错误“All your base are belong to us”至今在网络上仍然广为流传。（“基地”（base）没有使用复数形式（bases））

Thankfully, those kinds of errors are easy to spot and fix, but what about ambiguous phrases where the context is lacking? Some translators will just have a guess and send it off, and without solid LQA that misunderstanding can carry over into the final release.

好在这类错误很容易被发现和纠正，但如果是缺乏上下文、语义模糊的短语呢？一些翻译人员只是凭空猜测，然后就把译稿发出去了，如果没有扎实的LQA，这种误解可能会延续到最终的版本中。

While bad translation breaks immersion, great translation can have the opposite effect. It feels wonderful when a game conveys a feeling or thought in exactly the right way, matching colloquial, day-to-day speech for players.

糟糕的翻译会破坏沉浸感，而出色的翻译可能会产生截然不同的效果。当一款游戏以恰到好处的方式传达一种感觉或思想，与玩家的日常口语相吻合时，这种感觉真是妙不可言。

Great game localization should convey the storyline, the landscape, the characters, and everything else to players in the way that the designers originally intended. It boosts the credibility of characters and settings, making virtual worlds more believable.

优秀的游戏本地化应该按照设计者的原意向玩家传达故事情节、景观、人物角色和其他一切。LQA提高了角色和场景的可信度，使虚拟世界更加“真实”。

Sometimes, translators need to play on words or even write poems if the game is based on rhymes (like Japanese Dragon Quest 11). Positive appraisals from game enthusiasts are definitely worth the effort.

有时，如果游戏以押韵为基础（如日本的《勇者斗恶龙11》），译者需要玩点文字游戏，甚至写诗。游戏爱好者的积极评价绝对值得你的付出。

Language QA testers help to capture the shortcomings in the translated product and improve the overall quality of the dialogue and interface text. When localization and LQA are done right, the player will feel as though the game was originally written in their language.

语言QA测试人员有助于捕捉翻译产品中的缺陷，并提高对话和界面文本的整体质量。如果本地化和LQA做得很好，玩家就会感觉游戏是用他们的语言编写的。

How to do Linguistic QA professionally

如何专业地进行语言Q

As budgets and development schedules are under constant pressure, some developers try to secure translations cheaply. They often make do partial assessments near the end of development.

由于预算有限和开发进度受阻，一些开发人员试图以低廉的价格获得翻译。他们往往在开发接近尾声时只对部分内容进行评。

What are the risks?

这会存在哪些风险？

Text may be exported and sent off for proofreading without any context. Pressure to hit release dates, combined with late assessments, can mean that problems are overlooked or swept under the carpet.

文本可能在没有任何上下文的情况下导出和发送进行校对。按时发布的时间压力，再加上迟来的评估，可能某些问题会被忽视或掩盖。

Eventually, bad translations can leave players feeling ripped off and cause significant reputational damage for developers.

最终，糟糕的翻译可能会让玩家感觉到欺骗，继而给开发人员的声誉造成重大损害。

The solution?

有什么解决方案？

Invite linguistic testers with genre expertise

邀请具有该领域专业知识的语言测试人员

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The best way is to bring in native professionals and have them review the localized strings in context. If they can’t play the game for some reason, they should at least be provided with background information, gameplay videos, relevant screenshots, and art.

最好的办法是请本地专业人士来审核在上下文中的本地化字符串。如果他们因为某些原因不能玩游戏，至少应该向他们提供背景信息、游戏视频、相关屏幕截图和艺术作品。

The LQA professionals must stir together grammar, consistency, background, situation, character, terminology, and more to arrive at the right wording.

LQA专业人员必须将语法、一致性、背景、情况、性格、术语等因素综合起来，才能找到合适的措辞。

When there’s a need for technical language, localization QA testers should be experts in the field the game is set in, whether that’s medicine, construction, space, or sports. When context or supporting material is lacking, they should be prepared to research, investigate, study and probe for the best possible wording. That extra effort lends authenticity to the final game, making it infinitely more immersive.

需要使用技术语言时，本地化QA测试人员应该是游戏所在领域的专家，比如医学、建筑、空间或者运动。缺乏背景或支持材料时，他们应作好研究调查的准备，以获得最佳措辞。这些努力为游戏的最终效果增添了真实性，使玩家更加身临其境。

Cooperation with development team is crucial

与开发团队的合作至关重要

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Language QA experts should also have access to the dev team so that they can ask questions and gain a full understanding of what the game makers are trying to achieve. The earlier you integrate LQA into your game development, the better the final product will be.

语言QA专家还应该有机会接触开发团队，这样他们就可以提出问题，全面了解游戏制作者想要达到的目标。越早将LQA整合到游戏开发中，最终产品就会越好。

A pitch-perfect localization process requires a bit of back and forth – it can’t be done in one testing cycle at the end of development.

一个完善的本地化过程需要一些来回调试的过程——不可能仅在开发结束时的一个测试周期内完成。

Measure game language quality

衡量游戏语言质量

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It is a challenging task.

这是一项具有挑战性的任务。

Language quality is intrinsically subjective, and translations can be judged in many ways. Plus, every sentence presents a multitude of possible translations.

语言质量本质上是主观的，可以通过多种方式对翻译进行评价。此外，每个句子都有多种可能的翻译。

Objective defects, such as spelling, grammar, omissions, and terminology are easy to define, but judging readability and consistency requires some real expertise. What really matters here is the impression that players form.

拼写、语法、遗漏和术语等客观错误很容易界定，但判断可读性和一致性则需要一些真正的专业知识。这里真正重要的是给玩家构建的游戏印象。

So, objective defects must carry more weight in the first analysis, but attention must also be given to subjective factors if the game is to reach the highest standard of quality.

因此，在第一次分析中，客观缺陷必须占更大比重，但如果游戏要达到最高的质量标准，也必须关注主观因素。

Make best use of resources

充分利用资源

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Given unlimited time and a generous budget every localization would be of the highest quality. But that’s not the world we live in.

如果有无限的时间和丰厚的预算，每一次本地化都将是最高质量的。但现实世界并非如此。

You may be tempted to localize your game into as many different languages as possible, but with poor quality translations, it can be counterproductive.

你可能很想将游戏本地化为尽可能多的不同语言，但如果翻译质量不高，可能会适得其反。

On the contrary, quality really stands out and can turn early players into evangelists for your game. Releasing a game that boasts superb localization quality will generate a real buzz in the media and the gaming community.

相反，高质量的游戏才能真正脱颖而出，并将早期玩家转化为游戏的传播者。发布一款拥有超高本地化质量的游戏将在媒体和游戏界引起真正的轰动。

So, complete your localizations and then polish them to a high standard.

所以，请完善你的本地化工作，然后将其打磨成高标准吧。

原文网址：

https://www.localizedirect.com/posts/learn-how-language-quality-assurance-can-elevate-your-game-to-the-next-level