A responsibility as a translator of games (English/Japanese)

TransAfrique wrote:

If the game includes the word 100 times in that context, isn't the problem with the game itself and not with the translator tasked with translating it?

Phil Hand wrote:

In the Grand Theft Auto games, you have the option of running over old ladies for extra points, and shooting people just for fun.
In the MMORPGs you often control armies of thousands, and you can direct them to rape and pillage entire cities.

I'm not sure that the problem here lies with the way a single word has been translated. These games are violent no matter how you translate them. And to be fair, they've been around for a number of years now, and I haven't heard any reports of a great crime wave sweeping across Japan or anywhere else. Turns out people are quite capable of distinguishing between onscreen fantasy and real life; and quite capable of ignoring bad translation when we mess it up.

Alain Dellepiane wrote:

If you look at any game box (http://bit.ly/lRV3y3) you will notice a little label going from Everyone to Mature (ESRB/US system), from 3 to 18 (PEGI/EUR system) and from A to Z (Cero/Japanese system)

These state directly to which audience a title is aimed for and define exactly what kind of language and content they contain.

So, if you buy a 3+ game, it can only contain "Depictions of violence that is humorous and is set in a cartoon, slapstick or child-like setting." but no "Pictures or sounds likely to be scary or frightening to young children".

On the other end of the spectrum, adluts are free to buy 18+ titles and enjoy "Depictions of apparently motiveless killing or serious injury to multiple numbers of innocent human-like characters" and "Sexual expletives or blasphemy" to their heart's content.

So, as a parent you can do an informed choice and pick the best content for your kid by simply looking at the games' cover.

As a professional translator, you just need to learn how these systems work [1][2][3][4]. They are very well though out, no need to start a personal crusade

Kay Barbara wrote:




I whole-heartedly agree with Alain, no need for a witch hunt...

I couldn't possible know what "reports" relating to violence/murder and games there have been in Japan but somehow I assume that they have been more or less the same media hype you get in other countries as well...

I have to admit that blaming so-called "killer games" for violent behaviour may be rather convenient for politicians and media and - to most non-gamers - it probably seems like a valid conclusion if some offender was actually playing such a game.

But if you think about the many many millions of people (young and old) playing these allegedly violence-promoting games you can't help but wonder why there isn't "a Columbine" every other week?

Playing violent games may be but one factor among several but it is usually portrayed as the sole scapegoat in many media. I would bet any money that the reason for this is that journalists most of the time hardly know anything of the subject matter they are writing about.

A point in case: I have just read an article on a German website which presented the research of German neuropsychologist which was actually quite scientific and interesting to read but the journalist still got one game's genre horribly wrong. So journalists who know even less about this sensitive matter are likely to come up with much graver mistakes or wrong conclusions.

I would appreciate and prefer more research about whether virtual and real-life violence are connected in any way as opposed to gossipy media hype...

By the way, as a parent you can always have the upper-hand and keep your children from playing games you don't deem appropriate (if you are IT-savvy enough, that is).

Kay Barbara wrote:

I think that you can choose from a wealth of expressions other than just "kill". To be honest I have not come across "kill" very often, I have encountered similar phrases using "defeat/hunt/vanquish/eliminate/destroy/best" etc. Of course the usage depends on the context of and register used in the game but you should be able to find a way around "kill" if you don't like it.

Having said that, I think that during a project you should think less about how you feel and more about what the author's intention is and what the target audience expects - and translate accordingly. Or maybe you should only translated games up to a certain "violence content" to avoid this dilemma?

Good luck

Alain Dellepiane wrote:

If you look at any game box (http://bit.ly/lRV3y3) you will notice a little label going from Everyone to Mature (ESRB/US system), from 3 to 18 (PEGI/EUR system) and from A to Z (Cero/Japanese system)

These state directly to which audience a title is aimed for and define exactly what kind of language and content they contain.

So, if you buy a 3+ game, it can only contain "Depictions of violence that is humorous and is set in a cartoon, slapstick or child-like setting." but no "Pictures or sounds likely to be scary or frightening to young children".

On the other end of the spectrum, adluts are free to buy 18+ titles and enjoy "Depictions of apparently motiveless killing or serious injury to multiple numbers of innocent human-like characters" and "Sexual expletives or blasphemy" to their heart's content.

So, as a parent you can do an informed choice and pick the best content for your kid by simply looking at the games' cover.

As a professional translator, you just need to learn how these systems work [1][2][3][4]. They are very well though out, no need to start a personal crusade

Krzysztof Łesyk wrote:

Tanaka-san, let me first say that I very strongly disagree with almost everything you wrote in your first post. Unfortunately I do not have enough time now to express all my objections, so let me concentrate now just on your statements that I find factually incorrect - I will possibly write about the moral/ethical dimension of the matter later.

First, (and I do realize criticism like that from a non-native Japanese speaker directed at a native one seems outrageous and possibly ridiculous) it seems to me your emotions are affecting the way you interpret the Japanese word 殺す. In your own words, 殺す means "murder" and NOT "kill" - a statement that I (together with a bunch of dictionaries) disagree.

Let's look first at a Japanese definition of 殺す. This is how 日本国語大辞典(Shogakukan Unabridged Dictionary of the Japanese Language) defines 殺す. The following is a copy of the first two definitions given (in the order that they are listed in the dictionary. I omitted the examples of historical usage, but the rest is quoted verbatim):
「1）他人や動物などの生命を絶つ。命を取る。殺害する。
2)（不注意で死なせた、または、手を尽くしたが死に至らせたという気持ちをこめていう語）死なせる。亡くす。失う。」

Now, as futile as translating a dictionary may seem, let me try, so that colleagues not speaking Japanese can follow (I welcome any corrections that other Japanese speakers, native or not, are willing to offer):
"1) To end a life of a person or animal (I would translate など here as "or other organism"). To end life. To slay ("murder" is often given as a translation of 殺害, but here I avoid it on purpose, for reasons explained below).
2) (meant to express a nuance of letting [subject omitted] die due to carelessness, or allowing [subject omitted] to die in spite of doing everything in one's power to prevent it) To let [subject omitted] die. To lose."

Now then, let's look at how Oxford Dictionary of English defines "murder":
"
noun
1 the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.

verb [with obj.]
1 kill (someone) unlawfully and with premeditation."

Other definitions (informal use such as "winds at the summit were murder) omitted to save space.

I think the difference is obvious. The Japanese term 殺す DOES NOT have the connotations of the English term "murder", even though your emotions tell you otherwise, Tanaka-san. No matter how you try to justify it, 殺す in Japanese is as broad (if not broader) a term as "kill" is in English. You can 殺す a person, sure, but it will not always be murder (just as you can kill, but not murder, a person during war or by accident). You can also 殺す a bug, breath, a runner in baseball and a bad smell.

I am really running out of time here, so my conclusion will be brief (if anyone snickered at this point, know that I did too). When in a game you are asked to kill 10 boars (or 100 mutants), you are asked to 殺す them - simple as that. You are not asked to "get them" (やっつける) or to "defeat them/choke the life out of them" (息の根を止める). You are asked to kill, plain and simple, and having objections toward violence is no excuse to distort the message anr try to sanitize the text. In my opinion such conduct is similar to distorting numbers on a birth certificate you are translating "because she looks so young, people should not know she ws born in 1947" (yes, I am exaggerating here, but not much). As a translator, your (and my, and everyone else's) job is to accurately convey the message in a different language - if as a mother or as a person you cannot do that, that's an issue your clients should be notified of so that they can ensure their message is delivered with as little distortion as possible - activism has its place, but not in translation (at least in my opinion).

Yumico Tanaka wrote:

To Colleagues in translation of English/Japanese

今ゲームの翻訳をやってますが、Kill が頻繁に出てきます。
これを「殺せ」と訳さず「やっつけろ」とか「息の根をとめろ」に訳しています。
なぜなら
「殺せ」「殺人」　この二つの言葉はまったく同義（目的語が人間であるかどうかだけで）ですが、
「kill」「murder」の二つの言葉はまったく同義ではありません。ネイティブの誰に聞いても「同じではない」「違う」という意見です。I killed it!　を、I persecuted it to perfection!
という意味で使う場合もあれば、I ruined the chance!という意味で使う場合もあります。
日本語の「殺す」は明らかに意図的な、murderです。

こういう文化の違いをしらず一辺倒的に「殺せ」と訳してきた翻訳者の
責任は、それが日本人であれ異国人であれ、重大だと思います。

現代のゲーム文化に浸った小中学生高校生の日常のボキャブラリーに、「死ね」が
あること自体、問題です。日本社会だけでなく世界においてゲーム言語に対する規制が
ほとんどないことが問題なのでしょうが、世界の翻訳者がもっと良識と問題意識をもって
社会責任を果たすべきではないかと思います。

Fellow translators of English /Japanese,

In my recent work in game instructions, I realized a problem.

The job contained the word "kill" in so many instances all through.
and I hope every translator is aware that what connotations the Japanese word "殺す” has is not the same as with "kill".

"殺す” is equal to "殺人" in the field, only difference is the object of murdering is specified as the human being or not. It means MURDER,
while "kill" definitely is not the same as "murder".

The verb "kill" can be used in the contexts where it means "ruin" or "persecute it well" as follows:
I killed the chance.
I killed it to perfection!
However, the Japanese verb "殺す” never is used like that.

It is likely that the battle games have been translated by so many translators who used　殺せfor something like "Kill 300 mutants" not realizing the connotation the verb has in Japanese. If you are a native English speaker, keep reading the word "murder" 100 times everyday, how would you feel? At first you may feel unconfortable but you will get used it and won't feel anything bad after a while. That's already been happening in today's society. Today's teenagers' daily vocabularies include "die!" in Japan, and probably in many other countries too.

Isn't it time that we should do something about it?