Approaching Video Game Translation Using Localisation and Modernising Theories A Multimodal Applied Translation Project

Abstract

For this project I am translating a video game from German to English. To begin this project I had to decide on which video game to translate, this involved trying to find a game that was older and as well as not a huge mainstream games as many mainstream or current video games originally created in German have already been translated into English as well as many other languages. As well as this an older game is necessary to explore ideas of modernisation as well as localisation. It also had to be a game that had some story, with written dialogue and less mechanical or fighter or platformer type games. On top of this the game would have to be rather short if intending to translate the entire game script for the project. After trying many different types of German games, I discovered an older game from 2003 called “Wendy: Der Traum von Arizona” for the Gameboy Colour. This game has many different characters, dialogue, small world exploring and tells a short story. You play as a young girl called Wendy. She and her friend Bianca are dreaming of going on a horse-riding holiday in Arizona. To get the money to afford to go, Wendy has to win horse tournaments.