Fan-made translation is currently most commonly associated with amateur translation of web-novels, comics and movies, as adding subtitles, scanning comic pages or translating plain text requires no alterations of the original media itself, and despite its dubious legality, can be seen as a way of not just introducing more people to various kinds of media by adapting it into their native language, but of preserving that media digitally or physically depending on the way it was distributed and edited, which in some cases results in the translated version being the only accessible option. [1]

Fan-made translation of video games differs from translation of other media due their interactive medium. This doesn’t necessarily affect the quality of translation, and instead points out the added difficulty of altering the game’s code, rather than adding subtitles, editing a scanned image or creating a brand new translated document or website, since video games have to be played to actually engage with the text and story. However, documentation of the story may be archived on various Wikipedia pages, which were similarly made for the sake of showing appreciation for the respective media by compiling important information, which in some cases includes the entire story. [1], [2]

The practice of unofficial video game translation correlates with the rise of ROM-hacking, which, much like the former relied on making alterations within the code in order to transform the game in various ways, changing the textures, story or even its difficulty. As a result of this connection, unofficial translation of video games is often seen as amateur and on par with ROM-hacking in terms of ethics. This also leads to fan-made translation being perceived as not only less professional than one done by a certified team, but less valuable compared to a fan-made work created from scratch or one that uses the original media as a source of inspiration, rather than a canvas. [3]

Translation of media is currently seen as another branch of marketing, becoming vital to the success of movies, books and video games with social media becoming more widespread and commonly used. As it allows for attraction of a wider audience, it requires for a piece of media to be translated into as many languages as possible, focusing on the most popular ones such as English and Chinese. [4]

Predominant translation of media into English stems from that language being seen as a lingua franca, being the safest option in regards to increasing the media’s popularity if it wasn’t initially made in that language. This, in turn, leads to that English translation being commonly used to further adapt it into other languages, officially or unofficially. [5],

Similarly, a lack of translation into less commonly used languages can be explained by lesser financial reliability, as it will result in the same amount of investment in return for less revenue and reach. Another reason behind this is the lesser probability of finding a qualified translation team proficient in both languages, rather than the potential target language and English. The aforementioned absence of localization into said language is deemed a less significant loss due to less significant reward. [6]

At the same time, that text can later be translated from English into other languages afterwards, with independent studios especially treating translation of their work as a luxury, rather than a necessity, with the only exception being English translation, seen as the primary method of garnering a wider audience. In the past, if a piece of media was not released and distributed globally, even an official English translation may not be provided, as that media was not intended to be distributed outside of the country it was made in. [7], [8]

This led to fans of said media taking matters into their own hands, translating the original film, game or book into their native language by themselves, to share their experience with other people by providing them with a way to engage with the piece of media they enjoyed.

An example of this happening to a piece of media that did not receive an English localization upon being released is the Ace Attorney game series, with the last installment of the trilogy not being intended to be sold outside Japan, while the first game was written while taking into consideration the prospect of localization.

As the games contained an abundance of names which relied on wordplay, the fans had to not only translate the games from Japanese into English, but localize the names so as to not lose their meaning while making them more digestible to an English-speaking audience.

Upon the release of an official localization, the fans’ efforts received appreciation via subtle nods to the fan-picked names for the characters resembling ones used in the official release. For instance, the name «Dolores Willow», featured in the fan-made translation and shortened into «Dolly» as an affectionate nickname, was stated to intentionally be similar to the official name «Dahlia Hawthorne», shortened into «Dollie». [9], [10]

This trend of fan-made translation resembling the official release was not limited to this specific installment, with the most notorious example, Ace Attorney Investigations 2, a spin-off series which was not translated officially into English until year 2024 and instead had to be translated by English-speaking players, having officially localized names resemble their fan-made counterparts. The series, having never received an official Russian release, had several translations made by fans, some of which used the English translation as the original, with some teams translating the games while relying on preservation of the English names and titles which contained puns and plays on words, while others tried to adapt them. For instance, the name «Wendy Oldbag», which originated from the Japanese «Kaoru Oba», was translated by several different teams into various names, all of which attempt to replicate the pun preserved in the English translation: «Обаба Карога», «Венди Корга», «Венди Ветошь». [11], [12]

These issues are not limited to games being released wholesale, however, and are even more prevalent when working with online video games or games which are being updated consecutively, or live service games. Yurkova and Karmilitsina both mention the phenomenon of gacha and online video game translation, which require for the player’s consistent attention in order to succeed financially, however their research was restricted to the most popular examples that were localized officially. [13] The live service model specializes in presenting its aspects over time, rather than releasing it in its entirety, with its story and gameplay being erased upon the game’s end of service. This means that the story of a video game which integrated the live service model reached its end of service may only be documented via its fan-made translation, simultaneously making it an effort in archiving and preservation. [14]

That approach to presentation is heavily tied to how the game is being translated and adapted, as outsourcing and restrictive deadlines inevitably lead to errors and contextual losses which will have to be edited retroactively once more relevant information is provided.

Fan-made translation is especially challenging when working with media that is incomplete at the time of the process, for instance, on-going series and shows, live service video games or incomplete comics and web-novels, all of which were heavily influenced and popularized by globalization and creation of social media. At the same time, despite professional translators having the advantage of years of experience, actual qualifications and several ways of contacting the company which hired them, they are just as vulnerable to making errors when translating media which is either incomplete or limited in its context, with the restrictions applying not only to the amount of text and context and lack thereof surrounding it, but how that text was presented, often having no visual or audio cues to have a proper understanding of the original writers’ intent. Games which follow the live service model present even more challenges for the fans, by not only presenting information consecutively, but providing it in a way that may later be subverted, contributed to in an unexpected way or removed entirely, leading to frustration from the volunteers. When discussing professional translators working with similar inconsistencies in text, Miguel Á. Bernal-Merino refers to it as «resentment», as the lack of time and context leads to a less efficient and intuitive process, forced to rely on a fragment of text removed from its visual, textual and sound context. [15]

Fan-made translation of videogames shares the issues faced by official translators, that being lack of contact with the original writers, no context or visual and sound information to rely on, however it is also forced to confront the questionable legality of fan-made translation, self-inflicted deadlines, constant retroactive changes if the video game belongs to the live service genre and inconsistencies if it’s being released in parts or receives additional installments. The primary weaknesses of written translation of contemporary media are reflected in the errors of official and unofficial translation, most of which were created by limitations caused by the medium itself and lack of one correct way to adapt interactive media.

Unofficial translation provides insight into not only the flaws of translation studies, restrictions caused by interactive mediums and the antiquated approaches to their translation stemming from the medium’s rapid development, from invention of unique linguistic terms to forming a connection between programming and working with text.

However, the mere fact that the practice of unofficial translation has become this widespread, is capable of having effects on the media and the official translation, reflects its sheer cultural impact and the way fan communities are capable of affecting a piece of media through transformative works as much as completely unique works of art, despite how unprofitable and time-consuming the process is. While the effects are more tangible when a piece of media is translated by fans into English, being one of the most commonly used languages in the world, unofficial translation into less commonly used languages are no less impactful.

References:

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